- Mighty Beanz
-
Mighty Beanz Type Toy Inventor Unknown Company Moose Enterprises Availability 2002-2006, 2010-– Slogan Play 'em Race 'em Collect 'em Official website Mighty Beanz are collectible toys manufactured by Moose Enterprises, a corporation headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Moose launched Mighty Beanz in the Australian market in 2002; the toy launched in the United States that summer.
An individual Mighty Bean is a three dimensional ovaloid with small flat circular ends on either side, rather like a large plastic capsule, approximately one inch long. The beans are characterized by a small metal ball inside which is free to move about the capsule. Each Bean is decorated with a character's likeness—usually an animal, a monster or a caricatured human. Besides the five main series of Mighty Beanz, Moose also produced licensed Beanz based on Marvel superheroes, The Simpsons, Pokémon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Mighty Beanz have become a large collector's commodity and prices vary on sites such as Ebay based on rarity of the Beanz.
Some Mighty Beanz caricature famous people, such as Elvis Presley (#1, "Rock N' Roll Bean"); Hulk Hogan (#18, "Tuff Bean"); Steve Irwin (#86, "Bush Ranger Bean"); Leonard Nimoy (#105, "Space Trek Bean"); Pamela Anderson (#165, "Life Saver Bean"); and Jimi Hendrix (#177, "Rock Legend Bean").
The original first five "series" of Mighty Beanz were designed by Melbourne Illustrator Mark Sheard. As a little nod to the illustrator his image was immortalised on #59 "Data Bean".
2010 relaunch
In 2010, Moose Enterprise relaunched Mighty Beanz with a completely new range of collectibles. The brand new "Series 1" contains over 100 Beanz, including ultra-rare "Mega Beanz" which are shorter and wider than regular Beanz, and are said by Moose to have more unpredictable movement. "Mega Beanz" are only found in 6-packs. The relaunch also sees the return of a Mighty Beanz Collector Case capable of holding 50 Beanz and a new Flip Track product which can be found in three different colors. Both the collector case and Flip Track come with special limited edition beanz. The super-rare Mighty Moose Bean also returns with only 1000 of them found in each country randomly mixed into other Mighty Beanz packs.
The Mighty Beanz range is sold in 3-packs, 6-packs, and 10-packs. A 3-pack contains 1 rare bean and 2 common beans; a 6-pack contains a "Mega Bean", 1 rare bean, and 4 common beanz; and a 10-pack contains 8 commons, 1 rare and an Ultra Rare Mega Bean.
Star Wars Beanz and (the remake of) Marvel Beanz were released in August 2010. Star Wars can be stored in the Darth Vader tin and Marvel can be stored in the Spider-Man tin. As of January 2011, DC Universe Mighty Beanz have also been released, as well as Cars 2 Mighty Beanz in May.
Series 3 was released in December 2010 in Australia & April 2011 in North America. With the relaunch some "Special Edition" beanz have been released. Square Mighty Beanz can be obtained instead of a "Mega Bean". Two special edition beanz are guaranteed in a collector's case, which are sold along with Mighty Beanz. One special edition bean is also included with each of the three flip tracks available. The Mighty Moose Bean has also been re-released with a thousand made, as a "Space Moose Bean". Series 4 was released in 2011. Instead of a "Mega Bean" you may get a triangular bean. The coming of series 4 included 25-packs called "can of beanz" and two new tracks making four in total. The new tracks are "Raging Rapids" and "Gravity Buster." In 2011 Moose released the Mighty Beanz Machinez accessory, which are vehicles in which individual beanz could be put into.
External links
Categories:- Toys of the 2000s
- 2002 introductions
- Toy brands
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
