Reality bites: why He-Man, Care Bears, and Miami Vice are making a comeback.

• Author: Rubin, Courtney

FOR THREE DAYS EACH JUNE, NEW York's cavernous Jacob Javits Convention Center becomes ground zero for an annual confab known as the Licensing Show, in which several hundred food, film, and toy companies convene in an orgy of T-shirts, dolls, trinkets, and practically anything else that can be licensed, franchised, marketed, or sold. Between the crowds and the costumed characters (Big Bird, Mickey and Minnie) prowling the aisles, the show is like Disney World for marketers and retailers. It also has more than a touch of Tomorrowland: It's the place to go for a preview of pop culture.

Yet there was something oddly familiar about this year's offerings: Hasbro trotted out a Godzilla-sized Tonka Truck; Mattel reintroduced Hot Wheels cars; and the Cartoon Network touted its $20-million resurrection of the '80s cartoon smash "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe," along with 25 new He-Man toys aimed to coincide with the cartoon's comeback. Fox Broadcasting plugged upcoming revitalizations of such dubious 1980s fare as the Cabbage Patch Kids and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while Yogi Bear, the Jetsons, Strawberry Shortcake, and the treacly Care Bears were ubiquitous on T-shirts.

Elsewhere, the story is similar. In August, People magazine paid homage to '80s country-club chic, showing photos of Matthew Broderick and Natalie Portman in Lacoste shirts. People's sibling In Style breathlessly reported that Kate Hudson was snapping up '80s inspired guitar pick earrings, which feature song titles such as "Lucky Star" and "Call Me" imprinted on hideously mismatching bright pink and orange picks. Television airwaves are also returning to the '80s: NBC's "The '80s Show" vies with Nick at Nite's "Threes Company," and "Facts of Life" (and coming soon, "Family Ties" and "Cheers"). Movies in the works for 2003 and beyond include Ang Lees remake of "The Incredible Hulk," plus big-screen versions of "Starsky and Hutch," "Hogans Heroes," "I Dream of Jeannie," and even that '80s stalwart, "Miami Vice." A poster on display at the Javits Center that displayed the hirsute former sitcom star A.L.E (currently enjoying an unlikely comeback alongside fellow '80s relic Mr. T in television ads for 1-800-Collect) neatly captured the prevailing ethos: "Retro is in. Just stick with me, boys--this Spider-Man thing is just a phase" Indeed, retro--Generation X retro, specifically--is back. For what was most notable about this year's glimpse of the future is how much it looked like the past.

Chances are if you're already intimately familiar with these figures--if your Christmas list once included Cabbage Patch Kids, if you idled...