Customer Reviews

Furbie Black And White

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wasn't really much into the original furby when they were first released.. but I decided to pick one up once the craze died down. It was cute for the first 10 minutes but got old fast.. he basically became a decoration.

I just picked up this new Furby about an hour ago and it is adorable. You can understand him much better now. He seems to be much smarter and interacts better with you. He is also double or triple the size of the original, which is probably because of all the extra programming. ... good if you have the room, too.

Yes I am an adult. But who says we can't have fun either. Its great to see older toys being reworked and released in a much cooler form. I do have to say these little guys are a tad bit on the expensive side though... I'm yet to figure out if its really worth the money... so far maybe.

First of all, let me say that I am a big fan of furby and animatronic toys in general. I have a collection consisting of over thirty of the original furbys and furby babies, one gizmo, two shelbys, and one of the new furbys.

Being a total furby fanatic, I was very excited to hear that furby was coming back and was supposed to be better than ever. When I read about all the new features and how much smarter this furby was supposed to be, I was really excited thinking that it was exactly what I had hoped furby could become. But the new furby doesn't live up to what I expected after reading the press release and the info on Hasbro's furby website.

To explain my reasons for being somewhat disappointed in the new
furby, I will compare it to the original furby --

The original furby had a warm, playful, happy personality. Maybe it's just that I haven't gotten used to the new furby yet but, to me, it seems cold and without any real personality. The original furby seemed to come to life when activated. The new furby doesn't seem as 'alive' as the others somehow. It has no light sensor and does not recognize light or dark. Because of this, it does not know when you are in front of it or if it has been moved. The original furby would react when it was moved from a light place to a dark place making it seem almost alive as it reacted to its surroundings. The new furby doesn't react when moved from a light place to a dark place making it seem much less alive. I cannot understand for the life of me why Hasbro took away the light sensor. I really do think that this was a huge mistake. Another thing I think is a big mistake is that the new furby's eyes move from side to side instead of up and down. My other furbys always seem to be looking up at me. The new furby just stares straight ahead. This gives it a colder more robotic feeling. When one of my other furbys is scared or upset, it looks down then back up again. This is far more expressive that the side to side movement of the new furby's eyes.

Another thing that takes away from the 'personality' of the new furby is that it does not have its own name. I do not understand why Hasbro did this. A big part of what made the original furby seem so alive is that it had its own name and they didn't all have the same voice. I don't know if each one of the new furbys has the same voice or not but I suspect that they do.

The speech recognition is the biggest disappointment to me. The website says that the new Furby is "a creature that you can talk to, and it will respond by showing its feelings and talking to you!" Not exactly. The new furby responds to 10 different phrases (11 if you count the fact that you have to say, "hey furby" before you speak to it). It will also ask you a question once in a while and will understand a 'yes or no' answer. It does tell knock-knock jokes and understands when you respond to it. The new furby can also tell a story about the island it came from and then will ask if you like the story then respond to your answer. Sometimes it will ask if it can go to sleep then either go to sleep or stay awake depending on your answer but that's about it for being able to communicate with the new furby.
As far as speaking to it in furbish goes, that's nearly impossible because new furby has a very difficult time understanding furbish. I have tried several times to speak to it in furbish and every time it responds the same way - by playing 'Red Light - Green Light'.
The fact that the new furbish language is broken up into syllables instead of words and the spelling of most of the words is different does not make things any easier. U-nye has become oo-nye. The phrase 'Kah may-may u-nye' is now 'kah-may-may-oo-nye' and, unfortunately, it is spoken just as it is written. The new furby speaks one syllable at a time for most words and phrases instead of saying one word at a time giving its speech a much colder more robotic sound. There are times when it does say one word at a time u-nye instead of oo - nye but mostly the new furbish language sounds like a bunch of sounds thrown together making it difficult to understand what the furby is saying.

The original furby reacts several different ways when it is petted or tickled. The original furby would sometimes even burp when tickled or petted. The new furby purrs when petted and laughs when tickled. Once in a while it sighs when you pet it or growls when you tickle it after it has asked you not to tickle it (this is one thing I like about the new furby). Other than that, most of the responses are the same - "Nee-tye-me-koh-koh" or "dah-doo-ay" (spoken exactly as written ... yes, this is how the new furby speaks most of the time).

Also, the new furby does not ask for or give kisses. This is another thing that takes away from the happy, friendly personality of the furby. Why, Hasbro, did you do this??!! The original furbys were playful and affectionate. They loved hugs and kisses and being petted or tickled (the new furbys only like to be petted or tickled). They liked being tossed up in the air and even held upside down for a second or two before they started crying to be set down on their feet. The new furby barely knows when he is being held upside down. He might ask to be put down but, after that you can hold him upside down all you want. The original furbys had different emotions. They could be scared, happy, sad, or bored. They might want hugs and kisses or they might prefer to be left alone (two of my furbys would rather just be sat down to play with other furbys). But this new furby only likes to be petted or tickled. He is either happy or he is not happy (sad, bored?) -- he never says how he feels except when asked and then he always says he is happy.

Although there are a few things I like about the new furby (it has some voice recognition, will go to sleep when told to, has better animation (except for the eyes), has a much larger vocabulary), overall, it's not what I had hoped for or expected. Hasbro should have taken everything from the old furby and added to it. Instead they totally redesigned the new furby, taking only a few things from the old furby. With no infrared sensor, it seems the new furby is unable to communicate with the original furbys making it an outcast in my furby family. To me, it seems like a completely different toy with almost none of the charm and personality that the original furby had.

