Only a True Millennial (or '90s Parent) Can Name These Retro Toys!
- by Austin Baker
- – on
- in Lifestyle
Wouldn't it be great if we could find a way to recapture the days of our childhood? If we could discover our favorite cartoon again for the first time or if we could relive the times we played outside with our friends in the park? However, the thing that seems to make people the most nostalgic are the toys of their youth. When you're cleaning up your house and see that old toy that you used to play with or that your child loved back in the day, the nostalgia hits you like a ton of bricks.
Perhaps no generation had it better when it came to toys than the Millennials. They were growing up just as the industry started to explode commercially, yet they were before the generation that had smartphone and tablet technology as kids. This meant that the toy industry was BOOMING during the late '80s through the early 2000s. But, do you think you'd be able to recognize your old toys if you saw them again? Do you think the image of your child's favorite toy from 1997 is burned into your brain? Let's find out! Only a true Millennial (or '90s parent) can name these retro toys!
What was the name of this stuffed bear?
This toy came out in the '90s and told parents that it was the best way to promote creativity and stop unwanted marks on the wall. Let's face it, kids like to draw on things they aren't supposed to. Instead of defacing your wall or your couch, they could draw on this stuffed bear with the special markers included in the package. When the artistic expression was over, you simply threw the toy in the laundry and it would come out as a blank slate for your next drawing session!
What was this fluffy rubber ball called?
Believe it or not, back in the day all it took to get us kids excited was a rubber ball with a bunch of frilly pieces on it! This toy was a huge fad during the '90s and is still in production to this day. What was the appeal of this thing? We're still not sure...it was just a ton of throw it around and watch the strings bounce in unison. Plus, the material felt really weird on our hands!
This little creature of terror was called...
On the surface, this little guy looked like pretty innocent. He talked back to you when you addressed him, wiggled his ears when he was happy, and even needed to be "fed" once a day. However, when left alone for too long, he got REALLY creepy. You'd be sitting there in your room in the middle of the night and suddenly hear his gibberish coming out of the darkness of your closet. It would be even worse if his batteries were dying, which made his voice sound somewhat demonic!
This popular line of action figures was called:
If you were a kid of the early '90s (or HAD a kid in the early '90s), this was the toy line that everyone was pining for! Based on a hit TV series of the same name, these toys sold like hotcakes for years, until the original line was ended in the late '90s. However, they were featured in Sears catalogues galore, and the castle play set was the most sought-after toy in America at the time. Today that very same playset can fetch hundreds of dollars!
This toy was an interactive game-
This was THE toy to have if you were a child of the late '90s or early 2000s! It was a physical interactive game that was meant to be played in large groups of people; the toy would play music and then give a command, which you would respond to by pushing, pulling, or twisting the correct button. The longer you went, the faster the commands were given. If you failed, you were met with a loud "OWWW!" and you passed it to the next person.
These Transformers knock-offs were known as:
In the '80s, Transformers was the king of the toy market as well as popular culture. These things, however, were not the Transformers! Instead, these were one of many brands that were created to capitalize on the popularity of the Cybertronic Aliens. Just like the series they were ripping off, these toys were a line of cars that could turn into robots; instead of an intricate backstory to go along with their line, these toys were simply marked as "friendly" or "enemy."
This miniature toys could fit comfortably in your pants pocket-
One of the biggest issues with the toy industry is that dolls, action figures, and their corresponding play sets are just too huge. If your kid wanted to take their favorite toy on the go, they could only take one or two figures rather than their entire collection. This toy looked to solve this issue by condensing everything down to a small size to allow for maximum portability! These toys were a complete play set complete with interactive features and miniature figures.
These things were the absolute biggest fad of the '90s
Oh yes, these things. Even if you weren't a child of the '90s, you've heard of these legendary mass-produced stuffed animals that were supposed to be collectors items some day. However, twenty years later, and that day has never come; people of the '90s even fought each other and payed hundreds of dollars for these collectibles! Of course, today they are worth next to nothing outside of a few misprints and rare animals. They are still made today without the mass-produced demand...
This virtual pet was one of the first handheld games-
When you think of the '90s, this is one of the first things that pops up! These things were EVERYWHERE during the decade, yet died out almost as soon as they appeared. This clip-on handheld was a virtual pet that you could take anywhere; it required to be fed, it needed to have its waste cleaned up, you could play with it, watch it sleep, and even mourn it when it died! This toy recently tried to make a comeback, but it never reached the popularity of the originals.
This toy line was every boy's dream...
This line of action figures was comprised completely of dinosaurs with weapons attached to their heads. Is there anything else we need to say to remind you of how awesome they were!? Based off of a short-lived TV series of the same name, these toys had the backstory of a futuristic war coming to our planet during the Jurassic Era. Or something like that. We mostly cared about the T-Rex with laser beams! Sadly, this line didn't last very long.
