Play

 

When I was a kid, I loved playing with action figures. Ok, dolls. Call them whatever you want, they were fun. They gave a degree of realism to a kids already active imagination. The earliest one I can remember was the venerable GI Joe. Mine had the “realistic” fuzzy hair and the “kung fu grip”.  I’d play “war” with him. That included setting him up meticulously behind a barricade of tree limbs, or rocks, and then throwing rocks, or dirt clods at him and yelling “incoming!” It was the beginning of a fascination with men at war that would devour many hundreds of hours of reading time in my lifetime.

When I was about seven, we moved to Georgia. The main thing I recall about the trip is being packed in the back seat with boxes all around me, playing with my Sir Lancelot Knight action figure, complete with armored horse. I’d gotten it for Christmas. It was a long trip, I suppose. I didn’t notice. I was too busy slaying dragons.

I’d have to say my favorite action figure growing up had to be Johnny West. His accessories were plentiful. He had all kinds of gear. Six-shooter, rifle, canteen, saddle bags, along with his vest, hat and gun belt. This guy was made of solid plastic that firecrackers would blacken, but never hole. BB guns wouldn’t even make a dent. The only flaw was that the legs, arms and head were held onto the body with an interior rubber band set up. As durable as the material was, he was prone to becoming a paraplegic,  or even decapitated,  with a lucky shot. You could slag him up with matches rather well, also. Not that I played with fire as a kid. That mattress blaze was entirely an unfortunate accident, Mom. Really.

I think one of the reasons I liked Johnny West was that my brother, Joe, had a Sam Cobra figure. He was a “Black Bart” kind of villian for the same toy line, Marx. We had some pretty good adventures playing together with those guys. We’d be in our room, with pillows for mountains, having gunfights and chasing bad guys.  It was in the years before your older brother goes off to have more grown up fun with his older friends. Such are the ways of life. We had fun, though.

The great thing about these toys was that you used your imagination. That’s really what the best toys do. Today’s toys are awesome. There are plenty of action figures, too. I love to cruise the toy isle of stores, just to see what’s out there. The advent of the superhero movie explosion has brought out a plethera of cool action figures. A lot of my favorite Marvel characters are on the world stage now, and I couldn’t be more excited. Yes, I’m fifty three. I dont care.

I have a few action figures even now. I aquired a Captain Kirk from the early seventies from my Mom’s friend, who was getting rid of some of her son’s old toys. He’s in his late fifties, but I can’t imagine why he’d wanted to part with it. I bought a Captain America from the comic book store some years ago, before the movies came out. I’ve always loved the comic book. I grew up loving all of Jack Kirby’s creations. Somewhere tucked away is a figure of Mister Fantastic and the Thing from the Fantastic Four. I’d originally given them to my kids, when they were little, then put them up when they had outgrown them. I’d told them how the four of them were my “Fantastic Four”.  Clearly, I’m not going to outgrow them. Same story with a bag of Lord of the Rings figures. Orcs, Boromir, the Ranger, and others, including weapons and accessories. My kids all grew up hearing me read “The Hobbit” and all three “Lord of the Rings” books. They even played with them for a time. Afterwards, I just couldn’t throw them out.  Ok, I might be a bit of a hoarder, sentimental or not.

I don’t keep them to collect and resale them. I’m not that adult about it. I just like em. If I were just a tad less self-conscious of what other people think, I’d play with them even now.  I’m not sure my wife wouldn’t start the commitment process if she walked in on seeing her hubby in the floor, pitting Captain Kirk against Orcs. I try to exercise a bit of restraint.  As it is, I guess I’ll have to wait till I have a grandchild to pass them to. It’d be awesome to play with another like minded individual that shares my love for adventures in space, the old west, Tolkien’s world, and  the superhero universe. It’d be well worth the knee-creaking hardship of getting down on the floor with a six year old that might just bear a slight resemblance to myself.

Kids today have enough realism, maybe too much, in their play life. Video games, virtual reality, and total immersion into the digital world can take away a child’s best attribute: their own imagination. I’m a fan of video games. One of the original fans, I guess you’d say, since my generation saw the advent of “Pong” and “Space Invaders”. The wide array of stand up, coin operated games that spawned the arcade hang outs of the late seventies and eighties ate my spending money with a passion.  The advances of the last twenty years have brought the medium to level I’d have never imagined possible when I was dropping quarters, back in the day. I just hope parents will remember what really makes a toy great, and great for the kid, is one that lets him play out his own adventures, in their own imagination. Plus, you can go outside with your action figures and they’re even more fun. Be careful to keep the matches and lighters put away, though.

Never stop playing, Dear Reader.

K.S.