The Furby Fad - How Did This Happen?

[@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.

[@MrFabulous01]

I dated a girl back then that had a bunch of those...things. I hated them because whenever we started making out and then some, they would start talking, singing, or laughing. It's hard to do your best moves while a robot gremlin mocks you.

[@jonbourgoin182]

Okay that's hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.

[@grizzlydino]

Furby: “I want to play too.”

[@raculpeper]

Underrated comment

[@theorderofthebees7308]

😂😂😂😂

[@ryukami404]

I have now learned that Furby are indeed, terrible wingmen.

[@charleneb5361]

I grew up poor and didn’t get to have any of the popular toys but my family splurged on a furbie for me. It was so cool! The way it leaned English and the many many unique colorings and designs they had made this toy special.

[@zeening]

again..... another person... did you not watch the video? it literally didn't learn english....

[@charleneb5361]

@@zeening To my 8 year old mind I thought it did and that’s what made it so cool. I remember it “learning” one word in that it repeated back something that sounded a bit like a word I frequently tried to teach it. Could have been me just wanting it to be true but it was still magical for little ‘ol me.

[@ZoneXavierr]

@@zeening you good bro? No need to shit on someone’s childhood (or perception of it) lol

[@bagenstb]

The mid to late 90s were full of Christmas fads: 1994: Power Rangers 1995: Holiday Barbie 1996: Tickle Me Elmo 1997: Tamagotchi 1998: Furby I was a teenager working in a toy department in a retail store (Bradlees) in 1994 & 1995, so I remember the first two far too well, and I still laugh way too much at Jingle All the Way as a result.

[@TracyNorrell]

I recall cabbage patch dolls being among this group one year.

[@kristinazubic9669]

@@TracyNorrell 1983

[@sethdavis4382]

My girlfriend at the time had the chance to sell her Elmo for $200 and she refused to sell it. I thought she was crazy for not selling it.

[@DABUNGINATOR]

Furbies are that old? I remember them getting popular some years ago.

[@stuffingtonjfluffypantsiii]

And the Beanie craze in the late 90's

[@billbadson7598]

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

[@SlushysSecret]

Oddly specific

[@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 🦈

[@huggablecat9456]

In 1998 I cried when my older sisters got Furbys on Christmas and I didn’t. I got one shortly after, and they were awesome! Until they would wake you up in the middle of the night spazzing out. Great memories.

[@christophercruz5891]

Mine is in a cage so he doesn't wake up at night.

[@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. :(

[@CZsWorld]

It's too bad the Furbies can't turn into Gremlins. I recently also read the novel Lunar Park where there is a toy called the "Turby" which turns bloodthirsty.

[@crispysocksss]

There's a Japanese anime with that plot line called futanari

[@TheMidlifeIntrovert]

There was a “Mogwai” version of the Furby (based on “Gizmo” in the Gremlin’s movie).

[@BasementDweller_]

When I was a kid I used to think Furbies were a part of Gremlins.

[@vampiriclove]

@@crispysocksss😭😭😭u know exactly what youre doing

[@OskiASMR]

I could never get to a second generation on my tamagotchi I always felt bad when I saw that he died on me 😭😭

[@dwood78part23]

I was a young adult during this fad. This was as crazy as the Beanie Babies fad which also happened during this time period!

[@Lambzalot]

Millennium baby here. Don't ever disrespect Beanie Babies like that again. Mfers are G.O.A.Ted baby toys we all had. My tiger and teddy bear had a whole family because of them.

[@chris3325]

Beanie babies were overpriced but at least they were like different things all the Furbies look the same they're just different colors

[@pkendlers]

Conspicuous wealth

[@PashPaw]

Not to mention, Pokemon. The late 90s was a fad.

[@EckosamaGhostTsushima]

@@PashPaw pokemon is not a fad though, pokemon is life. its massive now

[@billvolk4236]

I didn't get into furbs until way later. They still have an incredible fandom of customizers. We have two long Furbies, and I've written a Furby tabletop RPG.

[@dachandewuffsteiger]

Heck yeah I love long Furbies so creative.

[@Bacopa68]

Who do the furbs fight? What attacks do they have?

