06 January 2014

Nostalgia! Toys for the 90's Kid

While shopping for toys for Tycho this recent holiday season, I couldn't help but notice that some toys were making a huge comeback. Or they may have never faded away, who knows, I haven't really shopped for toys until now. I found myself wanting them not (just...) for Tycho, but to fulfill this overwhelming sense of nostalgia and wishes for childhood all over again. How awesome that I can relive everything through my own child!

Ready for your own blast to the past? Here are some of my favorite toys I had growing up as a 90's kid:


This is actually thanks to my dad, who had kept his old Atari system. When we were old enough to appreciate it, we played many hours of Pong (which you can PLAY ONLINE OMFG), Asteroids (OMG PLAY THIS TOO), Frogger, and Pitfall. The tip of the joystick was especially fun to chew on as it was so malleable.

So um, yeah, sorry for all the teeth marks on your controllers, Dad.


This cash register by Fisher Price was a BLAST. We'd usually pay for random stuff around the house, and even started our own restaurant with receipts and "tips" in the form of different colored coins. We did learn pretty early on that Monopoly money didn't fit as well in the drawer as we hoped it would.


I don't even remember playing with this Fisher Price phone past when I was five or so, but the rotary mechanism did make a fun ringing sound. When my brother was little (he's eight years my junior), we were happy to pass this one along.


After rediscovering these a year ago, Matt actually bought a set of these McDonald's food transformer toys. "For our future son!"

Uh-huh. Suuuure.


We used to love this doctor kit from Fisher Price! It was especially fun to scream into the stethoscope when your sibling was wearing the earpieces.


My mom and I were talking about old toys a few years ago, and she was surprised not only that I remember this toy, but that the barn door made a spring-loaded "moo" noise when you opened it.


There was a lot of Gak cleared out of our hair as kids. The same kind of love wasn't shared for Gak's successor, Floam, though. That stuff was just weird.


I loved this Fisher Price house! We'd spring little people off the diving board, play hours of string basketball, and put the characters to sleep on incredibly uncomfortable plastic beds! I think we chewed on the dog's ears, too.


My sister enjoyed this more than I did, but it was still fun to see her masterpieces glow in the darkness of our shared bedroom. When we learned cuss words, it was great inspiration for flashing obscenities. We just had to get rid of the construction paper evidence when we were done calling each other "bitch" in colorful plastic lights.


This toy was also passed to our brother when he grew older, and we were huge fans of its resurgence. Pretty sure we just built a whole town in the family room and played forever.


To go along with the doctor kit, this Fisher Price medical kit included a fun "cast" that fit our ankles and a box of bandages where we'd store (and waste) real ones. The stethoscope wasn't as powerful as the doctor kit, though, so screaming wasn't as earsplitting.


We used to wear these as skates. LOL


We wore these as skates, too, but I think that was a little more acceptable.


The original My Little Ponies were awesome! Not nearly as cracked-out as the new ones!


Remember when slap bracelets were a thing? We wore them as bracelets, sure, but they were also great for slapping your siblings in the face. Especially when they retracted.


HARDEST. GAME. EVER.


These were my jams!! Too bad you couldn't record them like you could the radio back then.


When my parents built the pool back in the 90's, we would take our Slip N Slide and rig it so we'd glide right into the pool (yes, on the concrete patio, we were kids and didn't give a fuck!). We have this huge hill on the side of our current house, and I'd love to just pin three or four of these together and launch our soaking wet selves down the hill and into a massive kiddie pool.


LOVED creating things with this Spirograph! I think ours was actually one that my mom had growing up.


So much better than Kinex. Or whatever kids these days call sub-par Tinker Toys.


And finally, the ViewMaster. How badass was it when you could actually make your own photo wheels! We had some from Disney trips and would relive those moments over and over again.

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