Do you have any toy army men in your home?

[qweek]

I have a few in my plants and one on the bathroom window. Throughout my life there have always been little green army men in odd places around the house, anyone else?

[Blueidone]

I don't have any anymore...but they were my son's favorite toys out in the yard about 30 years ago. For many years, every time I would go plant flowers or pull weeds in the garden, I would find at least one in the dirt. A few times they showed up in the grass, having worked their way to the surface. You see, when they were left there, we didn't have any grass [[new complex)...then loads of fill dirt will placed down and sod on top of that. It seems those little army guys know how to dig their way out of a predicament!

[ccbatson]

Not with dogs and little kids around...major choking hazhard.

[reddog289]

Mine are in 3 different places, At the house I lived in in Garden City, and in the yards and maybe alleyways [vacated] in the west side of Detroit. Stahalin St and Pierson St. My Uncle found at least a dozen of my soldiers in the backyard when he was gardening.

[eriedearie]

Oh yeah - we got a whole army of them! Our grandson plays with them when he comes over. The living room gets set up like a battlefield. You never know when you might step on one of them that he forgot to pick up! Those little guys hurt your feet! As a matter of fact, we raised 3 sons. I don't think our house has ever been without our own battalion.

[sumas]

Give it a break CC. My kids when they were young no doubt had several "chokeable " toys. Adult supervision is the key to averting injury. Adult lack of attention is the main culprit in children's deaths or injury. We lived for a period of time in a condo community with a pool. If I had $100 dollars for every time I pulled out a kid who was in danger of dieing, I'd be rich. The sad thing is the parents never even noticed that their kids were in distress.

[Meddle]

Mine all got melted under magnifying glasses on bright sunny days.

[Lorax]

Forty years ago my little brother would set them amongst the stone "logs" in our fireplace in Grosse Pointe, and crank up the gas and watch them melt.

He's now former-military and a super-liberal.

Gotta love our military and the great work they do turning our returning soldiers into freshly minted liberals.

Keep up the good work!

[rb336]

no, but i do have in my house a calcaneus with obvious evidence of Iron Age warfare

[Downriviera]

Used to have lots of the green army men around, and a few of the grey nazi ones, too. Over the past few years I would find a couple from time to time. But lately have not seen any. So It looks like a successful troop withdrawal here.

[Ray1936]

Jeez, memories. Had a full division as a kid, but I'm talking the late thirties. Like anything else from seventy years ago, they're long gone. Setting them all up and knocking them over like a row of dominos was a regular game for me back then.

[Jimaz]

Some younger folks might be surprised to learn that kids once made their own toy soldiers out of molten lead. You'd pour it into molds and could make as many as you wanted.

How times have changed.

[sturge]

I guess toy soldiers aren't cost effective enough for CC.

These made great target practice shooting them with rubber bands.

[gazhekwe]

I haven't found any in this house, but the only kids here before us were girls. I did find some pop beads.

[ptero]

How bout any made of lead? I had, now long gone, a bunch of cavalry guys and indians on horses in lead.

[ccbatson]

I am more concerned with the dogs than kids.

[qweek]

no, but i do have in my house a calcaneus with obvious evidence of Iron Age warfare

Do tell!

[qweek]

Delighted to hear your stories everyone. My Army guys are there to remind me to stay strong, and fight when I need to, I love em! Just little reminders I can play with! Happy Halloween Eve all. Hope it's a scream!

[Ravine]

Qweek, my little green army men still have a big crush on your little green army men.

[qweek]

My little green army man has blushing pink cheeks! I suppose my guys remind me when to fight and when to surrender!

[Pam]

No, but I have a lot of old Barbies.

[Ravine]

Pam, I'm sure other folks have already bent your ear with tales of how many villas in southern France you could buy, now, if you had kept those Barbies untouched & in their original packaging, etc. [[Which, of course, is ridiculous unless you, as an adult, have been collecting them as "collectibles.")
Actually, if you kept them in good condition, I suspect that they have some value anyway. Same principle as with baseball cards: A 1960 Willie Mays in perfect, new-looking condition is worth a ton o' cash, but since there ain't too damn many in that condition, one that's in presentable condition is worth plenty, itself.

I have about five 1969 Mickey Mantles; his final card, so it has his entire career [[in microscopic print) on the back. Good condition, but "perfect, new-looking?" No.

By big bro used to have some of those army men, but the thing he really collected was the plastic dinosaurs. We had a dozens of them. I wish I still had a few.
But I mean, he was really into it. He even sent a letter off, to the company that made them, with suggestions for different ones. [[He was rather paleontologically curious, one might say, but if you don't feel like even trying to say that, I'm willing to accept "nerd" or "geek" as a referential term for either one, or both, of us.) The company was cool; they sent a letter in reply, thanking him and assuring him that they would take his suggestions under consideration.

Of course, this was back in the early/mid 60's, when actual human beings with hands and fingers and stuff would write, and read, actual hand-written letters, using actual eyes with irises and retinas and stuff.

Some of you may remember this one:
There used to be full-page ads, sometimes on the backs of comics, for plastic soldiers of the ancient Greek, Trojan, etc. variety. They looked pretty impressive in the ad. In reality, they were about 4/5 of an inch tall, max, and weighed so little that you could barely get them to stand up on their little oblong bases.

[vetalalumni]

Enjoyable thread. No contributions on my part other than appreciation.

[slick]

I am surprised the middle generations here did not mention GI Joe,
was it a doll or a soldier.

Yes I had hundreds of little green men, some had terrible deaths
by fire, and who knows how many are MIA.

[elganned]

I've always thought that the place we get in trouble is when we suffer a disconnect between something's intrinsic value and it's investment [[so-called) value.

The intrinsic value of a toy--or a comic book, for another example--is as something you enjoy playing with. It's investment value, however, lies in how much it hasn't been played with, i. e., if it's still in the original package, doesn't show wear, etc., etc.

The housing bubble is just a larger manifestation of the phenomenon. Once we de-coupled the intrinsic value of a home [[someplace comfortable to live) from its investment value [[something that accumulates equity and can be "flipped" for profit), we got into trouble.

I wish we could just get away altogether from the whole "investment" mind-set and treat things just for what they are. A toy is a toy, for kids to play with. A comic book is a comic book. for people to read and enjoy. A record is meant to be listened to; a house is meant to be lived in.