Kids Toys are the Worst

We have two little kids, ages 3 and 4. I cringe at every birthday and holiday to see what new crappy toys, with life expectancies measured in hours or minutes, we'll be saddled with. Here are a couple toys that were classics from the 70s, but the versions made today are just pieces of crap.



First up is Milton Bradley's Don't Break the Ice. We've gone through two of these. First one broke in half when I tripped over it. Key feature of suckiness here are the cheap plastic hammers. They probably cost them about 2 cents each to make. But, even though the game its for 2-4 players, they cheap out and only give you two hammers. Would love to see what the original version of this toy looked like. I think the hammers were wood.



Second is a toy we just got today. Were shopping on a site called Back to Basics Toys. They sell a lot of classic toys from the 70s. Actually seem to have generally good quality stuff. We were looking for a non-plastic version of Lincoln Logs for a Christmas present. Found one here, but with a 3-1/2 month back order. But also there we saw Rock'em Sock'em Robots, and on a whim, bought it. Classic toy from the 70s. Aside from the possible example of questionable parenting, (encouraging a 3 and 4 year old to punch their siblings in the head?) the toy seemed like it would be fun for them, and kitschy for me. My friends and I used to play this for hours at a time, and put the toy through quite a lot of abuse. It lasted for years. No such luck with the 2006 version. Within 10 minutes one of the robots arms was jammed and unusable.