When Creative Playthings was struggling for relevance in the changing toy market of the mid-1970s, it seems corporate parent CBS had some suggestions. ["1. Less wood, more plastic!"] But there were also some cockamamie toys that look like they could only have been designed by [or to suck up to] the suits at Black Rock. Like a toy briefcase ["Every kid wants to be a bigtime TV executive some day!"]. And a TV News Camera/Truck combo.
Now don't get me wrong; a satellite truck that turns into a camera and mic is pretty ingenious. In concept. But for me, the literalism of the execution--such as the random truck tires on the top of the camera--just kills it.
On the bright side, when the aliens sift through the ruins of our narcissistic, Chatroulette/Flip HD/YouTube society to figure out where it all went off the rails, they'll appreciate that you've preserved this horrible doomsday machine with its original box.
VINTAGE CREATIVE PLAYTHINGS TOY TV NEWS CAMERA TRUCK, first bid $4.99+10.09 s/h, auction ends June 3 [ebay]
Previously, for skeptics: The terror of the toy camera, as told to This American Life and as animated by Chris Ware
