One memory that kept popping up occasionally over the years is of my mother lending my neighbor my favorite matchbox car. By the time I'd gotten to him, he'd crushed it. I don't think he meant anything by it, and I don't have bad feelings to either one of them, I just know how much that sucked. I do remember that nobody gave a shit, and I never got it replaced.

Late last year I decided I was gonna get it back, so I've spent a few hours spread over some months when I was bored at my pc looking at matchbox size red Dodge Vipers from the 90s. Most had the wrong color, or extra decals, or the wrong wheels, etc. Eventually I found it, ordered a copy, and it got delivered about a month ago. I don't play with it, but it sits on my desk at home as a sort of fidgeting toy.

I'm sure it says some bad shit about my psyche but to me it's a nice reminder of a time when I was much happier. Maybe I should get some beyblades.

After years of my family saying I'm too difficult to buy gifts for, and me saying, "What the hell are you talking about? Just get me LEGO!", one of my kids got the message and has been getting me LEGO sets for Christmas every year.

It might have started when I bought myself the Cinderella Castle set.

The only problem I have is I'm 53, not 13. Sitting hunched over a pile of LEGO bricks for hours leaves me in pain. I need to come up with a space where I can play without injuring myself.

I do it all the time. Toys are super fun.

I wanted a Tyco RC car as a kid. My parents actually got it for me after waiting nearly a whole year for my birthday, and it was one of the most expensive birthday gifts I'd ever received.

Turns out it uses a proprietary battery that wasn't even included in the package! We'd have to go out and buy that separately, which made the thing like 50% more expensive.

We couldn't afford that so I agreed to return the RC car and pick something else.

I've decided to boycott them for life. Stupid Tyco for running my birthday with a stupid toy that doesn't even include the battery.

The one toy I wanted more than anything as a kid was the Jurassic Park Compound.

I see them on Ebay going for $100-200, but that's just for the building itself. It'd be pretty pointless to have a big fence with no dinosaurs in it, so I'd have to buy some dinos too. And I need action figures to sit in the watchtower and watch over the dinosaurs, you gotta have that.

And then the realities of adulthood set in: I wouldn't enjoy this toy as much as I would have when I was a kid. Kid me would probably spend hours with this thing crafting big elaborate stories about wrangling dinosaurs and stuff like that. Nearly-40 me would set up the toys, make sure everyone's in cool poses, and then it would probably sit on a shelf. I'm not really sure it's worth it.

So while I'm sad I never got the toy as a kid, I think going back and buying it nowadays would be kind of an expensive hollow victory.

I never got that Gameboy I wanted, but that's OK, I'm made up for it using emulators years later.

I wanted the micro machine van that opened as a town with the little mini cars.

I always wanted one of those little cars kids can drive. Nearly 30 and almost done saving up for my first car. I’m very excited!

Not exactly a toy.

Wanted the black toyota pick up from back to the future when i first watched the movie as a kid.

Ended up buying a version of it without remembering how much i wanted that truck as a kid.

When i saw it the first time after buying my truck i thought holy shit adult me bought child me his dream vehicle without realizing it

(It was not the exact same but might as well have been)

Nah. a 2.5 meter aircraft carrier is not really any more practical today than it was in 1986.

I had a Commodore 64 as a kid but we couldn't afford the disk drive (it was as much as the computer). I had to settle for a cassette drive. About 15 years later, I was at a garage sale and saw a C64 with disk drive but no cords. I asked the seller if it still worked. He said "For a dollar, does it matter?". Still have them.

I wanted a Sega Genesis for Christmas one year but I already had a Super Nintendo that I played all the time and my parents didn't want to pay for another console. When I was in highschool, a used game store opened in my town. Back then game collecting was a lot cheaper than it is now, so I was able to get a Genesis for like $30 and I enjoyed it.

When the 3ds was relatively new, I saw one being sold at a garage sale for $20 bundled with Pokemon. Clearly just some old person who didn't know its value. I wanted it so bad, but my dad said no. I didn't have a game console until the Wii, and never had a handheld. I've always been a huge gamer, but I was basically forced onto PC lol.

I loved Transformers when I was a kid. My parents never worried about putting food on the table but we didn't have a lot of disposable income, so I never had the Power Wheels or the Action Figures, or whatever when I was growing up.

One day in my late 30s I realized I could just buy Optimus Prime. So I did. He's hanging out on a shelf in my office.

True story. I was in a comic store and saw a statue of a character I loved as a kid. He wasn't an action figure when I was young, so technically I'd never wanted it as a kid. Anyway, I saw it and wasn't going to get it, but then I realized if I didn't buy it I'd be kicking myself for years.

I brouhgt it and it sits on my shelf. I seldom think about it, but when I do I'm happy i have it.

Yes!! I bought a Lite-Brite.

Jep, I bought a Furby when I first moved out. After about 2 months it stopped working (didn't even drop it). So I cut it open, the cheapest piece of electronics I ever saw for that price tag.

Foreshadowing for what I would soon learn about the adult world in general.

No. I always wanted steel battalion but it's even more expensive now and I still don't have an original Xbox to play it on. If yall don't know it's a 400usd game that comes with a super big controller for a mech suit. You have to use that controller for it and if you don't eject from your mech before it explodes the game permanently deletes your save file.

I always wanted a cool Voltron toy with all the lions, but I never got one. When Lego released theirs I bought it straight away.

When a good friend had a child I bought them a big Brio set. Every kid should have Brio.

My friend and his brother both do woodworking as a hobby, they made custom track, bridges, tunnels, and rolling stock. It's now a whole room in a house. It should last a few generations.

Trypticon. He unfolds into a base, and he walks in Dino mode, and he's so freaking cool.

Yes, this apple puzzle. I wanted it sooo bad and I got it in my late 30s and it's awesome. And they make a bunch of other ones now. I've done the skull, shark and pirate ship too. But the apple man.. the apple.

https://3dcrystalpuzzle.com/products/apple-red

No... but thanks to emulation I could play all the games I couldn't play as a kid because we couldn't afford consoles or VGA colour screens.

I did. Bought myself a Traxxas Slash 4x4 and got to drive it a bit before my SO at the time took it upon herself to tell me how much of a man-child I am for wanting/owning one and it took the wind right out of my sails. Only thing I have now it a Traxxas Bandit that I have no idea if it works. Have no batteries. Sold my nice Transmitter when I was forced to sell my Slash. Don't know if I will ever get into the hobby again even though I am single now.

Sort of. My grandparents spoiled me growing up so I had a lot of fun toys, but lost them all in a house fire in high school. I've been slowly picking up some of my favorites ever since, everything from Mighty Max to Transformers to OG Gameboy games.

Oh yeah! I wanted a small RC helicopter, quite simple thing, never got one. I remembered that a few years ago & really got into pov drones. Another consideration was the factual impossibility for me to get a real pilots licence. So I took the cheap road. My wife's opinion may vary.

I just want to say thank you to OP. I am going out and treating myself to all the stuff little me wanted

I bought a ton of ps1 , ps2 and ps3 games recently that I couldn't afford before. Also I buy my son Lego sets he too young to build himself and make them for him because I find it really fun .

yes. do it, op. make younger you proud.

Why grow up otherwise? Also, why grow up samewise?

I always wanted the Decepticon Soundwave and all the tapes. I wound up getting a masterpiece of him and all his tapes. Got him set up on a shelf in my room.

Good news - you still can!

Seriously, open a new tab on your browser NOW and jump on eBay or whatever and buy it. Even if you aren't surprised by how much fun it still is (which you probably will be), you'll be able to stop regretting NOT having it. No downside!