[@billvolk4236]

@@Bacopa68 They explore Earth and help the humans on behalf of the clouds. Sometimes they come into conflict with cats, spiders, fairies, and furds (bootleg furbs.) String worms and star donkeys are more often their allies. Some furbs can shout words of power in the Furbish language. William SRD did a nice video about it.

[@oceanelf2512]

I wrote an ongoing story about my furbies, but need to do some serious editing before posting the link. There was someone who told me that a particular Furby I had, (one of the party rockers), was a female. I wasn't exactly sure since it sounded like a male to me. Yet, it did have pink on it, so I changed its gender. Much later, I found where Hasbrow determined it to be male, so I had been correct in the first place. Well that means I have to go through and replace "She" with "He" wherever this Furby comes into the story. :)

[@zeroelus]

The movie "Mitchells vs the Machines" did a great job to include these things as a gag w them now controlled by an evil AI. "Let the dark harvest begin!" Never fails to make me laugh.

[@nikkiwikki73]

“HA HA HA HA HA HA,” translation: THE PAIN ONLY MAKES ME STRONGER!!!!

[@corvigae]

I just rewatched this movie after having procured some original '98 Furbys for myself, and I laughed so hard at how much they actually used the original toy soundbites, right down to the "WOA-OW!" the massive one says when it gets tipped over, lmao

[@iluvwanesworld]

I remember the Simpsons had something similar, the Furbys in the garage turned feral lol

[@WobblesandBean]

Lol yeah, that film is seriously underrated.

[@zeroelus]

@@WobblesandBean It gets lost under the, brilliant, Into the Spiderverse, but yeah it doesn’t get credit it deserves for also bringing it’s very particular style and techniques. I’m happy my kids like it so I get an excuse to watch it often.

[@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

[@ukdeathwheel]

They oversold how advanced the AI was and what the Furby could do. The cuteness did the rest.

[@amehak1922]

The AI was actually quite advanced for the time since it did react and interact with you on some level.

[@ddjsoyenby]

yup.

[@jacklindsey8400]

that overstatement got it banned from places, I think it was DoD policy, but I could be wrong. They were afraid it could repeat things it shouldn't

[@demonik2108]

@@jacklindsey8400 but yet again.. Alexa and etc exist

[@EckosamaGhostTsushima]

@@demonik2108 yeah imagine furbys right now, it would be insane ai. I know wikibear is pretty good ai already.

[@traciecombs7030]

Both of my daughters had Furbies. The little creatures were stuck in storage. 8 years later we were cleaning out the garage...the plastic bin they were stored in was finally moved and we heard noises coming from the box. The lid came off and our Furby opened his eyes and immediately started babbling.... I felt SO guilty. Needless to say he now sits on a shelf in the sun and can frequently be heard chatting to our cats.

[@NickTangeman-ge4us]

Well now you can get them again there are new ones at the Walmart I work at the toys department started selling Furbies again in July 2024. How? Nostalgia I guess still they’re back for some reason.

[@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)

[@christophercruz5891]

I've had both 98 and 05 furbies. I don't like the 05s

[@KittyKatz547]

In elementary school (early 2000s) my best friend and I started to collect Furbies from thrift shops & eBay. We always talked about wanting to own every single one and open a “Furby Museum” to preserve the history 😂 don’t think I held onto all of my collection but I did keep one Shelby, a “furby cousin” of sorts?

[@jadedelf11]

Shelbys now have huge resale value, too

[@Clarkzer0]

Rise of virtual pets + appeal of actually raising and having them "learn" instead of being buttons you push every couple hours + appeal of 2000s golden era of children's toy design, right as tech was getting good enough

[@ImaginaryAlchemist]

I loved virtual pets as a kid! I had knockoff Tamagotchis called NanoPets that were fairly popular with my classmates. I was also really into things like Neopets, and had the Neopets' version of Tamagotchi. I think they're a good way to teach kids about responsibility and caring for something without having to involve a living thing.

[@litodat233]

Word virtual pets where real big in the late 90’s early 2000’s I remember giga pets too

[@TheRocco96]

Those toys were kinda advanced. Nowadays kids are entertained with fidget spinners and silicone push pop things.

