Throwback Thursday gets alliterative when we go all the way back to the early 90’s, to the days of VHS and board games, and revive some of our favorite childhood things. You already know what’s on the menu for today, so let’s just jump right into it.
Crystal Pepsi
[youtube width=”600″ height=”364″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tign09D5IgE[/youtube]
Crystal Pepsi (and Clear Coke) just never caught on. People just didn’t like the idea of “all-natural soda” back in the day. But thinking back on it, this concept was way ahead of its time: Now people go nuts for stuff like Pepsi Throwback, which has real sugar in it. Crystal Pepsi went one step further and took out the artificial coloring, preservatives, and caffeine, leaving only that sweet Pepsi taste. Maybe it was the whole “caffeine-free” thing that did Crystal Pepsi in, but whatever the reason, I definitely miss this one. I once tried looking on EBay for an unopened bottle, but that stuff is hard to come by.
Creepy Crawlers
[youtube width=”600″ height=”364″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLnIyOiR8po[/youtube]
My parents were too afraid of me burning down the house to get me a Creepy Crawlers oven, but that doesn’t mean I never used one. Back in the day I made friends depending on what toys they had, and there was one kid with a Creepy Crawlers set. I’d go over to his house all the time and come back home with dozens of colorful rubber bugs. To this day, I don’t know what purpose they served after they came out of the oven (scaring your sisters I guess?), but I still love them nonetheless.
Captain Planet
[youtube width=”600″ height=”364″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpXM9bj-WPU[/youtube]
Ted Turner had this creepy way of influencing an entire generation of impressionable young people: Captain Planet. Using it as a platform for his agenda, he taught everyone that pollution and corruption was bad, and that all the people of the world should come together and summon a fictional superhero to help defend Earth. I owned this stuff on VHS. One thing confuses me though: In this version of the intro scene, Linka is from the Soviet Union (fun fact: it was changed to Eastern Europe after the fall of the USSR), and Gi is from Asia…Russia is part of Asia, is it not? Regardless, I still love this show, specifically for one hilarious “eco-villain”: the oinking, money-hungry Hoggish Greedly. Best villain name EVER.
