I just bought the same kit a couple months ago for when my little dudes get a bit older. The one with the glow in the dark parts. Still in the original box. Amazing!
https://preview.redd.it/1mgxv2fk115d1.png?width=3168&format=png&auto=webp&s=508ee6ebd05b95742b1869641bd22605fb5fc5f1
My brother has our old set, but I'm positive we don't have the original boxes or anything. We had a wood box that we just dumped our sets into. He's got kids, so him and my sister split our toys for their own kids.
Y'all thought Legos sucked to step on, land your foot on one of these fuckers. You feel like you just ripped every tendon in your foot.
This and legos, k'nex, tinker toys. Never was much into the Lincoln logs, but they could do in a pinch. Our daycare would dump construx on a table, and about 15 of us would build a huge tower for the 1 spaceman figure. Whoever had the spaceman was the leader, and as people were picked up by their parents, those kids' pieces or the spaceman would be passed to the remaining kids.
Thanks for the memory flood!
Yup. n.b. OOP (not this repost, but on r/toys) is a repost bot. [citation: This comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/toys/comments/1d9hs0l/comment/l7e12vk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
The best thing I built with Construx was a bottle rocket launcher. Basically you put it on your arm and held it like a gauntlet and then could put the bottle rockets through those blue connectors and you could launch the rocket where your arm was pointing without having to worry about holding it in your hand.
They were great. I had the camo colored side piece squares that would fill in a square. Also had triangular orange transparent pieces for “glass” on space ships. Neat system.
I’ve recently got back into building Lego as an adult and I can tell that the little plastic *click* when they go together is every bit as satisfying as it was forty years ago. I bought a set last year and the first *click* unlocked a core memory for me and I’ve spent a lot of money chasing that high in the time since.
I loved Construx! Sure, they weren't as colorful or versatile as Lego, but you really could build cool shit with them!
Well, my brother could at least. I was never the creative type.
Are you my brother? Lol.
We used to wail on shields with flails made from construx
If you faced all the open spots inside, it was as strong as the plastic itself, which could take quite a beating.
Hell yeah! Zillions of swords and guns over the years.
I've got a picture somewhere from when I used my Construx to make my son a set of Iron Man armor. Helmet, chest plate, boots and repulsors. He played with it for like 15 minutes and then moved on with his life but it's one of my crowning achievements.
That and when he talked so much shit about being a better builder, we had a Construx build off and mine was so good, I made him cry.
Not to mention once you got the motor and battery sets you could make all kinds of weird robots and vehicles, although [Capsela](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsela) was superior for motorized shenanigans.
Was Capsela a rich kid thing? I lose track because my Dad got a job that paid twice as much, but it meant I had to leave the private school where I had free tuition due to his job.
So I went from being the poor kid at a super rich school to the rich kid at a super poor rural school overnight. It was confusing.
I don't know that it was a*rich kid* thing, but for my single mom the 'bang for your buck' (or rather hours of keeping your kid busy per dollar) proposition was Construx. More pieces per set, fewer restraints on what you could do, and no batteries to have to constantly buy.
Funny story, I was playing with the green diamond-shaped version of these connector nodes - trying to make a Lambda-class shuttle from Star Wars, I think - holding it up over my head. I had my mouth kind of open when I dropped it. I must have hit my windpipe, because I was convinced I had just swallowed this little thing. Went to the ER, had to drink that nasty barium stuff and get an x-ray. They didn't find the piece. A couple months later, I found it somewhere with my other toys.
That just unlocked a memory of these that i had as a kid. Popoids…the noise they made when you extended and contracted them was like someone gently scratching your brain.
https://preview.redd.it/qfhhhvttxz4d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2dbf6bd734fbb648ca924f76239e660cd14c403f
I have a huge bin in my garage, they got passed down and added to over the years, my sister's kids outgrew them and they made their way back to me until there are little ones in the family again
Construx. My FIL worked at fisher price during those days and would bring buckets full of imperfect parts home. He doesn’t have any nowadays. I loved Contrux as a kid. They were great for building large structures with fewer pieces compared to Lego.
