3.Earring Magic Ken, that ended up being a gay icon after he was accidentally designed to look like a early-'90s gay man heading out for a fun night at the clubs — complete with a cock ring necklace.
4.The cool Simpsons plush dolls they sold at Burger King. Which were a must-have because they didn't sell a lot of Simpsons toys anywhere at the time:
5.Bootleg Simpsons T-shirts that you'd see in every souvenir shop and always looked janky and had themes that never made sense:
6.SNL's "Coffee Talk with Linda Richman" — whose voice you can probably hear in your head right now:
8.Eek! The Cat, the cartoon series that really put poor Eek through so, so much each episode. He was just trying to be a nice cat!
9.Cordless home phones that were giant with big antennas that stuck out and, weirdly, did not have much range. They also had zero battery life:
10.How much Turtlemania skyrocketed after the release of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. And also the anticipation of going to see it in theaters:
11.The TMNT's Coming Out of Their Shells album and tour, which was just embarrassing. They went from badass secret street fighters to hair metal singers? Pfft, sellouts:
12.This Disney Store bag, which really captured the aesthetic design of Disney Stores at the time. Of course, you also saved it 'cause it was too cool to toss:
13.MC Hammer's "Addams Groove" that was part of the Addams Family soundtrack. And really, it was just pure cringe:
18.TGIF's Step by Step, which was really just a modern-day Brady Bunch...
19....and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, which never made much sense. In the show, Mark Cooper was a former NBA player, but worked as a substitute teacher and also had roommates to help make ends meet. What did he do with his money?
20."The Urkel Dance" that they weirdly tried to make into a thing on Family Matters. Like, who on the show thought You know what America needs? A song and dance about Urkel:
21.CDs that came packaged in wasteful long boxes. And in case you were wondering, this was done because CDs were too small for store shelves created for vinyl, so by packaging them in long boxes, retailers could just reuse the shelves they already had. It also helped make them harder to steal:
22.Sony Sport Walkmans that were bright yellow and came with hard plastic headphones that went directly into your ear — which was always slightly uncomfortable to wear:
23.The commercial for CK One that featured Kate Moss and just made you think the perfume was the coolest and chicest thing ever:
24.The infomercial that featured Cher selling Lori Davis hair products:
25.Howard Stern's ~superhero~ persona, Fartman — which we probably all just remember from the 1992 VMAs, but was actually a character on his radio show and that was almost made into a movie:
26.Pop Secret popcorn that came in florescent colors and you swore tasted like different flavors:
27.The Club steering wheel lock and the commercials they would play nonstop for them (especially if you stayed home sick and watched daytime TV):
28.Ray Charles' "You got the right one" campaign for Diet Pepsi:
29.The catchy as heck Chicken Tonight jingle. Which, let's be honest, really did make you want to have Chicken Tonight (or at least try the sauce):
30.The black-and-white ads inside TV Guide that would give you a little synopsis about what that week's episodes would be about:
31.The big reusable plastic water bottles with the thick-ass straw that gave everything a plasticky flavor. These were also the bottles you would freeze and then wrap in aluminum foil (to keep cold) on field trips:
32.These square radio alarm clocks that would flash red or green light in your face in the middle of the night:
33.Taz-Mania, which was a hilarious cartoon with an amazing theme song:
35.The Beverly Hills, 90210 Mattel dolls, which, NGL, were kinda confusing. Who were they marketing it too? Kids who were way too young to be watching 90210? Were they supposed to reenact Brenda's pregnancy scare?
36.The handheld games that you had to squint and be in the right light just to play:
37.Disney Adventures magazine that was always a treat you would get if you went to the market with your parents (they had them right at the checkout stand):
38.Hypercolor T-shirts, which would, sadly, start losing its color-changing abilities after a few washes (probably 'cause of the dryer):
39.Slap bracelets that would peel on the ends and actually hurt you (with the exposed bit) if you slapped your wrist with it:
40.And lastly, the Bubble Tape commercial that reminded you it was six feet of bubble gum for you, not them:
