Fingerling finger puppet toy top Christmas gift
Here’s a year-by-year look back at the must-have presents that have changed childhoods over the past 20 years.
Remember the Furby, Tickle Me Elmo?
Here is a collection of the hottest gifts that drove parents crazy throughout the past two decades, plus a prediction for the most popular toy of 2018.
If you were one of the lucky recipients of any of these Christmas and holiday gifts through the years, remember to call home and say thanks.
2018: Fingerling: The Big Deal: These little finger puppets are like less-creepy Furbies. You can get them to sing, swing, sleep, and more by tapping them or speaking to them.
Honestly, they’re pretty quaint as far as interactive toys go.
The Weird Part: While most of these Fingerlings tend to be cute monkey-like creatures with big adorable eyes, you can buy vicious-looking dinosaur Fingerlings that are legitimately cool. Apparently, WowWee saw the need to branch out.
2017: Cozmo: The Big Deal: A creative little robot named Cozmo was the top gift of 2017.
He was customizable, programmable, learned on his own, worked with your iOS or Android device, and looked like something out of a Pixar film.
Priced at $180, Cozmo didn’t come cheap, but he was the closest thing we’d seen to a real Fingerling
life droid. BB-8 had some competition.
The Weird Part: Adults probably wanted to play with this one just as much as kids.
2016: NES Classic: The Big Deal: Let’s face it, this was cooler than Hatchimals. Originally released in Japan as the Family Computer (Famicom) in 1983, Nintendo brought back the gaming console that started it all in 2016, complete with the O.G. controller.
The Weird Part: Nintendo might have underestimated how popular this product was going to be, making this guy impossible to find for months—right before Nintendo officially discontinued it.
2015: Sphero BB-8 Toy: The Big Deal: Star Wars is always a big deal.
When George Lucas’ merchandising-money-grabdisguised-as-sci-fi-franchise Big Hugs Elmo
joined forces with Disney, you knew the Force would be strong with this one.
Much like the breakout star of The Force Awakens, Sphero’s BB-8 responded to voice commands and even had a mind of its own.
The Weird Part: BB-8 could record and transmit video, so you had to watch what you were doing in case the federal gover —uh, First Order was watching.
2014: Disney Frozen Snow Glow Elsa Doll: The Big Deal: Remember Frozen? Sure you do. You couldn’t get "Let It Go" out of your head.
Disney’s hottest movie of 2013 was inevitably the hottest toy franchise for a long time to come, and Elsa led the pack.
The Weird Part: How the song is stuck in your head now. Sorry. Wii U
2013: Big Hugs Elmo (Playskool): The Big Deal: Honestly, this one’s not a surprise, because Elmo has completely dominated the holidays over the years.
Seriously, click through, this guy’s been putting up Jordan numbers since the ’90s. Anyway, this one hugged you. I think we could all use it now, Elmo.
The Weird Part: This is all pretty weird, isn’t it?
2012: Wii U: The Big Deal: The first "eighth-generation" video game console was also the first in Nintendo’s lineup to offer HD graphics.
Best of all, it would be joined by "Super Mario 3D" world a year later, one of the best Mario games in years.
The Weird Part: The Miiverse, a social network of Wii avatars (Mii), which let gamers communicate with other players from around the world.
2011: Let’s Rock Elmo (Hasbro): The Big Deal: In 2011, the character that never fails to captivate toy-market watchers (one of whom actually called this "virtually the only exciting product" of the season) applied a more mature instinct: Elmo was a bona fide rock star, albeit a very polite one.
Let’s Rock Elmo came with a mic, tambourine, and drum set, and could launch into versions of "What I Like About You" and "It Takes Two."
There are a few frightening video demonstrations out there, if you must.
The Weird Part: That Elmo paired surprisingly well with a certain adult singer-songwriter.
2010: Apple iPad: The Big Deal: Really, were there any other contenders?
It was the first of its kind—a slim tablet that let you seamlessly glide between movies, music, browsing the web, and Street Fighter beatdowns.
With Wi-Fi and 3G, everything from racing simulators to magazines were just a touch away. And don’t get us started on that LED display.
The Weird Part: You could use the iPad to do just about anything, but you were probably going to waste all your time on Angry Birds, which was purchased over 10 million times on Apple’s App Store.
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2009: Nook eReader: The Big Deal: We had a classic consumer showdown on our hands this holiday season: B&N’s e-book had a second screen, while Amazon’s Kindle had just one. Throw in its Wi-Fi, and the Nook seemed set for a Christmas KO. That said, Beta had a much nicer picture than VHS.
