The Furby Fad - How Did This Happen?

Taking a look back at one of the most annoying/adorable fads of the 1990s.
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[@The_Alexandra_B]

My uncle used to work at Hasbro in a corporate position. I remember him pulling up at our house with a trunk load of Furbies and letting my mom and I choose ours. We always got the best toys from him and we enjoyed our Furbies even if they’d sometimes freak us out at night. RIP, Uncle Ricky. ❤

[@ReginaTrans_]

I think we made our parents and uncles INSANE with our millennial toys in the 90s and emo teen life in the 2000's, and how pretentious we were in the 2010's, finally everyone's getting a rest from us now that we are becoming a little more mature, but yeah, my dad had to wake up at 3 am because my tamagotchi was hungry and it made this noise that could be heard all around the house !!!! then my aunt almost fainted when cleaning my cousin's bedroom because she wanted to clean underneath her toys, the Furby woke up !!!! and they said everyone could hear her scrams in the street, LMAO

[@0p1r]

im so sorry for your uncle, he seems really nice

[@BBWahoo]

I can't believe it, the furbies slaughtered him!! Those bastards.

[@selenaquiles1]

@@BBWahoo Lmfaoooooo 😂🤣😭

[@WiIiam_Afton]

Mad respect to your uncle I have 108 of these things I am only 10 and my dad's wallet HAS EXPLODED Yup it has Your uncle and his company has brought me A FURRY farm! Brought me into this furby fandom.. I wish I was you with a truckload of furbies! Buttt I kinda have a truckload now..

[@Firawesome]

In 2000, my college roommate and I decorated our apartment with Furby skeletons (removed the fur and plastic casing for the mechanism) for Halloween of that year. To this day, I can hear their faint mechanical whirring with the echos of Furbish whisperings plotting my demise.

[@lanaj1107]

They have front facing eyes. They are predators. 😂 They always creeped me out.

[@Bacopa68]

But predators can be friends to fellow predators. That's why we like cats. Plus, big eyes are like incompetent human predator baby.

[@Reddbeaver]

What a good observation. They have binocular vision for hunting. Lol

[@Belzediel]

There are PLENTY of predators that do not have forward facing eyes. There are PLENTY of herbivorous animals that DO have forward facing eyes.

[@lanaj1107]

@@Belzediel I bet you're fun at parties.

[@titoA4794]

Explain hammerhead shark 🦈

[@rattlehead9127]

You may have mentioned this and I didn't catch it, but Tickle-Me-Elmo was also a smash hit and it was a very cute character that was interactive. Obviously not the same as Furby, but it was pre-cursor that caused a similar craze as the Furby did. I don't know what it was about the 90s but there were so many of these crazy fads - Elmo, Beanie Babies, Furby, etc.

[@sirBrouwer]

that was for most in the middle of the biggest economically boom. from about the 80's until late 00's With money to spend at the same time people (children) were still very TV and physical toy focused. on the same time electronics and simple computers started to be introduced with kids toys. they were both cheap and reliable enough.

[@Author.Noelle.Alexandria]

I have an ex whose cousin was an idiot. She got her hands on a Tickle-Me-Elmo, got a legit offer of a million on Christmas Eve, but was convinced she could get more for it even though none had sold for anywhere near that much. So she held out, thinking the guy would meet her demand of a mil and a half. He didn’t. Thing is, back in the 90’s and 80’s, it wasn’t unusual for parents to give kids IOU’s for specific hot toy items. Given that it was Christmas Eve, that’s what the guy did for his niece. An IOU for a Tickle-Me-Elmo. For years after, every Christmas, the family dragged it up again about how Sarah should have taken that offer. The funny thing: I know it’s legit because that guy ended up connecting with my ex’s sister through that, then they ended up hitched, and involved in was in the wedding. The guy’s family was loaded. His parents’ welcome-to-the-family engagement gift to their son’s fiancee-then-wife was a custom designed HOUSE. His gift to her was a red Corvette. He maintained that the offer was legit.

