No matter how we feel about 2020, it’s always nice to pause and reminisce about the past in order to excite our minds with nostalgia. Below are ten bits of “cool” from the glorious 1990s. Many of these entries conjure pure joy when thought of. This eclectic list includes some very fascinating backstories and curious histories for these pop culture gems. And at the end of the day, aren’t we ALL waiting for JNCOs to make a comeback?

Top Ten Banned Snacks

10 Big Brother Magazine

The first issue was released in 1992 with a warning label and a cartoon picture of a teen pointing a revolver at his nose. The second issue was when Jackass creator Jeff Tremaine jumped on the insane Steve Rocco-led ride that would literally become a middle-finger to all of the corporate-run skater magazines out at the time (which were basically professionally shot shoe catalogues). It was crude, rude, in-your-face and disgusting. It was everything a 1990s skater kid wanted. From as young as eleven I loved Dave Carnie’s profanity-laced editorials.

Big Brother published literally ANYTHING. From articles on how to commit suicide, to how to use a straw to take coke, with a picture of a kid using one off a skateboard (it was pixie-stik dust IRL). The editorial team would also do bonkers stunts like package issues in cereal boxes and they were the first magazine to start attaching VHS cassettes and stickers. Big Brother was also the precursor to DIY media pre-internet, so it wasn’t just a bunch of pre-Jackass-fame idiots laughing at poop jokes.^[1]

9 POGs

POGs have a wild history that goes as far back as 400 years. The game has it’s roots in an Edo Period (1603-1868) game called Menko. Menko was originally played with circular paper pieces. The game travelled as such into Polynesia, but in Japan it evolved to use rectangular cards; which are largely believed to also be the forerunners to trading cards (fun fact: Nintendo started as a trading card company). Menko then became POGs when in 1991 a school counselor wanted the kids to play a non-violent game at recess, but instead of milk caps from the 1920s and 1930s, she used the caps from the fruit beverage company Passion Orange Guava.

This innocent act gave birth to what would become a worldwide craze. Soon the game had hopped the Pacific and caught the eye of a Southern Californian business man named Alan Ripinski who bought the rights to the lids and licensed out the idea to basically everyone and everything in the 1990s. You could find OJ Simpson mug-shot ones, every fast food and soda company had one, every hit movie coming to theaters got in on the game; 350 million were sold in 1994 alone. However, Ripinski would end up being a victim of his own success and by flooding the market, it also destroyed the game. By 1996 knock-offs were being made out of flashy plastic and 3D images, which just turned them into trinket collector items. The fad had come and gone in only a few years.^[2]

8 Goldeneye 64

This was the quintessential video game of the 1990s, period. Goldeneye 64 changed the way we gamed in first-person-shooters, as it buried Doom by breaking away from the fixed-rail format. Development began in 1995 and when the game was released on the Nintendo 64 system in August of 1997, no one expected it to be the success that it was. It was the first game to use all four controller plugs and is the godfather of multi-screen death matches (which was actually a last minute addition). The game is also argued to be the single most important first-person-shooter in gaming history, It is the third best-selling N64 game of all time, and has won a plethora of awards for its innovation. Many of us in a certain age-group have fond memories and I personally miss my GameShark loaded with all the cheat codes. Paintball mode with golden rocket launchers anyone?^[3]

7 JNCOs

Los Angeles-based JNCO (Judge None Choose One) was started by Moroccan-born and French raised brothers Haim Milo Revah and Jacques Yaakov in 1985. Using $200,000 of their life savings, the brothers wanted to shatter the norm when it came to denim and were heavily inspired by the baggy pants of urban Californian Latinos. Looking back it seems mad any of us wore these, but it all came down to an entire rebellious generation thinking that Levis, which were made popular by young boomers, were antiquated and uncool. The famous JNCO crown logo was designed by the very well respected L.A. street artist Joseph Montalvo, a.k.a. Nuke. Teens couldn’t get enough of the alien-like designs, colorful logo patches and eccentric colors.

