Weirdest Pop Cultural Spin-Offs

[Blue Orange]

So, sometimes, the people who license media properties for spin-off merchandise make ... odd choices. Yes, odd is a nice, neutral word for it. I'm interested in knowing what the weirdest one that you've ever seen was.

This is the weirdest one I've ever seen. A Little Golden Book -- complete with the foil on the spine -- using a classic horror movie to teach the concept of opposites to children who were not even alive -- whose parents may not even have been alive -- when it came out. I found this in a London Drugs and read it with eyebrows raised, and can't remember much else that happened that afternoon.

(Note that accounts of stories printed on toilet paper are disqualified from consideration due to general grossness.)

This is probably aimed at the parents. I doubt Jaws would be that scary by modern standards, and the parents would probably see it and have a laugh, because it was scary by them.

I'd go for the D&D woodburning kit:

Brandification in Action

Take a good, long look at this image. That's the Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Woodburning Set, released in 1983. Tim Hutchings recen...

grognardia.blogspot.com

This is in the 80s, way before any crossover between geek and crafts culture.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Your father must have been an officer or you were an only child or something, because there's no way in hell my parents would have bought that for me.

Both. I was also the first grandchild, and still the only grandson at that point, too. (So, yes, I was spoiled.)

You're only a few years older than me, but I was a warped little kid because I liked all that scary stuff back then.

I did too! My reading, TV, and movie consumption was heavily skewed to Sci-Fi, fantasy and horror, starting in 2nd grade.

But I was also still somewhat scared of the dark at that age. No night lights were needed, bu I couldn’t sleep with my closet door open. None of my toys were horror related. If I had gotten the Alien toy back then, my reaction would have presaged the toy clown scene in Poltergeist by years!

 

[Blue Orange]

Ah, no, I've got me another one.

Sure, we've seen Nyarlathotep turn into a three-legged giant monster with a bloody tongue for a head, an Egyptian pharaoh, a drug dealer, and of course all kinds of monsters.

But how about a Japanese schoolgirl?

Nyaruko: Crawling with Love - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I see I was ninjaed on this! Read above for more info!

 

[Echohawk]

I'd go for the D&D woodburning kit:

I see I was ninjaed on this! Read above for more info!

I see your woodburning kit and raise you D&D lunch meat.

 

[Ryujin]

How did they get from this:



... to this.




I can kind of see this one (NSFW).

 

[Yora]

A kids' cartoon based on Robocop.

WTF, 80s?

Ah, no, I've got me another one.

Sure, we've seen Nyarlathotep turn into a three-legged giant monster with a bloody tongue for a head, an Egyptian pharaoh, a drug dealer, and of course all kinds of monsters.

But how about a Japanese schoolgirl?

Nyaruko: Crawling with Love - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It's indeed bizarre, but the insanity is the whole premise of the show.