I miss how large the world seemed to be and how the only thing that mattered was what you were going to do that day.
I fondly recall playing outside, causing havoc on my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle tricycle, having sword fights with my green, pink, white and yellow light saber, and acting out epic battles between Transformers and X-Men action figures.
I guess you could say I was quite a cool little kid, but I was missing something that was key to any boy’s childhood.
Question: What was every little boy’s favorite animal?
Answer: Dinosaurs.
So what exactly was missing from my child-warrior repertoire? What would a saber-wielding child be without a pet dinosaur that you could ride? Sadly I grew up before such a toy was created, but as I was walking through Toys R Us a month or two ago, I came across every boy’s (and girl’s) dream: a Triceratops toy named Kota you could ride, feed and interact with.
My life was complete (though a Raptor or a T-Rex would have been better). I was absolutely fascinated by this new toy I was denied as a child of the early ‘90s.
After staring in amazement at the animatronic creature and high-fiving my girlfriend, I began to think about how kids these days have way better toys than we ever could have dreamt of at their age.
Think about all the toy commercials you have seen lately. I have seen commercials for Labrador retriever robotic pets, virtual reality games, and as I write this column, I just saw a commercial for a Nerf gun that has a light saber bayonet complete with lights and sounds (What?! Yes!).
Not only are toys getting better but also video games.
It’s obvious that game graphics on an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 absolutely dominate the graphics on a N64 or Playstation 1, but also the innovations that go with these systems is just unbelievable.
There is a game on Playstation 3 called “The Eye of Judgment.”
This game works like the Pokemon trading card game – don’t deny it, you all know what I’m talking about – only the game-board is hooked up to the Playstation 3 and using the camera the game comes with, the trading cards you lay down on the game board show up on the TV screen with the creatures they represent coming out of the card and fighting the opponent’s creature card! (Once again, what?! Yes!)
If I was an 8-year-old boy and saw something like that, my whole universe would be shattered. (In a good way of course.)
Though I am thoroughly jealous of modern-day kids, I feel as if they have been robbed of great TV programming. What happened to Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel? They are completely different from what they used to be and, in my opinion, they cannot compare to their former selves.
They have been completely clouded by teenage diva shows such as “Hannah Montana” and “iCarly,” and have been denied shows such as “Are You Afraid of the Dark?,” “Ren and Stimpy” and “All That.”
Though the future of children programming seems bleak, they do have some glimmers of hope with shows such as “SpongeBob Squarepants,” “Chowder” and “The Misadventure of Flapjack.”
Though our children TV shows were superior to the modern-day versions, I would gladly become a child today if given the chance and trade my TMNT tricycle in for a triceratops.
Ryan Hoevenaar is a junior graphic design major from Washington. He is the Scout layout editor.
Direct questions, comments and other responses to rhoevenaar@mail.bradley.edu
