Dave Barry on collecting toys

[PNGwynne]

Dave Barry, commenting on the Beanie Babies phenomenon in the Miami Herald, 1998:

"Whenever you have something intended as innocent fun for children, you can count on adults to turn it into an obsessive, grotesquely over-commercialized 'hobby' with the same whimsy content as the Bataan death march."

His observation helps me curb my collecting "OCD" lol. but it also makes me appreciate the museum and forum, for its daily dose of education, entertainment--and whimsy.

[enyawd72]

I worked in the toy dept. of Hills for four years back in the 90's, and I saw fights break out over Beanie Babies. Furbys. Barbies. Power Rangers. You name it.

Edited with apologies to Werewolf.

[Werewolf]

there is simply no other way to put it...the difference is women.

I have to disagree. For starters, when I went to toy shows in the 90s the only people I saw scalping Beanie Babies were male dealers.

There is a dark side to collecting when greed takes over from the joy and innocence toys should represent. This problem knows no gender. From the male scalpers that lurked TRU on stock day harassing stock people and kids in the action figure and hot wheels isles while leaving the pegs nearly bare and damaging and bending the cards of the figures they passed on to the trading card guys resealing and returning wax packs with chase cards removed. To this day very I see action figures swapped out hanging on the pegs. This is not a rare occurrence. You also rarely if ever see figure swapping in lines girls primarily collect.

To blame this just on women when male scalpers are just as guilty. Is really unfair and hurtful.

[enyawd72]

I apologize Werewolf...wasn't trying to be unfair or hurtful, and I should have chosen my words more carefully. Just relating my own experiences with women shoppers fighting at the retail level. In your examples it was only men acting unscrupulously...so it goes both ways. I don't doubt anything you say.
I personally haven't seen a lot of the other stuff you mentioned, but then again I rarely go to toy shows.
I do remember there was one guy they caught at Hills bending cards on Starting Lineups. He was banned from the store.

Once again, I'm sorry. No hard feelings okay?

[Werewolf]

Once again, I'm sorry. No hard feelings okay?

No worries. It's all good.

I do know where you are coming from with nutty people at retail stores. I lived through the crazy Power of the Force 2 days of the mid 90s. Those now worthless figures were scalped and horded like there was no tomorrow. Guys getting banned from stores for taking figures out of other people's carts and ripping figures right out of the hands of little kids. People can go pretty nutty over toys when greed sets in.

[Toyman_Chris]

K

I have to disagree. For starters, when I went to toy shows in the 90s the only people I saw scalping Beanie Babies were male dealers.

I resemble that remark. Honestly, I was one of the male dealers who dove I to Beanie Babies head first. No regrets though.

[jwyblejr]

Too true on male collectors. I knew some employees at KBs when they were still around telling me about the fist fights guys would get into over the Hot Wheels Treasure Hunts when they got in new cases.

[Teemu]

Too true on male collectors. I knew some employees at KBs when they were still around telling me about the fist fights guys would get into over the Hot Wheels Treasure Hunts when they got in new cases.

At KB,I have seen crowds of people tackle a whole pyramid tower of stacked Holiday Barbies...it was pathetic watching grown adults stop onto each other and people's kids

of course,I have seen much more having worked there.Plenty of memorable stories

[Earth 2 Chris]

Back in the heyday of Power of the Force 2, some Star Wars collecting friends and I went to a grand opening of a nearby Wal-Mart Super Center, back before they were ALL Super Centers. The action figure aisle looked as if a bomb had went off in it.We talked to a customer who said he was there when it opened. There were indeed fistfights among the men, and a woman who took a shopping cart down the aisle and literally swept every peg she could touch into the cart and ran off. So it's an equal-opportunity mania.

As for Beanie Babies, I worked in a comic shop at the time those were huge. My boss sent me to every gift shop in the tri-county area, and to McDonald's when they were in Happy Meals, several times each day. In his defense he didn't mark them up much, just wanted them in store to increase traffic. It was hell, though.

Chris

[Boris71]

I can remember the fights over turtles and the POTF2 line and the playmates star trek lines and the over inflated prices that this stuff went for on the secondary marker, The worst one I saw was a Guy at TRU when they had the Revenge of the Sith figures in trying to open the boxes before the stock guy was putting them out and then was pushing people out of the way to get ala many of the holographic yodas he could.