troll dolls and gumby...

[mamita]

don't ask me why these things popped in to my head this morning, but they were my most favorite things from my childhood. I adored troll dolls, which is strange seeing as they looked like tiny gremlins with bad hair. and gumby...well, who couldn't like gumby? sure, I got the token Barbie doll when I was 10 or so, but I tossed her aside for those creepy troll dolls.

what you loved will say a lot for the decade you were born. like my DD had the big passion for Strawberry Shortcake dolls. (which one year I cruised the entire tri-state area looking for them)

what was yours?

hey...it's Friday, and we need some mindless threads for fun this week. one thing about me.....you can count on mindless.

[Nomad]

I have a troll doll sitting on my dresser. It's wearing a gray shirt that says "Stressed Out". I guess it's a reference to the wild orange hair. I used to have a large Elvis troll, but I haven't seen it in about 15 years.

Nomad

[mountainwmn]

My brother had some kind of big eagle or something that I think He-man was supposed to ride. I was the only one that played with it. And some crazy blue haired warrior lady that was the right size to ride my breyer horses.

[ace admirer]

all of my kids love gumby showes and then the gumby figures.....sometimes i think "how can they like this,,its so hokie," but they do..

[BoldViolet]

Actually, I hated Gumby. He scared the dickens out of me.

The only "girlie" cartoon I watched was My Little Pony. I loved Thundercats, Transformers, GI Joe, and BraveStarr.

[beccachow]

I thought of this thread this AM...guess who is back?! Cabbage Patch Dolls!!! RUN!!!!!!!!!!!

[Peacock]

DH tells me that when he and his sister were kids, his mom had a nightmare about the troll dolls, so she went through their stuff and threw out every single one she could find.

My favorites: when I was little, the FP Little People. I had a house, garage, airplane, ferris wheel, bus. Those were the wooden ones. Always wanted the farmhouse but never got one. And when I was bigger, yes, I adored my Barbies. I think I had a dozen of them along with two houses, a pool, an airplane, and camper. What can I say, I am an only child.

[mamita]

I also had the Barbie dream house. some huge thing, but it was pretty. that Barbie...she lives large. LOL my Barbie married my little brother's GI Joe. they didn't even date....just got married. Ken scared me, so I was glad Barb preferred Joe.

then I went back to playing with the trolls.

[gone-a-milkin]

Breyer horses for me. I spent hours making them braided bridles and halters, cutting up fabric for saddle pads and building fences for them in the lawn with sticks.
I liked to use GI Joe for a rider on those horses because he was much more flexible than Barbie.

My sister had Strawberry Shortcake dolls and I would let her play with my Breyer Shetland pony. He had all 4 legs broke off at the knees.

Once I got in trouble for putting my sisters Barbies on a homemade raft and floating them down the irrigation ditch.
I DID find them, months later, and they were covered with green algae. LOL

[DamnearaFarm]

Originally Posted by beccachow

mamita, the old stuff is making quite a comeback. As the mom to a 6 year old, I can assure you Strawberry Shortcake and all her stinky friends are alive and stinking! Also, My Little Pony has a new series on kid's TV, and has all new toys and stories.

My DD loves some of the classic TV shows...her all time favorite cartoon is Tom and Jerry, but a close second is Spongebob. I was watching a Road Runner cartoon with her one morning, and she turned to me and said, "Mommy, what is going to happen to the Coyote?" I glanced up, recognized the episode from 30 years back and told her about his misadventure with the cliff and roller skates...she watched, then asked how I knew that! I told her that her Coyote friend has been chasing her Roadrunner friend for decades! In fact, they have a NEW Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny, etc) show on now. I guess the classics never die, they just get reborn.

I can tell you one thing I always hated...Cabbage Patch Dolls.

I had the Barbie with the Town House. I also had a horse with a clapboard wagon for her, loved that horse, he was a palomino with little balls under his feet to push him along.

Me too! I had a cousin who LOVED the creepy little things. I couldn't stand 'em, so I hung one (yes, with a noose) from the cord dangling from the overhead light in her closet

[FiddleKat]

For me, Breyer horses. I too made saddles and bridles for them. Pringles potatoe chips had an uncanny look of a saddle. I also played with barbies and baby dolls, but I also had some Holly Hobby stuff I admired too!

[mamita]

wait..how could you not like Gumby? lol he was so cute. so was Pokey. he was all flexible..strange looking..big eyes. lol green.

