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Burger King's mini-burger saga: first Burger Bundles, whose tiny patties fell through the flame-broiler, then Burger Buddies — a single figure-eight patty on conjoined buns, made to be torn into two little cheeseburgers for 99 cents. A novelty born from an engineering failure.
Chicken shaped like french fries, sold in a fry box with a hole for sauce — a dumb idea so perfect it built a cult. When Burger King killed them in 2012, the internet staged a years-long resurrection campaign. The internet won.
The factory 'goofed,' and every kid in America hoped it would goof forever. In 1997 Cap'n Crunch shipped a box with none of the yellow corn squares and nothing but Crunch Berries — the cereal-aisle equivalent of a dessert with the vegetables removed.
A snack that lived in the middle ground between a cookie and a candy bar: a graham-cookie shell shaped like a peanut, filled with peanut-butter creme, and gone too soon. Planters' PB Crisps captured their moment so perfectly they became permanently regretted.