My mother originally bought this Ty Beanie Buddy Lips the Fish for my terrier, Scrappy, as she thought he might like a toy. However, Scrappy had different ideas. He was adopted from a rescue group, so we don't know his history, but he completely ignored the toy and has never learned to play with any toys. Thus, this fish sat unused in a basket until my 2 year old daughter was born and we pulled out all the stuffed animals to see if she would like any of them. Apparently, she doesn't like this fish either, though she does enjoy some of the other stuffed animals that were originally purchased for Scrappy!

About the Toy
This fish is one funky guy. As you can see from the photo below (the one above the review of the crab is wrong! please scroll down to the bottom to see the Related Links photo), he has an orange and purple polka-dotted body, blue side fins, purple top fin, pink back fins, and rainbow "tie-dye" patterned face and tail. He also has bright red lips.

If you squeeze him, he feels pretty empty, like he wasn't stuffed properly. Also, the bean bag portion of his belly feels gigantic compared to our other Ty plush animal, the Ty Pluffies Gilly the Fish. I'd say Lips the Fish has bean bags making up 1/3 of his body (maybe 5" wide by 2" tall). Thus, the Lips fish is not as soft and cuddly. Instead, this reminds me of the typical stuffed animals I grew up with or that you win in a carnival game. It's a rougher fabric surface, the filling isn't as squishable, and the seams look a little more crooked/less precise. It's 13" long so it's also larger than some of our other stuffed animals.

The little tag, which I never cut off, claims this was handmade in China and that Lips is one of the first summer show exclusives, which "makes him very rare and valuable." The copyright year is 1999 and I believe my mother bought this in 2002 when we first adopted our dog.

Seriously? I know people used to pay hundreds of dollars for Beanie Babies and/or Beanie Buddies, but this thing is seriously ugly. I never even heard of Beanie Buddies, but I suspect they are larger cousins of the tiny Beanie Babies.

Finally, these are surface washable only.

Our experience
Anyhow, I thought maybe toddlers would like the bright colors. Instead, my daughter ignores it as well. When I was cleaning up some toys, I found it and decided to try to set it in front of her again now that she's two. She went so far as to push it off the couch, so she wouldn't even have to look at it. How is that for a statement?

Thus, I'd say, save your money unless you're a die hard Beanie Baby/Beanie Buddy fan or like loud, garish colored fish.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): gift - $10?
Type of Toy: Stuffed Toy
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months