Thanks to everybody for entering the Comic Book Men T-shirt contest. For the contest, I asked you guys to tell me your most memorable moment with toys. Some of you had precious moments, and some of you had terrible moments. There were some good stories that had me reminiscing about my own toy memories…and some disturbing ones. Sadly, I can only choose one.

Here are the runner ups:

Stephen Meyer

Still love vintage toys. Tried to keep all of my action figures from the 70′s and 80′s (Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, Micronauts, etc), but when I was away at college my parents sold a lot of them…you didn’t say that our most memorable moment had to be a good memory. So almost daily, I’m on ebay and craigslist trying to find some of those vintage toys to add to my collection.

Stephen’s story is a good example of childhood lost. Mine was kind of different, as I gave away my toys when I grew older. Now after thinking about it, I wished I kept it. The one toy I regret the most giving away was my Gambit action figure with a crappy-looking plastic trench coat.

Joel Montgomery

My first ever video game system was one of the old, grey “brick” styled Game Boys. The funny thing is, I don’t remember being all that intent on asking for one for Christmas…

There’s more to Joel’s story, but it’s pretty long, so if you want to read it, click on the link above to the original contest article. In short, his mom hid his present inside the Christmas tree, making him “hunt” for the gift all over the house.

Crystal Lewis

I was in 7th grade and I wanted a Furby so bad. I got it for Christmas and decided it was a smart idea to take it to school. Well it was an attention getter for sure. Something that pissed all the teachers off because it wouldn’t shut up!…

The rest of her story involves her being paranoid because she fears that her parents would know. It turns out that they knew all along.

Dissident91

I lived in a small town in CA and there was an earthquake that pretty much destoyed the town. The house we were not able to stay in our house because of the damage. My brother and I had to leave our toys behind,but someone came with a truckload of toys for the kids in town. Our mother told us that since there was lots of kids we needed to pick one toy to share. The toy we agreed on was a bucket of Tinkertoys. They really were fun and we had no problem sharing. That one toy gave us so much joy and whenever I see the bucket at the store I’m reminded of how our community came together to help rebuild our town.

Nikk Nelson

I too was a fan of TMNT and I saved my allowance for months for a vehicle called ‘The Pizza Thrower’-battery powered, little plastic pizzas that you would load into it, press a button on the side and it would shoot the pizzas out at a speed and a force that is probably illegal today. It came with twenty pizzas. My parents warned me to keep track of them because once they were gone, the toy basically became a paperweight. Of course I didn’t listen. I terrorized my older brother, the cat, and other people’s older brothers and cats until every last pizza was lost. It took less than a day. My parents said, “See? We told you. You just spent all that money for a toy you played with for less than a day.” I replied honestly, “It was totally worth it.”

Todd

I can’t remember if I was 5 or 6 but I do remember it was Christmas time and all I wanted was the TMNT toys that Playmates used to make. I had been thinking for MONTHS which TMNT I wanted from Santa. I thought about it SO hard and finally decided I wanted Rafael. My mom took me to see Santa at our local mall and I told him that I wanted Rafael and that was it – nothing else. When I woke up Christmas morning and walked into where our tree was, I saw that “Santa” had not only brought me Rafael but Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Splinter and even the Turtle Van! I was so pumped I remember hours of fun with ALL of my heros in a half shell and their sensei.

Bill Norris

growing up we werent the richest so my dad seeing we were playing match box cars in the dirt all the time went and got 2 sheets plywood, maybe, and painted a cool city on the 2 join together pieces. It was the coolest with painted buildings and roads and parking spaces. To this day my family will bring up that cool toy.

And finally, here’s the winner for the contest!

Sheena McNutt

So, I am a child of the early 80s and have a brother 5 years older than me. I was never a girly-girl and thought the only use for Barbie was as a captive for GI Joe. Now, my parents are the type that I would tell I wanted a bucket of Legos to and my Christmas present would be a bucket of pink and purple Legos which was strangely missing the glow-in-the-dark skeleton and anything that resembled a weapon (what good are minifigures without some sort of a weapon?).

So, one Christmas, I’m sure it had to be 1985 or 1986 the only thing I REALLY REALLY wanted was the He-Man Slime Pit. Remember, you pour the slime in the skull and it drops it all over your action figure? It was the coolest thing I’d seen since my brother’s Jabba the Hutt playset. However, it was not a toy decked out in pink, purple, or pastel blue, so while it was literally the ONLY thing on my Christmas list, I just knew that I would not be dumping slime on anyone.

Christmas arrived, as it does. Standard childhood excitement ensued complete with the forced breakfast before presents. All the while, I’m looking to see if there are any boxes for me that could possibly be the right size. And, much to my disappointment, there were not.

So, with a determined-to-not-cry face I began to open my presents. It was all of the things I expected. Pink and Purple stuffed toys, books, and the dreaded clothes. Not a He-Man toy in sight. I get down to the last box, a tiny little thing which I figured held a trinket or something since it was so small. I rip open the paper and inside the little box is a note “Find me under your bed”. I look at my parents and go running upstairs to see what is hiding for me there. There, waiting for me are two packages, one small and one a bit bigger. I go downstairs, and like all good kids, I open the smallest one first. In it was Stinkor (I can not express how much I loved the first action figure that was mine and mine alone). The other package was, of course, my He-Man Slime Pit. The coolest toy ever. And I knew then that my parents realized that while I was their little girl, they had begun to accept that their little girl was a tomboy who would, for years to come, badger them for comics, action figures, and sporting goods. What great parents I have.

Sheen’s story was a lot of fun to read, and I felt like I was there to share her excitement. Congratulations! Please contact me via email (you can find it on our about page).

John “Spartan” Nguyen

John “Spartan” Nguyen is the editor-in-chief at Nerd Reactor and is based in Orange County, CA. He is a graphic designer and illustrator.

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