The joy of pointless collectibles
posted 25 February 06 by J.S. Vodalarius
Does anyone remember Pogs? You know, small circles of cardboard with pictures on them that you were supposed to do something to with a slammer. I don’t know what, but the slammer was involved somehow. Anyway, Pogs. I sort of liked them. Actually, I still have my Pogs. I’m tempted to make a wall hanging out of them, with the assistance of some construction paper and maybe a glue stick. A trip back to first grade, when they were cool. I could use it as a dart board. I’d have to get some darts first, but still.
I mean, they put the most random stuff on Pogs. I’ve only got a small sampling – I never really collected them seriously – but they’ve got some range. Examples include:
- a violently flourescent bird of some sort, and an equally violently flourescent scary-as-hell clown
- Connecticut. I mean, why Connecticut?
- some dude named Rothbart from the movie The Swan Princess. I don’t remember much of the movie, but the name Rothbart is admittedly kinda cool.
- a very close up picture of a fly
- an upside-down surfer
- a splat of something brightly colored and probably chemical. The back informs me that I got the thing courtesy of Land’o’Lakes butter. Why they were giving out Pogs I do not know.
- and, my personal favorite, a squirrel on a log, holding a small disc with the inscription “Pog.” It also says “Pog” all over the back.
Added to these are a few other Pogs and a heavy metallic slammer with a prismatic picture of a teddy bear in band leader gear on it.
Really, what the hell was the point of Pogs? I suppose you could use them as frisbees for very small dolls, or coasters for said small dolls’ drinks. Maybe even as the round cardboard inserts in the pizza boxes belonging to those small dolls.
Pogs. Huh.