Summer Commercial Break Part 2: SUPER SOAKERS!

Let’s face it people. If you grew up in a certain era like myself, Super Soakers were a HUGE goddamn deal. Nothing brought neighborhood kids together better than a water gun fight in the dead of summer. We held onto our Super Soakers like precious pieces of golden artillery.

Everyone knew that one kid who had all the biggest and baddest Super Soakers on the market. The guns equipped with backpacks, rocket launchers, power soakers, water cannons, etc. The sky was the limit when this kid’s parents brought him to Toys ‘R Us. I can’t admit I wasn’t super jealous, but at the same time nothing could ever touch my cherished joy, the SUPER SOAKER 50…

The tale of the Super Soaker begins in the early 1980s with a NASA engineer named Lonnie Johnson. While working on and testing a heat pump system in his bathroom, a powerful stream shot from his prototype, with Johnson immediately realizing that this could make a great water gun. He spent the next eight years trying to sell the idea. Eventually, Johnson sold the idea to Larami Toys, and they released the Power Drencher. The Power Drencher wasn’t very popular at first, but popularity grew significantly when they renamed it the Super Soaker 50.

I couldn’t possibly continue explaining the entire history of this legendary toy, but this article sure can. When you’ve finished browsing through my favorite commercials, check that out!

(Two strange ones courtesy of Matt from Dinosaur Dracula)

Now to really make your head explode, feast your eyes on this intense (but geeky) Super Soaker collection from a guy named Chris Reid. More photos here.