4 Scary Gross Toys They Actually Made for 1990s Kids (Bad Taste)
Psychologists say that kids like to be scared because fear, in the absence of real danger, is an exciting sensation. Harmless fear releases dopamine. Scaring others is also an early source of childhood amusement, long before young minds can create wordplay and other, more sophisticated humor.
Big and small toymakers (Hasbro, Mezco, and Mattel, to name just a few) were more than happy to indulge kids' predilection for being scared and scaring others in the 1990s. Gross-out toys were advertised constantly on TV. Four of them are featured in my latest video:
• Creepy Crawlers Super Oven Bug Maker Kit
• Living Dead Dolls
• Boglins
• Monster Face
Those were the days when you could scare your little sister with a ghastly, wiggling rubber tarantula that you'd baked up yourself and nobody would accuse you of bullying. You could put your bloody corpse doll to bed every night in her coffin, tucked snuggly next to her death certificate, and nobody thought about calling Child Protective Services.
Retro commercials are a source of constant amusement.
Alternate title: 4 Terrifying Toys They Actually Made for 1990s Kids