By now there are several different toys which are, if not a direct knock-off or clone of Furby,
then Furby-esque enough to clearly be attempting to capitalize on the popularity of Furby.
There is the Foobie (a Furby with useless vestigial arms and legs that flop loosely at its sides),
Baby Brainy (a Foobie/Furby with its beak slightly repainted to look like a teddy bear's muzzle)
and there is Chilla Chilla, the least obvious of the Furby Knockoffs. (Basically, a furry
creature in neon colours slightly smaller than a Furby Baby who claims "interactivity" via a
frightening piggy little nose and, if I remember correctly, a pull-string in the back that permits
it to occasionally blurt out phrases.)
And then there is JABBER WACKY, THE INTERACTIVE SPACE OWL.
I was first made aware of this creature on Bah-Zoo-Kah the Bubble Gum-Blowing All Pink Furby 's Furby Knock Offs Page. The webmistress made some cursory marks regarding Jabber Wacky; mostly referring to Lewis Carroll, presumably because of his famous Jabberwocky poem. Jabber Wacky, however, lives up to its name; it jabbers, it is reasonably wacky, and it is, indeed, an Interactive Space Owl. (Although its Instruction Manual also calls it "Interactive Jabber Wacky, The Space Pal". Ah well.)
Then, to my mixed pleasure and horror, a friend sent me a Jabber Wacky of my very own... and I
realized anew what a frightening creature this was.
True, it had fluffy soft ears not unlike a Furby's (minus the stiff rod in every Furby's ear).
True, it had stubby little feet not unlike a Furby's.
But oh! Its eyes!
The horror of its eyes!!!
For, you see, Jabber Wacky has huge bulging eyes, which protrude from its face like... like...
Like the DOGZ and CATZ stuffed animals, actually. Only the eyeballs seem to be slightly more
globular and horrific on the Jabber Wacky. Like the DOGZ and CATZ toys, Jabber Wacky even has
poseable eyelids made of some odd scrunchy material. It appears to have fluffy white eyebrows
and an odd receding hairline, also fluffy and white; neither of these succeed in making it any
less alarming, especially when coupled with the various threatening facial expressions you can
get by playing with the scrunchy eyelids.
Sadly, my Jabber Wacky appears to be a mutant; its left eyelid is much larger than the right one,
and the right eyelid won't close all the way (leaving an eerie expanse of rolling white eye).
Another creepy Jabber Wacky feature is its little beak-nubbin, which appears to be made of some
kind of felt. This mades the beak-nubbin marginally poseable, as the meager stuffing does little
to shape it.
Other features: Jabber Wacky has two wings or "hands" as the User Manual calls them;
as well, there is a wispy tail-nubbin that does nothing, and an ugly hexagonal IR port on its
stomach. Although I briefly held the IR port up to Lilith the Furby's IR port, it appears that
Jabber Wacky and Furby are incompatible.
Perhaps it's just as well. The egg-shaped User Manual (a mere card!) notes that:
FEATURES
EACH JABBER WACKY IS EQUIPPED WITH THREE TOUCH SENSORS (RIGHT HAND, LEFT HAND AND TONGUE) THAT
ALLOW THEM TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE OR MANY OF THEIR FRIENDS, AND RESPOND TO PLAYERS' INSTRUCTION.
I have no idea how Jabber Wacky "communicates' using touch sensors; I especially don't want to
know how the apparently nonexistant "tongue sensor" would be used in Jabber Wacky to Jabber Wacky
communication.
Coming Soon: The Jabber Wacky Interactive Space Owl User Manual.
In the meantime, enjoy a host of scary Jabber Wacky sounds.
Sample 1
I
Sample 2
I
Sample 3
I
Sample 4
I
Sample 5
Back to Aurora Minui's Furby Page
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