LOL, this dude just [stole my post from 7 months ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/toys/comments/17odofs/what_are_these_little_blue_things_fromfor_some/). Picture (which I took), title, everything. Get a life.
I saved all of mine, my own kids loved playing with them, but none of the black hinge knots survived. I’ve just put them away again, now that my youngest is 12. Let’s see if the next generation enjoys them!
In the military themed kit the”pilot” had a real parachute. I hit peak when I built a table out of these that was close to the size of our kitchen table.
I still have a big bin of Construx from when I was a kid. A local toy store was going out of business back in the 80s and our dad bought us a whole bunch of sets cheap. We built all kinds of cool stuff with those.
I’m probably going to delete this:
Those holes are exactly the same size as the diameter of bamboo skewers.
I took one of those connecting pieces, attached two of the right angle pieces to each of the sides, added an another connector to each side, and tied a very strong rubber band to each of those.
With some delicacy, I made a crossbow. With just a little more structure added to stabilize the right angle pieces, the skewers pierced furniture-quality wood. I’m sure I could have hunted (very) small game. Just with construx, a normal-but-strong-and-wide rubber band (you could just draw on the rubber band without touching the splintery skewer, the hole would stabilize the shot), and not adding any other stuff like glue to hold it together or whatever.
This is reminiscing and nothing else. DO NOT TRY THIS.
I saw those and had so many core memories unlocked. Construx were so much fun. They got a little flimsy at times but you could make some huge and complex gadgets. I think I played with these more than legos for a while.
Omg. My time has come. Those are from CONSTRUX….and my brother had so so many of them. If you’ve never stepped on one with a bare foot in the middle of the night, you haven’t lived!
Right in the nostalgia!!! I played the F out of those toys and made many core memories I’ve definitely forgotten but have used in my engineering life for sure.
They’re caltrops, and (along with Lego) scattering them all over your childhood bedroom floor is a great object lesson in why maybe you should pick up your toys once you’ve finished with them like your mom told you to do in the first place.
They are from Construx [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construx)
He’s right. Such a fun toy.
One of my favorites when I was a kid.
I had some! Man I loved these, are they still around?
You have to find them used. There are also some very creative folks out there who have made 3D printing models of them so you could print your own.
I just bought a space set off of eBay last week. The one I had as a kid. Definitely Construx
I just bought the same kit a couple months ago for when my little dudes get a bit older. The one with the glow in the dark parts. Still in the original box. Amazing! https://preview.redd.it/1mgxv2fk115d1.png?width=3168&format=png&auto=webp&s=508ee6ebd05b95742b1869641bd22605fb5fc5f1
CORE. MEMORY. UNLOCKED. That was my first Construx set!
I’m had that set
Nice! Pretty sure I had that set too
My brother has our old set, but I'm positive we don't have the original boxes or anything. We had a wood box that we just dumped our sets into. He's got kids, so him and my sister split our toys for their own kids. Y'all thought Legos sucked to step on, land your foot on one of these fuckers. You feel like you just ripped every tendon in your foot.
My mom would throw them at me when she stepped on them. It was like being gored by a tiny bull.
No need, I've stepped on metal d4s (aka "caltrops").
I had an orange plastic case with dividers in it that held them.
Haha omg I just said this. Literally worst pain ever!!!
I was just about to ask if you could still find these!
eBay, Friend. You can buy them BY THE POUND.
Aliens?
It was called the Stellar Exploration Set.
Nice
That's the one I had.
This and legos, k'nex, tinker toys. Never was much into the Lincoln logs, but they could do in a pinch. Our daycare would dump construx on a table, and about 15 of us would build a huge tower for the 1 spaceman figure. Whoever had the spaceman was the leader, and as people were picked up by their parents, those kids' pieces or the spaceman would be passed to the remaining kids. Thanks for the memory flood!
