The 90s were full of things that are extreme and radical, like skateboarding, snowboarding, and more. The cool and hip trends of the 90s have also rubbed off on the toys that were created or popular during that time period. Fortunately, some of these cool toys are still available for purchase today. To know more, here is a list of the most nostalgic 90s toys that are still popular today.
Puppy Surprise
Puppy Surprise is a toy line of stuffed animals that was introduced by Hasbro in 1991. Each box of Puppy Surprise comes with a mother dog that can come in different colors or patterns and is usually 12 inches long. Inside the mother dog is a pocket where a random number of puppies that are 4 inches in length can fit. As the name of the product suggests, the “surprise” element of the toy is figuring out how many puppies are inside the pocket of the mother dog. Sometimes there would be one or two puppies, and there can also be instances where there are four to five puppies inside. Much like the mother dog, the puppies can have different patterns and colors on their fur.
Unfortunately, the original Puppy Surprise toy line was discontinued in 1993. However, a toy company called Just Play bought the license for Puppy Surprise and has been making its own version of the toy line since 2014. Here are three Just Play Puppy Surprise products that you should check out:
Bop It
Bop It is a toy line of audio games that was first released by Hasbro in 1996. Bop It works similarly to the classic game called “Simon Says,” where you have to follow the instructions or moves of the leader. However, instead of another player, the leader in Bop It is an electronic voice that can be heard through the speakers of the toy. The voice would then instruct you to pull, push, spin, and twist different parts of the toy.
You lose the game when you fail to do what was specified by the voice, but if you win one round, you will go to the next round that is faster in pace. Over the years, there have been numerous variants or versions that Hasbro released, including Bop-It Micro and Bop It Extreme.
Perfection
Perfection is a children’s board game where the objective is to put all the available pieces into the matching holes on the included board. The catch is that there is a time limit, so the player would need to act fast in accomplishing the objective. When the time runs out, the board would push all the pieces upwards, scattering them on top of the board and on its sides.
Perfection was first released by a company called Reed Toys in 1973. However, the version of Perfection that became popular in the 1990s was produced by Hasbro, although it is under the Milton Bradley brand, which is known for its classic board games like Battleship, The Game of Life, and Connect Four.
Furby
Furby is an electronic toy that acts like a robot and was launched by gaming company Tiger Electronics in 1998. If you look at a Furby toy, you will notice that it looks like a mix of an owl because of its eyes and mouth and a hamster because of its fur, ears, and feet. It was one of the first successful robots that were designed for the domestic market and its success allowed Tiger Electronics to sell more than 1.8 million units of the toy.
Besides its peculiar look, the appeal of Furby toys lies in their robotic features, which include speaking “Furbish” (a gibberish language developed for Furby toys) at first before beginning to copy English words over time. Furby toys were discontinued numerous times, but because of its popularity and nostalgic factor, it has been revived several times as well.
Mr. Bucket
Mr. Bucket is a toy that was produced by Hasbro (under the Milton Bradley Brand) in 1991. The toy is composed of an anthropomorphic bucket toy, a set of hollow balls, and four plastic shovels. To play Mr. Bucket, you would need one to four players who will put the hollow balls onto the wide opening on the top of Mr. Bucket’s head using the plastic shovels. However, Mr. Bucket moves on its own thanks to its motorized parts, so putting the balls onto the toy’s opening can be quite difficult. Mr. Bucket was discontinued around the early 2000s, but it was re-released two times, particularly in 2007 and 2017.
Mr. Potato Head
Mr. Potato Head is a brand of plastic toys that have a body that looks like a potato, hence the name. Asides from having a potato-like body, Mr. Potato Head toys usually come with body parts like arms and legs, as well as accessories like hats or glasses. However, the body of Mr. Potato Head wasn’t plastic in the original form released in 1952, as the inventor of the toy, George Lerner, designed the body parts and accessories to be attached to a real potato. A plastic potato body was included in every Mr. Potato Head toy set in 1964 as a response to the complaints about rotting vegetables.
While Mr. Potato Head has been around since the 1950s, it experienced a surge in popularity in the 90s when two Mr. Potato Head characters, namely Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, appeared in the first Toy Story movie that premiered in 1995.
If you want to know more about Mr. Potato Head toys and their features, check out these three Mr. Potato Head products: