Bean there, done that...

[Banrion]

I have bought exactly ONE beanie baby, and it was a gift. There was this neat red, white, and blue eagle that they had out about a year or so ago. I bought that one and sent it as part of a care package to my buddy who was serving in Iraq.

[Cia]

I've bought one beanie - a black/orange bat - for my DD. She loves bats. My sister sent her a big bat and I found out later that it is also a beanie, didn't know they made big beanies. My DD's friend found a tie-dye bat beanie while garage saleing and bought it for DD's birthday.

So I'm on a search for stuffed bats. Not like I look real hard but if at a crafts fair there is a tub of beanies I'll look. My DD is 12 so I leave the tags on and she gets to rip them off if she so chooses.

Anybody got bats?

[DesignFox]

I have a bunch of beanies somewhere. Most of them still have the tags on them because I'm silly that way. But I didn't collect them like a rabid dog...I just had a few that I thought were really cute. I LOOOOOOOVE stuffed animals. Now I collect Build-A-Bears whenever a cute one I see comes out. Those are the greatest! And they all get rotated to place of honor on the bed. So they stay in nice shape but get loved all the same. Yes, I'm a crazy woman.

I also love and have a HUGE collection of My Little Ponies. and, much as I love them, unless they are an original that you can't buy in stores anymore, I refuse to pay more than 5 bucks for one. You should SEE what assholes sell these $5 plastic ponies for on e-bay. Target limited editions are especially hard to find in stores...and all these asswipes end up stuck with them because no one is crazy enough to buy one from them for more than they are worth. I was happy I found this year's christmas ponies from Target before the scalpers bought 'em out. I loves my ponies, they all come out of their boxes and get their hair brushed.

Fortunately, I've never witnessed anyone do anything crazy over any of the things I collect (other than trying to scalp it on ebay, and I'm patient enough to wait until prices drop to normal). And I have no delusions about them being worth anything to anyone other than myself.

[Gurndigarn]

about a friend of his who'd gotten into a Teddy Ruxpin (Anyone ELSE remember those?)

I did seasonal work at a We B Toys the Christmas they were hot.

Shame, really. The huge number of returns sunk the company that made the original lazer tag.

Oh, well, at least all of my university friends and I were able to get lazer tag sets on clearance for two bucks each. Well, I shelled out ten bucks for the automatic rifle, too.

[Trisnic]

I was a beanie fanactic and I'm not at all ashamed to admit it. Why was I? Because at the time I was rich and bored. At that time I earned 150,000k a year with my websites and worked on them only around 10 hours/week.

I regret doing a TON of stuff from those days, namily spending $250 on food and letting half of it rot, paying for DSL that I never used because I had cable, my massive VHS anime collection, being a total spendthrift and not saving etc, but collecting beanies is not one of them. It took a fraction of my income and made me happy. I lost my business due to 5 or 6 reasons pretty much completely out of my control and that threw me into a depression that took years to get out of. I'm tired of feeling regretful for things.

I still have all my beanies but haven't collected for a long time. I started my collection with just the ones I liked but I started getting them more and more. I have around 300. Half of them I would get rid of, the other half make me happy and I am going to keep. I don't care if they're worth anything or not that was never the point. I have a swarovski crystal animal collection as well which has held its value well. I <3 animals and animal things.

I think it's wrong that some of you are sitting here on your high horse mocking other peoples collections. Mocking people for absurd behavior I can understand but the holier then though attitude is uncalled for IMO.

[Banrion]

I think it's wrong that some of you are sitting here on your high horse mocking other peoples collections. Mocking people for absurd behavior I can understand but the holier then though attitude is uncalled for IMO.

We are not mocking the people who collect them because they enjoy them. We are mocking the people who acted like Beanies were a life or death situation because they thought that these stuffed animals were investments. Plenty of people during the beanie craze thought that these things were going to let them retire at 30 and they would never have to work another day in their life if they could just get their hands on <insert beanie of your choice here>.

[Jester]

I have collected only a few things in my time, and never as investments....and never the typical things.

I collect sunglasses, because I am a ho for sunglasses. Love them.
Ditto baseball caps.
Ditto goofy hats.

The only other thing I have collected were Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars when I was a kid. Loved them. And I still have that collection, though it is in my storage unit in Phoenix. I do not plan on selling them. Ever. They will get passed on to a male child relative/friend's child. Many of them are in pristine shape, but many are beaten to hell, having been played with by a very active young boy (me). Some of them, including the Jaguar, were used in demolition derbies in grade school. (The Jaguar came out very well in that, other than it's beaten front bumper. It's low hoodline sent other cars over it and into crashes. Heh heh heh....)

