Holiday toy crazes

[Will E Worm]

Holiday toy crazes through the years

Furbys
It wouldn't be the holidays without parents scrambling to make sure the season's hottest toy is under the tree come Christmas morning ... only for it to be cast aside and forgotten about by New Year's Day. From Tickle Me Elmos to Tamagotchis, take a look back at favorite toy fads of Christmases past ... Furby is making a comeback! The owlish obsession of the 1990s is once again hitting shelves in 2012, along with a new line of squealing Furby Babies for today's generation of kids to love. If previous sales records are anything to go by, expect Furby 2.0 to be a hit. During its debut year in 1998, more than 1.8 million Furbys were sold!

Tamagotchi
What 90s kid can forget the joy of hatching their first-ever animated handheld digipet? Kids got a lesson in responsibility trying to keep their Tamagotchis alive after the toy first hit the market in 1996. More than 76 million of the egg-shaped gadgets have been sold world-wide since the Japanese toy launched 16 years ago.

Pogs
The appeal of pogs might not be immediately obvious to today's generation of flashy electronic toy lovers, but the flat little discs had a huge run back in the 1990s as kids clambered to collect as many as they could from their friends. The game was so popular that it even had to be banned by some schools because it became too much of a class distraction.


Razor scooter
Finding a shiny new bicycle under the Christmas tree wasn't enough for the Y2K generation. In 2000, the only set of wheels kids really wanted were the two that came attached to the sleek, compact body of a razor scooter. First produced in 1999, the tiny ride with its foldup handlebars quickly became the breakout toy of the new millenium. At less than $100 a pop, more than one million of the scooters were sold during the first half of 2000 alone.

Tickle Me Elmo
From Sesame Street to toy stores everywhere, Tickle Me Elmos by Tyco dominated the Christmas season in 1998. Tickle it once and the plush toy would chuckle. Tickle it three times and it would break out into hysterical laughter -- although that hysteria was nothing compared to the mad rush that ensued to snag one of the chortling dolls off the shelves. Tickle Me Elmo was so popular in 1996 that it became something of a Christmas miracle to find any left in stores. Although it originally retailed for $28.99, some of the toys fetched a going rate as high as $1,500 online.

Beanie Babies
From dogs to cats, zoo creatures to farm animals, Ty Inc. had a Beanie Baby for just about everybody. The collectible "bean" filled toys stormed the market in 1995 and remained one of the most sought-after items to line store shelves throughout the late '90s. The Beanie Babies weren't just cute -- they were profitable, too. In total, Ty Inc. was able to create an empire worth a staggering $6 billion thanks to the adorable toys.

Pokemon
"Gotta catch 'em all" wasn't just a catchy slogan designed to sell Pokemon toys and video games, it was a way of life for over-zealous Pikachu and Charmander fans looking to collect all their favorite pocket monsters in every form available. The video game franchise quickly spawned off countless other collectible items from trading cards and action figures to knapsacks and fuzzy slippers. Originally released in 1996, the Pokemon craze has become a multi-billion dollar business.

Pet Rocks
Call it the Stone Age! Before there were Tamagotchis, kids of yesteryear got their kicks from Pet Rocks. A no-frills toy that looks just like it sounds, the animal-painted rocks were marketed just like regular pets and even came in a custom cardboard carrying case with breathing holes and a 32-page training manual, "The Care and Training of Your Pet Rock." The fad hit just in time for the holiday season in 1976, selling about 1.5 million units.

Nintendo Entertainment System
It was the video game craze that started the video game craze. In 1988, the only present worth unwrapping on Christmas morning was the Nintendo Entertainment System, which quickly became the best-selling game console of its time. Packaged along with two game controllers and two game cartridges (Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt), Nintendo rolled out its entertainment system for $150 -- a small price to pay for endless hours of Super Mario fun.

Cabbage Patch Kids
For being so cute, Cabbage Patch Kids caused a whole lot of trouble when it came to the holidays. One of the longest running toy fads of all time, the adorable dolls -- which came complete with "official" adoption certificates -- sparked toy aisle brawls as parents fought over which ones to bring home to their kids during the height of the toy's popularity in the early 1980s. The lovable dolls, bought up by Toys R Us in 2001, are still a holiday hit today.