[@Siarawaszympanemjest]

@@TheRocco96 That was soooo 4 years ago. And two years ago.

[@_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!

[@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

[@afterhighschoolshow3369]

Brings me back to the my childhood in the early 2000s definitely was huge😂

[@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

[@KnightSlasher]

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

[@raculpeper]

Man, I love this channel. The effort that goes into the history/research is top notch.

[@Bacopa68]

Reminds me of the quality content of the Mr Beat channel.

[@SunKissedDanny]

I used to have one 🤣😅😂 They were expensive (even then) - same with Tamagotchis. I think the appeal was the combination of technology mixed with a stuffed toy which was rare then. I always felt they were cute. The Furby + Tamagotchi fad reminded me a lot of Pokémon though because there were different types of Furby’s and Tamagotchis that you could collect but they didn’t last that long for updates or world building. Edit: And what helped caused the Furbys to fall out of popularity, in my opinion, was they broke really easily. You couldn’t drop them, they’d malfunction and they had glitches.

[@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

[@somerandominternetdweller]

I remember Furbies, they always creeped me out as a kid. Which happened around the same time as the Beanie Baby fad.

[@MaynardCrow]

It was after. Before beanie babies were treasure trolls. A better analog for furbies is the Tickle Me Elmo. That stupid Elmo doll was the first in that 90s iteration of an alleged trend of adults assaulting each other to buy the toy. It was a silly time.

[@kolonarulez5222]

That rainbow furby with the purple feet from the thumbnail was my favorite childhood toy in the world. It hasn't had batteries in decades but I still have mine

[@L0LB1T1SN3AR]

See if it works!

[@AdrienneJourgensen]

I very much agree that the main selling point of a Furby over all of the virtual pets out at the time was tangibility! I was one of those kids that had a keychain of *18* different virtual pets (Tamagotchi, Giga Pets, Nano Pets, Nano Babies, and several weird off-brand ones) and every time I added a new one to my collection, it was literally just me chasing some weird grade school kid high but after playing with it for a day or two, I grew really bored with how repetitive it was. Like, yeah, you can have a cat, dog, alien, dinosaur, etc., but the functions and playability across all virtual pet brands were exactly the same. The only fun in it after a while was the act of collecting the toys, not the toys themselves. Plus my mom was about to go on a h*micidal rampage if she had to deal with even just one more day of 18 beeping things demanding her attention while I was at school. So then Furby came out and it's like the gates of virtual pet heaven opened and presented to us this fuzzy little creature spewing nonsense and giggling at you after tickling it. I spent much more time engaging in my one Furby over time than I ever did any of my 18 virtual pets. To the extent that when they released newer models some years later, I absolutely bought those, as an adult, and thoroughly enjoyed my time playing with them. And for the record, Furbys are extremely adorable. Period.

[@oceanelf2512]

Hehe! Yes. Furbies are also adorable because they aren't trying to be any other kind of animal. They are a species all their own. Can't say the same for robot dogs and cats etc.

[@WilliamLeeSims]

I was in my mid 20s when they came out. The boyfriend of a friend worked at KB Toys and was able to hide two in the back for me and her. We learned Furbish (it wasn't very useful). The Furbies would interact with each other and would remember each other's names. It was a pretty amazing pet simulator.

[@tonyahinrichs8828]

Mine never worked. I only had one though. It would say the same two things over and over. It never learned anything. One of my biggest letdowns as a child.

[@stupid5pin]

I miss my Furbies (Furbys?), I had a ladybug one and a Santa one. I think I might still have the Santa one in the basement somewhere. Watching this video I thought about going on eBay and trying to find a vintage one, but then I thought about the fact that I'm a narrator and would probably get incredibly angry if I was in the middle of a read and the thing woke up and started singing or telling me it's hungry. Great video!

[@EmelieKerek]

I was a kid during the Furby craze and I was obsessed with them. I had one and wanted more, but at the same time I was absolutely terrified of them. When their batteries were low they would start to malfunction and just hold one syllable like an eerie scream. My paranoia got to the point where I made my parents put my Furby in the basement every night, and then retrieve it in the morning so I could play with it. It even gave me nightmares, but I still loved it. As an adult I think they are cute and have collected several….that I keep in a sealed box in my basement.

