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Furby

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A group of different furbys

A Furby is an electronic soft-toy made by Tiger Electronics which went through a brief period of being a "must-have" toy following its launch in the holiday season of 1998. Quickly selling out at stores, many people would wait in line for hours to be the first in the door on a day when a store expected to display a new shipment. Though it retailed for about thirty dollars, the demand for these toys during the 1998 holiday season drove the resale price over one hundred dollars and sometimes as high as several hundred dollars. There were 27 million Furby toys sold for a 12-month period.

In August 2005, Furbys were re-released, with voice-recognition and more complex facial movements.

The plural of Furby is Furbys, and the name Furby apparently came from the prototype which its discoverer David Hampton nicknamed 'Fur-ball'. In appearance, the Furby is a cross between a hamster, a cat, and a bat or owl.

1 Original Furby
2 Furby Babies
3 Furby Friends
4 New (Emoto-Tronic) Furby
5 Furbish-English Phrases
6 See also

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Original Furby

Original furby

The original Furbys were 6 inches tall. The main reason that many people liked them was their apparent "intelligence" and learning ability as they developed their language skills. It was thought, falsely, that they repeated words said around them (the actual function was the ability to have the furby say certain pre-programmed words or phrases more often by petting it whenever it said these words); this led to several intelligence agencies banning them from their offices. They can also communicate with one another via an infrared port. Furbys start out speaking entirely in Furbish, a language with short words, simple syllables, and various other sounds, but are programmed to speak less and less Furbish and more and more English the more they "grow". A phrase that Furbys say, "Whoa! Me big sleep!", would translate into English as "Whoa! I slept for a long time!"

Simple electronically powered motors close the Furby's eyes and lift it off the ground in a faux display of mobility. However, Furbys could positively not walk, as some were led to believe.

They 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.

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Furby Babies

Furby baby

In 1999 the Furby Babies line was introduced. Furby Babies are smaller than the original, have higher voices, and can't dance, but switch to speaking English more quickly.

A new Furby Babies line was released in March 2006. They are about 6 inches tall, slightly larger than the original Furby Babies. They can communicate with other new Furby Babies and new Furbys.

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Furby Friends

Novel Furbys were also released such as the 'Gizmo' Furby from the movie Gremlins (ironic, because Warner Bros. was, at one time, enamored with a lawsuit against Hasbro for the similarities between Furby and Gizmo), 'Yoda' Furby based on the Star Wars character, and an E.T. Furby from the movie of the same name. A 'friend of furby' called Shelby (which looks like a clam) was released in 2001 and can communicate with the original Furbys and Furby Babies.

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New (Emoto-Tronic) Furby

New furby

The new species of Furby was released in August 2005. They're larger than the previous version, and also have been given a more emotional face and a voice recognition system, which make them able to communicate with humans nicely. Unlike the Furbys originally released, just one order is necessary to make them 'sleep', and they have an off switch. They can communicate with other new Furbys and new Furby Babies, but they cannot communicate with the original Furbys. The new Furbys do not have light sensors.

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