As the first big news to come out of this year’s New York Toy Fair, Mattel announced that they are finally releasing the toy hoverboard that was featured in 1989’s Back to the Future. 

The hoverboard will be offered as part of their Matty the Collector adult off shoot brand.  Here’s what the Matty the Collector website has to say:

Finally! This totally awesome 1:1 replica of the hover board from the BTTF 2 and BTTF 3 films includes multiple whooshing sounds and will glide over most surfaces (does not actually “hover” – check back in 2015 for that feature). We’ll be taking orders for it March 1 – March 20, 2012, and the final product will be shipped around November/December 2012. Because this is such a high-cost item, there will be a minimum number of orders required to go into production. If we don’t receive the minimum orders, won’t go into production and customers will not be charged. The price will be announced later this month. (Note: Hover board does not work on water.)

So there ya go.  It will make “wooshing” sounds and will glide, not hover.  My guess is that as a “collector” item it will be fairly expensive.

I will not be purchasing a hoverboard mock up to look at.  Anything that looks even remotely like a toy is considered fair game in my house and this thing would be destroyed by Nate sliding it down the front steps or by Kitty  “decorating” it with stickers.  The last collectible I got was a Ralphie (from “A Christmas Story”) action figure that Kit lost all the pieces to.

I used to love to collect things.  I had a great Batmobile telephone that I got when I was 15 that my kids ruined, I had a beautiful figurine of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz that my kids ruined, and Super-Dad’s beloved pull string Mickey Mouse toy has suddenly gone missing – probably because a kid ruined it.  See a theme here?  I won’t buy any more “collector’s items” until my children are in their teens.

What about you? Do you have a collection that you’ve managed to protect from your kids? Do you have a particularly bad story of your kids ruining a prized possession? Share in the comments or in on the Parenting Geekly Facebook page.

Parent’s Guide:
Age Appropriateness: If you allow your child to watch the Adventure Time cartoon, they’d be fine to read this.  There’s no swearing, and the conflict of the bad guy trying to destroy the world is pretty cartoony. The book is unrated, but I’d say age eight and up.

Things to look out for: Finn and Jake practice their “battle burns” (insults), Jake says something “sucks”,  Jake calls someone a Jerk.  At one point Finn climbs inside of Jake and wears him like a suit. The world inside The Lich’s bag is desolate and may be a little scary to very young or very sensitive readers.  The punchline of “My Cider the Mountain” is a little gross, but non-offensive.

Talking Points: This isn’t really a “talking points” type of book.  It pretty much exists purely for entertainment purposes.  If I was going to stretch I’d tell you to talk to your kids about absurdist humor and non-sequiturs, and how those types of jokes can work and make us laugh.

When I was a little girl my sister (53 weeks my junior) and I shared a bedroom. My sister was born with a rare congenital heart defect that required intensive medical care that left her feeling sick.  She was frequently up many times at night and to make a difficult time a little easier my parents left our thick oak door ajar and the light of the nearby bathroom turned on.  That was when I started wrapping a blanket around my  head.

My blanket has been around as long as I can remember. My mother thinks it was a baby shower gift, but even she can’t recall at this point. In the farthest reaches of my memory, when I slept I had my blanket by my side – or more accurately, wrapped around my eyes.   My sister is fine now, the heart condition controlled by stents, with only a few small scars to remind her of those long, sleepless nights.  My only remaining side effect is the inability to sleep with uncovered eyes.  That light from the bathroom made it impossible for me to sleep, and according to my mother I resorted to using my blanket to cover my eyes.

The blanket also served in a more traditional security blanket way.  The heart condition required my sister to have many long stays at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  We lived in a suburb of Philadelphia about an hour away.  My grandparents lived just outside of the city.  From the time she was born until my grandmom passed away I would live with my grandparents whenever my sister had a hospital stay. I brought the blanket with me every time, parting with it only for a few hours while my grandmom would mend the ripped binding or snip the loose threads.  My blanket was my connection to home.  And after my grandmom died each stitch she lovingly sewed into the frayed fabric was a gentle reminder of how much she had loved me.

As a teenager I tried pitch black rooms and sleep masks.  Neither could match the way the fabric of my blanket fit all the countors of my face, blocking any light from disrupting my sleep.  The blanket came to college with me where my first roomate was sure I was going to suffocate and would move it off my face.  The blanket was in the hotel room on my wedding night, and came to the hospital for the birth of each of my children.

Me, Super-Dad and the blanket (on my head) on New Year’s morning 2000.

My husband sees the blanket as a holding on, a way to prevent myself from having to really grow up.  I see it as a constant.  I could sleep without it if I had to (and I have had to many occasions), but to me it’s a comfort at the end of each day.  Like a hug from my past every night.

Do you have a blanket of stuffed animal (or a habit) from your childhood that you can’t give up?  Discuss it in the comments.