I know I shouldnt fucking bother, but Cynthia, have you ever heard the phrase, "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!"

You almost certainly haven't, but your grandparents (maybe even your parents) did, along with 50 million other American (and some Canadian, British and Australian) kids knew it, and knew what was coming. The biggest trolling magical frog puppet in the world, who was soon to prank and make life miserable for the 'guest of the day' on the "Smilin' Ed's Gang radio show, later the Andy's Gang kids TV show: Froggy the Gremlin.

After flashing on the screeen in a hail of confetti and smoke after being called by his magic catchphrase, he'd say in a froggy voice "Hiya, kids! hiya, hiya hiya!!" And kids everywhere LOVED Froggy even though he was probably the worst puppet ever. Almost no motion at all except his mouth, he was just a grinning frog on a stick.

Froggy, to put it gently, was an asshole. He used his power of suggestion to fuck with the presentations of other guests. If a guest were to demonstrate how to paint a wall, he might say, "And now I'm going to take this can of paint..." Froggy would chime in, "And dump it over my head." And the confused guest would proceed to do so. Kids would about kill themselves laughing. Eventually the guest or host would get mad enough to go after froggy who would then disappear with the same effect.

Toy sales for Froggy the Gremlin crap was borderline My Little Pony levels for the 1950s.

THAT is an original character, beloved of kids, who dosen't pander to them and make cutesy nice, he dicks with adults and winks at the kids, and kids today would LOVE a modern incarnation of a creature with Froggy's subversive sneaky humor who clearly likes kids, but not in a creepy way your Wogglebug comes off liking kids.

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rcvrd jan 2021