Teddy Ruxpin - Flash Back Friday

So since last week Eddie covered his first talking friend, I thought I would share mine…
Who can forget this commercial?




Don’t you just love the little brat in the class who says “Another Teddy Bear?” Kids can be so sweet.

Can you believe there was also a TV show? There is also a very creative person our there in the interwebs that has reviewed one of the episodes from the series and you can check out the hilarity here. Strangely enough it involves a caterpillar that has some interesting features… *cough cough*

Anyway- Teddy has some interesting background…

Some history on Teddy Ruxpin from Wikipedia:

Teddy Ruxpin is an animatronic talking bear which was created by Ken Forsse with later assistance by Larry Larsen and John Davies. He was first produced in 1985 by toy manufacturer Worlds of Wonder. Teddy would move his mouth and eyes as he read stories via a standard audio tape deck built into his back. There was also a companion toy named Grubby which connected to Teddy via a cable; this allowed the two some (minimal) interaction. As well, there were several other non-animatronic companion toys and characters such as the bird-like Fobs, a hand puppet with a sock-like, extendable neck, the larger Wooly Whatsit hand puppet, a Tweeg puppet, and an L.B. Bounder puppet.
With the strength of its line of toys Worlds Of Wonder’s fortunes rose well beyond its assets. This culminated in a rather spectacular tumble as stock trades by company officers spooked investors. Attempting to stem the tide, WOW issued Non-Investment Grade Bonds, commonly known as junk bonds, in an effort to buoy itself. Although there is some contention as to whether this strategy would have helped, the attempt was made moot by the 1987 stock market crash. Worlds Of Wonder eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1988 and went through a series of layoffs. By 1991 the company folded and the remaining assets were liquidated.

The Teddy Ruxpin toy line was picked up by Playskool, which produced him until 1996 using the redesign that had been implemented by WoW. This design was smaller and used special cartridges instead of cassette tapes. Unfortunately, this cartridge system proved to be easily damaged.

In 1998, Yes! Entertainment brought Teddy Ruxpin back to stores for a third time. The toy’s size was largely the same as the Playskool version other than Teddy’s clothes, but the biggest change was Yes! returned to using the standard cassette tapes. This venture was short-lived, however, as Yes! Entertainment’s corporate management and financial troubles ultimately resulted in AlchemyII withdrawing the licensing for Teddy.

In 2005 Backpack Toys announced a fourth version of Teddy Ruxpin, which replaced the audio tapes with digital cartridges. Teddy is currently available via retailers and online retail channels

Retail channels you say?  Such as Amazon.com?  Yes, we have him if you are interested in taking a minorly updated step back into time.

Here’s another commercial for you to round out your Friday afternoon:

Also, here is the official Teddy Ruxpin site, and here is an old school “Teddy Fan Site” for you to enjoy as well.

Have a great weekend!
–Laura McMullan