Send your nostalgic picture or video to onceuponawin@gmail.com All our submissions come from you. You can vote on other people's submissions on the Voting page.
Tamagotchi
Submitted by A Zwicky
From Wikipedia:
The Tamagotchi (たまごっち, Tamagotchi?) is a handheld digital pet created in 1996 by Aki Maita and sold by Bandai. Over 10 million Tamagotchis have been sold as of 2005. More and more will be made in reference of this new technology. The Tamagotchi is housed in a small and simple egg-shaped computer. Three buttons (A, B, and C) allow the user to select and perform an activity, including:
* Feeding the Tamagotchi a piece of food or a snack.
* Playing games with the Tamagotchi.
* Cleaning up a Tamagotchi’s waste.
* Checking its age, discipline, hunger, happiness and other statistics.
There are five versions and it is very likely that more varieties of Tamagotchis will be made. Tamagotchis can also get prizes and “Gotchi Gold,” the currency of Tamagotchis, on TamaTown.com.
Popples was a series of fictional characters created by Those Characters From Cleveland (TCFC), a subsidiary company of American Greetings, and the plush toys were manufactured by Mattel. Produced in the 1980s, these toys resemble brightly colored teddy bears or rabbits (but with long tails with pom-poms on the tip), and have pouches on their backs that can be inverted, so they are in the pouches and resemble brightly colored balls.
Other than the stuffed animals, another Popple merchandise which was very popular were the small Pocket Popples. They were the same designs as the original Popples but they were small enough to fit in your pocket, with PVC faces, articulated arms and legs with some other fabric features such as their ears, tails and pocket (which still allowed them to hide in it)
A revival is currently being attempted by Playmates Toys (who are also the current makers of toys featuring another American Greetings property, Strawberry Shortcake), however this rendition (which currently only has four characters with names ending in “popp”) is significantly different from the original 1980s incarnation (which had various different characters with names beginning with “P”).
The McDLT (McDonald’s Lettuce and Tomato) was sold in a novel form of packaging. The meat and bottom half of the bun was prepared separately from the lettuce, tomato, American cheese, pickles, sauces, and top half of the bun. Both were then packaged into a specially designed two-sided container. The consumer was then expected to finalize preparation of the sandwich by combining the hot and cool sides just prior to eating. The company discontinued the sandwich in 1990 due to the move away from the environmentally unsound styrofoam packaging which was integral to the McDLT “experience”. The McDLT is perhaps best remembered for its marketing, which focused on variations of the theme “Keep the hot side hot, and the cool side cool.” A 1985 commercial released to market the new sandwich featured a young Jason Alexander.
Jelly shoes or jellies are shoes made of PVC plastic. Jelly shoes come in a variety of brands and colors and the material is frequently infused with glitter. The “Jelly” in its name refers to the semi-transparent materials, with a jelly-like sheen. Jelly Shoes were designed after World War II when there was a leather shortage in Europe. They were very popular in the 1980s when a pair could frequently be purchased for less than one U.S. dollar. Jellies made a comeback in the late 1990s, and once again early in the 21st century, when they gained considerable of popularity with revised styles targeting adults. They resembled sandals and were most commonly flat shoes with a small heel.
Members Only is a brand of clothing that became popular in the 1980s for the “Members Only Jacket”. The brand was created in 1975 and introduced to American markets in 1979 by Europe Craft Imports (later acquired in 1987 by the Marcade Group). Members Only was renowned for their brand of jackets, which was first introduced in 1981 and manufactured in several colors. The jackets had passants. Their advertising tagline, “when you put it on, something happens”, also gained fame, especially in the early 1990s when several condom manufacturers stole the tagline.
Saved by the Bell is an American sitcom that originally aired between 1989 and 1993. The series is a retooled version of the 1988 series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which later retconned into the history of Saved by the Bell. The series follows the exploits of several students along with their principal at Bayside High School. The show stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies, and Dennis Haskins, who appeared in Good Morning, Miss Bliss, as well as Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, and Mario Lopez, who joined the cast for Saved by the Bell. The show brought fame to the cast members and launched most of their careers; however, many were typecast into their Saved by the Bell roles for many years.
In 1962, Schwinn’s designer Al Fritz heard about a new youth trend centered in California for retrofitting bicycles with drag-racing motorcycle accoutrements, including high-rise, ape hanger handlebars and low-rider banana seats. Inspired, he designed the first such mass-production bike for the youth market as Project J-38. The result was introduced to the public as the Schwinn Stingray in 1963. For a mass-production bike, the new model was a revelation, with its requisite high-rise handlebars, banana seat, and 20″ tires. Sales were initially slow, as many parents desiring a bicycle for their children did not find the Stingray appealing in the least. However, after a few appeared on America’s streets and neighborhoods, many youth riders would accept nothing else, and sales took off. By 1965, a host of American and foreign manufacturers were offering their own version of the Stingray.
