Snow Speeder

I guess I've always been a StarWars fan. I remember loving the movies when I was a kid, and I did attend all of the opening nights for the new ones. Not dressed up, or anything. I'm a geek, but I have my pride.

Anyway, I do remember getting a Rebel Snow Speeder toy in the early 80's. (Here's a link to a description of it.) If you added batteries, you could make the "laser cannons" light up and make really cool noises. I think both my brother and I each got one, and I remember turning the lights off in our bedroom and opening the door to the bathroom. We would fly these things around the room, and watch the battles reflected back to us from the bathroom mirror.

I don't remember us having too many electronic toys, but I think that's a good thing. Kids drive their parents crazy with noise-making, flashing, obnoxious toys these days. Most of our toys required imagination to provide the effects.

G.I. Joes, Transformers, and LEGOS. That was the trifecta of cool toys for me and my brother. (I know, they're supposed to be called "LEGO bricks or toys", but I only knew them as "LEGOS".) I couldn't wait for a Saturday where I could spend all day setting up my vast collection of G.I. Joes into a huge, bedroom-encompasing battle to end all battles. I would position every figure carefully (with their correct weapons) and spend all day getting everything just right. Often, I wouldn't even HAVE the battle, it was the setting up that was the most fun.

Sometimes it was spending hours building a fortress out of LEGOS, complete with trap doors, gun emplacements, helicopter pads (with matching helicopters), and even a brig for captured enemies. Or just sitting around transforming all my favorite Transformers, and making "that sound" with your mouth. (You know, the transformer sound you learned from watching the cartoon.) You couldn't transform them WITHOUT making the sound!

Anyway, for our children, I'm planning on steering away from the electronic toys for the most part. Not that some of them aren't great, but I don't want to give them too many toys that replace imagination with batteries and buttons.