So, today (while on break from studying for an exam), I was looking around on Facebook and followed a post which lead me to a man’s blog. After I read a couple of entries, I observed that he mentioned that he knows a man called Will Wheaton, and that he himself has a blog. This name sounded amazingly familiar, so I clicked on the link, and lo and behold, it was Wesley Crusher, from Star Trek TNG!!!! He looks clearly like his character grown up, and is an accomplished writer with many books/essays already published. And, some of his posts, are very entertaining!
Anyway, after reading a post from Mr. Wheaton, I got this idea: That life as a kid, when looked back, is most easily identified as a series of fads.
Take a journey down memory lane with me, won’t you?
When I was a kid, growing up in North York going to Dunlace Public School, the first thing (other than breaking my collar bone in Senior Kindergarten [another post later]) was getting the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES. My grandparents brought it up from Florida, and we were one of the first kids around to get one. As soon as it was booted up, and I held that controller or gun, I was hooked. I spent a long time shooting pixillated ducks and aiding an 8-bit Mario save the Mushroom Kingdom. This fad, still stays with me (but I’ve evolved to blasting Big Daddies in the lovely and serene Rapture).
Next, I remember the ORIGINAL Power Rangers. This thing was a monster, everybody loved it and everybody played it at recess. My greatest ambition at the time, was to be Billy, the Blue Ranger who commanded the Triceratops zord. And yes, he was the ‘nerdy’ ranger, what can I say? My parents knew even then I was a smart one.
Anyone remember POGS? I recall playing with them under the stairs at Dunlace when it was raining outside. Those didn’t last too long, did they? But wow, didn’t you just HAVE to get them? In the same vein, what about those pens that turned into other things as well? I believe I had one where the bottom and top halves could be separated and yanked apart to cause a “helicopter” to fly out.
All of these things were vitally important at the time (except for video games, those still kick ass), but now, they don’t seem that important anymore do they?
This fad example from when I was a kid does have a point, there will always be fads and always people who buy into them. They exist even now (Tickle-me Elmo anyone? What about the legend of attempting to find a Cabbage Patch doll back in the 80’s?). Just because someone else has something, doesn’t mean that you must have it too.
What fads do you remember as a kid? What about your kids now, what must they have?
Feel free to leave a post/comment with you fond memories or even horror stories of past fads.
Cheers
My Little Pony…
…I’m a guy but even I will admit to that one…
LOL YAY EIGHTIES!
I loved….
Polly pocket
TROLLS..I had a collection going…
Slap on wrist bands
I wore neon tights. I had every colour.
Hello, Babysitter’s club!
Wait, there was this one cartoon show that I watched ALL the time. Does anyone remember The Raccoons?
Of COURSE I remember The Raccoons!!!!!!!!
With that pink guy with the skin problem who tried to get rid of them all the time!!!!
lol I wanted to be the pink ranger :O) and that duck shooting game on nintendo was the greatest!
hmm i remember (in no particular order)…
Butterfly hairclips
Beanie babies
Plastic pacifiers (weird eh?)
the comeback of platform shoes
Skip its
Full House, Fresh Prince of Bel-air, Home Alone, Saved by the Bell, Pinky and the Brain
Slinkies
Macarena (dance)
I’m going totally old school here….
Shira Princess of Power and Heman!!
Plus, Rainbow Bright and my brothers were totally obessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…maybe I should post a clip of them dancing along with the turtles @ Disney World…priceless!
I miss good kid t.v. like The Muppets and Fraggle Rock – where kids and parents could actually watch the show together and understand it on different levels…
The pink guy in Racoons was an Aardvark, and he was named Cyril Sneer (so some such clever variant).
That show was pure Canadiana at work, with Canadian talent doing the work front-to-back (that’s what an NFB grant gets you). Especially with Linda Eder (i think it was her, not near my own computer to verify via MP3 collection) singing a new track almost every episode.
The thing about the Jim Henson age of children’s TV programming was, children were treated as intelligent individuals. Jim Henson displayed some remarkable cultural dynamics between the Fraggles, Humans, Doozers, and Gorgs. In fact, his essay on the topic of said dynamics is a remarkable text in and of itself IMO.
Dinosaurs was another TV program of pure brilliance on the part of Jim Henson.
R.I.P. Jim Henson, you are sorely missed…
(if you can’t tell, I’m *still* a huge fan of the Racoons and Fraggle Rock.)
Fads make up pretty much most of our childhood memories. But you’d be sadly mistaken if you don’t think they continue too. Think about the video games and gaming stations you own now? What about the clothes you wear, the type of glasses you put on, your hair style???
Every bit of life is a fad, even if your rebelling agsint fads its still a fad in itself.
The question becomes do you accept it and choose to rememeber life positively or negatively??