The Beanie Ballz product line was introduced at the Ty online site on January 1, 2011.
The introduction included nine Ballz named
Avalanche, Bananas,
Bandit, Bonsai,
Dots, Flash,
Speedy, Tumbles
and Zips.
When the Ballz are thrown, rolled or bounced, they land on their feet.
On August 25, 2011, Dinger became the first
Ballz product given out as an exclusive sports promotion.
The Fall 2011 Ty Retailer
Catalog introduced two new sizes of Beanie Ballz, large and extra large. The
large versions began appearing on retailer shelves in September 2011. The first
extra large Ballz were available for retail sale in late October 2011.
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In October 2011 Ty released Prickles, the
first of the Beanie Ballz to have newly designed, larger eyes than the original Ballz.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT BALLZ SIZES -
Prior to January 2012, Ty referred to the Ballz sizes as regular (5-inch), large
(8-inch) and extra large (13-inch). In the Spring 2012 Ty retailer catalog, when
the Beanie Ballz key-clips were first offered, the size labels for the others
were changed to regular (5-inch), Medium (8-inch) and Large (13-inch). All size
labels for Ty Beanie Ballz at tycollector.com have been updated to reflect the
new sizing labels in current Ty retailer catalogs.
In January 2012, KISSES Brand,
Morsel and Smoothie became the first Walgreens
exclusive Beanie Ballz. These were also the first Beanie Ballz to appear with
the new 3rd generation Beanie Ballz swing tag.
The January 2012 Ty Retailer Catalog introduced the first Beanie Ballz
key-clips. They arrived in retail stores near the end of January 2012.
In February 2012, Ty introduced a new series of Beanie Ballz to
represent NBA basketball teams. This series was followed in July
2012 with a series of Beanie Ballz representing NFL football
teams. Whereas the NBA Ballz were animals reflecting the teams
they represented, the football Ballz were a mew design that
featured a football helmet.
In 2012, Ty Inc. obtained a license to produce Disney characters. The first
Ty-produced Disney characters showed up as Walgreens exclusive Beanie Babies in
October 2012. The first Beanie Ballz Disney characters appeared in the Ty
retailer Spring 2013 catalog. They started shipping to retailers in January
2013. The first four to hit store shelves were Mickey, Minnie, Tigger and Winnie
the Pooh.
In January 2013, Ty introduced two more sports-themed Ballz
sets, one for NHL hockey teams and one for major league baseball
teams. The hockey team Ballz wear hockey helmets and the
baseball teams Ballz feature textured uniforms and baseball
batting caps.
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