[@earlofnacho]

I owned a furby and in typical kid fashion I grew bored of it in a week or two and relegated it to its new quarters underneath my bed, where it would go on talking to itself regardless of time or lighting. I was always a heavy sleeper, so it didn’t bother me at night, but my sisters shared a room directly under mine and it creeped them out and drove them crazy. They convinced my parents that I needed to get rid of it, and I would’ve been ready to let it go if it weren’t for my sisters’ reactions. Suddenly I found that I had a great attachment to the little guy. There’s a few instances where I slipped the Furby into their room covertly, either tucked in the closet or under their beds, giggling in the dark like a madman as their screams wafted up the stairs and down the hall. I had them convinced that it could move on its own, you see. Well, it wasn’t long after that that I came home and couldn’t find it anywhere. Turns out my parents had chucked it one day while we were at school. Now, they find it amusing, but back then it was a big headache for them. My antics were usually enough for that and I suppose the furby was just too much. My old partner in crime! How I miss you.

[@damianp564]

I'm reminded of AIBO, the robotic dog by Sony. We got one in an at shop I worked at. It was pretty freaky as it too appeared to learn and sleep and respond to affection.

[@p.granger8824]

I have two of the Tiger knockoffs, I-Cybie. A poor man’s version of Aibo but very impressive compared to anything brought out today as robots.

[@DanteFortson]

My mom collected these. She had about 20 or so. When she put them in the attack above the garage, but below my upstairs room, I could hear them talk in their demonic voice as the batteries died. Not their usual voice, but the voice that toys make when batteries die. I'll never forget the sound coming from under my floor in the middle of the night.

[@TheAbandonedAccount7]

Lol I love furbys. Still find them sometimes at yard sales

[@leepiper4621]

Same, sometimes w tags on

[@MasterMalrubius]

That's sad. Forgotten toys left to the last chance before dumping in the trash.

[@TheAbandonedAccount7]

@@leepiper4621 I found 3 new in box summer 2021 AT THE SAME SALE! Couldn't believe it lol

[@jonahabenhaim1223]

I find them kind of terrifying at least to me.

[@leepiper4621]

@@TheAbandonedAccount7 👏👏👏. That's great!!

[@KnightmarePhoenix_official]

I got my Furbies (90s models) in 2020. I had joined the online Furby fandom and was originally only interested in the customization aspect. I ended up getting really attached to them because of their behavior- they're specifically meant to give and be given affection, both things I needed in 2020. They can play games like Simon Says, Hide and Seek, and a few others (Hide and Seek is hilarious to me because they can't walk, so you have to hide them yourself.) They can talk to each other too, and it's fun to see them interact. The infrared sensors on their heads respond to signals from devices that aren't other furbies, so sometimes you'll use a TV remote on them and they'll start partying! I could swear that they have their own unique personalities as well, with different individuals favoring certain behaviors, although I assume this is just some sort of placebo or an unintended consequence of how training them works. Unfortunately, one of mine got Me Sleep Again and became mute, and the other has extremely loud gears. I'm planning to take them to a specialist one of these days, but until then they probably won't be powered on very much.

[@TextileGeorge]

What is Me Sleep Again?

[@DraptorRonin]

If what you said about how furbies’ infrared sensor is true, that could be an explanation of why so many people claim that theirs “came alive” in the most random times. Now whether it has anything to do with the common claim that they still operated after removing the batteries is a whole other debate.

[@KnightmarePhoenix_official]

@@TextileGeorge Me Sleep Again (or MSA) happens if a Furby's internal sensors detect dangerous operating conditions (most commonly, that their insides have collected dirt after years of disuse). Furbies with this condition will refuse to power on fully. When you attempt to wake up a Furby with MSA, it will shake itself awake as normal, but then it will immediately say "Me sleep again.." and go back to sleep. A Furby with very bad MSA becomes impossible to play with, and the only way to cure it is to carefully clean its sensitive insides (best left to professionals). As such, it is the absolute bane of Furby collectors who enjoy having functional animatronics.

