“Tinker Toys Take A Tumble; Technology Triumphs In Toyland”
Kids those days! Every year at Christmastime we see articles and hear news reports about how kids no longer love the classic toys. Well, for anyone who thinks this type of story is a recent development I present this Sarasota Herald-Tribune article
“Gone are the good old days when it was Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs or forget it.”
The article immediately launches into a discussion of what was popular with the kids at the time, taking time to specifically mention how television advertising entices the kids and encourages the children to ask their parents for specific toys. Yates’ description of Kenner’s Bionic Man action figure gets especially fun. The various play features of the toy are presented in the article in a manner that would only make me want the figure even more. For example:
“To delight the little ones, the Bionic Man has rollback life-like skin on his right arm (yuck!) with two removable Bionic modules. This way the old game Operation gets a new twist and is now called “Transport and Repair.””
How does that not make any of us want the toy even more?
Enjoy the article! Oh. And for the record this 1975 article that describes Operation (Amazon.com search*) as “the old game” neglects to mention that Operation was first published in 1965 . . . only ten years before this article was written!
Related articles
- Kenner Planned a “Luke in Robes” Action Figure? (battlegrip.com)
- 1979 Star Wars Cash Refund Booklet from Kenner (battlegrip.com)
- “Great stories. Great figures.” (battlegrip.com)