Black Friday Top Toys of the 80's and 90's

Today, the day after Thanksgiving is widely known as "Black Friday."  This annual shopping day has earned its colorful nickname because it represents the time of year when most retailers turn a profit and the accounting books move from "the red" to "the black."  Back in the day, shoppers would wake up at the crack of dawn for early doorbuster sales.  I remember as a kid when it was a big deal that stores would open at 4am.  As the years went on, the stores opened earlier and earlier, and now, today, we have people skipping out on Thanksgiving dinner as they head out in search of deep discounts, hard-to-find gifts, and credit card debt.  Of course, as most of us know, as the internet became more prevalent, this tradition of yesteryear has expanded into Cyber Monday and now we are at the point in 2019 that some companies began running "Black Friday" deals on November 1st.

Even though the tradition is not as fun as it once was, one thing has always been a big seller on Black Friday:  Toys.  People buy toys on Black Friday.  Hard to find, limited quantity, and high priced... it didn't matter.  Even before "going viral" was a thing, parents would literally get into fistfights to ensure that little Johnny had the hot toy for that year under the Christmas Tree.  Here's a look back at the top toys of the 80's and 90's that drove parents crazy!

1983: Cabbage Patch Kids

Created in 1978, these dolls were everywhere in the early 80's.  October 1983 was the first report of the "Cabbage Patch Riots" where parents would flood the stores in search of that hottest Christmas item in years.  Shoppers would travel from state to state, stand in line outdoor stores in freezing temperature, and were some of the first reported fist fights amongst parents in the stores.  By '85, the toys had sold over $600 million in sales and by the late 80's were all but forgotten.

1986: Teddy Ruxpin

Kids today don't even want a toy if it doesn't talk or do anything other than just sit there, but Teddy Ruxpin was one of the first animatronic toys.  It had a cassette tape attached to its back that told stories and synchronized the audio with its moving lips.  This toy always creeped me out as a kid and I never really enjoyed the stories.

1988: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

The NES revolutionized the home video game.  It sold 7 million units in 1988 alone!  Paving the way for future home consoles, the NES was a major hit.  I remember getting mine and waiting for my Dad to figure out how to connect it to the TV so it would work.  My parents got me the combo with the original Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt game.

1989: Game Boy

Nintendo had another major seller the following year with GAme Boy, the handheld portable gaming device.  Nintendo sold over 118 million units of Game Boy throughout it's lifetime before Game Boy Color came out years later.  I don't think my parents got my brother and I one of these right when they came out... they often waited a year or two for prices to drop.  We took many road trips as a kid and this was a big part of our passing the time in the back seat.

1990: Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles action figures from Playmates

In 1990, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became a huge phenomenon in the United States. The film version grossed more than $200 million at the box office, and the toys dominated holiday season, selling more than 30 million toys before the end of the year.  I was a huge fan of TMNT and I collected as many of these beautifully colorful turtle toys as I could.  As a matter of fact, if you have a Netflix subscription, this seasons' final episode of "The Toys That Made Us" covers this Playmates TMNT toys phenomenon.

1991: Super Nintendo

It seems Nintendo won again this year with the new 16-bit Super Nintendo.  Over its lifetime, it sold more than 49 million consoles.  I never had Super Nintendo but my neighbor did and we'd spend hours playing Mario Cart.  As I mentioned above, my parents often waited years to purchase big items (long after they'd been past with technological advancements) and I when the time came to get something better than my regular NES, I was given a choice.  I chose Sega Genesis instead, even though that was about to get passed by too.

1993: Talkboy

One of the most memorable things about "Home Alone 2" was the Talkboy.  A device the size of a walkman that could play cassette tapes, record audio and play it back immediately.  In what was originally just an invention for the film, Hasbro followed the demand and produced it just in time for Christmas in 1993.  Demand got to be so high that Hasbro pulled all of it's advertising because the supply couldn't keep up with demand.  Even before the toy was released I had used my walkman to pretend I had my own Talkboy.  This was an item my Mom just couldn't find due to the high demand and I never got one.... even years later.

1995: Beanie Babies

While not strictly a Black Friday phenomenon, these collectible stuffed animals still leave its mark on pop culture today and were recently a part of McDonald's retro version of the Happy Meal. Creator Ty Warner retired different versions of the doll at random, artificially inflating their prices causing a feeding frenzy at stores around the country.  I remember some drug stores would hide these dolls around the store... not only to entice you to shop in other sections but to make it a more fun challenge for the children to find.  I only ever got a handful of these toys but my wife and her parents were avid collectors.  They have hundreds of them, some in multiples because "someday they'd be worth something big!"  Unfortunately, the investment was just in time spent together searching for the dolls because you can get them now on eBay for pennies on the dollar.

1996: Tickle Me Elmo

Based on the "Sesame Street" character, Tickle Me Elmo became a surprise hit.  It was just a doll who would giggle and shake when poked.  Having made several appearances on Rosie O'Donnell's hugely popular daytime talk show, interest in the doll exploded and by the end of 1996, customers cleaned out more than 1 million of these dolls off store shelves.  Tickle Me Elmo was one of the first toys I can remember people utilizing new websites like eBay to profit off the desires of other parent's.  Even though the doll sold for $25, I can remember news stories about people selling them online for hundreds of dollars.

1997: Tamagotchi

Tamagotchis were a huge fad throughout 1997 but especially around Christmas.  They were digital pets that people would play with, feed, and take care of.  The constant attention required of the digital pet would often cause the child to lose interest after a week or two.  This was also a toy I desperately wanted but my parents wouldn't get for me... mostly because I failed Math that year.  The following spring once the fad had ended I purchased a knock off brand digital pet that I really enjoyed playing with... for about two weeks.

1998: Furby

For a toy back in the 90's, the Furby was pretty expensive.  It sold for about $45 but still sold over 40 million in it's first 3 years.  This talking, moving robotic doll fetched over $500 a doll on eBay this year.  The Manhattan, New York "Kay Bee Toys" was cleaned out of it's 200-unit stock in under 2 minutes in 1998.