Yes, it's that old favourite, the Viewmaster*. I loved this when I was a kid. It was like a slideshow but all 3D and right there up against your eyes with people pointing towards and poking sharp things at you! We had two of them, naturally, so that the Brother and I wouldn't fight over it. We found a way around this, equally naturally, by fighting about who was looking at what reel.
We had a good selection and they're all still there in the little box, somehow surviving being punted around in various rounds of decorating. It's representative of the tastes and should come as no real surprise. The Muppets? Check (both the regular and The Muppet Movie reels). Doctor Who? Oh yes (Tom Baker in Full Circle for those of you who are curious). Transformers? As if you really have to ask. Spider-Man? Doing whatever a spider can, right there. All a little worn from plenty of enthusiastic Viewmastering but still in perfectly usable condition.
The real surprise, though? They still make them! I honestly thought this had died out in the 80s. I may have to get me to a toy shop...
* The red one we had seems to have disappeared, though - the remaining one is purple.
7 comments:
I think I just figured out what my kids are getting for their birthdays.
Oh my goodness! I LOVED my red view master! I treasured it. I kept it forever. I also had girlie reels...Cinderella and such. But I also had wild life ones (surely you had those too...)
I can't believe my mom threw mine out! (wipes tears...)
But you better believe I bought all of my kids each one and made them promise never to get rid of such a classic....
Veiw master was one of my favorite things..that and my pathological lying magic 8 ball...
:)
I had one, too, about 100 years ago. And I got one for my daughter just a couple of years ago... with all the Disney princesses. Amazing they're still popular, when you think about it, given that they don't DO anything and all toys seem to need to DO something these days.
Wow... I just sounded really old there, didn't I? Crap.
I tried to give my kids one of these for Christmas one year. It entertained them for about 13 seconds. Stupid kids.
I longed for one of these and never got one. I'm so old that they only existed in black and the discs were black and white and all educational with dinosaurs and major city views (Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Taj Mahal....).
A friend of mine had one and she hated when I came to play because all I ever wanted to do was look through her View Master. It was magical.
Ooooh, I loved these! Mine hd My Little Pony and Care Bears slides. And... SHE RA!
mjenks - Which puts in line for Greatest Dad style awards...
Sweet Cheeks - Yep, all hail the mighty red Viewmasetr! I mean, the purple one's good and all, but I miss the red one...
Diane - I thought exactly the same thing when looking at the website. It felt like an analogue leftover in a digital world...
Kurt - Maybe they secretly love it and just don't want to admit that in front of you for fear of not looking cool. Or they could just think it's crap. One of the two.
kapgaf - You've just made me realise that I never had one with dinosaurs. I want one of those now. Well, at least you got some vicarious Viewmaster action.
Anna - I never had you down as a Care Bears type. Maybe Strawberry Shortcake... Live and learn.
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