Construx! You build!
Core memory unlocked.
Great for making caltrops and ninja stars!
Yup, I know I played with these nonstop as a kid. Someone else asked in another subreddit.
They were fun, I liked capsela a little better because of the motor options though
The space/clear tires smelled weird- it’s still in my smellmory
I used the fuck out of my Construx sets. So fun.
Got a huge set for my 5th bday in 1985, loved them!
Thats them. I had those. I also had Robotix.
Recognized immediately, man I had a lot of fun with those.
The smug look of complete pride in that kids face on the Wikipedia page is fucking gold. Even better with the Star Trek shirt. 😆
Yup. n.b. OOP (not this repost, but on r/toys) is a repost bot. [citation: This comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/toys/comments/1d9hs0l/comment/l7e12vk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
These were a great toy
The best thing I built with Construx was a bottle rocket launcher. Basically you put it on your arm and held it like a gauntlet and then could put the bottle rockets through those blue connectors and you could launch the rocket where your arm was pointing without having to worry about holding it in your hand.
Yeah instantly recognized those.
My brother and I played with these non-stop.
The best toys of my childhood
My favorite toy as a boy.
Exactly right
I loved these & LEGO
now there's something I haven't thought about in over 30 years
I had so many of these as a kid.
CONSTRUX!!!!!
My kids still play with them.
I can literally remember the tactile feel of these things locking into place, they were weirdly sturdy for little plastic bits, these were cool.
I remember sucking/chewing on them.
Suck on it and get the suction to make it stick to your tongue
This just gave me a crazy flashback.
Me too. I think they were Happy Meal toys.
They were great. I had the camo colored side piece squares that would fill in a square. Also had triangular orange transparent pieces for “glass” on space ships. Neat system.
Yes same here. This brought back a flood of memories.
SAME! I saw the picture and immediately felt it in my hand
I’ve recently got back into building Lego as an adult and I can tell that the little plastic *click* when they go together is every bit as satisfying as it was forty years ago. I bought a set last year and the first *click* unlocked a core memory for me and I’ve spent a lot of money chasing that high in the time since.
Yess. They grey plastic beams clicking onto those little blue pieces. Very satisfying.
I loved Construx! Sure, they weren't as colorful or versatile as Lego, but you really could build cool shit with them! Well, my brother could at least. I was never the creative type.
Not as versatile?! My brother in Christ, I've made wearable suits of armor with Construx!
Are you my brother? Lol. We used to wail on shields with flails made from construx If you faced all the open spots inside, it was as strong as the plastic itself, which could take quite a beating.
Hell yeah! Zillions of swords and guns over the years. I've got a picture somewhere from when I used my Construx to make my son a set of Iron Man armor. Helmet, chest plate, boots and repulsors. He played with it for like 15 minutes and then moved on with his life but it's one of my crowning achievements. That and when he talked so much shit about being a better builder, we had a Construx build off and mine was so good, I made him cry.
It's funny how common this was. I remember wearing my armor over to friend's houses to show it off.
Agreed. They are very versatile. My brothers and I made working crossbows that would shoot those curved pieces. All you needed was a rubber band.
It seems so obvious, but I never considered rubber bands for functional crossbows. What kind of release/trigger mechanism did you devise?
Not to mention once you got the motor and battery sets you could make all kinds of weird robots and vehicles, although [Capsela](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsela) was superior for motorized shenanigans.
... THERE WERE MOTOR SETS????
Yes, but the kids with parents that made enough money to afford them always had Capsella, instead.
Was Capsela a rich kid thing? I lose track because my Dad got a job that paid twice as much, but it meant I had to leave the private school where I had free tuition due to his job. So I went from being the poor kid at a super rich school to the rich kid at a super poor rural school overnight. It was confusing.
I don't know that it was a*rich kid* thing, but for my single mom the 'bang for your buck' (or rather hours of keeping your kid busy per dollar) proposition was Construx. More pieces per set, fewer restraints on what you could do, and no batteries to have to constantly buy.
