Beanie Mania

This was another documentary that Jaime, my wife, and I watched together when we wanted something that we didn't need to fully pay attention to. What drew us to this one was that she used to collect Beanie Babies. My sister did to an extent as well, so we were familiar with them. We both knew this blew up, but we didn't know the extent.

For this documentary, we are seeing interviews of people who used to work for the Ty corporation, helped along the supply chain as well as a group of women from Naperville, Illinois that caused this to blow up. This went from a cheap toy to an almost billion-dollar industry thanks to the secondary market. As someone who owns baseball and Pokémon cards as well as comic books, I understand that the value for 'collectibles' is only based on what people will pay. This continues to come to the forefront and is still relevant thanks to influencers with more money than they know what to do with it.

I'd say that this is a well-made documentary. We get that hook that pulls you in. From there, we got to know the different players in the beginning. This does well in editing footage from that era to help drive the point home. There is so much here that I didn't know about. Part of that being I was still in elementary and early high school. It was fascinating to see what these people thought back and then as well as how fast it came down. If you got caught up in this craze, even in the slightest, this is one that is intriguing to learn more about for sure.

My Rating: 7 out of 10.

What a great film for those of us who remember these crazy safe times and had small children at home.

I enjoyed that they tried to show a fair and balanced view of all the participants.

Highly recommend watching.

Forgive me. But the women who were obsessed with this craze - all looked the same: INSANE. White, suburban moms, bored housewife types - but all mentally insane. The kind of women that get sucked into MLMs everyday and call themselves "boss babes"...

This was weird to watch.

'Beanie Mania' (2021) is a pretty good documentary about a very popular and yet still niche collectible.

I watched this film after recently watching the new Apple TV+ film, 'The Beanie Bubble' (2023) starring Zach Galifianakis. And I must say, this documentary is far more interesting and entertaining than the corporate biopic is.

This is a straightforward and fairly regular documentary, but like the Beanie Babies its far more interesting than it should be for something so simple. The origins, growth, collapse, and legacy are explored by people who crucial to each stage of the Beanie Baby mania.

Its worth watching especially if you remember how crazy things got back then or just found a few Beanie Babies in your attic. Just be careful to not become too obsessed with them after watching this documentary!

Beanie Mania (2021 release; 80 min.) is a documentary about the Beanie Babies craze that took over America in the late 90s. As the documentary opens, we are in Naperville, IL, where a small group of housewives, including Joni, Mary Beth, and Peggy, recall the quiet times before 9/11 that were the mid-to-late 90s, and how a new toy called Beanie Babies, manufactured by a Chicagoland company called Ty, Inc., appeared seemingly out of nowhere and slowly but surely caught the attention of kids, and then the adults.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from UK director Yemisi Brooks (Made in Chelsea). Here she takes a look back at the various aspects of what would become Beanie Mania, and mania is exactly the right word for it. Along the way, Ty, Inc.'s sales would rise from just a couple of million dollars to over a billion (yes, billion) in a mere 2-3 years. The documentary does a great job tracking down the parties involved, from Ty employees at that time to the Naperville housewives (remember Mary Beth's Beanie World magazine?). And yes, also looking at the insatiable greed that inevitably rose when Beanie Babies became a classic example of a market bubble. Missing in all of this, though, is Ty Warner, the Chicago guy who started the company. When the director asks a former Ty executive what her chances are of getting an interview with TY for this documentary, the former executive laughs out loud and says 'None!'. I found myself smiling throughout most of the documentary, as I vividly remember these times, collecting Beanie Babies with my two young kids. Who doesn't remember the stampedes at McDonald's for their happy meals with Teenie Beanies?

Beanie Mania premiered a few days ago exclusively on HBO Max. I thoroughly enjoyed this almost nostalgic trip back in time, now 20-25 years ago. It seems like it was just yesterday. But hey, don't take my word for it! If you had any interest in Beanie Babies, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.