This was one of the first animatronic toys-
Long before Furby or the Sesame Street stuffed animals, this toy was around to simultaneously bring kids joy and give them nightmares. Released in the '80s, he was a stuffed bear fitted with a voice box mechanism- Kids could insert different tapes into the bear and he would read them off like a cassette player. Unfortunately, the toy's monotone voice and dead-looking eyes led to some really creepy encounters with him when we were kids. To this day, people are still afraid of this thing!
These naked dolls were a huge fad-
These toys are finally relevant again with the release of the hit children's movie based off of them that came out in 2016. But for a while there, they were one of the best-selling toys in America! During the 1990s these guys were everywhere you looked; kids had them in their rooms, employees had them in their office cubicles, and teachers had them in their classrooms. The question was- Why? They are just naked babies with weird faces and neon-colored hair...
This was the must-have toy of the early 2000s:
In the early 2000s, robotics toys were everywhere. For the first time in history, the technology was cheap enough that consumers could afford to buy toys with cutting-edge technology. This toy was a massive hit; it was a simple remote-controlled robot that could walk, dance to music, pick up objects, and throw things across the room. Though it had basic command buttons, kids could use the numbers on the remote to pre-program the toy to do actions in sequence. What was it called?
This was the hottest toy of 1996-
Remember in the movie Jingle All the Way how everybody was fighting over a simple doll that was sold out everywhere you went? Well, that movie was inspired by real-life events that happened with this toy! During the Christmas season of '96, every single store in the country was selling out of this toy just as quickly as they could stock it! Surprisingly there wasn't much to this doll...it was just Sesame Street character Elmo that would laugh every time you squeezed his belly.
This line of toys was based off of the old "Mexican Jumping Beans"
Way back in the day, there was a popular children's toy called the Mexican Jumping Bean. This was a small plastic bean that had an insect egg in it that would hatch; the insect inside the case would then move around, making the bean "jump." In the early 2000s, a more humane version of the toy was created with a weighted ball bearing inside the shell. The outsides of the beans were painted with different zany figures in hopes that kids would want to collect them all!
These things were fun, but fairly dangerous!
These accessories have been around since the 1950s, but they took off once more in the '90s thanks to a promotional deal with the Nickelodeon network. They were a fairly simple construct- They were essentially two miniature trampolines that you would attach to your feet. They allowed kids to hop around like they were defying gravity, but they also were somewhat dangerous in practice if you weren't careful. They still exist today, but the fad has since died down. What were these gravity-defying accessories called?
These were THE thing to collect in the '90s-
This fad was one of the more baffling of the '90s. Collectors items like Pokemon and Baseball Cards always made sense; they were based on recognizable names, after all! However, these things were just little round pieces of cardboard. Some had pictures of familiar franchises or teams on them, but for the most part they were just funny cartoons or neat drawings. There was also a game that went along with the tokens, but most people just collected them for their art.
This is still one of the most popular girl's toys in the world-
Talk about something growing out of control....This toy line was originally introduced in the '80s, but its popularity has shown no bounds since! These dolls were horses that had shiny, colorful manes and symbols that corresponded with their respective names. Over the years the toy line has gotten more and more complex, with accessories, play sets, and TV shows. Today it is considered one of the most successful Hasbro toy lines of all time! What were these little guys called?
These were collectible tops you could battle-
This was a toy series that had everything- It was based off of a hit Manga series that was releasing as an Anime that same year in America, it had customization options, and it let you violently battle your friends! What more could you want? These were based off of the traditional "battle tops" game where you would take two spinning tops and spin them into a small arena; whoever's top stopped first lost. These toys could be custom made to be more durable, faster, or even more lethal to your opponent.
These diva dolls were a hit in the 2000s-
By the early 2000s, Barbie was seen as old-school and outdated. Girls needed a doll that would better match the modern-day world around them, and this toy line was the answer. Unlike Barbie, each of these dolls had their own personality and came equipped with clothing and accessories that were more "hip" and matched the world of the time. They sold like hotcakes, creating spin-off lines after spin-off lines and even a feature film of the same name! What were they called/
These were the best-selling action figures of the '80s and '90s-
There were action figures, and then there were this toy line! These toys (made by Playmates) literally seemed to print money; this was evidenced by the fact that they could re-release the same figures time and time again with a new gimmick, and they would still sell like crazy! The toys were based off of a hit cartoon of the same name that featured insane mutant villains and crazy human/animal hybrid characters. This toy line is still going on today, just with a different style.
These virtual pets were super popular in the early 2000s-
In the earlier days of high-speed internet, these things were the talk of the elementary school! They were based off of a website where you could go and raise your own virtual fantasy animal. These toys in particular added to the digital experience; they often came with a code on their tag that could be redeemed to gain access to in-game merchandise for your pet. The most popular of these toys came from the McDonald's happy meals. What were they called?