[@TheRedCap30]

@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria Imagine getting offered 1 million for an Elmo toy and still wanting more...

[@India_And_Ivory]

Trolls dolls

[@TenguTalks]

During my HS senior class trip, I watched my friend repeat the same obscenity to the Furby for 7 straight hours, trying to override the "PG chip" that was supposed to be in there. It eventually said something that sorta sounded like it, but tbh, it was watching him try that we all remembered.

[@plantyyy]

theres no “pg chip”😭 theyre all preprogrammed with phrases and they cant actually be taught anything

[@RubicksProductions]

@@plantyyy i agree with you that they were all preprogrammed, but for some reason I feel that they were marketed as "learning". Obviously false marketing but many people including myself thought it.

[@plantyyy]

@@RubicksProductions they were programmed with several “stages” of development from no english to mostly english and some furbish. they unlocked these stages after a certain number of hours which gave the feeling of them actually “learning” our language

[@litodat233]

Furby didn’t talk tho couldn’t teach it to talk neither

[@MagnumForce51]

It was a myth that they could learn new words from the environment around them. They were preprogrammed with all the words they can say which unlock over time with certain amount of interaction. The idea they could learn words ended up making certain organizations worry that they could be used as spy tools or something. Things got a little crazy back in the day when these things were all the fad. I'm surprised the video didn't mention this. :(

[@billbadson7598]

_"Are they fun? Or are they annoying? Are they adorable? Or are they terrifying?"_ Yes

[@SlushysSecret]

Oddly specific

[@walpoleandworcester]

I remember when McDonalds had these toys as part of their Happy Meals a long time ago.

[@Daigon95]

Im surprised I culd vaguely remember them since I was in preschool at the time. lol

[@angelsunlight]

Omg yes! I had one

[@MeloCT]

I remember collecting about 20 of them in the happy meals. Still have them in a box in my closet lol. Brother and I were obsessed. EDIT: apparently they were Burger King kids meals toys. They were the 2005 version.

[@JamesChessman]

Ok Boomers

[@jakesnussbuster3565]

@@JamesChessman bruh

[@_rockseeker]

I had a Furby in 1998! I got it for Christmas, and after learning how much drama it was getting one - I have even more respect for my family. We did not have a lot of money, and just knowing they got me the main thing I wanted that year really shows the love they had for me and wanting to make me happy. I also had a Furby Baby which I loved!

[@moonchildmonster1]

I love furbies! i was born a year after the first furby line came out so i wasn't part of the original fad, but the 2005 furby was my shit and i loved it so much, now i own around 50 furbies from all generations!! (Thank you again Company Man for making this one!!)

[@daniyal-syed]

Bruh WTH

[@moonchildmonster1]

@@daniyal-syed what?

[@brettvv7475]

@@daniyal-syed People collect all kinds of things, why would the furby be any different then, say, Pokemon cards?

[@strawberrycherrybaby]

@@brettvv7475 because furbies are the devils playthings (jk I collect all kinds of weird stuff, you go random citizen)

[@Bee8467]

I LOVE furbies there is still a fandom for them to this day! I wasn’t alive in 1998 but i had a later generation as a kid I recently got back in to them and have been collecting them, i love my little guys

[@KnightSlasher]

It was an interesting trend especially since it talked people loved it

[@emilyfredrickson9009]

My cousin and I had multiple furbies between us and we would prank our parents with them whenever we had sleep overs. My auntie was terrified them which was hilarious to us.

[@sethdavis4382]

I worked at a Walmart in 1998 and just before Christmas they drew names for the chance for employees to be able to buy one and my name was drawn. I was able to buy one of the very first ones for $30 dollars. I never opened it and held on to it thinking it would appreciate in value. I think it got stuck in the attic and I have no idea where it is now, probably still in the bottom of a box in the attic. The batteries probably exploded after a while and I doubt it would be worth anything now. I regret not selling it immediately.

