Toying Around

I was at a meeting yesterday,
and one of the guys had to bring his son.
He didn't have a babysitter and no one had a problem with it.
I ended up paying the kid more attention than anything else.
No. I am not a pedobear.
I was simply entranced by his toys.

Let me elaborate, this kid had a damn suitcase of action figures.
They were all from the Marvel universe: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Hulk, Spiderman, Venom, Wolverine, Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Spiderwoman, and more that I can't remember off hand.
I do recall he had 22.
(I was curious, so I took inventory.)

He laid them out,
one by one,
making sure each one could stand up and wouldn't fall over, positioning the legs at just the right angles.
And he didn't put all of the heroes against the villians, no.
The two were integrated, forming new sides.
Two lines of warriors facing each other.
Once he completed his set up, he left them be.
They served more as figurines than as action figures.
He sat there and admired his artistic direction.
If one happened to fall over,
he'd let out a sigh and immediately made it stand at attention once more.

It wasn't until he knew the meeting was coming to a close
that he finally took action and commenced the battle.
I'm not sure who won.
They mostly just ran into each other and fall over after one blow.

Why did I stare at the child and his toys all meeting?
Because I felt such a connection to what he was doing.
I remember spending countless hours in my room
playing with my Power Rangers, Beetleborgs, Transformers,
Batmen and robins, Marvel heroes, and other random characters.
I remember the frustration with making certain figures stand up
or getting them into a unique pose that no other figure could pull off.

I created storylines where they all crossed paths.
Each was basically its own tribe.
Some were friendly, some worked together,
others terrorized the world (I created for them).
And I would often rotate who were the villains
or simply move the story to their point of view.
[It should be noted that I didn't have any villain action figures.
I never liked any of them. I only wanted the heroes.
But of course, every hero needs a villain. ]

I had a very strong connection to my action figures.
In all honesty, I think I have them to thank
for helping me want to persue a career in writing.
When I tell you I had storylines for days, I mean for years!
It was on some As the World Turns shit.
Romance, tension, betrayal, adventure.
Oh, and the battle scenes?
I was a fucking fight choreographer in that bitch.

I'm strolling down memory lane so hard right now.
Most of those actions figures are still in the toy chest in my room.
My nephews have attempted many times to take them away from me.
I constantly tell them no, only parting with ones I have less of a connection to.

Yes! These are the exact ones.

But I tell you this,
they will never get my Original Power Rangers!
It's bad enough one lost Trini as a toddler
and the other broke Jason's leg 4 years later.
As you can see, I have yet to truly forgive them.

I guess the whole point of this is to say
I miss my action figures.
I might just have to pull them out.
I could use a good reason to make up a story again.
Word.