Kicks the Bear

Kicks was the first Beanie Baby bear made to represent a sport. His sport is soccer, and he wears an embroidered soccer ball on the chest of a lime-green body. Ty released him on 1 January 1999 and retired him on 23 December 1999, so his whole production run fits inside a single year. He is style 4229, stands 8.75 inches, and carries a birthday of 16 August 1998. He was issued with a fifth generation swing tag and a seventh generation tush tag, so a different generation on either tag is a reason to look harder.

That short run still put him on a magazine cover. Beanie Mania featured Kicks on the front of its April/May 1999 issue, a few months after his release.

Counterfeit Kicks exist, and the fabric is the first check. An authentic bear is lime green where a fake runs neon green, brighter and harsher than the real colour. The counterfeit head is larger than it should be. The nose is the most reliable tell of the three. On a genuine Kicks it sits at the centre point where the three seams of the face meet, while a fake's nose is too pointed and is placed above the seams instead.

The one documented oddity is a Kicks that left the factory without the embroidered soccer ball on his chest. With the ball missing, the lime-green fabric and the nose position are the checks left to confirm what you have.