The most popular leg width was the 23” design, but JNCO also made one that was 50” wide. The company started raking in the cash and by 1998 they made $186.9 million. The next year those sales slipped by half. By the 2000s the company crawled along with scattered sales from club kids and ravers. In 2018 the JNCO license was terminated, but then in 2019 they announced they were looking to make a comeback. Not sure if we need JNCOs in 2020, though.^[4]

6 Surge Soda

In the 1980s and 1990s Coca Cola and Pepsi were in an aggressive marketing war to become America’s absolute soda. These “Cola Wars” were merciless and produced some odd products while the two giants tried to one-up each other’s portfolios. Surge was introduced into the market in 1997 as a competitor to Pepsi’s Mountain Dew. Now Mountain Dew was technically created in 1940 with a revised formula in 1958 and the recipe was finally acquired by Pepsi Co. in 1964. Mountain dew had already been around for decades, so Coca Cola went all in. In an age of skater punks and MTV, Coke decided to create and market Surge as a “hardcore” cola. Coke scientists also decided to use maltodextrin, which is an enhanced energy-producing starch, instead of caffeine. Coke intended to launch Surge with a Super Bowl ad, but first they had to pay an undisclosed amount to a company that produced cow milking machines with the same “Surge” name. After only five years in 2003, Surge was discontinued with a few recent limited re-releases.^[5]

Top 10 Discontinued Sodas

5 Sony Playstation 1

Released into the Japanese market in 1994 and then in the North American market in 1995, the Sony Playstation was actually supposed to be built in partnership with Nintendo. The split came around 1991 when Nintendo broke with Sony to work with Philips and it is rumored the similar grey and block-like design to the Super Nintendo system was done maliciously. The Playstation was also the first real gamble in 3D gaming and was considered a high risk venture. Interestingly, the black color of the disks was made for no reason other than to look cool. Crash Bandicoot was supposed to be a wombat originally. And the PS1 also had two failed mascots. The first was Polygon man who was a head made of shapes to show the contours of the 3D effects, and the second was an obscure white cat character named Toro which never made its way out of Japan.^[6]

4 McDonald’s Big N’ Tasty (or: The Failed War Against the Whopper)

Major corporations can be really nasty and overly competitive. Like Coke and Pepsi, McDonald’s and Burger King have always been bitter rivals despite having enough differences to technically be treated as separate entities with plenty of original and distinctive menu items to offer. That was not enough for McDonald’s, they needed to once and for all bury the Whopper and its fresh veggie toppings. First came the McDLT in 1984 offering fresh lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions in a ridiculously designed packaging (and hilarious ad wit future-Seinfeld’s “Jason Alexander” looking considerably more hirsute than today) which was a huge flop… then came the 1990s. In 1991 the McLean Deluxe came and went. Then the Arch Deluxe in 1996 which failed. Finally came the Big N’ Tasty which debuted in 1997. Eventually it was demoted to one of the original dollar menus. Finally replaced in 2003 for the double cheeseburger. It’s still occasionally referred to as the “Big N’ Nasty” as it is only available on some military bases and parts of the Middle East.^[7]

3 Pokemon

Pokemon, originally Pocket Monsters, was developed by Game Freak and Published by Nintendo in 1996. Game Freak was originally a mini-comic publication that interviewed local arcade owners for tips on beating certain games. Starting in a house, Game Freak now resides in an ambiguous carrot-shaped building in Setagaya, Tokyo. You won’t see an identifiable Pokemon sign or character anywhere until long after you pass through security. Game Freak started out very small and only won the trust of Nintendo in 1991 for developing a Yoshi puzzle game, then later on a Mario & Wario game that would never make it to North America. Originally, Pokemon was released as Green and Red versions, but it was redone for international release and changed to Red and Blue. Shockingly, Pokemon was actually supposed to end with the Gold and Silver versions. They should be thankful they didn’t as they would have foolishly missed out on billions… with a B.^[8]

