Interesting Facts About Furby, How Many Generations of Furbys Are There?
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What is Furby?
A Furby (plural Furbys or Furbies, according to Tiger Co.) is a popular electronic toy or robot, specifically a hamster/owl-like creature made by Tiger Electronics, which went through a period of being the "must-have" toy following its launch in the winter holiday season of 1998, with sales continuing until 2000.
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| Interesting Facts About Furby, How Many Generations of Furbys Are There? |
How many Furbies have been sold in the world?
Furbies sold 1.8 million in 1998, 14 million in 1999, and over 40 million in total during its three-year production run, with its speaking skills translated into 24 languages. Hasbro Interactive released a video game featuring the Furbies in 1998, which included numerous activities. Furbies were the first successful attempt at creating and selling a programmed robot.
In 2005, new Furbies were produced, featuring voice recognition and more complicated facial movements, among other upgrades and improvements. They frequently made the mistake of repeating words said around them. This assumption is most likely based on the fact that caressing the Furby anytime it says specific pre-programmed words or phrases causes it to speak them more frequently. As a result of this myth, some spy agencies barred them from their offices.
How much is a Furby?
In 2001, David Hampton and Caleb Chung created the Furby, a McDonalds toy with a bright blue coat. The toy took around nine months to create, with an additional nine months spent on design. That was the amount of time between Tiger Electronics' interest in his interactive creatures, during which Roger Schiffman acquired the rights, and when they hit shop shelves. Furby made his first public debut at the International Toy Fair in 1998. Furbys were originally priced around US$35 and sold out quickly in toy stores.
The demand for these toys during the 1998 holiday season pushed the resale price above $100, occasionally reaching several hundred dollars. Furbies sold for more than $300 in newspapers and at auctions. They were given nicknames, and the merchants assigned them values. Some people still refer to their Furbies as 'wedding Furby', 'tuxedo Furby','snowball Furby', 'biker Furby', and so on. Sellers dubbed them all rare since they were so hard to find at the time. Some merchants at the time cheated customers out of a lot of money without even providing them with a Furby, demonstrating the high demand for even one.
Parental disputes, debates, and fights increased as Furbies became more popular, and when retail supplies ran out, parents went to the Internet, where Furbies could be purchased for two, three, or more times the retail price. As a result of this action, many parents ended up shopping on eBay.
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Interesting Facts About Furby
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1. A US security agency has banned Furby
The National Security Agency was not a fan of Furby and banned the popular toy at its Maryland headquarters. According to a 1999 CNN piece, the concern was that Furbies would record and potentially repeat classified information. (In Furbish, possibly.)
| Revival The new Emoto-Tronic Furby, released in 2005, reintroduced Furbies. The Emoto-Tronic Furby's rising emotional realism has spawned a variety of Furby-inspired special interest groups. These societies aim to incorporate aspects of the Furby experience into human society. The most visible of these groups are Furbish-to-English translators and Furby adoption services. |
2. You can say more than 100 words in Furby-speak
Furbish, of course, is the Furby's native language; it first speaks just Furbish but gradually incorporates English into its vocabulary as its owner speaks to it more. A 2005 English-to-Furbish dictionary listed 121 words, including diamond ("ay-koo"), monster ("moh-moh"), and whassup? ("doo-oo-tye?"). Hey, that was the 1990s.
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| These are typical Furbish pharses. Wee-tah-kah-loo-loo: Tell me a joke Wee-tah-kah-wee-loo: Tell me a story wee-tee-kah-wah-tee: Sing me a song, u-nye-loo-lay-doo: Would you like to play? u-nye-ay-tay-doo?: Are you hungry? u-nye-boh-doo?: How are you? u-nye-way-loh-nee-way: Go to sleep now. u-nye-noh-lah: Show me a dance! |
| Furbies may say the following Furbish words: doo: What? (Furbies say this when called.) doo-dah: Yes (furbies respond to an order before doing it) boo: No (Furbies say this when they don't want to follow an instruction) yoo?: Why are you not playing with me today? (This usually indicates that the Furby is angry) |
3. Designers were concerned that it would look too "girly"
Though the Furby was initially aimed toward young girls, Tiger Electronics, which created the toy, wanted it to appeal to guys as well. What's the solution? Give Furbys the capacity to burp and fart.
