If you remember the struggle of trying to see Ms. Bellum’s face or the specific, fictional taste of a Reptar Bar, this batch is for you. We are diving deep into the animated vault to relive the era of floppy middle-parts and questionable childhood influencers. These 90s cartoon memes are a time machine back to a world of neon slime and Saturday mornings. Whether you were a Doug fan or a Rugrats kid, prepare to feel ancient in the best way possible.

90s cartoon memes

There is a real sense of animation evolution when you compare the serious original Teen Titans to the chibi version. It feels like a personal attack on our millennial childhood. We grew up in the hardware graveyard of VHS tapes and CRT monitors, watching characters like Patrick Star look disappointed on a coin-operated seahorse. That image is basically a metaphor for my adult life. And can we talk about the universal floppy hairstyle that every 90s animated male lead sported? It was the peak of fashion back then. We see crossover chaos like Doug Funnie channeling his inner Eminem, which is a level of edgy I didn’t know I needed. We spent years wondering what the parents in Cow and Chicken looked like from the waist up, only to realize the mystery was part of the fun. These cartoon characters were our first teachers, even if Angelica Pickles taught us how to be a professional brat. The shift from the dark gothic Hot Topic aesthetic of our youth to the colorful Bluey clothing of today is a jarring reminder of how much time has passed. We are the generation that still remembers the taste of fictional green chocolate and the social anxiety of asking for no pickles, aggressively defended by Dark Magician Girl.

Relatable retro moments are everywhere in this gallery, from the gross-out humor of Ren and Stimpy to the eternal battle between Disney classics and Dreamworks meme-lords. We see the faceless adult characters that populated our favorite shows and realize that the 90s were a very specific, slightly weird era to grow up in. It is deeply sentimental to look back at these images and remember the feeling of a bowl of sugary cereal and a four-hour block of cartoons. We might be ancient now, but our taste in animation was definitely elite.

If you are missing the days of wired controllers and commercial breaks, you should check out some retro gaming memes, 90s fashion fails, or classic Nickelodeon trivia. There is a whole world of nostalgia out there waiting to be rediscovered. Just try not to think too hard about how long it has been since the last episode of Hey Arnold aired.