What presently discontinued item(s) that were available when you were a kid, do you wish they would remake again?
First one that comes to my mind: Topps Wacky Packages Stickers (For those who don’t know, Wacky Packages were spoofs of big brand name products.) I still have my original sticker album containing about two-thirds of the series. I still LMAO when I look at them.
Anybody remember Click-Clacks? (At least I think that’s what they were called.) Two slightly-larger-than-golfball-sized glass balls on a string, which you held in the middle so that the balls bounced against each other. You could get them going really fast, so that they met at the bottom and at the top of their arcs.
I think that particular toy got sued out of existence because shards of glass would occasionally break off and go flying into some poor kid’s eye. Reminds me of that sleazy toy company rep Dan Akroyd used to play on Saturday Night Live…
Ring-Dings. I know, there’s a product called Ring-Dings available now, but when I was a kid, those were called Ring-Ding JUNIORS. A regular Ring-Ding was bigger, it had a diameter @ 4 inches across. Mmm-mmm good!
I second the nomination for Wacky Packages.
Marathon bars.
Movie soundtracks that weren’t simply recaps of American Top 40 from 12 years ago.
TV & movie stars who actually looked like somebody you might want to be alone with.
I had totally forgotten about wacky packages! Mop & Glop immediately comes to mind. They were so cool.
I also remember those little blobs of candy (colored sugar really) that came stuck to cash regiter tape. Were those discontinued?
Those were called Candy Buttons (taht’s what we called them, anyway). They went good with a Pixie Stix chaser.
How about SSTs? Those were cool litttle hot rods, about a foot long. You inserted a plastic strip with little teeth on it into the hot rod, alongside a wheel (the car only had one wheel). When you pulled the strip out quickly, the wheel would spin really fast, and the SST would zoom down the sidewalk, (or across the living room). Fun stuff!
I’m gonna vote for Jell-O Pudding Pops. I was shocked when I went to the store a few years ago and couldn’t find them. Haven’t seen 'em since.
Chocolate Vanilla Creme Pop Tarts. Can’t find that flavor anymore. Used to go great with a big glass of Wild Berry Hi-C. That’s the breakfast of champions!
Garbage Patch Kids trading cards. I don’t know if they’re really gone, but I haven’t seen them. I’m also going to say “Candy Buttons”. (I don’t remember what I called them.)
NABISCO Shredded Wheat Spoon Men. They looked like little space men, came in red and blue and three separate sizes, and you could attach them to your spoon while you ate your cereal. One free in each specially-marked package of NABISCO Shredded Wheat and Spoon Sized Shredded Wheat–Be the first in your neighborhood to collect them all!!!
And a hearty second for the Click-Clacks, although I remember an earlier version where the balls were made of hard rubber, about the consistency of a superball.
Yes!! Where are they?? I used to love them. My fav was chocolate/vanilla twist.
BTW, you can still buy those candy buttons or dots. They are at bulk candy stores and specialty candy stores.
Re: Jell-O Pudding Pops
Remember the frozen yogurt episode of Seinfeld?
IIRC, Jell-O Pudding Pops were found to be unbelievably fattening. They had like 2 million calories and Avogadro’s number of fat grams. Jell-O tried a non-fat (or maybe it was low-fat) version, but they were dreadful.
I miss them, too.
Also:
Coke made with sugar, not corn syrup (or is that the other way around?),
Coke in 32-oz glass bottles that came in this little 4-bottle tote, and
Life Savers bubble gum.
Oh my god! Wacky Packages!!! There’s a product I used to friggin’ love as a kid, but that it’s been so long I would have never thought of them again until this thread! Every last penny I had used to go to buying those.
SST’s were cool too. I remember one Christmas I got an SST and (remember these) an Evel Knevil Stunt Cycle - crank it up and send it flying over ramps, down the hall, over the dog…whatever.
Those candy buttons are still around, saw some just last week. Speaking of candy, does anyone remember Willie Wonka Oompahs!. They were like big M&Ms only they had chocolate and peanutbutter in them. I just saw an ad for Oompahs!, but now they’re some sort of fruit candy. (First time I’ve ever seen a company use an old name for new product.)
Didn’t Wacky Packages also come with a stick of gum? I think Topps stuck gum in ALL the cards it produced. In fact, put me down for that: a stick of gum in a pack of baseball cards.
[li]“Stomper 4x4’s” They were cool little battery powered 4x4’a with interchangeable tires and had real working headlights. They were a blast. I had about 4 of them and the accompanying Stomper bridge.[/li][li]Cosmic Candy. As you may recall, this is the candy of the infamous “Mikey of Life Cereal’Dies From Exploding Stomach” urnban legend. I used to eat the stuff like crazy.[/li][li]Lawn Darts. The REAL BIG ones, made of real metal tips. Whoohoo![/li][li]View Master reels. These are still made, but back in their heyday as I was a kid, the selection of the reels were infinite and ranged from cartoons to science and nature, and much more.[/li]Fisher Price’s movie camera thing. This was sooooo damn cool! It was a hand cranked, hand held camera you looked into, and turned the crank to play the movie. (Much like the old penny arcade machines of old times) There were all kinds of film cartridges for them. My favorite used to be Mickey Mouse and the haunted house.
I had some of those, but mine were made of really hard plastic. They did chip occasionally, but the worst thing that happened to me was that every now and again they would smash REALLY HARD into my forearm. Damn that hurt!!!
I played with them constantly, though.
SOUP - I, too remember the Ring Dings of the past and agree that they were better. Not only were they bigger, but they had more chocolate on the outside. They were also wrapped in foil instead of plastic, so the packaging wasn’t completely airtight. For some reason they were better then than they are now in their modern airtight packages.
My brother had this. I think the haunted house was the one that came with it. I liked to go over it forwards and backwards. It was really cool.
(Hey- I was ten.)
Motorgirl- I forgot about the foil package, you’re right! It was a silver foil package with blue writing on it. When you finished the Ring-Ding, you could lick the leftover icing off the foil.
Being very careful not to get any of the foil in your mouth, though, if you had fillings! Zzzzt! Oops, I just bit my Ring Ding wrapper.
MSK, are you my brother? Your whole list, accompanied with the fact that you live in Mishawaka confirm, that you are in fact Brian Connor.
'Fess up, bro.