Your biggest Childhood toy disappointment

[in99flames]

As the title says! What is a toy you were so excited to get...but when you got it...it totally sucked and was nothing like advertised(at least to you)?

Mom jokes are welcome.

Mine was definitely "Talkboy". I watched that pasty albino Macaulay Culkin(sp?) use one in Home Alone 2 as a kid. I thought it was cool. Then after I got one...it chewed through batteries, the microphone sucked ass...the speaker wasnt clear...it was a total shitbox. Disappointing.

[Otaking]

Sinclair Spectrum Computer, these were massively popular here in the UK in the 80s so my parents bought me one, one birthday and I hated the thing. The games on tape cassette hardly ever loaded correctly and when they did they looked like complete shit compared to the awesome arcade games I would play in the local chippy (English thing).

[ccovell]

Speccy -> TRS-80 and Chippy -> Pizza parlour and you have the N.American thing.

I never had any big disappointments.  Minor ones were Sea Monkeys, Tiger LCD games, and the M.U.S.C.L.E. wrestling ring, which broke on its first day of use.

[crazydean]

What's a Chippy?

[Otaking]

What's a Chippy?

Chippy = Chip Shop

Chips are called fries in the US.

Here's what typical English chips look like, with battered fish.


Chip shops sell fish and chips and are everywhere here in England for the past maybe 80 years?
Most popular food here.
In the 80s and 90s they often had arcade machines in them.

[SignOfZeta]

Talkboy...apparently you weren't a very smart kid.

I know that's kind of rude but...as a kid cassette recorders were a huge part of my life. Most of them ran on batteries and had a microphone. There were THOUSANDS to choose from. The ones branded "Transformers" or "Barbie" or "Home Alone" aren't going to be the good ones. Even a kid knows that.

Maybe by the time the 90s came around kids had forgotten about the cassette recorder? At least enough that you could make a new one that offers no features you couldn't get from something Radio Shack had been selling for 20 years? I suppose that's possible.

I got this one when I was six:



I loved it. I took it everywhere and recorded all sorts of things. My a$$hole stepdad lost his shit and threw it at a wall at about 100mph and even though that broke the lid the thing kept going. Panasonic is such a good company. Apple and Samsung and Amazon are going going to burry them just like they burried Pioneer but they had a good run. Always stressing quality over flashy design or low prices. The good guys.

As for disappointments...I don't know. I usually stuck with action figures, which tend to be pretty predictable. If you liked Snake Eyes you'll like Cobra Commander too.

One time I made a trade with a friend. I had a Matchbox branded Gakken Legios and I traded it for...the GI Joe base. No idea what I was thinking. Such a choice makes buying a Talkboy look genius.

[nectarsis]

We were a lower income family so we got the cheapest (read crappiest) toys.  I wanted FFII for the SNES..I got Drakkhen...I wanted Jetfire I got Twin Twist/Topspin, etc, etc.

[Gredler]

Missed the toy part, was too quick to respond


I guess my most disappointing toy would be a gameboy when my brother got a turbo express. That shit seemed so weak compared to the glorious obey he was blessed with. I ended up loving my gameboy, and he didn't even keep his express, so I guess it worked out. Initially, however, I was super sad and jealous


Biggest childhood dissapointment, that wasn't a toy, was adulthood. f*ck getting old.

[crazydean]

What's a Chippy?

Chippy = Chip Shop

Chips are called fries in the US.

Here's what typical English chips look like, with battered fish.


Chip shops sell fish and chips and are everywhere here in England for the past maybe 80 years?
Most popular food here.
In the 80s and 90s they often had arcade machines in them.

I knew that chips=fries and crisps=chips. I didn't know you guys had restaurants dedicated to fish and chips. After a quick google image search, I am a bit jealous because we don't have as much access to such foods. I have had fish and chips in the States, usually at places imitating the "British Pub" or "Irish Pub". It's quite good, but I've never seen the mushy peas. That part doesn't look so good. 

Sorry to hijack the thead. I can't remember any disappointing toys. I'm sure there were several, but they don't stand out in my mind like the good toys because you never play with them. Now video games, I can name a few bad ones that I got.

