Shoppers check out the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Toys-R-Us in Clay at the Great Northern Mall in 1990. Syracuse Post-StandardSyracuse Post-Standard
For the children who grew up during the 1990s, the days and weeks before Christmas were dominated by thoughts of Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and Super Nintendos.
And their parents worried about finding a Furby and the Tickle Me Elmo dolls which started a craze that had not been seen since the Cabbage Patch dolls of 1983.
We went through the archives of The Post-Standard and found what the kids of Central New York were wishing Santa would bring them year-by-year throughout the decade.
How many of these were under your tree way back then? What were your favorites?
If you had anything related to the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” on your holiday shopping list in 1990, the Herald-Journal reported that you probably experienced feelings of “confusion and exhaustion.”
The so-called “Heroes in a Half Shell,” stars of their own cartoon and movie, were the top Christmas item that year, especially for boys.
A Carousel Center Santa told a reporter:
“The Turtles – ohh, what are they called? The Ninja Turtles, that’s it. Yeah. They’re big. They usually want the whole works.”
The 31 different plastic action figures cost just $4.99, if you could find one.
“It’s the most popular thing,” David Herron, assistant manager of the Kay-Bee Toy store at the Fayetteville Mall said. “We sell out of it almost every week.”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures from 1990. Shredder, on the left, and Splinter, on the right, were some of the most challenging items to find that holiday season.Syracuse Post-Standard
Especially hard to find were good guys Splinter and April, and villain Shredder. Store managers blamed the toy’s manufacturers for intentionally making a small number of these characters.
The $40 Sewer Playset was nearly impossible to get locally. The K&K Toy store turned away “20 to 25 people a day” looking for one. The Turtles’ van, the Party Wagon, for $25, also sold out quickly.
Girls loved perennial favorite Barbie, and action figures of the New Kids on the Block.
Also hard to find locally was the Go-Go Pup from Hasbro. The $40 battery operated dog on a leash was typically sold out wherever parents looked.
If you were a video gamer in the early 1990s, you probably wanted a Super Nintendo.
In 1991, Central New York, like the rest of the country, was coming out of a recession.
While the economic concerns did not entirely dampen Christmas shopping, parents changed some tactics that season.
Dependable toys like Erector sets, building blocks, dolls, and old-fashioned board games (like Monopoly) made a comeback.
There was one exception, though. Nintendo.
Lucky children might have found the venerable eight-bit NES system, with hot games like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II,” and “Super Mario Brothers 3,″ under the tree. Toys R’ Us was selling it for $99.99 and games for $49.99.
The new Super Nintendo system, with stereo sound and 3-D graphics sold for $199.99.
Trolls made a comeback in 1992.Allied Pix for The Patriot-News
A list of the 10 top-selling Christmas toys in the Dec. 11, 1992 Herald-Journal includes quintessential ‘90s favorites.
The Super Nintendo and Ninja Turtles were still big. So too were the Incredible Crash Dummies, California Roller Baby Dolls, Puppy Supreme, and Super Soakers.
There was an odd inclusion, though, at the top of the list: Troll Dolls.
Riding a wave of nostalgia and budget cutting due to tough economic times, toys like the original Trolls found renewed popularity.
“Santa will show up this season with familiar classic toys that won’t require mortgaging the family sleigh,” the Associated Press reported.
The original troll made its debut in the 1960s but made a comeback in the early 1990s.
The “so ugly they’re cute,” dolls, with hair that stood straight up from their head, were everywhere in 1992, as large dolls, two-inch figurines, and magnets and key rings.
Small Troll items, perfect for stocking stuffers, sold for about $1.
Parents looking to avoid violent video games like "Super Street Fighter" and "Mortal Kombat," could opt for safer titles like "Mario Paint" for the Super Nintendo.
In 1993, consumer confidence returned, and many businesses reported their best holiday shopping season in three years.
