As December rolls right in, we are constantly reminded of our material desires as shopping malls are filled with Christmas trees, deals and stores with gift-wrapping services for the gift-wrapping-challenged. Nonetheless, although I can’t personally give presents to every single one of the wonderful readers at blogUT, I shall offer this article, which will hopefully offer fond memories and just maybe, reclaim the soul that you lost when you came to U of T. Think back to your childhood days as you slept in and had free time, do you remember asking for these things (or paraphernalia relating to these things) for Christmas/Hanukkah/name your winter holiday? (Warning: if you were not born in the late-80s or early 90s, these things may not apply to you. If that is the case, I entitle you to shake your head and mutter, “Crazy kids, back in my day…” and then write an entry on your own childhood fads and phases.)

Sailor Moon

I have yet to meet another girl (or boy) around my age who was not a fan of Sailor Moon during their childhood years. This was probably the first show I have ever followed religiously. I even remember that the boys in my class enjoyed the show as well; so much that they collected Sailor Moon cards. (I was so envious since they had more than I did.) My favourite sailor scout was Sailor Mercury. What was yours?

Dragonball Z

Although I never really watched the show (yes, boo me), the Dragonball series were always pretty popular back in elementary school, mostly for the boys. I still remember amusing myself as I watched the boys play their pretend games where one was Goku and the other, Vegeta. I had no clue what was going on; all I knew was that they were acting funny. Oh boys…

Polly Pocket

I apologize if some of these toys/shows/fads tend to be directed at girls; however, if it’s any comfort, I was a bit of a tomboy during my childhood so I was interested in a lot of things the boys were and I hope that this will be reflected in the rest of the article. For now, let’s just take a minute to remember that Polly Pocket used to be these tiny little box-things with tiny little dolls with round bases at the bottom so you could fit Polly and her friends in tiny little round slots around the little doll house. I find it a bit sad that I had to search “Original Polly Pocket” in order to find a picture of what I played with in my childhood. Nowadays, it seems that Polly dolls and sets have grown and can now no longer fit in your pocket.

Pogs

I’m still puzzled as to how you played with pogs despite the fact that I owned quite a few back in my childhood. There were the paper discs and then that big metallic one… I think it involved throwing the big one… Thinking back, how on earth did I get my pogs in the first place?

Furby

Gosh, I had forgotten how hideous these things were, hence why I never owned one. Nonetheless, who could ever forget those funny tales and urban legends of people teaching furbies how to swear (with disastrous consequences as swearing was so bad back when we were kids). Even to this day, I still wonder at the truth of these stories.

Tamagochi and other virtual pets

Tamagochi, the little virtual pet that was supposed to teach you to be responsible… that is, until school started, which by then if your pet was still alive, you’d become an irresponsible student since you were too busy taking care of your virtual pet to pay attention to your teacher as they explained the basics of long division. There are also those who managed to keep their pets alive for 100+ days, which in that case meant that you had no life. I had another one of these virtual pets, a Dinky Dino, which died after 12 days no matter what. I was very sad the first time it happened, but I got over it.

Pokemon

Gotta catch’em all! (Or go catch little animals, trap them in little balls, make them fight their fellow animals so that their owners can also put them in little balls!) Ok people, let’s get this straight, 150 Pokemon are more than enough to satisfy children seeing that an entire generation has grown up with the Poke-rap that only had 150 Pokemon to name. Even then, as long as you know Pikachu, we know that you haven’t been living under a rock during your childhood. Now that I think of it, I wouldn’t mind a gameboy and Pokemon red or blue for Christmas, those games were kind of fun. (The boys in my class used to let me play with theirs. I also still have my old tiny stack of Pokemon cards somewhere…) Anyways, Pokemon are still popular, just don’t ask me to name them all because there’s about a gazillion of them by now.

Digimon

When we think of Pokemon, let’s not forget the other show with monsters that actually had a plot. In other news, T.K. and Kari got together after season 2, no matter what the epilogue says.

Butterfly Clips

When I mentioned that I was a bit of a tomboy, this is my reason: I owned Pokemon and Digimon cards, but never, ever, ever did I own these hair clips. All the other girls in the class but I preferred my anime. No wonder I was never part of the “popular” girls group. Oh well, being a nerd is so much cooler.

String Chokers

Unfortunately, the internets have failed me. I cannot find a picture of those tiny string chokers that were another sign of being in the popular girls group. Needless to say, I never owned one of these either.

Crazy Bones

I loved the glow in the dark Crazy Bones, probably because my first pack of Crazy Bones consisted solely of glow in the dark bones. Taking a look at pictures on google, it seems that the bones are now multicoloured with faces painted in and everything. I disapprove. I mean, none of these new ones could ever compare to the adorable little “Eggy” Crazy Bone, which I wanted and have never owned. *Tear*

Super Long Series of Books

Of course, they weren’t great literature, but still fun to read, but it was hard not to enjoy series like, “The Babysitters Club” or “Goosebumps”. (I was an equal fan of both.) Who’s still a bit scared of ventriloquist dummies thanks to Slappy?

The list can go on and on, but I will stop here. Tell me if I forgot anything! It’s always nice to remember all the lovely things in childhood.

Pictures from here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 6:21 pm and is filed under Arts, Entertainment, General, TV, Wish You Were Here, social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.