(CU Independent illustration/Kelly Kaoudis)
Every generation has had its share of children’s toys: the ‘50s introduced Mr. Potato Head, ‘60s had the Etch-A-Sketch, ‘70s with Hot Wheels and the ‘80s with that scary Talking Teddy Ruxpin doll.
Considering that most of CU’s undergrads grew up in the ‘90s, there is an understandable nostalgia associated with that decade. Each generation has its childhood favorites, but the ‘90s delivered a slew of memorable (and sometimes kitschy) toys.
Game Boys and Pokémon
Before all electronics had to be sleek and stylized, there was the Game Boy. Game Boys began as clunky hand-held boxes that allowed children to play video game cartridges on the go. Game Boys were around for a few years before Pokémon.
Michael Schrader, a 21-year-old senior business administration major, said he was a fan of the popular anime game.
“Pokémon was one of the highlights of my childhood,” Schrader said.
Game Boy featured different “colors” of Pokémon: red, blue and yellow. Each color featured a different Pokémon character as its “star” as well as new challenges to each level.
Schrader said he preferred one version over the rest.
“The best version was the blue, back before the Game Boy was in color,” he said.
The Game Boy acted as a spring board for the U.S. Pokémon sensation, spurring the release of trading cards, a TV show, movies and dozens of still-diehard Comicon fans.
Ashley King, a 19-year-old freshman integrative physiology major, said she was no stranger to the video game phenomenon.
“I had one of those Game Boy colors, and I remember I used to sit around all day playing Pokémon,” King said. “I still have a huge photo album of all the cards.”
American Girl Dolls
While a young girl could purchase a Barbie to suit her personality, true personalization could never happen. American Girl dolls capitalized on the market’s lacking and allowed girls to create a doll that could truly look like them.
The dolls came in a variety of characters with different personalities, like Felicity the Colonial American Girl and Kit the Great Depression American Girl.
Emma England, a 20-year-old sophomore journalism and psychology double-major, said she liked her American Girl doll so much, her grandpa got involved.
“I had so many American Girl clothes my grandpa made me a dresser crafted out of wood for Christmas one year,” England said. “I was like ‘that’s cool,’ but I kind of just wanted more clothes.”
American Girl dolls were not only trendy and fun but expensive. The average doll costs $95 and each outfit averaging $24.
Beanie Babies
The Teddy Bear was named after President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, but that bear’s got nothing on a Beanie Baby. Maybe it was the Beanie Babies’ flexibility or the availability in a wide range of colors and styles, but the Beanie Baby trumped the conventional Teddy Bear in every possible way.
Students, like Shrader, said Beanie Babies were the most important toy of the ‘90s.
“We can’t talk about the ‘90s without mentioning Beanie Babies,” Schrader said. “I still remember when my family woke up at 5 a.m. to wait in line to buy Beanie Babies.”
Beanie Babies became valued as a collector’s item, with some people paying high amounts of money to collect Babies noted as “rare.”
But like any fad, the inflation must crash eventually. Like the Dutch Tulip Bubble of 1624, Beanie Babies lost their commercial appeal as the children of the ‘90s became teens and computers took precedence to plush toys.
N64
While all the girls were out playing with their American Girl Dolls and Easy Bake Ovens, boys needed an outlet too. For them, Nintendo 64’s release in 1997 signaled the start of the video game craze that continues today.
Schrader said he still has his around.
“My Nintendo 64 is still going, still hooked up to my TV,” he said. “As of now, nobody can beat me at Super Smash Bros.”
Unlike newer gaming systems, students like George Finkenstaedt, a 22-year-old senior Japanese major, said Nintendo 64 remains popular because of its “kitschy” and nostalgia-inducing appeal.
“I was young when Nintendo 64 came out so it was a huge deal with me and my friends,” Finkenstaedt said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Caitlin McCluskey at Caitlin.mccluskey@colorado.edu.
