Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Relics of the 1990s

So like many people, I had a severe case of 90s nostalgia. Its a popular and exciting illness that takes you back to the time of America Online, parachute pants and TRL. Now, there are obvious 90s memories most of us have, like Beanie Babies, Tamagotchi and Furby (Original) among others. What about some of the more forgotten relics of the 90s? I've tried to think of a few.

Yak Bak - Yak Bak was exciting for kids because it actually recorded your voice...and played it back! Now this was a time before smart phones had an app for that. It didn't really do much though. You could record SIX whole seconds...not so exciting anymore. It actually makes it seem like we were ripped off. Though some future ones had other features like voice warping. Not a bad tool for a 90s kid. This gadget was the definition of a fad...it was popular for a few years in the mid-90s and soon vanished when Y2K hit us (well, didn't hit us). As a matter of fact...maybe the Yak Bak was the Y2K casualty that nobody cared about? We were all worried about our Gateway & Packard Bell computers, but it was the Yak Bak which was killed by Y2K. RIP.

Yikes! Pencils - Its a known fact that if you did not own one of these psychedelic, multi-colored pencils, you were not cool. They were flashy and just screamed "90s!" right at your face. Its as if Nickelodeon exploded off the TV and into your pencil case. Sadly you don't see these around anymore. I think us 90s kids should band together and get them back so they can infiltrate the world once more, this time in the workplace. We all need a little bright ass color in our day.

Book It! - Book It! was the reading program that you remember from either school, or more importantly, from PIZZA HUT. Let's face it, Pizza Hut was a much better option for getting kids to read than school was. You could get a free personal pizza just for reading. This might actually still be around...but obviously would not be as good as it used to be. Just like Pizza Hut itself. Seriously Pizza Hut, get it together. Get some old arcade games and make your restaurants exciting again. Then nobody will care how bad the pizza tastes. (Though you can work on that too.)

See any that you owned in this pile?
Pogs - Pogs were incredibly popular, and most people still remember them. However, they still seem to get lost in the shuffle of 90s nostalgia, falling behind the likes of Beanie Babies and the Spice Girls. People did more collecting of Pogs rather than actually playing the game, but doing both was a part of a 90s childhood as much as eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch while watching Power Rangers was. Pogs became so popular that they ended up making licensed ones for everything from TV shows & movies to sports teams. I still have one plastic case full of some buried in a drawer somewhere.



Early 90s Miami Dolphins Zubaz
Finally, remember Zubaz? The crazy zebra colored clothing that everyone wore? They were made popular by people looking to work out and make a statement besides grunting and for supplying the NFL with some licensed gear.  Well....they're back! Yes, you can actually buy Zubaz printed apparel once again. As a kid who had the sweatpants, I think i'd consider rocking this loud attire once more. It allows you to carry around a bit of the 90s with you. 

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