Sea Monkeys. They were actually brine shrimp, and needless to say, looked nothing at all like the drawings on the box. A fact the ad notes in tiny print at the bottom, and which no doubt left many a child disappointed.

Sea monkeys

  • Thunderbird4@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Then, somehow, Howie Mandel thought it would be a good idea to turn the false advertising brine shrimp caricatures into a live action abomination TV series in the ‘90s.

  • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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    6 days ago

    Actually I wasn’t disappointed. I still found them so fucking interesting. This was one of the most awesomest things I ever discovered as a kid.

    Came as part of this German(?) magazine “Yps”. Every week (or month?) Some cool toy or interesting gadget. And the shrimps were the absolute tits. Seeing them today still sparks the same joy. Life out of dead “sand”? That’s bonkers! Or maybe I was just a nerdy kid.

    But considering these things regularly pop up on the net, shows I wasn’t really the only fascinated kid 😁

      • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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        5 days ago

        Oh yes I think I remember. Where cartman swallows them or something. The again…south park has an episode for almost everything 😁

    • 7uWqKj@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Urzeitkrebse they called them 😁 nice that there are other people around remembering Yps

      • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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        5 days ago

        Ah right, yes. uhrzeitkrebse 😍 a lil bit closer to the truth. And I bet there are dozens of us fondly Yps-rememberer, dozens!

        I pity kids today that don’t have those awesome things.

        • 7uWqKj@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          So true … we didn’t have Tiktok so we had to build scale models of historic cars and locomotives from cardboard. And those weren’t even the main “Gimmicks”.

          • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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            5 days ago

            True. I had a bag of marbles e.g. greatest toy ever. Had uncountable amounts of fun with those stupid ass things. Probably did cost 2 moneyz.

            Today kids need a Lego transformer xxl ultra deluxe for 199,99 that is awesome for half a day then collects dust and inspires boredom.

    • EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.caOP
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      6 days ago

      I could see that! It is kind of astonishing that the eggs can hang around in stasis for years, and then produce viable life.

      • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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        5 days ago

        It totally is. Tiny kid-me i couldn’t wrap his head around life coming out of dry sand in a bag.

        I really miss creative things/magazines like that today. Kids just have TicToc…