Documentary Review: 'Beanie Mania' Comes to HBO MAX

YouTuber Jenny Nicholson, arguably that platform’s best personality, has been talking about doing a video on the Beanie Baby phenomenon for some time now. And that is, in all honesty, the only reason I subjected myself to the new HBO Max documentary Beanie Mania. I am really eager to see Jenny do a video on this unique subject and I thought having a little more background on the topic might enhance how much fun her video will be. That said, there are some fascinating elements to Beanie Mania in and of itself.

Beanie Mania takes audiences back to the mid-1990s when a small-time toy company executive named Ty Warner struck out on his own and somehow struck gold with socks shaped like various animals and stuffed with plastic beans. It’s a complete mystery as to why this stuffed toy became a worldwide phenomenon and Beanie Mania doesn’t really offer much of an answer for why this product of all products became such a ludicrously over the top fad. A combination of good timing and clever marketing created a one of a kind phenomenon that has yet to be duplicated.

Ty Warner created the first Beanie Baby with little fanfare in 1993. The main marketing hook for the early Beanie Baby was that they were kind of cute and they were found in small shops, Hallmark style stores, and not in the toy aisle at a big box store. This created a perception that the Beanie Baby was above being just a kids toy. It also helped the Beanie Baby reach an audience of Boomer moms who fell for the dolls with cute eyes.

It was suburban boomer moms who started the phenomenon and specifically, a group of them in the Chicago suburbs who helped to make them a scarce commodity. Then in 1995, the dawn of the internet gave these boomer moms a place to share and spread their love of the Beanie Baby. Suddenly, Boomer Moms from every corner of North America became obsessed with the Beanie Baby, including my own suburban Boomer Mom who amassed quite a collection.

Though not the least bit tech savvy himself, Ty Warner smartly hired young people who understood the internet and who were quick to see the possibilities of the online marketplace. They created the first Beanie Baby website and Warner’s posts about Beanie availability and when certain Beanies were coming off the market and when others might be arriving became one of the first truly viral marketing campaigns.

Naturally, there is a dark side to the phenomenon, because there always is. That dark side comes in the form of Ty Warner’s reclusive greed. Warner was a miser, squeezing every dime for himself and completely shutting his team out of the multi-million dollar profits, even as his team were the ones who helped create his marketing campaign, distribution platform, and all of his much needed online presence.

On top of that, Warner was an ass to fans as well. A fan who began her very own Beanie Baby Collector Magazine received a cease and desist letter from Warner despite her fan magazine helping to create much of the market and secondary market for Beanie Babies. Is it strange that someone created a successful magazine based on Beanie Babies? Yes, and the woman behind it, who participated in the making of Beanie Mania, is more than a little odd herself.

That’s part of the charm of Beanie Mania, the people who loved and collected the lovable little toys. These obsessive weirdos, the suburban Boomer moms, carry a very particular fascinating quality. It’s fascinating to marvel at these women and what drove them to become so obsessed with something so seemingly insignificant as a bean stuffed animal plush. The movie is relatively non-judgmental of these women, allowing them to reveal themselves without making fun of their reality show levels of oddity.

What’s most galling about the Beanie Baby phenomenon is that Ty Warner made so much ridiculous money. Warner became a billionaire with this and the resentment I feel towards this man is incalculable. Rarely has someone become so rich without deserving any of it Okay, I can’t say he didn’t deserve any of it, he did create the product and the product did sell, but this product, this little nothing product made him a billionaire and he went on to not only shut his employees out of those riches but also had the the gall to be among the first to begin stashing his cash in Swiss bank accounts and narrowly avoided prison as recently as a decade ago for evading taxes.

Because of course he avoided prison, billionaires don’t go to prison. But let’s not get started with that or we will be here all day. Bottom line, Ty Warner is why pitchforks and guillotines were invented, and we can leave it at that. If Beanie Mania accomplishes anything, beyond the modest charm of showcasing these weird Boomer Moms, it’s furthering the legend of one of the all time worst billionaires.

Beanie Mania debuts on HBO Max on December 23rd, 2021.