Happy Holidays everyone, I hope that things have gone well, and will continue to go well for you during this crazy time :). We have 186 subscribers to the Post, only 14 more subscribers to go, but only one more issue of the post before the end of the year, almost there everyone, but you can help us out and get a friend to join by sending them over to:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/thefurbypost
and tell 'em to just click on the 'Subscribe to this list' link at the
bottom and we'll be one member closer to our goal. Thanks in advance :)
Table of Contents:
1) Statistics
2) News
3) Letter to the Editor
4) Electronic Furby Updates
5) Furbish Word of the Issue
6) Fun Furby Fact
7) Retailers List
8) Closing
9) Unsub and Copyright Information
Here's some current stats:
Currently there are 2234 ebay auctions going on, 1844 on Yahoo!, and 163 on
amazon.com.
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And now...onto the News (complete articles found at:
http://www.mimitchi.com/html/fnlinks.htm):
SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 7, 1999--Based on reports from thousands of retail stores across the
country, gazebo.com today announced its revised ``Ten Most Wanted'' list.
Gazebo.com Ten Most Wanted as of Dec. 6:
1. Pokemon(TM), Yellow Bundle
2. Apple® iBook(TM), Tangerine
3. Trip to Super Bowl XXXIV
4. Barbie® Deluxe Dream House
5. Jeff Gordon: NASCAR Racer
6. Nintendo® Game Boy®, Atomic Purple
7. Millennium Princess Barbie®
8. Amazing Ally
9. Furby® Babies
10. Video System Interactive Play Buddy
Since its debut on Dec. 1, 1999, gazebo(TM) has collected thousands of reports from thousands of retail outlets on nearly 100
hard-to-find products.
In another related story, I saw a news report last night that made mention that the pokemon craze is alot of hype. While the stores are selling out, alot of this is due to lack of inventory moreso than tons of purchasing. Furby's still doing incredibly well for itself considering that this would be its second year within the top ten.
---
According to NPD, the top 20 toys garnered $101 million in sales, or 9% of total dollars spent on toys, during Thanksgiving
week. Dollar sales for the top 20 best selling toys jumped 15% compared to last year's top 20 sellers. Unit sales for the top 20
grew 19%.
Mattel and Hasbro together captured 90% of the sales volume generated by the top 20 best sellers. Running neck-and-neck,
Hasbro captured 46% of those dollar sales, while Mattel captured 44%.
Despite competition from newcomers like Pokemon, old favorites came out ahead in NPD's top 20 ranking based on units.
Based on units sold, the period's top performers were Mattel's Hot Wheels Basic Cars and Hot Wheels 5 Car Gift Pack, which also topped last year's best seller list for Thanksgiving week. Confirming the lasting appeal of these and other classic toys, NPD reports that six of the week's top sellers, including Hot Wheels, were introduced before 1990. Only three new 1999 introductions captured top spots in terms of units sold. Not surprisingly, all three were Pokemon -licensed.
Here's November's Best Sellers:
INTRO.
RANK ITEM DESCRIPTION MANUFACTURER DATE ARP
1 Furby Asst. Tiger Electronics Sep 98 $26.67
(Hasbro)
2 Connect Four Milton Bradley (a) $8.53
(Hasbro)
3 Sesame Street Rock N' Roll Tyco Preschool Jun 99 $24.14
Asst. (Mattel)
4 Furby Babies Tiger Electronics Sep 99 $23.73
(Hasbro)
5 Disney Walk 'N Wag Pluto Mattel Jul 99 $22.14
6 Trouble Milton Bradley (a) $8.07
(Hasbro)
7 Casey Cartwheel Toy Biz Jul 97 $5.92
8 Barbie Deluxe Dream House Mattel Jun 98 $74.10
9 Harley Davidson Motorcycle Fisher-Price Sep 99 $179.70
(Mattel)
10 Barbie Cash Register Kid Designs Jul 99 $40.25
---
While Pokemon may be the craze of the season, last year's top item is still a strong seller this year, industry figures show.
``Furby's been one of the biggest surprises of the year,'' says Clifford Annicelli, managing editor of Playthings magazine. ``Many people in the industry had predicted a rapid falloff in Furby sales after Christmas of 1998, but that didn't happen.''
The toy maker buttressed Furby sales this year by adding Furby Babies, a smaller, smarter version of the original animatronic toy.
Girls in particular seem to be latching onto Furby this year, sometimes getting two or three. ``It's become a collectible, even at 30 bucks,'' the toy expert says.
---
Gizmo is Available!
KayBee toys is selling them online for only 29.99 retail! Go to
http://www.kbkids.com/ and search for gizmo!
A picture is available off the Mystic Fortress news page at:
http://www.mimitchi.com/html/furbn86.htm
---
Nov. 1, 1999 -- Top Honors for Tiger's Toys!
