Just recently while on vacation,my family and I stopped at a nearby pizza joint close to the hotel we were staying in.After placing our order, the lady behind the counter proceeded to give us our total which happened to be $19.88! “That was a great year!” I replied, thinking out loud as i do so very often.Others call it “talking to oneself” ,I on the other hand would prefer to call it “thinking out loud” ;)Anyways,the clerk cracked a wide eyed smile,electing to echo my sentiments with a gesture rather than coming out and saying “I too think 1988 kicked royal a#$!”Now don’t get me wrong,certain years and times in my life will stand out for one memorable reason or another,but 1988 was magic!I can still hear Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible” playing in the background as i methodically organized my Joe’s,separating their weapons and categorizing their file cards.My mom would always have the radio playing in our kitchen and I jammed out to whatever she was listening to while simultaneously playing with my G.I. Joes.That coupled with the intermittent cartoon + cereal breaks pretty much summed up my idea of the perfect day!I still enjoyed playing outdoor sports and never ending games of manhunt,but nothing beat laying back in my bed with a Marvel comic or watching ALF over a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch 🙂 It goes without saying that I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent chilling at home. Christmas of ’88 was by far the most memorable for me.I remember getting the G.I. Joe Rolling Thunder and the Phantom x-19 and being so sleepy that I wasn’t able to finish putting them together.By the end of 1988 my collection of Joes was pretty impressive,but I remember slowly growing out of actually playing with them to mainly just displaying and organizing them(kind of like what I do now). In ’89 I began collecting comics and then moved on to baseball cards and Kenner Starting Line Up figures. Then video games started to become more prevalent,mainly NES and SNES, so collecting would ultimately take a back seat.Flash forward to the present,and here I am essentially picking up where I left off in 1988.Who knows what the future holds?Maybe comic books and baseball cards?Maybe lunchboxes?I’m leaning more towards lunchboxes.Oh goodness!Only time will tell.Until then,here’s to 1988!
My most memorable action figure from 1988 was this mail-away Super Trooper.Although the date stamp on leg reads 1986,this figure was first available in 1988 via mail-order!Those were the longest couple of weeks, waiting for this guy to arrive.It was well worth it though!
POPULAR CARTOONS IN 1988
1.The Real Ghostbusters 
2.Thundercats
3.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
4.Duck Tales
5.Transformers
POPULAR T.V. SHOWS IN 1988
1.The Cosby Show
2.A Different World
3.Cheers
4.Golden Girls
5.Growing Pains 
6.Who’s The Boss
7.Night Court
8.60 Minutes
9.Murder,She Wrote
10.The Wonder Years
TOP 10 GROSSING MOVIES OF 1988
1.Rain Man
2.Who Framed Roger Rabbit
3.Coming To America
4.Big 
5.Twins
6.Crocodile Dundee 2
7.Die Hard
8.The Naked Gun-From The Files of Police Squad!
9.Cocktail
10.Beetlejuice
BILLBOARD TOP 10 HITS IN 1988
| 1 | George Michael | Faith |
| 2 | INXS | Need You Tonight |
| 3 | George Harrison | Got My Mind Set On You |
| 4 | Rick Astley | Never Gonna Give You Up |
| 5 | Guns N’ Roses | Sweet Child O’ Mine |
| 6 | Whitney Houston | So Emotional |
| 7 | Belinda Carlisle | Heaven Is A Place On Earth |
| 8 | Tiffany | Could’ve Been |
| 9 | Breathe | Hands To Heaven |
| 10 | Steve Winwood | Roll With It |
AF&T 