Furby Prototypes - March 2023
Hello Furby Friends! So as Some of you may know, there has been another round of furby “Prototypes' ' on ebay! And as usual! I'll be doing a breakdown of the listings and furbs.
Foreward: These prototypes are kind of interesting! As they line up nearly exactly with the 2000 Tokyo Toy Show, and the seller has nib and production runs of all the other furbys shown there. (minus ofc the rockstar furby)
What makes this even more interesting is the fact that these are marked as “salesmen samples” or SMS, in the toy industry these are final designs that are produced to attempt to get pre-orders or intent orders from trade shows, or to present directly to retailers as options to carry in their stores.
Now as you may or may not know, there are 2 different kinds of special editions, their are store exclusives, these are typically non holiday releases and come in normal furby boxes and have either normal furby tags, or a special paper tag, (ex: racing furby, jester, hawaiian) and were only carried in a single store. The other kind are usually based around holidays, and come in custom boxes and are typically carried in multiple stores. I think this is important to note, as these prototypes were most likely not meant to be store exclusives.
Ok! So with that let's get into the furbys:
Thanksgiving furby
First one we have is the thanksgiving furby, this was also debuted at the tokyo toy fair as well! And this is the 2nd confirmed prototype known to exist, but in my opinion there are at least 3.
This one differs from the one previously known, manly in eye color BUT this one also has an external power source cord which were typically used to power the furby at toy fairs or when on display however the wires are cut, indicating that it was used for that originally but then used as a sms. EDIT: Interesting that it lacks reset button? but has power wires
Snowman furby
This also debuted at the tokyo toy fair as well! And is the 2nd confirmed one to exist.
This one is much less refined, the scarf is hand painted and the hat is a production run santa hat. The base furby appears the same as a snowball, but has a mane instead of a tuft/tail, black feet and coal buttons and lacks electronics totally.
Uncle Sam (4th of july)
This also debuted at the tokyo toy fair as well! And is the 3rd confirmed one to exist. one having the power cord, as previously mentioned but this one lacks it, making me believe that it is a SMS solely.
This one is less refined, the hat is hand painted and is missing an eyelash.
Afterword!
As of writing this post, these furbys have not been sold, I will update with more posts as/IF more is documented. Again, thank you for reading this far! it means the world. I sadly, will not be bidding on any of these as I already have a few prototypes and I am not in the position to get more at the momment! But Im happy to document.
