The Great Beanie Baby Bubble
Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute
Ratings4
Average rating3.8
15
Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute
Ratings4
Average rating3.8
"A bestselling journalist delivers the never-before-told story of the plush animal craze that became the tulip mania of the 1990s . In the annals of consumer crazes, nothing compares to Beanie Babies. In just three years, collectors who saw the toys as a means of speculation made creator Ty Warner, an eccentric college dropout, a billionaire-without advertising or big-box distribution. Beanie Babies were ten percent of eBay's sales in its early days, with an average selling price of $30-six times the retail price. At the peak of the bubble in 1999, Warner reported a personal income of $662 million-more than Hasbro and Mattel combined. The end of the craze was swift and devastating, with "rare" Beanie Babies deemed worthless as quickly as they'd once been deemed priceless. Bissonnette draws on hundreds of interviews (including a visit to a man who lives with his 40,000 Ty products and an in-prison interview with a guy who killed a coworker over a Beanie Baby debt) for the first book on the strangest speculative mania of all time"--
"In the annals of consumer crazes, nothing compares to Beanie Babies. In just three years, collectors who saw the toys as a means of speculation made creator Ty Warner, an eccentric college dropout, a billionaire--without advertising or big-box distribution. Beanie Babies were ten percent of eBay's sales in its early days, with an average selling price of $30--six times the retail price. At the peak of the bubble in 1999, Warner reported a personal income of $662 million--more than Hasbro and Mattel combined. The end of the craze was swift and devastating, with "rare" Beanie Babies deemed worthless as quickly as they'd once been deemed priceless. Bissonnette draws on hundreds of interviews (including a visit to a man who lives with his 40,000 Ty products and an in-prison interview with a guy who killed a coworker over a Beanie Baby debt) for the first book on the strangest speculative mania of all time"--
Reviews with the most likes.
Probably more like 3.5 stars but I couldn't bring myself to round up. ( disclosure: I read this book b/c someone talked about it on Twitter.)
This book is a fascinating look into one of the few trends I participated in as a child. Though I was not collecting them. My sister and I just wanted the cats. I knew the Beanie bubble was a thing but I didn't realize the extent. Or how obsessive Ty was about the appearance of his creations. That being said, this book just didn't feel cohesive. There were sections that made sense, like the McDonald's saga, but overall the structure just left me confused. I would have appreciated a timeline. Instead, the book starts at the midway point, goes to the beginning and then the end.
Good things:
* The pure insanity of Ty.
* Quotes from people directly involved.
Cats are responsible for everything! For the most part, the book doesn't openly mock people for collecting.
* The cover gets more hilarious the further you go.
Areas for improvement:
Faith's manuscript. I want more of it. A more focused timeline.
* An interview with someone on the manufactory side of things.
The book has pictures, but didn't include several I thought it should have. I feel like I still have several unanswered questions.
