Do your children have lots of toys?

Discussion in 'Transformers Toy Discussion' started by SydneyY, Dec 9, 2012.

  1. SydneyY

    SydneyY @syd_tfw Veteran TFW2005 Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2005
    Posts:
    11,515
    News Credits:
    74
    Trophy Points:
    276
    Likes:
    +167
    Christmas is coming and my sons are getting some toys again this year (me, too! :D )

    While browsing toy aisles at my local Kmart, I overheard a conversation between a little boy and his mother. The boy was asking for a SW Clone Wars figure and the mother was replying something in the lines of "You have lots of those toys already....they are all the same!"
    Now my younger son is a huge SW fan and he buys those 3"75 figures when he has enough money. I can never tell him those toys are "all the same"...I know damn well Commander Wolffe isn't the same as Captain Rex. I even buy some for him on some occasions.

    My kids used to be into Bakugans and Beyblades. They spent quite a lot of money on those, and yeah all Beyblades looked the same to me, but I still couldn't tell them to stop buying those.
    Now those toys are stored in a box collecting dust...but who am I to judge them when I have boxes and boxes full of plastic action figures :redface2: 
    When they have their friends over, the friends are always very surprised how many toys there are in the house.

    I honestly don't know if it's okay or not because growing up, my own brother and I always had lots of toys. My brother(married with 2 kids)'s house looks quite like mine. His place is full of his Gundams and kids' toys.

    So the question to the parents on the boards - do you think you buy more toys for your kids because you like toys yourselves? Or are you more like, "they can buy their own when they grow up"?

    and the young ones who live with their parents - do your parents collect anything? Are they more understanding or even encouraging because of their own hobbies?

    edit: Just to clarify, I'm not talking about the money itself spent on the toys. By no means I am rich and shower the kids with toys after toys. One of my son's best mate's family is very well-off, but the boy hardly has any toys. he instead has tonnes of electric and PC gadgets. His dad works for Symantec. Go figure.
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2012
  2. CVprowl

    CVprowl Done

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2011
    Posts:
    9,933
    Trophy Points:
    312
    Likes:
    +3,102
    my 5 year old son has sooo many toys. ive been buying and putting things away for him since power of the force 1995. ive taken to selling off some things i havent given him yet because its pretty rediculous.

    im sure ive been buying for him because i liked toys myself.

    if he doesnt continue buying toys into adulthood thats fine with me. if he doesnt ill try to save them for him so he can reopen them when he reaches about 30 years old like i did and appreciate them again with his kids.

    my 5 month old son will get to play with the same toys when he is older. i dont think he can complain about hand me downs because they are in great condition and soo many. ill rewrap stuff that has been put away and buy some new stuff for him as well. but the majority of toys are there already.

    maybe they will like it enough to want to split my collection between them when they are older. :)  they can pick which to keep from their own collections as well...
     
  3. SydneyY

    SydneyY @syd_tfw Veteran TFW2005 Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2005
    Posts:
    11,515
    News Credits:
    74
    Trophy Points:
    276
    Likes:
    +167
    ^That's very nice and thoughtful of you :)  I never thought of re-wrapping toys for the second child...maybe that's why my younger one went for SW instead of TF..... :eek: 
     
  4. Erland

    Erland Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2012
    Posts:
    4,296
    News Credits:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    262
    Likes:
    +439
    Well, lets see...

    My oldest daughter collected Bratz dolls, and had shit tons of them, until we moved last year, they were all in one box, I put them on CL and said by to them, to the first person to pick them up before the trash truck got them.. she's the one that wanted to get rid of them.

    My next daughter just started to collect Monster High dolls and only has a few but, she has tons of crap toys, like cheap mcdonalds type of things.. and clothes, she loves clothes..

    My son, the youngest, likes TMNT and Dagedar. He has like 6-8 of those and 2 of the play sets. TMNT he has a couple of the figures and a friend gave him a couple of the 90's figures all of them are Leo's, my sons favorite figure. He also has a bunch of crap toys too.. He has a few Transformers but, he insists that they stay with my figures so his DOTM TC, BB, Laserbeak are with my collection, good thing since I don't have them and need them.

    Normally, I will go through their toys every so often and throw away the stuff I know they have not used in a long time. If I don't they end up collecting too much crap.

    They all have shit tons of stuffed animals.
     
  5. CZ Hazard

    CZ Hazard @DiabraveSid

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2009
    Posts:
    11,694
    News Credits:
    12
    Trophy Points:
    362
    Likes:
    +43,360
    I wouldn't have lots of toys if I'd had kids.
     
  6. yesidoknow

    yesidoknow Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2012
    Posts:
    837
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    101
    Likes:
    +3
    I wouldn't have lots of toys if I didn't have a kid.

    My son is only two and a half but he already enjoys the transformers or robots as he calls them and TMNT. I found my old beast wars and gave him the ones that were still in one piece. I had alot of classic turtles figures that are now in his toy box. To bad this started my OCD of trying to collect transformers again. lol.
     
