Toys TOYS

Boglins

I've heard them called 'handpuppets from hell', and thet's not far off the truth. For anyone who's seen the original TV ad for boglins from the 80s, you'll know what I'm talking about here. The name itself conjures up all kinds of revolting, hellish imagery of something that lives in murky bogs, covered in warts, emitting the kind of phlegm-filled sounds that haunt you for nights to come. And this was exactly what those big brains at Mattel wanted us to think.

Hot on the heels of Finger Frights and Gremlins, Boglins were the type of toy you felt you had to own, even if you were slightly freaked at the prospect of what it would get up to under the glimmer of your night light. In the ad campaign they'd promised:

"If you take us home, we'll kiss your Aunt Martha, we'll eat your peas, and we hope you know lots of girls."

Luckily for us scaredy cats, the late-80s toy came packaged in cardboard cages, complete with 'don't feed' signs that made them out to be some kind of rotten experiment turned evil.

The story went that Boglins were the creatures us humans had eventually descended from, but a small monirity had remained buried in bogland, preserved until present day and unevolved. The toys were slimey hand puppets that looked like a large bogey with glow in the dark eyes, claw-like dinosaur hands and a tendancy for biting little sister's arms (very popular with big brothers then!). There were three varieties of the original Boglins in the US, known as Drool, Dwork and Vlob, although in the UK they went by the names of Plunk, Dwork and Flurp.

With the success of the first trio of Boglins, smaller versions were released, but these were much cuter and came in plastic egg packaging like Kinder Surprise. There were also ones put in Kelloggs cereal boxes - discovering a Boglin in your Rice Krispies certainly made for an eventful breakfast time. Collectables were also sold in small, shiny foil packs at the local newsagents. They were plain, one-coloured, hard plastic versions of the original Boglins, around 1.5 inches tall. These were collected and traded from kid to kid during playtime. Soggy Boglins were no doubt the grossest breed going, including Slogg the frog complete with a sticky tongue and Snish the Fish which squirted water. Other freakish breeds comprised: Hairy Boglins featuring tufts of hair on rubbery heads; Acrobat Boglins which would crawl down walls once thrown at them; Talking Boglins; and Bash 'em Boglins which came with detachable body parts. There was even a Boglins board game.

The Boglin toys first hit our shelves in 1987 and were manufactured by a number of different companies including Action GT and Ideal for Mattel. They survived into the 90s, until those devilish Monsters In My Pocket snuck onto the scene and stole most of their fans. Boglins took the hint and bogged off... for now.


Author of this article:



Contributors to this article:

  • There are no contributors yet

Do You Remember Boglins?

Do You Remember Boglins?

  • Anonymous user
    on
    Anyone has boglins for sale?
  • Anonymous user
    on
    There are a number of people I know who remind me of these....
  • Anonymous user
    on
    i got drool when i was 3 still have him now although his eyes have come out but i still love him,last month i was clearing out my mums loft when in a box there was a boglin i took it out its in mint condition drool never played with tag still on the front of the cage when i asked my mum were did it come from she told me i got 2 for my birthday so she let me play with one and she stored the other one but forgot all about him!!! so i took him home with me sadly i need to fined him a new home as i still have my used drool that has loads of memories dose anyone know were i could sell him as i have said he has never been played with his cage ia all in tacked with orig tag can send pic's if needed thanx kelly
  • Anonymous user
    on
    these were so much fun. we had a green one. it was hideous and adorable all at the same time
  • thunercats_hooo
    on
    i remember i had quite a few of these, my favourite one was called "slobster" it was half boglin, half lobster. it had 1 hard claw and one soft mutant claw and eyes on stalks. god, i wish i still had him!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I had two, one bought new and one from a bootsale, the second one was weird and I wonder if he was actually official, he looked like an alien and had a claw that was plastic and opened and shut, it was great for hurting parents and cousins with, even better than their mouths! Boglins are like Werebears, cute toy concepts that boys aren't ashamed to like, they should definetly revive them, there are dozens of horrible little kids in hoodies outside tescos that need to be taught the error of thier ways with a good boglining! ;)
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Scratch that, it was Dwork, not Drool.. he winked too. I always thought that was cool. Maybe they should remake Boglins... Share them with the younger generations, right?
  • Anonymous user
    on
    We had "Drool" growing up. It was really awesome and one of my favorite toys, but one of my older brothers used to hang him over the top bunk and make his eyes (which glow) move around. I slept on the trundle bed underneath and always got freaked out...
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I used to have a brown Boglin called Blap...I used to take him to college with me, we chucked him round classes, tutors were not impressed. Used to get really strange looks from people, cos I used to have him hanging out of my bag peering at them ;-)
  • Anonymous user
    on
    i bought a boglin for my son [who was about 3/4 at the time] i thought it was brilliant and spent hours trying to get him to play with it