Furby Boom 2013 builds on the success of the Furby reintroduced in 2012. One of the features introduced with the 2012 Furby was an iOS app that expanded the interactivity of the toy. Unfortunately, there was no comparable app for the Android market. This was corrected in 2013.
It is my intent with this blog to provide some of the background to how the Furby of 1998 got to the place where he/she is now called Furby Boom.
| Table of Contents |
| Click ahead! |
| 1. An Introduction | 2. Furby Progression | 3. Furby Friends |
| 4. Emoto-Tronic Furby | 5. Furby 2012 | 6. Furby Personalities |
| 7. Furby Party Rockers | 8. Accessories | 9. Furby Boom 2013 |
A Brief Introduction to Furby
I read a story recently about a person that had purchased one of the original Furbys when first introduced in 1998.
It seems that his family had a relative visiting and like with many families one of the kids had to relinquish his or her bedroom for the duration of the stay of the relative. In this case, it happened to be the aunt of the owner of the Furby.
The family, of course, was fully aware of the interactivity of the Furby and attuned to its antics.
However, the aunt was not.
This Furby was alone lurking somewhere in the shared bedroom.
Can you imagine what the aunt thought when she picked up this furry little creature and all of a sudden, it started blinking its eyes and talking to her in that strange and unusual Furbish language? It might have been fun being a fly on the wall in that household that evening.
Here is a video of one of the original Furbys. You can see why the aunt may have had a strange reaction when picking up this toy in a darkened room at midnight.
This interactive fur ball with a tuft of hair between its ears gets
us to the recently released Furby Boom of today.
Furby Progression - How did we get to the Furby Boom?
Furby was first introduced to the world in 1998 and became an instant hit. After all, who could not resist that lovable creature in the video above?
Like many toys that resonate with the buying public, the original Furby experienced a shortage of supply and those who had them and were willing to give them up sent prices up to the neighborhood of $100 from the original retail price of approximately $30.
Over the next 3 years more than 40 million of these creatures would be invading our homes.
The following information comes from World Collectors Net:
The famous FAO Schwarz Bejeweled Furby (Limited Edition of 5) was released in 1999 - the most expensive furby ever with a price tag of $100,000. The furby feature removable jewelry (tiara, necklace, earrings, bracelets) by designer Sydney Mobell. Crafted with platinum and 18K gold, and adorned with 156 genuine gemstones including diamonds, rubies, blue sapphires and emeralds.
Furby Friends
In 2001 Furby sales were dropping. In an effort to resurrect the line, a series of Furby Friends were introduced.
- Gizmo - from the movie Gremlins
- A Furby like "interactive Yoda" based upon the Star Wars character
- A Furby like "interactive E.T." from the movie of the same name
- Shelby - looks like a clam but is similar to Furby
These Furby Friends did not achieve their goal of revitalizing the Furby line and Shelby and Furby were discontinued in 2002.
Emoto-Tronic Furby
In 2005 there was a revival of sorts with the reintroduction of Furby in the form of Emoto-Tronic Furby.
These new Furbies were larger than the original version and were upgraded with a voice recognition system and a more emotional responsive face enabling them to "communicate" with humans.
These Furbies, unlike their predecessors had an on/off switch.
In addition to the above Emoto-Tronic Furby, Emoto-Tronic Furby Babies were introduced in 2006 along with Emoto-Tronic Funky Furby that was introduced outside the United States.
Furby Scores Again in 2012
Furby came back strong in 2012.
The first generation of 2012 Furby consisted of 6 different colors launched in September and quickly followed by another 4 colors in October.
Generation 2 launched in December 2012 and early 2013 with seven additional colors.
There are two major differences between generation 1 and generation 2. Generation 2 has a styleable tuft of fur between its ears and a sticker in the battery compartment identifying the reset button.
The 2012 version really brought the Furby truly into the interactive world with the introduction of an iOS app that allowed for more variety of play.
This version also had more expressive LCD eyes, a greater range of motion and a personality that developed based upon the user's personal behavior with the toy.
The first generation of 2012 Furby consisted of 6 different colors launched in September and quickly followed by another 4 colors in October.
Generation 2 launched in December 2012 and early 2013 with seven additional colors.
There are two major differences between generation 1 and generation 2. Generation 2 has a styleable tuft of fur between its ears and a sticker in the battery compartment identifying the reset button.
The 2012 version really brought the Furby truly into the interactive world with the introduction of an iOS app that allowed for more variety of play.
This version also had more expressive LCD eyes, a greater range of motion and a personality that developed based upon the user's personal behavior with the toy.
2012 Furby Personalities
The 2012 Furby currently has 6 personalities.
- Angry Personality - Furby will act grumpy and irritable from overfeeding.
- Diva Personality - Furby may show this personality if it listens to music for an extended period of time.
- Valley Girl Personality - Female personality, somewhat resembles a stereotypical teenage girl. Get this by talking for a long time.
- Cute Personality - Furby will act friendly and sing a lot. This personality is somewhat like the Furby baby 2005. Get this by repeatedly petting it.
- Crazy Personality - Comedic and funny personality. Furby will often have laughing fits over almost anything. Shake this Furby or pull its tail .It will laugh like crazy
- Default Personality - Only when you put the batteries in for the VERY first time. To get it back, hold it upside down, hold the tongue, then hold the tail for a few seconds. Instead of flashing eyes, furby will reboot.
2013 Introduces Furby Party Rockers
are a smaller version of Furby and as such are not quite as versatile. They cannot do everything their bigger counterparts can.That does not stop them from being fun to play with. These little guys can get their groove on. They may be smaller but they can still interact and communicate with other Furbies and they can share the free app available for iOS and Android devices.
One thing to note with the Party Rockers. These four guys/gals (Loveby, Twitby, Scoffby, and Fussby) come out of the box with an established personality. An unlike the earlier Furbies and the Furby Boom, they Do Not change personalities. They do, however, respond to the actions of the user.
Take a look at the short video below to get more of an idea about what these small furry things are up to.
Furby Accessories
Add a little class to your Furby with these cool looking frames.
We have now reached the latest evolution of Furby. Below are my own images of 3 of the 6 Furby Booms. Shown here are Peacock Furby
, Triangles Furby
, and Polka Dots Furby
.
, Triangles Furby
, and Polka Dots Furby
.
Click here or on the image below to meet these three along with their other three siblings. We will meet Waves Furby, Zig Zag Stripes Furby, and Straight Stripes Furby on the other side of the click.
Click here to learn more about "A New Generation Is Hatching."
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