Remember the good old days when you could go outside and shoot rocks out of a toy gun and then come inside and play with the uranium and asbestos in your chemistry set all before dinner? If you don't, that's probably for the best.
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00:00Once upon a time, toy companies would seemingly sell anything they could think of to kids,
00:06regardless of whether it made any sense.
00:08After enough kids were maimed or outright killed by stupid toys, though, the government
00:12began regulating this stuff, but not before a number of insane products made it to market.
00:17Here's a look at some of the most dangerous toys ever sold to the public.
00:22Austin Magic Pistol
00:24If you think it's a good idea to provide unstable explosives to small children, well, have we
00:30got the toy for you.
00:32Back in the 1940s, a toy gun called the Austin Magic Pistol was released.
00:37The idea was to shoot ping-pong balls.
00:40But rather than use springs or something, the Austin Magic Pistol achieved this by using
00:44calcium carbide, which would explode when water, or just plain spit, was added.
00:50Instant fireball!
00:51Oh, and the gun's breech was barely screwed on and would blow off, scorching the face
00:55of the poor kid firing it with acetylene gas.
00:58Needless to say, the toy didn't last long, and is now a collector's item, especially
01:02since so many of them simply exploded.
01:06Oops!
01:07Moon Shoes
01:08Trampolines are dangerous, and even more so when they're built right into your shoes.
01:13As kids learned starting in the 1950s, the space shoes craze resulted in a slew of broken
01:18ankles, elbows, and other bones.
01:21But that didn't stop Nickelodeon from bringing the redesigned, rebranded Moon Shoes back
01:26in the 90s, because those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
01:31One small step for a man, one giant leap for emergency room procedures.
01:37Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper
01:39In 1978, Mattel released the Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper, which had an awesome spring-loaded
01:46plastic missile kids could fire.
01:48They don't make them like this anymore, and for good reason.
01:51Unfortunately, a four-year-old toddler died after placing the nose of the toy into his
01:55mouth and accidentally firing the missile down his throat.
02:00The incident had one other notable side effect as well.
02:02The original Boba Fett action figure, which was still in development at the time, was
02:06originally going to have a spring-loaded rocket you could fire from his jetpack.
02:10This was quickly abandoned, but not until a few prototypes were made which are now among
02:15the most valuable collectible toys in the world.
02:18Just, uh, don't actually play with it.
02:28AWESOME!
02:30Skydancers
02:32Kids like dolls.
02:33And they also like helicopters, right?
02:35So Galoob Toys married the two ideas together and created a series of dolls called Skydancers
02:42in the late 1990s.
02:44The dolls would fly, yes, but they did so erratically, and just like grapefruit juice,
02:49the Skydancers usually wound up shooting into someone's unsuspecting eyes.
02:54The toys were recalled after the company received over 150 reports of the dolls hitting people,
02:59causing scratched corneas, as well as shattered teeth, a broken rib, and even a concussion.
03:04Naturally, they're now back on the market.
03:08The Gilbert Glass Blowing Kit for Boys
03:11If you think your kid could do with a new hobby, and you also need some new glassware
03:15around the house, then go and find yourself the Gilbert Glass Blowing Kit right now.
03:21This terrifying toy, which came out a century ago, was marketed as a necessary device to
03:26help kids learn a valuable skill.
03:28What it actually taught them was arson.
03:30The kit, which didn't come with any protective gear of any kind, encouraged children to use
03:36their bare hands when working with glass at approximately 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
03:42But hey, at least they learned the science of glass.
03:45I mean, it's a creative toy.
03:46I mean, you know, you hold this up, you see colors, you know, you see all the colors of
03:50rainbows, you know.
03:51I mean, it teaches them about light refraction, prisms, and that stuff, you know.
03:55The Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab
03:58Speaking of the Gilbert company's totally safe, not-at-all-horrific toys, in 1950 they
04:03decided to one-up themselves with the Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab, which actually contained
04:09real samples of Uranium-238, which is radioactive, and which is used to make Plutonium-239, the
04:18main ingredient used in atomic weapons.
04:20Of course, kids weren't putting together little Manhattan projects in their garages with these
04:25samples.
04:26No, they were just getting cancer.
04:28The toy was discontinued two years later.
04:31That's right.
04:32It took two years.
04:34CSI Fingerprint Analysis Kit
04:36Back when CSI was one of the most popular shows on television, CBS decided to cash in
04:41by making a toy crime scene kit for kids, who could then live out their dream of dusting
04:46a murdered mall Santa for fingerprints.
04:49Amazingly, though, this toy was even worse than it sounds, because the fingerprint powder
04:54in the kit actually contained asbestos, widely known to be a cancer-causing material, in
04:59a handy, easily-inhaled form.
05:02It took CBS 20 months of litigation before they settled a class-action lawsuit and recalled
05:07the toy.
05:08And you thought Happy Fun Ball was dangerous.
05:10"...discontinue use of Happy Fun Ball if any of the following occurs, itching, vertigo,
05:15dizziness, tingling in extremities, loss of balance or coordination."
05:20Cabbage Patch Snack Time Doll
05:23It was a simple idea behind the Cabbage Patch Snack Time Doll.
05:27Make a doll that could actually chew so you could pretend to feed it stuff.
05:31Fun!
05:32Unfortunately, programming for robot dolls wasn't so great in the 1980s, so once this
05:37thing started chewing, it couldn't stop.
05:39And that's where this goes from adorable to horrible, because numerous incidents came
05:44out where the doll would get a hold of a young girl's hair and chomp away until it pulled
05:48it right out of her scalp.
05:50Now where could Mattel have gotten the idea for this toy in the first place?
05:54Oh yeah.
05:55Screaming
06:00Magnetics Magnetic Building Set
06:03Science is fun!
06:04Until it kills you.
06:05That was the lesson parents learned in horrible fashion back in 2006, when the Consumer Product
06:10Safety Commission issued the first of what would be multiple recalls of the magnetic
06:15building kits issued by Magnetics.
06:17Magnets, as you probably know, tend to attract each other, which, when swallowed, caused
06:22a number of children to require emergency surgery to clear intestinal blockages.
06:28Sounds like some kids didn't remember that age-old proverb.
06:32Don't eat metal.
06:37Don't eat metal!
06:39If they had all just listened to Insane Clown Posse and rightfully feared what no one understands,
06:45this may never have happened.
06:47F----- Magnus, how do they work?
06:49Thank you, Professor Shaggy 2 Dope.
06:52Thank you, Professor Shaggy 2 Dope.