Tiger 2-XL: The Talking Interactive Robot That Uses Audio Cassettes

[@JoJo8116]

I grew up with this little fella. I had two of his original tapes. I also had the Batman version. 😊

[@BKDBrian2]

Apparently it can play tapes backward and forward, eh? Pretty neat.

[@BrettDarien]

It actually only plays tapes forwards, no auto reverse is used. It takes advantage of the four mono tracks on the tape.

[@BKDBrian2]

​Yes, same with the Talk 'n Play. I once played Wee Sing Together on there. At the end of side A, the green and yellow buttons would play Old MacDonald in reverse, while the red and blue ones would play Bingo forward. Then at the beginning of side B, the exact opposite.

[@HerecomestheCalavera]

@@BrettDarien Does it have a different head than a standard cassette deck? I could be wrong but if it was a normal cassette player wouldn't it only be able to access track 1 and 2 playing the tape forward then 3 and 4 backwards? On a standard cassette the two tracks are the left and right channel on each side of the tape.

[@BrettDarien]

@HerecomestheCalavera Yes the playback head of the 2-XL is a mono head that can read any of the 4 tracks on the tape while playing in one direction. Most cassette decks designed for playing music have a stereo playback head that reads two of the tracks in each direction.

[@ericcook5745]

Oh so if anybody else do not know this was not the first model. I used to play with this too when I was a kid but come to find out there was an 8-track version of it that I guess our parents used to use it's pretty much the same concept if I remember right I think it might have been the same voice too oh and one more thing if you look up to excel in a search engine is a website now that you can check out his library and use it kind of similar to how you would play with the real thing

[@BrettDarien]

Techmoan did a video on the 8-track version. I highly recommend watching it if you haven't.

[@redstonecommander5190]

I am surprised that this thing actually is compatible with normal cassettes so you can just use it as just a normal cassettes player. Just don’t play the true or false buttons because you will have certain songs in reverse.

[@ericcook5745]

I was just thought of it as an eight track on a caset tape

[@sopeachygaming2822]

I have one of those I bought him off eBay almost 2 years ago

[@autistictechgirl]

I owned the first furby i think t was the same compan, iv wondered is it a voice actor the furby voice or how is that voice created

[@crazyrobotlady3391]

Hi! The voice of the Furby was digitally sampled and compressed so it would fit on to a memory chip. The voice is human and the processor chooses one of four pitches to give the Furby its own personal voice. The voice of 2XL was provided by his creator, DR. Michael J Freeman in 1978. He invented the toy for classroom use first, but later chose to sell the idea to toy-makers and the MEGO 2XL was born. Its first run was from 78 to 81. 2XL returned to the toy seen in 1992 with a new look, up-to-date questions and the snarky wit and voice of his original creator.

[@autistictechgirl]

@@crazyrobotlady3391 thanks

[@crazyrobotlady3391]

@@autistictechgirl you’re welcome. Sorry for the history lesson. I just love 2XL. Furby, too. I think they were the start of artificial intelligence coming to the toy world. They’re really fascinating little creatures although they don’t truly have artificial intelligence. Their evolution is time-based but it was done in a pretty convincing way.