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Students take on hobby of collecting tiny,
but valuable stuffed toys
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By Brandi Ballard
Staff writer
r |iey are lovable, huggable and the chase is
[half the fun of having one. It is the Beanie
[Babies bandwagon, and if you are not on it,
a are way behind.
Created by Ty Warner, owner of Ty, Inc, the
kbi’ook, Illinois-based toy company, Beanie
bies have begun to take the nation’s love.
Ty, Inc. has specialized in stuffed animals for
years. Developed in 1993, Beanie Babies were
ended to be a toy children could buy with their
owance money.
In a press release, Ty, Inc. describes Beanie Ba-
;s as “pocket-sized, non-violent, non-comput-
zed, gender natural, affordable stuffed ani-
ils that introduce a huge sampling of the
>rld's animals to children, encourage compas-
>n and education.’’
Compassion for these tiny creatures is exactly
mt they got. It came not from children, but
0 >m their parents. Grown-ups (although when it
mes to Beanie Babies often do not act like it)
ve been spotted fighting over Beanie Babies,
harassing UPS men and even breaking into cars.
All this is for a bunch of beans wrapped in some
material at a wholesale cost of $2.50.
Kathy Pilgrim, owner of Treasures Gift Shop,
said she has had customers become irate be
cause they did not get the one they wanted.
‘Tt is like an addiction to some people,” Pil
grim said.
“Some people are so serious they wrap them
in plastic bags and put tag protectors on them
before they leave the store.”
The original nine Beanie Babies (Splash, Flash,
Legs, Patti, Pinchers, Squealer, Cubby, Chocolate
and Spot) found their way to the marketplace in
1994. What many considered to be a short-lived
fad has suddenly sprung into the hottest col
lectibles of today.
Every month, Pilgrim said she thinks the toys
will fizzle out and she will be stuck with 3,000
Beanie Babies nobody wants. But she has not
seen a decline in interest yet.
Keta Jones, owner of Keta’s Hallmark in Post
Oak Mall, said she agrees.
“We get 200 to 300 phone calls a day asking
about Beanie Babies,” she said. “This is just a
crazy deal.”
What is it about these animals that make them
so popular? Jones thinks it might be the way they
retire and become more valuable.
“I think the tags with their name and a little poem
make them collectible,” she said.
Pilgrim said she believes it has to do with the
reasonable price.
“They are cute,” she said. “They all have the
cutest faces.”
Ty, Inc. only permits stores to place one order
a month.
“And we can only order 36 maximum of one
piece,” Jones said. “Their shipments usually come
once a month; of course they always have back or
ders, and sometimes they will receive them.”
“We have a list of people we are to call when
we get new Beanie Babies in,” Pilgrim said.
“The problem is when you only get 36 of a
piece and there are 2,000 people on the list to call.
We try to be fair and call different ones.”
In October 1996, Forbes magazine estimated Ty,
Inc. would sell 100 million Beanie Babies that year
alone. In 1997, sales ran 10 times those of 1996,
and in 1996, sales ran 10 times as great as 1995.
To date, Ty, Inc. has retired some of the Beanie
Babies and introduces new designs twice a year.
Retired Beanie Babies have been rumored to
sell for $2,000. For example, Quackers, the duck
produced in 1994, had no wings. Today, it is esti
mated to be worth $1,800.
Jones said most people are into Beanie Babies
because they are a collector’s item and that their
children do not even get to play with them.
“They buy tag protectors to put on them,”
Jones said. “Without the red-heart tag, it’s not
worth anything.”
Pilgrim thinks the most popular Beanie Babies
today are the purple Princess Di and Peace the
Bear. Although they are not retired, they are in
limited supply.
“It really does not matter which ones we re
ceive,” Jones said, “they are all gone within two
to three days.”
It seems the Beanie-Babies bonanza only has
just begun.
You had better run to your favorite gift shop;
they can not be found at any old toy store. But be
prepared to put up a good fight — looks like this
could be a dangerous sporting event.
Adi
The Replacement Killers
Starring Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
TIQUE
James
Francis
aggielife editor
C ritics always feel they have the right
to declare a film new and innovative
when they recognize the slightest
difference between the film being dis
cussed and one that falls under the same
genre. In the case of The Replacement
Killers, those critics might be on the right
path with their thinking.
With the help of director Antoine Fuqua,
the man behind rap-sensation Coolio’s
“Gangsta’s Paradise” music video; Chow
Yun-Fat, internationally-known Asian actor;
Mira Sorvino, Academy Award winner for
her tour de force performance in Woody
Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite; and John Woo, stylistic director of
Face/Off, The Replacement Killers enters a stage of filmmaking
that has yet to be defined.
From the moment John Lee (Yun-Fat) enters a trendsetters’
nightclub (the historic Mayan theater in downtown Los Angeles),
the mood for the film lets one know he means business. The cam
eras track his every movement in slow motion as he slides
through a bustling crowd of dancing clubgoers.
Lee takes the audience with him toward a table of what only
could be a group of organized crime members, surrounded by a
bunch of laughing women who obviously are not representatives
Hear Tim Cassidy
Associate Athletic Director
for Football Operations
speak about recruiting and
other football related topics
Wednesday, Feb. 11
@ 7:00 in MSC 226
ays
n
EE ^1
OXJNDATION
Any Questions, Comments, or Suggestions*?
