Toys

I grew up in the 80s, which I honestly believe to be a "golden era" for toys and action figures.

We had Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, He-Man.  We had the originals.

These days, when I go to Babies R Us to buy stuff for baby, I also swing by the bigger kid toys, and I get depressed at today's toys.

Most of them are poor quality remakes of the toys I had when I was growing up.  I still see Transformers, but they are odd remakes that look to be of a cheap plastic and are of questionable storylines (like an Optimus Prime Gorilla).

I've saved 10 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the 1980s, from my own childhood.  We've shipped them around and around as I went to college, and later got my own place.  I never knew what I was saving them for, but I guess now I know I was saving them for my son, so that he would have some toys that didn't suck.

I figure when he turns whatever age the packaging says is appropriate (you know, where they say "for kids 5 and up", I'll give these to him.  These toys are actually very well preserved, in original packaging, for toys that have been around for 20 years.  I'm not expecting him to keep them in the box ... toys are meant to be played with.  I will admit that I'm going to wince when he takes "MOC" (mint-on-card) packaging and rips them open, since any toy collector knows what that does to value.  But at least he'll have a chance to see toys similar to the ones Daddy had when he was growing up, and to open the box himself (not like I'm giving him hand-me-downs that I already played with).

I'm hoping he'll appreciate them.