Die-Cast Construction is a Lost Art

To coin a very overused cliche, “they don’t make them like they used to,” about sums up the way I feel on the Toys that are being built for kids today. When I was a kid, which was a friggin long time ago, the toys we played with were not only built well, but you could seriously get hurt playing with them…which only added to the fun!

Toys were built to last back then…sure, back then was around 15 or more years ago, but nevertheless… Take for example the basic Tonka Truck…back then, they were made of the most durable Die-Cast metal manufacturers could find! A kid could throw them on the roof, have it crash down on the concrete, get it run over by the Ice Cream man’s truck and you knew that you could still play on until the sun went down. Not to mention the fact that if you tossed this monster of a metal toy at your friends, they might not get up for a few minutes! Again, more of the appeal to well built toys!

Today, the “so-called” tonka trucks are made from the world’s cheapest plastic so the manufacturers can save money making them and insure that parents buy more of them to replace the ones that get broken when tossed on the roof! The wheels are held on by the smallest plastic parts that are the first things to break! What a bunch of Crap!

Transformers are another Prime example! The TFs of 1984 were made again, of Die-Cast Metal Parts. I remember playing with them as a kid with my friends and no matter how hard you played, the worst that would happen to the toy is the paint would get scratched! Game on for tomorrow!! I found an old Astrotrain with one of his wings broken off. The metal wire that held it on was still there hanging out ready to poke out an eye! We still played with him. We considered him damaged in battle. Sure we got scratches, but what do you know…we survived to play another day.

Some of the newer Transformers look Awesome. Take Optimal Optimus for example. This is one of the largest most intricate Transformers I have ever owned. He is built pretty well, but you have to be careful. His arms and legs are attached with plastic ball sockets. Even in a normal transform, they can pop out. If you do this a couple times, the plastic gets dinged out of shape and you can’t even put his limb back on. With the Transformers of old…you needed a complete set of tools to dismantle one of them. I took apart one of the original Dinobots (Snarl) and found there were about 50 screws holding that bad mahamba jamba together. Not to mention that the torso was made of my favorite Die-Cast metal providing him with durability and bruising power!

My toys growning up were awesome! They were made well and lasted a long time. By the way, did I mention I have a friend that sent his XBox off for repair twice and it still came back broken? I have my Nintendo from 1987 and it still works Awesome!

I went to a popular auction site (which is obvious, but will remain nameless) and spent an hour or two looking up the toys that I used to play with. Tonka Trucks, Legos, Tinkertoys etc… There is a huge market for that stuff. Some people are buying it for sentimental value, but I emailed a couple of the bidders and some said it is because they were Awesome when they were kids and they wanted them for their children.

Maybe the Manufacturers of the popular toys and games can get it together and make some good stuff that will last. Who knows, people might buy it!

OPrimal – Chris Stecher