[jd4020]

If you're only talking about boughten toys we had them, but very few survived as we played hard. But there are several I remember fondly.
Something that was in my Grama's toy box at her house was a pair of little red, metal dial telephones. My sister & I played a lot with these. I came across the same kind at an auction once and although I thought about getting but didn't, when I saw them, it brought back a pleasant memory.
Well, I don't mind saying I was born in 1960. My Aunt was five years older when I was born. When I was old enough, may 7-8 I remember her letting me play Barbies with her. Now, she had Barbie-with the short blonde hairdo, Ken, Midge, Andy--Midge's beau and Skipper. She also had the white wardrobe, the vanity with phone, the white canopy bed, Ken's brown wardrobe and two wooden beds with striped bedding. (Suzy Goose furniture I believe) The clothing was definable outfits, such as the pink evening gown with white stole, the red dress, Midge's blue cordurauy dress and top etc. She kept the boxes the furniture had come in and used them for walls. The clothes were nice fabrics not the mostly polyester stuff of today, nor was everything pink. I don't know if she has them still.
It seemed like it was only fun when she played. When she outgrew them, the dolls were never as interesting. I guess it was because I liked playing with my aunt, more than the dolls.
But, those were her toys and she was generous in letting my sister & I play with them.
For my toys growing up, nothing ever seemed to last. I only have one baby doll that survived my childhood. It was a large baby dear doll that cried when turned onto her tummy. My Grama gave both my sister & I one for Christmas one year. I'm glad I still have her and she still can cry.
The "toys" that didn't break? Well, we had a big ol sandpile and in the summer we used sticks & rocks to make miniature forts and primitive camps for any plastic people figures we had. My brothers had metal Tonka trucks and they handled the sand, dirt and rocks just fine. I had the little metal, pedal fire truck and my sister had the pedal car, both of which had belonged to my Dad and one of his sisters.
We made airplanes out of step ladders, nails and boards. We made clubhouses up in the barn loft and swung on the ropes into hay piles. We also had clubhouses up in the corncrib and tried to make pets out of any baby mice we managed to catch, which Dad promptly had us feed to the cats. I am a third generation farmer as is my dh, so when the crew came around to empty out my Dad & Grampa's corncrib, there was always a huge corncob pile left. We dug out steps and shallow wells in that pile, laid down old sheets and made "apartments". Had to be careful when walking around the top, but it was also fun to dive and roll down to the bottom.
The crik down the road was our play ground. We would load up the wagon with worms, cane poles, tackle box, shovels (to make the swimming hole a little bigger and deeper than our knees) snacks and whatever else we thought we might need. Then hop on our bikes and away we went. The bridge offered shade and we made hammocks and stools out of what wood had washed up. Clam shells were an especially treasured find and we had quite the collection. They had many uses for a our day camps. Skipping rocks off the water was fun. We even had a bigger flat rock that we would find year after year and see how many times we could get it to skip. It never seemed to wash away. We caught snakes, bull frogs, ate mulberries til we were quite purple. Snakes, frogs, fish, tadpoles were always interesting to try to catch or observe.
We had the usual dogs, cats and other farm animals to make pets out of.
I remember one summer, the mower must have been broke and the grass in the yard was quite tall. We decided to wiggle along on our stomaches and make paths. When the paths were done we then played with the cats and dog in them.
We received ice skates for Christmas one year and although my Aunts would sometimes take us to the ice rink (it was more than an hour away for the closest one) we skated on the frozen corners of the fields where water had pooled and froze. Back then there was always enough snow to dig out snow caves in the drifts. We tried igloos, but were never successful. Sleds were our entertainment and my uncle's farm had a hill as tall as a barn. The drive was at the top, at the bottom of the hill was a nice straight away before getting to the crik. We'd go for the day, Dad would make a fire. It was fun.
Our family didn't go on vacations. What we did was go camping at our Grampa's timber. Some people define camping as having room service---& I always have to ask if we invite others to go camping with us, as this property is still in the family and we still go camping there, but camping here is a pasture with a crik running through it. Oh, and we have to share it with the cows as it's their summer home.
As we got older Dad got us mini bikes, we even had a snow trike that he and my sister used to check on things around the farm.
Well, I didn't mean to go on for this long, but it sure was nice to walk down my memory lane a bit.
Thanks for walking along with me.
jd

[mountainlaurel]

Does anyone remember the little Kittle dolls? They came as jewlery. I had a ring doll, a necklace doll and a bracelet doll. It's been so long ago that I may not be saying the name of them correctly.

[Peacock]

My favorite Barbie doll was this one who, when you cranked her right arm one way, her breasts got bigger. Crank it back, and she was flat again.

[Zipporah]

My Mrs Beasley and Tootie , a radio flyer wagon and trike both red and a woody wood pecker that I still own even though he has seen his better day.Guess I'll throw him out my next spring cleaning , that 'll hurt .He's a bit too worn to keep any longer though.Still have Tootie too,Dd loves her now.

[Zipporah]

My favorite Barbie doll was this one who, when you cranked her right arm one way, her breasts got bigger. Crank it back, and she was flat again.

I missed this Barbie sounds like some mans idea for sure

[demeter]

Oh! Little Kiddles! I had tons! I still have 3 or 4. I had the "Boobie Barbie" too, Peacock. Does anyone remember "Tearful Cheerful?" (I think that was her name) or Chrissy? Chrissy was fun, she had a crank on her back for you to adjust her hair length. She had a little sister too, I think, named Velvet.

Demeter

[nanadeb]

Oh my....such memories..lol
I loved the trolls too.
But grumpy was kinda weird the way his eyeballs moved around.

[therunbunch]

GloWorms!!!! I loved those things. I collected trolls as well and loved my barbies!