Reader Top Ten Greatest Toys of Childhood: Collin R. Skocik

Author and friend Collin R. Skocik offers the next top ten “greatest toys of childhood” list for today.

Collin writes:

1. Bespin World - the Star Wars micro-figure playset of Cloud City, which could freeze Han Solo, fling Luke out the window into the shaft, have Luke and Vader fighting on the gantry…man, I had hours of fun with that.

2. The Millennium Falcon - the one with the removable top, detailed interior, cockpit with seats for the action figures, landing gear, gun turrets, great fun.

3. X-Wing to scale with action figure, press on Artoo’s head to lock S-foils in attack position, fire a glowing proton torpedo with impossible sound effect, and you could even add battle damage decals.

4. Castle Grayskull.

5. Planet of the Apes spaceship I built out of manila folders, cardboard, toilet paper tubes, and tires off of toy cars.

6. Five-inch snap-together Starship Enterprise.

7. A stick I found in my backyard and used as a rifle. (The best toy was always my imagination.)

8. A piece of driftwood which I turned into a starship which became the basis of one of my stories. (See #7)

9. My backyard swing-set.

 10. Handheld Pac-Man videogame machine that “looks, sounds, and plays like the full-size arcade game.”

Collin: I love your idiosyncratic list, and the fact that you tagged your favorite stick, and your swing-set.  

You are absolutely right that imagination can spawn hours of play, and that you don’t always need the latest or greatest toy.  

My son Joel, for instance, turned a Styrofoam insert for a ceiling fan into a Cyberman “tomb” last year.  And he loves to use an egg-beater as Maximillian’s propeller blades from The Black Hole (1979).  

And I also always wanted a Planet of the Apes spaceship toy.  I sometimes used the G.I. Joe space capsule, and at other times I used the Amsco Cardboard Playset little ship.  But I always wanted one for the Mego figures...

Cheers for a really fun list!