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I agree. Nobody is making fun of anyone for collecting anything, beanies included. What we are putting down is the behavior that some of these collectors exhibited in their quests for getting more items for their collections: little old ladies getting trampled, people intimidating children in attempts to get them to give up their toys, a nurse stealing one from a sick child in a hospital.

THOSE people are shreds of useless debris that need to have the boots put to them.

As for people thinking stuffed toys are investments...well...you have to admit that that was maybe not the most well thought out retirement plan out there.

[RailroadMonster]

Beanies were just the most outrageous fad of all time (in my opinion)

Pokemon cards caused quite a bit of violence, too, if I recall. I even think there were stabbings. But yeah, my grandmother owned a "card and gift" shop where they sold beanies. It was total bedlam.

[GayleShy]

I have one beanie that is worthless because she lives on the dash of my car and is sun damaged. I bought her because she looks very much like my old dog, Princess.

Anyway, keeping with the thread, my cousins were rabid beanie collectors, but as far as I know, their mothers never went out of their way to get them what they wanted. My cousin did buy one for $20 (his lunch money for the week) on the play ground, though. It was the last time he was allowed to bring his money to school himself for a long time.

[Tigress]

If there is any place that you will get scary beany baby tales it will be here.

May I make a suggestion for your book? Why not combine a few fads together? Like throw in Tickle Me Elmo and (I'm not sure how old you are) Cabbage Patch Kids, maybe do a history of toy craziness - that way you have more material for the book.

Just a thought.

I'm old enough to remember the Cabbage Patch Kids craze. I never caught on to most of the toy fads except for My Little Pony and Rainbow Brite. My mom, my brother and I also found ourselves getting breakfast at Hardee's quite often during its Baby Pound Puppy/Purrie promotion.

Interestingly enough: During that Christmas, my paternal grandmother bought a bunch of kits and made a Cabbage Patch Kid for each of her granddaughters. I still have mine, hidden in "my" room so the cats won't be tempted to chew on Sheila's yarn hair. She died while I was in college, so I'm keeping it for my future daughter.

[Retail Associate]

I've never been much of a collector but I do have a few Dale Earnhardt collectibles. I became a fan only 4 years before his death so I don't have a lot but what I do have means a lot to me.

I couldn't believe how people behaved at the store after Dale died. As soon as his death was made official, people came in and tore the place apart. There wasn't anything left with his likeness or the number 3 the following morning.

[uthdentroll]

came across a couple. they were young and had no children yet, they had some disposible incomes thanks to the dot com bubble. anyway.
they were so proud of their acquisition 3 beanies for $1500..... 500 bucks each....
its )!@#$$ absurd. they paid $1500 for 3 bean bags... cost to make plus shipping a mere 60 cents each. they paid $1500. my jaw just dropped on the floor when i heard that
$1500 for 3 bean bags..... IMO thats beyond obession

[Tigress]

Tigress's beanie collection:

1 - tiger with a "kiss me" heart on its butt (husband's Valentine's present)
2 - white tiger, used as an accessory for a Barbie doll I altered to look like my online fantasy pro wrestling character (who is known as "Tigress" and owns a pet albino Bengal tiger named Harley)
3 - a "big" beanie tiger that my husband bought me when we were dating, named Chrissie
4 - I like tigers. Can't you tell?

I also hit the Pokemon craze and got some stuffed animals along with the video games.

1 - a Pikachu that vibrates when you pull its cord (bought from a gas station I frequented during college)
2 - a giant Meowth (husband bought it on clearance for $7 and gave it to me because I was sick as hell that weekend and I had said they were cute the other day)
3 - Vulpix (Burger King promotion, husband bought if off of EBay for $10 for our first Christmas together and because it's my favorite Pokemon)
4 - Charizard (because the "Guess Your Weight" people at theme parks never get my weight right and this looked really decent)

Needless to say: When I have kids, they won't be hurting for toys.

[Dreamstalker]

Most of my collections are anime-related...every few months I weed them out and sell what I'm no longer interested in. I also admit to having a bunch of Beanies...but I bought them not as collectibles buit because they're cute.

--wolf (which apparently was retired quickly due to the potential choking hazard of the neck ruff)
--Canada bear
--a pawful of the newer iridescent insects
--my birthday beanie
--all the older cats
--husky

...and a shedload of misc. retired ones and teenie beanies I'm trying to get rid of.