There have been some spectacular toys designed for children, tin cans attached by a string, water balloons, simple stuff. Once toys start getting complex, things seem to go wrong. Sometimes they go wrong in really funny ways.
Lawn Darts
Any game so dangerous that it cannot legally be sold in the country must rock. Double bonus since it was banned almost two decades ago. The premise: take really large sharp darts and toss them at a point a few dozen yards away. Hopefully heads don’t get in the way, but these things happen.
Just to put an age on myself, I was still young enough to think these were pretty nifty when they came out in the early ‘90s. And really they were, as long as my sister and I were playing nice. As happens though, playing with my sibling often became war, and holy crap could these things take off. When they’re pointed at you… think high-speed tiny whirling plastic missiles. This doesn’t mean we didn’t love the Sky Dancers, but the not-so-pleasant adrenaline rush of running from a flying doll spear also comes to mind.
Hooray for scratched eyeballs, lacerations and broken bones.
Aqua Dots
Children’s play toy, or super toxin? One of those fantastic failures of the toy industry, if you eat them they have effects similar to those of a date rape drug.
The clip goes on and on for a bit, but the last 20 seconds are worth it.
Harry Potter Vibrating Broomstick
Honestly, how did they not see this one coming? A giant stick you straddle, which then pleasantly vibrates to create the sensation of flying. Legends have it that this became popular with older sisters.
Fly, fly away!
In Other News: The BLO
In 1993, in protest over the messages given to girls by a talking Barbie doll, the Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO) claims it switched the voice boxes of more than 3,000 talking Barbie and G.I. Joe figures, resulting in Christmas gender confusion for children around the country. It’s a little hard to determine the veracity of this claim, but just imagining the look on a child’s face as they push the voice button on G.I. Joe and hear a girly “Math is hard!” is enough to make me laugh.
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