Furby 2.0

If you’re a child of the 90’s, you’ll remember the original Furby, the toy that every kid wanted to lay their hands on. It’s a gremlin-lookalike animatronic toy that sings, dances, eats, sleeps, wiggles and chatters in a language called Furbish. It’s like having a supercool pet, one that  didn’t poop and could talk back to you.

I was in Secondary School when Furby version 1 came out and I remember thinking it was kind of cool. Ok, yes, I totally wanted one.

Fast forward almost 15 years and Furby is back looking all shiny and new, this time with improved techy features. It’s got LED-eyes that fill up with little hearts when it’s happy and turns into flames when it’s upset. It’s smartphone compatible and comes with its own Furby app on the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. It’s also got a mind of its own and will develop a personality depending on how it’s treated. So you can end up with a Furby that’s all sunshine and rainbows or a psychotic evil Furby, it’s all up to you.

Hasbro sent over a Furby for the kids and it’s like Christmas came early for them. They absolutely LOVE this little red furball.

I mean, I can see why it’s every toddler’s dream. It’s like a schizophrenic robot animal on speed – it doesn’t sit still, talks gibberish non stop, makes strange grunting sounds, giggles like a little girl and those beady LED eyes are darting everywhere all the time. Also, it changes its personality and voice at will. One moment it’s singing in a high-pitched girly voice and next thing you know, it goes “I’M CHANGING”, has a seizure, then turns into Darth Maul.

The kids think it’s hilarious. It’s also driving me insane.

One of them will hold Furby while the other one uses the Furby app on my iPhone to talk to it, make it dance and feed it moldy sandwiches. There are like a hundred different kinds of food to choose from but for some reason, they’ll assemble this burger, feed it to Furby and yell out MOLDY SANDWICHES before breaking out in uncontrollable giggles. Maybe it’s a sign of age but I seriously don’t get it.

Other times, they’ll hug it, tickle it, dangle it upside down while it alternates between squawks, coos and screeches. This Furby’s favorite song is now Gangnam Style and the kids will play it 20,000 times on loop just to see it do its crazy dance.

Me, I like Furby best when it’s sleeping, which it does if you ignore it long enough. It’ll be all like “TALK TO ME…OOH EY NAH GOO AHHHH KEETAY BOOOOO” and I’m like OMG JUST BE QUIET AND GO TO SLEEP ALREADY. And did I mention that there’s no OFF switch? The only way to make it stop is stuff your fingers in your ears, hope for the best and wait for it to get tired.

It’s exactly like having kids, except I can stuff Furby under a blanket to drown out the noise when it gets too annoying.

Now that I think about it, maybe that’s why they love it so much. They’ll all huddle together and whisper “ok let’s go drive momma crazy muahahahahahha…”

If you’re thinking of getting a Furby, it’s available in six colors and four more colours will be available by year-end.  Furby retails at $119.90 and it’s available at Toys “R” Us, major department stores and selected electronic stores such as EpiCentre, EpiLife, I-Studio, Infinite and nübox.

Your kids will love it to bits but do it at your own peril. You’ve been warned.