2 Titanic

At the time of its release in 1997, Titanic by James Cameron was the most expensive film ever made at $200 million. To date, it has grossed $2.195 billion only getting beat by Cameron’s other epic, Avatar. Titanic was a cultural phenomenon and it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone else in the roles of Rose and Jack, but things could have turned out much differently if Matthew McConaughey and Gwyneth Paltrow had been picked instead. They were first choice for the parts but a relatively unknown Kate Winslet sent Cameron a bouquet of roses apparently saying “Roses from your Rose” which got her the audition and the part. Leo was allegedly cranky on set and sick of Cameron’s giant set pieces and massive pool. Film is a hard business and the 14-hour days got to him on multiple occasions. Leo even asked Kathy Bates in-between takes which utensil he should lobotomize himself with (these days, thanks to his political outbursts, I’m sure many people would happily suggest something appropriate). Good things did happen on set for Baby Leo. When Winslet knew Leo would need to see her in the nude, she broke the ice and flashed him before they shot their scene. Enya was actually supposed to score the soundtrack, not Celine Dion. The cost of the movie was more expensive than the Titanic in real-life with inflation ($200 million > $150 million). And the strangest thing happened on the last night of shooting. On location in Nova Scotia, someone drugged the chowder being served to the cast and crew with PCP (angel dust). Some 80 people needed to be rushed to the hospital for hallucinations.^[9]

1 The O.J. Simpson Trial

The People of The State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson was THE court case of the 1990s and was the precursor to live true-crime events unfolding in spectacular media-frenzy fashion. Charged with the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown, O.J. got help before his arrest from Kim Kardashian’s father, Robert Kardashian (who was also on his defense team and a very close friend). O.J. literally almost shot himself in the head in Kim’s bedroom before Robert talked him out of it. Then came the famous car chase. The white Bronco used in the live-action extravaganza is now housed in a crime museum in Tennessee, and while the events were unfolding, the country came to complete halt. Domino’s pizza orders skyrocketed as people were glued to their televisions. The entire world could not look away. O.J. was famously acquitted and one of the prosecutors, Marcia Clark, even stated that the trial and verdict ruined her life despite hitting it big with a best-selling book about the events. The most bonkers fact of them all is that when O.J. was found not guilty, he threw a massive party he organized himself and it was so rowdy the police needed to shut it down. Strange decade . . . but who wouldn’t love to be back there . . . even if just for a day?^[10]

Top 10 Reasons Life Was Better In The ’90s

If there were something kids in the 1970s through to the early 2000s looked forward to, it was the trip to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal. The scent of the paper wrappers, the conversations, the laughter…

Beyond stuffing ourselves with gloriously greasy chicken nuggets and piping hot fries—without worrying about calories—we looked forward to what cool trinket we’d find inside the cheerful red and yellow box.

Are you smiling yet? Come relive those memories with us as we explore 10 of the most nostalgic McDonald’s Happy Meal toys ever.

10 Grimace, Hamburglar, & Birdie (1979)

Yes, we know, Ronald McDonald always looked like something from a creepy movie, and that cup on his nose… We were definitely relieved when McDonald’s introduced Grimace, the affable monster, Hamburglar, the burger hoarder, and Birdie, the girly early bird, to take the edge off.

The three popular figurines released in 1979 have made a nostalgic comeback targeting adults in 2022 through a limited edition collaboration with Cactus Plant Flea Market. The Adult Happy Meal (aimed at the ’70s and ’80s, well, and maybe ’90s kids) will also include a new figure-Cactus Buddy.

There is an unmistakable twist to these figurines, though. They now spot two sets of eyes, which is creepy, but nothing new if you’re familiar with McDonald’s Happy Meals. Fans who are eager to relive their childhood have come out in droves to snag these meal boxes before it’s too late.

We’re never too old to enjoy a Happy Meal, especially if it includes some of our beloved but mostly forgotten character toys.

9 Hot Wheels (1983)

Back in the day, toy cars were a favorite. We raced them at home, in the car, and just about every place our parents took us. So you can imagine how awesome it felt getting a brand-new toy car for free, along with a delightful lunch.

McDonald’s partnered with Mattel to offer a collection of 14 quality metal cars in different colors and shapes. You could find ambulances, police cars, and race cars to keep you on the fast lane at the restaurant or in your car as you left the drive-thru.

In later years, McDonald’s conjured their own car designs and distributed those instead. These cars were made of cheaper plastic bodies but were cool nonetheless.

