To Squish or not to Squish; The Squishmallow Fandom

Some O.G Squishmallows

The Beginning of a Craze 

    Have you ever seen the plushies that have been taking over the world recently? Meet the Squishmallows; a Kelly toy line that debuted in 2017 and is now in over 55 countries. (1). According to the official Squishmallows website, they were named the #1 bestselling toy by the NPD and honored seven toy of the year awards by the Toy Association. Around the COVID-19 times is where the Squishmallows became overly popular with not only the children, but for adults! In any store you go to, you're sure to find these little guys hanging around. Either in original plush form or on a notebook, they have made their mark in our culture and their fans are obsessed. 

Taking Over Socials & The Media 

(1) Oh god. They’re converging 😱 : squishmallow (reddit.com)
    Throughout all social media platforms, you will find dozens of groups that trade and sell these little guys. Across all platforms you could find groups that trade, sell, and collect. Some groups have specific rules that must be followed. Some groups like this could be found on Facebook or Reddit. If you don't want to sell, there's groups that like to show off their collections or put the mallows in certain predicaments. In the picture above, all the axolotls are joined around one little baby one and worshiping it. A few links have been linked to join these groups.



Squad App
     A quick google search as well and you will find the Master List | Squishmallows Wiki | Fandom of all Squishmallows ever made by the lovers of the mallows. If there was one you've wanted to find more information on, this is the website for you. Fans as well created multiple apps to track your collection count, naming one as the SquadApp Squishmallows Database. With this app, you could track every mallow you have collected and what size it is in the collection. Not only that, but you can list which mallows you are in search for! With dozens of fans interacting with this app, there's a feature that lets you see what stores just restocked on which Squishmallows in your region. 



The Human Claw Machine 

    VidCon 2022 brought the Mallow fandom together and had an event where people waited in line to become a human claw in a huge pile of Squishmallows! The line for this event was extremely long filled with fans. Fans waited over four hours to see if they would get the chance at the human claw machine and had about 20 seconds to grab whatever ONE mallow they can. Some Squishmallows were either super rare, or even unreleased. 


YouTube Mallow Collectors & Trading 

    Dozens of youtubers are joining in on the craze and making videos about their experiences about collecting. Here, I'll be explaining a few. 

    This is Olivia. She collects Squishmallows, but also goes to trunk show meets and trades her little guys for new ones. Trunk shows have grown very popular with the Squishmallow fandom. Most shows let you trade with anyone with a car setup, or you can straight up go and buy one off of someone if you please. That decision is all up to the seller. Here's a YouTuber creating her car booth sale. 



Custom Mallows 

Fans have also taken a very creative turn and have started to custom make their own Suishmallows. People have made a variety of different kinds of customs, and you can find a bunch of these on Instagram. Here are some links!
    Fans are taking their skills by storm and creating their own besties! Searching on YouTube, you'll find a bunch of different tutorials on how to make different custom Mallows. Here is a very cool tutorial on how this person made two of them! With this tutorial, they used an already created Squishmallow and disassembled it. This one creates their own two completely by scratch!     
    Referencing FroggyCrossing again, she uploaded a video that explains her completely crocheting plushies that are inspired by Squishmallows. This is the experience.
Strawberry Dragon
    Another Youtuber named Graveyard Loon created costumes for the Mallows to wear. If you click here, you'll be able to see how he did this no-sew activity.



           My Attachment 

    Its easy to say that I have a strong attachment to these guys. Growing up, I never really had a true hobby. I love to crochet but can get tired of it after a while. I was gifted Ella the unicorn in 2019 by an old friend and that is when I all started for me. After receiving Ella, I bought Lola the unicorn. After that the list gets blurry, but needless to say my collection has grown to 63 best friends as of May 8th. 20 of them have been gifted to me deceiving boyfriend because they are all coming with me to my new apartment with him. Personally, I collect them because of how much comfort they bring me when I am in the most terrible mood. The stress the past couple of weeks has been rough to go through. I've been bringing a mallow with me to classes as an extra way of support. They are soft and easily huggable. Everyone who knows me understands that this is my favorite hobby. I love walking into different stores to go Squishmallow hunting. It doesn't help that I work right across a TJ MAXX and can easily see them through the window. I've gotten my boss, Sara into collecting them and she has almost 40! 

The Fans Live On

    The Squishmallow craze doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Every day, new Mallows are being found and added into the Squad App, and dozens of trunk sales and videos are going up daily about them. You'll never run out of content to look at! People are feeding into the Squishmallows and (as we hope) don't end up like the Beanie Babies. Which Squish are you adding into your collection? 

                                                                Work Cited 

“About squishmallows.” Squishmallows, 20 Apr. 2023, https://squishmallows.com/index.php/about-squishmallows/.

Gularte, Alejandra. “Diving Headfirst into Squishmallows at Vidcon.” Vulture, 29 June 2022, https://www.vulture.com/2022/06/vidcon-2022-squishmallows-human-claw-machine.html.

Cucco, Jackie. O.G Squishmallows. 2021 https://thetoyinsider.com/squishmallows-collectors-guide-news/


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