RetroDaze

I am
The Great
Pumpkin.

CONTEST WINNER!

Fright Night - A Retro Narrative

OFFICIAL

Childhood Fears

RETRORATING: 11

Hulkamaniacs

Don't mess
with the bull.
JOIN!!!

2 COMMENTS

RETRORATING: 8

FAVORITED 2 TIMES

Do You Remember: HyperColor Shirts

By: mickyarber

Once upon a time, we saw the future, and it changed color with heat!

Really, you practically couldn’t afford not to buy a HyperColor shirt. I mean, it changed color, right? That was like getting two shirts for the price of one. So that price tag you saw? Remember, that was 50% off what it should have cost you. You should probably buy two then, since you’re such a great bargain shopper.

What wasn’t to love about HyperColor shirts? Well, a few things, but we’ll get to those later. For now, let’s talk about how rad they were. Introduced by Generra at the tail end of those color-crazy 80’s, HyperColor promised a t-shirt revolution. A patented “Metamorphic Color System” caused the shirt’s color to change when it came in contact with heat. Press a warm hand onto your belly, and your purple shirt would have a temporary pink handprint. How cool was that?

Body heat, hot breath, blow dryers… any heat source was enough to change green to yellow, blue to green, and so on. It was like a Mood Ring for the body, and matched up with acid wash jeans, it made you one of the coolest kids in your school! Or maybe not judging by my experiences :-(. These kids below know what I'm talking about.

Unfortunately (and here’s the “what’s not to love” part), there were some drawbacks. Like the fact that wearing a HyperColor shirt seemed to give everybody the right to put their sweaty palms all over you or breathe on you. Or the way your shirt reacted to all heat, including the kind produced by your armpits (no volunteering to answer questions in class on HyperColor t-shirt day). Suddenly, the idea of a heat-sensitive shirt just wasn’t all you had dreamed it would be.

The HyperColor craze faded like a bad tie-dye by the early 90’s, and Generra had to lay off one-fourth of its staff by the spring of ’92. Apparently, the world just wasn’t ready for odd-colored sweat spots and rampant personal space invasion, even for the sake of a chameleon fashion statement.

For me, I thought wearing one of these would be awesome. But the truth was, I was still a nerd but in a cool shirt. No one wanted to touch it, which defeated my plans of getting touchy feely with girls in school. I guess it was a cool concept in theory, but didn't translate too well in execution. But still, I at least have fond memories of waiting anxiously to get my hands on one when the marketing buzz kicked in.

Did you have HyperColor clothing? Let me know what you thought of it in the comments below.

Mickey Yarber is a freelance writer and lover of all things fun from our childhoods. He has a blog where he shares childhood memories of tv shows, toys, movies, games, cartoons, food, school days, and a host of other things. Stop by and check him out at:

How I Spent My Childhood

And be sure to follow me on Twitter at @yesterdayville for constant retro goodness!

Looking for more from mickyarber?

READ 159994 TIMES

Revisiting C.U.T.I.E.

Toys in the 80’s were part of a very interesting time. Many toy gimmicks found their way across both sides of the gendered toy aisles. Transformin...

Guided by Light and Tales of a 1,000 Toys

What do Modulok (from Masters of the Universe) and Glimmer (from Princess of Power) have in common? On the surface not very much, but they were rele...

Toy Talk with Miss M- Reunion Special

Announcer: It’s an all new Toy Talk with Miss M! Today’s episode is a special reunion show gathering the greatest villainous minds of the 90’s...

Flipped Out for Power Rangers!

While perusing one of my favorite blogs on the internet, Erik the Illustrator, I learned that Power Rangers is going into its 20th Anniversary Seaso...

For the Love of V-Day! Part 4

Valentine’s Day is this week, which means that for the love of all that is good, the sharing of my past Valentine’s Day memories are almost over...

For the Love of V-Day! Part 3

Don’t get sick just yet, there are some more trips to the heart for this upcoming Valentine’s Day. Instead of the sweet candy treats and ode to ...

For the Love of V-Day! Part 2

My trip down memory lane for Valentine’s Day continues with this second part devoted to everyone’s favorite mutant super hero team! Valentine ca...

For the Love of V-Day! Part 1

It’s February! You all know what that means, right? (No, I am not meaning the Super Bowl. Though in honor of that lovely American past time, be su...

Super Bowl Commercials

With Super Bowl just around the corner, there are many wonderful things happening on Sunday. There’s the food and the football. I’m not too keen...

MOST RECENT RETRORATING FEATURED OFFICIAL

Go to page: