Family goes bankrupt after blowing their $100,000 savings on Beanie Babies they thought would become valuable

Father began collecting toys hoping they could fund sons through college

But they realised mistake after no return from spending $100,000

Now Chris Robinson has made a short film documenting the obsession



A film director has documented how his family went bankrupt after his father became obsessed with Beanie Babies.

Chris Robinson's father started collecting the cuddly toys in the belief they would make a great investment.

But the Los Angeles family realised there was a problem when, after spending $100,000 on the stuffed animals, there was still no return on the investment.

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Chris Robinson's father (pictured) started collecting Beanie Babies in the hope of making enough money to send his three sons to college

The family spent $100,000 on the toys, but realised there was a problem when there was no return on the investment

Mr Robinson's entire family were roped into collecting the toys. Pictured is his younger brother

Mr Robinson has now filmed his family as they talk about the years spent collecting the Beanie Babies, in a bid to make enough money to send the three sons to college.

His film, Bankrupt by Beanies, shows how his father's obsession consumed the family's activities as they attempted to collect as many as they could.

Surrounded by boxes of the cuddly toys, his father opens the film by telling the camera: 'This is like admitting to a drug addiction, you know, you want to forget it.'

He goes on to describe how at first his three sons enjoyed collecting the toys, but one by one their interest waned to the point where he only continued to pursue his obsession in the hope it would make a financial return.

The film-maker's mother (pictured) has said they initially thought they could make a profit on the toys - but they never sold them

The family's home has boxes piled high full of the stuffed toys

BEANIE BABIES: THE CRAZE THAT DIDN'T LAST The Beanie Babies were first introduced to the public in 1993, when creators Ty Warner Inc, which later became Ty Inc, launched its original line consisting of just nine characters.

Over the next few years however hundreds of different types of Beanie Baby were produced as they gained in popularity.

The company made an empire worth more than $6billion from the toys, boosted by the increase in people buying them as popular collectibles in 1995.

At the peak of the collecting craze, many believed the designs which had been 'retired' would rise in value. Chris Robinson was led to believe the toys were collectibles after he bought the first one, which sparked his obsession.

The craze however failed to last much longer than 1999, when Ty announced it would no longer be making the toys, and even made a bear called The End.

Nowadays hundreds of the cuddly toys are sold on sites such as ebay - but they are not always worth as much money as collectors would originally have hoped.

Sellers this afternoon were advertising 'bulk' lots of Beanie Babies, which included up to 15 of the toys for just $29.99.

There are however some which have certainly increased in price, including one 'ultra rare' Ty Princess Diana Di Beanie Baby, first edition, which was listed on the site at $6,500 this afternoon and had seven watchers.

He says that is when he started to think: 'Well what am I doing it for? Ok, I'm doing it for a college education, which so far has never taken place because I guess I lost a lot of money.'

His wife goes on to say how the family were under the impression they could make money from the toys.

She says: 'Probably from about six months from when we started buying them we were able to realise we could buy them then turn around and make a profit on them - although that was the plan, it never happened because we never sold them, we just bought them.'

Mr Robinson has now told Dazeddigital.com how the entire family became wrapped up in the obsession.



He said: 'It became this all-consuming family activity, filling up any free time that wasn’t already earmarked for school or our youth hockey teams.'

He even says one of his friends had to go to hospital because he ate too much McDonalds in a bid to gather the Beanie Babies.

He said the first Beanies were bought when his younger brother Taylor was with his parents in Boston where he saw one of the toys and wanted one.

His father was then told they were collectors items, which led the family into the obsession over the next few years.



But now he says he has little hope of ever seeing the money spent on the toys again.



He said: 'The plan going in was for them to pay for our college tuition, but it became pretty clear that wasn’t going to happen for us.



'Maybe by the time our kids graduate high school they’ll have made a comeback.'