The show helped launch the characters into mainstream popularity and became one of the most popular animated series in television history. Action figures, breakfast cereals, plush toys, and other merchandise featuring the characters appeared on the market during the late-1980s and early-1990s, and became top-sellers worldwide. A successful Archie Comics comic book based on the animated show instead of the original black-and-white comics was published throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. By 1990, the series was being shown daily on more than 125 television stations, and the comic books sold 125,000 copies a month.