Three gifts I remember before age 10

[Babelfish]

For me ...life was hard ...the youngest with 3 older sisters ......very confused with hand me downs ......

Had a knock off deep sea diver ....wanted the Action man one .....it wasn't !!!!...so I drowned him in the washing up bowl

Ker-Plunk ..arrived ......too young really to get it !!

My mother bless her knitted me some clothes for a 2nd hand action man .....despite not having one !!!!

Don't worry about it Kev, I used to enjoy a bit of cross-dressing myself: My Gran had a long brown coat with a fur collar, and a high black fur hat. When I was down at the grandfolks' place I'd sometimes put those on, attach my curved plastic sabre to my belt, fasten that round the outside of the coat and play at Cossacks. Usually tripping over the coat in the process because it was a mile too long (and I had to roll the sleeves up).

At "peak Action Man" I had no fewer than four, plus all manner of gear. After my Mum passed away in 2018 and I was selling her house, I rediscovered many of my childhood memories up in the loft that had been there boxed away for 40 years plus. Among them were my two remaining Action Men plus various surviving uniforms & accessories. I eBayed them all as a job lot and ended up getting around 70 quid for it - which paid for a couple of new 75mm figures off El Greco. The deep sea diver's suit is there on the right.

I never had Ker Plunk, but Mouse Trap and Jack Straws were favourites.



- Steve

 

[Nap]

Steve

WOW!! ......a picture full of delight ......I see a deep sea diver kit...lead boots I think !! a footballer , red devil , your own armoury and is that the "real hair and with moving eyes" as well

Memories or should I say mere dreams !

Happy New Year

Nap

 

[Babelfish]

WOW!! ......a picture full of delight ......I see a deep sea diver kit...lead boots I think !! a footballer , red devil , your own armoury and is that the "real hair and with moving eyes" as well

H.N.Y. to you as well Kev.

Yes the boots with the deep sea diver gear were actually lead, as were the weights on the belt. You wouldn't get that now, yet somehow I survived many hours of playing with them - amazing!!

As you note, the Action Man on the right in the pic had the "realistic" hair but by the time the "gripping hands" and "eagle eyes" came in I was starting to outgrow Action Man so I never had that version, although a pal of mine did and it must be said that the "gripping hands" were far superior.

Fond memories of cutting the stars off the packaging of the various uniform and accessory kits that were available, sticking them to the special collector's card and sending them off to get freebies in exchange. IIRC 21 (or was it 25?) stars got you a free Action Man, and there was also a Canadian Mountie's uniform that was only available in exchange for stars, you couldn't buy it in the shops (although that was never one that appealed to me so I never had it). That's why original intact packages that still have the stars command a premium on today's collectors' market, because most kids used to cut them off to send in.

- Steve

 

[Nap]

Hi Steve

Lead boots eh ..thought so ..how delightfully totally un H & S .......certainly never did you any harm ...unless you've grown another ear since saw you last ..lol

I remember the stars ....never managed to get enough ...probably just thrown the packaging away!

Funny how the action man has more hair than me now .....lol .....still got gripping hands though

Great to look back and reminisce

Nap

 

[Babelfish]

Subbuteo Club edition table football and Subbuteo Test match Cricket.....!!

Never had the Cricket version but I LOVED Subbuteo football. One Xmas I asked for this ...

... but had to make do with this .....

But that was cool as well and I wasn't complaining. In the early to mid '70s I used to spend much of my pocket money on individual Subbuteo teams. The accessories as well, some of which were more useful and practical than others. They looked cool and were a great idea on paper, but just got in the way when you were playing.

The floodlights were a bit crap as well. Far from illuminating the pitch they just shone off feebly into the middle distance, were dead easy to knock over, the fronts were always falling off so you had to keep them in place with a rubber band (as in this pic) and you only got two of them. But none of that really mattered because at least you had "floodlights" bragging rights with your mates!

- Steve

 

[valiant]

the Club Edition was pretty much the same, minus the lights and flags! The cricket game was cool as it had spectators in deckchairs! They later surfaced as stood-down pilots in a WW2 wargame, as did the camera crew, as war correspondents....!!!