There are numerous specific sorts of Furbies.
Hasbro wasn't satisfied with normal Furbies. Among the special Furbies that debuted between 1998 and 2002 were Wizard Furby, Santa Furby, Jester Furby, President Furby, Kid Cuisine Furby, and Hi-C Furby. In 2015, Hasbro launched a $80 Star Wars tie-in called "Furbacca."
4. There is a Furby movie developed specifically for television
While preparations for a film have been postponed, you may whet your appetite with Furby Island, a 45-minute TV special about a girl and her family who travel to Furby Island and must save its residents from the evil Doctor Conquest. (The graphics are somewhat disturbing.)
5. One of the newest Furbies costs only $10
The Furblets Ooh-Koo Mini Friends are one of the newest Furbies to hit the shelves—small Furby toys meant to attach easily onto a backpack, allowing kids to take them wherever they want. These Furblets are under $10, making them an excellent stocking stuffer for young children. They can even harmony with other Furblets if you get a few this Christmas season.
Generations of Furby
1998 Furby
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The first, most iconic, and most popular Furby to date. These little fellas, released for the 1998 Christmas shopping season, started the "robotic pet" trend that still exists today.
Pros:
• Most commonly available throughout generations.
• The largest color selection, with 48 standard editions and 19 special editions!
• Most parts are non-destructively removable and replaceable for cleaning and customization.
Cons:
• Older and substandard manufacture might cause breakage.
• In-demand colors (e.g. Flamingo) and special editions may be more expensive.
• "Vintage" status can lead to inflated items from unsuspecting sellers.Furby Baby
Furby Babies
The pint-sized successor to the original Furby, were roughly 20% smaller, with higher-pitched vocals and a bigger vocabulary.
Pros:
• Furby-like fun in a smaller package!
• Better build quality and less prone to breakage (based on my experience).
• Capable of pronouncing other phrases, such as "Mama" and "Dada"- too precious!
Cons:
• Limited availability and higher cost compared to adult Furbys, even if not excessively priced.
Furby Buddy
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Buddies are still popular among collectors, despite the fact that they are technically Furby products rather than full-fledged Furbys. They're little Furby-shaped bean bags, and special editions can speak when squeezed.
Pros:
• Normal editions are sturdy, portable, and silent, making them ideal for travel.
• They can be used to create customs, such as "oddbodies" (a Furby face on a non-Furby body), as the entire face is made of plastic.
Cons:
• Limited Furby functionality, lacking mechanics and "learning" capabilities.
Shelby
Shelby is Furby's aquatic relative. They communicate in their own new language, Shelbish, and may open and close their shells based on their mood. Shelby marked the start of a protracted downturn in sales and popularity for the Furby brand; reviewers and consumers alike saw them as "just another Furby," and production halted after only one year.
Pros:
• Unique design among Furby releases
• Exclusive ability to talk Shelbish, Furbish, English, and Pirate-themed words.
Cons:
• High cost and limited availability due to low sales volume.
• There is little information available online about cleaning and repair.
Friends of Furby
While not part of the official Furby line-up, Tiger Electronics exploited the technology behind Furby to develop tie-in toys for two popular movies at the time: Gizmo from Gremlins and E.T. from E.T the Extra-Terrestrial. They were marketed as "Friends of Furby" since they could speak with the complete Furby range as well as one another. They functioned nearly identically to the original Furby from 1998, but with a different appearance, voice, and language to match the characters they portrayed.
Pros:
• Unique approach to the original Furby technology, like a parallel universe.
• Engaging interaction with normal Furbys.
Cons:
• Difficult to clean and repair owing to unique shapes.
• Not suitable for all Furby fans due to non-furby-like appearance.