I Mease contact us at studcnt@tvvclfilhman.taiiiu.cdu
Visit our webpage at www-12thman.tamu.edu
Rated R
Playing at Hollywood 16
Critique: B+
of Mary Kay Cosmetics.
Lee stops in front of the table, sets a single bullet on the table
cloth and then proceeds to gun down every man at the table and
others who make an attempt on his life from corners of the club.
But this scene means nothing in the overall character develop
ment of Lee, who is a Chinese immigrant with the haunting past
of being a professional killer. In exchange for his family’s safety,
Lee is made to take on three assassination jobs for a power-hun
gry underworld figure.
The beginning scene of the film represents his second hit, but
it is when Lee is told to assassinate police detective Stan Zedkov
(Michael Rooker), that he realizes he can not complete the job. It
simple to say when Lee scopes out Zedkov’s house, he also sees a
7-year-old son and a loving wife, reminding him that his family
is still in danger.
This is where the real story begins. Suddenly, Lee is in need of
a passport to get back to his family before the underworld boss
can order them assassinated. He calls on the help of a friend who
refers him to small-time document forger Meg Coburn (Sorvino)
to obtain a passport and other international papers.
During his visit, the underworld boss’ hitmen break in and try
to kill Lee and Coburn. Of course their attack was unsuccessful,
or else the film would be short-lived.
Please see Killers on Page 4.
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The Legend ofBillie lean
A n attractive young
woman takes to the
streets to fight crime
and social injustice.
No, it’s not The Adventures of
Wonder Woman. It’s The Legend
ofBillie Jean, starring Helen
Slater as the tough-as-polished
nails heroine. Also making an
appearance is a pre-pubescent
Christian Slater as Billie Jean’s
little brother, Binks.
Both actors fail miserably at
portraying believable Texas ac
cents, and a half-baked story
line doesn’t help matters.
If Helen Slater delivered her
lines as well as she delivered a
knee to the groin (a feat she
accomplishes more than
once), maybe The Legend of
Billie Jean would be a little
more tolerable.
— Rhonda Reinhart
T tie Legend ofBillie Jean
just might be the only
movie in which the Texas
accents are worse than the
characters’ wardrobes — acid-
washed blue jeans and jean-
jackets with the sleeves cut off.
The movie does feature a few
interesting characters, including
Yeardley Smith who does charac
ter voices on “The Simpsons.”
She has no actual role in the
movie except to whine and follow
Billie Jean everywhere she goes.
The film is a little unrealistic
when an uproar is caused be
cause of a misunderstanding.
It’s not likely that Helen
Slater, clad in Joan of Arc cos
tume, would really lead the en
tire community of Corpus
Christi in a chant of “Fair is fair!”
Please see Billie on Page 4.
AGGIE RING ORDERS
THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS
CLAYTON W. WILLIAMS, JR. ALUMNI CENTER
DEADLINE: February 11, 1998
Undergraduate Student Requirements:
I. You must be a degree seeking student and have a total of 95 undergraduate credit hours
reflected on the Texas A&M University Student Information Management System. (A passed
course, which is repeated and passed, cannot count as additional credit hours.)
’. 6Q undergraduate credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M
University if your first semester at Texas A&M University was January 1994 or thereafter, or if
you do not qualify under the successful semester requirement. Should your degree be
conferred with less than 60 undergraduate resident credits, this requirement will be waived
after you graduate and your degree is posted on the Student Information Management System.
30 undergraduate credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M
University, providing that prior to January 1, 1994, you were registered at Texas A&M
University and successfully completed a fall/spring semester or summer term (I and II or 10
weeks) as a full-time student in good standing (as defined in the University catalog).
5. You must have a 2J) cumulative GPR at Texas A&M University.
I. You must be in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks
for past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc.
Graduate Student Requirements
If you are a May 1998 degree candidate and you do not have an Aggie ring from a prior
degree, you may place an order after you meet the following requirements:
I. Your degree is conferred and posted on the Texas A&M University Student Information
Management System; and
You are in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks for
past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc.
However, If you completed all of your course work prior to this semester and have been cleared by the thesis
clerk, you may request a “letter of completion” from the Office of Graduate Studies no later than
December 5th. The original letter of completion, with the seal, may be presented to the Ring Office in
lieu of your degree being posted.
Procedure To Order A Ring:
If you meet all of the above requirements and you wish to receive your ring on April 16, 1998 , you must
visit the Ring Office no later than Wednesday. February 11. 1998 between the hours of 8:30 a.m.-
3:30 p.m. to complete the application for eligibility verification.
If your application is approved, you must return and pay in full by cash, check, money order, or your
personal Discover, Visa or MasterCard (with your name imprinted) m later than Friday, February 13,
1998 between the hours of 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
2.
1.
Men’s 10K-
$321.00
14K-$423.00
Women’s 10K -
$199.00
14K - $222.00
Add $8.00 for Class of ‘96 or before.
The ring delivery date is April 16, 1998.