[@Kstanimal]

Bruh even with the batteries like that people pay really good money for series 1, so I've heard. Especially Mint. I doubt people would even open it so you definitely should find it imo. Really cool!

[@Kstanimal]

Just checked; looks like it's going for 200$ on ebay rn

[@buwheal]

Even if the batteries are exploded, it’s pretty easy to fix and i bet you could get a good wad of cash for it.

[@Muphn]

I will buy i will buy i will buy i will buy

[@jadedelf11]

They weren't sold with batteries (the 98s) - so if you've never opened it then the battery compartment would be clean.

[@greywolf393]

The Mitchell's vs The Machines did a funny take on the Furby. My mother worked in a toy store around the time that these were popular. I was a teenager and she bought one for herself, I thought it was annoying, but I could see it for little kids.

[@cebapplejak5997]

Just don't drop water on them and DON'T let them eat after midnight

[@spiderobert]

I actually find it hard to believe that parents fought over these. At Christmas the year they came out my brother and I were gifted a Furby each by our grandparents. My grandparents were not the type of people to aggressively shop. I got a cool black and yellow bumble-bee patterned one. We thought they were cute and funny and I liked that they seemed to learn English the more you interacted with them.

[@clayw8884]

Jesus Christ this video just unlocked my memories of the shellby. I had entirely forgotten about it’s existence for like 17 years till right now

[@munkeefinkelbeen5395]

I had a cousin who was super into both Furbies and Beanie Babies (never got into either, honestly). Can confirm how annoying they were, but I honestly saw my cousin as more annoying... she bought into nearly every fad back then, and never was able to capitalize on them before their values plummeted. Fun times 😁

[@angelsunlight]

I had that cousin too lol spice girl Barbies everywhere

[@oceanelf2512]

Had an original 1998 Furby, but gave it to a friend. I've collected another few of those since for my character set. But IMO they are more robot than pet until you get to the 2005 and later models.

[@noonespecial5681]

I was a kid during this time and I remember my original Furby was white with black patches, like an Oreo, and then I got a blue furby baby and eventually some limited edition one that was like an Angel with a Halo. I loved when my best friend slept over and brought hers, and they’d “talk to each other”, but yes, I remember my mother complaining about how there was no off switch and the thing would scream in the night lol, and loved flipping it all over the place to hear it scream for help! Ha! I remember my uncle telling my parents they were spoiling me for buying me three of them, but I had a lot of medical issues back then and they were gifts for having to go through painful medical testing. Plus I’m sure they didn’t pay scalper prices and were just buying the ones they found at the store for retail price.

[@Rileysworld727]

My dad went to every Toys R Us in the city to find a Tickle Me Elmo for my sister before Christmas of 1996. It was such a legendary disaster that it is talked about on the wikipedia page.

[@MaynardCrow]

I'd love to hear his first hand account. I remember the sensationalist coverage at the time making it seem like riots and brawls were breaking out over the damn thing in even city in the country, but thinking back, I wonder if any of it was real. If the media never reported on how much everyone supposedly wanted one and how crazy people were allegedly acting trying to get one, it probably wouldn't have had any issues with shortages to begin with. I don't remember any of the kids I knew wanting or having one. I would have still been in elementary school at the time. Maybe I'm cynical from another couple decades of witnessing intellectually dishonest media shenanigans, but feels more like an advertising campaign disguised as a national news story in hindsight.

[@LeeGHThomas]

I loved my furby. I was in pre-k in 99-00 and we had a monthly show and tell. The furby is the only thing I remember of the 9 or so things I would have brought in to show off. I also loved tomagotchi and learned how to read playing Pokémon yellow (which was just like red/blue except pikachu followed you around like the tv show). I was all in on digital pets.