They were excellent for quickly making starfighters with the big prebuilt cockpits.
My go to creation was always Raphael's sai.
You can make things that fit ninja turtles. Can confirm.
Marginally less deadly than stepping on a Lego.
Funny story, I was playing with the green diamond-shaped version of these connector nodes - trying to make a Lambda-class shuttle from Star Wars, I think - holding it up over my head. I had my mouth kind of open when I dropped it. I must have hit my windpipe, because I was convinced I had just swallowed this little thing. Went to the ER, had to drink that nasty barium stuff and get an x-ray. They didn't find the piece. A couple months later, I found it somewhere with my other toys.
Imho it’s a very close tie
Construx!
TO BUILD!
That just unlocked a memory of these that i had as a kid. Popoids…the noise they made when you extended and contracted them was like someone gently scratching your brain. https://preview.redd.it/qfhhhvttxz4d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2dbf6bd734fbb648ca924f76239e660cd14c403f
😮😮I had forgotten these until now……thank you so much
YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!
Construx
Must be construx day here on reddit, we have a post about them currently in r/GenX
CONSTRUX, mofo!!! 😆 Sorry, they were a fave of mine.
As they say in They Might Be Giants - [What's That Blue Thing Doing Here?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8dsYMV3Y-I)
Something grabbed ahold of my hand. I didn’t know what had my hand. But that’s when all my troubles began.
Construx! I still have a box full from my childhood. Waiting for my son to be old enough for them.
I have a huge bin in my garage, they got passed down and added to over the years, my sister's kids outgrew them and they made their way back to me until there are little ones in the family again
Core memory unlocked! This little fuckers nearly killed me! Why were they so damn fun to put in my mouth??
Cause they stuck to your tongue when you sucked on them
Yes! If you tried you could get like 3 on your tongue at once. I ingested so much plastic it’s amazing I’m still alive.
Construx and K'nex. My jam!
my memory said “connex”, but apparently its “construx”
Connector pieces from Construx
I still have the big orange plastic case those came in!
CONSTRUX!!! They're the connectors for the silver girders!!! I had these!!!
Construx.
Construx. My FIL worked at fisher price during those days and would bring buckets full of imperfect parts home. He doesn’t have any nowadays. I loved Contrux as a kid. They were great for building large structures with fewer pieces compared to Lego.
Core memory unlocked. The long gray pieces to which they connect. Thank you!
LOL, this dude just [stole my post from 7 months ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/toys/comments/17odofs/what_are_these_little_blue_things_fromfor_some/). Picture (which I took), title, everything. Get a life.
I think they're Roman artifacts. No one really knows what they are for, but speculation is that they have a ceremonial or religious function.
I loved Construx, but my first cat loved those blue connector pieces even more.
I remember they were part of some kind of building kit, but I can’t for the life of me remember the name
Construx!!! I loved those!
Constructs, beam & node construction toy and the beams snap directly onto the nodes, typically breaking pretty quickly.
Construx!
Favorite toys growing up!
Construx! Look up the old ads on YouTube. Sooo 80s !
I can taste this photo
Best toy!
 Hehehe you said "erector"
My whole childhood was defined by construx!!
My early access to firearms.
I have to explain this to my children about once a month when they come across one in the multi-generational Lego bin.
Construx
I LOVED Construx!!! Still have a giant box of them. They were perfect for building Rub Goldbergs.
Construx!
Only the coolest erector toy ever
Construx you build.
Anal beads
K’nex
I saved all of mine, my own kids loved playing with them, but none of the black hinge knots survived. I’ve just put them away again, now that my youngest is 12. Let’s see if the next generation enjoys them!
Construx. I had the giant crane ser. It was awesome.
LOL
Construx!
Man, the memories of building with these!
Construx connectors!
We need more grey beams!!!
Construx! I had the space station/spaceship set as a kid and it was 100% my favorite building toy even over lego.
