Was it a particular comic book or longer comic story? Was it one of the "big books", like a treasury edition or something in the Origins of Marvel Comics series? Did you have a childhood friend who you envied to no end, because he/she always had cooler stuff than you? As always, give us some details -- tell us why you wished you'd have had this item. And if you're serious, are you considering purchasing it somehow now?
We're looking forward to hearing your "wish lists". One of my "wants" is below (I only had -- and still have -- Kid Flash):
Here's another one that somehow didn't make it into the grocery cart. I'm pretty sure my mom had to come find me before she checked out the day I discovered this, because I recall standing at the magazine rack just drooling all over the enlarged John Buscema interiors:
20 comments:
This is of course pre-Bronze Age but I would have been blown away by Matt Mason's moonbase between the ages of five and seven.
I was given a Matt with his hourglass spacesuit and his alien friends Callisto and Captain Lazer over a couple of Christmases between 1968 and 70.
The crawler vehicle would have very welcome!
I'd have liked an Ideal CAPTAIN ACTION with a SUPERMAN suit. I managed to get the Playing Mantis version about 10 or 12 years ago.
I'd also have liked to have the ZEROIDS, 'cos they looked really cool.
And there's tons of stuff which I didn't discover 'til twenty odd years or more after the fact. I'd still love the big MPC FIREBALL XL5 playset that came with figures, etc.
Oh, fellow BABers.., you both brought up items that have tugged my heart for years, which have for the most part been satisfied by eBay.
As a youngin' in '68/69, some friends at a farm nearby had that magnificent Major Matt Mason moonbase. Having only a couple of figures the Firebolt Cannon (and a cut-out activity book...), I DREAMED of that station in my bedroom with that ultra-cool purple light gimmering in the distance. I've been on a few MMM sites since and you'd be floored by how they interlock 3-4 stations together to make the coolest of launch platforms, stations of varying height, you name it. Christmas memories before 1970 were the BEST.
Having seldom been taken to stores (growing up on farms..), I had no idea a lot of the stuff was even available, 'cept for xmas catalogs.
Only had Supes, Aquaman, and SGT Fury outfits for my Captain Action. Oh, to have had a Cap America or Spidey..? Ah well, still blessed for what I had. I especially loved my Action Boy with the Aqualad set the most.
Happily I collected a lot of both MMM and C/A stuff I pined for a decade ago, so it's cool to have finally got these items, even though some have been resold again. My fav remaining set now is my vintage minty C/A Cap America on the GI Joe WWII Harley that came out in the '90s. Totally rocks on the shelf.
I guess the item that stands out the most (funny enough) was 'Rockem-Sockem Robots'. I still tease my mom about them.
Oh, and Doug, I share your desire for the Mego Titans.. I've still have my minty Kid Flash and Speedy, nearly had a Aqualad fully assembled before I sold him. Bought all these guys on Mego Museum or eBay while I was deployed overseas (GREAT use for gov't paychecks, gents..). Never bothered with WG.. I knew I'd be disappointed in the end if I got her anyways.
Y'know-- probably those giant Marvel Treasury Editions were the main comic/magazine items that I really, really wanted to get more of. . . but just couldn't afford.
As far as toys & collectables go, my childhood had an unusual confluence of circumstances that included a mother who could never make the cognitive leap (and still can't to this day) that a $1.00 cheap-o imitation of a solid, good, $3.00 name-brand toy WAS NOT "just as good" simply because they looked vaguely the same in the package, coupled with a neighborhood pal whose parents bought him EVERY SINGLE hot toy or game that was dominating the cartoon commercials (which was remarkable, considering that they weren't wealthy by any stretch). So at home, we were often disappointed with the rather lame thing we received, BUT-- there was also a level of enlightenment that SO MANY of my pal's highly-coveted items were themselves rather lame when you actually played with them-- and we'd been bamboozled by advertising.
