The Gingerbread Gentleman That Has Taken Twitter By Storm
I spoke with Devin Silva of the MASSIVELY MEMEIFIED Beanie Baby keychain Cookie, the Tickle Me Elmo of 2024.
It started with a tweet, as it often does.
I saw Twitter user fartpog1 (aka
)’s post about adopting this cheery, crumbly little cookie keychain from their local CVS thanks to a quote retweet that said “this is how some of yall be pickin boyfriends,” which I sent to my friend Sam to razz her about her extras-in-a-Tim-Burton-claymation-movie-ass love interests and mine, which are worse. We laughed, I moved on to retweet more Conclave shitposts, but then I kept seeing Cookie on my timeline…Cookie came out the oven and was GOBBLED up by the girls, gays, and theys left on Twitter. (We exist.) Cookie has been turned into fan art, has gone through NUMEROUS restocks on the official Ty website, likely confounded several key stakeholders there with his thundering success, and made a late-stage Twitter icon out of Devin, who didn’t expect any of this but is gamely along for the ride. If you have migrated to Bluesky or were never on Twitter, you have no idea how prevalent this has become. People (ahem me) have taken to finding websites that have Cookies with janky defect keychain hooks because Cookie keeps selling out. A memecoin (no, I don’t know what that is) was created. There is a counterfeit Cookie account. (A cookiefeit, if you will.) There are TikToks. Move over Brat Summer, here comes Cookie Christmas. I spoke with Cookie’s proud parent Devin about this whirlwind cultural craze.
Hi, Devin! What are you and Cookie up to today? Tell him I’m a massive fan.
We’re hanging with friends today! I think we’re doing some Christmas-related activities, which is very fitting for our new member of the group.
Tell me a little bit about you. Where are you based, how old are you, what is your day gig outside of being Cookie’s legal guardian?
My name is Devin of course, I turned 18 this past July, and I live in Washington! Born in California, though. I work in retail saving up for newly adult responsibilities such as a car and future apartment I’ll be getting with my favorite cousin. I also eventually want to go to college for social working. I spend a lot of time chatting with friends, listening to music, watching films, and going on long drives.
What was your experience with Beanie Babies as a kid?
I think the first Beanie Baby I ever got myself was a small white owl with bright blue eyes on a keychain2, just like Cookie. I cared for it like my own child back then as well. I miss it, no idea where it is now!
Tell me about the day you met Cookie. Where were you, what went through your head, what other errands did you complete that day, give us the backstory to this iconic moment in Tystory.
After work (I got off at 11:30 PM), my older sister, Alexis, picked me up to hang out with me. We drove around doing some Uber Eats orders to make a few extra bucks, and just to have something to do. Eventually my sister had to use the restroom and also wanted to find a specific kind of tweezers that CVS had, so we stopped at the only 24 hour CVS in our area. We walked around for a bit and decided to get some ice cream. It was oddly locked in a freezer, and we had to wait 5+ minutes to get help. While we waited, I turned around and saw a stand of Beanie Babies, with a hoard of Cookies. My first thought was of how weird they looked, with their unproportionate facial features and odd pose. And being my dramatic self, I immediately started saying “ew” over and over. Me and my sister laughed, and she joked about how I must’ve hurt his feelings because he has a soul. I started tearing up at the thought, and I held him close to my heart and took him with me to the checkout counter immediately after we got our ice cream… and then 2 minutes later I dropped him in the rainy parking lot (immediately picked him up of course).
What have you gleaned of his backstory from your conversations together?
I think Cookie is a young boy. He had parents in the Ty facility but they abandoned him, and he was sent away. He waited everyday on that peg stand hoping for someone to take him to his forever home, and I’m glad I was able to be that person.
Cookie’s birthday is listed in his little tag as December 5. That makes him a Sagittarius. Do you think he aligns with his star sign and how? Has he revealed his moon and rising to you?