[@JL-sm6cg]

I was shocked to find out there was a Chewbacca version! I checked eBay and a still-boxed brand-new version is running about $80 and up, which is probably inflation-correct compared to the original price.

[@PeachMilkPopp]

I loved Furby so much as a kid, I had several and now I collect long Furbys.

[@TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

The timing of this video's release is great, I just got a new display for my Furby collection and as a result have been adding to the collection since. And yes, they're very adorable! I was born in August 1996 so I would have been two years old when they released. I'm not sure if I got any right when they came out when I was that young, but I did have them as a child. I had a few that my parents had bought for my brother and I, and then a bit later the daughter of one of my mom's friends let me have hers since she wasn't into them any more. I inherited quite a lot from her, and still have all of my childhood Furbies to this day, never got rid of any of them. My childhood Furbies consisted of a handful of regular '98s (including a few babies and one Shelby), dozens of McDonald's Furbies (both the hard plastic ones and the plush ones), some plushes, and a few from the 2005 reboot (three adults, and a baby one which my parents had to buy online as the babies were online only in the US). I've of course added more to my collection as a late teen and adult toy collector, between some more 98s and 05s, as well as a handful of 2012 era ones and one Connect from 2016. Love these silly guys so much!

[@BlocksGamingReviews]

To go along with how "lifelike" they were, I think the urban legends about them contributed significantly to their popularity. As a pre-teen at the time, I first thought that these things were "girly" and didn't want them. Then, after hearing from classmates how they'd come to life at night, whisper haunting things, say your name when no one was around, the thought that they might be possessed devil dolls made the pre-teen boy in me really want one, if only for that novelty. I never did end up owning one, but for years most everyone I knew thought that they were secretly evil, and that made them somewhat cool in my eyes.

[@cloudkitt]

Yeah was it an urban legend or true that they were banned from government offices because the government was afraid of the "learning English" element, thinking that it was recording, instead of just a timed thing. XD Either way that couldn't have hurt.

[@BlocksGamingReviews]

@@cloudkitt i had forgotten about that until now, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. Kids flock to things that have some sort of "forbidden" or controversial element, and Furby's had that in abundance.

[@oceanelf2512]

I despise the "evil Furby" meme.

[@pablocasas5906]

I remember seeing various Furby ads on television as kid in the late 90s, I actually wanted one but toys were (and still are) very expensive were I live, but I eventually got a McDonald's Happy Meal Furby. It was smaller and it was more of a plush than anything but I still have it

[@beautybard]

I had one when I was 9 and I loved him. He always addressed me as Dada but I didn't care. Eventually he broke and I legit cried. We even had a little funeral for him. My mom surprised me with a replacement. He was nice and I played with him, but it just wasn't the same.

[@gingeeta_creecha3401]

I love furbys so much. I wasn’t old enough for the dad but I forgot them handed down to me or given to me about 5-7 years after they released. My grandma gave them all away at a garage sale along with most of my other toys. So I’ve been sadly without one for many years. Today for my upcoming birthday, my boyfriend gave me a mint one in Box 😍

[@Eastsid3]

I was in middle school when these were preparing to break out for the Holidays and a guy in my class was so hyped to get one. I don't know if he ever did because they were so popular.

[@keithkenney587]

As a 7-year-old from a farm in the middle of rural Canada, this was the coolest thing that ever existed. I seldom got the fun, new fads (nor did I care) but we were at my cousins for Christmas in 1999 and this was all wrapped up for me from my parents. I remember hours and hours of feeding and talking and playing with it. As a kid, it was extremely fun and the technology for the late 90's was absurd at the price. I think we had a Commodore 64 at home, and 3 channels on the TV. It seems though, for a fairly large part of the population, they become more creepy than fun as people get older. I still have my OG Furby and even mentioning it to my friends, they treat it like a Ouija board. I put batteries in it for the first time in about 20 years here about 6 months ago and it wouldn't wake up :( doesn't surprise me (Although it did wake up once in the middle of the night and scared the s**t out of me haha). I'll take it apart and do some testing on it here one of these days. I'm sure it's something simple overall.