To Zeta, all kids are dumb and naive. That's part of being human, seeing a TV commercial about some stupid shit and getting all excited. Then, once you get it, you realize it's just garbage. That's where the saying "live and learn" comes from. I remember wanting a Talkboy after seeing Home Alone. My parents didn't buy me one, but I did get to play with a friend's once. I remember it being garbage, and I was glad that my parents didn't get it for me.

[Medic_wheat]

I am so drawing a blank on an example.


Kind of in the same boat in regards to poor family.


Nearly everything I owned as a kid was a hand name down from a cousin. The few things my parents bought for me new I thought were amazing as I was just happy it wasn't a hand me down.

[TheClash603]

One time for Christmas I received a remote control car that had a wire attaching the car to the remote.  I remember you could only drive the thing about 6 inches away from you, so it was essentially useless.

I enjoyed most everything I got growing up, mostly action figures or video games, I really had to think hard to come up with something bad.

[esteban]

GI JOE styrofoam glider did not work AT ALL. I tried even the lightest figures and the damn glider nosedived every time you threw it.



CAP GUN
Every single cap gun I ever had broke after a few minutes. SUCH SHITE.




'85-'86

I saved up money for months and months to purchase a Grand Prix (Kmart) b/w mini TV!

I dropped it the third time I used it...it never worked again.

Since I wasn't allowed to have my own TV...I was unable to return it to the store for a refund.

It was such an awesome little TV.


CASIO SK-1
Loved this keyboard and accidentally fried it by using the wrong AC adapter like an idiot.

A loud POP! And it never worked again.


ARE YOU NOTICING A TREND HERE?

[SuperGrafx]

'85-'86

I saved up money for months and months to purchase a Grand Prix (Kmart) b/w mini TV!

I dropped it the third time I used it...it never worked again.

Since I wasn't allowed to have my own TV...I was unable to return it to the store for a refund.

It was such an awesome little TV.

Wow, talk about a flashback!  I remember those "Grand Prix" branded TV's and radios back in the day.  They had them at Kmart as well as a regional dept store called AMES. 

As for my biggest disappointment, I'd have to say IKARI WARRIORS 2: VICTORY ROAD on the NES.  What I expected after playing the arcade version, and what was actually delivered in terms of a final product scarred me for life.  Such a soul-destroying disappointment to say the least.  I honestly felt bad that I begged my parents to spend the $$ to buy it.

[Zero_Gamer]

As someone else said, I never really had a let down with general toys and action figures. You could always see/touch them in the store, so you knew what you were getting.

So most of my let downs were games. It sucked back then... No internet for reviews, limited game exposure in magazines.....

So here are my top gaming let downs:

Desert Falcon for 2600. I asked for the 7800 version, and got the 2600 version which wasn't as nice looking.

TMNT for NES. Everyone knows the complaints with this one.

Pools of Radiance NES. I was used to the C64 and PC versions. NES looked like ass in comparison.

Keith Courage. I really hated JP anime style cutsie games back then I.e. Kid Nikki NES.

Gun boat. Nuff said.

Those are the ones that really stand out.

Edit: Best gaming surprise for Christmas? Gaurdian legend NES. Got it randomly, didn't ask for it, and from the box and publisher I thought it would suck. Man was I wrong! That game rocked!

[johnnykonami]

A couple of things I got were just my fault for not understanding how they worked.  I got a infra-red wireless nes advantage type controller I was sure I could hook up to my C-64 (I didn't even own a NES as a kid), I think I figured the serial type jack on the C-64 looked similar in my memory to the one on the NES, when it's obviously pretty different in all regards.  I found out at some point that ColecoVision (which I had), C64, and Genesis were all compatible controller wise, so that may have fed into my delusion.

Another time I got Sorcerer's Apprentice for the Atari 5200.  I only had a 2600 (Well, through the Coleco adapter) and I guess I didn't even know the 5200 was at the time.  Figured it out when I got the huge cartridge out of the box that would in no way fit into my system.  Got it like dirt cheap during the video game crash years at like a drugstore or something so it wasn't a big deal.

Games that disappointed me over the years.... GB:  Alleyway, Dr. Mario.  TG-16/Duo: SimEarth (returned that to the store!), Space Harrier, Double Dungeons.  Saturn: Quo Vadis.  In general I was a pretty content kid/teen with my stuff though.