Weirdness and… Mordles!

I had a weird dream the other night. It was about a toy–a real toy from the 1980s–I had as a kid, one my uncle had given me. It is shaped like a rock, but when you slide part of it, a fearsome head pops up, and its rock arm lifts up, devouring anything that was sitting on it. Again, this is a real toy that I had as a kid. I hadn’t thought about it in years. Here is what it looks like:

picture from eBay listing

This wasn’t even the important part of the dream. The important part of the dream was that my favorite part of this toy was not the gruesome, devouring rock, but the little critter that came with it (for the purpose of being devoured, of course). It was a little teal, two-legged, armless critter that looked like this:

picture from eBay listing

This little critter was much more fun to play with than the evil rock-thing. This adorable little critter played many roles in my childhood imagination, from evil Halloween goblin to cute little alien pet for Barbie. When I had to quell my childhood toys and box them up, this one was a keeper–it is somewhere in my parents’ house, I’m sure. I’m not so sure that I kept the rock.

Anyway, despite my fondness for the little critter, I hadn’t thought about this toy in years. But in my dream, my sister (who used to play with this toy with me) came up to me and showed me the little critter, only in the dream hers was pink, and said, “they have different colors now.”

It was a strange dream, one I forgot almost as soon as I awoke. But it stayed with my subconscious, nagging at me. At my computer the next morning, it randomly popped into my mind, and I did a search. I never knew what the toy was called–my uncle had given it to me as a complete surprise; I hadn’t asked for it or anything, and obviously it’s not the most girly toy you can find! Trying to find out what it was, I typed in “rock that eats critters,” “transforming rock,” and “two-legged critter.”

Nothing.

The next morning, this morning, the specific nature of the dream wouldn’t leave me. I decided to type in a description of the critter–the color, the shape. Interestingly enough, the image above, from an eBay listing, popped up on my browser. It turns out both toys are from a series called Rocks and Bugs and Things, in which giant rocks and giant bugs competed to devour the little critters, which are known as “mordles” (or “mordels”).

What does this have to do with anything? Stay with me here. When I have weird dreams like this, they are usually “real,” meaning something in the dream has a connection to reality. I was trying to find out what it was. Was it a message about my sister? Something about the toy? Should I go to my parents’ house and search through the box of old toys to see if I still had it?

I stayed online to do a bit more searching and found something odd. A company, ToyFinity, recently acquired the rights to the toy line, and has only just recently started selling replicas of the little critters. Very recently. You can buy sets of 10 here. Here is what they look like:

From http://toyfinity.com/store.php (yes, you can buy them–you know you want a set!)

And, just like my sister said in her dream, they come in different colors. Yes, even pink. I have half a mind to buy her a pink set, just because…

So what do you think? Why the dream just as the new replicas were becoming available? Was my childhood love for this little plastic critter (which also explains my dark side as a writer) so strong that the universe decided to inform me that a modern replica is available? If so, thanks universe.

In any case–will I be purchasing a shiny new set of mordels to sit on my writing desk and serve as inspiration for future creepy tales?

You bet 😉