From the library: The Great Beanie Baby Bubble, by Zac Bissonnette

Last updated on: April 16, 2015 at 8:48 pm by Jane the Actuary

From the library: The Great Beanie Baby Bubble, by Zac Bissonnette 2015-04-16T20:48:36-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is what qualifies as “light reading” in my world. Nothing on heathcare, or pensions, or other weighty topics — this is the tale of the Beanie Babies and the man who created them, Ty Warner.

You all remember Beanie Babies, right? Here’s an article from Slate that I came across which give a bit of background and a different perspective of the “why” on how the Bubble came to be. My memories are vague — I recall stumbling upon them at a gift shop and thinking, “oh, these must be the toys I was reading about in the paper.” Mom bought a large number of them, though I simply don’t recall if she actually imagined that she was accumulating something of value, or just doing what she does best, buying popular things. (Sorry, Mom.) For a while she would pawn a couple of them at a time on us (that is, the kids) when we visited, until I put my foot down and said, “we already have a whole toy bin full of nothing but stuffed animals.” (She also had a basket full of the cheap stuffed animals from Claw machines, but always said these were dog toys.)

Anyway: what was more interesting was the man himself, who was, from all reports, an a** who mistreated those who loved him and repeatedly stole and took credit for others’ ideas — yet the chain of events was not simply just a set of coincidences or lucky breaks, but began with his fanatical determination to create the best line of stuffed animals, with obsessive attention to detail, from his start selling a stuffed cat at a trade fair, obsessively grooming and trimming the fur to make exactly the right impression. The beanbag element was intended to increase the posability and play value, the sales were limited to gift shops, not big box stores, because he didn’t want the toys just tossed in a bin. The changes he made which resulted in certain early Beanie Babies being “rare”? That was the result of his constant tinkering to improve his product. And the animals were virtually all designed by him, fabric, eye placement, everything, not just left to an employee with the instruction, “create a duck this time” — though as he was doing this he had no idea that he was creating limited editions, they were just the erratic changes of an obsessive man.

Other elements of the craze were not his doing at all: the website and the poems and birthdays were all the creation of an employee. The concept of “retirement,” however unplanned at first, was later used to great effect, and Warner had no inkling that his animals would be transformed from a toy for children to an obsession for adults. The emergence of e-bay was also fortuitous in enabling the cross-country trading, as supply varied from region to region, that contributed to the crazy. A good portion of the initial “scarcity” was just run-of-the-mill supply problems. And there were several key players in the transformation into collectible that he profiles as well.

And Warner today? His days of extraordinary profits are past, but he is still very wealthy (having bought, among other things, hotels, with his cash) and continues to create stuffed animals. He never married, and his two long-term relationships crumbled with anger and resentment. His mother was mentally ill, and his father abused his sister, from whom he is now also estranged. He was convicted of tax evasion in 2013, yet his attorneys at the time argued that he surely wasn’t greedy because he didn’t have a will and hadn’t engaged in any estate planning — but, in reality, he enjoys his money as much as he’s able, in the present, and simply has no one who he loves (and perhaps never had) to bequeath his tremendous wealth to.

Is this the most deeply insightful book you’ll ever read? No. The author is 24 years old, a bit of a wunderkind, as this is his third book. (His first he wrote while a senior in college, about avoiding debt in college, with the basic pitch being “go to a community college and a state school, and ignore the rankings game.) The writing is light and it’s a quick read, but it is deeply researched, with extensive interviews with everyone but Warner himself, whose contribution to the book, as Bissonnette notes, is taht “in no way did he interfere with my reporting for this book.”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 16, 2015

Open Thread for Andre B. (poverty and the wage gap)

Next Post

April 17, 2015 Needs and wants, 2015 edition

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Job Paul Solomon Moses