| First and foremost a
little background for those of you who have never heard of this adorable
furry and at times controversial little creature.
A Furby (plural Furbys or Furbies) is a
electronic robotic toy resembling a hamster/owl-like creature which went
through a period of being a "must-have" toy following its launch
in the holiday season of 1998, with continual sales until 2000. Furbies
sold 1.8 million units in 1998, 14 million units in 1999, and altogether
in its three years of original production, Furbies sold over 40 million
units. Its speaking capabilities were translated into 24 languages.
Furbies were the first successful attempt to produce and sell a
domestically-aimed robot. A newly purchased Furby starts out speaking
entirely Furbish, the unique language that all Furbies use, but is
programmed to start using English words and phrases in place of Furbish
over time. This process is intended to resemble the process of learning
English. In 2005, new Furbies were released, with voice-recognition and
more complex facial movements, and many other changes and improvements.
The Emoto-Tronic Furbies (Furby, Furby Baby, and Funky Furby) continued to
be sold until late 2007, when these toys became extremely rare.[citation
needed] An updated Furby is being sold as of September 2012.
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Where To
Buy
We researched the
Best Places to buy online and if you are hoping
to get one as a Christmas gift you may want to
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hottest items for 2012 gifts. Best pricing so
far are
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How To Love Your Furby
1. Play with it every day. You do not want
your Furby to feel unloved.
2. Get a furbish dictionary.
3. Learn to know what your Furby's name
is.
4. Feed your baby Furby by simply sticking
your finger in it's mouth while it's mouth is closed.
5.Feed adult Furbys too.
6. Make sure your Furby gets sleep. Just
like humans sleep is important for Furbys to have rest too.
7. Have fun with your Furby.Here is a step
by step guide to care for your Furby
8. Wake up your Furby in the morning (only
wake him or her up at 7:00 at the earliest.
9. Feed your furby breakfast, like people,
furbies have to eat too
10. Groom your furby by rubbing a DAMP
washcloth over his or her fur! After you did that, get all the tangles out
by brushing him or her with a brush!
11. Play with your furby for a while
12. Give him or her a nap for about 10-30
minutes
13. Feed him or her lunch
14. Play some more
15. Let them sit in a playpen with some
toys with another furby if you have one,
16. Feed them dinner,
17. After dinner, play with them, but put
them to bed around 7:00-8:30. If you follow these steps, your furby will
feel loved and happy!
History
Birth
of the Furby
Dave Hampton and Caleb Chung spent nine
months creating the Furby (in addition to nine months spent designing the
toy). After two attempts at licensing the concept, they invited fellow toy
and game inventor Richard C. Levy to join their efforts to sell Furby.
Levy brought Furby to Tiger Electronics and Tiger's Roger Shiffman bought
the rights to it. Furby's first public appearance was at the American
International Toy Fair in 1998.
Furbies originally retailed for about
US$35,and upon release, Furbies sold extremely well. Catapulting demand
for these toys during the 1998 holiday season drove the resale price over
$100, and sometimes as high as several hundred dollars. Furbies sold for
over $300 in newspapers and in auctions. Nicknames were given to them, and
sellers assigned rarity values to them. Some people continue to call their
Furbies by the terms 'wedding Furby', 'tuxedo Furby', 'snowball Furby',
'biker Furby', among others. All, of course, were dubbed rare by sellers,
because they were so hard to find at the time. In a sure display of the
demand for the toy, some sellers scammed people out of a great sum of
money, without even having first given them a Furby. Parental battles,
arguments, and fights increased rapidly as supplies dwindled, and when
retail supplies ran out, parents turned to the Internet, where Furbies
could be purchased for two, three, or more multiples of their retail
price. During one 12-month period, a total of 27 million Furby toys were
sold.
2005
revival
2005 saw the reintroduction of Furby with the
release of the new Emoto-Tronic Furby. The increasing emotional realism of
the Emoto-Tronic Furby has given birth to a number of Furby-oriented
special interest groups. These communities seek to integrate aspects of
the Furby experience into human society. The most visible of these groups
include Furbish-to-English translators and Furby adoption agencies. In
addition, there is a subculture of Furby furries.
