Did you "Abuse" Your Toys?

[LadySiha]

Seeing so many of the cut hair, painted on, nail polished, and marker-ed ponies really got me wondering.  Did any of you guys do that kind of thing as a kid?  To your ponies, barbies, or any other dolls and toys?

My parents never had a lot of money, and new toys were always a treat (outside of holidays and birthdays).  It was very well known, in my house, growing up that if we wrecked our toys that way we wouldn't be getting new ones.... for a looooong time (even more long than normal).  The threat worked.  I can't say I ever remember my older sister or I marking on or cutting doll hair (though I think we had a baby doll that we put eye shadow on, but that wipes off  ).

[Sugar]

  I would have answered that no, I never did... and for the most part, I didn't (even though, as the only child {and worse, first grandchild} in a fairly affluent household, I had an embarrassment of toys)...

... but in going through some of my childhood Lincoln Logs (of all things), I found one of the green roof slats had been, er, altered.  I guess I had tried to build a ship at some point, as the slat reads (in Crayola marker), "Pacific Princess."   Of all the cheesy seventies shows to immortalize...

As for my ponies, however, they're untouched except by the hands of time.

[Sarahlacewing]

I always took pretty good care of my toys, especially my favorite ones.  My sister ripped the head off of my lovie when I was little and I remember I cried until she felt bad about it.  Like I cried and cried and cried and cried.  I don't think she ever did anything like that again after that.

[Sky_Rocket_Sammie]

My family didn't have a lot of money, so toys where always a treat. And I took excellent care of them. If they had been purposely busted, I'd have had to wait. Same went for my clothes, books and school supplies.

It taught me to take care of my belongings.

[Tap Dancer]

I'll admit I was very spoiled, and I had tons of toys. I treated most of my things well, but I inflicted a fair share of abuse too. I gave several ponies and Barbie dolls haircuts. (Scalped them is more like it.) And I did color on some things with markers. I even remember my Windy had a chewed horn.

[Rosencrantz]

I tried to take good care of my toys, but I didn't always know my own strength so a fair few of my ponies were missing tails and there's more than one broken barbie neck in my past.

...and also one time I had washed a barbie's hair and was drying it by the heater and it melted ._. This had the odd side-effect of making the black barbie's hair look actually natural, because it kinked it up. She looked nice, but I couldn't actually brush it.

[slyons]

For the most part I didn't ever "abuse" my toys, but I did think I could make a few "better" with modifications.

I'm embarrassed to say when I went through my pre-teen years and thought "Oh, well I'm never going to play with these again" and I turned my "Babysitter Skipper" Barbie doll into "Punk Princess Skipper".
She came complete with spiky/short, blue/green dyed hair (food colouring), a nose stud (a pin shoved through her head up her nose) pierced ears and marker tattoo's.

And I'm mortified that I decided to give my original Posey a marker make-up job, and boy do I regret that. I've managed to get most of the spots faded (thanks to the tips here!) but she will never be the same.

[banditpony]

Heck yeah!

But I kinda did it based on the value.
For instance, my hand me down Barbies-- I destroyed them to bits. And lol, I think that only happened once. As in, they were only given to me once. Which is good, I didn't want them.

But toys that were bought for me, I didn't destroy.

And toys from McDonalds, I was absolutely malicious to. I'd burn them with acid, chop them with a pick axe, see how much force it took to crush them.... Then there was a point no one would take me to McDonalds anymore. Which was fine with me, I thought the food was horrid, and I had to suffer to get that toy. ... <___< My favorite though was a decapitated unicorn that I turned into a necklace...

edit to say, we weren't rich either. :3

[melodys_angel]

Yes and no?  I may have been a bit on the creative side with a few of mine but 90% of the time I didn't do anything

[Eaglefeather]

I was always very careful with my toys, and when one would get the tiniest scratch I would be upset and have to keep it in a special place. I'm not sure why! My neighbor who was my age, on the other hand, was not gentle at all with her toys, and she often succeeded in ruining my own. The only modification I made to a toy when I was little was painting clear glitter nail polish on the claws of one of my dinosaurs. 

But don't get me wrong-I admire toys that have been modified and all scratched up, because it sometimes is a mark of love.

[BigHicks1977]

Its funny you ask this question...this may be the reason I am such a collector now and why MIP or close to mint is so important to me.......HELLO MY NAME IS DAVE AND I WAS A TOY ABUSER  I was a MONSTER to my toys and on top of it I was a spoiled brat......It feels good to get this off my chest ......But I have killed more toys than most people have ever owned I shot them burned them buried them I was like Sid from Toy Story and now I will spend the rest of my life protecting them and making sure they have a safe place to live...will they ever forgive me 

[GothMummy]

Oh goodness, No! I loved my toys and money was tight so I was super-careful with everything. I did do things that would now be seen as abuse though - I used to cut "Bridle paths" - two plugs of hair behind the ears of MLPs - so that the bridle sat nicely. I did this because all the ponies at the riding school had a bit shaved behind the ears! And all my MLPs had handmade saddles and bridles, so they had to be realistic.

I would never ever have scribbled on or given anything marker pen make up. I did make mistakes like washing toys that were not meant to be washed or taking out MLP tails to wash them (so the washers did not rust in side the pony) - laying them out in the garden and then them blowing away never to be found etc. And crying A LOT when I realised!


I also  remember washing Lickerty Split's hair and crying for ages when the factory curl came out though! Mum says I was inconsolable!

I would be so so very cross if either of my children intentionally abused their toys. I think I would box up all their toys and take them to a children's centre or give them to a charity - I would be that cross!

[tulagirl]

I was very hard on my toys and enjoyed them so much.  I wish I had taken better care of things but I was a very busy, fast moving child and even a cloth doll was a great swimming partner for the back yard pool.  Mom never stopped me from doing what I wanted with things. Its surprising anything lasted at all.  Believe it or not I have many of my childhood things. My blue jeans always had holes in the knees. I can remember mom patching them over and over just for play clothes outside.  I was all girl, but very much into sports and playing with the boys.  We would run all over the neighborhood and at times the toys went with us.  I lost stuff, my friends lost stuff but when I look back, I had more fun than my cousins.  They never touched their toys much for fear of messing them up. I wanted to enjoy life.

[starflyer425]

i never did it to MY toys, except maybe in the "oh no she was kidnapped and now shes bieng tortured" kind of scenario (i was creative, okay) , and even then i was imagining it. but my sister barbies? oh, they've seen hell... cutting, bending, chewing, hanging, throwing, you name it, i did it. and i dont even know WHY i did. i guess i just hated that blondie with a weird growing passion.

[Koudoawaia]

There were only a couple I was mean to and they were both great favorites despite that. I had great fun twirling my Popple around and around in the air by her tail. After years of that, her tail was hanging on only by one side. >> Then I had a rubber snake that I named Slither. I bought it with my own money when I was a kid and was so proud. Now even though I genuinely did love Slither and he was one of my favorites, he ended up without his fangs, tongue and somehow part of his tail missing because I'd pick at them in times of boredom.