If you owned any of these toys as a kid, consider yourself lucky you didn't suffer any injuries...or worse. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most horrific backstories associated with beloved ‘90s toys.
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00:00 - Oh boy, that tickles.
00:01 - Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're
00:05 counting down our picks for the most horrific backstories
00:09 associated with beloved '90s toys.
00:12 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:16 Number 10, truly creepy crawlers.
00:20 - Behold my most horrifying creation.
00:24 - Graveyard Ghoulies.
00:25 - Creepy crawlers.
00:28 - This gross out bug maker definitely
00:30 feels appropriate for an era of garbage pail kids
00:33 and green slime.
00:34 But its origin actually dates back to the 1960s.
00:38 The Thingmaker line of toys, which included creepy crawlers,
00:42 allowed kids to create their own yucky, squirmy, wormy crafts
00:46 out of plastic ghoul, which they then placed into a small oven.
00:50 - It makes creepy crawlers, spiders, lizards, snakes,
00:55 dragonflies, make them yourself with this nice plastic goop.
00:59 - As you could imagine, this wasn't the safest toy
01:02 for your kids because of, well, heat and fumes.
01:07 Toy Max would release a safer version in 1992,
01:10 but it just wasn't the same.
01:12 Nostalgic parents apparently missed the smell and heat.
01:16 - Screws out your sister, embarrass your dad.
01:18 You can be a little creep without being bad.
01:21 - Number nine, scary sky dancers.
01:25 What's cooler than a Barbie doll?
01:27 A flying Barbie doll.
01:29 - Wow, they really fly.
01:31 - This seems to have been the thought process of Galoob
01:34 when they released Sky Dancers in 1994
01:37 and their boy toy equivalent, Dragonflies, shortly after.
01:40 Each line of toys featured a figure
01:42 that kids could attach to a base and send flying
01:45 with the pull of a string.
01:46 - But now it's time to fly.
01:48 Up, up, up.
01:49 - The only problem, no kid, or adult for that matter,
01:54 had any real control over where the toys landed.
01:56 They were small enough to be thrown by the wind,
01:59 but hard enough to cause some serious damage
02:01 to anything or anyone they hit.
02:04 The unpredictable toys caused numerous injuries.
02:07 - Just pull her magical string
02:09 and her pretty wings spin around.
02:10 - Number eight, Tamagotchi Takeover.
02:14 When the first Tamagotchi hatched in 1996,
02:17 few could have guessed the extraordinary impact
02:19 the virtual pets would have on consumers around the world.
02:22 Housed in colorful egg-shaped key chains,
02:25 the tiny digital creatures charmed their human owners
02:28 with their cute designs and unique personalities.
02:30 - You have to look after it as you would a normal pet.
02:32 For instance, there's different icons on the screen
02:34 that you have to cater for.
02:36 At the moment, you can see Tamagotchi's telling me
02:37 it wants, as it's only young, it wants a nap
02:40 as the Z is coming up.
02:41 It's also, unfortunately, Mark,
02:42 this one has done a great big steaming virtual poo.
02:44 It's not too good.
02:45 - Many even thought of them as friends.
02:47 - I'm so sorry, I was up all night.
02:49 All my money got stolen and I haven't had a clock
02:51 since my Tamagotchi died.
02:52 - Unfortunately, Tamagotchis could die from neglect
02:55 and when they did, the grief was real.
02:58 Kids became consumed with keeping them alive
03:01 to the detriment of their learning and their social lives.
03:04 - Look, Goldie, I took good care of her
03:06 and she changed again.
03:08 - Changed?
03:09 How about changing some water here?
03:11 - At the peak of the toy's popularity,
03:13 an English pet cemetery even allowed owners
03:15 to bury Tamagotchis in tiny wooden coffins.
03:19 The unprecedented phenomenon inspired psychologists
03:22 to study what they called the Tamagotchi effect,
03:24 human attachment to machines and artificial intelligence.
