Ken Hakuta
publication date: Tuesday, January 30, 2024 (part of February 2024)
category: 
Fads
clue: This Korean toymaker drove parents up the wall in the 1980s, and helped kids invent their own toys despite falsifying his postgraduate credentials.
explanation: Hakuta invented and/or popularized a number of toys, most famously the Wacky Wall Walker. He branded himself as "Dr. Fad," and hosted "The Dr. Fad Show" on TV from 1988 to 1994 in which children invented toys with the hopes of turning them into best-selling fads. more…
intended difficulty: hard
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, and LaVonne Lemler
trivia: Scott wanted to incorporate Hakuta's family connections to video artist Nam June Paik and actress-comedian Ali Wong into the clue, but any mention of them led directly to the answer and he preferred to make this a harder goo.
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