There was a time not so long ago that the lunchbox was the ultimate in personal expression. More than mere carrying case for peanut butter and bologna sandwiches, your lunchbox showed who you were and who you aspired to be.

The pretty-in-pink girls carried Barbie or teen dream Bobby Sherman; tomboys carried Charlie's Angels, Wonder Woman or Annie Oakley; boys carried Roy Rogers, Buck Rogers or GI Joe; little kids carried Disney, the Peanuts gang or the Jetsons...and the completely clueless carried the generic Thermos plaid pattern. Lunchboxes back during the Golden Age (1950-1980) were what T-shirts and fan web pages are today: a way to advertise to a largely indifferent world about your heroes — or at least your favorite TV show, movie star, cartoon character, or rock band.