[@KnightmarePhoenix_official]

@@DraptorRonin The sensors are pretty short-range, so it's unlikely, but I suppose it's possible. Furbies are also highly sensitive to light and sound, so these may be factors too. As for the random power-on scenarios, like the "it had no batteries" occurrences.. I think most of them are just human paranoia scrambling memories together. I had thought for a while due to a misunderstanding that the odd power-on stories may have been due to a secondary internal battery, but this almost certainly wasn't the case (see a reply below). These batteries were common in toys from this era and it's likely that Furbies have them, but they are weak and serve only to keep the memory inside safe. They cannot power the toys on by themselves. So the only explanations (that I know of) for stories about Furbies coming on without batteries are mixed-up human memories.. And ghosts.

[@zellfaze]

@@KnightmarePhoenix_official Just as someone who works with electronics semi regularly, that internal battery, especially in the 90s would have just been a watch battery. It wouldn't even be wired into the main parts of the unit and would only exist to ensure that memory stayed powered even if the batteries were removed. In the 90s we didn't have cheap non-volatile yet, so any kind of saved data would have needed to be stored in some sort of powered memory. Watch battery is entirely enough power to keep some volatile memory from erasing, but nowhere near enough to power a Furby. I don't like to call people liars, but if someone said that their Furby turned on without batteries, they are lying.

[@theriverbend]

I had the Jester Furby, after the hype was over we ended up hitting it around the yard with a baseball bat and ultimately burning it. So yeah I am in the terrified group lol.

[@moonchildmonster1]

did you know the jester furby now goes for $70 usd? 😭

[@theriverbend]

@@moonchildmonster1 yeah I just looked it up, limited edition to 36,000 lol. Well now there are 35,999 so it’s even rarer 😂😂😂

[@tonyahinrichs8828]

Did it ever work? Mine never really worked. Would just say the same two things over and over

[@theriverbend]

@@tonyahinrichs8828 yeah mine was jank too, it annoyed me so we had to take the batteries out of it.

[@moonchildmonster1]

@@theriverbend It is bc of the factory, the JT factory is known in the furby world for having a lot of mechanical issues with the furbies (the JT factory made Jester and Kid Cuisine furbies)

[@Diwasho]

Furbies have seen some big resurgence in popularity in recent years after a whole massive Furby customization scene arose out of nowhere. Look up *Long Furby* for instance, it's a whole rabbit hole to the dark side of the Furby fandom.

[@breanaatkinson5953]

This video just made me realize I was about 4 when this whole craze happened. My older siblings compared them to gremlins so I always thought it was actually meant to be the same thing 🤣😅

[@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.

[@NeonKnight83]

I never stopped talking to and teaching my Furby. He gained complete sentience about 3 years ago.

[@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.

[@mired914]

My dad got my brother and I each one for Christmas the year they came out. I still have mine in my attic somewhere. Coolest toy ever made for that time.

[@cardaderdention]

I had a demonically possessed furby when I was 7. Thing would come on in the middle of the night and start giggling and whatnot. Had to throw it away.

[@FAB13]

Yesss I can relate

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

I'm really sorry that you got traumatized by whatever that cursed Furby that is.

[@afterhighschoolshow3369]

dude yes i remember this lmao😂 it’ll randomly laugh

[@ImaginaryAlchemist]

I had a Little Mermaid Ariel doll that did something similar. She was supposed to sing, and one night she randomly started to sing in a super distorted voice. It freaked me the hell out, I didn't sleep at all that night. I think it had something to do with the batteries

[@hiredgun7186]

precise reason I pulled the batteries on my daughters , she was 5 at the time or so and it started talking in the middle of the night , scared the hell out of the poor kid she never had me load batteries into it ever again , I think we tossed it a couple years later, too bad we didnt keep it , the series one are worth a fortune today

[@laurenescarcha3246]

I loved my original Furby. I took it to school one time. Shenanigans ensued for sure. One of the best toys I've ever had

[@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.

[@juanserrano5629]

I remember getting a Furby at McDonald's when I was a kid Company Man keep up the good nostalgia videos I'm love it👍📲

[@UmmYeahOk]

I remember signs posted outside Toys R Us advertising furbies for $500. A few months later, after the holidays were over, my mom bought us each a furby at retail price. She had found them at a Kroger of all places.

