{"id":7216,"date":"2013-11-07T11:28:06","date_gmt":"2013-11-07T16:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=7216"},"modified":"2013-11-07T15:25:17","modified_gmt":"2013-11-07T20:25:17","slug":"listening-post-toys-that-were-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2013\/11\/07\/listening-post-toys-that-were-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening Post: Toys that were us"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"No<\/a>

No Bucks Rogers Atom Pistol or other toy weapons in the Toy Hall of Fame, so far.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Associated Press this morning reported<\/a> that the Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester’s Strong Museum will induct two more toys today in their annual ceremony. This year’s nominees include:<\/p>\n

“Bubbles, chess, the board game Clue, Fisher-Price Little People, little green Army men, the Magic 8 Ball, My Little Pony, Nerf toys, the Pac-Man video game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the scooter and the rubber duck.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I never went for the Little People, and was too old to appreciate TMNT, and was not secure enough in my masculinity to be seen with a My Little Pony, but I played with all the rest.<\/p>\n

At the Hall’s website, they list all the previous inductees by year<\/a>. Of the 52 inductees from 1998-2012, at one time or another I owned and played with all but ten, and my sister had six of those. Sorry, Star Wars action figures, G.I. Joe, Atari 2600 and Nintendo Game Boy–guess I grew up too soon.<\/p>\n

Out of this year’s crop, my money is on rubber ducky, (I spent an unusual amount of time in the bathtub with ducky, ignoring my brother and sister pounding on the door) and on the little green Army men (I was the 99-star general of my elementary school.)<\/p>\n

Breaking news<\/strong>–the 2013 awards came out while I was writing–It’s rubber ducky<\/strong> and chess<\/strong>. The little green Army men will have to press their assault next year. Chess out-strategized them, I figure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love the down-to-basics approach of the curators, who have included the ball, the blanket, the cardboard box and the stick in their list of honorees. My brother was once fond of throwing a blanket over the kitchen table, transforming it into a stagecoach.<\/p>\n

But there are some serious gaps left, providing plenty of fodder for future years.<\/p>\n