What was your "Must have" toy?

Ralphie had to have his trusty Red Rider BB Gun.
Me, I had to have a 1984 Huffy Stu Thomsen Signature bike.

I went with my dad and the neighbors to a Montgomery Wards Midnight Madness sale. I don't remember what dad was looking for, but I think he bought a Pentax camera, which he still has.
Me and my neighbor friend were looking around the sporting goods and I saw it.
A sterling white bike, with the handlebar breaks, knobby tires and foam pads everywhere, including the cross bar with black and white checkerboard pattern and the graffiti-style signature of Stu Thomsen.
I never heard of Stu. I had no clue who he was, but I HAD to have the bike.
My old bike, while still adequate, was a street bike. A brown, banana seat street bike. I lived in the country and a street bike didn't cut it in the woods on dirt trails.
Stu was one-of-a-kind. It was the only one left. I jumped on it and refused to get off. I begged dad to buy it form me, it cost $60. I sat on that thing for what seemed like two hours, while the old man shopped. Each time he came back to check on me, I asked him if we could get the bike. Each time the answer was No.
I was persistent, which seldom won me many arguments with the old man, but on this night I came away with my bike.
I didn't know it was mine until we were leaving. Dad said it was time to go, and I was nearly crying. I NEEDED that bike.
"Bring the bike," he said. My dad - at least then, wasn't much on emotion - save anger and rage - so him, buying the bike for me was something I always remembered.
Stu and I became inseparable, tearing up the trails in the woods around our house and setting all sorts of West Virginia land speed records, which still stand to this day to my knowledge - on the lane in front of our house. Stu and I were close for the next few years - until my drivers license took me to bigger and better things.
At the time, I thought that bike was THE shit. We weren't poor, but my folks were tight with a dollar and we didn't have a lot new stuff, especially toys.
Sadly, I don't know what happened to the bike. It languished in the garage for a few years before we either sold it at a yard sale or gave it away.



That's my story, what's yours?
What toy did you have to have?

 

;D

 

As a wee lad:


Then, a little later:


Just for the record, I abandoned science fiction forever in 9th grade. Unless one counts Ray Bradbury.

 

That would be mine. Now I want a Wii.

 

A stick with a rope tied to the end of it. I was pretty easy to please as a child.

 

GI Joes. More GI Joes. And even more GI Joes. Oh, and a Transformer or two. None of those shitty Go Bots!

 

Over the years had about four of these

 

Legos!

 

G.I. Joes and WWF action figures. Hot Wheels, too.

 

Them, too. I was a needy child.

 

"Was," he says.