Remember these, from the early 1960s? First they were called trolls, then “Wishniks.” Originally invented by a Danish toymaker, they took off like a rocket and soon everybody was selling knockoffs. As I recall it, every girl in our junior high school had one of these attached to her purse. These toys sold out easily, and some parents had to go to a lot of trouble to provide them for their kids. Sort of like what happened with Cabbage Patch Kids, much later. But we are talking Bronze Age stuff today.
Wishniks never entirely went away. You can still get them, and they come in many different sizes. When I was a liquidator I tried to corral a batch of keychain-sized Wishniks, but a competitor beat me to it.
Before you write them off as just another toy fad, I have heard that Wishniks now constitute a strong majority in the Oregon State Legislature.
Probably the most ubiquitous fad of my youth, until all the guys, in unison, started wearing long hair to prove they were “different”. 🙂
Lee, you are still a liquidator. You are helping to wind up the reign of liars and deceivers who promote perversity and replace it with the Kingdom of Christ. Rock on, Soldier of Christ.
Beautifully stated!
Every now and then you’d get a big score. Mine was several truckloads of Bug’s Life books, all to the same buyer.
More praise than I can live up to… but I’ll try.
I still wonder what the differences are between trolls and wishniks. One thing I remember is that Wishniks had a double-horseshoe stamped into the bottom of each foot. Is that it? Just one brand versus a hoarde of others?
I don’t have any of them here, so I can’t look and see. I don’t think there were many boys who had troll or wishnik dolls Not in 1963 there weren’t.