Category: ToyBox

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Funny Stuff ToyBox

They see me rollin’… they beepin’…

What a week it’s been. Major hack of the site (fixed), turned down for a couple of jobs that I was totally qualified for (getting used to it with a certain grim inevitability), been sick (blargh)… tonight I spotted this bizarre configuration of toys in Little E’s room and thought to myself… man, I wish I was having as much fun as these guys.

Bots gone wild

😆 (Sorry about the out-of-focus-ness, I really only had one shot at the picture before the boy gathered up his buddies for robot roll call at bedtime.) Thanks for the laugh, little guy.… Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 ToyBox

The Little People Work

SQUEE!!When Little E and I last visited the robot store (a.k.a. Hastings, so nicknamed because dad keeps buying Daleks there), he went kinda nuts because he saw Princess Peach from Super Mario. Never mind that this was something between a stuffed animal and a backpack clip-on buddy, and nothing like the box full of Super Mario figures I’d gotten him for Christmas… he really wanted that Princess Peach. He talked about it at home. A lot. He really wanted to go back to the robot store and buy that Princess… right now. … Read more

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Home Base ToyBox

The stash, 2011 edition

Allow me to introduce you to my very Trekkie 2011 Christmas stash. Charles and Mr. Flibble threw a Hastings gift card my way, and John hurled an Amazon gift card at me with all of his might, taking off a couple of limbs* in the process. (Oddly enough, I turned around and spent the majority of both on the wife and kid, who don’t have folks from the internets buying stuff for them. Call it redistribution of wealth if you like.) Okay, here’s the Trek trove:

2011 Christmas stash

The big box is, of course, the first Star Trek Micro Machines box set that came out in the ’90s. I had one of these at one point… and took them out of the box, which meant that some of them went AWOL by the time I did a piece on my site about them. Now the set is complete once more – though given the little hands (and mischevious little paws) roaming through my house and getting into stuff, this one might be staying in the box. On a high shelf. Thanks, Dustin!

On top of that are Star Trek lotto cards from New Mexico, thanks to Paul and Charles. I haven’t scratched them yet. But I probably will soon (like I can claim them from Arkansas anyway – watch them all be worth $10,000 as a result – c’mon, Deep Space Nine, daddy needs a new pair of anti-grav boots).

Not shown are the new underwear (trust me, you don’t wanna see a picture of that, or at least not a customer action shot), a new dish towel and an oven mitt. What’s really funny is how happy I was to have any and all of it. I needed another oven mitt, and man, did I ever need some new underwear. Throw in some cash from the in-laws (already assimilated into the Borg-like household-bill-paying collective, just to keep the Star Trek theme going), and there ya go.

Not bad at all, considering that I’d told everyone in the family to spend their money on the kiddo. (And boy, did he make out like a bandit. Woody and Buzz and WALL-E and Artoo and the Mario Brothers have a red R/C Mustang convertible to drive around in. Now that’s a sight.)

I’m truly grateful to… well, anyone who sends anything my way, really. It’s not something I solicit or ask for, and under present circumstances it’s not something I can afford to reciprocate either, as much as I’d like to**. Thank you.

* from the tree outside my window – that man has deadly hurling accuracy

** things will be different after I win the New Mexico lottery, I promise

… Read more
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...And Little E Makes 3 ToyBox

The Mystery Box

Previously, on Scribblings From The Public Restroom Stalls Of The Gods… I revealed that Little E is gettin’ a bunch of cool stuff for Christmas. He’s old enough for his first “action figure Christmas,” which, in my childhood, was just the best thing ever. I don’t have nearly the budget (or the helpful economy) that my folks had when I was growing up, but by golly, this year’s toy haul is gonna be pretty close to an “extravaganza” rating thanks to some judicious shopping.

There’s just one hitch: a bunch of Super Mario figures I got him were already opened. So how do I wrap those? … Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 ToyBox

The droid he’s looking for

Wall-ETo talk about what Little E is getting for Christmas, one has to realize that in some respects, the boy lives in a little bit of a time warp. He likes old cartoons (to give but one example: he’s a sucker for the animated segments of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, which I dug out simply because he’s so crazy about the games… he’s not quite so crazy about the Captain Lou live-action segments.) This time warp is a bit of a bubble that he’s entered simply by spending a lot of time in my room with me. We play Super Mario and Pac-Man on the computer and on the Wii. He watches Pixar movies of an older vintage than Cars 2 (his favorites: Wall-E and Toy Story 2).

Of course, toys tied to a specific thing like a movie or a game have a very specific shelf life: as soon as the thing’s off the market and no longer making money for the studio, it’s very rare for the merchandise to stick around. Not everything has the seemingly eternal staying power of Star Wars. And this… is what drove me to eBay to do some Christmas shopping this year.

In my previous blog entry, while ruminating about not wanting to saddle someone else’s kid with toys built around a super-violent story, I also mentioned being keenly aware of the risk of saddling someone else’s kid with something completely lame. This Christmas list for Little E was derived from listening to him talk about what he’d like to get over the past year. Everything here is something he’s said he wants. Other family members will get him clothes and books and stuff, and believe me, I’m grateful for that. That leaves me open to get the cool stuff for him. Everything was paid for by me eBaying off some of my own stuff to raise funds.

Here’s the cool stuff. … Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 ToyBox

The droids you’re looking for

DroidsSo Little E brought home a note from his day care a couple of weeks ago, announcing the annual Christmas party. All boys were supposed to bring a boys’ gift, girls were to bring girls’ gifts, and everything was supposed to stay under $10 – the usual drill, really.

What’s amazing is how much I agonized over what to get. Pardon me while I be a big hippie for a few minutes here. … Read more