[1][2] The group was introduced following the retirement of all retail Beanie Babies (barring exclusive international and store-specific styles, as well as licensed characters) that had been produced prior to 2004.
Once the buyer entered the code on Ty's website, the buyer was granted access to an online environment, in which the user could gather points and communicate with other users through chat services.
The website offered various activities, including opportunities to make friends.
For some time, the online site still maintained its functionality, and many Beanie Baby 2.0 styles still remain current.
However, many styles, such as Ming the panda bear and Topper the giraffe, now sport original Beanie Baby hang tags without codes.