1993 A to Z: G is for…
Hey there! It is once again time for your favorite 90s-themed alphabetic blog series . . .
1993 A to Z!
. . . and today I’ve got some fresh new words for you, all starting with the letter “G.” You can find all of these things in my brand new novel Rewind (which is totally amazing and which you should 100% read), in which twelve-year-old McKinley winds up back in the year 1993.
G is for . . .
[Image courtesy of retropond.com]
GakSquishy, slimy (but not too slimy), and capable of making a variety of fart noises, Gak was a silicone based substance created by Nickelodeon and marketed to kids as a toy that would gross out their parents. The campaign worked—in the early 90s Gak was one of the “it” toys. If you have a free minute and eight seconds, check out this oh-so-90s commercial (which is seriously giving me nostalgic FOMO, since I don’t think I ever even knew that Gak copier thing existed).
Special props to . . .
[Image courtesy of Wikipedia]
global warmingWhile we’d known about the dangers of our heated-up planet for a while, the early 1990s was when the term “global warming” entered everyday vocabulary. It was when kids started to learn about climate change in school, and when we really began to hear about it in popular culture (remember Dawn Saves the Planet?). And like McKinley in Rewind, I really wish I could go back in time and make our leaders pay more attention to this critical issue. Not all nostalgia is fun, I guess (sigh).
With additional props to . . .
[Image courtesy of thebigsmoke.com]
G.I. Joe's switched voice boxBarbie may be headlining her own movie these days, but back in 1993, she was the face of a revolution. Well, sort of.
This was definitely the weirdest piece of 90s trivia I learned while researching for Rewind. In 1993, a group of feminists called the “Barbie Liberation Organization” took it upon themselves to switch the voice boxes of multiple G.I. Joes and Barbies, just in time for young boys and girls to receive the toys for Christmas and go, “Huh??” The idea, it seems, was that having G.I. Joe wax poetic about shopping and Barbie declaring that “Dead men tell no lies!” would shine a light on stereotypical gender rolls. The whole heist is downright cinematic—and while the operation gets only the tiniest shout-out in my book, I truly hope someone will create a larger story about this someday. You can’t make this stuff up!
. . . And that’s the “G”s of 1993 for you! Which were your favorites? What did I leave out? Tell me in the comments! And stay tuned tomorrow when we’ll take a deep dive into the “H”s. In the meantime, you can learn more about Rewind or order your copy here!
Happy reading!
♥ Lisa
P.S. To read all the posts in the “1993 A to Z” series, click here!
