Weebles
Weebles :
"Weebles Wobble But they Don't Fall Down!" It's true - no matter how hard you tried as a kid, back they'd spring,
Weebles were basically little plastic people with circular bottoms and no legs. They looked like eggs, but had painted faces to differentiate between an entire Weeble family: Mum, Dad, brother, sister, baby and dog. They were weighted in the bottom so that if you pushed it over it would just bob right back up again - leading to what seemed to be limitless fun! Because of this, Weebles became a hit from 1969, when they were released by toy manufacturer, Romper Room, taking over from the Little People toys that had gone before them.
By the early 70s, the Weebles had gained in popularity and, by now, Hasbro had started producing a range of accessories. One of the first was the Weeble Tree House, which was extremely popular, and featured slides for the Weebles to move between floors (after all, they ad no Weeble feet to get up stairs). they could even slide straight into the family car. Don't you wish regular houses were the same? Then there was the Weebles Haunted House, which included a glow-in-the-dark ghost, As well as a village full of people, Hasbro started producing an assortment of vehicles with special dimpled seats to hold the Weebles in. These included a boat, an aeroplane and even a Police Van. We were even treated to a Wigwam for the Indian Weebles, Wild West Weeble Wagons, as well as a Treasure Island for the pirate Weebles to live on.
So the kids who kept with these simple Weebles despite the lure of other more compex toys, were being rewarded more than they could ever have imagined... because next up came the best Weeble creation of all - the Circus! It came complete with Wobble the clown, a ringmaster, trapeze artist, stilt walker and a canon (a must for any circus).
Nowadays, Weebles have been superseded by the likes of Nintendo Wii and the like, but they're still popular with collectors, who can even pick up themed Weebles painted with characters of Sesame Street and Disney. They may have changed over the years, but one thing's stayed the same, just as we were promised, 'they haven't fallen down'.
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The original fiendishly difficult puzzle,
now with solution guide
The original fiendishly difficult puzzle, invented by Erno Rubik in Hungary and one of the biggest toy crazes ever. In 1982 Hawkin's Bazaar was the first to bring a few cases of the Rubik's Cube to England. Unfortunately 25 years ago we were very small and it wasn't long before a much larger company had the exclusive rights to distribute in the UK. We are very pleased to be offering it again! And now includes a new seven step solution guide.
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5.5cm Seven step solution guide
About Hawkin's Bazaar
Hawkin's Bazaar has been providing you with unusual gifts, toys and gadgets since 1973. Originally a local toy shop at the Hawk Inn (hence the name), Hawkin's Bazaar now sells things you thought had gone forever and things you never even knew existed. They bring you Pin Art, Morph, Rubik's Cube, Big Trak, Space Hoppers and much more.
Also remembered...
Cast your mind back... way back... to a time when Paul Daniels was popular. Not only was he popular, but his magician's skills were unrivalled and we'd tune in in our masses to his TV programme (The Paul Daniels Magic Show, BBC, 1979-1994) just to catch a glimpse of a new trick. There was no hanging around in Perspex boxes for Paul, no. This was your simple trickery that had crowds guessing, how did he do that?! Well, in a stroke of marketing genius, it soon became possible for every Paul Daniels fan to find out exactly how and put an end to any speculation, when the Paul Daniels Magic Sets hit toy stores up and down the UK. The box claimed it contained '150 magic tricks', however nothing could have prepared you for the disappointment of tearing into your box on Christmas morning only to discover a measly rope, a set of plastic balls, a few thimbles, some playing cards, a wand (natch!), some plastic discs and two die. What, no Debbie McGee? It was a travesty, Luckily, there was also an instruction booklet included to help you make some sense of it all. But boy did it require practice if you had any chance of becoming the next Paul Daniels. And being kids, most of us would have happily chosen the option of having a microchip implanted into our necks to enable us to execute magical tricks in an instant. For those who stuck with the Paul Daniels Magic Sets, they were rewarded by mastering enough tricks to impress the family and all the impatient kids at school. Sometimes you could even get a stand-in Debbie McGee to assist in the show. It's a nice touch that the set's instructions even advised Paul's pupils to develop their own magician's patter, and that they did. Well, kids love to talk, don't they. There were also individual Paul Daniels Magic Tricks to collect - 30 in all. These ranged in level of difficulty, all colour-coded so not to get above your station. They came in cardboard pouch-like packaging, with Paul Daniel's smiley face slapped on the front of every one. Apparently it didn't matter that the same photo - incidentally, he wore a wig for it - was used on every pouch released, despite them spanning four years of his life. It's probably a good thing indeed that the lovely Paul and Debbie were behind the Magic Sets, rather than Mr Blaine or David Copperfield. We had by far less risk of setting fire to the living room, for one. And less chance of drowning yourself or suffering death by Perspex box, that's for sure. Kids, don't try that at home!
