The holiday season makes me nostalgic. I find myself reflecting on the past and sharing memories with others. I love talking with friends about their favorite Christmas presents, and when I started a conversation about toys in the newsroom, the idea for this column surfaced. After much debate and discussion, I have compiled a list of what I consider the top 10 toys that were released during the 1990s.
10. The Baby-Sitters' Club
Growing up, I always loved getting books and was especially fascinated by Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters’ Club books. This series, along with the Goosebumps, Animorphs and the Choose Your Own Adventure series’, were highly influential on me.
9. Skip-It
One of the best toys I ever received was my purple Skip-It. Who could have imagined a ball on a plastic rope would send kids into the backyard to hop for hours. My friends and I always had a contest to see who could skip the fastest or the longest. It makes me proud to know this toy is still on the market today.
8. American Girl dolls
For a young girl, every time I read a new book from the American Girl series, it was a simultaneous mixture of making a new friend in the character and learning about a historical time period. I favored Molly because she tap-danced and wore glasses like me. One of my favorite presents of all time was getting my very own American Girl doll. Her name was Meredith, and she was part of the “American Girl of Today” line that consisted of made-to-order dolls that looked just like their owner.
7. Furbies
In my opinion, Furby is the creepiest, scariest and stupidest toy ever made. I hesitated to put it on the list because it isn’t a top toy that was fun to play with (I still feel bad my parents paid $25 for a turquoise fur ball to sit in my closet), but rather because it was a craze and everyone had one. It makes me happy to know this toy is NOT on the market today.
6. Pokémon
I’m clueless when it comes to Pokémon and Digimon, but everyone else seems to agree these Japanese-inspired games were awesome. I remember friends trying to sneak their banned Pokémon cards into school and others reading Digimon manga books backwards. They were a defining part of childhood for many.
5. Pogs
The game of Pogs, where you sit in a circle with others, bet cardboard circles and then rely on a “slammer” to work in your favor, introduced me to the idea of gambling. It wasn’t a necessary skill to learn at age 6, but I loved sifting through bins and bins of pogs at Michael’s before selecting the perfect ones to put inside my fluorescent pink case. Looking back, it was a ridiculous and pointless game that allowed my older brother to take things from me without technically stealing.
4. Power Rangers
The best phenomenon of my childhood was the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Anyone who was in grade school in the mid-1990s had their favorite Power Ranger and probably dressed as them one Halloween. I, just like 93 percent of the girls in this world, was a fan of Kimberly, the pink Power Ranger. It was so interesting how they went from hip teens to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
3. Beanie Babies
And then there was the Beanie Baby fad. People stood in line for hours to get specialty ones, families ate at McDonald’s for weeks on endt to collect all of the Teenie Beanies, and it was the universal gift for girls. It makes me wonder what happened to all of those little, plush cuddlies now that they aren’t so popular anymore.
2. Nintendo
Although I’ve never been much of a gamer, I do remember my family owning a Nintendo while I was growing up.
There was something magical about playing games on the television and shooting ducks with fake orange guns. As time and technology progressed, we were graced with things like Game Boy, Sega Genesis, N-64 and PlayStation. We’re the first generation to grow up playing video games, and it’s crazy to think how far they’ve come.
1. Gigapets and Tamagotchis
Lastly, I consider the virtual pets, known as Gigapets and Tamagotchis to be the best childhood toys of our generation.
The idea of a video game pet on a keychain that can be stuffed into a pocket was attractive to everyone. Parents scoured stores looking for these techie toys, relieved that they could put off buying a real puppy one more year.
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
thegerman41 2 years, 5 months ago
Omg..lighten up people, this article was to be a blast from the past. All she was trying to do is write an article to bring some humor into this stressful week, but of course you had to take it seriously. Not every article in The Daily has to be serious...
Lansdallius 2 years, 5 months ago
FYI, the photo in the story is of a Super Nintendo (SNES) anyway. Granted, that was out when I was born and was the first console I ever owned, but still not technically a Nintendo (NES).
horpelkrufkin 2 years, 5 months ago
I don't mean to be overly rude, but every time I read the Daily I am shocked at the lack of research. I realize many of the articles are strictly opinion, but it would be to your advantage to take a few moments to research a bit of history before making unenlightened statements. The Daily's editorials are riddled with uneducated generalizations and it blows my mind that this so often happens though your "generation" has had the internet at your fingertips for almost your entire lives.
A few weeks ago, a Daily writer stated, "Since the invention of the Internet in the mid 1990's..." (Small Gadgets Make Big Impact)
Wow. The Internet was invented in 1994 or 1995? That's news to me.
In your article you state, "We're the first generation to grow up playing video games, and it's crazy to think how far they've come."
What generation are you from? I can only assume that you are between 18 and 24. I'm no journalist, but I have news for you: Kids have been playing video games long before the 1990's.
As I said before, if you decide not to pick up a book and read the historical background, why not google the subject? It is a hell of a lot easier than making a trip to the library.
You should know. Yours is the first generation to grow up with the internet available to you throughout your education.