The question of what constitutes a toy is a tricky one. Is it simply something you can play with? Or is the definition broad enough to include items that aren't intended to be interacted with, but just to sit on a shelf and look interesting. Naturally that's a choice best left up to the individual, but at the times you find yourself light on dineros but rich in imagination you'll see the definition of what a toy really is amounts to a matter of minimal importance.

When I was a youngster I was obsessed with classic superheroes. Not the nearly godlike saviors of today, but the men and women that had to rely on their wits, courage, and slight advantage bestowed upon them by the writer. But my affection for classics was a necessity rather than preference, as my Mother was dirt poor and the really old, no-name comics were the ones they could afford.

When The Rocketeer came out in 1991 I, and my Mother, knew there would be some serious shit with which to contend if I wasn't taken to see it in theaters. But the aforementioned poverty made trips to the theater a rare treat, and one I'd have been stupid to expect. Thankfully, my Mother is better than everyone else's (even yours) and not only took me to see the film in theaters, but also took me to Pizza Hut afterward; which at the time was like her flushing twenty dollar bills down the toilet for shits and giggles.

What she knew (and I didn't) was that Pizza Hut was running a Rocketeer promotion in which kid's meals came with a big plastic cup done up in the style of the Rocketeer helmet. I honestly can't recall my reaction when I saw the thing. I'm guessing I blacked out and thus can't remember, or perhaps was so incredibly happy that I briefly shorted out all other brain function. Regardless, I was beyond jubilant.

I dragged that cup with me EVERYWHERE in those days, and knew with a bone-deep certainty that having it at my side made me a badass of epic proportion. Afternoons were whiled away laying on a sea of threadbare shag carpeting making wooshing noises as I guided my prize through the terrifying scenarios that only a Rocketeer cup in the hands of a child is capable of handling.

Through the years the dinky, plastic promotional cup became a symbol. A symbol of my own creativity, of my mothers deep love for me, and of how much can be had from very little. I'm not entirely certain my Rocketeer made it through the years of jettisoning old junk, but knowing my mother it's probably in a box somewhere waiting to be needed again.

But when it comes down to it can you really call a plastic cup a toy? I mean sure, it's definitely similarly stylized, but does it count? My answer is obviously biased, but remains a steadfast "Who cares?". Whether you call it a figure, statue, piece, objet d'art,  doll, or toy it's still just a name, and it's the item's meaning and memories that really count.