...and do you remember these?
Comments
Weebles.......my sister had loads of these! They even made Weeble animals, I think she had a lion in a cage.
Batman 09-Jun-2004, 04:40:11 PM
I had weebles when I was young!! Approx. 10 years ago, I started collecting loose weebles, I have over 50 of them now and I am still looking for more to add to my collection. My weebles are different from UK weebles, but I even did manage to find some UK weebles over here in Canada. WEEBLES are awesome!!
Mary Robinson 09-Jun-2004, 07:11:12 PM
Our headmaster was short and round (I'm being polite) and his nickname was "Weeble"!
David Pritchard 13-Jun-2004, 07:54:50 PM
I remember there was a whole load of accessories for the weebles like an aeroplane, police van, swing, slide etc. All the accessories were specifically made for weebles and had little weeble shaped seats so that the weebles wouldn't fall out. Were there buildings for weebles too (houses etc)? I don't remember...
Delboy 12-Aug-2004, 06:34:01 PM
Do you remember the Weeble tree house? It kinda sprung open when you pushed the button the top and inside there were several Weebles bedrooms and there was even a Weebles elevator to take the Weebles upstairs
Weebles 17-Aug-2004, 04:03:32 PM
Do you remember when Sarah (The Human weeble)imitated her favourite weeble on the 27.09.04. I have the video to prove it
I love weebles 28-Sep-2004, 11:33:25 AM
I sure do, and im sure the rest of the Restaurant Bar & Grill do too.... Looking good Sarah Weeble!
I love weebles too 28-Sep-2004, 11:35:24 AM
weebles rocked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
weebles 20-Oct-2004, 08:18:43 PM
yes there were buildings digging through the attic of a storage buldig of our not long ago i found my old weebles ranch house and the weebles tree house both still look brand new.....just can't find any of my weebles though
chapsorg 02-Nov-2004, 04:46:18 AM
i had a weebles submarine which i played with in the bath, but then the plastic top cracked and my mum threw it away - v v upset at time!
debbie 02-Nov-2004, 11:55:28 AM
I LOVED my weebles!! But my mom thought I didn't want them any more and sold them in our garage sale. (for pennies I'm sure) I asked her about them shortly after and have been SCARRED for life! I haven't let her live it down. I'm 38yrs. old now. ha.
Laura 03-Nov-2004, 12:35:44 AM
Ha~I can't believe I found this site. As weird as it sounds, I was named after a weeble-wobble. My mom was watching a commercial and one of the weeble-wobbles was named Ember. Does anyone have a pictures of the one named "Ember"? I would LOVE to see it.
Ember 08-Dec-2004, 10:19:05 PM
i have a vague memory of having a weeble school bus.
sena 18-Dec-2004, 03:09:42 AM
Still have all my weebles up in my parents attic - guess i just can't bear to throw them out or give them to someone who won't appreciate or look after them, therefore they will probably just rot away in the attic. Had the treehouse, the park, cars, planes and a helicopter. Also got a load of farm animals and one or two zoo animals thata I probably aquired from a friend who had the zoo. UK weebles are far superior to those USA eggs with pictures in them!!!
mike 20-Dec-2004, 09:28:08 AM
I remember Weebles especially from the 80's. This year Hasbro has come out with a whole new line of Weebles, and they look great.
bklynguy 20-Dec-2004, 05:06:22 PM
i have the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker. but they werent the ones that looked like eggs. they were pretty big and shaped like regulat toys but with a rounded bottom.
wendi 26-Dec-2004, 01:40:19 AM
I've been collecting weebles for years now. Except, the ones I have, have painted outfits and have a clear plastic ring across their middles and smaller than what's currently being sold.... Second Generation??
atsamiam 28-Dec-2004, 02:00:57 PM
I loved my weebles. I used to leave them in the yard and wait for them to find their way to my playhouse. Until one day, my mother, who was tired of stepping on them in the lawn, ran over all of them with the lawnmower. I never had another weeble people again... true story.