Emoto-tronic Furby
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Even though Hasbro had been Tiger Electronics' parent company since 1998, the Emoto-tronic Furby, debuted in 2005, was the first to bear Hasbro's name rather than Tiger's. It was able to produce more realistic facial expressions and detect a variety of user-spoken phrases. Unfortunately, it was a commercial flop, owing to competition from the recently debuted FurReal Friends brand of toys.
Pros:
• The only Furby with an off switch, extending battery life and removing the need to remove batteries for breaks.
• Softer fur than the originals and the largest Furby to date.
Cons:
• Rare and expensive on the second-hand market due to low sales. • Soft rubber beak prone to tearing and shrinkage at low humidity levels.
• Most parts, including the fur, cannot be easily removed for cleaning or customization.
2005 Furby Baby
In 2005, Furby Babies were modified with entire legs rather than feet, making them the only Furby with this feature. Like the Emoto-tronic Furbys, they could make more realistic facial expressions and "drink" from a bottle. However, they possessed a far lower vocabulary and no voice recognition.
Pros: • Unique appearance.
Cons: • Limited involvement.
Funky Furby
The Funky Furby, an updated version of the Emoto-tronic Furby, was released in 2006. The new features were a long tail, vivid new colors, and the ability to sing three new songs and dance to the user's music. Unfortunately, due to poor sales, the first Emoto-tronic was only offered outside of the United States for around three months. As a result, they are currently the rarest and most costly Furbys in the US market, with the exception of ultra limited editions like the Kid Cuisine Furby.
Pros: • Includes all the features of the original Emoto-tronic, plus additional tunes.
Cons: • Cannot communicate with original Emoto-tronic or 2005 Furby Babies.
2012 Furby
This is extremely rare and pricey (2012 model).
Following the financial failure of the Emoto-tronic Furby, Hasbro went all out for their second attempt to rekindle Furby enthusiasm. The 2012 Furby has black-and-white LCD eyes that could show a range of expressions, the capacity to create six different personalities, and an app that could be used to "wash", "feed", and play in the virtual world. It was a triumph, with several reviews calling it "the best Furby yet".
Pros:
• The cheapest Furby on the second-hand market
• Capable of developing multiple personas, including voice and behavior changes.
Cons:
• App is no longer accessible for download.
• High-pitched chirps are used to connect and converse with other Furbys.
• There is no way to remove fur without causing damage when cleaning.
Furby Boom
The 2012 Furby was revised a year later as Furby Boom! This incarnation had more brilliantly colored, patterned fur, additional personalities, and a new app that allowed users to hatch virtual "Furblings".
Pros: • Only Furby available with patterned fur thus far
• Similar to the original 2012 Furby, widely available and reasonably priced on the second-hand market.
Cons:
• App no longer accessible for download.
• Only five personalities available instead of six.
• High-pitched chirping continues.
• No non-destructive fur removal option.
Furby Connect
The Furby Connect, the most modern Furby to date, debuted in 2016 with a new design, full-color LCD eyes, and the ability to connect to its own app via Bluetooth. Despite being the most technologically advanced Furby to date, it was a commercial flop due to its expensive price ($100 USD at release) and loud, annoying attitude, with a special emphasis on toilet humor, which turned off many customers.
Pros:
• Bluetooth connectivity eliminates high-pitched chirps
• Advanced expression and movement capabilities.
Cons:
• Limited color options
• Annoying personality
• Frequent glitches that require restarting.
Furby Fakes
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There's always someone looking to make a fast buck off the latest trend, and when something becomes as popular as the original Furby, it's not unexpected that there were rip-offs and bootlegs everywhere. In fact, there were so many Furby fakes on the market that the plastic "Furby Original" tag was added in early 1999 to assist distinguish the genuine ones from the rest. Furby fakes are now valued by collectors for their hilarious names, such as "Poobee," "Dubby," and "Furdy," their unusual designs, or the fact that they remind us of how popular Furby once was.
Pros: • Unique, entertaining, and endearing personality.
Cons:
• High failure rates due to low-cost manufacturing.
• Prices might vary dramatically, but they tend to be hefty.
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