Inspired by an octopus, it revolutionized the toy market in the United States and made the person who patented it earn a fortune.
Ken Hakuta, inventor of the Wacky Wall Walker.
Inspired by an octopus from Japan, a young man named Ken Hakuta devised a toy that he patented for $5,000 and generated astonishing profitability after causing a sensation throughout the United States. It is a small sticky rubber animal that, when stuck to the wall, simulates descending like an insect.
In 1983, he saw enormous marketing potential in the toy, so he decided to patent it for the sum of $5,000. Without a doubt it was the best decision I could have made because in the following years the invention was required by absolutely all the children in the country. Just the first year, 200 million “Wacky Walkers” were sold with a approximate profit of 20 million dollars.
Stretch Toy Story
How the Wacky Wall Walker became a million-dollar invention
The toy began to be sold in Washington DC in 1983, but became popular thanks to a Christmas television show called “Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls”, with the voices of 3 famous actors of the time: Daws Butler, Tress MacNeille, and Marvin Kaplan. In the Christmas special, 7 of these WallWalkers appeared from the planet Kling-Kling.
And one of those characters was created based on the inventor, Ken Hakuta. The characters were Big Blue, Springette, Bouncing Baby Boo, Crazylegs, Stickum, Wacko, and their leader, Kling-Kling. Another popular character that was inspired by this toy many years later was the violet pulpit Strecth in the legendary movie Toy Story 3.
Thanks to the success of this toy, the inventor Hakuta was consulted for other creations, among which Dr Fad is the most notable.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