If you remember, Happy Meal toys depended on whether you requested “boy” or “girl” toys. The boys got the Hot Wheels cars meal box, while the girls received the Barbie doll meal box. Of course, that has changed now, and kids can choose whatever toy they like.

8 Ghostbusters (1984)

If there’s something strange in your neighborhood… who you gonna call? Who can forget that catchy Ghostbusters theme song? And to imagine that your next meal included all the RGB TV show characters was blissful.

Behold, Staypuft the sharpener, Slimer pencil topper, Ghostbusters pencil, a ghost-shaped notepad, and pencil pouch were just one part. The boxes contained a bonanza of fun-filled games and activities to fill your day.

My favorite Happy Meal Box had an “Ecto’s Defectos” puzzle on one side, and I needed to name everything wrong with Ecto-1. I’m certain we mostly thought about the ghost settled in the driver’s seat, yet the car also had a flat tire, broken light, and a missing door. No, I didn’t forget the busted bumper.

On the other side of the box, the “Bedtime Surprise” activity was the quickest ever. All you needed to do was match the ghosts (all set to surprise our friends) to their slime trails.

The “Total Confusion” puzzle had these distinct-looking but weirdly shaped ghosts trapped in an Ecto-Containment Unit. Your job was to count them, and if you found all 13, hurray.

Last was the Ghostbusted jigsaw puzzle, where Slimer, unfortunately, broke into little pieces thanks to Egon’s ghost net. Reassembling Slimer meant popping out all his parts which caused major damage to your box, but it was worth it.

Other boxes had different activities to keep you delighted as you dug into your deliciously greasy fries.

7 Transformers/My Little Pony (1985)

So back then, a perfect Happy Meal allowed boys to add a Transformer character to their collection while girls could show off their My Little Pony Charms.

Transformers figurines included Cliffjumper, my favorite Bumblebee, Brawn, and Gears, while Blossom, Butterscotch, the all-too-cute Snuzzle, Minty, purple-haired Blue Belle, and Cotton Candy completed the My Little Pony Charms set. The toys were so popular that they spawned addictive animated series and movies.

Moving into 1996, McDonald’s added five different toys to their Transformers Happy Meal line to aggrandize the Beast Wars cartoon. These characters comprised Beetle, MantaRay, Rhino, Panther, and an under-3 toy.

The franchise distributed two meal cardboard boxes—one featured punch-out cards of Optimus Prime and other heroes, while the other box had punch-outs of Megatron and his villain partners.

My Little Pony’s ’97 collection had kids wowed with turnable heads, brushable tails, and intricate decals. While girls mostly clipped the original toys to their back pockets, the design evolved beautifully to make them even more playable toys.

6 Changeables (1987)

With the Transformer toys being such a hit among kids, McDonald’s decided to create its own version: the Changeables.

So what typically passed for an ice cream cone, fries, burgers, Egg McMuffin, Chicken McNuggets, and hotcakes were robots, dinosaurs, and many other creatures. You just needed to unfold these food items, and voila! You’d be off to whatever world-changing rescue mission you imagined.

The ’87 wave of Changeables didn’t have much of a story going, save for a couple of jokes on the box, but McDonald’s did come up with lore in ’89.

The Munchoids (food thieves) were intent on stealing every Happy Meal from Earth. It became the Changeables’ mission to stop them. So, Fry, the robot, had this idea where the Changeables would shrink down to cross the galaxy and arrive on Earth, where they would duplicate themselves so every kid would have one.

And they did just that.

5 Fraggle Rock Toys (1988)

Muppets aside, the Fraggle Rock series was a winner. For an early ’80s musical fantasy show, it was artistic, silly, downright raucous, and appealed to all ages.

McDonald’s saw the opportunity and jumped right in. This particular meal box contained one of four characters: Gobo in an orange carrot car, Mokey doing her thing in a purple eggplant car, Red in a red radish car (red has always been a thing), and the duo Wembley and Boober in a shared green cucumber car. Weird how Boober was facing the wrong way. He probably lost the toss and was mad about it.

With choking possibilities, kids under 3 received Gobo holding a carrot or Red with a radish in his hand.

