What toys did you desperately want when you were a kid? I would have KILLED for one of those huge bouncy ball things with a handle that you bounced on across the yard. The kids in the commercials always looked like they were having so much fun. I also would have killed for a Sit 'n' Spin, and the year I finally got the Play-Doh Fun Factory, I think I almost died from bliss.

What toys did you desperately need to have when you were a kid?

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Answers

Well, first of all, I had a Spiderman bouncy ball thing, and it was fun, until the time I was bouncing across our basement floor (despite the "No bouncing in the house" rule) and fell over and hit my head on the washing machine. I also had a Sit 'n' Spin, but I seem to remember that causing more nausea than actual "fun." Though I was a kid, maybe nausea *was* fun. Who can remember.

Anyways, my big deal was Transformers and He-Man. I needed all the Transformers. This was made substantially more difficult by the fact that my mom *refused* to let me own any toy that was shaped like a gun, and the head Decepticon transformed into a laser gun. It was very frustrating to have Optimus Prime, but not his evil compatriot. I think that my friends felt sorry for me, and invented excuses like, "the lead Decepticon is on vacation (or in sick bay, or off eating other planets) for this adventure, so SoundWave will be the head guy today" or whatever.

I'm sure there were other toys that I wanted desperately but never got...I'll think about it. :)

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

I don't think laser guns should count as guns. Also, I just remembered one of the other things I was always dying to get, which was ANY kind of Barbie doll. Mom refused to get them for me, because she figured they'd be bad for my body image. Well, she was probably right, but I was still desperate to have one. Sigh.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2000