Too Cool for those “Playthings”

Too Cool for Those “Playthings”

Sony Playstation, Model No. SPCH-5552, released 1997. Owned by household from 1999-present.

Title: Sony Playstation, Model No. SPCH-5552

Creator: Sony Computer Entertainment

Coverage: Released, 1997 Owned by household from 1999-present, Lismore, Ireland

Contributor: Luke Coleman Date: 24/03/26

Source: Too Cool Collection Archive image no. 1 File Format: JPEG

Image Size: 3024 x 2016

Along with the stuffed animals and Buzz Lightyears, there were always electronics in the house. Us 2000’s kids shared a lot in common with 90’s kids in that we both grew up with technology as early as birth. The original Playstation is one of those things that I always remember.

Sony Playstation 2, Model No. SCPH-5003, Released by Sony in 2004, owned by household in 2005. Image taken by Luke Coleman.

Title: Sony Playstation 2, Model No. SCPH-50003.

Creator: Sony Computer Entertainment.

Coverage: Released 2004, Owned by household from 2004-present, Lismore, Ireland

Contributor: Luke Coleman

Date: 24/03/26

Source: Too Cool Collection Archive image no. 2

File Format: JPEG

Image Size: 3024 x 4032

This was the second system that my brother and I played on, we had one before when we were really young it was the exact same model except in black. It was also a DVD machine so the whole family used to use it for that as well. I think in Celtic Tiger Ireland everyone owned these.

**Title**:Playstation 3 Super Slim 500GB, Model No. CECH-4003C
**Creator**: Sony Computer Entertainment
**Coverage**: Released in 2012, owned from 2013-present, Cork, Ireland.
**Contributor**: Luke Coleman **Date**: 19/03/26
**Source**: Too Cool Collection Archive image no. 3
**File Format**: JPEG
**Image Size**: 1024 x 681

This one I had to cheat a little bit, I was given a Playstation 3 for my birthday in 2008, however, the model I was given were known to have an issue regarding their system. This issue was dubbed the “yellow light of death.” The unfortunate fate of my console caused me to get a new Super Slim model in late 2013, that has served me well and is still up and running to this day.

**Title**: Playstation 3 Super Slim 500GB, Model No. CECH-4003C
**Creator**: Sony Computer Entertainment
**Coverage**: Released in 2012, owned by household from 2013-present, Cork, Ireland.
**Contributor**: Luke Coleman **Date**: 19/03/26
**Source**: Too Cool Collection Archive image no. 4
**File Format**: JPEG
**Image Size**: 1024 x 988

Nintendo DS Lite Black, Model No. USG-001, Released 2006. Owned from 2006- Present. Image taken by Luke Coleman. — **Title:** Nintendo DS Lite Black, Model No. USG-001
**Creator**: Nintendo
**Coverage:** Released 2006. Owned from 2006- present, Lismore, Ireland
**Contributor:** Luke Coleman
**Date:** 25/03/26. **Source**: Too Cool Collection Archive image no. 5
**File Format:** JPEG
**Image Size**: 768 x 1024

The DS was a console everyone had as a child, it truly felt like a plaything more than a console (which is not a bad thing). Nintendo have a track record of making consoles truly fun like the Wii or Nintendo Switch. If I still had a Nintendo Wii I would be sure to add it to this archive but alas I do not much to my dismay. The Wii like the DS was a staple of 2000’s childhood, playing games on long car rides, playing on break in school or playing just when bored. No wonder people who grew up in 2000’s are so addicted to small screens when we were so addicted to these things.

The model I had and many others had was the DS Lite, there was a previous model that was a lot clunkier in design and far bulkier. The success of the console allowed the existence of the DSi, then the DSiXL and finally the 3DS, which I would love to put into this archive but I sold my 3DS last year.

**Title**: iPod Classic, Model no. A1136, 5th Generation, 80GB. Also known as iPod Video.
**Creator:** Apple
**Coverage:** Released 2005-2006, Owned from 2007-present, Cork, Ireland
**Contributor:** Luke Coleman **Date**: 19/03/26 **Source**: Too Cool Collection Archive image no. 7
**File Format**: JPEG
**Image Size:** 3008 x 4023

The classic iPod is the epitome of cool in the noughties. The ad campaigns featuring trendy music such as Jet ‘s Are You Gonna Be My Girl. The ads featured shadowy figures plugged into their iPods dancing chaotically with bright colours that contrasted their shadows. With 80 gigabytes of storage, you could download an endless stream of curated music. If you were like me, you got your older cousin to download you some songs from Limewire (if you know, you know)

This was truly the start of the “devices era” of playthings as I have dubbed it. Where you stare at your toys longingly, deciding which you would rather spend your evening with. Would it be your treasured playthings or the cool and hip plaything such as the iPod.

The coolest thing you could own. — **Title**: iPod Touch Model A1288, 2nd Generation, 8gb
**Creator**: Apple
**Coverage**: Released 2009, Owned from 2012-present, Cork, Ireland
**Contributor**: Luke Coleman **Date**: 19/03/26. **Source**: Too Cool Collection Archive image no. 9
**File Format**: JPEG
**Image Size**: 3236 x 4327

The silver back on these guys makes it very difficult to get a picture. The iPod Touch bridged the gap between the emerging smartphones market and MP3 Players market. For parents, the iPod Touch was a excellent way of shutting your kids up about an MP3 Player and a Smartphone at the same time. You had access to iTunes and the App Store, you could do everything that a Smartphone could do (except calls and pictures).

On first glance at the front you would be mistaken for believing this was an older model of an iPhone and that was the beauty. You felt like your older relatives with one of these, you felt cool, like you were apart of a movement. The imagination was still in effect, believing I owned an iPhone when all I had was a iPhone without the phone. It was many peoples first entrance into the Apple ecosystem that so many of us are tied to today, that we cannot seem to escape.

**Title**: Apple iPhone 6s, Model No. A1688, 16gb
**Creator**: Apple
**Coverage**: Released 2015, Owned by me from 2016-present, Cork, Ireland
**Contributor**: Luke Coleman **Date**: 19/03/26. **Source**: Too Cool Collection Archive image no. 11
**File Format**: JPEG
**Image Size:** 2381 x 3175

The toys had been placed into boxes, piled into corners of the room, dragged into the shed out the back and forgotten by even the dust in the room. By 2016 teenage-hood had taken full effect. Gone was the optimism of my younger years and with that the imagination of my younger years. The smartphone was the multimedia juggernaut that dominated my teenage years, whether it had been the endless messages we sent on Snapchat or the vain photos we posted on Instagram. The toys were officially a place of the past. Replaced by our new “Playthings.” We spent even more time with the new Playthings than the toys of youth. The smartphone has us forever locked into their screens as a second world.

The 6s was one of the iPhones i remember the most and have held onto. I even remember friends of mine using them up until the 2020’s. Even I have a more recent memory of the 6s from early to mid 2022 where I had to use the 6s as my primary phone. The 6s brings up memories of messaging old friends that I don’t talk to anymore, or playing Temple Run.

Despite my brooding in the previous section about the 6s, it is an important part of this archive. It changes our understanding of what it means to have a “plaything” and can’t everything be defined as a plaything if you try hard enough?

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