So I’m browsing around over at A Trip inside Zaldor’s World and I come across the following mini-rant about Bobbleheads:

What’s the deal with these fucking bobble-heads? Why are they suddenly so popular? I mean, you’ve got the dog (Chihuahua), popular characters (Cheech & Chong, Mighty Mouse), and I saw today on a guy’s dashboard - a Horse! They even are making Horse Jockey Bobbleheads - Give me a fucking break! Are these the new fucking collectible stuffed animals?? Dunno, I just don’t see the appeal. But hey, everyone has their own fucking opinion

This got me to thinking about the history of the bobblehead in part because they’ve been around for as long as I can remember and they suddenly seem to have become popular once more. Turns out these rather unique collectibles got their start in China, of all places, back in the 1600’s where they were made out of paper mache. They first became popular in America in the 1950’s and from the various newspaper accounts I’ve been able to dig up they regained their popularity in 1999 after being given away as a promotional item by MLBs San Francisco Giants and have gone on to become the current hottest sports collectible.

The folks at BD&A The Bobblehead Experts are behind most of the popular designs showing up at the various ballparks these days and the bobbleheads they produce are different from the classical bobbleheads in that they are designed to look like actual individuals and are made out of plastic as opposed to the earliest American collectibles being made out of ceramic. They do more than sports figures as well as their website has a page devoted to various licensed and custom bobbleheads. Bobbleheads based on various Nintendo characters, the characters from Rudolph, various WWF wrestlers, and various Star Wars characters, among others. These new bobbleheads seem set to be around for awhile so if you don’t like them, get used to being disgusted a lot as you’ll be seeing a lot of them.