Every once in a while a movie comes along that sweeps the nation in a perfect storm of pop culture and merchandising. To some this is nothing more than the studios using in-your-face marketing tactics to suck every last dime out of your wallet. For me it’s about finding a way to keep the experience alive long after the movie is over.

Batman had always been my lifelong hero. I was a comic book connoisseur from the day I was born and followed his adventures religiously. The movie landscape was much different in 1989 – superheroes were still a small underground niche and not the Hollywood juggernauts they’ve become today. It took a real effort to seek out your heroes and…

The Copper Kid was a character on the cartoon Silverhawks. He was a mathematical genius from the planet of the Mimes who the Silverhawks kept as an extra-terrestrial mascot / pet. The Copper Kid spoke in calculated whistles and tones, kind of like the aliens in Close Encounters but a lot less adorable. The other human Silverhawks used to tease the non-terran by making him participate in endless astronomy lessons under the false pretenses that one day he’d be one of the team and…

Reasons that I believe Murdoc is God:
1. He never dies.
2. Even Macgyver can’t kill him.
3. He is a master of disguise.
4. He takes photos of his victims at the exact moment of death.
5. Anytime you think he is dead, he is not…

While the Mickey Mouse club was far superior in comedy and singing talent, Kids Incorporated did heavily promote the trend of the side-ponytail. I recall Britney and Christina attempting it, but little Filipino girls do not identify with girls baring blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. The more culturally diverse Kids Inc. was always the more appealing of the two shows and inspired my choice in playground hair styling…

Members of the Midnight Society rarely told stories which overlapped with one another, but it seemed that Sardó, an effeminate shop owner with scrupulous taste in vests, struck a chord with the denim-clad children. “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” ran on Nickelodeon’s SNICK from 1992 to 1996 (yes, I’m willfully ignoring the reboot), during which Sardó appeared in six mesmerizing episodes. According to Gary, Sardó and his store offered the perfect backdrop for a camp-fire tale. After all, the guy was entirely aloof to the fact that he was peddling real black magic to unwitting kids…

…He kind of resembles a rabbit with his long ears, but has that creepy puppet face of something I would have seen off of the fantasy half-world of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. So needless to say, I’m PUMPED to play this game, and what-do-you-know? I fire up the NES and my character flies out of the sky weilding a yo-yo…

Rockapella was the house band to the popular kid’s gameshow Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego, which in turn was based off the edu-taining computer game series of the same name. Rockapella would dare to blend modern rock and roll with classic acapella, creating a textured, polyphonic background score to the adolescent…

Years ago, in an moment of reality T.V. foresight, TYCO produced an incredible franchise of five tiny identical dolls called “Quints.” Quints looked two months old but had about ten years of hair. Seriously, it was out of control, but incredibly fun to style. Each doll also had it’s own special color that coordinated across the Quints’ “Special-for-5 House.” I’m still not sure why Jon and Kate designed their own mansion when TYCO built the model for a “multiples dream house” 15 years ago.

Growing up with two older sisters, I spent my young childhood amidst a constant struggle for gender superiority. Whether it was me being dragged to a New Kids on the Block concert as our group Chanukah present in 1988 or my parents getting my sisters back with a shared Sega Genesis the following winter, there were cataclysmic results whenever our two worlds collided. They had their things, I had mine and little was shared between the two. We fought for everything from cereal choice to radio stations. Nothing however, was a bigger struggle than the ever-elusive remote control. We both wanted to pick what we watched at all times and refused to back down. I wanted Thundercats; they wanted Punky Brewster.

So imagine my shock and dismay, the first time I ever heard the loud aggressive screams of my older sisters watching wrestling…

By the time the late 80’s rolled around, skateboarding, surfing and other “alternative” lifestyle activities had had a few years to thrive in Southern California cities and were beginning to permeate the suburbs and mainstream culture. By 1988, Nintendo (like in all other aspects of tweenlife) had a big hand in this – and the following three NES games are great examples…