ForeverBlog: Behold...the Power of Toys!

Most of the people who know me can immediately testify that I've got an encyclopedia of 80's knowledge. This came from music, movies, tv shows, and - most importantly - toys! As a young boy, nothing beat taking an action figure out of its packaging and introducing it to the giant playset known as my house. When I think of toys, I think of Legos, and action figures...quite possibly the backbone of modern male civilization.

Did you know that the term "action figure" was coined by Hasbro in order to set apart their GI Joe toys from dolls? While girls took their Barbie, Jem, My Little Pony, and Strawberry Shortcake dolls through endless accessorizing, boys took their GI Joes, Transformers, Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, andStar Wars action figures and threw them down stairs, mashed them together in neverending combat, and blew them up in the backyard with firecrackers.

Thankfully, my brothers taught me a less destructive way to enjoy my toys. The three of us used to gather all of our action figures, find every empty shoebox and cardboard surface in the house, and built custom fortresses. Then, we'd take all our unused socks and balled them up to become light, fluffy cannonballs of toy-killing artillery. Half the fun was building an awesome fort of shoeboxes and setting up your toy army, and the other half was throwing laundry until everything got knocked over. It was fundamentally awesome!

In my spare time as a kid, I'd build tunnels in a pile of dirt or snow, and make bases for my toys. I'd take empty toothpaste boxes and cut off one side to make elevators for my action figures. I had endless fun collecting figures based on movies, cartoons, video games, and tv shows. It was the source of so many hours of creativity and fun, that I can scarcely believe that I let my old toys get sold in recent garage sales. Rest in peace, you molded masterpieces of plastic!

Previously, I mentioned how awesome it would be to have a video game made from my books. I think it would arguably be even cooler to have toys made! I'd be lying if I said I haven't planned the characters and robots in The Forever Saga with their toy counterparts in mind. Stuff that seemed silly as a kid has become the basis for my writing creativity. Not everyone values fiction, and science fiction even less so, but maybe my stories will win over a few fans who realize that beyond capes, magic, robots, vampires, or any other popular fiction fad, there are tales worth sharing no matter how they're presented.

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