Sweet Rip-Offs of Childhood

[Opsa]

A recent thread was enjoyably hijacked to the subject of such things as X-Ray Specs and Sea Monkeys. Let's continue it here, where it presumably belongs.  

When I was a kid I was fascinated with electric walkie-talkies, which I had been allowed to use on a hike, once. Now we don't use them as much, since a lot of people have cell phones. I asked my parents for one several years in a row, but they never complied, preferring to give me something they could also give to my sister, who was a year and a half younger than me, the fiends! Imagine my excitement when I found an ad for a set of walkie talkies for just a buck and a half (as I recall), plus postage. Naturally, I sent for them.

After a wait of what seemed like an eternity (maybe six to eight weeks), they came. The box was suspiciously light. Inside I found two pressed tin gizmos that half-heartedly tried to look like real walkie talkies, connected by a four foot string that had to be kept taut for proper reception! I'd made superior things out of paper cups! Shock, disbelief, embarrassment, and lesson learned.

[Roland Deschain]

That's disgusting, and so obviously false advertising. My childhood was the 80s (that which I remember), leading into the 90s, so x-ray specs and sea monkeys weren't the popular things then. I went through a yo-yo craze though. That was cool, even though I was carp at it, lol.

I don't recall any specific rip-offs, although I did have presents I hated. One year my parents bought me a cricket game (I hate sports, and have never had any interest in them, really) which I hated, although my neighbour loved it, and would ask to play it almost every time he came round. Grrrr!

The following year I made sure that not only did I specifically state what I wanted long before Christmas (Santa had died a while before this), I shopped around for the cheapest price. Space Marine was definitely not a rip-off, as I had hundreds of hours of fun out of it.

Lots of hate here, so i'll say LOVE to balance it out.

[Opsa]

Nice balancing there, O Blue Bunny.

I was looking for an ad for a notorious rip-off submarine toy and came across this fun site:
Top 10 Outrageous Comic Book Advertisements!

This shows both Sea Monkeys and X-Ray Specs, plus the famous body building ads of yesterday, when nobody thought twice about taking money from impressionable little kids. I guess there are more restrictions in place nowadays, but this sort of stuff still happens.