Hans Beck Playmobil. During the World Expo 2000 in Hannover, Beck was among the 100 German personalities who were honored with a statue within the German Pavilion. He died at the age of 79 on 30 January 2009 after a serious illness. Hans Beck Hans Beck (6 May 1929, Greiz – 30 January 2009, Markdorf) was the German inventor of Playmobil toys. He is thus often called "The Father of Playmobil". Born in Greiz, Thuringia, Beck grew up in the town of Zirndorf. He trained as a cabinet maker and made small toy vehicles and figures for his younger siblings. He presented
Stuffed toy and robotic plush toys were fads when they were first released. These include Tickle Me Elmo, a laughing and shaking plush toy based on the character Elmo from the Sesame Street television show, released in 1996, Furby, a robotic talking plush toy with its own language, released in 1998 and Zhu Zhu Pets, a line of robotic plush hamsters released in 2009. Some brands of stuffed toys use marketing strategies to encourage the collection of a series of stuffed toys, such as Beanie Babies. They are very popular. Webkinz stuffed animals were created by Ganz in 2005. Each Webkinz toy