The Weird Part: For once, porn wasn’t the spark behind a new tech platform. No, this time it was something far more highbrow: romance novels. Now the serious career woman could enjoy Flowers from the Storm without having to explain the picture of Fabio. 2008: Elmo Live (Fisher Price): The Big Deal: Children couldn’t really resist a "truly lifelike creation" that seemed "to actually be speaking as his mouth opens," could they? But wait! The red monster also waved, sat and stood, and crossed his legs.
The Weird Part: The related Elmo Knows Your Name experienced a public scandal when it was discovered one doll (owned by a 2-year-old named James) would, upon being squeezed, repeat in Elmo’s trademark singsong voice, "Kill James." So adorable... 2007: iPod Touch (Apple):
The Big Deal: The first touchscreen and web-enabled iPod went from annual fanboy fantasy to national must-have, largely because it came at a fraction of the iPhone’s price tag. Christmas? There’s an app for that.
The Weird Part: Apple’s profits took a slight hit when
they had to deal with a lawsuit filed by an irate mother claiming her child’s iPod Touch burst into flames while in his pocket, igniting his pants and "nylon/spandex underwear." 2006: Playstation 3 (Sony):
The Big Deal: Sony’s response to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 had a North American launch inspiring such anticipation that presale units hit $3,000 on eBay (retail topped out at $599).
The Weird Part: Legend has it one man in an advance line at Walmart discovered there would not be any PS3s left by the time it was his chance to make a purchase.
So he did the only logical thing: He treated people ahead of him in line to coffee spiked with laxatives. He got one. 2005: Xbox 360 (Microsoft):
The Big Deal: Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was huge. Beating Sony to the punch? Check. Internet connectivity for Halo tournaments stretching from nerds in Taiwan to schoolchildren in Toledo? You got it. Enough supply to meet
holiday demand? Not so much. Frenzy ensued.
The Weird Part: Xbox 360 started production a mere 69 days before its launch. Customers lucky or savvy enough to recognize the potential profits from Microsoft’s dilemma cashed in, as 40,000 units (or 10 percent of total supply) ended up on eBay within a week. 2004: RoboSapiens (WowWee): The Big Deal: What was a RoboSapien, you ask? It was a remote-control, 14-inch-tall humanoid capable of performing 67 preprogrammed actions and movements, including (but by no means limited to) break dancing, farting, and belching, of course!
The Weird Part: Prior to the resurgence of human movement with the success of Dancing with the Stars, humanity faced a sedentary period consisting entirely of RoboSapiens shaking their mechanical groove thangs on YouTube. 2002-2003: Beyblades (Hasbro): The Big Deal: In a classic demonstration of the
power of synergy, Hasbro released these customizable "fighting" spin-tops in Japan simultaneously with a hit cartoon. World domination followed soon thereafter.
The Weird Part: Beyblade competitions quickly became a sensation, with the first one drawing 18,000 people. One need only YouTube the highlights of such an event to discover why this attracted more folk than the average heavyweight title fight. 2001: Bratz (MGA
Entertainment): The Big Deal: Ah, Cloe, Jade, Sasha, and Yasmin. They’re the original quartet of 10-inch "teenagers distinguished by large heads and skinny bodies." While their June 2001 launch proved disappointing, by Christmas they were well on their way to generating billions.
The Weird Part: If the Bratz remind you of Barbie dolls, you’re not the only one. Mattel won a $100 million copyright suit against MGA in 2008 (though it should be noted that
Mattel requested $1.8 billion). 2000: Razor Scooters (Razor USA): The Big Deal: This was the year we decided we didn’t want to drive... or walk. What to do? Dodge children in the streets! The original Razor also won Toy of the Year for establishing itself as a "classic mode of transportation, like bikes and skateboards."
The Weird Part: Only downside? Any grown man on a scooter looked like a total zero. John Mayer celebrated this in a short film about his songwriting process. 1999: Poke´mon Cards
(Nintendo): The Big Deal: With the Japanese cartoon a sensation, kids demanded more, and the video game series came to rival even the Mario titles in popularity.
It even inspired South Park to parody the whole phenomenon (you know, the one where Japan wants to brainwash America’s children into launching a second attack on Pearl Harbor).
The Weird Part: An eightsecond interval of a Poke´mon TV episode duplicated a strobelight effect so effectively that it triggered seizures in hundreds of fans, proving right mothers the world over: Cartoons are bad for you. 1998: Furby (Tiger Electronics): The Big Deal: Who wouldn’t want a furry robot that could talk and blink its eyes? After retailing for $35, Furbies skyrocketed to $100 a pop, and more on collector’s items like "tuxedo Furby" and "biker Furby."
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