The History of the Beanworld Action Figure

Chapter Five

The Beanworld Action Figures were becoming a convention institution. I wrote about them in the letter column of TOTB #10. If you click on the photo above --it should enlarge and you can read about a typical convention cold encounter with an attendee and the subsequent conversion into a Beanworld fan.

For some deeply inexplicable reason, I never pre-made Beanworld Action Figures. I always liked to make them right at the show. So that they were "Made this morning. Fresh out of the bag!" I really liked being able to say that. First thing each and every morning at conventions, as I manned my station in Artists Alley and gulped down a hot cup of black coffee, I'd get out my trusty technical pens and start manufacturing Beanworld Action Figures.

By 1988 there were three faces. Somewhere along the line I added a "sleepy' bean. And continue the tongue-in-cheek silliness of the joke I gave them "trade names."

The original bean was now "Brite Eyes."
Angry bean became "Fightin' Mad."

The new sleepy bean was named "Snoozy."

The fact that these Beanworld Action Figures had absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with Tales of the Beanworld continuity (so far anyway) didn't seem to matter one iota to anyone--including me. They were quickly becoming a comic book convention institution and I began to have some trouble keeping up with the demand!

Three faces meant three times as many figures were needed. For the first year or so, one bag of beans from the grocery store would be plenty. Then it was two bags, then three bags. Now that folks were encouraged to "Collect all three" the little Tupperware dish seemed to need replenishing three times as fast.