The Cartoons of My Early Childhood

The '90s were a decade that produced some of the best cartoons that have yet been on TV, but also carried on some great cartoons from the '80s. Because I was born in 1985, I remember watching quite a few '80s cartoons in my early childhood. My cartoon history starts there, but because this is a blog mostly about the '90s, I only want to focus on cartoons that impacted me significantly, and not every cartoon I saw. Even though I had Liono underwear when I was a toddler and I know who Snarf is, the Thundercats cartoon ended in 1989, as did the franchise.

Explaining how I became aware of these '80s cartoons is not too difficult. I have a sister who is ten years older than I am. This means she was an '80s kid. I remember going garage sale hunting with her. She was looking for anything Care Bears related. I eventually found a talking Terminator toy. Hasta la vista, Cheer Bear.

I went to preschool and kindergarten at a place called Kinder Care. This was a place with kids as young as four and as old as 15 - not necessarily the best dynamic, as the older kids had a tendency to pick on the younger ones and teach them swear words - but this probably also played a role in my learning about some of these older cartoons.  In order to be there on time, or because my mom went to work very early, I would be watching cartoons at six in the morning, when G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero was on. I don't remember much of that.

Finally, I had the good fortune to have a next door neighbor with a great collection of Transformers and G.I. Joes, some of which were pretty old. I think the most prized Transformer he had was Galvatron, who transformed into a laser cannon.

Freud might have something to say about this...

I don't remember ever playing with Galvatron - probably because it was taken off the market in 1987 and he didn't want to risk breaking it. I ultimately liked Beast Wars better than Transformers, because I don't remember ever seeing the Transformers TV series. But it was lucky that he was my next door neighbor, because my parents would not buy me any toy that involved guns, whether it was Transformers, G.I. Joes, cap guns, or anything of the sort. I was "sheltered".from these horribly fun toys until I was at least eight, but I still played with them all the time.

But I digress. The beginning of my cartoon history was The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, and I must have watched it a lot, because the theme song is still etched into my brain and is the first thought in my head almost every morning. It first aired in 1988, when I was three, and I probably watched it at least until I was five.

The most significant of these '80s/'90s crossover cartoons is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which influenced me greatly. I had tons of the toys, I still own the movie on DVD and VHS (and it's still awesome),and we even had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Comin' Out of Their Shells on cassette tape (which is not still cool). These wise-cracking, pizza-eating, party-loving turtle dudes were my heroes.

We also went as Turtles for more than one Halloween. I was always Raphael - he was my favorite because he was rude and had a temper, and had the coolest weapons - the sai. He was the one with the red mask.

Home-made costumes

Did you have a favorite Ninja Turtle?

Child of the '90s

Welcome to Remembering The '90s, a blog dedicated to celebrating the greatest decade in human history. The '90s featured some of the best television, best popular music, and especially the best cartoons and toys.

It was a decade that saw internet use becoming widespread, but it was painfully slow. People still had patience. It was a decade where videogames were good, but they weren't so good that kids didn't play outside (but they could take their Gameboy just in case - it was durable). It was a decade where gas only cost a dollar a gallon. It was a decade before reality TV took over and turned television into a desert. MTV still played music and The Simpsons was still funny.

How do you know if you were a child of the '90s? I could treat this as a question of sociology, and talk about demographic cohorts and generations - Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y - but that wouldn't be fun. So instead, ask yourself these questions.

Did you play with Gak, NERF, or Pogs? Did you call things "rad" or "awesome"? Did you eat pizza Lunchables in school? Did you eat aliens for breakfast? Are you, or were you ever a Planeteer? Did you have a Bart Simpson t-shirt? Did you know where Carmen Sandiego was? Do you know who Rocksteady and Bebop were, or what Calvinball is?

If you know what the heck I'm talking about, you may be a child of the '90s.