The trial run of Share Your Nostalgia continues! This was an idea suggested to me by some fellow bloggers. The topic for this feature is “The Toy of Your Life.” Was there one toy that you considered the “best?” When you think of yourself as a child, what is the toy that immediately pops into your mind? What was the toy that you brought to Show and Tell or took with you everywhere?
Today, I welcome a blogger who is no stranger to followers of my page. My good buddy, Max runs the Power Pop Blog (https://powerpop.blog/) and features a lot of great musical posts. He has written guest blogs for my site in the past, and I have returned the favor for his blog. Even though we’ve never met in person, I feel like I’ve been friends with Max for years. I love chatting about music and life with him.
Max and I are about the same age. I believe one of the first conversations we had was about one of my early blogs. Is it a coincidence that the blog was about toys from my childhood? Probably. So what toy is Max picking? Is it one I had too? Let’s find out…
Thank you Keith for inviting me to do this. I really appreciate it! I hope you do more in the future.
Whenever I see red, white, and blue not only do I think of the flag but I think of Evel Knievel. A hero to many in the 1970s… He is responsible for more broken arms, legs, bruises, bumps, and scrapes than anyone… Kids set up homemade ramps and then jumping them with their bicycles. I said kids…it wasn’t exclusive to boys because I remember some girls jumping also.
Riding down hills standing on your seat, popping wheelies, jumping ramps with your buddy stupidly laying in-between. We wanted to be Evel Knievel jumping over those cars or buses.
He was THE Daredevil… There are Daredevils around today but no one has reached the popularity that Knievel achieved. Not only did he jump and crash he looked cool jumping and crashing. He was like a cool Elvis in a jumpsuit jumping various objects.
I got the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle and Figure when I was 8 years old on Christmas Eve. I have a picture that I can see halfway unwrapped. I immediately started to play with it that night. Over the next couple of months, I would jump everything in sight.
I would make it jump on our porch, our outside dog, and finally, I got a great idea. It took me hours to set it up but I finally got it right. I had ramps going over my mom’s car. I never could get it to go completely over but I got it really close when it came down on the trunk…who needed the Snake Canyon? My mom wasn’t a big fan of the Stunt Cycle…when Evel missed and hit the flowers…some flowers would be missing. When I revved it up in the house…more than one glass shattered making mom shut down my jumping activities.
I wouldn’t mind getting one now to tell you the truth!
Another…well Keith could disqualify this but it was a toy to me…it was called Pong.
Basically, it was magical! It would connect to your television, and you could play table tennis all day long. It was the forerunner of modern games that we have today. It was simple black and white, but I can’t tell you how it felt playing the thing.
I got it around 1977 and we just didn’t have things like this. There is one thing I remember well though…mom made me play it at night or on rainy days. The days were made for kids to go out and play baseball, play in the creek, or ride their bicycles for miles. What I wouldn’t give to relive one of those days being 11 again.
I wish the audio was better on the original commercial:
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 
i remember how exciting pong was! and evel was unbelievable
LikeLiked by 3 people
I was kinda past toys as such (well – you know, as a bloke I’ve never really grown out of them, but you know what I mean) when the Evel toy was around, but I remember it well.
Pong, though! :-D (I have a feeling we had something similar but with a different name?)
Yeah – I recall my dad bringing this home and it was set up on our TV, I think. It was such a jump forward for ‘toys’ and we’d play for hours … until Space Invaders and Galaxian kicked it into touch. :)
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yea some toys you have to be in a certain age range group…this one hit in my prime of childhood. I liked Evel a lot so this was the ultimate for me.
LikeLiked by 3 people
After watching that commercial I want that stunt cycle! We were all fascinated by Pong when it came out. Couple of great nostalgic toys!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks Randy… I think they did rerelease them in 2020 or so…I want to check Amazon to at least have one on my shelf. No telling the hours I put into that.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks for posting this Keith…I still want one now! I loved this toy so much. They did rerelease them in 2020 I believe. I want to check Amazon.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You’re just everywhere today Max! I remember Evel K well enough, he really was a celebrity and his jumps were ‘events’ back then, but I don’t recall that toy. Do you ever look on e-bay to see if they are out there for you to get one?
Pong I know of and played now and again through the years though I think my friends were probably late on that bandwagon… none of my friends growing up in ’70s-80s were much into video games which I’m sure rubbed off on me and I’m kind of happy about.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I am getting around today lol.
Yes I have looked…one in the box can cost up to around $500 dollars. …some old ones though in rougher shape I’ve seen under $100.
But…they remake them in around 2020…so you can get a new one…but if they are like the rockem sockem robots…they are not built as well.
Pong was big…I had it but I wasn’t allowed to play unless it was night or rainy…in the 80s I played Mario at friends houses…but I never had one.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you for being a part of this, Max! You picked some great ones. I had that stunt cycle and loved it. I remember Evel was quite a pop culture icon growing up.
Pong! I had it. Loved that game so much. I always felt like I got a bad controller… Lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
I loved both as well. Pong was just magical…at the time. I couldn’t believe a game I could play on the television. We sure didn’t know what it would lead to.
That stunt cycle was so cool…thanks again Keith for letting me post here!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I remember hearing about Evel Knievel while growing up in Germany, but I think it’s safe to assu,e he was far less popular there than in the US. That action toy looks like fun, and I bet I would have enjoyed palying with it as well.
Pong was a different story. One of my friends from school had the Atari game. I remember sometimes playing at his house. Most of the time, however, we would be outdoors playing cowboys and Indians or ball games.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I had a great time with it Christian! I jumped everything that stayed still.
Yea I didn’t spend much time playing pong…except at nights. I got Atari in the late seventies early eighties.
LikeLiked by 2 people
While my parents were pretty generous when it came to toys, I’m not sure they would have agreed to getting an Atari. That said, I don’t recall I ever asked. Plus, I could always go to my school friend’s house and play there.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yea a lot of mine also had them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My oldest son had the Evil toy. Mine, around 1955 was the ” Real Kid Chemistry Set.” It took the fire department about ten minuets to extinguish the fire that burned out garage, compliments of me and my new chemistry set. How did us kids in the 50s ever make it to adult hood?
LikeLiked by 1 person