Bigger holiday budgets were good news for Sega and Nintendo, whose video game systems battled for dominance.
The Super Nintendo was the older and less expensive option. The system sold for $99.99. The Sega Genesis sold for $129.99, and the short-lived Sega CD went for $229.99.
Controversy brewed that winter over the violence in the games “Street Fighter II” and “Mortal Kombat.” Games like Madden football, NHL ‘94, and Mario Paint were safer alternatives.
The video game giants also competed for kids’ attention away from the television.
The Nintendo Gameboy was still around, selling for between $27 and $42 in most local stores.
But the spinach-green graphics of the old system faced competition from Sega’s Game Gear ($129.99), which produced games in full color, like“Ecco the Dolphin,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” and “Mortal Kombat.”
This collage from the Post-Standard in 1993 highlighted many of the popular toys that year. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were at the top of many children's wish lists that year.
Demand for action figures and accessories of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, based on a show about teens empowered with the spirits of dinosaurs, took toy store managers by surprise in 1993.
A year later, in 1994, they were even more popular.
“At this point in time, there isn’t a line that can give Power Rangers any real competition,” said Mark Parzych, manager at the Toys ‘R Us at the Great Northern Mall in 1994. “Anything associated with Power Rangers this year, from pencils to stickers to toys is going to move.”
The good news for shoppers was that the brand’s manufacturers had stocked up on inventory.
The Power Rangers may have been the first action figure that appealed to both boys and girls.
“The ‘pink Ranger’ for the girls is very big,” said a Kay-Bee store spokesperson.
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers dynasty ended in 1995. There was no one toy to take its place.
“It’s one of those years that we aren’t seeing any blockbuster toys,” said the editor of “Playthings” magazine.
The video game industry was in flux as the cartridge-based systems went away and the CD-powered machines like the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation were introduced.
Toys with movie tie-ins like “Pocahontas” and “Batman Forever” were popular.
Galoob Toys’ Sky Dancers, a “new toy sensation” which were part ballerinas and part helicopters, topped many “top-selling” lists.
In the absence of a must-have, kids resorted to old favorites. “Star Wars” action figures, Barbie and Cabbage Patch Dolls, Legos, and even Monopoly, made a comeback.
Joe Dohm of North Syracuse, an employee of Foster's Antique in Nedrow, holds up a Tickle Me Elmo at an auction for 1996's hottest Christmas gift. It was bought by Gloria Yenny of Nedrow, who is buying it for her 23 year-old son, Matt Yenny, for $100.
1996: The Tickle Me Elmo craze
“Tickle Me Elmo is a study in mob mentality,” toy buyer Stephen Sandberg told The Wall Street Journal in 1996. “I couldn’t get my retailers to buy Elmo in October. I told one customer I can get you 72, he bought 18.”
For most of the year, the red Sesame Street character’s giggly, vibrating dolls barely moved from store shelves. No one seemed to want to pay $30 for a doll.
Then, Rosie O’Donnell featured the toy on her talk show and a craze began that rivaled the Cabbage Patch Kids from the ‘80s.
After Black Friday, the previously ignored toy became a national sensation. Finding one was nearly impossible.
“Toys ‘R Us didn’t have any Elmos and didn’t know when they’d get more in,” reporter Amber Smith wrote in the Dec. 16, 1996 Herald-Journal about her efforts to get one. “A clerk said they had 500 outstanding rain checks and wouldn’t issue any more. Hills didn’t have any. Neither did Wal-Mart. A clerk there said I’d have to call after 6 a.m. every morning to see if their delivery truck included any Elmos.”
The Post-Standard published these IOUs in their pages so parents could give them to their disappointed children when they did not find a Tickle Me Elmo under their tree on Christmas morning 1996. The newspaper's NewsLine system also had a recording of the toy's giggling for children to listen to.
The local newspaper’s classified section published ads with dozens of them up for sale to the highest bidder. Some were asking for $1,000.
