Beanie Babies: Difference between revisions
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[[Beanie Babies]] are a long-running franchise of stuffed toys manufactured by Ty, Inc., owned by Ty Warner. Although the company already had a couple plush toy lines at this point, Beanie Babies slowly caught on in the [[The Nineties|1990s]], starting with a line of nine originals in 1993: Legs the Frog, Squealer the Pig, Brownie the Bear (later known as Cubbie), Flash the Dolphin, Splash the Orca (originally a whale), Patti the Platypus, Chocolate the Moose, Spot the Dog and Punchers the Lobster (later known as Pinchers). What distinguished the Beanie Babies from other stuffed toys was that, instead of having "stuffing," they were stuffed almost entirely with polyvinyl chloride (later polyethelene) "beans," although the heads were still typically stuffed.▼
▲Beanie Babies are a long-running franchise of stuffed toys manufactured by Ty, Inc., owned by Ty Warner. Although the company already had a couple plush toy lines at this point, Beanie Babies slowly caught on in the [[The Nineties|1990s]], starting with a line of nine originals in 1993: Legs the Frog, Squealer the Pig, Brownie the Bear (later known as Cubbie), Flash the Dolphin, Splash the Orca (originally a whale), Patti the Platypus, Chocolate the Moose, Spot the Dog and Punchers the Lobster (later known as Pinchers). What distinguished the Beanie Babies from other stuffed toys was that, instead of having "stuffing," they were stuffed almost entirely with polyvinyl chloride (later polyethelene) "beans," although the heads were still typically stuffed.
The toys were not incredibly popular at first outside Ty's home market of Chicago. Starting in late 1995-early 1996, the line suddenly grew in popularity, in part due to the marketing strategies of selling them only at small gift shops for $5-$6 each. Furthermore, the company began regularly retiring existing Beanies and introducing new ones. Adding some fuel to the fire was the introduction of the first exclusive-release Beanie, Maple the Bear (sold only in Canada). It was also in 1996 that the toys first included birthdays and short, four-line poems on their tags. In 1997 through 2000, McDonald's jumped on the bandwagon as well, including fun-size "Teenie Beanies" with Happy Meals.
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Throughout the 2000s, the Beanie Baby franchise did see some decline in popularity, but the toys are still sold, played with and collected. There are still plenty of retired Beanies who can fetch a pretty penny on the market these days.
The big kids craze after [[Anyone Remember Pogs?|Pogs]] and before [[Pokémon]].
Not to be confused with Beanie Kids, an Australian toy.
{{tropelist}}
== Animal tropes present: ==
* [[Cunning Like a Fox]]: Well, it ''is'' named Sly, and his poem says "tricky is he." Even Snocap the Arctic Fox is "very sly."
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** Runner was retconned from a mongoose to a generic mustelid, even though mongoose are not mustelidae. This retcon probably owes to a not so family-friendly "mean poem" that Runner had early on.
** At least two Beanies had their birthdays changed for no reason.
* [[Rouge Angles of Satin]]: Many of the early Beanies had typos in their poems. Perhaps one of the most [[Egregious]] is "moose" somehow becoming "'''''rn'''''oose" on Chocolate's poem. A list is available [
* [[Santa Claus]]: Yes, even ''he'' exists in Beanie Baby form.
* [[Serious Business]]: For the adults who collect the rare ones. Many Beanie Babies hold a higher market value just for the slightest variation in fabric color; having a different-colored horn; having the swing tag in the wrong ear; or any other slight mutation, intentional or accidental. Really, just how would you tell if your Patti the Platypus is magenta (and thus worth about $1,300) instead of fuchsia or raspberry? If you really want to get serious, there's also the royal-blue version of Peanut the Elephant, which once fetched $4,000-plus.
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** Some adult collectors would be openly horrified if they saw Beanie Babies being played with by children - you know, the toys' original purpose?
* [[Shout-Out]]:
** Humphrey the Camel may or may not be a reference to the Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan song of that name. Then again, one of the birds ''was'' accidentally released [
** A Ty-dyed bear named Garcia? Definitely ''[[Sarcasm Mode|not]]'' a reference to Jerry Garcia. (It got renamed Peace.)
** There's a [[The Walrus Was Paul|walrus named Paul]].
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* [[Spin-Off]]:
** Attic Treasures were introduced in the same year as Beanie Babies. These were given a more [[Retraux]] style and hinged limbs, and were quietly retired in the early aughties.
** Pillow Pals, a large, stuffed plush toy line intended for toddlers. Many of them were [[Expy|expys]] of Beanie Baby designs. In 2001, they were replaced by [
** There were also Beanie Buddies, which were larger, softer counterparts of existing Beanie Babies, sometimes with trivia about the corresponding Beanie in the swing tag. Both these and Baby Ty were made with a new fabric called "Tylon."
** Ty Girlz, which are... well, basically plush Bratz dolls.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Toys]]
[[Category:Beanie Babies]]
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