#HBO Max Explores The Craze That Swept The World

It’s genuinely surprising that a documentary about the Beanie Babies craze doesn’t already exist, because the fallout of Beanie Mania is full of utterly bananas material. In one of the most famous Beanie-related instances of ridiculousness, a Las Vegas couple divorced in 1999 had to return to a family courtroom to divide up their Beanie Babies collection valued between $2,500-$5,000 because they were unable to do so on their own. These people had to pay legal and court fees to pay a judge to chaperone their division of Beanie Babies, and I am dying to find out if the documentarians tracked them down.

Admittedly, I still own a handful of Beanie Babies, with my prized possession being the velcro-winged “Batty” the bat I recently procured from my late grandmother’s massive (I’m talking over 1,000 Beanies) collection. While it’s true that most Beanie Babies aren’t actually worth the thousands of dollars rabid collectors believed they would one day be worth, they’re still a wonderful token of nostalgia for ’90s kids everywhere and a reminder that adults will do absolutely absurd things if they think it’ll result in a payday.

The “Beanie Mania” documentary debuts on HBO Max on Thursday, December 23, 2021.