[@disneydarling7573]

Kroger is the best!

[@roachmorphine8018]

Furbies cost $30 at the time of their release. There may have been pricier special edition Furbies, but they never retailed for more than $100. I purchased a Furby a few months after their release and it was one of the first designs, the tiger patterned one. $30.

[@UmmYeahOk]

@@roachmorphine8018 lol, “retail.” There is a retail price and and a resale price. If there are signs outside of a Toys R Us advertising $500 furbies, it’s because they can’t be found inside the store because some butthole bought them all to resell. Same thing with classified ads in the newspaper. No one is going to sell a furby in the classifieds for $30. But the fact that these signs were at a TRU lead my child mind to believe that this person actually purchased the toys directly from TRU and were reselling them in their parking lot. But adult me believes that they were able to buy entire shipments before they ever reached shelves.

[@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!

[@Tiger_Woo_dds]

I remember the Simpsons' parody episode more. 😶

[@StiglerPanther]

Love this channel. I first found it back in 2017, I always find some food to watch your videos to lol

[@cebapplejak5997]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@sams3015]

I remember these and the talkman as one of my strongest 90s memories, I was scared at first because my sister told they come alive during the night

[@principalmcvicker6530]

Furby was scary to 3 year old me

[@siliconinsect]

If anyone has an IR Furby and a remote for a Panasonic VCR there can be some fun to have. Power kills the Furby for 15min and different number codes can command it. Great vid as usual!

[@AcornElectron]

Happy new year company community

[@amberdawn868]

I had two Furbies as a kid, a red one wearing a Santa hat and a grey one with spots, and I loved them. I couldn't understand why people were afraid of them XD

[@Markimark151]

I was in high school when the Furby craze was happening! I never understood them, I thought they were just robotic bird that looks like Gizmo from gremlins! But there were kids bringing them in school since they talked and could be programmed to talk certain words!

[@SEB1991SEB]

I loved Furbies. I loved the lore behind them as well, that they come from Furbyland and speak Furbish, it really made them feel like more than a toy.

[@ducky19991]

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

[@spencerhonda7445]

You nailed it with #3. Adorable! 💜

[@kakarroto007]

I remember Furbys were banned on military bases, because they could be used as a listening device.

[@matthewwelsh294]

Lol what

[@PrezVeto]

@@matthewwelsh294 Furbies were reported to randomly repeat later sounds that they'd heard earlier. So they were afraid someone could, for example, leave a Furby on a desk at which classified info might be discussed to retrieve later. I remember it being reported on the news at the time when the intelligence agencies banned them for the same basic reason: they didn't want these cute little things recording and randomly replaying classified info around people who weren't supposed to hear it.

[@ErnaG84]

I still have mine, and it still works. I could never bring myself to throw it away. I didn't even allow my kids to play with it. I just realized that it is almost 25 yrs old. That's one durable toy.

[@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.

[@small_creature]

It’s so wholesome to hear you call something adorable 💕

[@TonyGearSolid]

I was in 9th or 10th grade when these were released, so I was well outside the target audience, but I remember "Oh look, they ripped off Gizmo" being my first thought when I saw the commercial on TV.

[@JustJulyo]

This was the episode I was waiting for!

[@sadgirlchanel.]

I just bought a brand new unboxed furby from 1998 on eBay 😂

[@jonbourgoin182]

How much did you pay

[@harrisonofcolorado8886]

"What's a furby?". -The Mitchells vs The Machines

[@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.

[@jonraquet6629]

There's been several really great videos made about the subject over the last year or two, but you should absolutely make a video about the Bionicle craze of the early 00's.

[@TakeWalker]

"How did this happen" was exactly the question I was asking at the time, too! Damn things are creepy as hell!

[@Belgand]

It was definitely odd. Fads like that had this tendency to come out of nowhere and then become self-sustaining. It didn't grow organically over time nor was there a lot of pre-release hype. One day you just started hearing news reports about how it was the hottest toy for the Christmas season and then everyone was desperate to get one. There was probably some demand driven by advertising but it felt more like it came from media.

