Remember how when you were little, there was always that one thing you wanted to see under the tree? Whether you were into the most obscure items or frantic for the most popular trinket of the season, it was up to Mom, Dad, Grandparents, or Santa to fight the insanity and get it for you! Here’s an Elfster look back at a few of the craziest fads from the 1990s.
TOY #1: TICKLE ME ELMO (1996)
The fad began as soon as the toy hit. It seemed everyone from six to sixty wanted this ridiculous toy, which vibrated when squeezed repeatedly. Rosie O’Donnell featured it on her talk show, and her son (2 at the time) really loved his second one — the first was flushed down a toilet. The toy marketed for 28.99$ USD, though some unscrupulous stores and many resellers charged hundreds of dollars. People magazine even claimed one sold for a whopping $1500! Elmo’s puppeteer was very vocal in his disapproval of frequent stampedes and unsafe contests for the rare dolls, though that didn’t stop a number of individuals from being injured in tramping incidents throughout the USA.
TOY #2: FURBIES (1999)
Launched in the holiday 1998 season, the Furby hit its stride the next year, selling about 14 million (!!!) worldwide. These mechanical fluffballs come to you speaking “Furbish” but will slowly pick up English as you speak to it. As one of the first real proof of concepts for speech recognition, the product took off like a rocket and was programmed in two dozen languages total at its peak. Numerous spinoffs of the Furby line were spawned by 2000, and you could barely walk into an electronic store without one shouting at you. Furbies briefly resurfaced in 2005 with several online communities blossoming, but no big commercial bang, but they’re back for 2012!
TOY #3: BEANIE BABIES(1997)
Beanie Babies, small 6” plushies filled with squishable non-toxic beans and printed in a variety of colors and shapes first hit the market in 1993 with nine models (dog, moose, platypus, frog, pig, dolphin, whale, lobster and of course bear) and quickly became “collectable,” driving the more uncommon lines to high prices on the newly minted eBay in 1995 due to both cuteness factor and tag misprint errors.
The fanatical craze ultimately hit its peak in 1997 when McDonald’s released a line of Beanie Babies called “Teenie Beanies” which were miniaturized versions of existing Beanies. Ty was smart enough to kill the fad before it died, and released the final Beanie, aptly named “The End”, in 1999, though some special Beanies have been released since, most recently 2010.
From Pogs to Mortal Kombat to Pokémon and Pet Rocks, the 90s had a lot of downright weird fads. Which one do you remember most? Share your memories with us and you might end up in our next feature!
photo credit: e-coli