JDG had a great fic involving a Magic 8-Ball, titled Magic 8-Ball . It's really fun and really well-written.

Challenge: Can you write a story where a childhood toy plays a major role? Some toys to think about:

Etch-A-Sketch
Slinky
Legos
Barbie dolls

Can you think of any other toys, too?

A fun challenge.

Why do I have the feeling that Lois would detest Barbie dolls?

I think a good addition to the list might be hula hoops. Now there's something that I think Clark could do much better than Superman; that cape would be bound to get in the way.

Another addition: a yoyo

Joy,
Lynn

I don't know about that. While she might hate the dimensions I get the feeling she would have had the astronaut, President and other high-powered barbies that were made.

Granted that child-Lois might have played with a Barbie or two, but I think adult-Lois would look at her a symbol of a male-dominated society wanting subservient women with unrealistic bodies.

I may well be mistaken -- I never enjoyed dolls of any kind when I was a child myself -- but IIRC, there were no high-status Barbies in the 1970s when Lois would have been growing up. A quick consultation of Professor Google shows that astronaut Barbie was created in 1994. The earliest presidential-candidate Barbie I found came out in 1991. Both would have been after Lois' formative years. I would think when she looked back at the Barbies from her childhood, her hackles would raise.

I could also easily see her ranting about why were girls given dolls to play with but boys weren't. (Yes, I know that some boys do play with dolls, but even if Lois knew that, it probably wouldn't stop her complaints.)

Of course, canon doesn't have anything to say on the subject, so I guess what it boils down to is that a fanfic writer would be free to have Lois espouse whatever view would work better for a particular story.

Joy,
Lynn

I can see maybe Clark having a certain stuffed animal that gets passed down to his first born child. Maybe it was even passed down from Jonathan or Martha, from their own childhood. Clark is really sentimental about stuff, so I can easily see this happening.

Also, with Lois' upbringing of uncertainty/fighting/etc, I can see her having a stuffed animal or something that she would cling to when she was little to make her feel better--that now is sitting in the bottom of her closet .

And she did seem to like that teddy bear that Clark won her at the Corn Festival...

Laura

I was certain there was one earlier and I found it. In 1966, there is a pink-astronaut suited Barbie produced (I knew about it because it was part of a historical exhibit of sci-fi memorabilia at the science museum I used to work at but I didn't know the year until I also did a google search). I will admit that the pink suit looks NOTHING like the space-suits of that era. If she had this one it would have had to have come from a relative and be either a garage sale buy or a hand-me-down (from a cousin or something). Link to a site listing different kinds of Barbies.

I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing that out the earlier astronaut Barbie, Christina.

Joy,
Lynn

I get the feeling Lois would have traded dolls for books pretty early on. But if she did have dolls, Barbie or something like it has the advantage of being a "grown-up" doll that can have adventures, instead of baby dolls that just need caring for.

But I picture a 10 year old Lois in a room with a full bookshelf and a few stuffed animals on the bed, not a lot of "play" type toys by then. And with friends, she probably chose more active type things - jump rope (double dutch?) and the like.

There's LOTS of options for legos. Clark could have had a set growing up. For a non-traditional take, Dr. Lane could have gotten Lois a set growing up (for problem solving skills and "boy-like learning," especially as he wanted her to follow in her footsteps there could have been some early age shared activities like legos that would have helped build that idea in his mind).

So...would the Navy Seal in "It's a Small World After All" count?

There was also a fic where L&C were playing a game of Scrabble, and Clark used the tiles to send messages to Lois. Unfortunately, I can't remember the author or title. But it was a good fic.

Does this ring any bells with anyone?

Also: Hula hoops - great idea! But why do I have the impression that it's Martha who would be doing the most hula-hooping?

I also wonder about yo-yos. I'm sure Clark would be good at those. But would it take him as long to learn how to do tricks as it takes a regular person? After all, yo-yos don't really require strength; they require technique.

I know this one. Where Clark kept sending Lois secret messages via Scrabble tiles? I think it might be Lynn SM's or Bakasi's. I did a quick search on the Archives for Scrabble (which ended up with 167 results! Okay, many of those results were repeats though.) I feel like it's on the tip of my tongue. ARGH!
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I just realized (after another Archive search) that I had scrabble tile confused with jigsaw piece, and the story I was thinking of was Lynn SM's fabulous: Final Piece of the Puzzle , so I'll shut up now.

My sister once had a hula-hooping contest at a retro 50's party (I won, BTW). This seems like something which would get Lois's competitive juices flowing.

Hi Iolanthe and Virginia,

Virginia, thanks for the compliment and the plug.

Iolanthe, I know this one. At the risk of sounding like Gollum, it was my birthday present. Female Hawk's The Gift of Words was the second best birthday present I have ever received. (The first best being the dog I had begged for for many years as a child; I doubt I'll ever get a present to top Pepper, so "second best" is no disparagement whatsoever.) It is well worth a read. Then again, given that Female Hawk was the author, that should go without saying.

Joy,
Lynn

Gosh, how embarrassing is that! I actually beta'd that fic but forgot the title.

No wonder it stuck with me, though - it's such a great fic.

Pogo sticks
Tinker toys

Silly Putty--I always stuck it on the newspaper and "copied" the print with it. I see Lois doing this with an article that maybe her parents didn't want her seeing and taking it to her bedroom to read using the putty. Just my two cents.
Sarah