A variety of Tiger products have received special recognition for
excellence. Our Pokemon Challenge was chosen Duracell's #1
toy of 1999 in a national survey! Other big award-winners
include Laser Tennis, Sound Bites Pop Radio, Furby, Furby
Babies, our Pokemon Pokedex, and several Star Wars Episode
1 products, including Galactic Battle, Darth Maul Binoculars and
Nabroo and Droid Fighter Battle.
More information in Tigertoys.com news section!
---
Furby on TV
Furby is making appearences in TV as of late. Sadly us here at Furby post
missed this bit of information untill now. This is the information directly
from furby.com
The superstar of toys will make three furbtastic TV appearances in the
coming week:
Tues., Dec. 7 - The Today Show. Furby will be accompanied by Roger
Shiffman, Tiger's president.
Later Today - NBC - Friday Dec 10 9:00 am (after today show)
Fri., Dec. 10 - Rosie O'Donnell
Sat., Dec. 11 - A&E's "Top 10" show
Tues., Dec. 14 - Donnie and Marie
Tune in to see the star in action!
PS: if you didn't see him on Rosie O'Donnell, you didn't miss anything!
She's done nothing but done/said negative things about furby, it's beyond me
why she's agreeing to promote it! No less she is, including a special
auction of a Furby made in her likeness, it can be seen here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=217892090
---
Furby Promotion
We mentioned this in last issue, but heres the official announcment from
furby.com:
Dec. 5, 1999 - Two New Furby Promotions
Two major consumer products companies, Hi-C and Post, have joined
forces with Furby to bring you fun & games. Millions of Hi-C juice boxes
now feature Furby pictures and jokes, and millions of Post-branded
products (including cereals Cocoa Pebbles, Honey Comb and Oreo-O's
as well as Jell-O yogurt) carry entry forms for Post's "DESIGN YOUR
OWN FURBY" contest. See Post products for complete details. Note
that the lucky winner of Post's contest will get to design a REAL Furby.
Visit the "Games" section of the Furby web site (www.furby.com) to play
new online games inspired by Hi-C and Post.
---
Furby IR Talker has been released!
But it's called Furby Chatterlink. On it is Furby on top of a cloud and the
mouth moves as it says several phrases. It takes 2 AA batteries. I have
been told it is great for helping two Furbys start a conversation. It
doesn't react to Furby sending back IR, but it does make Furby reply. It
works on Furby and Furby Babies. I've been told it can also make Furby
sneeze and make him sick! It retails for $19.99 at most toy stores.
---
Millennium Furby Reverse
It has been spotted occasionaly around the US! Keep your eyes out for him.
He is not as rare as the original Millennium, but is sure to be a collectors
item. There is a pic of him in the Furby Accessories section of Electronic
Furby:
http://www.mimitchi.com/html/facces.htm
He is available from www.tru.com if you wish to shop online.
---
Furby Babies have become nearly as popular as the original Furby and due to this, Tiger Electronics is releasing Furby babies in new Fur colors. They are keeping with the same bright colors in series two, with only a few a little darker. Again, no solid colors, but many wild combinations!
Be sure to watch out for these new fellows at your local toy stores, including Toys R Us, Wal*Mart, Target, KBToys, FAO, Shopko, and Wards. They have not been widely spotted, so you may want to check online for them at many auctions such as Ebay and Yahoo! auctions..
See a picture here:
http://www.mimitchi.com/html/furbn87.htm
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Letters to the Editor:
Nothing this issue, but if you have a question you'd like posted send it along to:
MAILTO:"capngo@earthlink.net"
and we'll have it answered as soon as possible.
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Electronic Furby website updates
-First TV Appearence
I was contacted by a TV production company in the UK called Illumina. They
produce an entertainment programme for Sky One called Skyrocket, which
features new science stories and the best of the web. It is from 6-9pm on
Saturday evenings. They have decided to review my website! It will be the
week of December 18th and I'll be linked from their website:
http://www.sky.co.uk/rocket/
If anyone is the UK wants to give me a Christmas gift and tape it for me
since I have no way of viewing it...... *smile* :)
-Furby Babies gen2
If you missed the news above, I added a new page with image of the latest
fur colors of Furby Babies here: http://www.mimitchi.com/html/furbn87.htm
I also added several new articles to Furby News and a couple to Furby
Accessories.
http://www.mimitchi.com/html/fnlinks.htm
-The Poll
The website Furby Poll has been updated and we'd love to hear your responses
to it. It only takes two clicks to complete, so if you'd be so kind
as to fill it out, the URL is:
http://www.mimitchi.com/html/fpoll.htm
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Furbish Word of the Issue:
"Yumm-wah" it means 'taste good' in Furbish, according to the Furby Babies
dictionary. The adults say this as much as the babies, but apparently they
felt the need to actualy add it to the dictionary when the babies came out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Fun Furby Facts
Did you know you can get product information right on Tiger Toys website?
