Is that you, Pedobear?

December 29, 2010 1:35 PM

Why would my sister's teddy bear have a crotch full of beads?

Years ago, somebody gave my little sister a large purple teddy bear. Its crotch is full of what feel like little plastic beads. Why? There are no beads anywhere else on its body. We could understand if there were beads in its bottom to weigh it down and help it sit - but there aren't, and it can't. It's like the beads are there purely to encourage inappropriate touching. And while we have been happy to oblige all this time, we'd like to know if there is a reason for it to be this way. Is this a thing? Thank you for your help.

PS there's a tag on the bear that says "GANZ Toronto, Canada". I googled as many combinations of the words "ganz", "teddy", "bear", "beads" and "crotch" as I could, but didn't find anything.

posted by two or three cars parked under the stars to Society & Culture (18 answers total)

Are they beans so that it's weighted to sit upright?
posted by asockpuppet at 1:38 PM on December 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

I am unable to read. Nevermind.
posted by asockpuppet at 1:38 PM on December 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Can you move the beads around through the body, like up to the arms or down to the feet? When interior seams have been broken on stuffed animals in my family, the beads always end up in one spot (which varies by item.) My guess would be that your beads started off in the head.
posted by SMPA at 1:39 PM on December 29, 2010

Best answer: I would guess its just to add weight to be bear. Or to make you feel awkward; if I worked in a factory sewing bears I would add it just to make life a little more awkward.
posted by Felex at 1:41 PM on December 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

Best answer: i have this totally awesome teddy bear. he came with beans in his butt and in each of his feet paws. well, those beans weren't in his butt for long - now they're in one of his legs. he permanently has heavy dead leg and as the beans were there to give him some form he just flops over. we refer to him as "sleepy bear" because he always looks a wee bit comatose. i'd vote for improperly sewn and those were supposed to be in his butt.
posted by nadawi at 1:44 PM on December 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

Loads of stuffed animals have beans (or similar filler) in their bums. It makes them nice to cuddle; you can cup the bum in the hand just so and hold it like a baby and the beans will weigh the bum down in your hand, you can pat the bum to play with the beans, etc. Very, very common.
posted by kmennie at 1:52 PM on December 29, 2010

I have a couple of those badgerbadgerbadger badgers and they're made the exact same way you describe: stuffing everywhere else but beans/beads in the butt. I think this is pretty common dolly construction, really.
posted by elizardbits at 1:55 PM on December 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

In case you're still googling for information, this might help: the industry term for the plastic beads is "poly pellets."
posted by amyms at 1:59 PM on December 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for your help, everyone who's posted so far. I think the migrating beads idea seems plausible, though the beads have always been in the crotchal area, and I can't seem to manipulate them away from it. (Let me clarify that the beads are totally limited to that area by the way - there's nothing but fluff in the thing's butt.)
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 2:05 PM on December 29, 2010

The pellets make it easier for the toy to bend and sit and flop about. The fluffy/cotton/poly stuffing is used for shape and thickness. Few stuffed animals are made with just one stuffing material any more.
posted by Ideefixe at 2:28 PM on December 29, 2010

Are the beads contained in a bag or something inside the bear? I'd suspect they were supposed to be in the butt to weight it down, but sloppy stitching made someone put the bag in the wrong place (perhaps backwards, so they end up in the front of the butt rather than the back of the butt). Or, if they were in the butt, maybe the bear falls backwards, so putting them in front correctly balances the bear to sit upright?

Or, maybe you ended up with a rescue from the Plushie Liberation Front.
posted by The otter lady at 2:29 PM on December 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

I have a bear with a jingle bell in its crotch - I, too, suspect migration, or someone with a sense of humor in manufacturing.
posted by restless_nomad at 4:28 PM on December 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

For what it's worth, Ganz is a big toy company, they're the ones who make Webkinz.
posted by mendel at 5:25 PM on December 29, 2010

It would be interesting to contact the company with your question (maybe go easy on the moral panic angle, though). Maybe you'll get a really cool response about the details of their manufacturing process, or a scandalous story about a disgruntled worker who sewed poly pellets into thousands of bears' crotches to discredit the brand. You may even get a free toy out of it.
posted by amyms at 6:44 PM on December 29, 2010

This would definitely make me want to go to the store and be That Guy groping all the teddy bears in the aisle to see if it was a widespread problem.
posted by phunniemee at 10:28 PM on December 29, 2010

elizardbits where did you find those? I know someone who needs them!
posted by leslies at 10:03 AM on December 30, 2010

Sorry leslies, I'm pretty sure they don't make the wee little ones anymore. I got those ones back in 2007-2008 iirc. The newer ones (from 2009-onwards) are much larger and have enormous heads.
posted by elizardbits at 11:06 AM on December 31, 2010

Thanks and you're right - the bigger ones just won't do.
posted by leslies at 5:08 AM on January 4, 2011