Not every toy gets acquainted with the National Toy Hall of Fame before it's even chalked up its first sale.

	Bedbuggs, left to right: Skiddy, Long John, Pittsbugg, Fannie, Jammie Click photo for larger image.

But "Bedbuggs," a line of little plush dolls created in a Sewickley art gallery, are enjoying early exposure at the Rochester, N.Y., center for toy icons.

Under a special arrangement, the Pittsburgh-based entrepreneurs who conceived the toys have supplied early drawings and prototypes to the Toy Hall of Fame so it can chronicle how Bedbuggs evolved, how well they sell and whether they'll ever join the ranks of Barbie, Legos, Mr. Potato Head and other staples of America's toy culture already enshrined there.

"They think and hope they have the next Beanie Babies and we would love for that to be the case," said Chris Bensch, vice president for collections at the Strong Museum, which includes the Toy Hall of Fame.

Of course, there's no guarantee the colorful, five-inch-high creatures will be a success, he cautioned. "They might also be, 'Wasn't that a great idea?' that didn't go far."

Bedbuggs are the brainchild of Tom Mosser, an illustrator and former Pirate Parrot mascot, and David Noble, a painter and US Airways flight dispatcher.

The pair recently launched sales of the Bedbuggs on the Internet and have about 50,000 in stock and ready for distribution to 500 specialty retailers.

Locally, they will be on the shelves at S.W. Randall Toyes & Giftes, with four locations in the city; Gram & Gramps in Bethel Park and Pine; and Knickerbocker Toys in Mars.

There are five different Bedbuggs characters available, including Pittsbugg, a fan of the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates who wears black and gold.

The Bedbuggs' mouths are velcro so they can be attached to backpacks, hats or other items. They retail for $5.99 apiece or $24 for a set of five.

Mosser, the creative force behind the venture, already has developed ideas and sketches for new characters in hopes the company, Biteables LLC, will generate enough interest to launch an ongoing series of collectibles.

The company also is developing tie-in products such as stories and interactive games about the Bedbuggs.

At their Web site, accessible at either www.biteables.com or www.bedbuggs.com, visitors can listen to the stories via broadband or dial-up Internet connections or read the texts which feature illustrations by Mosser.

The tales are geared to children. Two already published on the site focus on specific childhood anxieties: being afraid of the dark and adjusting to a new school. The Bedbuggs play significant roles in the stories as favorite toys that help the children overcome such fears.

"We perceive them as little guardian angels for kids that can go on their backpacks or their baseball caps" and help them cope with their fears, said Mosser.

He acknowledged the creators were inspired by successful plush collectibles such as the Care Bears, which feature a variety of personality types and which appeal to adults in the family as well as kids.

The partners declined to disclose how much they have invested in the start-up but said they used their own funds and capital from private individuals to finance production at Zhejiang Cathaya International, a Chinese factory that makes and exports plush toys. The first shipment arrived recently at Moulton Logistics in Van Nuys, Calif., which will warehouse and distribute the toys.

Rob Cox, a manufacturers' representative who specializes in toys and is handling retail placement for Biteables in the Pittsburgh region, said he is focusing on specialty children's stores because the Bedbuggs "would get lost at the Wal-Marts, the Kmarts and Toys R Us."

"They're not huge but they're a powerful little item."

Cox believes they have staying power because there are new characters in the pipeline. "We see a lot of one-hit wonders. The key is to have something to keep retailers excited about the future."

With only a few weeks left in the intense holiday shopping season, Biteables' partners are focusing largely on the American International Toy Fair, the biggest trade event in the toy industry scheduled for February at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York. They hope by then to have five or six new characters to exhibit.

Mosser and Noble attended the toy fair last year, even though Bedbuggs were still in the development stage.

That's where they hooked up with Bensch of the Toy Hall of Fame. A few months later, Bensch said, Mosser and Noble showed up at his museum "with everything from their first doodles on diner place mats to prototypes and examples of the very first pre-production run that they bankrolled themselves."

"We thought this was a neat opportunity to get a personal glimpse of how a couple entrepreneurs conceived of a product and where it goes," Bensch said.

It takes decades for a toy to qualify for the hall of fame, which includes 31 "things that have persisted for generations -- American icons that are easily recognizable," he said.

This year's inductees were GI Joe, The Rocking Horse and a board game, Scrabble.

"Any of these things [in our collection] you can hardly imagine growing up in America without, whether it's Crayola crayons, jump ropes, jacks or bicycles,'' Bensch said. "They are part of the fabric of our culture."

For now, Biteables would be happy to chew on even a tiny fraction of the plush toy market, which generated $1.4 billion in sales in 2003, according to NPD Group of Port Washington, N.Y., which tracks the toys and games industry.

Whether they can is up to consumers, said the Toy Hall of Fame's Bensch.

"The American marketplace is going to be the judge of that, I think."