  7. Breakdown96

    Breakdown96 ‘Cause I'm Mr. Brightside

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2012
    Posts:
    1,594
    Trophy Points:
    126
    Likes:
    +6
    With me not really toys I asked for, I ask for some transformers here and there, a Breakdown and Dreadwing hopefully at Christmas but it's usually toys or something about ps3 games.
     
  8. Hyperoptic

    Hyperoptic G1-Junkie

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2009
    Posts:
    5,611
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    287
    Likes:
    +628
    I don't have any kids, and we don't plan on having any either. But if I did, they would definitely have plenty of toys. IMHO, toys and playtime have a major roll in forging important aspects of ones personality in later years. At least it did for me. Being a 3D character animator, toys and action figures played a major role in developing my imagination and gave me a good base for the skills I utilize today. I'm sure the same would apply to most individuals, weather they are conscious of it or not.
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2012
  9. cliffjumperftw1

    cliffjumperftw1 I have no idea what I'm doing.

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2011
    Posts:
    1,701
    Trophy Points:
    232
    Location:
    California
    Likes:
    +368
    My mom sort-of collects porcelain roosters, she definitely collects dogs lol. Sometimes she dissapproves of my collecting, I got her into collecting grimlocks, though it's small so far(animated grimlock, g1grimlock, and wst grimlock) But by the standards of people here, my collection's small( about 85, probably more)
     
  10. Incepticon

    Incepticon |-+-|

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2006
    Posts:
    17,138
    News Credits:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    387
    Likes:
    +12,261
    My sort of secret reason for getting duplicates of certain high-end figures to keep MISB is just in case I ever decide to have kids. Should I ever have a son, damn sure he'll know the toy franchise that I followed for the majority of my life. :) 
     
  11. WheelWave140

    WheelWave140 Hate's not cool, dudes!

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2012
    Posts:
    2,164
    News Credits:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    222
    Likes:
    +1,347
    Well, seeing as I'm 13 and don't HAVE children, this isn't my thing. But my dad always buys me lots and lots of toys, and I think it's because he never got very many as a child and he always loved them. I think he's the real reason I collect.
     
  12. Gingerchris

    Gingerchris Telly-headed Tyrant

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2005
    Posts:
    16,021
    News Credits:
    11
    Trophy Points:
    387
    Likes:
    +2,246
    I don't have any kids myself (as far as I know :p  ) but I do have a nine-year-old niece. I did try in earlier years to get her into Transformers, and although she does think they're cool she never really played with the few I gave her. I think she wasn't that great at remembering how to transform them. She's got an old head on her though and likes ornaments and books so it's always cheap and easy to find something for her, even if it's from a secondhand shop. It doesn't matter what I give her, she always appreciates it. I'm extremely lucky she's the kind of kid that doesn't want the newest expensive fad item. She doesn't live a rich life so she knows the value of things she gets.

    She likes Power Rangers and I find stuff at car boot sales to give her, which she loves even though things are often missing the weapons. She's certainly not bothered if it isn't the newest thing and MISB. This Christmas I've found her the Power Rangers base from SPD for £6 at a car boot sale. She's going to flip her shit when she sees it, just like she did a couple of years ago when I gave her a box full of about fifty Power Rangers figures.

    She likes Nintendo DS too and there are always stalls at car boots selling games for as little as £2, even with their boxes and instructions intact and included. So this year she's getting the SPD base, a handful of DS games, and some more notebooks for her to write her stories in (I write too so I think I've given her the writing bug). And knowing her it will all be the best presents ever. :) 

    So, to finally answer the thread question, I don't really buy her more toys because I like toys myself. I may have tried to begin with, but it's better to just buy her the things I know she enjoys, toys or whatever it may be.
     
  13. tikgnat

    tikgnat Baweepgranaweepninnybong.

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2002
    Posts:
    28,148
    News Credits:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    462
    Location:
    Beneath the Loft, London, UK
    Likes:
    +27,032
    Ebay:
    Twitter:
    My little girl is only 1, so she doesn't have LOTS of toys yet... but I'm sure that will change.

    Personally I have a lot of toys because (like my parents) I am a hoarder. Seriously, my Mum will keep an absolute ass tonne of crap in the freezer, rather then rotate it out and eat the older stuff in her head the freezer is a magical box where time stands still. Until there's a power cut and PANIC.

    My Dad used to keep lots of old machinery, because in his head he's quite capable of fixing it and saving money that way... which is fine except he never HAD the time to fix it all and when he moved back to HK he got rid of a whole load of stuff.

    This has rubbed off on me, and being the younger child (one older brother) when I was growing up we weren't rich by any stretch of the imagination so I was always careful with the toys we had. There was a definite distinction between 'mine' and 'yours', I have a G1 Starscream in my loft that is still 'his', even though he's probably forgotten all about it. So because we were so careful with the toys, I still have a lot of them from the 80's.

