Must’ve been a long 21 years having to watch others get rich off your invention.
Pyrotdk on
Pay the man and bring this shit back!
LuigiMPLS on
12 years ago but still a cool fun fact.
fallen981 on
Curious about this, do these lawsuit settlements also get taxed?
Griefer17 on
73M nice! while these rich toy corporations became billionaires off his toy ! dope world! (stop giving to these people! )
sufjanweiss on
damn. that’s a hell of a win in court. he must have had a good lawyer
your_pet_snail on
I feel like I personally owe this guy
Cookie_Masterson89 on
Didn’t he used to show up here on reddit once in awhile when he was brought up? Always seemed like a nice guy when he did. Hope he enjoys his big payday
knowledgeable_diablo on
Well deserved as well.
BeebleBoxn on
DB-CooperOnTheBeach on
So he was being paid royalties the entire time, but was being underpaid the entire time and after those years he discovered, or strongly suspected and was paid out via arbitration as Hasbro likely knew through the legal discovery process they were cooked and could likely be slapped with much worse consequences.
i-Blondie on
LOL, seems he’s been quite the inventor and adventurer since he was a kid.
> His father explained the basic principles of electricity to Johnson at an early age, which inspired Johnson’s love of inventing.[4] Stating that he “always liked to tinker with things,” Johnson earned the nickname “the Professor” from kids in the neighborhood, who would assist him with his creations.[4] He once “tore up his sister’s baby doll to see what made her eyes close”.[2] On another occasion, Johnson and the neighborhood children made a go-cart, with a motor Johnson built by himself out of metal from the local junkyard.[4] **He also tried to cook up rocket fuel in a saucepan but in doing so almost burned down the house.**
nize426 on
I think usually you don’t get royalties on things you invent while you’re at a company though. Like usually things you invent are owned by the company and you’re just an employee paid a salary.
I’m glad he got paid royalties, but I’m curious how he won the lawsuit.
ArcusAllsorts on
I swear he used to be on Reddit.
Mayflie on
I will always stan this guy.
In his AMA, someone said ‘thanks for single handedly improving the summer for thousands of kids!’ and he replied ‘you’re welcome, but I had to use both hands.’
end_of_rainbow on
He’s using those funds for innovating EV technology:
He deserves more than that. Thank you Lonnie Johnson for being the guy who helped create some of the best times of my childhood, ever.
throwitawayandsay on
How much did he actually collect? That’s the key…
wstsidhome on
Good for him. Those toys were the SHIT back in the 90s when I had some! They still make new ones now but kids hardly play outside anymore
woodbanger04 on
I met him at an event last year, he is an absolutely great guy. He was sponsoring a make a wish child in Houston TX.
M1A2A6 on
Lonnie Johnson!! I first heard about him several years ago on Mark Rober’s video on the worlds largest super soaker
Altruistic-Curve-600 on
In the black n white photo the dude looks like he could easily have been in a Die Hard movie.
gltovar on
So I have notice a distinct lack of super soaker and super soaker replicas. The ones I have tried are hot garbage. Any one k ow why?
ggibby0 on
Look up this dude’s Wikipedia article and give it a read. Man did way more than just invent the super soaker. The man has 250+ patents, is an aerospace engineer, and founded his own R&D company (which he is of course, President of).
26 Comments
I hope bro goes on a nice vacation this summer
Good for him
Must’ve been a long 21 years having to watch others get rich off your invention.
Pay the man and bring this shit back!
12 years ago but still a cool fun fact.
Curious about this, do these lawsuit settlements also get taxed?
73M nice! while these rich toy corporations became billionaires off his toy ! dope world! (stop giving to these people! )
damn. that’s a hell of a win in court. he must have had a good lawyer
I feel like I personally owe this guy
Didn’t he used to show up here on reddit once in awhile when he was brought up? Always seemed like a nice guy when he did. Hope he enjoys his big payday
Well deserved as well.
So he was being paid royalties the entire time, but was being underpaid the entire time and after those years he discovered, or strongly suspected and was paid out via arbitration as Hasbro likely knew through the legal discovery process they were cooked and could likely be slapped with much worse consequences.
LOL, seems he’s been quite the inventor and adventurer since he was a kid.
> His father explained the basic principles of electricity to Johnson at an early age, which inspired Johnson’s love of inventing.[4] Stating that he “always liked to tinker with things,” Johnson earned the nickname “the Professor” from kids in the neighborhood, who would assist him with his creations.[4] He once “tore up his sister’s baby doll to see what made her eyes close”.[2] On another occasion, Johnson and the neighborhood children made a go-cart, with a motor Johnson built by himself out of metal from the local junkyard.[4] **He also tried to cook up rocket fuel in a saucepan but in doing so almost burned down the house.**
I think usually you don’t get royalties on things you invent while you’re at a company though. Like usually things you invent are owned by the company and you’re just an employee paid a salary.
I’m glad he got paid royalties, but I’m curious how he won the lawsuit.
I swear he used to be on Reddit.
I will always stan this guy.
In his AMA, someone said ‘thanks for single handedly improving the summer for thousands of kids!’ and he replied ‘you’re welcome, but I had to use both hands.’
He’s using those funds for innovating EV technology:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenkey/2025/03/18/lonnie-johnsons-15m-battery-bet-evs-that-go-twice-as-far/
He deserves more than that. Thank you Lonnie Johnson for being the guy who helped create some of the best times of my childhood, ever.
How much did he actually collect? That’s the key…
Good for him. Those toys were the SHIT back in the 90s when I had some! They still make new ones now but kids hardly play outside anymore
I met him at an event last year, he is an absolutely great guy. He was sponsoring a make a wish child in Houston TX.
Lonnie Johnson!! I first heard about him several years ago on Mark Rober’s video on the worlds largest super soaker
In the black n white photo the dude looks like he could easily have been in a Die Hard movie.
So I have notice a distinct lack of super soaker and super soaker replicas. The ones I have tried are hot garbage. Any one k ow why?
Look up this dude’s Wikipedia article and give it a read. Man did way more than just invent the super soaker. The man has 250+ patents, is an aerospace engineer, and founded his own R&D company (which he is of course, President of).