The 8 Classic Toys Parents Classically Hated

According to the always excellent nerd-culture blog, Topless Robot, the most-hated (by parents) of all toys we remember from the 1970s-80s is... Slime.

Topless Robot's Brian Heiler writes:

It was green, sticky, had an odd smell and served absolutely no purpose. Frankly, it looked like a jar of boogers, so naturally, we as kids had to have it. Whether the Slime was produced as its own toy or was part of a He-Man or Harry Potter toyline, it's always been the same putrid stuff, and kids have always done the same thing with it -- smeared it on furniture, carpets, the pet, a younger sibling, in the DVD player, or some other place that ensured total destruction-by-booger. If you are an adult who bought your child slime, you are an idiot. Just say no.

The second most hated toy? Fisher Price's Corn Popper.

Heiler writes:

One of the longest running toys in the Fisher Price staple, the Fisher Price Corn Popper is also the item that nobody actually buys for their own children, but children are always given. Often it's your own parents who give them to their grandchildren, as payback for you playing with it as a kid. Besides being totally indestructible, the non-stop popping noise fascinates children endlessly and is like water torture that will eventually break your spirit, reducing you to a sobbing child yourself, praying for silence that will never come. Rumor abounds of a shipment of these sent to Guantanamo Bay.

Third on Topless Robot's list is... Super Balls.

Heiler writes:

The eternal treasure for getting through a doctor's or dentist appointment, Super Balls are like heroin for children. No kid can get his hands on one of these and not throw it as hard as he can. If you're lucky, it'll be outside, where the ball will rise 50 feet into the air and your child will never find it again. If you're unlucky, it'll be inside, where it will bounce off a lamp (knocking it over), a photo (breaking the glass), another child's head (resulting in crying and a possibly a missing eye), and more. The tragedy is even as an adult, despite the damage and eventual anger, you’ll still have to admit it was pretty cool.

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