Punchers is the Beanie Baby Official Club replica of the first edition of Pinchers, the lobster among the original nine Beanie Babies. The earliest Pinchers went out under the name Punchers, and this 2005 reproduction carries that first name rather than the one the lobster is known by. He is style 49025 and wears the Original 9 special swing tag with a thirteenth generation tush tag. He was given no birthday.
He was available only through the club. From 3 October 2005 to 9 March 2006, BBOC members could order replicas of the original nine. The replicas were sold in bags of nine, made up in five different assortments, and a member placing an order did not know which assortment would arrive. Each of the five assortments could hold one surprise variation of an original nine character in place of the standard replica, which brought the promotion to fourteen different Beanie Babies in all.
Punchers was the surprise in the fourth assortment. That bag held Chocolate, Flash, Legs, Splash, Squealer, Cubbie, Spot with a spot and light pink Patti, and then either Pinchers or the scarcer Punchers as the ninth. The other four assortments carried Pinchers every time and put their surprise on Patti, Spot or Cubbie instead: a raspberry Patti, a Spot without a spot, Brownie in place of Cubbie, and a deep fuchsia Patti.
That makes Punchers the scarcer of the two lobsters in the promotion. The only way to have received one was to draw the fourth assortment and then the variation within it, so a bag with the standard Pinchers replica was the more common outcome. The name is what to look for on a listing.