    I've sold off a bit (Starcom, Mask) but generally I have a lot of old toys that one day, when my daughter is old enough I will play with her. For instance I have an old Torpedo run game in the loft, mint complete, the only thing gone wrong are the little rubber bands have deteriorated. No matter, I've already sourced some new ones. Anyway one day when she's able we're going to set it up and blow up each others ships.

    Today I play with her toys with her (wooden blocks, that kind of thing), we've already got a big dolls house for her to move onto. I agree that playing with my daughter helps her learn. Everyday she picks up new things from us, stacking blocks to make towers is a new one for her.

    Anyway right now we're the ones selecting her toys (by and large) and when she starts to consciously decide on her own what she wants hopefully we will have instilled in her an understanding of the value of things. I dunno.

    I still remember a conversation I had with a friends daughter, at the time she had a younger brother who basically broke every toy he got his hands on (although he's much better now). Anyway she was amazed I still had my G1 Optimus Prime, which was probably bought in... 1986? She just couldn't fathom how it had survived so long.

    Edit
    I also have a fair bit of Lego too, in two big tubs under my bed, eventually it'll go to her when she's old enough. I still have all the instructions (except for a couple of 80's sets) and everythings already bagged up by set (in comic book bags) with the minikits in money bags.
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2012
  14. LegendAntihero

    LegendAntihero Banned

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2011
    Posts:
    14,163
    Trophy Points:
    217
    Likes:
    +40
    i don't have any children. There are some I like to mentor but I don't like to have kids around all the time. Still living with my own parents in fact.
     
  15. MidnightBliss

    MidnightBliss Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2008
    Posts:
    5,148
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    337
    Likes:
    +1,952
    Yes. I work hard and my son is spoiled. We collected Disney Cars together so he has about a million of those.
     
  16. SydneyY

    SydneyY @syd_tfw Veteran TFW2005 Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2005
    Posts:
    11,515
    News Credits:
    74
    Trophy Points:
    276
    Likes:
    +167
    Thanks for sharing, everyone :)  I suppose it's not very surprising many members with children intend to share the love for TFs with their offspring :D 

    Anyone whose children are into toylines you don't think are that great? Like I mentioned in my first post, it was very difficult for me to bite my tongue when my kids were buying Beyblades. Actually I confess that I voiced my disapproval a couple of times, but I still went Beyblade hunting with them because I did know how it was with toy collecting.
     
  17. bobbyjack

    bobbyjack Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2011
    Posts:
    3,181
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    167
    Likes:
    +22
    I never collected toys until I had kids. Now my house is full of them. My oldest daughter was into Zhu Zhu pets, so I have about 50 of them boxed up now in storage. My son was into Thomas the Tank Engine; we have a Train table still set up in his room. We quickily moved on from Thomas and got into Disney Pixar Cars. That quickily turned into my collection too, and we are still big into collecting those. Last summer when Dark of the Moon came out, we started collecting Transformers and then that collection turned into mine also. My son is going to be 5 right after Christmas and he still loves the Cyberverse stuff. My youngest daughter just plays with all of the toys we have all over over the house. She just turned 3 and I'm not sure what she will get into next. If it wasn't for my kids though, I probably wouldn't collect toys. Never had any interest in them until I realized how much fun they are.
     
  18. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2008
    Posts:
    25,366
    News Credits:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    412
    Location:
    The Lost Light
    Likes:
    +13,352
    What... I have children?? Eeek.

    Uhm, no I don't. I had a lot of toys as a kid. But my kids will probably never have so much toys. I don't have the money. But maybe I will never have kids anyway. Who knows.
     
  19. Molina00

    Molina00 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 2, 2012
    Posts:
    1,054
    Trophy Points:
    137
    Likes:
    +9
    Ebay:
    Anyone with kids younger than a couple of years don't have to worry about it. At that point all they want is a box.

    I personally don't have kids, but if I did I definitely would buy them toys and not discourage buying their own either. Probably not a whole ton of them, but maybe a Star Wars figure or Transformer once in a while. Don't want to buy them too much or they start expecting it all the time. I couldn't really fault them for having lots of toys either since I'm pushing 30 and still wasting money on this stuff. Besides, kids are supposed to have closets full of toys.

    I did get my 13 year old cousin into Transformers. I gave her a PRID Bee and some more popped up on her Christmas list. After the 25th she will have at least Bee, Arcee, Ratchet and Bulkhead.
     
  20. Gingerchris

    Gingerchris Telly-headed Tyrant

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2005
    Posts:
    16,021
    News Credits:
    11
    Trophy Points:
    387
    Likes:
    +2,246
    A few of my current TF collection were actually my brother's figures when we were growing up. Not that he'd get them back now if he remembered that fact. :p 

    I was really careful with my toys too and still have all my childhood TF. I'm hoping the kid will treat her toys just as well and still have all of them when she's older.