03:27 - It's my life, my best friend, my lover, say the girls.
03:32 The object of their affections is the Tamagotchi.
03:35 - Number seven, Choke Point.
03:38 Some people may have enjoyed them surreptitiously,
03:40 but this food and toy combo became
03:43 one of the most infamous banned products
03:45 in the United States.
03:46 - A toy and deliciously milky chocolate.
03:50 - Mm, what a good idea.
03:51 - The US government takes safety very seriously
03:54 and banned Kinder Surprise because of the danger
03:57 presented by the seemingly harmless treats.
03:59 - Kinder eggs are banned from import into the United States
04:02 because they contain a non-nutritive object
04:04 embedded inside.
04:05 - In 1997, the illegal import of Kinder Surprise eggs
04:09 led the US Consumer Product Safety Commission
04:12 to really crack down on Kinder,
04:14 imposing hefty fines for those who tried to cross the border
04:18 with as little as one egg.
04:20 - Think about that, America.
04:21 Think about why you're banning me from having a chocolate egg
04:24 which has a little toy in it.
04:25 Why are you banning me from eating cheese,
04:28 but you're quite happy I go and take an AR-15 off the wall
04:31 and do what I like with it?
04:32 - Number six, Sparks Fly.
04:35 Even an icon like Barbie has to change it up
04:38 every once in a while.
04:39 - Come to me, Stampede.
04:41 - In the '90s, Mattel introduced several gimmick-fueled dolls
04:44 to the market, including Western Stampin' Barbie
04:47 and Rollerblade Barbie,
04:48 with skates made to flicker and flash.
04:51 ♪ Rollerblade Barbie, you've got something special ♪
04:55 - Unfortunately, once children began playing
04:58 with these new dolls, Rollerblade Barbie's special effects
05:01 were proven to be problematic.
05:03 The small spark created by its skates
05:05 was not as harmless as it appeared,
05:07 particularly when combined with highly flammable substances
05:10 like hairspray.
05:11 The line was quietly canceled by Mattel
05:14 and replaced with the ironically named Hot Skatin' Barbie.
05:18 ♪ I'm hot skatin' Barbie ♪
05:20 ♪ No one can skate like you ♪
05:22 - Number five, Fake Guns, Real Tragedies.
05:26 - Just have a look around at what's for sale in there.
05:28 - That's terrifying.
05:30 - Replicas of real-life weaponry
05:32 have understandably become a sensitive subject
05:34 for many Americans.
05:36 Following the death of a young boy in 1988
05:38 whose toy rifle was mistaken for a real one by police,
05:41 several major retailers removed toys from their shelves
05:44 that really resemble actual firearms.
05:47 Gray and brown models were replaced by neon colors
05:50 in the hopes of preventing another tragedy.
05:52 Sadly, a similar death still occurred in 1994.
05:55 This time, many stores not only remove
05:58 realistic-looking guns,
05:59 but anything that could be modified into one.
06:01 - Many parents are delighted,
06:03 saying the toy guns only promote violence.
06:05 - Some insisted that this wasn't enough.
06:08 The debate continues to this day,
06:10 with New York outright banning the sale
06:12 of realistic toy guns in 2022.
06:15 Number four, Slip 'N Slide Mishaps.
06:18 This popular summer toy is usually wholesome fun for kids,
06:22 but can be dangerous for teens and adults.
06:25 ♪ Slippin' and slidin' in a fish bag ♪
06:28 - While Wham-O's Slip 'N Slide product
06:29 is only safe for children,
06:31 that hasn't stopped everyone from older siblings
06:34 to reckless college students from trying it out.
06:36 Alas, many have found out the hard way
06:39 that their weight and height were incompatible
06:42 with the deceptively simple toy.
06:44 ♪ It is a light up on the play ♪
06:45 ♪ When the spray goes all the way ♪
06:47 - By 1991, multiple serious injury reports
06:50 caused the company to issue a warning
06:52 via the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
06:54 - Okay, b'y, watch and learn.