I always wondered why the Fraggles drove veggie cars. Perhaps, they were trying to inspire us to eat our vegetables. Or were they predicting a future where we would replace our gasoline-powered cars with eco-friendly vegetable-powered ones…?

4 Super Mario Bros. (1990)

By now, the ’70s and ’80s kids were older, Nintendo video games were the thing, and we were gobbling up every available game, including Super Mario Bros. 3.

We weren’t even done talking about the Super Mario Bros. 3 game when McDonald’s introduced its characters. Our interest in getting these toys was beyond casual; it was absolute—like we had to get those characters.

The original set comprised four characters, well, five if you count the stoic Racoon Mario designed purely for younger kids. Jumping Mario had this spring-loaded doohickey that let him fly while Luigi held on to a starman as he sat on his pull-back cloud car. A bouncing Koopa Paratroopa and somersaulting Little Goomba rounded things off.

We all had a favorite figure, but there really wasn’t a bad one. You just needed to figure out how to work them into your action figure adventures without them jumping off and away.

3 Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (1995)

McDonald’s has never shied from partnering with popular TV shows or movies, so it was an absolute thrill when they released MMPR Happy Meal toys just as the MMPR movie premiered.

Lunch or dinner now included cool Power Ranger devices like the “Power Siren” and “Alien Detectors.” You could also chance upon the “Power Com,” or if you were lucky, the “PowerMorpher Buckle.”

The actual Power Ranger figurines, complete with Zord merch, were available at McDonald’s, but you purchased them separately. These figurines were pretty well made (even by today’s standards) and resembled their TV counterparts. The perfect collection for kids in the ‘90s.

2 Teenie Beanie Babies (1997)

We remember the Beanie Babies craze more than we do the toys. Or maybe we remember everything and still have our favorite collection tucked somewhere in the back of the closet or the attic.

Those squishy, cuddly, irresistibly adorable bean-filled toys had kids, parents, and grandparents clamoring for one or all of them. It was so bad that fights even broke out at multiple McDonald’s locations.

McDonald’s partnership with Ty Inc. was such that new beanies would be introduced yearly at the former’s locations until 2000.

The 1997 set contained 10 Beanies that included Patti platypus, Chops the lamb (I doubt that name would fly today), Pinky flamingo, Chocolate moose, Snort the bull, Goldie goldfish, Seamore the seal, Speedy turtle, Quacks the duck, and Lizz lizard.

While we all had our favorites, popular Beanies in the 1998 set included Doby dog, Inch Worm, Pinchers Lobster, and Bongo monkey. And 1999 saw Freckles the leopard warm our hearts along with Chip the cat, Strut Rooster, and Nuts squirrel.

If you were still interested in Happy Meal Beanies, you found that the critters were now grouped as “Pet Pals,” “Garden Bunch,” “At the Zoo,” and “Under the Sea.” And let’s not forget Libearty Bear.

So even though the internet screams about the “worthlessness” of these pocket-sized Beanie babies today, we know that they hold an invaluable spot in our hearts.

1 Mini Furbies (1999)

Furby toys were an overnight sensation in the ‘90s, and McDonald’s jumped on the bandwagon by creating Mini Furbies for their Happy Meals.

McDonald’s tweaked the original toys’ design, so their eyes didn’t stare at you creepily. Yup, Mini Furbies blinked and could move their ears. Still, their eyes were gigantically creepy (there’s no moving away from that), and their ears remained batlike. At least the Mini Furbies didn’t talk to you in the middle of the night (unlike their larger cousins), or you would have blasted through the walls in fright.

Perhaps the “horror feel” they inspired in us drew us to them… I wonder if they have been spying on us all this time and will wake up one day and take over the world…

Anyway, the 1999 figures were 80 in total. So if you were a die-hard fan, you probably went in search of all eight series that contained ten mini Furbies each.

In 2000, McDonald’s introduced 12 mini Furby stuffed keychains based on the 1998 Furby toys. Okay, so maybe these didn’t look too shabby, and they had names too if you can recall—Diamondback Snake, Elephant, Cow, Lamb, Giraffe, Tiger, Fox, Raccoon, Monkey, Owl, Tree Frog, and Dinosaur.