bilbopooh's Full Review: Ty Beanie Babies Huggy The Bear Retired
Davy Crockett used to talk about grinning a bear into submission, a process that essentially involved a lot of hugging, but not of the friendly kind. I wonder what he would have thought of bears being the models for the most popular huggable toys around. Some teddy bears are built especially for snuggling. Such is the case with Huggy, a Beanie Baby bear that came out in 2000, as evidenced by the "2000" printed across a sparkly star on the tag. If I didn't have the tag, I'd have no guess as to when the bear came out. This one is timeless.
Huggy is a bit shorter than most upright Beanie Baby bears, standing at about eight inches from the top of the head to the bottom of the feet. His arm span is about seven inches wide. When he sits, he flops more than many of his fellow bears, and it's harder to maneuver him into certain activities, like walking, because he tends to scrunch up. That's okay, though, because Huggy is intended for one primary purpose. He's a snuggler. In the words of the poem inside the tag: "I'd love to be your special friend / I'll stick right by you to the end / So hold me close next to your heart / And from your side I'll never part!"
I'm not sure exactly what material covers this attractive bear, but it feels very much like chenille, that delightfully warm and fuzzy fabric that I find so irresistible on a cold winter day. His fur is not as smooth as many Beanie bears' fur is, but it's much softer than most, aside from the slightly scratchy ribbon, which is a delicate, gauzy copper color, and the shiny black plastic eyes and nose. Hold him in your hand or brush him across your cheek, and revel in the tactile satisfaction. The only downside is that he's not bigger. Huggy is wonderfully cuddly, but he'd be even better as a Beanie Buddy, and better still as something twice as big as that.
Still, Huggy is just the right size to fit into a child's hands, and both the name and the coloring - cream-colored with brown ears, reminding me of Wishbone, the book-loving Jack Russell Terrier from the PBS show - are ambiguous enough that the bear could easily be assigned either gender. Of course, a child may also decide to rechristen Huggy, which is fine as well; this bear by any other name would feel as soft.
At 419 words, this review is certified Lean and Mean. Sometimes less really can be more!
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