The year was 1969 and lava lamp-laden hippies roamed the earth. Besides gathering together for the lovefest that was Woodstock, they also helped to create a style that went so far as to invade the toy world - with set of dolls that had their own little commune of psychedelic happiness, the groovy and ever-lovable Upsy Downsys.

Introduced by Mattel in the summer of love, Upsy Downsys were a collection of figures that stood about 2” high and made of plastic with yarn hairdos. These far out folks were sort of human-esque, similar to something that Timothy Leary might have imagined on a particularly playful evening. Each came with a playland mat and some far out vehicle like the Aero Zoomer plane or the Bugabout car. The mats could be laid out side-by-side to create an ‘Upsy Downsys Happidiculous’ commune of sorts.

There were two distinct breeds of Upsy Downsys to contend with, the upright Upsys and the inverted Downsys, depending on ones personal preference or, perhaps, perspective. Gooey Chewey sported blue eyes, lipstick and blush and flowing locks of red and white yarn hair. Downy Dilly puttered around town in her environmentally friendly and fashionable Footmobile, which required no fossil fuels, just some strong foot power. And should things get out of hand, Flossy Glossy was the proud owner of an elephant-shaped fire truck called an Elewetter, and ready to put out any flames that might emerge around town. Mattel even released books of the characters adventures such as “Flossy Glossy and the Hard-to-Find Fire.” (Perhaps it was Hendrix’s guitar that Flossy was looking for)

As the man came crashing down on such counterculture escapades, the little hippie dolls eventually faded away, and like their human counterparts, likely went on to cut their hair and become lawyers. But back in the day, they were the grooviest toys to ever hit the market and will be fondly remembered by anyone who has any remaining brain cells from this colorful era.