Submitted by D DeRonde

The original Zapper for “Wild Gunman” was awesome:

Photo via destructoid.com

Mighty realistic looking too, so when the Zapper was released in the U.S., it became the version you see at the top of the page. We can understand why, but still. That is one cool shoot ‘em up toy!

The Zapper was unique, according to Wikipedia:

The Zapper is perhaps unique as it is the only NES accessory to have its own accessory; QuickShot released a gray plastic scope that snaps onto the Zapper’s existing rear sight. It does not contain any optics, rather it is simply a tube with crosshairs. This item, especially when new-in-box, has become hard to find and is highly prized by collectors.

Like this:

Photo via Wikipedia

This person totally wins the OUAW “A Little Too Much Time On My Hands” award:

Photo via play-gadgets.com

What do you call that? A Zapwii? Wiiper? We have no idea.

Submitted by M Johnson

We were thinking these were a safer (boo) alternative to the Metal Death Skates:

Photo via aw-wrdsmith.com

But now we’re not so sure after reading the Fisher Price website. What do they consider the appropriate age for the roller skates? Two to two-and-a-half years. Heck, we’re older than that and still don’t have the necessary co-ordination!

We’re not pretending to be childcare experts here at OUAW, but that sounds like a perfect recipe for “Baby’s First Emergency Room Visit.”

Submitted by M Monderer

Remember Wooly Willy, one of the saviors of long car trips with family?

There was also one for the girls, Hair-Do Harriet:

Photo via familytravelgear

You could make her a pretty spectacular beehive! Not quite Amy Winehouse huge, more like Flo from “Alice” huge. Ah, memories. Between these, Mad Libs, and Walkmans, peace could be kept until at least the first rest stop.

Submitted by D Gentry

If you can’t get yourself a real race car, slot cars are the next best thing. Not to mention there’s less chance of serious injury.

You can trick out the tracks just about any way you want, from straightaway to this:

Photo via users.tpg.com.au

But for serious drag-racing competition, the straightaway is the way to go:

Zoom!

Submitted by J Kuhn

The regular View Master provided hours of awesome, but there was also a talking View Master that had all the pop culture fun:

Photo via musicstack

How cool is a “Thriller” Talking View Master? We don’t know if the coolness can even be charted.

The View Master people were able to get established movie stars to pitch for them:

That’s Henry Fonda, along with a VERY young Jodie Foster.