This toy let you look into other worlds-
Back before the days of the smartphone, when kids didn't have access to the world at their fingertips, they had to use other means of visuals to stimulate their imagination. That's what this toy was for- It was a simple turnstile device that had interchangeable disks. These disks would have pictures of various natural places, animals, or images from your favorite TV show or cartoon. The headset is still around today, but it has been adapted to fit into the world of VR.
This toy nearly gave us a heart attack-
This popular game is a classic that nearly gave us a heart attack every time we played it! It was a fairly simple concept- You took turns pushing down on one of the Gator's bottom teeth. Most of them would go down without a hitch, but one random tooth would set off a mechanism that made the Croc chomp down on your finger! The game has remained pretty much the same since the days of the original (minus a few aesthetic tweaks).
These things were the craze of the '80s-
This is one of the first widely-made commercial crazes of the 20th century. Sure, Barbies and G.I. Joes and Seamonkeys were really popular, but this particular toy couldn't stay on the shelves when it was released in the '80s! These were little dolls that came with their own "birth certificates" giving them a name and and back story. Part of the novelty of these toys were that they were said to have been grown out of the ground specially for you.
This super-elastic hero was popular retro doll-
First released in the '70s, this doll was ridiculously popular during the '80s and '90s as well. He was a simple character, a man in a speedo that had extremely stretchy appendages that could go up to five feet in length; kids had a blast trying to test the limits of his stretchiness, often destroying the toy in the process. But that didn't matter. He could be fixed with a simple bandage (included in the box). What was the name of this toy?
These comfy toys doubled as an accessory-
First released in 2003, this toy was a massive hit during the Christmas season. Store sold out like crazy and EVERY child in the world wanted to make sure they had their own before the craze died down. These toys were stuffed animals with a piece of velcro at their bottom; when bed time rolled around children could undo the strap, and their beloved stuffed animal would become a comfy pillow for them to sleep on! What was this ingenious toy called?
These toys came out of a popular commercial-
In the '90s, a popular PSA taught children to buckle up while riding in their car through the use of talking crash test dummies. These PSAs were often comical, and ended with the dummies destroyed due to not following proper safety procedures. Seeing a marketing opportunity, a toy line was released starring the dummies; these toys had vehicles and figures that would fall apart when crashed against a wall or a when a certain button was pressed. Though parts were lost easily, the toy line was a huge success.
This was a hit doll with her own TV show-
First created in the '80s, this doll's popularity really took off in the '90s! The toy line was actually a spin-off of a character that was popular on greeting cards of the time. These dolls each came with their own plastic pet, and every one had their own food-themed name. Though they are a product of the '80s, their popularity has never gone away; the toys are still produced to this day, and several TV shows and movies have come out of the product.
This minature toys were boys' answer to Polly Pocket-
While Polly Pocket was a unique idea that sold well, young boys were not very interested in playing with figures and sets that related to shopping malls and parks. The toy makers' response was to create this line, which featured the story of a young boy whose magic hat allowed him to travel to different dimensions. These toys were a lot more gruesome, with blood-stained walls and creepy creatures and even devices of torture that you could put the figures into!
This outdoor toy caused lots of injuries-
Oh, sure, this toy was perfectly safe once you got a handle on it. Until then, it was bruised ankles and scuffs from falling down on the pavement all the time! This toy was kind of like a mix between a yoyo and a hula hoop- You'd put it on your ankle and then spin it with the movements of one foot while you hopped over it with the other. In the '90s it was improved with a counter on the side that counted the number of revolutions the toy made.
These toys made us feel cooler than we really were-
These things have all but vanished today, but during their heyday they were EVERYWHERE. You would see kids playing with these out on the playground and doing tricks on them inside during class. These miniature skateboards were used by your fingers, but they had everything that a full-size board would have; you could customize the wheels, put decals on them, and even buy half-pipes and play sets to perform your epic kickflips and ollies on! What were these finger boards called?
What were these Japanese dolls called?
If you needed your daily dose of nightmare fuel for the day, here it is! These dolls became a fad in the late '80s after a popular anime based on the characters was released to the Western World. The two main characters are twins, two monkeys who live in a fantasy world yet look very surprisingly human. The creepiest thing about these dolls is the fact that they DO look so human; it's something straight out of the uncanny valley!
This popular early 2000s action hero was called-
In the early 2000s, Mattel decided that they wanted to take on G.I. Joe head on with their own brand of doll for boys. This took the form of this character, a one-man army who worked for the government and went on secret missions with the help of his super-high tech weaponry and gadgets. The line was repackaged in the late 2000s to be more in line with the superheroes of the modern day, and a recent film came out starring the character.
What were these adorable little creatures called?
This one is for the younger Millennials out there! Released in 2008, these little stuffed animals had the gimmick of being able to move via wheels on their bottoms. Each hamster came with its own distinct personality, and they all could be put in customizable little pet carriers (each sold separately, of course). They are still being made today, however the modern-day versions of these characters are much more colorful and elaborate than their original decade old counterparts. What were they called?