Boglins!

Mattel’s Boglins were a huge puppet/toy sensation in the late 1980s.

Remember Boglins? If you grew up in the 1980s (or have kids that did) I’ll bet you do. I had several growing up until I gutted them in the early 1990s to cannibalize them for puppet parts (Boglin eyes make great moving eye mechs for puppets).

Boglins were flexible rubber puppets released by Mattel. Originally the came in two varieties – three large Boglins and six smaller ones. They were super flexible, their skin felt kind of gross and they had moving, glow-in-the-dark eyes. Even their packaging was cool; each Boglin came in a very cool cardboard crate with a plastic “cage” door. It’s no wonder It’s no wonder kids loved them! Mattel relaunched Boglins in 2000 with two new lines of Boglins, but they just didn’t seem nearly as good as the originals and never really caught on the same.

You can see a 1980s commercial for Boglins on YouTube and more information about them, including pics, can be found here. Craving a Boglin of your own? Chances are you track one down on ebay.