2012
revival
On April 12, 2012, it was announced that
Hasbro will be making a new line of Furbies, which was released in
September of 2012.
Furby
types
Classic
Furbies
The main reason for their popularity was
because of apparent "intelligence", reflected in their ability
to develop language skills.
Furbies can communicate with one another via
an infrared port located between their eyes. Furbies start out speaking
entirely Furbish, a language with short words, simple syllables,
and various other sounds. They are programmed, however, to speak less and
less Furbish and more and more English as they "grow".
There was a common misconception that they
repeated words that were said around them. This belief most likely stemmed
from the fact that it is possible to have the Furby say certain
pre-programmed words or phrases more often by petting it whenever it said
these words. As a result of this myth, several intelligence agencies
banned them from their offices.
A simple electric motor and a system of cams
and gears close the Furby's eyes and mouth, raise its ears, and lift it
off the ground in a faux display of mobility.
The originals are still popular with many
hackers as they can be dissected and made to do interesting things. In
particular, their advanced audio capabilities and various sensory
interfaces make them popular with the circuit bending community.
Other
Furbies
Furby
Babies
In 1999, the Furby Babies line was
introduced. Furby Babies are smaller than the original, have higher
voices, and cannot dance, but they switch to speaking English more
quickly. They also have an extended vocabulary and different "Easter
eggs" and "games" built into them. Furby babies come in 24
different colors. All have white eyelashes and one of six different
eyecolors.
Furby
Friends
Novel Furbies were also released, including
an interactive Furby-like "Gizmo", from the film Gremlins, a
Furby-like "Interactive" based on the Star Wars character, and a
Furby-like "Interactive E.T."
from the movie of the same name. Another "friend of Furby",
called "Shelby", is similar to Furby, but looks like a clam, has
vast improvements in memory, and has a different personality; it was
released in 2001 and can communicate with the original Furbies and Furby
Babies. They also have sensors that can sense loud sounds, can sense being
upside down (they say things like "Shiver me timbers" and
"Walk the plank" when you leave them upside-down for an extended
period of time), and they laugh when you "tickle" them (their
antennae – or "tennies", as they like to call them). They
also purr when you "pet" them. You can feed them by sticking
your finger in their mouth. Similarly, Shelbies do not have their own
names, unlike the classic Furbies. Shelbies are also capable of knowing if
it is talking to a Furby or another Shelby, saying phrases such as
"Where's Furby?"—though they cannot differentiate between a
Furby and a Furby Baby—they just assume it is a Furby. In addition to
English, Shelbies also know some Furbish words and also have their own
unique language called Shelbish.
Emoto-Tronic
Furbies
This Furby was released in August 2005.
Larger than the previous version, the new Furbies have been upgraded with
a more emotional face and a voice recognition system, enabling them to
communicate with humans. Unlike the Furbies originally released, just one
order is necessary to make them 'sleep', and they have an on/off switch.
They can communicate with other Emoto-tronic Furbies, though to a lesser
extent than the communication between original Furbies, and they cannot
themselves communicate with the original Furbies nor Funky Furbies. They
also lack light sensors and basic motion sensors and do not respond to
loud sounds as the originals do. These Furbies, according to the story
they come packed with, are from Furby Island.
Emoto-Tronic
Furby Babies
In 2006, a new version of Furby baby was
released, with most notable features being the new look and a more
"baby-ish" appearance in contrast to the Emoto-Tronic Furby
adult. They also have considerably fewer features than the
"adult" Furby, with a very limited vocabulary and a lower level
of interactivity. Another notable feature of the 2006 Emoto-Tronic Baby
Furby is the movable "legs" which unfurl when Furby baby is
awake. Although they were a European exclusive, they were sold in the US
via the Hasbro Toy Shop website.
Emoto-Tronic
Funky Furbies
The Funky Furbies were released in August
2006 outside the United States. They are limited to two color combinations
(pink & yellow and purple & green) so far, and they can sing three
new songs and dance. They can be taught dance routines and remember them.
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