Nobody’s childhood can be complete without toys but the term ‘toy’ has a slightly different meaning for today’s kids as old school toys have been replaced with ‘gadgets’. But for people belonging to Generation Y (1980s to mid 1990s), owning different kinds of toys had an altogether different meaning and experience.
From owning a barbie kitchen set, mini house, to Hot Wheels and G.I. Joe, every toy we owned had a story of its own and writing this article brings back memories which remain priceless. Just to give a nostalgic throwback to every 90s kid, here are 6 toys which most of us have played with during our childhood, which we’ll never forget about.
These die-cast toy cars were a simple delight! With different colours, shapes and forms, these toy cars were every kid’s dream. Getting a Hot Wheels car on your birthday or a special occasion from your parents or relatives was the happiest day in a kid’s young life. Want to go one step further in the joy ride? THE HOT WHEELS RACE TRACK! With loops, car launchers and flaming child ego, racing with your friends with those wheels was fun.
Now let’s not be sexist or hold on to our male ego, let’s accept the fact that ALL of us have played with the kitchen or house set our sisters or girlfriends (that had such an innocent meaning back then) owned and pretended to make fake food, and sip on fake tea. Playing house was an experience in its own as we pretended to be adults and live like them, while our innocence was our prized possession. Little did we know that adulting was going to be so tough, those moments of playing house with your friends and siblings have been etched in our good memories.
From American toy company ‘Hasbro’, G.I. Joe action figures were again a prized collectible in every kid’s toy set. Action figures representing the four main U.S. Armed forces - Action Soldier (U.S. Army), Action Sailor (U.S. Navy), Action Pilot (U.S. Air Force), Action Marine (U.S. Marine Corps), and later, the Action Nurse were an attraction for kids back in the day. From naming your action figures to personalising them, we spent a lot of time playing with those miniatures. Also, there were trucks and vehicles to bolster our team to get them ready for line of duty.
Not exactly sure if these count as toys, but well, trump cards were something! WWF - World Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE) was something we all believed to be true, and when those superstars were packed in cards, with traits like height, weight, biceps, and finishing moves being the factor one wins or loses, it was an intense session of playing cards we had with our buds. Everybody would want Big Show because he was the tallest and heaviest superstar!
A slightly modern take on tops (locally known as bhowras), Beyblade was originally a Japanese Manga series which was adapted into an Anime which aired on TV during the early 2000s. As it was immediately telecast after Pokemon on Cartoon Network in India, it became a sensation among children and everyone had one (or many) Beyblades in their toy set. With the four main characters - Tyson, Kai, Max and Ray, their blades with bit-beasts were Dragoon, Dranzer, Dracil and Drigger respectively. Fighting with blades in circular mini 'stadiums', "let it rip" was the motto before starting a battle!
Man, after the popular anime show released, everyone across the country was zapped. Ash Ketchum's journey along with his Pokemon Pikachu was the most viewed cartoon show in that era. After the show became popular, Pokemon cards were a must-have collectible and 'trading' cards became a thing. Every kid in the early 2000s had a number of cards and the collection was filed in an album which was available in stores. Kids took pride in having a 'Charizard' and the others always envied that one kid!
There are many other games and activities 90s kids invested most of their time into. I personally consider our generation lucky because we grew up while old school outdoor games were alive, but at the same time technology had started advancing. So I would consider we got best of both worlds.
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