I don’t know a whole lot about other star signs than my own, but I believe them. It says Sagittarians are typically fun-loving, optimistic, friendly and adventurous people. I think that heavily applies to him. We always go out together, and soon we’ll have free time to go on real adventures. He has so many friends across the world who love and adore him. He always has the happiest and most content smile on his face, what’s not to love? And about his moon and rising; it’s hard to get the correct information since I don’t know the exact time he was born, but maybe I could eventually track it down3...
Do you feel like Cookie is your little brother, son, best friend, foster cookie? Not to ask you to define the relationship but...define the relationship.
Ever since the moment I realized I needed him, I viewed him as my son. He is my little guy. All of my friends are his aunties and uncles as well, and their own Cookie’s are cousins.
How did you learn that Ty had been made aware of Cookie’s recent fame?
First, a lot of my mutuals and followers kept tagging the company’s account, telling them to sponsor me and whatnot. Then, they posted about how he was sold out over and over, and then I saw they followed me back! It was really funny watching everything go down. Eventually they noticed everybody wanting recognition, so they posted their own thank you towards me! It’s still crazy to see, like…that’s Ty.
What has been your favorite moment(s) of recognition so far - a piece of fan art, a shoutout from Ty, a funny tweet about him?
The first piece of fanart made for Cookie will always stick with me. It was created by user @C0ffeegg, like the morning after I posted it.
I had never had art dedicated towards me that wasn’t made by a friend! Then, they posted another drawing after theirs went viral as well. It included me! Green hair and all! It made me laugh and tear up, feeling loved. Finally, they posted their final(?) doodle of Cookie and the singer of one of my favorite bands (I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, aka IDKHOW). That one4 might be the coolest, because they really took their time to get to know what I love. Other things were Tiktok edits, more doodles, and hundreds of people showing me their own Cookie’s! I’ve gotten a ton of messages of people telling me how much my posts have brightened their day, and it means more than I can say.
Why do you think people love Cookie, and how you found him? Why do you think this moment of you picking up this tiny stuffed man in a store took off and affected people, endeared them to you and your growing relationship with him?
I think people really relate to feeling such strong emotions towards inanimate objects. As a lot of people have mentioned, it’s a very common trait amongst neurodivergent people. We feel such strong emotions towards everything, that we feel like everything has a soul that deserves love. I also think we all needed something silly to talk about during these rough times across the globe. He’s practically a symbol of happiness now. I love it.
If you could design a Beanie Baby thanks to your newfound connection to Ty, like a Devin Drop collab, what would it be. Mine would be an E*MO*TION commemorative bear to honor the rich cultural contributions of Carly Rae Jepsen. Or ones of my tiny cat children, though then I’d have to buy every single one because those are MY children not anyone else's.
I think I would choose either a replica of my own cat, Charlie (the one I posted a pic of with Cookie) with his iconic mustache. Either that or maybe some kind of green creature.. whether it’s a green gingerbread person or some kind of alien. I’m not sure they make humans, but that would be cool too. A special collab. OR: I’d propose a Garfield collab where it’s Garfield dressed as different musicians or something, idk. (Biased on a Djo option). That would be an instant purchase for me. But I’m grateful for anything I receive from them, which includes some kind of shirt package! They dm’ed me earlier asking for my shirt size. I am very excited.
I feel very thankful and blessed to have such an amazing opportunity like this. Thank you to everyone who has been so kind and loving.
Thank you, Devin! You can get a Cookie of your very own, if he’s not sold out, on the Ty official webstore. This post was not sponsored in any way by Ty but it should be!!!
TG here with a footnote: Ty should include this on the tags now. We’re in 2024. We’re astrology gays. Get with it!!!
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Not being on Twitter, I missed this entire phenomenon so you are doing hero’s work by bringing it to our attention!
This is awesome, Devin is my daughter, she was so excited to show me everything that has happened since she posted this guy.. thank you for interviewing her!