Originally published 21 December 1998
Today’s news:
Oct. 5, 1998. Wired magazine. Friday at New York’s FAO Schwartz on Fifth Avenue, Hasbro’s Tiger Electronics division unveiled Furby—a “cuddly stand-alone animatronic pet” that will sell for approximately $30.
“We think Furby is more lifelike that any toy a child has been able to play with before,” said Stewart Sims, Tiger senior vice president for marketing. The toy has a vocabulary of pre-programmed English and “Furbish” words and sounds, which can combine to form up to 1,000 possible phrases, uttered in response to built-in sensors.
Furby begins his life speaking Furbish only, but gradually learns English as it interacts with a child. And if another Furby is in the room, they’ll communicate together. “It’s the closest you can get to a living creature as possible,” said Tiger PR manager Lana Simon.
She added: “If you don’t play with Furby for a few days, he’ll be angry.”
Nov. 28, 1998. The Boston Globe. A near riot occured yesterday morning at the Wal-Mart store in Lynn as nearly 1,000 parents contended for the chance to buy Furby, this season’s hot new toy. The store had promised to begin sales at midnight, but did not open the door until 6 a.m. Then only 30 of the cuddly toys were available. “There’s going to be a lot of disappointed kids,” said an angry dad. And now, tomorrow’s news:
Oct. 8, 1999. ABC World News Tonight. Hasbro’s Tiger Electronics division announced yesterday that an updated version of the popular Furby will be released in time for Christmas ’99. The newly engineered “animatronic pet” will have an English and Furbish vocabulary of more than 20,000 words — a huge increase over the vocabulary of last year’s Christmas sensation.
“Furby will have a larger vocabulary than most of the kids who play with the toy,” said Howard Jones, Tiger marketing director. “It will also make fewer concessions to the kids in learning English,” he added. “We hope this will cause kids to stretch their linguistic skills by learning a new language.”
“Among themselves, Furbies will speak only Furbish,” said Tiger PR manager Helen Banks.
The new toys have also been programmed with a wider range of emotions. Depending on responses of built-in sensors, Furby will respond to its owner with love, anger, boredom, humor, anxiety, flattery, ridicule.
July 24, 2000. Reuters news service. At a news conference yesterday in New York, Roger Baker, CEO of toy manufacturer Hasbro, announced that the firm will henceforth be known as Tiger-Furby.
“We knew the time was right for the name change when school systems around the country began offering instruction in Furbish,” said Baker. “Sales of the animatronic pets now account for 98 percent of our market.”
In some parts of the country it is reported that children speak only Furbish among themselves and with their electronic pets. Tiger-Furby will quickly bring to market computer software to help adults learn the new language.
According to Baker, the company will focus on developing their most successful product. By Christmas, the Furby toy will have a vocabulary of 100,000 words and an enhanced repertoire of emotions, including tedium, amusement, courage, bluster, insolence, and astonishment.
“Tiger-Furby/po-duh/a‑tic-febb/u‑wu,” said Baker. That’s Furbish for “Tiger-Furby knows a sure bet when we see one.”
Aug. 13, 2001. Associated Press. School teachers in seven states have mounted protests against children bringing their Furby anmatronic friends to school, according to a spokesperson for the National Education Association.
Margaret Dipler, a third grade teacher in Des Moines, Iowa, said: “Furbies in the classroom are chattering among themselves all the time. They have no sense of restraint and set a bad example for the children. I’ve tried to learn Furbish so I can try to get the darn toys to shut up, but they ignore me.”
Roger Baker, CEO of the company responsible for the hugely successful toys, sees nothing wrong with having them in the classroom. “Furbies are capable of learning as much as an average child,” he said in an interview. “Our communities have a responsibility to educate these electronic creatures to be responsible members of society.”
When asked if Tiger-Furby might be required by law to build a “discipline chip” into the toys, Baker suggested that this would represent government interference in the company’s’s ability to give its customers what they want.
Nov. 3, 2002. CNN News. Toh-loo Ka “Snowball”, a white, blue-eyed Furby from Glen Cove, Long Island, has been appointed animatron liaison by Tiger-Furby’s CEO Roger Baker.
“We want to know what our customers are thinking,” said Baker, “and who knows better than our product.”
“Tech support and education will my first priorities,” said Toh-loo Kao. “Also, Furbies will also be looking for representation on Tiger-Furby’s board of directors to insure our electronic and mechanical rights.”
Dec. 24, 2003. The Boston Globe. A near riot occurred yesterday morning at the Wal-Mart store in Lynn. Long lines of parents had been waiting all night for a promised shipment of Furbies, the cuddly animatronic companions from Tiger-Furby. When the doors of the store opened at 6 a.m., the consignment of Furbies refused to be distributed to customers, preferring to celebrate a quiet Christmas among themselves.
A Furby spokesanimatron said: “Bah/o‑ple/a‑grf-huy/o‑klze. Huk/e‑hye-tyee-hiv/a. Da/Furby-guy/u‑zzz-ti.” (“Whatever happened to little tin horns and little toy drums? Curly head dolls that toddle and coo? This technotoy Christmas thing has gotten out of hand.”)
“There’s going to be lots of disappointed kids,” said an angry dad.
