Vending machine toys

Sticky hands, plastic rings, tiny keychains, all that good stuff. I always keep a couple of quarters in my pocket, because you never know when you'll run into one of these and they'll have something AWESOME you'll want.

I've recently built up quite a collection of "yo-yo balls" from them—those rubbery air-or-water-filled nubby balls on long cords that you can bounce around. They're a lot of fun!

Probably the best thing I ever got from a quarter machine was a working, knockoff Tamagotchi. It was awesome! Sadly, I lost it long ago, but still... a virtual keychain pet for a quarter is a good deal.

It kind of sucks that being old enough to buy an assload of these things also means that I'm old enough to not want them anymore.

I like vending machine toys too. At one point I collected these things or something similar◊ that came from them. I would say the best trinkets I received from vending machines would be Animal Crossing cell phone/DS charms and other random Nintendo stuff like that.

I have heard of some interesting vending machine toys that exist in Japan, including Haruhi Suzumiya stuff and that intrigues me.

edited 18th Oct '10 8:16:46 PM by LouieW

The Japanese are crazy about their vending machine toys. They get tons of high-quality stuff. Goes for a fortune on eBay.

I saw the Animal Crossing charms, but had no quarters on me, and then next time, they were all gone! However, I do have a large collection of rubber egg charms from some quirky Japanese site that they were selling over here for... some reason.

I got a Master Roshi taped to a Bugs Bunny figurine inside of a little plastic orb before. It looked like he was groping him.

^0_o

: If you have photographs, I have eyes.

Why am I necroing this? Because it's better than starting another topic on exactly the same subject!

I just recently discovered a great one: A rubber band shooter! It looks like a tiny plastic gun that folds up, with a long "barrel" with a hook at one end. It also came with some tiny rubber bands, like the kind you use for braces. You loop the rubber band around the hook at the end of the barrel and over the "hammer" (which looks like a spiky wheel), pull the trigger, and fwoosh! The rubber band goes flying!

It's remarkably effective. If I were a hooligan in elementary school, I would probably be all over this thing.

All you need to effectively shoot rubber bands is a thumb, or if you're feeling abitious, a clothespin.

Oh, my brother made a rubber band gun....

It works beautifully.

Shooting rubber bands with your fingers means frequently getting snapback. Also, it is not as cool as carting around a tiny plastic gun.

I also got a giant squishy cow today.

Oh, Stickystuff, how did I love thee? Let me count the ways...

(Sticky rubber ropes with little things on the end, like hands or lizards, which would stick to walls)

edited 27th Mar '11 9:49:50 AM by Barcode711

The one plastic toy I always wanted but never got was the supposedly functional spy microphone. You point it in the direction you want to eavesdrop, and listen through headphones. It probably doesn't work as well as advertised, but damn I could get some use out of that.

Or maybe just one of those rubber pigs that takes a crap when you squeeze it.

The little figurines were the best. At that stage in my life, I had played Final Fantasy Tactics and loved it to death, so I'd make entire battlefields and get out all of my little figures and have them take turns hitting each other.

I have this grouping of absolutely amazing little figurines I got. They're aliens or monsters or something, but they're really awesome. They're about an inch tall, made of remarkably sturdy plastic, and are excellently painted for something from a vending machine. They make great replacement players in any board game.

I like These things.

I still have the Arceus attached to my DS and the Totadile attached to my Mobile Phone.

Sticky hands are neat-o burrito, but sadly won't last a week.

Yes, the sticky stretchy hands are dead men walking when it comes to collecting every bit of dust and grime in your room.

Have you tried washing them?

Just keeping them in their little capsules works, too. They still pick up dust when you fling 'em at stuff, but as long as you keep them off the carpet, they'll hold up pretty well if you rinse them off.

I saw some sticky toys at a dollar store yesterday, not hands, but instead animals like frogs.