The Navy SEAL–ification of Nerf
nymag.com
nymag.com
Apparently these days it's possible build magazine fed nerf guns but most designs require a different sort of Nerf projectile where the suction cap is a smaller diameter than the foam body - otherwise there's no easy way to build a feed system. Back when I was a kid we only had the traditional style.
While they're definitely more abstractly modeled, I think pre 9/11 nerf look more like Sci-Fi weapons of war than spiders. The Pulsator for example is a pretty close to the Quake nailgun visually and in function, and the arrowstorm similar to the super nailgun. Like the article mentions previously most toy guns were as realistic as possible, like the Entertech water guns from the 80s.
The 1950's had "mine are bigger and fancier" tail fins on cars.
A whole lotta folks like to image that human nature changes over time. Fashions change. Human nature, not so much.
We even have instances of that kind of thing in cave drawings! There's something very deep in the male brain that goes "haha long stick is long penis!"
But also, plenty of means, good genes. You are right, it’s real deep in there.
It’s frustrating when you catch it in your own thought processes! I honestly recall when dating seeing a physically attractive potential partner and thinking “they seem nice”…
Small picture...kinda maybe. Bigger picture - I'd say it's far more due to widespread social / economic insecurity. And the culture wars that a lot of American "leaders" have found it personally profitable to whip up.
For many people who feel insecure - talking about guns, handling guns, firing guns, etc. can provide neurochemical "benefits" that you probably couldn't match with any sort of pill. But the downsides, either over time or at scale, are probably as bad as mass consumption of mood-management substances would be.