We reminisce on our favorite childhood toys and delve into memories of specific character-building moments. Audra recalls the excitement of older cousins’ 1980 Hot Wheels City Play Set and Castle Grayskull fortress, and admits her own favorite toy was selected for its smell. Chuck and Sean geek out on Matchbox cars, model rockets, and the eternally-cool RC cars and airplanes, and appreciate how their current knowledge of vehicles was founded on play. And we run down the Week in Geek, explain the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) official statement last week that “No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found,” hear Sean’s recommendation of the new action-RPG Dragon’s Dogma, and give some much-needed props to the economically-challenged and vital SETI program.
Awesome show guys! A change of format every now & then is a good thing 
On Seaquest DSV:
I remember one of the arguments made in the pilot episode (if i’m not wrong) was that deep, DEEP sea-worthy craft are by default worthy of space travel (?). Something about the way they were skinned. So, in the DSV universe, they were experimenting in designing spacecrafts by putting them in deep sea conditions.
Also, one of Dom deLuise’s boys was a series regular.
Sean’s uncle Jack:
Ok, I’m slow, but did Uncle Jack build real cars or toy cars? Any how many of Uncle Jack’s creations are still around?
On RC airplanes:
I’ve always wondered what would happen if the plane flew out of RC range? What measures are there to prevent that?
My dream RC plane would be one with an in-built camera and full HUD system, so that I could fly-by-instrument as well as from the plane’s point of view - rather than standing on the ground and hoping I got the aerobatics right.
good poddage
regarding the difficulty in RC airplane piloting … I posted this months ago with this dudes unique solution.
Along with Top Gun music.
OB
One of our fellow GWCers actually made the Lego Falcon and a couple other big ones for a lot less by buying the pieces in bulk rather than buying the kit.
A](http://forum.galacticwatercooler.com/showthread.php?12419-I-am-going-to-build-my-very-own-Millennium-Falcon&highlight=lego)lso, have you guys played any of the Lego video games (like Lego Star Wars)? They have a nice sense of humor to them while still being fairly true to the source material.
Can we branch out this discussion to collectibles that adults buy? Anyone has KISS figurines from their hey-day in the 70’s? Or Spawn/Batman/Predator vs Alien dolls?
Nope, he built real driveable cars for all his nieces and nephews. The last one I saw and actually got to ride in was my Aunt Pat’s Nova. it was British racing green with gold mags and a black int. It looked like a hot wheels car. The others were all traded off when the girls got older or moved away.
It just keeps doing what the last signal it got said it should be doing when it gets out of range. And really the best defense is just to not do that. Though I hear you have some options about that now days like shut offs after a few minutes or such. I didn’t have that back in the day.
I had the Football game Chuck was talking about. I got bored with playing it and wore the run button out. So, I took it apart. It was the first time I saw a circuit board and tried to figure out what went where and what did what.
Audra, my daughter always groans while watching toy commercials, “Why are boys toys cooler than girls toys?”
The toy I played more than anything else. This —V
On the RC aircraft front, I work with a bunch of RC aircraft folk and the old piston engines are dieing off fast from what I understand. Most have gone to battery powered, easier to work with, safer and cheaper in the long run.
Regarding Legos … fast forward to present day … and at least once a month a co-worker of mine, after his martini Friday lunch in a nearby upscale mall returns to the office with several $100+ Lego Box Sets.
His entire intent is to arbitrage the value several years in the future for the “discontinued” versions and then Ebay them for bank.
If they could have panned the camera down in the Mos Eisley bar, I’m sure there would be several Lego retail bags with these “scum and villainy” folks hording the “toys”.
OB
P.S. my “co-worker” eats alone … /shrug
I totally had that Lego kit, Talos. I remember building many spaceships of my “own” designs that were totally align variants of that kit, too.
I was more of a story guy than design guy. I traveled to the corners the universe through Space and Time with that set. In fact, when I was in High School my English teacher assigned that we write once a week in a notebook. He placed no parameters around it. His only stipulation was to write something/anything once a week. Since I was older and no longer “playing” with LEGO. I wrote the adventures I had with that LEGO set in this notebook. It was a series of week-to-week episodes. There was a dossier and back story for the characters. It spanned a history of 150 years. My teacher encouraged me and wondered why I never wrote before. I could care less, I was so engrossed…let me be honest…obsessed with telling this story. I had to put it on paper. Even after the school year was over, I continued to write.
Unfortunately, my family faced a crises and I lost track of the notebook and the story. Um…yeah…but that is for another time…
My Dad was also into model trains but I never had the true drive for it. I remember Dad making a model train table out of plywood that took up an entire room in our house. Although the table is still long gone the large cardboard box full of collectible trains can still be found in his home office closet to this day.
We also tried our hands at model rocketry. But I could never get enough “bang” for the buck at that time in home modeling. Rocketry would have to wait for me until college when I started playing with real fire including a $21 Million hybrid rocket and a small satellite - Falconsat. But that is a story for another time.
I tried to get into model airplanes but the starting price was always beyond my reach.
With all due respect Sean, I found slot cars too confining. I’m more of a wide open road sort of guy.
Which leads me to this:
It’s not gas powered but she was my love for 3 years of my life. I was constantly upgrading motors, servos, controllers, batteries, shocks, etc. About the only thing I could never get the hang of was paint. I ran that thing so wide open hot I melted plastic, I melted batteries, and I melted the crystals controlling the radio frequencies. I won my fair share of races and more importantly learned to care for something that was mine. I purchased everything about this car with my own money including race day fees.
It’s more a pile of junk now than machine. I haven’t even tried to power it up for more than a decade now. It’s a testament to past memories, childhood wonder and the start of becoming an adult. I had almost forgotten it was in my basement until this cast. Thanks for the trip down memory lane guys.
~Shooter Out
PS - I had that very same blue lego ship set. Someday I’ll have to reorder all the parts and built the set again.
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