For example here is the information page on Gizmo:
http://www.game.com/tigertoys/Furby/70-889.html
And here is the information page on Furby Babies:
http://www.game.com/tigertoys/Furby/70-940.html
On the right there is links to such things as how the package looks and the
manual, depending on the product your viewing!
It looks like they have almost all their products on here so you can get
information on each one, have fun!
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Furby Retailers Online: We figured we might as well reissue this list in order to help everyone out who's looking for Furby and Furby related items for the best price, Kat's compiled a list of current websites that may have what you're looking for :)
Furby Trainers Guide (with new Furby Babies section!)
http://www.gamebooks.com/
$11.95
Furby
http://www.si-partners.com/furby/
$21.95
Furby Clothing
http://www.homestead.com/bernadette/furby.html
Many outfits for your Furbys, one of the best clothing pages. A Must see!
They sell Furbys here too!
Furby & Gizmo
http://www.fabstore.com/fabstore/furby.html
$49.95 (Furby)
$67.95 (Gizmo)
Furby & Others
http://www.411toys.com/furby.html
$38.95 (Furby)
$39.95 (Halloween Furby)
$58.95 (Interactive Yoda)
$44.95 (Gizmo)
$49.95 (Furby Babies)
$53.95 (Set of 6 Original Furby Buddies)
Furby Stickers
http://www.dyerassoc.com/wof/sticker.htm
$6.50 (3 stickers)
Furby & Others
http://www.thepricesright.com/furby.htm
$59.95 (Yoda)
$34.00 (Furby Babies)
Furby Clothing
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Trail/3688/
$5.00 (Furby hat & slippers sleepware)
$5.00 (Newborn outfit)
$4.00 (Tuxedo outfit)
$9.95 (Sleepware, diff from above)
Bejeweled Furby
http://store.yahoo.com/faoschwarz/bejeweledfurby.html
$100,000 :)
Furby & Others
http://fao.com/faoschwarz/index2.html
FAO Schwarz has tons of items (like buddies, find furby game, furbys, furby
babies, backpacks, many more) for good prices, just search for Furby!
(In their top 10 toys Furby Babies is listed as #1! Yeah!)
Furby & Others
http://www.tru.com/
$29.99 (Furby)*
$9.99 (Furby Adventure game)*
$5.99 (Buddies)*
$9.99 (plush backpack)*
*free shipping
Furby & others
http://www.captaincoconuts.com/store/
They have good prices on many different items, take a look!
Official Tiger Electronics Store
http://www.game.com/store/toystore.htm
$39.99 (French, German, Japanese, Italian languages)
Warner Brothers Studio Store
1-800-223-6524
$35.99 (Gizmo)
http://www.wbstore.com/
$7.00 (Gizmo Beanie)
$19.99 (Furby)
$7.00 (Buddies)
12.00 (Furby Game)
Furby & Others
http://www.kbtoys.com/
Many items, good prices, just search for Furby!
Furby & others
http://www.etoys.com/
Many many items like cups, dishes, yo-yo's, holiday, fall, babies, games,
Furby cd-rom, just search Furby!
Furby & others
http://www.fingerhut.com/
$29.99 (4-Pc. Furby Ornament Set)
$29.99 (Furby & Furby babies)
$39.99 (LE Holiday Furby)
Furby & Others
http://www.qvc.com/
Clothing, Find furby game, keychains, slippers, babies, furbys, clip-on,
buddies, many more, for great prices! Just search Furby!
Furby & Others
http://www.findafurby.com/
Furby, Buddies, Babies, special editions, more... good prices.
Furby & Others
http://www.amazon.com/
Books, Furbys, others. Good prices as always from Amazon. If you don't
find what you want in the store, explore their auctions.
Can't find what your looking for still?
http://www.ebay.com/
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.amazon.com/
These are all great auction sites with many Furby items on sale. Ebay is
great to find unique items like clothing for Furbys. Often times auctions
you can find good items at bargan prices, so take a look!
Want to search many auctions sites at once?
http://www.auctionrover.com/
Auction Rover searches all of the popular Auction sites at once!
See everyone on Christmas for out last issue of the Millenium! If you have any questions, comments, or whatever, send them along to:
MAILTO:"capngo@earthlink.net"
And I'll get back to you as soon as possible :)
Also, remember to send in Furby stories and Furby page links and I'll be
happy to put them up here with credit :)
Kat, Head of Research
Brendan, Editor in Chief of The Furby Post
Written and composed by Brendan Quinn. The rights to all artwork and creative information included on this particular page and all pages related to The Furby Post are reserved by Brendan Quinn. Furby, Furbish, and all related is ®, TM,& ©Tiger Electronics, LTD. USA.
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