Toys I Played with Growing Up But Didn't Own Part II: More Playsets, More Vehicles, and Some Figures

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing quite well for a Monday. It's a busy week down here in the Geek Cave this week as I have three awesome blog posts for you, and I'll be on The VHS Club Podcast this Thursday evening at 9PM EST to talk about Batman Forever with Katie and Nat. Today though, I'm going to be talking about toys. Back in February I did a post on some toys that I played with growing up, but didn't own, and I talked about a lot of playsets and a vehicle. Today I'm doing part two of that post. Here we've got two more playsets, two more vehicles and some figures. So, let's get into it.

Okay, so the first playset I wanted to talk about is the Ewok Village Playset from the original 1983 toyline for Return of the Jedi. I'll probably talk about this set a bit more over on The Star Wars Journal at some point, but I brought it up today because Perry from The Cassette Phase YouTube channel got this set recently and has set it up in his '80s den office. His video on it actually sparked my memory of playing with it when I was in the hospital one time. The playrooms always had random toys on their shelves and in bins, and I remember being unable to go to the playroom so one of the volunteers brought this set to me in my hospital room. I had no idea what it was since there weren't any Star Wars figures that came with it, but I remember playing with it on the little table that every hospital bed has with it. I probably used random Playmobil figures on it.

Next is the Bridge Playset from Playmates's Star Trek: The Next Generation toyline that got released in 1993, along with the second wave of figures. I played with this at someone's house one time. I don't remember whose house it was or anything. I just remember seeing it and my eyes widening because I'd seen the commercial for it on TV and never thought I'd ever see it in person. My family wasn't able to buy this playset for me when I was a kid, but it's an absolute Holy Grail for my toy collection as an adult. Hopefully I'll find it for a decent price at a convention or something like that.

The first vehicle I wanted to talk about is the Batmobile from Batman: The Animated Series. This was a toy that my best friend, whose name was also Josh, brought to school one day when I was in either Senior Kindergarten or grade one. We played with it together on the floor during recess. I actually have this toy in my collection today. It's sitting on my shelf along with the smaller Hot Wheels Batmobiles that I have as well.

Next up is the Crash Cab from the Incredible Crash Dummies toyline. I had the game for the original Nintendo Game Boy, but I never had any of the toys at home. This was one I played with at the hospital. One of my many roommates, Justin, had this toy and his parents had brought it to the hospital for him during one of the times that he and I shared a hospital room together. It was fun to crash the car into stuff to smash it up so that we could put it back to its original configuration and then smash it up again. What else could we do when we weren't being poked and prodded and there wasn't anything good on TV?

The first figure I wanted to talk about was Aero Strike Batman from the Batman Returns toyline. Like I mentioned when I talked about Batman Returns last year, the movie and merchandise from the movie were everywhere in 1992. I think Justin had this figure and it's the one I played with with the Batcave Command Center playset. I also remember playing with it on its own in one of the playrooms at the hospital. I think another kid I knew had it as well, but I definitely played with it at the hospital in 1992 or 1993. He didn't have any of the accessories that you can see in the image of the packaging for the figure though.

These next three figures were ones I played with with Josh at school. I loved this figure because you could change him between Bruce Wayne and Batman fairly easily. I think Josh also had the Bruce Wayne figure that came with the regular Bruce Wayne car that Kenner released as part of the Batman Returns toyline, but I also remember playing with that particular figure in the Batcave Command Center playset that Justin had. That Bruce Wayne figure had a purple shirt.

Next was Combat Belt Batman from the Batman: The Animated Series toyline. This was the only Batman figure from that toyline whose Batsuit actually looked like the one that Batman wears in the show. Which is why I remember it so well. It also sticks out to me because Josh and I played with it in the Batmobile toy I talked about earlier. It even came with the standard cloth cape that every superhero figure came with in the '80s and '90s. This is another holy grail for me, because I have the Batmobile already and I'd really like a Batman figure to go with it.

The third Batman related figure that Josh and I played with together at school was the Robin figure that also came out as part of the Batman: The Animated Series toyline. Josh didn't bring the turbo glider accessory to school with him, but we played with the figure on its own. I think the cape was the same one that the Robin figure from the Batman Returns toyline that I had. From the pictures I'm seeing on the Figure Realm toy database website, it looks almost exactly alike. Which is cool. 

The last toy I wanted to talk about today is the Genie toy that came with its own lamp from Aladdin. You could even place the figure into the lamp and then rub it to pretend you were summoning the Genie for a wish. I either played with this toy at the hospital or at school at OCTC. It may even have been one of Josh's toys that he brought to school, but it also could've been someone else's toy that I played with at school. I don't remember for sure. I just remember thinking that the lamp was really cool and that being able to actually place the Genie inside it was great.

That's it for me for today. I've got six more toys to talk about in part 3. But for now, I'm going to cap it off here. If you were born in the mid to late '80s and are a '90s kid, I hope this blog post sparked a memory for you, as Perry's video for the Ewok Village playset on The Cassette Phase did for me. I'll be back on Wednesday for this week's post over on The Star Wars Journal. Until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care!