Here are my thoughts on the Squishmallows fad. I was around during Beanie Baby mania and used to be a toy reseller on eBay and have seen toy collectibles come and go, particularly these speculation bubbles that always burst.
Collector's are emotionally invested in their Squishmallows. A baby's first toy is usually a plush animal they hold tight for comfort and security. It's a mother substitute, a transitional object that mimics her qualities, it is soft, can be cuddled & stroked, on a symbolic level it links to maternal care. Most people's childhood plushies holds tremendous sentimental value. When collrctors cuddle their Squishmallows it taps into very primal early feelings of comfort & safety. Squishmallows popularity soared during the pandemic because it helps consumers cope with the pandemic's stress & anxiety.
Another appeal is the rainbow capitalism of the brand, they've released Squishmallows as being nonbinary & having they/them pronouns, they've made ones with LGBT rainbows plastered all over, making collectors identify with their product even more. Kellytoy is owned by a much bigger toy company, Jazwares. They can claim about really caring about their customers & inclusivity all they want but at the end of the day it's all about brand appeal and maximizing profits. I'm sure they really care about the Chinese factory workers who make these plushies and their working conditions aren't horrific at all.
The other big appeal is their collectibility & value in the secondary market. With over 800 different characters to collect while urging you to "complete the squad" plastered all over their site it taps into the completionist mania of the collector. They also have "select series" small limited runs of characters only available to purchase on their site. This creates rare Squishmallows and an artificial scarcity, increasing their desirability & value. They know what they are doing, it's no longer just a plush toy but a valued collectible totally feeding into the secondary market & resellers.
This attracts people who see Squishmallows as a way to make money. So you get scalpers & shelf clearers who buy up an entire store's supply and jack up the price for resale. You get people using bot programs on websites so they have an unfair advantage of buying the rare Squishmallows first, clearing out the supply in record time and the item you just had in your cart is no longer available when you enter your payment information. This is on top of competing with the normal collectors on hunts for their personal collections. Not to mention the original intended target audience, children, getting a slimmer chance of buying the ones they want with their family on a normal shopping outing because some guy needs to add to his hoard of hundreds of Squishmallows or someone trying to make a quick buck.
Squishmallows, and to a larger extent all collectibles, are not investments they are speculations. Their value will not increase forever. Rare ones can be re-released by the company making them common and tanking their value. And like all speculative fads the bubble will eventually pop leaving people with worthless collections. Beanie Babies are the perfect example of this. Do not put any more money into them than you can afford to lose. A great book to read on this is "The Great Beanie Baby Bubble". I was around during Beanie Baby mania and nothing I've seen since has come close to that fad, EVERYONE was buying them thinking they would strike it rich.