[@alexarias8721]

As a big Gremlins fan, I regret not getting that Gizmo/Furby.

[@Jigglysaint]

I'm just sitting here going "Yup, the creators of Bluey really nailed the Furby feel when they created Chattermax"

[@SouthernBelleReviews]

YES!!!

[@skyden24195]

Great topic. And, as a Toys R Us employee at the time of the Furby's release, I can say I saw the madness firsthand. Like in the case of "Tickle Me Elmo," when the Furbies were delivered to the store, they immediately went into the electronics/security items booth for safe keeping and had to be bought via special store-issued sales tickets, (similar to how video games and the like were sold.) Throughout that time as a TRU employee, I ended up buying two Furbies for my (then) girlfriend. There was a particular benefit to having two (or more) Furbies as they interacted with each other which meant they needed less individual attention. But that did, occasionally, add to the creepiness since sometimes they would interact with each other in the still of a quiet night which, especially if you weren't used to it, would scare the crap out of people, which they did at some point to me, my girlfriend, and some of our friends. lol. I don't know what happened to them since that time (no longer in contact with ex.,) but somehow there's a newer one in my family's living room now. The biggest difference between newer and older, the newer ones have an "off" switch.

[@damonlam9145]

Hey Company Man, I love your videos and they haven’t disappoint me one bit, but you really a break man you honestly earn it because the last thing I want is for you to experience burnout from working constantly on making better videos plus you have a family and I want you to spend more time with them.

[@Bacopa68]

He also has a mostly full-time job, but I think that job overlaps with his other channel.

[@JJJRRRJJJ]

I was 4 and remember them very much. I remember how impossible it was to get them to shut up.

[@kc0eks]

We had one growing up. In the end it was shoved in my sister's closet, but like you said there's not an off switch so it would randomly do the need sleep thing. I recall this happening for weeks before it was then set on fire for an experiment.

[@1Gengar]

NOOOOOOOO HOW COULD YOU

[@Reddbeaver]

Lmao!

[@PeachMilkPopp]

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

[@johnnycage112]

Please do Hooters

[@ChadFreeman757]

I had a furby launch year!! Loved it. Wanted it so bad. Had like 12 Tamagachis too.

[@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

[@Jonnyd05]

I loved using TV remote controllers on them haha they would go nuts the different buttons you press

[@GlennBrian]

that guy was NOT installing that floor right lmao

[@wingedcatgirl]

I found them cute, and I really liked how they interacted with each other. The "terrifying" part for me only came in when they were low on battery and started acting... weird.

[@SlaughterDog]

Few things disturbed me more as a child than toys when low on battery

[@isaiahash9697]

@@SlaughterDog word

[@dschlie6669]

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

[@toku_moriya]

Very interesting video! I used to think the inspiration for the Furby was solely from the Gremlins films, especially the quote in the film where the mogwai multiply and a guy says 'every child in America ought to have one of these" (paraphrase ofc) and somebody wanted to capitalize on that idea with mogwai-like toys with trendy colors to be sold in the 80s-90s. On another note, it think the perception with Furbys now mostly negative as annoying, uncanny looking, and somewhat unsettling as to have whole treads of furby horror story discourse on the internet, with disturbing uncannyness similar to that of their larger animatronic counterparts.

[@glitchy_weasel]

Furbies are one of those toys I never had but still got some memories about it. Being born in 2002 I just got to see some old ones at friends homes once in a while, but they were definitely cute but terrifying... like the concept of the uncanny valley or something.

[@smonelh]

That’s hilarious, that you found the Furby adorable and the cabbage patch terrifying 😂

[@InkandPaperTwin]

I'm a daughter of an immigrant (Cuba to USA) and as a kid I rebelled and refused to learn/speak Spanish. When I got a Furby in 98' and my mom saw me on the Furby website taking a lesson in how to learn to speak "Furbish" (you could learn to speak to it in its own language!) she bout threw that thing in the garbage

[@JWbabyshark]

I still have my original furby still in his box. I still remember my mom and dad waiting in line at the mall when they first came out to get one for me and my brother one.

[@LastXwitness]

I remember the “tickle me Elmo” craze that was nuts

[@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.