06:56 (upbeat music)
06:57 (laughing)
06:58 - Number three, Trampled Me Elmo.
07:02 He may have been the face of friendship
07:04 and childlike wonder on Sesame Street,
07:06 but in 1996, Elmo was unfortunately also the catalyst
07:10 for major displays of greed.
07:12 Tickle Me Elmo was that holiday season's hot new toy,
07:16 and by Black Friday, he was sold out everywhere.
07:19 - And it's a must-have for every toddler this Christmas,
07:22 but by 7.15 this morning, they're gone.
07:25 - Secondhand sale prices were insanely high,
07:28 so when the toy finally hit shelves again
07:30 in limited numbers, it inspired a frenzy.
07:33 - This may very well be the last Tickle Me Elmo
07:36 to be found in the Bay Area, but he's already sold,
07:38 and when we brought him out into the store,
07:40 we caused a near riot.
07:41 - This resulted in at least one case of trampling
07:44 at a Canadian Walmart, where an employee was mowed down
07:47 by a crowd of hundreds of customers
07:49 clamoring for the coveted plush.
07:51 - Somebody in the crowd yelled,
07:54 "There's the Elmos," and they rushed us.
07:56 - Although he survived the incident,
07:59 the employee suffered several injuries.
08:01 - Number two, Snack Time Kid's Snack on Kids.
08:06 Mattel's attempt to revive the Cabbage Patch Kid doll line
08:09 met a bump in the road in 1997,
08:12 when their newest toy got a bit of a taste
08:14 for human fingers and hair.
08:16 - Wow, she really chews!
08:18 - The Snack Time Kid operated on a simple enough concept.
08:21 Children would feed it one of several plastic toys,
08:24 it would appear to chew it, and then the snack
08:26 would magically fall into its backpack.
08:28 The only problem?
08:29 Fake food wasn't the only thing
08:31 that landed in the doll's mouth.
08:33 - It happened ironically at a hair salon.
08:35 The owner tried to free the little girl
08:37 from the jaws of her doll.
08:39 - After one too many reports of trapped,
08:41 muched on hair and fingers, Mattel recalled the dolls.
08:45 - Mattel is also offering customers
08:46 a $40 cash refund for each doll.
08:49 Company also says it will pull this item
08:51 from the toy store shelf.
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09:07 - Number one, Beanie Baby Brouhaha.
09:13 While Tickle Me Elmo certainly made his mark on the decade,
09:17 there really is no toy as strongly associated
09:19 with the 90s as the Beanie Baby.
09:22 - I say you have to admit they're cute.
09:24 - The cuddly stuffed toys were beloved
09:25 by kids and adults alike.
09:27 But more than a few fans, particularly adults,
09:30 went to the extreme measures to obtain their favorites.
09:33 The Beanie Baby fad led to crazy financial speculation
09:37 based on anticipated secondary market resale value.
09:40 - On eBay, the average selling price
09:41 was about $35 per Beanie Baby, which isn't much,
09:44 but it was seven times the retail price.
09:47 So people were buying these as an investment.
09:49 I mean, it's really, really hard to imagine now.
09:51 - The popularity of Beanie Babies also led
09:54 to wild hoarding, counterfeiting, fraud,
09:57 and much more bad behavior.
09:59 It was a leading example of a kid's toy bringing
10:02 not just happiness, but madness and mayhem.
10:05 - The big payoff never happened,
10:08 but Beanie Babies have earned an unforgettable place
10:10 in the annals of Toyland.
10:12 - Did you own any of these controversial 90s toys?
10:15 Let us know in the comments down below.
10:18 - These are Beanie Babies!
10:20 Have you been living under a rock?
10:22 - I know what Beanie Babies are.
10:24 By 1999, they were worthless.
10:26 - I really should have checked the value
10:29 more than once every 16 years.
10:31 - Did you enjoy this video?
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