By Eric Broder and Sue Broder
Answer: INSIGHT

Each of the provided poems describes an animal. Specifically, they describe a Beanie Baby, as suggested both by the title of the puzzle and the flavor text (suggesting both fads and collecting). Each of these animals was only produced once as a Beanie Baby.

The poems are stylistically similar to the poems on the tags for Beanie Babies, and in fact contain the same number of words in each line as the original poem. In each poem, one word is in the same position as it occurred in the original poem, highlighted here:

Beanie Baby Puzzle poem Original poem
Patti the Platypus

Went INTO the Outback for a thrill

Spotted a creature with duck’s bill

Waddling her way through the lake

Wanting to hide to avoid a snake!

Ran INTO Patti one day while walking

Believe me she wouldn’t stop talking

Listened and listened to her speak

That would explain her extra large beak!

Twitterbug the Cicada

You hear us as nighttime falls

You think we’re crickets with their chirpy calls

Some years we all make NOISE obscene

Then we die, it’s our routine!

Once every dozen years or more

It’s time for me to hit the door

I make a lot of NOISE because

That is what a cicada does!

Buzzy the Buzzard

Moving through a SKY that’s sunny and bright

Scouting where I’ll go for a bite

Where dead meat lays upon the ground

That’s the place where I will be found!

Up in the SKY is where I fly

I love to soar way up high

When I swoop down, don’t run away

’cause all I want to do is play!

Sledge the Hammerhead Shark

Sometimes you see me swimming in a school

Thinking I’m quite a tool

If you look and see my fin glide

You’ll want to disappear INSIDE!

Of all the sharks to swim the sea

The most unusual is me

My head is flat, my eyes are wide

But I am beautiful INSIDE!

Glow the Lightning Bug

I’m easily spotted though I don’t make sound

Because I flicker to help GUIDE you around

I’m always flashing so you can see

To chase around and try to catch me!

To find me when you want to play

Look for my light to GUIDE the way

I’ll be the brightest in the park

I’m the Beanie that glows in the dark!

Hornsly the Triceratops

With three HORNS I looked so odd

The frill completed an awesome bod

To keep my health I didn’t eat meat

My species still went down in defeat!

I have HORNS, I’m quite a sight

Some people run away in fright

But I don’t want to scare you away

All I want to do is play!

Tracker the Basset Hound

Known for TRACKING with my nose

Not too tall from head to toes

With sagging skin and drooping ears

I get excited as the rabbit nears!

Sniffing and TRACKING and following trails

Tracker the basset always wags his tail

It doesn’t matter what you do

He’s always happy when he’s with you!

Reading the first letter of each word in order yields the answer, INSIGHT.