Toys with Hype

Do you remember when Magic Rocks, Sea Monkeys and Pet Rocks were all the rage?  It seemed to incredible to be true, yet we all indulged our curiosity and bought in to the manufactures claims.

Magic Rocks could have been from Mars with all the hype in advertising they got.  Little did we know, we could have saved our money and produced the same effect.  We bought the tank, poured in the powder, and waited in eager anticipation.  They immediately started to bubble, slowly and continuously.  Over the next days, stalagmite peaks started to form.  Day after day, we could not take our eyes off the tank, waiting for the them to rise to the top of the tank.  The slow-motion color explosion made us imagine what landing on a planet or under the sea in some fantasy reef might be like.  It never failed to delight.

Sea Monkeys were advertised in the comic books that everyone read.  As suspected, they were just hype.  They were presented as though they belonged to a far off undersea world, like some royal water family.  The disappointing reality was they were not royalty, not even monkeys, just brine shrimp.  Mine were quickly washed down the toilet.

Pet Rocks were somewhat different, even though just as much a fantasy.  From the store we purchased a gray stone packaged in a cardboard box with breathing holes cut-out, and a straw.  There was a booklet with gags, and play on words that referred to the inanimate rocks as actual pets.  They could even learn to sit, stay, and rollover (so the instructions said).  We were evidently desperate for companionship to buy into this hoax.  At one point, they were one of the biggest fads in America, selling over 1.5 million, making their creator a millionaire overnight.  I just wish I could have thought of that one!