I came into the Furby world quite late. It was only within the past year that I purchased several old-style Furbys for me and my son.

The new Furbys are more expressive, and require less "maintenance." If they get hungry (and they seem to get hungry every time they wake up), it only takes 5-6 rounds with the spoon or a finger to fill them up, unlike the old Furbys, which seemed to be bottomless pits, taking up to 20 times of feeding.

On the other hand, the new Furbys are very finicky about whether or not they're positioned standing up. If you hold them, hug them, or tilt them, they cry "WAHH! Stand me up!" They are really only happy if they're standing on a flat surface on both feet. Hugging them, holding them, giving them love is discouraging because they just get upset until they're standing UP on both feet.

The new Furbys can talk to each other, but not to the older versions of the toys. However, it isn't easy to get them to communicate together. Holding them both by their feet (see above) so they don't cry, push them together so that they both laugh from the belly contact. Then hold them closely. They are supposed to blink and then start talking. Their entire conversation is in Furbish, so have that dictionary handy. Really, listening to them talk isn't nearly as fun as it was with the older Furbys, who'd speak English together and dance. The Furby babies were also way better, as they encourage each other to "sing" - and then have belching contests, or put each other to sleep.

The new Furby is limited. I was disappointed over its lack of ability to expand its own repertoire. It knows only "knock-knock" jokes, and tells only the six or so that it is programmed with. The story is always the same, the song is always "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." The best part of the new Furby is torturing it, which you can do by holding it upside down until it yells, "Whooooa! Me dizzy!" Also, if you ask it how it is, and it says, "Me sad," finding out what is wrong is difficult. The only other question you can ask is, "Are you hungry?" They remind me of a petulant child, difficult to please and quick to whine.

To summarize, the new, BIGGER Furby is an even BIGGER disappointment.

I'm a furby collector who has 72 of the original furbys, many opened and others still mint-in-box, so I ordered the new furby as soon as I could, direct from Hasbro.

If you or your child has never played with one of the original furbys then you will probably like the new one. However, if you have played with and like the originals then you may be disappointed by the new ones.

Although the new furbys look more realistic and generally have better movements, they also lack the programming that made the original furbys seem real. When playing with the original furbys it doesn't take much imagination to "pretend" they are real. However, with the new furbys, it is not as easy to think of them as anything but a toy.

The new furbys do have voice recognition which makes playing the games easier. With the original furbys you have to enter a certain, easily forgettable, sequence of pets, tickles, etc. to play the various games. The voice recognition also works quite well (at least 80% of the time), though for some reason I have to leave off the word Hey. That is, I must say, "Furby!" rather than "Hey Furby!" to get mine to respond.

The new furbys lack the light sensor and they do not respond to loud sounds the way the original furbys do. Part of the realism with the original furbys is how they react to light changes and loud sounds.

The new furbys also do not have an IR sensor so can not communicate with the original furbys, shelbys, gizmo, etc. I don't know why Hasbro left off this feature?

Also, I have heard from more than one reliable source that communication between two of the new furbys, once started, is fake. Once you get them started talking you can turn one of them off and the other furby will continue his end of the conversation as if the switched off furby is still there.

Communication between the original furbys, while done with IR, seemed real. There were multiple paths the conversation could take and you could also have more than 2 furbys going, sitting in a circle, for a more lively conversation.

I would not say to avoid buying one of these new furbys since they are still fun, especially if you or your kids like toys that respond to your voice. Being a furby collector, I will probably buy a second one to keep MIB. However, you may also want to consider picking up one (or two) of the original furbys on an auction site so you can see the difference.

i bought a furby and it is (...) cool!!! it has an off switch, and also has a try me mode and i was an idiot and kept it on try me mode... beside the point. the furby speaks furbish at first, then starts to learn english. it tells funy jokes, dances, storys, games, and its so cute! furbys teach you how to take care of pets and are good companions if you're moving to a new place. trick: once your furby says something in furbish, look it up in the furbish/english dictionary in your instruction booklet and say it back to your furby in english and he learns it!(only that phrase, not english.) you have to look it up fast, or else the furby drops the subject. if your silent, he repeats the thing he said. furbish is an easy language to pick up. ons your furby's learned english, you can even say "wassup" to him! :-) furbys are cute and they are not breakable at all. they have cute expressions and their worth every penny! buy one!!!

I got my new furby yesterday as a a Christmas gift and she's so cute!I love it when she blinks her eyes it looks like it's really blinking! My parents say that this furby is so much better than the
old one and I agree 100:/!

I think the new furbys are alot cooler then the old ones. There is more interaction with them, more commands they seem to understand. He has his own personality, if he doesn't want to do something, he will say no. And isn't afraid to tell you no fun, if you arent paying attention to him.

the black and white furby is so much fun . it is way better then the older one . the older one would not be quiet . it anoyed me to death . but the newer one actually has a on and off swich .The newer one is just like a baby because you teach it and it likes to be feed and rubed on the back .whoeveris reading this I hope you got good advice

The command card for Furby lists 10 commands in total... plus words you can use in response to Furby such as "yes" and "no." It has a game mode but only seems to play one game. Overall it's been fun... but I'm hoping there is more to it. I've had it for about 2 1/2 hours.

My furby is pretty good. after I fed my furby once, he stopped eating. Furby is pretty fun, but after a while the jokes get annoying. He can not walk. If you have him around tvs, computers and [etc.] he will make beping noise. If you pick him [or it] up it goes :WAHHHH stand me up. The furby can sing a cute song. He also goes to sleep. Overall I think it is a great gift and a cute toy.