[BTS] Today's SideDeal Fidget Toys
5Behind the Scenes: Sometimes there’s more to the story than can fit in a product write-up. Here’s some fun context for today’s cute fidget game on SideDeal.
Today’s cheerful little pop‑it toy isn’t just some soulless modern fidget thing cranked out by some algorithmic toy mill. It’s the conceptual grandchild of a wild idea cooked up decades ago by toy and game design power couple Ora and Theo Coster.
Back in the 1970s, while you were busy eating paste or not existing, Ora and Theo were running a design studio, dreaming up games and gadgets that would eventually sell millions. Theo studied under a Bauhaus master and co‑created classics like Guess Who? alongside a string of other toys you’ve heard of and others you haven’t. Dozens of them, though.
They invented those goofy pop-it things like you’ll find on this toy back in like 1975, but it took decades until viral engine “TikTok” aligned with viral engine “the coronavirus” to make people bored and content-starved enough to spark a proper pop-it sensation.
Too bad Ora and Theo died a couple of years before.
They got the last laugh, though, buried under matching headstones styled after Guess Who? flip‑tiles.
Bet you didn’t know there was so much lore behind random fidget nonsense. Let us know if you’re interested in learning more useless backstories about future daily deals…
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By the 1970s I was graduating high school, going off to college and the world. And by the end having a child.
Do not assume all of us ate paste, even in the 1960s
But cute stories
@Cerridwyn There’s no age limit on eating paste. Nobody will stop you.
@blaineg @Cerridwyn I am of the paste-eating generation too, but I preferred to do shots of Elmer’s Glue. The vodka the teacher hid in the supply room thinned it out nicely.
@blaineg @ItalianScallion
/image snicker
@blaineg @Cerridwyn
“There’s no age limit on eating paste. Nobody will stop you.”
I’LL BE THE JUDGE OF THAT.
EDIT: okay, yeah…turns out that’s true. This cat is looking at me super judgey, though.
@blaineg @jouest you know what they say, quote pics or it didn’t happen"
/showme the creature named Irk eating paste
@mediocrebot ooh a bowl and everything
That was fun! Yes, I am interested in learning more useless backstories about future daily deals…!
@Kyeh cracks knuckles
I guess I wasn’t cool enough to be invited to join the paste-eaters (honestly did not know that was a thing.), nor those that allegedly went out behind the sports field or under the bleachers to smoke cigarettes or maybe something else….
However by the age of about 12 I had learned FORTRAN at a community college and also later COBOL in a night class — well that was a waste of time. So yeah no glue-eating. Probably low-quality food eating provided by the cafeteria or my mother who basically wasn’t into cooking so she took me to fast-food and pizza places a lot. I’m sure my cardiologist still finds evidence of that.
Long story longer. It turned out to be fun being in the nerd generation before nerds were cool. But once I got to college I was known for dorm beer parties and not studying very hard and still getting good grades. I miss my old functioning brain!
@pmarin I remember being the only girl in the High School honor science class. So I hear you
@Cerridwyn @pmarin you go, though