A BREIF FURBY HISTORY
Furbies were invented in 1998 by Dave Hampton and Caleb Chung, who spent around 18 months designing and producing the toy (Prototype pictured right). It was the first robotic toy pet to be created, and thus was a huge hit that holiday season. Its glory was short lived, however, as parents and children who owned the toy were spooked by its seeming sentience. The furby was programed to start out speaking Furbish and gradually start speaking more English or other human languages the more it was played with, giving it the appearence of learning. People became convinced that Furbies were spying on them, could fly planes, where demonic in some way, and any number of wild rumors. Furbies were banned from the Pentagon on the basis that they were a recording technology, despite the fact that their microphones were only able to sense that sound was occuring and could not record anything.
Furbies fell from grace short after, and their descent to creepy demon toy was not helped by Tiger Electronic's 2005 furby release. 2005 furbies are by far the creepiest furby due to their 'realistic' wrinkly appearence. Two more furby generations were released in 2012 and 2013- the 2012 furby and the Furby Boom. They sold pretty well, and had some new technology such as their personality feature. Depending on how you treated the Furby Boom, it would assume one of several pre-programed personalities. One of these was the 'viking' personality where it would act mean and have a low voice, terrifying a whole new generation of children. In 2016, Tiger Electronics (now owned by Hasbro) made anew furby called the Furby Connect. It could connect to your phone and barely resembled the old furbies, opting more for the alien theme (furbies are aliens). They did alright. In June of 2023, a new furby was released: the 2023 furby (pictured left). They once agian had a faceplate and eyelashes like the older furbies, and where much cuter, perfectly combining the current toy trend of cuteness and the old uncannyness of the 1998/1999 furby.