While Mitt's moronic minions scramble to buy up all remaining Etch-a-Sketch units from retailer, wholesalers, collectors on E-Bay, and yard sales, it occurred to me that a better analogy from the world of baby boomer toys might be Silly Putty
This delightfully simple toy, invented in 1943 and popularized in the 1950's and '60s, could be molded into any form with the knowledge that it was all temporary. It could be pressed against newsprint - headlines, articles, and most fun, comics - then stretched, deformed, and finally rolled back up, and used again. When you tired of it, you could store it back in its egg-shaped plastic case where it would remain ready for your next sortie into silliness.
Whatever you needed it to be, Silly Putty would oblige. No matter what you did to it, there it was. It could take on shapes and patterns, then return - just like Mitt - to a tedious flesh-colored blob.
From its invention in the quest for synthetic rubber to the discovery of its "bouncing putty" properties as shown on this Silly Putty timeline, this product shared an important quality with Mitt: there was really no obvious use for either of them.
Silly Putty, however, went on to become wildly popular, and is now enjoyed by generations beyond the easily amused baby boomers. Unlike Mitt, it now comes in a variety of cool colors including color-changing thermochromic forms. Mitt's color changes are generally the result of being caught off guard on questions not programmed into his software.
Silly Putty shares another important property with Mitt: it leaves no mark on whatever it comes in contact with. Regardless of contact time, you can peel off the putty and it's like it was never even there.
There is plenty of fascinating science behind Silly Putty. Mitt? Not so much. Both can bounce but again, this is a temporary phenomenon. Gravity always wins in the end.
Silly Putty differs fundamentally from Mitt in one important way. Silly Putty has core values. No matter what use or abuse it endures, its properties remained immutable.