The Post-Standard also published an IOU for desperate parents to give to their disappointed children on Christmas morning. They also recorded Elmo’s giggle and you could listen to it on the paper’s NewsLine telephone system.
1997: Attack of the Elmo clones
After the Elmo craze, there was again no “must have” toy in 1997.
It was a year, though, of Elmo clones.
There was a “Talking Arthur,” Tyco’s “Real Talkin’ Bubba” bear, Hug ‘N’ Wiggle Winnie the Pooh, an Interactive Barbie, and an Interactive Barney the Dinosaur from Microsoft which had a 2,000-word vocabulary.
(Barney sold for $100 and Barbie for $90.)
The most direct Elmo clone was the Sing & Snore Ernie who was already for a nap in his pajamas. As he drifted off to sleep, he snored. He sold for the same $30 as Elmo had.
Love them or hate them, the Furby was one of most popular gifts at Christmas during the late 1990s.Oregonian
At the Toys ‘R Us in Clay, a truckload of them sold out in minutes in early December, leaving a disbelieving store director, Steve Meredith, declaring, “This is far worse than Tickle Me Elmo. I have never seen people do desperate to get a toy.”
In 1998, they ruled the holidays.
Two women were injured in a Furby stampede in Illinois and shoppers knocked over displays to get one in Denver.
In Central New York, they were nearly impossible to find.
At the Toy ‘R Us in Clay, a truckload of them sold out in minutes in early December, leaving a disbelieving store director, Steve Meredith, declaring, “This is far worse than Tickle Me Elmo. I have never seen people do desperate to get a toy.”
“I get anywhere from 50 to 150 calls a day asking for Furby,” said Jim Bligh, assistant manager of Kay-Bee stores at the Carousel Center. “The day after Thanksgiving, we ran an ad saying we had 200 Furbies in stock. People started lining up at 3 a.m. – just ridiculous.”
Perhaps no toy had a harsher backlash to its sudden popularity.
“This has gotten out of hand,” said Tracy Decker of Kirkville, whose two children had a Furby on their list. “I’d love one for myself if I could get my hands on one, but its just impossible now. I’ve stopped trying.”
“Uck!” said Pat Brown of Cazenovia. “I think this is ridiculous. I just feel sorry for the parents who feel they have they have to do this for their kids.”
Some of those parents may have joined many of the anti-Furby websites that popped up, some of which encouraged microwaving them or performing a Furby autopsy.
Gregory Brangman, 6, and sister Angela Brangman, 7, of Syracuse show off their collection of Pokemon cards and figurines. Cards, toys and other paraphenelia from the Pokemon Nintendo game have become wildly popular among kids in 1999 and were the most popular gifts for kids come the holidays.
The Furby’s popularity endured into 1999. A smaller version, Furby Babies, kept the toy fresh and the much-predicted fall of the Furby did not materialize.
But it was no longer king of the holiday toy mountain either.
That honor belonged to Pokémon, propelled by a popular Nintendo video game and Warner Brothers’ movie.
With the cards, action figures, dolls, and more, Pokémon earned $555 million during the first 10 months of the year.
Other popular toys included the “Millennium Princess” Barbie, the Bop-It musical memory game, and toys from the new “Star Wars” prequel, “The Phantom Menace.”
Christmas in the ‘80s: Rubik’s Cube, Cabbage Patch dolls, Nintendo. Here are the top, must-haves from the decade
Best of CNY 1992: These were CNY’s favorite restaurants, bands, pizza 30 years ago
Cazenovia College almost closed once before: 5 things you didn’t know about one of NY’s oldest schools
How a concert and racetrack promoter brought Lights on the Lake to Liverpool
How a Syracuse animal activist spent years pretending to be baseball’s ‘Casey at the Bat’
This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle at jcroyle@syracuse.com or call 315-416-3882.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.
Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement updated 7/1/2022).
© 2022 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.
Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.