[@NTMonsty]

I used to make FNAF-style games on Scratch featuring Furbies. The main characters were a purple one, a green one, an Orange one, a Blue one, a Yellow one, and a Golden one. I don't really look back on them too fondly.

[@feralperil]

I had so many of these as a kid... I still kinda like them, unsettling as they are

[@erintraicene7422]

I was a teenager working at a local department store when these came out. The store allowed all employees to reserve one ahead of the crowd so I did buy one. And kept it for myself. No home renovations as a result of reselling here - just a pretty cool toy that I felt fortunate to have. Growing up low income getting a chance at a super popular product felt like a big enough treat to use a bit of my hard earned money on. And yes. It is cute. Ha.

[@palaceofwisdom9448]

This marks the only time I have ever heard the suggestion that Cabbage Patch Kids were "terrifying". Sounds like someone thinking of Chucky and retconning it onto them rather than the My Buddy doll that inspired him.

[@ducky19991]

I wasn’t around for the 90s fad, someone gifted me one in the mid-later 2000s and I was horrified by it 😂

[@SilverSphereSorcerer]

I had a first gen, but forgot what ended up becoming of it. Also had a baby Furby that I dropped in the snow when I slipped on some ice. A tragedy. I also thought they were adorable! I also now recall having one of those McFurbies. Man, that's a blast from the past!

[@josiebfancy]

I was 11 when these came out and yes I was OBSESSED with them!! I eventually got a Furby and a Furby baby. Your video just reminded me of how much fun I had with them. Only thing I hated was running out of batteries and I was always getting the cheap dollar store batteries so it was always dying. I stopped playing with them when I was 13 or 14, I thought I was too grown for toys lol. Those were the days. My older siblings called it a gremlin.

[@jfast8256]

Military vet here, intelligence analyst. The US military learned the hard way that Furbys weren't to be in SKIFs. Just out of the blue a Furby would repeat some TS SCI thing it overheard and a lot of people started to panic. This was before electronics in general being banned from the work place. Basically before my time as an intelligence analyst. By the time I was doing it, I never once had any sort of electronics being brought into any building I worked in.

[@Mr.Septon]

The other comparable one for around the same time as the Furby was the Tickle Me Elmo toy, which was incredibly massive.

[@FillBar]

Caleb Chung is from my home state of Idaho. It's fun to hear fellow aspiring toy makers about their encounters with him.

[@Ubylmoen]

In the DVD commentary for Gremlins, Howie Mandell mentions Furbies and Joe Dante replies with something like "Let's not get into that"

[@patticake5311]

Furbies listed for $79.95 the year they came out, and that's what big box stores charged; they may have gone down in price later. I spent countless hours at Toys R Us stores before Christmas that year because my son wanted one. I got him one, too.

[@Inspiration_Date]

The Mitchells vs. the Machines was the best use of Furby.

[@jedibattlemasterkos]

Dang bro I grew up right in the THICK of this collection craze in the late 90s. LOL I remember how much my little cousin used to annoy me with those creepy things! 😂😂😂😂😅

[@brett4264]

My kids wanted furbys when they came out. I think the commercials got to them so they HAD to have one (each). But they got bored with them very quickly, you see, we had two dogs and two cats so their need for pets were well taken care of. The furbys didn't really work that we'll and had their annoying side. They lasted two months in circulation around the house before they ended up at the bottom of toy boxes with dead batteries.

[@GlennBrian]

that guy was NOT installing that floor right lmao

[@trystongilbert1837]

I'm still wracked with guilt whenever I think about my old Wizard Furbie sitting alone in a dark toy chest until it's batteries died.

