The first Beanie Babies were introduced to the world in late 1993at the World Toy Fair in New York City, these first nine would become knownas the 'Original Nine.' These beanies were a new style plush all together,instead of the typical stuffing that accompanied most plush toys these hada combination of 'beans' and stuffing. The 'beans' or small plastic PVC pellets gave these plush a new uniqueness. You could now make your animalsit up in various posable positions. The critics were skeptical, some evennicknamed them, 'Road Kill,' due to being under-stuffed and filled with beans.
Ty's strategy was simple, aim for quality with a toy that was simplewith few details. Each beanie had a few colors of fabric with a few facialdetails. In fact the beanie named Spot was first introduced without a spot!(Trying to save money on fabric costs? The world will never know!)
Each of these new creations were accompanied by a hang tag, that unliketoday's locket style tags, it consisted of what is today called a 1st, generationhang tag. It was a single double-sided Ty tag with a smaller Ty on the frontand the animal's name and style number on the back. Poems had not yet beenintroduced. They also had a white sewn-in 'tush' tag with black lettering.Most of these original beanies had their tags removed, as was recommend bytoy manufactures, when giving the toy to small children. At the time theywere not thought of as collectors items. (Yes they were actually given tochildren to play with!) So beanies with these tags are rare and valuabletoday.
So who were these 'Original Nine' beanies? Who were these first beaniesto cause a mad craze worldwide? Who were these first beanies that causedhundreds of crazed fans to stalk mail carriers, stand in line for hours beforesunrise, counterfeit beanies for profit, and start a whole new breed of avidcollectors? Who were these under-stuffed plush toys that would lead to thebuilding of 'an empire based on inexpensive toys filled with plastic pellets?'
Lets welcome, Legs the Frog, Squealer the Pig, Brownie the Bear (later renamed to Cubbie the Bear), Flash the Dolphin, Splash the Whale, Pattithe Platypus, Chocolate the Moose, Spot the Dog and Pinchers the Lobster!These beanies first appeared in small gift stores in the Chicago, Illinoisarea in January 1994. They would be the first to mark Ty, Inc. as a companyof quality and reasonably priced stuffed toys.
Although, when these 'bean filled' toys were first released they didnot initially catch on, it didn't take long before they did, and when theydid the results were phenomenal! They became an instant hit primarily in1996 after Ty retired 11 beanies! They were cute, small, affordable and wellwe will never really understand what made them a phenomenon when comparedto other plush toys!
Sadly, today none of the Original 9 Beanies are current, they haveall since long retired. Splash and Flash were retired in May of 1997, Legsand Spot followed suit and retired in October of 1997. During 1998 the last5 of the Original 9 retired, Cubbie retired in January and Patti, Pinchers,and Squealer in May, followed by Chocolate in December.
Lets take a closer look into the lives of each of the Original 9,
Summer days, drifting away. January 13, 2021 By Beth. Yesterday afternoon we had the most glorious swim at Belmore Falls. Mrs Munro, Miss Rabbit and I took the kids down to the waterhole for a float, swim and afternoon picnic as the sunset before heading back to Mrs Munro's for a paella over the fire.
Licorice, gum, and peppermintcandy
This moose always has thesehandy
But there is one more thinghe likes to eat
Can you guess his favoritetreat?
Of course the first release of these Beanies had no poems, it wasnot until Chocolate was released with 4th generation tags did we see a poem.Chocolate was born April 27, 1993, he is a dark brown moose whose favoritetreat must be chocolate!
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Cubbie used to eat crackersand honey
And what happened to himwas funny
He was stung by fourteenbees
Now Cubbie eats broccoliand cheese
Poor Cubbie! Yuck broccoli! Cubbie is probably remembered most forbeing given away to children at Chicago Cubs games. The first giveaway wasMay 18, 1997. The first 10,000 children at these games received Cubbie accompaniedby a commemorative card noting the special event. These first Cubs giveawayssell for $100+ on the auctions today.
Oh! You want to know more about the Brownie v. Cubbie thing! WellTy first released Cubbie under the name of Brownie, Brownie is very rareand retired shortly after release in 1993. These two bears are identicalwith the exception of their tags! Brownie along with Punchers (known todayas Pinchers) were truly the first beanies, as they were released in early1993. The whole set of 'Original Nine' were officially released at the NewYork Toy Show later on.
You know dolphins are a smartbreed
Our friend Flash knows howto read
Splash the whale is the onewho taught her
Although reading is difficultunder the water!
Flash and Splash were both retired together on May 11, 1997. Theyseem to make a great pair as Splash the Teacher and Flash the Student. Flashwas born on May 13, 1993 and after retirement replaced by Echo the dolphin.
Legs lives in a hollowlog
Legs likes to play leapfrog
If you like to hang outat the lake
Legs will be the new friendyou make!
Legs was born April 25, 1993 and seemed to be one of the first beaniesto somewhat flood the market, there were plenty to go around! Legs retiredin October of 1997.
Ran into Patti one day whilewalking
Believe me she wouldn't stoptalking
Listened and listened toher speak
That would explain her extralarge beak!
Patti was born January 6, 1993 and is one of the first beanies tobe a part of Ty's crazy world of changing colors! The purple platypus hasbeen magenta, maroon and raspberry! An original Patti still fetches a lotof money on today's market.
This lobster loves to pinch
Eating his food inch by inch
Balancing carefully withhis tail
Moving forward slow as asnail.
Pinchers is a bright red lobster. Pinchers was originally released with tags that said 'Punchers,' most likely a spelling error.
Splash loves to jump anddive
He's the fastest whale alive
He always wins the 100-yarddash
With a victory he'll makea splash
Splash was born on July 8, 1993 and was one of the first to be retired.Splash is a pretty hard to find beanie today.
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See Spot sprint, see Spotrun
You and Spot can have lotsof fun
Watch out now, because he'snot slow
Just stand back and watchhim go!
Spot was born on Halloween in 1995 and shares the same birthday asSpooky the Ghost. Spot for unknown reasons was first created without a spot.This beanie is considered one of the most valuable and rare beanies (withouthis Spot). He retired on October 1, 1997.
Squealer likes to joke around
He is known as the classclown
Listen to his stories fora while
There is no doubt he willmake you smile!
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This pink little Squealer was born April 23, 1993. Squealer was one of theOriginal 9 in production the longest, not retiring until 1998.