Christmas. The time of joy and gift-giving. You are now probably an adult who has no qualms about shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars for luxury goods.
That's because you're trying to fill a void. A void created when you were a child and too broke to buy all the awesome toys and all you remember is crying your eyes out as you're dragged out of the toy department by a parent saying "Why you need more toys? You have so many already!"
So here are 40 toys from that childhood that will make you wonder why aren't you spending your year-end bonus hunting these toys down instead of hankering for a handbag/watch:
1. Supersoaker
Only the really rich and cool kids could afford the Supersoaker 100 and 200. It was unfair that they can shoot you from a further distance when you only had a Supersoaker 50 or those Mama shop water pistols. It was the first time we learnt that meritocracy doesn't exist at the playground.
2. Visionaries
Many adults today still wonder why there was only one season of this awesome show.
3. Starcom
Who remembers that the Science Centre had a Starcom Starmax Bomber on display near the entrance? Can you still remember the sounds these vehicles make when you wind them up?
4. Ghostbusters
Who you gonna call? If you close your eyes, can you still remember the sound of the Ecto-1 siren?
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
These were the best of the TMNT. The live-action movies and recent remakes are just appalling. Mutagen-free pizza anyone?
6. Micro Machines
Anyone remember the Micro Machines commercials with the guy who can talk insanely fast? These toys were the bomb especially if you were into cars or military vehicles. Best part - it is pretty affordable.
7. MASK
A car that can transform into a plane? A truck that transforms into mobile artillery base? What's there not to like? Doubt anyone remembers anything about the cartoons but the toys are what most of us will remember from this series.
8. Transformers
No list of yesteryear toys is complete without the mention of Transformers. The marketers at Hasbro know that the googly-eyed kid has grown up to be a salary-drawing working adult and has been making a conscious effort to target the wallets of these people.
9. My Little Pony
Before horses were considered fabulous, there was My Little Pony.
10. Tamagotchi
Years before Candy Crush and Angry Birds, there was Tamagotchi. Who knew people would be addicted to keeping a virtual pet fed and happy? Just make sure your teacher boss does not catch you with it now.
11. Tamiya Car
How many of you zhng-ed your cars with all the extra rollers for more stability? Did you tune the spring in your hyper-dash engine as well?
12. Subbuteo
These looked so good on the box. Until you realise that hardly anyone in Singapore has a table big enough to hold the field, plus you had to iron the cloth field everything you took it out of the box because it was super wrinkled.
13. Care Bears
Care Bear Countdown! *Pretends to shoot beam out of belly*
14. Magnadoodle
Want to draw like a pro? Not possible when you can't erase a mistake on the magnadoodle without destroying half your picture.
Still more entertaining than Draw Something though.
14. Tiger Games
Who needs mobile phone games when you have Tiger games? There's no need for irritating friend requests or paying $0.99 for another life or resetting your mobile phone clock to get more lives. You only needed two AA batteries. This is the real deal.
15. Polly Pocket / Mighty Max
Yup, this was how the toy industry perpetuated gender roles in the 1990s. But boy, were these things fun.
16. BB Gundam
BB Gundams were for those kids who were not skilled enough for the 'grown up' Gundam models. They were still uber fun to play with nonetheless, until you lost a few parts or the weapons snapped in half.
17. Monsters in my pocket
The fad for these toys came and went pretty quickly but they were remembered for being quite expensive. You also never had the money to collect them all.
18. Gak
It's slime. But it's fun. That was all that mattered when you were a kid.
19. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
They were the reason why kids bothered to wake up bright and early on Saturday mornings, or why kids decided to ponteng their ECA. And of course, Kimberly...
20. Crash Test Dummies
Yet another short-lived toy series that was pretty fun looking. But with many loose parts, many kids probably lost so many pieces that the toy itself wasn't very fun to play with after a while.
21. Caps
You probably played these on the school bus. The real hardcore ones even played for keeps - until someone started to cry.
22. Spawn
These were incredibly expensive and someone would be the envy of the school if they had the entire collection. It's good to be rich :(
23. Exo Squad
Men in mech suits. Mech. Suits. Nuff said.
24. Dino riders
Men riding dinosaurs shooting lasers. Dinosaurs. Lasers. Nuff said.
25. Thunder Cats
Thunder. Thunder. Thunder. THUNDERCATS! HO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
26. He Man
Muscle men wearing leotards fighting each other. Nope, no childhoods were ruined.
27. G.I Joe
Anyone felt that Cobra Commander actually didn't really deserve to be the bad guy? He was actually pretty misunderstood. Hmmm...
28. Barbie
Life in plastic, it's fantastic.
29. Keypers
How many pieces of jewellery or secret notes have you placed inside these Keypers and forgot all about them?
30. Neo Geo
Back when you were a kid, you had a few friends you knew were well-to-do because they had a Super Nintendo or Sega Megadrive.
And then we all had a friend who had some friend/relative who was super rich and had the legendary Neo Geo console where each game costs around $80 - $100 back in the 1990s. We could only line up outside the game shop to play the Neo Geo after school.
31. Creepy Crawlers
The concept of 'baking' your own creepy crawly was pretty cool. Until you realise it's super expensive to buy the replacement solution after you finished all your bottles on the first go.
32. Lego
Lego toys are super helpful with building a child's creativity. If only they didn't cost and arm and a leg though. Now as adults, these are still pretty expensive and inaccessible.
33. Star Wars
How many of you are sitting on a tonne of these figures at home hoping their prices would appreciate? Sorry it's not going to happen any time soon.
34. Glo Worms
The modern equivalent of a security blanket for some.
35. Teddy Ruxpin
How many of you tried squeezing your cheeks in to look like Teddy? And how many of you are actually pretty freaked out by the caterpillar?
36. Hungry Hippo
Noisiest. Toy. Ever.
37. Talk Boy / Yak
Fans of Home Alone 2 will definitely remember the Talk Boy Deluxe. Were there any practical uses for recording your voice and playing it back slowed down or sped up? Probably no.
But will you still buy it because Macaulay Culkin made it look so cool? Yes.
38. Cabbage Patch Kids
Girls adored these while some guys found them a slight bit creepy.
39. Silverhawks
The nostalgia is strong in this one.
And the ultimate nostalgia toy:
40. Tomy Racing Turbo
Race forever! Until the battery runs out at least.
Other stories you may like:
20 simple childhood snacks that made us so happy we didn’t need cupcakes and churros
8 Party games from our childhood that gets better with alcohol
15 signs you were really brought up in Singapore in the 80s and early 90s
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