Jim H. expressed some lovely sentiments about making sacrifices to buy that Special Toy for that special child. No doubt, some of those hardy souls on line at 2am to purchase Furby(s) were there for their children. But many people were there because they somehow got the idea that Furby(s) were going to be The Next Hot Toy Collectible, and they wanted to get them for that reason. They are not there buying toys, in other words, they are investing. And I think there is something perverse about that. I am also suspicious of Furby(s) because one is implored to buy multiple Furby(s) because they will interact with one another in some way.
One of our guests at T-giving dinner is a collector of beany babies (the current collectible toy). he told us a story (very funny actually) about spending $250.00 on childrens meals at McDonalds, because they came with a beany baby. Because there was a limit on how many meals one could purchase, he went to 25(!!!!!) McD's to collect them. He is angry at himself for tgrowing out the paper bag the beany baby came in, because it is now "worth" $12.00.
frances