[@kiki45918]

I remember that Furby and McDonald's collab. I had a full collection of them. 🤣

[@happygolucky7241]

Goodness, a blast from the past! Back in the days I did not have interest Furby to Tamagotchi as a kid. However, I can't deny during the '90's of being obsessive to other toys such as Pokémon, Nintendo, Sega, Digimon, Barbie, Easy Bake Oven, GigaPet (Tiger Electronics), etc.

[@rickyrichreacts9667]

I remember I got one in the 90s as a kid and got bored with it within an hour 😂😂😂

[@americanpaisareturns9051]

I had forgotten all about that hideous creature Furby. Anyways, IT’S TURBO TIME.

[@kacheek9101]

I definitely loved my Furby as a kid, and wanted one because of its lifelike qualities, but damn do I have some creepy/funny stories because of it. It did get tiresome relatively fast, though, which is I'm sure why it had such a steep decline a couple years later

[@joestutler6582]

Regarding any "settlement", my guess is that as long as no suit was filed there'd be no need for any settlement, that through negotiations they found a mutually-beneficial opportunity. Same result, technically different legally.

[@xn--g5h6690ovb]

I brought one to show and tell in 2nd grade during 2001. It would not shut up all day and we eventually had to bury it in all of our jackets to muffle the noise. I think the teacher ended up putting it inside a cupboard. Little dude wreaked havoc

[@cherubin7th]

Furby was an early ChatGPT moment

[@tegantalks9612]

I was 4 when the Furby was at its peak and I had one. I loved it but my parents hated it because it would always turn on randomly in the middle of the night.

[@chrismathgenius]

I used to own a collection of these toys from McDonald's happy meals. They were fun to play with. Good times.

[@DaBeanieBaby]

My uncle, who always prided himself on getting me loud and annoying toys, hated my Furby. He took it and put it on top of the car in the sunlight to kill the battery. ‘Furby needs a nap’

[@disneydarling7573]

I was born in 1995, so I was too young to have the original ones. I know I got one when I was 6 or 7. And he was a big furby. I also remember getting one in a happy meal

[@starzzzy22]

I remember seeing the Gizmo furby in a Wal-Mart as a kid and I kinda wish I would have bought it. I did had two Furby babies, but both broke and I returned them.

[@dschlie6669]

furbies always creeped me out, my neighbor had a bunch and they spoke at us in such ominous ways. GG & good video again!

[@NaitomeIya]

Furbies didn't exist in my country (or just my city), so we didn't know it was a fad. A relative living in US brought me and my sister one Furby to share. Stuff like Voltes V, Deimos and Astroboy were on TV, and our video games were different versions of Mega Man, so we liked Furby, which clearly is a robot.

[@llouie4999]

So glad you made this video! On team uncanny valley / they're spooky. I do enjoy the many joking homages though (Chattermax on Bluey comes to mind). Enjoyed learning about the branding for the virtual pets too. Had an adjacent brand Dinky Dino, one of the cobranded Giga Pets, & another off brand Japanese one that was a dog. I have a young relative that now has an actual tamagotchi decades later.

[@alexkuhn5078]

one of the highlights of my childhood was setting a Furby on fire under a bridge

[@KCsReviews]

What a weird time late 90s and early 2000's were. Furry and Tickle Me Elmo broke people's minds. Remember how crazy Tickle Me Elmo was? Lol

[@Kstanimal]

As a kid I was both disturbed by them and loved them. It was a weird dichotomy. I think it was because it was so unique and would learn words, it felt really lifelike like you said. It was a little off-putting but I always came back to it because it was so interesting.

[@hailee13]

I remember my sister and I wanting one SO BAD when they came out. We got them for Christmas and we were thrilled. Then they would just "wake up" in the middle of the night scaring the pair of us. They ended up being put on the coat closet to never be seen again

[@mcook-69don]

Garbage Pale kids was my 1st fad. I worked at McDonald's during the mcfurrbie era. Me and my homebody was taking some every shift. If ebay was out back then we would of been rich lol.

