I've looked at early CN promos and press material, so it seems time I give some attention to the early wave of merchandise based around the network. This isn't by any means an in-depth showcase, but here are some of my favorite pieces I found with the Cartoon Network branding.
Starting off is this plush toy of Huckleberry Hound released by Mattel. This was part of a series called "Cartoon Club", which consisted of plush incarnations of many Hanna-Barbera characters. Some of the others in the series included Fred Flintstone, Elroy Jetson, Magilla Gorilla, and Yogi Bear. They're honestly pretty nice looking for plush dolls, but there's something off about them that I simply cannot put my finger on. Maybe one of you feels the same?
Unsurprisingly, there were plenty of shirts with the Cartoon Network logo and Hanna-Barbera characters in the early days. This one has a set of characters decked out in some very nineties clothing. That was a common theme among shirts of this era, alongside the characters playing basketball and other sports.
Here's a simple but nice pencil box based on the network, which was released in 1994. Commercials around this time often used a graphic similar to this, so I assume that's where the design came from. It's also easy to come across on online auctions, so if you want a piece of early CN merch without breaking the bank, this one's for you.
The last piece of merchandise I'll spotlight here is, fittingly, the most nineties one of the whole bunch. That's right, we've got CN pogs! There are a lot of characters in these, and they all use artwork that I haven't seen used in any other merchandise. As far as pogs go, I'm impressed. This set contained 21 items in all, and I assume there were no further releases.
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