Lauri 22-Jan-2005, 03:07:09 AM
I loved my weeble helioport, the roof kind of folded down and you could carry it around with a handle on the top. I also loved the play ground, if you spun the roundabout fast enough the weebles would fly out - charming child!
Hannah B 30-Jan-2005, 09:33:27 AM
I miss my Weebles Tub Sub. I loved it, and played with it every bath time.
catherine 03-Feb-2005, 07:24:19 PM
Man, My mother found one of my Weebles in the attic and gave it to me recently, which landed me here. I loved my Weeble Pirate ship (mid seventies) the most. Actually, that is what I am looking for in all honesty.
Mohawke 27-Feb-2005, 05:26:08 AM
I remember owning a green weeble bus which you could push around but not with weebles on it. As soon as you exceeded 2cm per second the unstable buggers came shooting off the top deck. For some reason it always reminded me of the bus the loonies go fishing in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. (See Danny DeVito)
Big Al 04-Mar-2005, 01:35:22 PM
On the side of my house there was a old slab of irregular shaped cement sidewalk piece on a whole lot of sand. I was about 7 when I remember playing for hours in this area with my weebles. I wish I would have kept them. I lost them when we moved.
stephanie 05-Mar-2005, 07:34:11 AM
Somebody once gave one of my children a weeble. It was horrible - NO EYES - and my son was frightened of it! It sat grinning smugly like a demented buddha for years in a drawer no doubt weaving its evil magic until despatched to oxfam to cast its curse over some other unsuspecting family.
Kate 07-Mar-2005, 02:05:42 PM
I had a few weebles, which were the old ones from the seventies including the girl-with-flowers pictured right above!! Wendi, you mentioned that you had a butcher, a baker, and a candle stick maker. I believe that actually came from the Three-Men-In-a-Tub Fisher Price bath playset, which was a pretty cool tool (don't know if my parents kept it).
MLP 25-Mar-2005, 01:03:55 PM
We used to play Subbuteo with them.. they were better than the real thing.
Squrgongulanx 26-Apr-2005, 07:26:21 PM
I remember taking the weebles in the bath and then shaking them to get the water back out. I think it was only one of them that actually shipped water but it was great fun coz then your weeble cried!! My brother and I would fight over which one we had in the bath.
Sarahl 02-Jul-2005, 09:29:41 PM
Weebles wouldn't stand up if you pulled them apart, took the weight out of the bottom and stuck a big blob of Blu-Tak in the head!
FRED BLOGGS 28-Jul-2005, 02:52:11 PM
i used to share my bath with my weebles because i had the weeble harbour which had lots of boats.the harbour never floated, so i would have my mum holding the platform for me.
leez 25-Aug-2005, 12:24:04 PM
I have a photo of myself when I was 2 years old at my birthday party cutting a cake with my mum which had the Weeble's on.
Angela Barthorpe 06-Oct-2005, 03:30:54 PM
Being on the 1989 Weeble's House toybox. With my little blue jumper & white blouse. Haha. I am currently 18 years old and I still have the box & everything but we haven't been able to find the whole set (with toy). I really wish I still had it but we've moved so much. Who knows where it's gone. If anyone knows where there would be one; please email me. _mistakez@yahoo.com
Kristen 05-Nov-2005, 04:15:27 AM
My father in law often regales us with the story on how it was actually him that wrote "Weebles wobble but they don`t fall down"! At the time he was entering all of the competitions that came along...to a fault. And he entered the Weeble one, they won a holiday which that had to give up for some reason or another, and he also won some Weebles, which my husband loved allthose yrs ago! We are never 100% sure whether it`s a true story, but he swears it is, and it`s nice to believe it...
Vicky 17-Nov-2005, 01:14:59 PM
I loved my weebles. I had the play park but like the bus mentioned above if you spun the roundabout too fast they would all fly off. We had a teacher called Mr Webber who resembled the Weeble shape (trying to be polite here) - many a pupil could be heard misquoting the catchphrase 'Webbers wobble but they don't fall down!'