[@ethansloan]

Sheesh. Between Furby, Beanie Babies, and Tickle Me Elmo, the late 90s was just a time when people got violently crazy to get mass-produced children's toys.

[@kathrynclark1585]

Furbys were a super cute alternative to a ouija board for helping kids make contact with the devil

[@kittencomicslol]

I am a 2023 scene kid furby collecter So proud to still be part of this

[@sergeipohkerova7211]

My mom collects Beanie Babies. She's not American nor does she live in America, but I blame America. She is otherwise a nice lady. My dad refuses to discuss the Beanie Babies. She talks about them to him like they're her children. My sister and I feel some kind of way 😂

[@Shad0wPh0enixXx]

I remember getting one for Christmas in 2004 and it worked for like 2 weeks

[@pineappleprincess9704]

I honestly really like furbies. The AI they have is pretty advanced. Even for the newer ones But this love for them tripled after Tattletail came out.

[@ChrisSl8]

Oh man, Christmas Eve we used to have a big family gathering at my grandparents’ house (we still gather to this day too, just at another relatives house), so it’s always a big gift giving night between cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc. Christmas Eve 1998 my grandparents bought two Furbies: one for my brothers and I and one for my cousins family. I was 9 years old at the time and honestly wasn’t really interested, but it was a strange toy. The funniest thing was how we put batteries in it when we got home and it seemingly wouldn’t shut up all night while my dad was trying to watch TV, so I believe the batteries were taken out never to be replaced again 😂😂😂 would’ve been crazy if we still had it, but it’s probably been thrown out since before the end of Bush’s first term lmao

[@lett6471]

Got about a year after the initial craze after a kid brought hers to school. I was already captivated by the idea of virtual pets (and still like the idea). They made it seemed like it was actually learning which was so incredible for someone captivated by the idea of AI. I always thought the idea of it being terrifying was a little ridiculous, though they could be annoying.

[@Skarwind]

I never got a Furby but i'll be damned if my mother didn't go out of her way to get me every Tamagatchi. Elementary school was awesome hearing everyone's go off when they were hungry lmfao.

[@WorldofHVAC]

I was 7/8 when these things were popular. I cant explain the appeal but EVERYONE at school had to have them. They were the coolest things. Until you couldn't turn them off at night. It was creepy when those things started going off in the dark

[@bunniesbunniesbunnie]

Ah, my dad got me one and then got my mom one and then we had a couple extra once we realized they interacted with each other. I loved mine, but I was barely 12 when they were popular so I was in that perfect little marketing window. I hadn't even heard of them until my dad brought mine home. Regardless, furbys were pretty cool little toys for the era. I absolutely had a huge chain of gigapets and tamagotchis I'd won off other kids on the playground, too.

[@misszee007]

I remember I got one for Christmas and between my high school boyfriend and it kinda became a stand in kid. He’d make the little sounds the Furby made, we’d take it to the park and McDonald’s 😅 those were good times. I found it in a box about a decade later and the damn thing still worked although it status talking on its own thing so I took the batterie’s out. Anyhow, Thanks Furby it was magical while it lasted.

[@DCombz]

I loved Furby so much as a child I very strongly remember being one for Halloween and running around terrified at the neighborhood haunted yard/house while I myself was this bizarre round creature.

[@maenad1231]

My mom says when I was a kid I was so in love with gizmo that I wanted a movie accurate plush and poster of him. I hated the way the furby looked tho. I’ll probably have to commission someone to make the plush to make my childhood dream come true

[@OptimisticMisanthrope]

Ferbie for me is a tale of sneaking across the 'forbidden zone' and doing the crosswalk to the (now defunct for the most part) KB Toys. Where me and my older brother taught it to curse. And also trying to convince my old school European parents that Pokemon Fire Red was not the devil's work and cotton candy Airheads.

[@LikaLaruku]

Didn't the Furby, Beanie Baby, & Tickle Me Elmo crazes happen within a few years of eachother?

