27 Popular Things People Thought Were Going To Be Cool, But Turned Out To Be Very, Very Lame

    Gen Z’ers, I’d be surprised if you even recognize some of these.

    Liz Richardson
    by Liz Richardson

    BuzzFeed Staff

    From movies to trends, people hype up new things all the time — but sometimes, after they're released, they turn out to be just...not that great.

    Network 10

    So, when redditor u/PsychedelicAirFusion asked, "What had so much hype about it, but was actually terrible?" people had a lot to say. Here are some of the top-voted responses:

    1. The Power Glove

    "If you weren't there at the time, you can't imagine how awesome NES kids thought that this thing was going to be. Then, you finally played something with one, and tried to convince yourself that it was indeed awesome before slowly, oh so slowly, accepting that it was lame as hell."

    —u/xjuggernaughtx

    2. Olestra (also known as Olean)

    A bag of chips with the label "Made with Olean; Brand fat-free cooking oil"
    James Leynse / Corbis via Getty Images

    "Olestra was a fat substitute that had no calories. Chips would have no fat content and less calories! It was a craze until they realized it gave everyone the shits. Like, for some people, a few handfuls were enough for explosive, zero-warning, uncontainable shits."

    —u/chuck_of_death

    3. Google+

    A phone screen with the Google Plus and Facebook logo
    Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    —u/livingcool22

    "There was potential...I think. I remember kind of liking it, except for the fact that it was a complete ghost town."

    —u/LtLwormonabigfknhook

    4. Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone’s vaults

    Geraldo Rivera speaks to the camera as workers mine what looks like a mysterious cave
    Fox News Channel

    —u/livingcool22

    "I watched it live. And laughed my ass off. He dug himself such an epic hole with all of the desperate hype leading up to the big reveal."

    —u/arco99

    5. 2020

    "Remember that meme showing how all the holidays were on weekends?"
    —u/AwesomeDawson_

    6. Quibi

    A phone screen with the Quibi logo
    Sopa Images / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

    "I CONSTANTLY saw ads and promotions for it for months, and they had some pretty famous celebrities in the shows. Then, it disappeared after, like, a month of its release."

    —u/chjett10

    7. Floam

    Nickelodeon / Mattel / Via youtube.com

    "It was that early 2000s toy that looked really fun on TV, but then we got it, and it fell apart almost instantly."

    —u/whippedcreamcheese

    8. Sony MiniDisc

    The Sony MiniDisc walkman featuring two dics, one of which is a Mariah Carey song
    Gems / Redferns / Getty Images

    "They were a failure in the US but extremely popular in other parts of the world."

    —u/SyrusDrake

    9. 3D TVs

    Someone wears 3D glasses while watching TV
    Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

    —u/threedogafternoon

    "I had a 3D TV. I think I used that feature once."

    —u/brokendowndryer

    10. Fyre Festival

    Alex @AXELSCYTHE

    Expectation v. Reality for the biggest scamming festival in the 21st Century #FyreFestival @WNFIV @FyreFraud

    Reply Retweet Favorite
    Twitter: @AXELSCYTHE / instagram.com @rose_bertram

    —u/ImTheState

    "An absolute sh*tshow, and even saying that is an understatement."

    —u/Own-Researcher-5507

    "I’ll never forget the picture of the sandwich."

    Tr3vor.eth @TrevorDeHaas

    The dinner that @fyrefestival promised us was catered by Steven Starr is literally bread, cheese, and salad with dressing. #fyrefestival

    Reply Retweet Favorite
    Twitter: @TrevorDeHaas

    —u/aCorgiDriver

    11. Google Glass

    A nurse wears the futuristic-looking Google glasses
    Boston Globe / Boston Globe via Getty Images

    "Google Glass got a lot of hype, but then it was gone."

    —u/anithemal18

    12. Hoverboards

    Someone rides a hoverboard outside during winter
    Myriam Lavallee / Getty Images / EyeEm

    "I feel like 'hoverboards' were seriously misnamed. I expected Back To The Future not Back To The Hospital with bone fractures."

    —u/Stormaen

    "The 'hoverboards' they sold were made so poorly that they were destined to fail. Everything was cheap plastic, and the electronics were crudely soldered and covered in hot glue to hold it all together. I made a decent bit of money repairing them, but stopped after folks kept complaining after they broke them again, expecting me to cover it."