(Battling Tops being the big exception on both ends. Also Smash-Up Derby.)
The one thing I really, really wanted (that was simply unrealistic, of course, in retrospect) was a real, honest-to-goodness pinball machine. 4th-hand, refurbished, whatever. Somehow, a couple of different kids had them-- and that became the "focal" gift for about two years. My folks, bless their hearts, finally did order the electric one from the Sears catalog, and even though it was a dinky, cheap, unreliable mechanism, I IMMEDIATELY realized in that split-second upon seeing it on Christmas morning that it was absolutely the best they would ever be able to do in trying to fulfill my Christmas Wish, as it were. I had one of those transcendent moments of personal growth on the spot, and knew that their need in giving this gift far, far outweighed my "want"-- and inside was quite embarrassed by the avaricious level to which my "want" had grown over the years. I left no room for doubt that it was the gift of my dreams, and spent about a third of my waking hours during Christmas break playing with it.
I know I'm waxing all tangential, here-- but I might add that, in spite of being deeply atheistic, I'm one of the biggest Christmas Nuts you'll find around (already playing X-mas music at my shop, in fact). And I do wonder if some of that might stem from that very moment on that very Christmas morning. . .
HB
My younger brother and I had a Zeroid each too. Our parents worked hard and were very generous throughout the 60s and 70s. Looking back, I'm actually surprised how many US toys were available in West Central Scotland 40-odd years ago.
I don't have any concrete religious beliefs either but I'm always excited about Xmas. Next weekend in this town, the Xmas lights are switched on.I think I might be able to wait a further week to put up my own tree. There's some uncertainty however about whether I can have an artificial tree in my classroom for h/s reasons.
So far, my presents to myself are the Adventures of Captain Marvel on dvd and Detective Comics 441.
For sure, the Evel Knievel doll and the Six Million Dollar Man figure. I also seem to remember there was an "Action Jackson" figure that I never got...I always wanted more Matchbox cars, and I remember looking in the catalog and seeing the "Playmats" that looked like a real roadway. Never got those either. And the "Models of Yesteryear" antique car models were always on my list. I had quite a few, but always wanted more.
Oh man, Tony--- Matchbox cars could certainly be a thread all their own. I DO still have all of those (plus Hot Wheels & Johhny Lightning), and they are all absolutely beaten and mangled to DEATH. . . but they had a happy 2nd life for about three years when a very young HBSon delighted in long, long sessions of playing with them. . .
HB
@HB and Tony: I had a bunch of Matchbox cars in the 70s too...all gone now, but I still have a handful of HotWheels left.
As for stuff I always wished I had, obviously there were a bunch of comics that I didn't have and would've liked. For toys...I always wanted the Millennium Falcon but it was pretty expensive. And I really wanted a set of Smash-Up Derby cars...I used to see them in the Sears catalogue and in TV ads, but I never did get them.
Mike W.
One thing I recently realized I wanted so bad in the '70s was Les Daniels' Comix, which was advertised in the pages of comic books well into the mid-70s. I was fascinated by a serious, 'adult' book about my favorite hobby, but hestitant about asking my already not-too-understanding parents to order it for me.
I say I recently recalled this because about 2 months ago I finally got to hold the actual book in my hands: at the home of this guy here in Zagreb who is a bibliophile, and a bit of hoarder, who's also into comics - mainly locally produced stuff naturally, but he has some Italian, French, British and American titles. I may even finally acquire it, as this fellow is getting on in years and is seriously thinking of liquidating his impressive collection, so I'm thinking about making him an offer on it (and a few other things he has).
And HB, nothing wrong with enjoying Christmas if you're not particularly religious - I'm as atheist as they come, and I enjoy the heck out of it. Besides, Christmas especially is such a melange of various traditions, many of them pre-dating Christianity, with all kinds of regional variants, so there's really something for everyone.
Edo- you're quite right about Christmas. Whatever one's particular beliefs, the Christmas message of universal brotherhood and peace can speak to us all. "Peace on earth and goodwill to men". Perhaps someday this will be realized and we will rise above the differences that too often divide us.
But enough soapbox. As for today's topic: HB , Tony, Mike and I could have a day of it racing Hot Wheels. Circa 1971, any friday night would have found a group of us , spending the night comparing cars and watching "Sammy Terry" on channel 4. Yet much as I loved Hot Wheels, I always wanted the Aurora night racing set ( with HO scale cars featuring working headlighta; how cool was that). Hot Wheels had gravity for propulsion, but those Aurora cars had Juice! Even today, I would get a kick out of assembling a racetrack and going a few laps against all comers... do they even still make HO racing sets?
Yeah, they still make HO racing sets. It's a PS3 video game!! Ha!
Hmm I would have loved to own Thor's king sized annual #5, the issue wherein he first (?) battles Hercules. It featured beautiful artwork by big John Buscema and Tony DeZuniga. It's been reviewed here already, but man I wish I had that issue in my hands right now!
A couple years ago a local comic shop next to where I work had Marvel Treasury editions of Spider-Man #1 (scratched cover), Thor #10 (Stan ended that story too tidily for my taste) and Hulk #5 (very good condition) - so I bought them all! They cost me a pretty penny but what the hey, I had to have them.
- Mike 'broke but looking to buy more stuff' from Trinidad & Tobago.
I've said this a few times, but I started buyin' up those Treasury Editions a few months back.
Jeez, whenever one arrived at home, it always felt like Christmas..!!
The only ones I had as a kid was the first Spiderman one and the DC Shazam one.
I loved the first FF one retelling the first Galactus encounter, but the Avengers one left me confused ~ Don't know why they didn't just reprint a few multi-issue stories. For instance, they reprinted ish 57, but should have also reprinted 58 as well. The stories used just seemed to jump around a bit.
Does anybody remember those ads in the back of the Warren B&W's for the various books about Superman, Batman, Tarzan, and many others? I think I remember seeing the Les Daniels' Comix included in those and the book, All in Color for a Dime. I always wanted to get some of those, but they were always about 8.95 or so, which was a LOT of money in my family back in the day.
Much of what I collect has a connection to those unfulfilled desires. I love to dig up old DC Comics which I saw in those fantastic house ads, but were unavailable to me at the time. It's neat to see underneath those evocative covers, though often the story doesn't live up to my imagination.
Rip Off
As a kid, I always wanted but never got the Mego Fantastic Four dolls (yes, we called them dolls).
Yes the ads in comics got me worked up, and I wanted to see Superman vs Ali, the oversized Legion of Superheroes book by Grell, DC Comics Presents #1 with Flash and Superman by Garcia Lopez. I did get my hands on them, but only in recent years. I enjoyed seeing all of them, but I think if I'd seen them as a kid my mind would've been blown! That's it, the comic gods were protecting me for my own good. ; )
There's still a few DC House Ads for Worlds Finest stories I vividly remember from the late '60s, I so need to buy up those issues.
Megos were my favorite toy when I was a kid and throughout my childhood I had a lot of the different figures, but I never had a bunch of them all at the same time. (They weren't the most sturdy toys).
I remember talking to my best friend and wishing that I could have every single Mego WGSH figure all at once. I realize now it was only a pipe dream.
The only Mego I still have is Spider-Man, and that's probably only because I bought him when I was a little bit older (around 11 or 12) and somehow realized that it was my last chance to get him at the store. As a result I didn't really play with him lot, so he survives to this day.
Much like HB said, I had a buddy who's parents got him virtually everything Mego-wise, especially the figures.
Gave my mom the best excuse to just run over to his house to play.
Boy, she was smart.
I've since collected most of the Marvel, Trek, and Palitoy Space:1999 figures I ever could want.
Kid Flash and Speedy are the only DC figs I have.
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