Teddy Ruxpin
Teddy Ruxpin wasn't just a teddy bear -- he was a teddy bear who TALKED. Designed with a built-in microchip, Teddy Ruxpin won over the masses with his ability to tell stories and move his body at the same time. The plush plaything was the top-selling toy of 1985 and 1986.

Zhu Zhu Pets
Kids went crazy over robotic, hamster-like Zhu Zhu Pets in 2009. Less creepy than a Furby and more entertaining and life-like than a Tamagotchi, the purring pets (created by Russell Hornsby) originally came in nine different characters with cute names like "Mr. Squiggles." Initially sold for $9 a pet, a shortage in inventory led some parents to shell out up to $60 just to make sure one of the furry little pets found its way under the tree come Christmas morning.

Lalaloopsy
Lalaloopsy seemed like your typical rag doll, but the 13-inch toy by MGA Entertainment was an instant holiday success in 2010. Lalaloopsy's magic seemed to come from her simplicity. Marketed under the tagline "Sew Magical - Sew Cute," each doll came with her own special themed outfit, accessories and an adorable miniature pet to boot.

My Little Pony
My Little Pony may not be quite as popular as when the toy first arrived on the scene in 1983, but even now, an astonishing 30 years later, the colorful plastic ponies with their rainbow manes continue to bring in the dollars every holiday season. The Hasbro toy, a Christmas list staple throughout the 1980s, can still be found in stores today.

Article


They forgot to add: Transformers, GI Joe, Hot Wheels, Legos, Barbie, Pound Puppies, Strawberry Shortcake, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

 

[lurkingdirk]

Man. I had forgotten most of those.

I want to meet the guy who invented the pet rock. It's a bloody rock. And people bought them. Brilliant.

 

[gunslingingbird]

I still, to this day, occasionally buy sets of Star Wars Legos.

 

[GibbsGrad2002]

Transformers

 

[Will E Worm]

I still, to this day, occasionally buy sets of Star Wars Legos.

I should have included star wars in the poll.

 

[squallumz]

i want more tamagotchis. i have a few, mostly generic ones. pogs were fun. id love to play that again.

tickle me elmo was a douchebag. i still like pokemon, and play the card game still. yeah, so what.

i played nes all day yesterday. and furbys are strange.


whats in this year? no clue. but i did notice they tried to make "black friday" black week. milking that shit for all its worth. i never go out on that day. buncha hype.

 

[StanScratch]

Are Talking Barnie and My Talking Bubba still big?
I was in charge of a toy department for a while in a retailer. The stupidity of people going after hard to get toys was quite remarkable. During Christmas Eve, it was quite a sight to see desperate deadbeat parents rushing around the store, looking for our hidden stash of the latest craze (HINT: There were no hidden stashes). The first year the Power Rangers came out, Bandai released a few Barbie sized figures...and were very unable to keep up with the demand. The next year, the company sold the rights to Mattel, they became massed produced and much easier to get. But that first year was a nightmare, as some rangers (I seem to think the white and pink) were very hard to get. A lot of disappointed parents that year unable to get complete sets.
Then one year, the factory where the Holiday Barbie was manufactured burned down. That year, that Barbie was extremely hard to get a hold of. It was common knowledge to many that Barbie was impossible to get a hold of after Thanksgiving...yet I had one mother insist we had to have some hidden somewhere and almost tore apart the Barbie aisle before I kicked her out of the store. There WAS a Holiday Barbie knockoff made that year - I had to convince quite a few people that it was, in fact, not the Holiday Barbie since it did not say "Holiday" nor "Barbie" anywhere on the box. Near the end of the year, we finally did get a couple of cases of the Holiday Barbie. They were all the black Barbies. It was rather hilarious watching the slack jawed yokels in this town try to wrap their heads around that one.

 

[Smallville22]

Transformers and videogames

 

[Sicario]

gnip gnop and videogames.