    —u/nickbahhh

    13. "The SpongeBob 'Sweet Victory' song that got switched to Travis Scott's 'Sicko Mode' in the Super Bowl."

    SpongeBob sings his heart out on stage during the memorable episode
    Nickelodeon

    —u/Some_Crazy_Weeaboo

    "That wasn't an honor to the creator of SpongeBob; it was a disgraceful way to introduce someone else onto the stage. I was so pissed when I saw it...LIVE!"

    —u/Fangs_McWolf

    14. Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul

    Logan Paul takes a swing at Floyd Mayweather
    Cliff Hawkins / Getty Images

    "Glad I didn't pay for it."

    —u/ChaseDonovan

    15. Segways

    A group of people ride segways on a sidewalk
    Jose A. Bernat Bacete / Getty Images

    "Not necessarily terrible, but incredible, over-the-top hype."

    —u/Skinner936

    16. Ted (from United Airlines)

    An airplane flies in the area with the "Ted" logo
    Tim Boyle / Getty Images

    "Back in the early 2000s, billboards went up all over Denver saying 'Ted is coming,' 'Are you ready for Ted?', and a whole bunch of other cryptic stuff — nobody knew who or what Ted was. It escalated to the point everyone was talking about Ted. Turns out, Ted was an airline. It lasted, like, a month and failed."

    —u/CastleOfBravo

    17. Raiding Area 51

    A deserted Area 51 in Nevada with military warning signs
    Barry King / WireImage

    —u/impish_kid

    "Nobody thought that was gonna be real, right?"

    —u/sneakyveriniki

    18. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

    Stacks of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" at a bookstore
    Anthony Wallace / AFP via Getty Images

    "Awful and I don’t actually believe it’s part of the Harry Potter series."

    —u/PastaM0nster

    "I wanted to purchase this at a local bookstore. The owner invited me to read a few pages before buying it because I might have different expectations. In the end, I thanked her for warning me and left the store with a different book as a thank you. (It was her way of telling me that it sucks and to save the money.)"

    —u/VanCortez

    19. Adulthood

    Netflix

    "I’d like a refund."

    —u/mpssss22

    20. Woodstock '99

    A huge crowd of people in front of a stage for Woodstock '99
    Frank Micelotta Archive / Getty Images

    —u/ssssskkkkkrrrrrttttt

    "With proper planning, like food, water, and bathrooms, it would have been better, but it was aimed squarely at the angry young bro crowd. Pretty much destined for explosive failure."

    —u/BitPoet

    21. Suicide Squad

    Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection

    "Movie was so hyped like it was the Second Coming of Jesus. Then we saw Leto."

    —u/Stephenburnett98

    22. The McRib from McDonald’s

    "It tastes like something I had in my high school cafeteria."
    —u/Americanguy64

    23. The end of the world in 2012

    MANIC 😕 @3SixMANIC

    I’m starting to think the Mayans saying the world ending in 2012 was more of a recommendation than an actual prediction.

    Reply Retweet Favorite
    Twitter: @3SixMANIC

    —u/livingcool22

    "Oh, no one ever said it would be a fast ending."

    —u/With_Trees

    24. Space Jam 2

    An animated LeBron James and Daffy Duck in "Space Jam 2"
    Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection

    "It was hyped to be Gen Z's Space Jam, but it ended up being a typical Hollywood nostalgia cash cow."

    —u/Pumberdickleschmidts

    25. Windows Vista

    The Vista logo, featuring the Windows Logo with its iconic primary colors
    Stan Honda / AFP via Getty Images

    —u/sayfriend

    "Behind the current version, XP was the best Windows hands down."

    —u/YourGentleSoul

    26. Crystal Pepsi

    PepsiCo / Via tenor.com

    —u/livingcool22

    "It was delicious until you shook it up and the carbonation was gone, then it was gross."

    —u/KeyStoneLighter

    27. And finally: "The metaverse, probably."

    Mark Zuckerberg revealing Meta at Facebook Connect
    Facebook Connect / Via youtube.com

    —u/blindedbyhindsight

    What are some other things that got a ton of hype but turned out to be terrible? Let us know in the comments below!

    Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.