Beanie Mania

[greekmom]

Quote

“Beanie Mania” In 1993, a group of suburban Illinois moms discovered a new line of small plush creatures from Chicago-based toy manufacturer, Ty Warner. Their rapidly growing collection helped launch a craze that, aided by the burgeoning power of the internet, took the world by storm. But what started as a savvy business investment for some, soon bankrupted others, and the resulting "Beanie Bubble" ended the fastest-growing and most prolific fad of the '90s. Combining never-before-seen interviews with nostalgic archival footage, Beanie Mania charts the origins of a frenzy that forever shaped the lives of those at its center - and the lovable stuffed animals that started it all.

 

[DanaK]

This is streaming on HBO Max and debuted December 23

[Tachi Rocinante]

This one was interesting, especially the Moms.  Ty seems to be a real piece of work, though.

[greekmom]

On 1/10/2022 at 7:56 AM, Tachi Rocinante said:

This one was interesting, especially the Moms.  Ty seems to be a real piece of work, though.

Agreed.

Interesting how some people made money and are still making money off those things.

I was surprised they didn't include the General Hospital actor who also spent his 401K on those things and now knows he has bins and bins of worthless stuff.

[snickers]

This wasn't too bad, there's been other documentaries on other channels regarding beanies, and I guess this topic is going to be made into a movie? My question-what is the hype with this topic right now? LOL

Luckily I never got into beanie babies, because i'm, like the mom said, "a collector, I collect things" lol

I just never saw the appeal to them, though the teenie beanies were cute, but omg, I remember pulling up to the McD's (just to get food, not the teenie beanies) and seeing the signs posted, "we have no teenie beanies babies" LOL

[truebluesmoky]

I worked in a now defunct learning toy store at a mall in upstate NY during the beanie craze. I was around 19 and working there during college breaks. The beanie customers were downright abusive to us. They would rattle the closed gates before opening time on the days they knew we got shipments and try to bully us into letting them in early. They would stand around and purposely be in the way if they thought we had some in the back and just hadn’t gotten around to bringing them out yet. They would monopolize our time asking questions we didn’t know the answers to about what might or might not be in the next shipment and then get nasty when we tried to politely excuse ourselves to help non-beanie customers.

[Guest]

I thought it was interesting mainly because I never got into beanies. I did find it amusing when the first five minutes included two of the moms talking about how the 90’s were a non-tumultuous, quiet time where people were happy. The perfect picture of the white suburban bubble. Surreal. 

19 hours ago, truebluesmoky said:

I worked in a now defunct learning toy store at a mall in upstate NY during the beanie craze. I was around 19 and working there during college breaks. The beanie customers were downright abusive to us. They would rattle the closed gates before opening time on the days they knew we got shipments and try to bully us into letting them in early. They would stand around and purposely be in the way if they thought we had some in the back and just hadn’t gotten around to bringing them out yet. They would monopolize our time asking questions we didn’t know the answers to about what might or might not be in the next shipment and then get nasty when we tried to politely excuse ourselves to help non-beanie customers.

I wish they had gone into this aspect. It’s was so nostalgic. I wish there was a little more bite. If the craze happened today all those woman would have videos of them on social media calling them Karens. 

Edited January 27, 2022 by Guest

[Hyacinth B]

I haven't seen the doc (we don't get HBO) but it's hard to believe the kind of prices some Ebay sellers are STILL asking for those things, some as high as middle to upper 6 figures! Mostly the Princess Di one, but quite a few others are listed at crazy prices too. I've never even looked at them before but can't help wondering if prices went nuts because of the documentary or if they've always been crazy? Or is it the sellers who are crazy? At those prices there must be a ton of fakes for sale too. 

I'm not going to post any links, a search of Ebay for Ty Beanie baby will show what I mean, just specify Price + Shipping - Highest First.

[WhatAmIWatching]

On 3/3/2022 at 11:52 PM, Hyacinth B said:

I haven't seen the doc (we don't get HBO) but it's hard to believe the kind of prices some Ebay sellers are STILL asking for those things, some as high as middle to upper 6 figures! Mostly the Princess Di one, but quite a few others are listed at crazy prices too. I've never even looked at them before but can't help wondering if prices went nuts because of the documentary or if they've always been crazy? Or is it the sellers who are crazy? At those prices there must be a ton of fakes for sale too. 

I'm not going to post any links, a search of Ebay for Ty Beanie baby will show what I mean, just specify Price + Shipping - Highest First.

They've always been crazy-the sellers that is. Many try to say they have rare or misprints, but almost all of it is bs. I belong to a snarky thrifting group and we see them for really cheap at thrift stores. Sometimes new-old-stock pops up, but they're still not worth much, unless you have one of the very first originals. 

I had a small collection, just because I liked some of the patterns on the fur, or the little embroidered chest tags, but I ended up selling them all before a move. I might have a few teenies around, just because my dad gave them to me.