The first Beanie Babies were introduced to the world in late 1993 at the World Toy Fair in New York City, these first nine would become known as the "Original Nine." These beanies were a new style plush all together, instead of the typical stuffing that accompanied most plush toys these had a combination of 'beans' and stuffing. The 'beans' or small plastic PVC pellets gave these plush a new uniqueness. You could now make your animal sit up in various posable positions. The critics were skeptical, some even nicknamed 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 simple with few details. Each beanie had a few colors of fabric with a few facial details. 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 unlike today's locket style tags, it consisted of what is today called a 1st, generation hang tag. It was a single double-sided Ty tag with a smaller Ty on the front and the animal's name and style number on the back. Poems had not yet been introduced. They also had a white sewn-in 'tush' tag with black lettering. Most of these original beanies had their tags removed, as was recommend by toy manufactures, when giving the toy to small children. At the time they were not thought of as collectors items. (Yes they were actually given to children to play with!) So beanies with these tags are rare and valuable today.

  So who were these 'Original Nine' beanies? Who were these first beanies to cause a mad craze worldwide? Who were these first beanies that caused hundreds of crazed fans to stalk mail carriers, stand in line for hours before sunrise, counterfeit beanies for profit, and start a whole new breed of avid collectors? Who were these under-stuffed plush toys that would lead to the building 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, Patti the Platypus, Chocolate the Moose, Spot the Dog and Pinchers the Lobster! These beanies first appeared in small gift stores in the Chicago, Illinois area in January 1994. They would be the first to mark Ty, Inc. as a company of quality and reasonably priced stuffed toys.

  Although, when these "bean filled" toys were first released they did not initially catch on, it didn't take long before they did, and when they did the results were phenomenal! They became an instant hit primarily in 1996 after Ty retired 11 beanies! They were cute, small, affordable and well we will never really understand what made them a phenomenon when compared to other plush toys!

  Sadly, today none of the Original 9 Beanies are current, they have all since long retired. Splash and Flash were retired in May of 1997, Legs and Spot followed suit and retired in October of 1997. During 1998 the last 5 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,