Comeback of the cult mouse: Diddl is back in stores

Rush in Berlin

The relaunch was also celebrated at the "duo flagshipstore" on Potsdamer Platz. In France, some new Diddl products had already sold out before the German launch. Collector's items are now reaching market values of several hundred euros, underscoring the ongoing hype around the character.

Diddl was a fixture on German schoolyards and in popular culture during the 1990s and 2000s. Anyone who went to school during that period remembers Diddl notepads, stationery, and plush mice. The relaunch is therefore aimed not only at children, but also at adults who grew up with the products.

Part of a broader retro trend

The revival of brands from the 1990s and 2000s is part of a wider retro trend. In recent years, numerous brands and characters have returned to the market or are experiencing renewed popularity on social media. Berlin rapper Ikkimel also features Diddl in one of her songs.

Historian Tobias Becker of the Free University of Berlin contextualizes this development. In his observation, retro trends and revivals are usually driven by younger people who have no direct connection to that era. "The 1990s were never really gone," says party organizer Merlin Schommer from Cologne, who has been organizing '90s parties for over ten years. The events, featuring retro candy, neon makeup, bubble machines, and appearances by bands like the Backstreet Boys, draw an audience between the ages of 18 and 40 that is predominantly female.

Reassessment of 1990s culture

Becker, born in 1980, also emphasizes a nuanced view of the era: "Among the people who were there at the time, we often observe the opposite of nostalgia." In his view, German television at the time knew no political correctness. For example, entertainer Thomas Gottschalk kissed Spice Girl member Geri Halliwell on the mouth uninvited in front of running cameras in 1997, when the Spice Girls — with Emma Bunton, Victoria Adams, Mel B, Geri Halliwell, and Mel C — appeared on "Wetten, dass..?". Tic Tac Toe also had an on-screen altercation described as a "catfight spectacle."

Feminist author and sociologist Nadia Shehadeh also sees a shift in how so-called girl culture is treated in the reassessment of the 1990s. Diddl had already found a home again in queer subcultural spaces before the official launch in Germany. "For the first time, you are allowed to stand behind it unreservedly and completely without irony — that you like this stuff," says Shehadeh. She references US cultural critic Susan Sontag, who described the conscious reclaiming of the trivial by queer subcultures as "Camp."

Shehadeh also attributes the positive reassessment of the 1990s to the current crisis mode involving wars, climate change, and inflation. Pop culture figures such as German singer Blümchen, who — alongside the Spice Girls and Tic Tac Toe — was part of the female youth culture of the 1990s, or Lucilectric, who celebrated girlhood in her works, are now being reread in the context of a new understanding of "girl power." The Diddl revival thus fits into a broader cultural look back.