5 ms·

Perhaps beanie babies is an example that we actually know about.

by renegade-otter 5mo ago

TheOtherHobbes 5mo ago
I wonder if there are more recent examples?
- dalben 5mo ago
  NFTs
  - renegade-otter 5mo ago
    I think NFTs were this niche thing only crypto people were dealing. It was not a wide cultural phenomenon. I bet the majority of the population don't know what it is.
    - some_random 5mo ago
      I'm not sure if I'd call it culture wide, but a significant number of non-tech people in my life were not just aware of it but actively considering "investing".
- ocdtrekkie 5mo ago
  Labubu was last year: https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/21/us/labubu-doll-plushie-pop-mart-dg https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/21/us/labubu-doll-plushie-pop-ma... https://nypost.com/2025/08/02/us-news/this-is-the-most-expensive-labubu-on-ebay/ https://nypost.com/2025/08/02/us-news/this-is-the-most-expen... It burnt out much faster than Beanie Babies did.
  - renegade-otter 5mo ago
    Everything has faster cycles. Also, Labubu is ugly. It's a bad knockoff of the Soviet character Cheburashka.
- AussieWog93 5mo ago
  A guy I work with bought a couple of Pokemon card boxes for $100 a decade ago just because he liked the characters. Now with $12,000 each.
yieldcrv 5mo ago
until you find out that beanie babies weren't irrational either there was a supply crunch with the manufacturer in China, it was rational to think it wouldn't be solved, creating a limited supply item that had more demand than the supply. the founder solved the issue and flooded the market with beanie babies, prices crashed at that point
- qingcharles 5mo ago
  As (probably) the world's largest reseller of Beanies at the time, this was 100% nothing to do with a Chinese supply crunch, as far as I was ever aware. It was 100% to do with Ty corp's very clever handling of distribution, limiting where, who and how many Beanies could be sold. There was a huge over-supply of the less rare Beanies and a huge under-production of the rarer ones. All done on purpose.

Perhaps beanie babies is an example that we actually know about.

TheOtherHobbes 5mo ago

I wonder if there are more recent examples?

dalben 5mo ago
NFTs
- renegade-otter 5mo ago
  I think NFTs were this niche thing only crypto people were dealing. It was not a wide cultural phenomenon. I bet the majority of the population don't know what it is.
  - some_random 5mo ago
    I'm not sure if I'd call it culture wide, but a significant number of non-tech people in my life were not just aware of it but actively considering "investing".
ocdtrekkie 5mo ago
Labubu was last year: https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/21/us/labubu-doll-plushie-pop-mart-dg https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/21/us/labubu-doll-plushie-pop-ma... https://nypost.com/2025/08/02/us-news/this-is-the-most-expensive-labubu-on-ebay/ https://nypost.com/2025/08/02/us-news/this-is-the-most-expen... It burnt out much faster than Beanie Babies did.
- renegade-otter 5mo ago
  Everything has faster cycles. Also, Labubu is ugly. It's a bad knockoff of the Soviet character Cheburashka.
AussieWog93 5mo ago
A guy I work with bought a couple of Pokemon card boxes for $100 a decade ago just because he liked the characters. Now with $12,000 each.

yieldcrv 5mo ago

until you find out that beanie babies weren't irrational either there was a supply crunch with the manufacturer in China, it was rational to think it wouldn't be solved, creating a limited supply item that had more demand than the supply. the founder solved the issue and flooded the market with beanie babies, prices crashed at that point

qingcharles 5mo ago
As (probably) the world's largest reseller of Beanies at the time, this was 100% nothing to do with a Chinese supply crunch, as far as I was ever aware. It was 100% to do with Ty corp's very clever handling of distribution, limiting where, who and how many Beanies could be sold. There was a huge over-supply of the less rare Beanies and a huge under-production of the rarer ones. All done on purpose.