All I Want For X-Mass/Hanukah is –

Two front teeth?  What strange, horrible and twisted things happened to that kid that all she wanted was body parts?

Me?  All I wanted was every darned space, army and  action toy they could cram into the Sears Christmas Catalog.

Sad to say, while I was the recipient of a fair number of space and army toys back in the early 60s, I never did get all I wanted (lest you think my parents were pikers, I did get much of what I wanted).  This has led to a fair amount of quirky adult behavior, not the least of which is my insistence on visiting the toy aisle of WalMart at least once every trip.

What I wanted most of all was everything.  But then, what kid doesn’t?  Now I lament ever having played with some of these, wishing I’d had the forethought (at age 5) to ask for two of everything so I could pack them away against my retirement.  (Some of those toys are now commanding pretty decent auction prices – on the order of 1,000 times their original value.)

Time to get nostalgic.  Following are a series of images from toy catalogs displaying many of the toys I did (and did not) receive.  Maybe you’ll find an old fave in there as well!

Yes, I had a hobby horse, His name was Silver as the Lone Ranger was a popular radio show.

I also had a pedal car – a firetruck that was quickly converted into a garbage truck.

Space fired my imagination from the very beginning. It was called Cape Canaveral before Cape Kennedy, fyi.

One of my friends had Garbo and I wanted my own. Denied.

My brother – who had absolutely no interest in things SF got this toy one year. I failed to understand why.

Next to space, things military captured my imagination. This was one cool set and hours, if not days, were spent recreating numerous battles. Usually after watching Combat.

I had this Monkey Patrol helmet (as well as a first year issue G.I. Joe) This doubled as a space helmet for quite a few play sessions.

I naturally wanted this Moonbase set to go with my Cape Canaveral set. Seemed a natural progression to me. The parents obviously did not agree.

The Fireball was a much sought after toy and, while I did not get the Space City playeset (complete with cardboard HQ), I did get this one.

And I got a Seaview too, though from a different company’s offering. My set came with a bunch of plastic frogmen; the molds must still be around because they’re still making them.

There are a lot more:  I fondly remember a “Little Giant Toy Company of Hong Kong” playset that came with a spaceship (that I can’t seem to find images of anywhere) and a set of space marines and aliens –

…and I never did get any of those Major Matt Mason toys….

Steve Davidson

Steve Davidson is the publisher of Amazing Stories.

Steve has been a passionate fan of science fiction since the mid-60s, before he even knew what it was called.