What Happened to the Holiday Crazes of Yesteryear?

Still got a Cabbage Patch Kid collecting dust somewhere? If so, can you remember 1982, when the cuddly little guys and gals became so popular that people actually went insane trying to get them? Well, whatever became of them, and all the other crazes of the last 25 years?

Here's a look back at some of the hottest holiday gear of the last quarter century. While digital cameras, DVD players, and iPods have been hot gifts in past years, neither saw the massive lines and market runs that some of these items have. Join me on a stroll down memory lane... for better or worse. 

Cabbage Patch Kids (1982) - The craze that really started it all. These collectible, personalized dolls may not have actually caused a Sioux Falls mother to hold a Toys R Us hostage with a BB gun (as legend states), but they might as well have. Reports of pushing and shoving were common, with crazy rumors about the dolls growing out of control. One bit of folklore said that the strangely-faced kids were designed to accustom people to the look of mutants after a nuclear war. Nonetheless, they still fetch super premium prices, as they did at the time.
Highest 2007 price (for new/mint condition items): Up to $300

Teddy Ruxpin (1985) - One of the first high-tech gifts to make a big splash, these $70 bears sang, talked, and creeped everyone out, courtesy of a cassette tape loaded into their backs. Inventory seems to have been well-managed, with no real reports of trouble acquiring the dolls. They're now collectible.
2007 price: Up to $150

Tickle Me Elmo (1996) - One of the worst of all Christmas crazes (blame Rosie O'Donnell). Mad crushes at a Wal-Mart sent one clerk to the hospital when shoppers rioted for the giggling plush doll, earning it the nickname "Trample Me Elmo." Elmo was the first toy to really spawn an eBay aftermarket, with prices going through the roof. It happened again last year: The 10th Anniversary TMX Dolls were highly coveted, with insane aftermarket prices of up to $5,000 asked.
2007 price: $30

Furby (1998) - Buyers mad for the gibberish-spouting pseudo-robot-alien-thing took the insanity to the streets. Furbys never sat on store shelves longer than an hour after arrival, and the gizmos soon went for triple price on eBay. That's slightly longer than most people actually played with a Furby.
2007 price: $250

PlayStation 2 (2000) - Since 2000, video game consoles have comprised virtually all of the hot holiday product shortages. It started in 2000 and continued for years. By 2004 the redesigned PS2 was still hard to find for Christmas, selling on eBay for 50% above list price. In the UK prices reached up to $750.
2007 price: $350 (with 40 games)

Xbox 360 (2005) - Technical difficulties led to shortages (a now familiar gaming refrain) and early sellouts of the 360, with the console fetching $700 and up on eBay. (One bid famously hit $10,000 for a pre-ordered unit, though that was likely a hoax.)
2007 price: $270 (original hardware)

PlayStation 3 (2006) - Now-legendary violence marred the PS3's launch, with units hitting $1,500, $2,000, even $2,500 on eBay. Hazard pay, I guess, for facing off against the gunmen who shot at campers waiting outside a Kentucky Best Buy. Prices soon crashed.
2007 price: $400 (60GB)

Nintendo Wii (2006) - Unlike the PS3, there were no reports of anger over the more genteel Wii, despite being even more difficult to obtain. eBay prices were never as bad as they were for the PS3, but they're still hard to find and priced above MSRP a year after release.
2007 price: $350

While there's no heir apparent to the Hot Gift throne of 2007 yet, there's one thing fairly obvious: If you can get your hands on whatever it is, it will almost certainly be worth something for some time to come. Even old game consoles, it seems, have life on the aftermarket, though not as much as mutant-faced dolls.

So... what's the hot gear of '07 going to be? (iPhone? HD DVD?) Place your bets!