I'm trying to think of any trends for the 1990s that swept the world. A bit like Cabbage Patch kids and Rubiks cubes did in the 1980s. I cant think of anything but there must have been something.

Try here if you like the short cut method.

I am sorry to sound like a grouch, but no , I dont think there are. I was asking my class what toys they liked best, and many of them said they didn't have any toys, only gameboys and video game players. Here they do not seem to have a nice big box of lego bits, only a lego set for making a specific thing like a ship, with an instruction book for dad to do it for you.Sad.
Electonic games seem to have taken away all evidence of imagination.

I would say Beanie Babies were a pretty big thing during the 90's, at least in the US. And people stood in lines to get the "Tickle Me Elmo" doll when it came out.

Yeah whats the deal with Lego. I had tons of the stuff just ready to make whatever you felt like. Nowadays you have to buy Lego virtually in the form of an action figure. Wrong very wrong.

Pogs

Oh, Pogs, yes!
And those trading card games like Pokemon.

Koosh Balls, Tamagotchi virtual pets, Furby

I cheated with those. I actually searched for them...

Tamagotchi was wicked awesome.

Polly Pocket is another one.

And that friggen lovable dinosaur himself. Barney.

Furby definately. Pay $50 for a ball of fluff that says "play with me" and laughs uncontrollably when you shake it upside-down. I had so much fun doing that...

Yeah, Magic the Gathering is another good one. Trends... hmm. I was in high school in the early to mid 90's. How about grunge? How about folding over your jean cuff and then rolling it up so it was tight, wearing two layers of scrunchy socks in different colors, Laura Ashley floral dresses, plaid flannel shirts, long johns under cutoffs, Chuck Taylors and Doc Martins, bikers shorts and neon T-shirts, Hypercolor, colored denim, United Colors of Benetton, Pepe Jeans, Espirit bags, the Macarena, Howard Stern, Tamagotchis, stirrup pants, Beverly Hills 90210...

Reebok Pumps.

Well my children were born in 1993 and 1995 so we were pretty caught up in Barney and Fireman Sam. Had every book and tape. I bought tons of lego. Lego has always been popular in South Africa.

The Cellphone came into our home in the 90's, so did the internet. C.D players became cheap enough for the average working person to buy and vinyl records were swapped for C.D's.

As for toys; tamagothci's were big, in fact my daughter and I still have one. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were big. I remember my nephew had every turtle and bad guy action figure. There were also the Biker Mice From Mars action figures.

T.V. games were also popular in the early nineties. I can remember playing Mario brothers, for hours, with my 4 year old nephew (He was teaching me).

How could anyone forget The Power Rangers? There were action figures, csotumes, books. I think my son still has all the power rangers and Zord tucked away somewhere.
I've noticed that most of the toys came from T.V shows during the nineties.

Well that's about all I can remember. Also I must point out, that these were things that were available to South Africans in the nineties. They may have been available to other countries before that.

Oh yes, Ninja Yurtles definately. I remember playing Ninja Turtles with the boys at school, they never seemed to question the fact that all I knew was the Turtles' names, and barely that.

How about the Swimming Barbie, and My Little Pony?

Oh, and Buzz Lightyear and Transformers, according to my mum. Also the little Pokeballs with little Pokemon in them, I used to love them!

Ninja Turtles! I LOVE NINJA TURTLES! Oh! Pokemon cards were awesome and I remember beanie babies were like the big thing...and barbie dream house was big. I also vaguely remember these computer games my dad used to always by me with this guy I think he was called the "Reading Rabbit" or something and it was edjucational. I loved those games. Also I remember we used to thing that remote control cars and trucks and boats and such.

Oh yes, Reader Rabbit was wonderful. Remote control cars were big, as King said, especially the pocket sizes ones.

Tickle Me Elmo was really big one year.

Anyone remember those Devil stick things, where you had to like do tricks with a big stick while holding two other sticks or something like that? Everyone at my school had them, anyway.

My younger brother was also really into Crazy Bones (I'm not even entirely sure what those are...)

Oh and platform shoes made roaring comeback with the Spice Girls. Including those stupid platform sneakers that I never liked.

And music wise - boy bands, for sure. Started in the 80s, yes. But the heyday of boy bands was really like 1996-2001.

Power Rangers and Transformers have made a big comeback in the last year or two. Or maybe they were never 'gone'...
My grandson is into them, and I remember when my kids were.

Rollerblades were very popular in the 1990's. My kids bugged me for those constantly!

I used to go rollerblading with my friends. Then we all grew out of our rollerblades and our parents wouldn't buy us more.

my older kids were really into pokemon and anything to do with pokemon whereas the younger kids wanted barney....leaves me wondering whatever happened to a good old fashioned skipping rope

Yeah ROLLERBLADES! I remember when the Mighty Ducks movie was popular I made my dad go out and buy me a hockey stick and a ball and I learned to rollerskate for the soul purpose of roller-hockey. I used to rollerblade all the time! Lioness, I can't believe someone else remembers Reader Rabbit...everyone usually just looks at me like I'm crazy!

Haha! I used to have it on computer at my After School Hours Care when I was little, then my little brother was born 5 or so years ago and he got it for his 3rd birthday, my suggestion.

He loves it!

Do you remember, there was another computer program, it was based in a treehouse, and it had minigames like drawing, a mini piano-keyboard, and another cave like adventure. I can't for the life of me remember the name, I havn't played it since year 1.

Where in the world is carmen sandiego was pretty popular as well.