[@OGStoneVegas]

I still need to make a serato scratch record out of the high pitched furby voice... I always wanted to do some crude turntablism with the "WHOOOOOOA" and "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" sound

[@jeffguevara5967]

I still have 4 of these originals. I got them on sale from K&B Toys for $5.00 each. :)

[@TopFix]

I'd say the name derives more as a short form of furbaby = furby.

[@shyb7847]

I have one on my desk lol. This retro store was selling them. I gave my second one to my coworker who kept asking about it

[@thegooseshack2619]

There was a time when friend's brother wanted a dog SO so bad, like to the point he would ask non-stop and be annoying about it, but his parents didn't want to get the damn dog. Instead, his mom went ahead and bought him a Furby, expecting that would fix the issue lmao

[@dannyso8366]

it's the Furby Paradox :)

[@alfredolomeli8539]

When they originally sold my mom bought one, when they came out later as a reboot I bought one with my son and my wife

[@SkunkMantraTechnoSkunk]

Working in woolworths 1999 Christmas ohh my Every other customer, any furbys left.

[@Meow-Box]

My brother begged for one that Christmas and actually got it. Within a matter of minutes the excitement was gone and he was over it. So as children do, he decided that he needed to skin the poor thing leaving an extra terrifying furless black demon robot speaking random gibberish all day. Last I remember he had created some form of a noose and hung the demon robot from the balcony. Oh the joys Furby brought...

[@ghost21501]

I was 8 when this came out, and we had just moved to the US from Eastern Europe. I remember asking for one, and my parents didn't want to get me the demon animal.

[@Zanelander]

*Everybody gangsta till Shelby pull up with the furbabies*

[@MrCloud254]

I think I'm like a lot of people who put theirs in the closet and forgot about it. Apparently, I left the batteries in mine, and so at about 2 in the morning, this thing woke up after years of dormancy and decided to say, "Me. Hungry." Followed by that laugh. This went on for about 4 days. I genuinely couldn't find the thing. So yeah, that's how my anxiety started.

[@ShockerTopper]

I remember when Furby’s were crazy popular back in the day. They always reminded me of Gremlins/Mogwai’s. My mom bought like 5 different ones at one point those things were the devils creation lol…the way they’d talk to each other through their IR m sensors on their head. But yep I remember the Tamogatchi’s/gigs pet for sure because I’m not a dumb Gen-Z kid and grew up in the last good generation. We got the perfect mix of learning how to do things using our actual brains and growing up with technology proliferating allowed us to understand the foundational basis for all new crazy stuff like those “iPods” and “notebook computers” haha. Man do I not envy kids at all born in the mid 90’s to now, it was definitely not better to be born and have grown up only knowing phones as “smart phones” and only using the internet to find information. Having the best of all worlds by knowing how to live with electronics and tech but also being familiar with all of it and understanding how it works on a fundamental level. The irony is that the kids (especially gen-z’s) that 80% never deserved to have the happiness we had growing up).

[@PrezVeto]

A possible way to reconcile the Hasbro statement denying there was ever a lawsuit: it was a payment to convince Warner Bros not to file a lawsuit in the first place. WB could've sent Hasbro a cease-and-desist letter alleging the IP infringement, to which Hasbro responded with an offer to pay WB a fat wad in exchange for a licensing deal that forgave the past infringement, which WB accepted. No lawsuit, no bad press, just two companies pretending things had always been nicey-nice. Such pre-litigation deals happen a lot more than people realize because without a lawsuit actually being filed there's no public record that there's even a dispute. They usually _are_ called pre-litigation settlements, but that executive's statement that there was no settlement could've been "explained" with a claim that they meant there was no traditional settlement (to settle litigation) or that it was just a "routine business deal" if the deal were made public somewhow.

[@Wintersoldier73]

I remember this, plus tickle me elmo & way before that, the cabbage patch kids craze. It happens every couple of years.