5 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

 

The guy in that video is in New Zealand and he bought his kit at Kmart (yes we still have Kmart in New Zealand). Next time I’m at Kmart I’ll pick one up for my kids so they can relive the novelty of my childhood. It doesn’t get more 70s than going to Kmart to buy Sea Monkeys 🤣

On 10/14/2024 at 11:54 PM, Matthew Kane said:

Sea Monkeys were common in Comic Books, I never ordered them knowing it was a big scam 😅

I thought those were newer 😮 I learned about them when I was finishing high school (back in 2001). They gave you a set when you purchased a cell phone (or something like that). I saw them, but they did no tricks at all😂

1 hour ago, Luis Hernandez said:

They gave you a set when you purchased a cell phone (or something like that)

“Hurry and order today, and we’ll include a free packet of Sea Monkees!!!”  Sheer marketing genius. 🤪

22 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

22 hours ago, Matthew Kane said:

I've heard they could hatch too, apparantly they are just shrimp eggs and adding water trigers the process, not sure how successful that would be when you pour tap water in a bowl and drop them in though, and I don't think you can train shrimp to do tricks, play games or follow your commands as claimed in the ad.

 

According to the video, sea monkeys were “invented” by Harold Von Braunhut (sounds like he could have been Wernher Von Braun’s long-lost 2nd cousin).  But the reality is more interesting/stranger than that. Not only did he come up with sea monkeys, but he also was responsible for x-ray specs and Invisible Goldfish, imaginary fish sold with a handbook, fish food and a glass bowl, that were guaranteed to remain permanently invisible.😂

He was born Harold Nathan Braunhut into a Jewish family but later dropped Nathan and replaced it with Von, and associated with the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_von_Braunhut

22 minutes ago, Mike A said:

According to the video, sea monkeys were “invented” by Harold Von Braunhut (sounds like he could have been Wernher Von Braun’s long-lost 2nd cousin).  But the reality is more interesting/stranger than that. Not only did he come up with sea monkeys, but he also was responsible for x-ray specs and Invisible Goldfish, imaginary fish sold with a handbook, fish food and a glass bowl, that were guaranteed to remain permanently invisible.😂

He was born Harold Nathan Braunhut into a Jewish family but later dropped Nathan and replaced it with Von, and associated with the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_von_Braunhut

He also is at least tangentially connected to the fiasco that was apparently part of mailing more than 173,000 live monkeys from the comics for $19

EDIT: There are horror stories out there about these monkeys arriving starved and half crazed and tearing people and places up. My grandfathers 2 little monkeys were very calm and peaceful, and I loved giving them grapes and watching them hold them with both hands to eat. My sister and I had great times chasing them whenever they got loose (and bounced around the place like self-mobile rubber cannonballs.....)

Edited October 16, 20241 yr by HiFlyer

About 1962 I got the civil war soldiers and they were plastic and flat as paper but I had fun with them. 

What I didn't know at the time (of the 100 soldiers) but learned much later when I got into lead figures (mostly Napoleonic and fantasy) was that there was an entire genre of "flats" as opposed to "rounds" in the lead figure community.  One thing I remember when someone wrote about painting "flats" was that you had to be Really Bold when attempting to paint folds in clothing.

"Flats" weren't just a cheap imitation of real toy soldiers, but were a legitimate thing in themselves.

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On 10/14/2024 at 5:30 PM, LHookins said:

I had the 100 toy  soldiers, and it was actually pretty cool.  These were "flats" but that was OK at my age at the time.  I didn't send away myself (never had the $0.99 they cost originally) but someone in the family did.  I also had a version of the Superman glider... I think I was about 2 years old at the time.

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We'd 'wound' some of the Soldiers by cutting off part of a leg, then using red paint for 'blood'. After a while places like Kmart and Woolworths were selling bags of 250 for $3.00, so we would stop buying them from the Comic Book ad. They all probably were made in the same Factory so no harm, no foul.🙂

Nostalgia..... These can still be purchased at places like Amazon, but would a modern kid be interested?

2 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

Nostalgia..... These can still be purchased at places like Amazon, but would a modern kid be interested?

He might if he'd seen the movie. 🙂 

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