Category:
Toys

Cosmic Vision Helmet

Not a bad toy, but the advertising claims sure laid it on thick.

This is magic! You put on this helmet and nobody, but nobody can tell who you are, but you can see everybody and everything!

This sensational discovery is as new as the hydrogen bomb! As exciting as a ride through space. Makes you a super space cadet.


Boy Illustories - Nov 1953



via Flickr

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 01, 2022 - Comments (5)
Category: Toys, Headgear, 1950s

Goat-mobile

Not only bucks, but bleats! The inventor's predilection for a goat figure definitely NOT Satanic!

Full patent here.




Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 22, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Bicycles and Other Human-powered Vehicles, Inventions, Patents, Toys, Nineteenth Century

GI Joe Trouble Shooter

The video is a hoot, what with a deranged bird and the famous "Kung Fu Grip." But I am also intrigued by the descriptions of the control panel buttons. Did the set come with labels so you could change the button names? I suspect not. So..."Washington" is a given. Stay in touch with HQ. "Code X7" is suitably mysterious. But "Jungle" and "Arctic" are ultra-generic, whereas "Burma" and "Tibet" are ultra-specific. Why those two countries anyhow? Commie (Cobra) hotspots?

A page devoted to the toy.







Posted By: Paul - Sat Sep 24, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Military, Motor Vehicles, Toys, 1970s

Space Boots

Released by Ideal Toy Corp. in 1969:

"space boots of adjustable molded air cushions so that the child can experience the floating feeling of walking on the moon."

source: awmok.com

Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 09, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, Toys, Shoes

Texaco Toy Tanker

Embrace your large carbon footprint with a model tanker ship!



Posted By: Paul - Thu Sep 08, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Kitsch and Collectibles, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Toys, 1950s, 1960s, Power Generation

Spanking Toy

Although cats are featured in the drawing, the inventor wants you to know the figures may be generalized to other animals or humans.

The patent is here.



Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 27, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Inventions, Patents, Toys, Sadism, Cruelty, Punishment, and Torture, 1900s

Ideal Fighter Jet Toy



Posted By: Paul - Sat Mar 26, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Toys, War, Weapons, 1950s

Super Ball Music and the Super Bowl



Wham-O introduced the Super Ball in 1965. It was a huge success as a toy, but it also inspired music... and was the reason the Super Bowl got its name. From Wikipedia:

Composer Alcides Lanza purchased several Super Balls in 1965 as toys for his son, but soon he started experimenting with the sounds that they made when rubbed along the strings of a piano. This resulted in his composition Plectros III (1971), in which he specifies that the performer should use a pair of Super Balls on sticks as mallets with which to strike and rub the strings and case of a piano.

Lamar Hunt, founder of the American Football League and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, watched his children playing with a Super Ball and then coined the term Super Bowl. He wrote a letter to NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle dated July 25, 1966: "I have kiddingly called it the 'Super Bowl,' which obviously can be improved upon." The league's franchise owners had decided on the name AFL–NFL World Championship Game, but the media immediately picked up on Hunt's Super Bowl name, which became official beginning with the third annual game in 1969.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 13, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Music, Sports, Toys, 1960s

Earthquake Tower

From Remco. It was released in 1976, following the success of the 1974 movies The Towering Inferno and Earthquake. Kids were meant to destroy the skyscraper and then rescue its occupants using the helicopter, firetruck, and team of plastic rescue workers that came with the toy.

"Turn a real disaster into hours of imaginative, exciting play... comes with a disaster sound effect record to help add exciting sound to the play."

More info: Design You Trust

Detroit Free Press - Oct 14, 1976



Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 09, 2021 - Comments (3)
Category: Disasters, Toys, 1970s

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Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

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