Sam 18-Jan-2006, 07:24:53 PM
I used to have the Weeble treehouse along with the Weeble Dalmation dog. Ah, simple pleasures!!!
clarky 17-Feb-2006, 10:53:38 AM
I used to play with weebles when i was a little boy. I am now 31 and have now just bought them for my own 2 year old son!!! They dont make them as good as they used to though,Cheap plastic!!!
Mark Ashby 28-Feb-2006, 10:04:03 PM
I FREAKING OVE WEEBLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ever since i was little they are awesome and the song is the best
william 11-Apr-2006, 03:52:10 PM
I had the Disney Castle and the weebles were all Disney characters!! It was great fun.
MNBIGD 03-May-2006, 11:45:31 PM
To this day, If I see a person off balance, roly poly shaped, etc., I'll either call them a weeble or just sing the refrain. I really couldn't remember their origin. I just liked the song.
tina 02-Jun-2006, 11:31:17 PM
I remember a news snippet when Weebles became a toy of the past that had the headline "The Rise and Fall of Weebles". I kid you not!
Warren O'Brien 07-Jun-2006, 08:38:34 AM
I never knew what a Weeble was until I saw the indie time-travel flick "Primer". In the movie, they are the first objects ever to be sent back in time.
Mark 15-Aug-2006, 08:57:45 AM
I used to play with these when I was little, what I will always remember about them is that though I did actually like playing with them their slightly "demonic" faces used to scare me, I think it is the smiles that did it, even now looking at them they kind of look a little "nasty" lol still I dont think I will ever forget them
Kieran 09-Oct-2006, 08:05:19 PM
I loved weebles too!! Haven't seen any in YEARS tho!! I had the weebles playground set, with the swings and stuff! :) I do wonder how I managed to get so much enjoyment out of a few plastic "eggs"!! LOL
Sonia 03-Nov-2006, 12:30:47 AM
Ha ha ha, a Weeble strategically placed under the tyre of an about to reverse down the drive Ford Capri (a 1.6GL if I remember correctly) made a satisfying bang. My neighbour (it was his car), predictably, failed to see the funny side.
glam_racket 04-Nov-2006, 09:23:55 PM
Weebles evilness was only matched by that of the Cabbage Patch Dolls. I'm serious, these toys were horid, with their red eyes... that might aswell of flashed! no emotional attachment what so ever... Thank God.
Samski 07-Nov-2006, 04:31:32 PM
I loved the weebles, had quite a few of them but they aint like what they use to be now are they??
toni 06-Dec-2006, 01:11:04 PM
My brother had the weebles harbour, it had a few boats with twistable rudders.....and a platform (i think) from which the boarded their boats. I think I got more play value out of them than he did hehe!!
Ann 14-Jan-2007, 09:35:29 AM
I had the weebles playground. The Helmet was always falling off the fireman so he always had superflue for hair - and my older brother's loved spinning the roundabout and swings so fast that the Weebles would fly like missiles around the room - ahhh what memories!
Weebly 20-Jan-2007, 11:49:29 AM
My dad still has some. i seen them in the attic and he brought them down. my dad has many memories back in the 60's/70's. Great toys still. Great for little kids.
Ryan 18-Feb-2007, 10:51:56 PM
i still have my weeble treehouse. I still remember that hidinghole at the back.It were great times. Sorry for my bad english, i'm from the netherlands.
jen 29-Apr-2007, 10:07:30 PM
one of my earlies childhood memories is dropping my weeble down the loo. I remember being extremely traumatized by this event. Yes, weebles do fall down, down the bog!
alex 22-Jun-2007, 08:46:32 PM
WHEN MY SON WAS BORN I NICKNAMED HIM WEEBLE BECAUSE JUST LIKE THE WEEBBLES HE WOBBLED BUT DIDNT FALL DOWN.
WENDY 17-Jul-2007, 03:58:30 AM
I had the weebles in the park! I remember it well there was a roundabout and I used to spin it real fast they flew off! Swings, slide etc. Dont you just wish you kept it all!
cozmicgirl24 29-Jul-2007, 01:47:22 AM
one of my earliest memories as a child, i had the weebles caravan! brilliant!
thebhoywonder 06-Apr-2010, 03:37:09 PM
Now the Weebles are different. They have heads and arms. They still have the rounded bottoms but are just not the same. Why did they have to ruin them? They were so great.
Amanda-Davis 23-Apr-2010, 02:10:37 AM