Christmas 1956 I got a Mattel Thunderburp tommy gun. BRAAAAP!
Fall 1970 they issued me an M-16.
Mattel had the coolest looking Thompson .45 sub-machine gun. You flipped up the front of the magazine and loaded in those red rolls of caps. (remember those things?) My folks never got me one no matter how many times I begged them. One of my stingy cousins had one and would never let me play with it.Dang thing was a ringer for the real thing.