Greetings
Heh! Heh! "Memory lane" stuff, Eh?
Well, I'd like to play, too --
"
Atlantic" has already been mentioned.
I'll throw out a few more names (some of which have also been mentioned, previously) --
Airfix,
Italeri,
ESCI,
ROKO,
Matchbox.
[Some of whom made their real mark with hard-plastic "put-together" kits -- But, they involved using polystyrene glue, which Big Brother decided shouldn't be sold to children nowadays - potential drug abuse (aside from the mess it made of your fingers, if you were sloppy].
And we won't go into the many manufacturers of "lead" (!! We know about
THAT! Makes kids grow up stupid enough to vote for Republicans as adults) or "white-metal alloy" miniatures. [Might have to sign a waiver, or prove you are over 18, in order to buy them nowadays. Even sitting on the shelf, they might give off harmful, noxious vapors ...]
When I was a kid, the
Marx Company (dunno if they sold stuff outside the U.S.) marketed what they called "playsets" -- came in a BIG box (about the size of two skateboards side-by-side) and contained figures, and scenery, and usually a building of some sort, associated with a particular "theme."
[Fort Apache (Cavalry and Indians, a stockade fort, etc.); American Revolution (Continentals and British, a Georgian house, some walls/fences, etc.); Jungle Jim (Safari Guides and Zulus, some tents, and jungle huts on stilts, assorted jungle animals, etc.) and so on.]
Figures were about 54mm size. Other stuff was either plastic, or metal (!!) - that had to be folded, and "insert tab in slot and fold over" to form a building, or wall section.
On Christmas Morning, seeing one of those big boxes under the tree used to be a real treat, and foreshadow hours of interesting, imaginative playtime.
[And, you could buy about 50 of them, for what a pair of "name-brand" sneakers go for, nowadays ...]
Of course, the stuff had sharp edges (stamped metal, after all ...). And many small parts (you used to get cannons, with little cannon balls that you could "fire" from them, with a little spring).
Can't sell that stuff to children nowadays, in the U.S. -- choking hazard, [contemplate trying to swallow a 54mm figure - soft plastic or not ... apparently, the Powers That Be figured that parents nowadays can't convey that caution to their children, so they stepped in].
And, of course, "no sharp edges," or anything that would ".. put your eye out ..," and other protections ".. for the good of the child .."
I can still remember all-metal toys, that would throw sparks when run over the floor [Horrors!] and all-wooden toys [too dangerous -- Junior might hit his playmate with it, causing serious injury]. To say nothing of BB Guns [don't carry one around the neighborhood today, since someone -- even with a badge -- might shoot you dead if they happen to be carrying a real one, and see you ...]
Toys nowadays have to be too big for a 3-year-old to swallow (although some still manage it, somehow -- at least, according to their parents' lawyers) and softer than the average child's head (which seems to be getting lower every year).
Anyway, the Marx Company used to plaster a slogan on the side of their boxes, ".. Another fine Marx toy. Have you all of them? .."
Can you imagine??
What a marketing strategy to use on impressionable children!
"Mom! Dad! I still need 4 more before I have a full collection!"
"Well, Junior, you can have one of those four, or you can have the Michael Jackson Replica Gloves you said you wanted last week."
"..Errmm ..."
[The above discussion only occurs among the rich people, of course. Everyone else has .. other ways .. of dealing with such demands ..]
I had a good time, as a kid. Don't think owning a BB gun or having metal toys hurt me in the slightest. And falling out of trees I tried to climb only made me stronger (I think).
[Although, I do remember sitting around a (small) tree one time, with some friends, throwing darts at the tree trunk. Kid across from me missed the tree, and buried his dart in my knee.
Didn't hurt. But, I couldn't pull the thing out!
So, went up to Mom, for help.
Yeah, she got it out -- and then beat the living cr&p out of me for being so stupid!
Parents nowadays would sue the parents of the other kid, and the dart manufacturer, and the people who owned the land the tree was on ...]
Life sure was simpler, back then.
Cheers
DARoot