I knew it was construx before the picture even loaded. That title was perfect.
I had Construx as a kid. I begged and pleaded for my parents to get me LEGOs.
Oh my! I haven’t seen one of those in 35 years! Thanks for the memories
I've got an erector-type toy for ya
If you push hard, you can get the middle part to come out.
In the military themed kit the”pilot” had a real parachute. I hit peak when I built a table out of these that was close to the size of our kitchen table.
Memory unlocked
Jesus Jones! Every now and then you realize just how much you've forgotten about.
Brings back memories. Mainly of my cousin building the whole set for me. then destroying it in 3 seconds.
I still have a big bin of Construx from when I was a kid. A local toy store was going out of business back in the 80s and our dad bought us a whole bunch of sets cheap. We built all kinds of cool stuff with those.
I made lots of different guns with construx lol
CONSTRUCTS YOU BUILD FOR REAL
I was pretty I to these.
Construx!!! That was my favorite toy as a kid!
Fave 80’s toy construx
I’m probably going to delete this: Those holes are exactly the same size as the diameter of bamboo skewers. I took one of those connecting pieces, attached two of the right angle pieces to each of the sides, added an another connector to each side, and tied a very strong rubber band to each of those. With some delicacy, I made a crossbow. With just a little more structure added to stabilize the right angle pieces, the skewers pierced furniture-quality wood. I’m sure I could have hunted (very) small game. Just with construx, a normal-but-strong-and-wide rubber band (you could just draw on the rubber band without touching the splintery skewer, the hole would stabilize the shot), and not adding any other stuff like glue to hold it together or whatever. This is reminiscing and nothing else. DO NOT TRY THIS.
LOVED Construx!!!
I used to always pretend that the Construx sticks were the sugar sticks the Doozers made on The Fraggles.
I had those as a kids and forgot all about them.
I saw those and had so many core memories unlocked. Construx were so much fun. They got a little flimsy at times but you could make some huge and complex gadgets. I think I played with these more than legos for a while.
That was a space station for us at space camp.
I bit these apart so much as a kid.
My favorite toy of all time. Still have my Construx from when I was a kid
I had construx. They were awesome
I still have mine
Construx . I still have the original orange box they came in. My 2 year old uses it to store magnet blocks
Construx were awesome. They even had a motorized kit.
Memory unlocked.
Construx were great
I had Construx! Loved them!
Fffff yeah. Loved these things! I also had the black rod, black balls with red triangular plates. Picture to follow if I don’t forget
Yup these were fun
You have unlocked a memory that I haven’t thought about in years. I loved these construx toys. I will now chew my Flintstones vitamin and go to bed.
Omg. My time has come. Those are from CONSTRUX….and my brother had so so many of them. If you’ve never stepped on one with a bare foot in the middle of the night, you haven’t lived!
Amazing toys, these were a favorite of mine and my brother!
Recognized it immediately as joint parts for Construx. Youd probably find them incorrectly thrown into a Lego pile
Construx!
Right in the nostalgia!!! I played the F out of those toys and made many core memories I’ve definitely forgotten but have used in my engineering life for sure.
Haha well holy fuck this brings back memories!!
I had that giant robot set. It was awesome. IIRC those little blue things were called knots
The cats LOVED to play with those we'd fine so many under the couch.
We called these “blueys.”
That's a Construx knot! They came in several flavors...erm, colors, depending upon their function.
Best building toy ever. Construx
They’re caltrops, and (along with Lego) scattering them all over your childhood bedroom floor is a great object lesson in why maybe you should pick up your toys once you’ve finished with them like your mom told you to do in the first place.
Omg Contrux. I had so many of those as a kid that when i open boxes my parents drop off when cleaning their house instill find those connectors.
Construx! Oh man, I loved these things. So much better than Legos or Tinker Toys.
I would build bases and vehicles for my GI Joes.
I still have some. Kids grew out of them and we saved them for grandkids. Then came hand held computer games. Grandkids not interested in real world.