I choose clouds and rainbows

It’s Christmas time and your scouring the Sears catalog circling everything you want/need for Christmas from your parents. And then there it is, the ultimate present… The Omnibot 2000. It’s almost like it’s meant for you, right? Except for the fact that in 1984 it was retailing at $600.

Alright, now come back to reality, it’s 2011 and there is no such thing as a Sears catalog, there is a Target on every corner and an occasional Toys R Us. For a moment there I thought that I was really missing out on this decade’s toy selection. But now, as I look back on what is really going on in the land of toys, I realize that I have never been so wrong.

Recently I got my brother’s old Tomy 2000 Robot up and running and had this realization. He got this gift in 1984, when it was the hottest toy around. This puppy has been in seclusion in a corner of my basement for years, going through multiple floods, numerous moves, dropped, neglected, and ultimately forgotten.

Sad, I know, but proud to say that today Tomy is up and running.

Here’s a question. How much better do the kids today really have it with their crazy cool toys and all? When I think of the toys my nieces and nephews have had, and how long they really last, it makes me wonder how much better these toys really are?

If I were to go to a Toys R Us today and wander over to the Robot section, I would likely find numerous robots that resemble animals, such as a four-foot tall dinosaur robot or the dog robot that can only bark, move around, and sit on his back paws. Now, compare this to the awesomeness of The Omnibot 2000 by Tomy.

Tomy can pour drinks on a special serving tray – all done by programming/recording the movements to an old-school regular cassette tape, which could then be played back by using the built in clock. It has a speaker you could talk through and even record yourself for any secret missions the Omnibot was to go on- plus you can DJ it up with pre-recorded music and mix your voice in it! Seriously what robot today could pour you a glass of scotch and talk to you via speaker while scratching the tables with some Lil’ Wayne too?!

Now that that it is proven that robots are not nearly as cool as back in the day I decided to flash back to the toys of the 80’s and see if what I was thinking was correct or if I was just trying to make myself feel better about my age! Cabbage Patch Kids were awesome. They came with their own adoption papers, now kids get look alike American Girl Dolls. I admit I have one of those too, but I was way more addicted to my Cabbage Patch Kid….I mean they had tattoos on their bums. Then there were the Care Bears, which were the happiest bears ever. Today you go to the mall and “build-a-bear”, which isn’t nearly as charming as bears that live in clouds and slide on rainbows.

These days’ kids have Pokemon cards, but back in the 80’s we had Garbage Pail Kids and they were the coolest trading cards in the world! And lets not forget the Glo Worm, a pink toddlers buddy whose face lit up when you hugged her. Now you have toddler dolls that burp and pee…seriously sick, not happiness. I’m on a roll now….one word for you- Jem, no explanation necessary. My Buddy….the only real pal out there!

One thing that there really is no competition with today is video games-as fun as Atari and the first Nintendo were, video games are with out a doubt insanely better today. I do wish that when I was younger I had a Nintendo Wii and an iPod touch-sure would have been better than my cassette deck!