And now…. Part 2 of revisiting our childhood toys! This time we also look at The Most Baffling Toys of Our Generation!
On with the Show Notes…
Me too!
Lite Brite – ParcoAnn
I want one of these fine precursors to the laser light show. Okay, yet another wrong correlation, but I’m stickin’ with it. And since I’m in legal Oregon, I will get one of these, hop over to a dispensary and try to get into the minds of the persons responsible for this wonderful toy.
According to Wikipedia, Lite-Brite was invented by Joseph M. Burck, a senior designer at Chicago toy and game design company Marvin Glass and Associates and another fellow, Burt Meyer.
Behold a laser show….
Holly Hobbie – ParcoAnn
The original Girl in Blue Dress illustration by artist Holly Hobbie 
Book available on Amazon 
Remember Colorforms?
Holly Hobbie was an important rag doll in my life. In fact, the original Girl in Blue dress was the image on my wastebasket in my childhood bedroom. I also had the Colorforms. It must have been the Little House on the Prairie craze that helped to spur on the Holly Hobbie craze. In fact, in elementary school, I made a Holly Hobbie bonnet out of a blue bandana that I would wear on the playground. (Please see Evel Knievel toy below on this page, the bonnet may have played a part.)
Dolls of the Small, Small World – ParcoSam
I used to work with this guy I could not stand. It was when I was managing a sales office, and he was one of the salesmen. I had plenty of reasons not to like him, but here’s one of them. He was regaling our small staff with tales of his recent vacation to Florida, where he and his family had visited Disney. Here I paraphrase what he said:
“You wouldn’t believe it, people from all over the world, but you couldn’t tell until they talked. They dressed just like us; just like Americans.”
What did he expect? That every foreign visitor traveling to the US would be wearing their stereotypical national folk outfit, to be easily spotted by wary Yanks? Kilts and lederhosen and kimonos and wooden shoes? What a maroon.
The most likely place for these dolls to be found: On a shelf high on the wall 
There were many versions of these dolls (there still are). Like having It’s a Small World in your living room!
That said, I LOVED my babysitter’s collection of Dolls of the World. They were all so pretty with their elaborate satiny, furry, velvety, flouncy, stereotypical national folk dresses! I just wanted to touch the fabrics and look closely at the kimonos and wooden shoes.
The Sunshine Family – ParcoAnn
The breakup of my parents gave our neighbor, Ben, the impetus to buy this 8-year-old the Sunshine Family at Easter Time. Thinking back, that was a very kind thing to do but I still maintain it’s because he wanted to date my mom (I shiver at the thought). Thank you, Ben (RIP) for the delightful hours of wild, wholesome, hippie adventures with the Sunshine Family.
Slot Cars I Wasn’t Allowed to Play With – ParcoSam
I have one vivid memory. Bright morning light in my brothers’ shared bedroom. All of us in pajamas. Me sitting quietly as demanded. Just watching the boys shout and argue and run and wreck their cars.
Later, I more vaguely remember pieces of race track all over the house. In the boys’ closet, under their beds, under the living room coffee table, strewn about the back yard. The rule in our house was: leave your toy in one of the common areas and it’s going into the trash.
I think the boys eventually lost their race track one segment at a time.
Evel Knievel – ParcoAnn
I never had one of these, but I ALWAYS wanted one. All the cool boys had one, and due to my lack of coolness they didn’t let me play (Please see Holly Hobbie above). Bastards.
Magic 8-Ball – ParcoAnn
It is decidedly so that it is certain that yes, I used a Magic 8-Ball during my travels for a year in an RV trying to find home. But, I better not tell you now.
Ouija Board
The years I, ParcoAnn, played this silly board game trying to find where Edgar was so that my mom could marry a rich man. Ahhh the things we did as kids.
Edgar Cayce Institute
The Most Baffling Toys of Our Generation
Some toys ya gotta wonder. How? Why? What the f—? Did anybody consider the effects of these toys? How did they get from concept to drawing board to prototype to market? Seriously, the most baffling toys of our GenXeration:
Bobo the Clown Taught Us About Aggression – ParcoSam
What is the point of a toy that’s just designed to be punched? It’s not like Bobo was physically challenging like a punching bag, he was just there to be abused. What a bizarre thing to teach children.
At least some good came out of the baffling toy: psychologist Albert Bandura earned global renown when he conducted tests to measure the relative aggression level of children who watched adults beat the crap out of Bobo.
Weebles Wobble But They Don’t Make Sense – ParcoSam
It’s not like I don’t get that these are dolls. It’s just… well, they were shaped like eggs, their great claim to fame was not tipping over, and they had no necks, people. Okay, there were cool props that went along with them, but I they never seemed like real dolls to me.
Even pacifist ParcoAnn mostly just chucked them to the ground to see them wobble. That’s all they did. Building a world around little egg people that wobble. Nope, still don’t get it.
Stretch Armstrong Because We Need Toys We Can Torture – ParcoSam
Stretch Armstrong stretches. And then returns to shape. That’s it! That’s all he does! They didn’t even bother to give him any clothes; just some painted on Speedos. Behold the video below, because these people have as much cartoon damage as me. (Until I saw this video, I didn’t know they made other character versions of Stretch Armstrong!)
Rock’em Sock’em Robots – ParcoSam
I guess you could call this a game–the kind you play with nonstop for the two weeks of Winter break when you first get it as a gift, and then you sort of wander away from it and stuff into your toy box, allowing it to sink farther and farther, until you come across it while cleaning out your closet and you think back to that glorious vacation you spent playing this with your cousin.
Socker Boppers – Both
ParcoSam: Hey Parco, is this the Bopper toy you said was around when your son was small?
ParcoAnn: Why yes, Parco. This is the very toy. My son and his friends would “hit” each other until the fevered frenzy peaked, then it was “Please make him stop” which would have me scurrying to the kitchen to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to thwart further carnage.
Genghis Khan pushing people off cliffs – Both
ParcoSam: Okay Parco, where’s your evidence? 🙂
ParcoAnn: As our dear friends will soon learn, I draw non-linear correlations with some wildly unscientific hypothetical thoughts about many things–it’s one of my superpowers. While I went on a quasi-deep dive on Genghis Khan, a man who conquered more than any other in history, whose brutality included constructing a platform for a victory feast atop live Russian nobility, you can read about his brutality if you’d like – you’ve been warned. And while, I cannot find any evidence that he threw people off cliffs, it may be lost to history, his brutal tendencies would leave me to continue my unscientific hypothesis that he may indeed have thrown someone off a cliff, cause he could. Another interesting tidbit is that he believed in religious freedom and created a communications system similar to the Pony Express.
Laughter is Good for Health (and Abs!)
This article says laughter is better than crunches, and I choose to believe it! How the Parcos aren’t sporting the most ripped six-packs ever, I have no idea.