Little Green Plastic Army Men

[Urban Prairie]

Haha...best article I have read on Cracked in a long time!!

http://www.cracked.com/funny-6421-plastic-army-men/

As a kid in the 60s, my best friend and I played with them for hours and days on end during warm spring, summer and fall weather in his backyard, that had a large sandbox, his mother bought him literally hundreds of them, including planes, jeeps, boats, half-tracks, tanks, ect...


We also played "big army" with life-sized plastic toy machine-guns, pistols, rifles, helmets, and grenades, it seemed to me that his mother bought nearly every new board-game and toy that was ever made back then, and spoiled the hell out of him, (and indirectly, me too) but of course that was decades before computer games became popular, and which took all of the imagination and interaction out of kids' entertainment, including getting far more physical activity than just sitting in a chair, pressing buttons, and staring at a LCD/TV screen.

It also likely has a lot to do with why I see so many more obese or overweight kids nowadays, as I hardly ever stayed indoors after school, as a child or teen, and only stayed/played inside when it was raining, the late evening, (or when the streetlights came on) or while reading/doing homework. My friends and I played outdoors most of the time, even during the coldest days of winter back then, and often played street-hockey, built snow-forts and snowmen, had snowball fights or skated on home-made backyard ice rinks.

[RandomThoughts]

1. I learned alot about imaginative play back when I was 8 or 9

We use to do some of that stuff also, also had some sword fight like playing. Tree houses as the enterprise and things like that.

But the most interesting thing is a friend or two went and saw a movie, one of the Conan movies. Then he was doing really weird, what I later learned was from the movie, Conan sword stuff.

In his mind he was replaying the movie as him as Conan when he was playing at sword fighting. The overlap of the imagination, the movie info, and his actions was really interesting when you compare it to the way we would sword fight before he saw that film.

there is something intrinsic about how imagination and putting yourself into a story effects how people think and act.


In the movie 'Wall Street' a movie against concepts of greed actually, many adults put themselves into the position of an actor in that film, and live out their work lives with that imaginary model in their minds, merging that character ideology with their works and thoughts.

Play is fascinating, but much of it continues to adulthood. How many people buy a car to carry over a image from movies or car commercials, or buy cloths for a carry over of status attached to those items put into thoughts from items seen in stories.

[Urban Prairie]

2. I remember that the movie "Wall Street"

Certainly helped to make wearing suspenders a hot clothing-accessory fad for corporate wanna-bes as aspiring CEOs, CIOs, stockbrokers, raiders, bankers, and entrepreneurs in the late 80s.

It made me (((snicker))) at them, because I absolutely could not stand seeing my corporate co-workers ass-kissing, playing golf with, and generally doing what was needed to suck up to my employer's management.

But hey, maybe that is why I rarely was ever offered or received a promotion..:shrug:

[RandomThoughts]

14. Yea I havn't done that either.

I figured out most of that stuff is people wanting to feel dominate over your, the power thing. Many reasons some people need to feel that way. I found good bosses did not need that from employees, and get better results.

Never been about that, then again I don't have beer and travel money either. So :shrug: just another reason to change society. Or someone could explain why it is needed by the analogy of chiefs and Indians, and the comments that most people need someone to follow. A normal aristocrat response, and even one I don't disagree with, but when the aristocrats use that against the people that trust them and follow them, that gets me upset.

[Joe Fields]

3. I was lucky and had the best of it, while growing up.

We lived in the suburbs, but there were literally hundreds of acres of woods just on the other side of our backyard fence. The street that I lived on was teeming with kids, many who were my age, so there was no lack of finding something to do or someone to do it with. We all got along very well and our bonds grew strong through the years. We had periods where we spent a lot of time in the woods, blazing a series of trails, building tree houses and just exploring nature. We had backyard games, usually made up versions of tag (tire tag, cigarette tag, etc...) and while still quite young did as you did, playing in sand boxes. My friend Gary, and I usually built mansions and farms in the sandbox. We played army, when I was older, with ranks, obstacle courses and such. But like you, I was ALWAYS playing or doing something outside. Hell, unless it was raining, our mothers wouldn't let us inside. Sandlot baseball and football games were staples during the prospective seasons, and when the weather was too bad to be outdoors, there were always plenty of board games to play.

Back then life was simple. Life was good.

[RagAss]

4. You could buy bags full of soldiers...

Americans
Germans
Russians
Japanese

We would spend hours setting them up and then throw firecrackers at them until there was nothing left standing....

When it snowed, we played tackle football.

I miss being 9 years old !

[MiddleFingerMom]

7. True story (ALMOST all of it): Once, when I WAS an Army man, we played full contact football...

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...in full combat gear (including packs but minus weapons) in the woods
in the snow.
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I have NO idea today how none of us suffered serious injuries.
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There was so much excess testosterone floating around in the air on
that day that the local environment was affected.
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You may have heard of...
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...Treepenis Forest.
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[murielm99]

5. It was the same for girls.

I don't remember playing inside unless it was bitterly cold or raining. My mother, and all the other mothers, would chase us outside. We rode our bikes everywhere. We played whatever sport was in season.

I actually got into trouble for reading too much. My parents wanted me to be outside, doing physically active things. If I wanted to read a book, I had to take it outside and climb a tree with it.

[murielm99]

6. Dupe. Oops

[pokerfan]

8. Mine went through hell and back

Explosions, burns, amputations and various other trauma.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gNgHOYb9WV8/STN7Jj1i23I/AAAAAAAADKI/NHvdJ8WJDPs/s400/Army+Men.JPG

[texanwitch]

9. I had at so many little green army guys and all the stuff that went with it.

A big bag cost about $1.

They were so much fun playing with them.

A friend and I would battle each other's little army guys with marbles.

We would line them up and try to take them out.

Who needed computer games.

[JCMach1]

10. OMG the wars my cousins and I waged with rocks and dirt clods...

[Blue_Tires]

11. who could forget this classic?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T313g5x5ZUE

[MiddleFingerMom]

12. "Battleground" with William Hurt as the hitman from "Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes"...

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...was one of my favorite stories of his -- I had no idea they had turned
it into part of a film (or TV series?).
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Click on the Real Audio clip at the end of the second paragraph.
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http://www.thereviewspage.com/showreview.php?r_id=278
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[bikebloke]

13. Had a bag with all sorts

I'd set up a mountain with a blanket piled on top of a hamper by the stairway railing. As my battles raged, I'd gradually pull the blanket out reducing the folds serving as cover, winnowing both armies.

Then outside, we'd play Call of Duty in real life in both the neighbourhood and the woods. We even had something called the Gun Game where we competed for the best spectacular death.