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You know that one good tank top that you wear like all year round? I mean it fits you just right so you wear it all the time but maybe now it's getting a little old. Shifting my wardrobe from summer to fall is always a challenge. Luckily, Quince offers timeless and high quality items that I
I love so I can make sure my wardrobe stays fresh and I don't blow my budget. They've got cashmere sweaters from $50, pants for every occasion, washable silk tops. And my favorite part, all Quince items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. By partnering directly with top factories, Quince cuts out the cost of the middleman
and passes the savings on to us. And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. I recently got this 100% European linen short sleeve shirt. Ooh, I love linen. And you know, it was so comfortable, so cute. I can finally retire my old ratty tank top.
RIP. Make switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash dark history for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash dark history to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash dark history.
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.
So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.
Okay, listen, someone recently gave me one of those Stanley Cups that everyone is obsessed with. Yeah. Apparently, like, I'm not drinking enough water.
Uh, first of all, I drink plenty of water, okay? But people are losing their damn minds over these things, right? Have you seen the TikToks? And for what? It's like, what is this about? Is this what it has come to? This is like what we're excited about, cups? I'm confused. My question is, what's wrong with the frickin' Hydro Flask? Didn't we buy those? Weren't we excited about those? Whatever happened to them? I don't know. But then I realized,
You know, I think back and I was like, you know, when I was a kid, I was obsessed with a tiny bear that was stuffed with plastic pellets. Yeah, I'm talking about the Beanie Baby. I mean, one year our family literally did a Beanie Baby Christmas tree. Yeah, instead of ornaments, we put Beanie Babies in the tree.
And it was cool at first, but then I realized her Christmas tree wasn't, it didn't light up. Like the ornaments weren't glowing. The Beanie Babies made it look flat. The Beanie Babies were like falling in the back. It wasn't that great actually, but the idea was cute. Anyways, I got off track there. Remember Beanie Mania? It was insane. People freaking like mobbing each other down at mom and pop toy stores so they don't feel like a, I don't know, deadbeat parent.
And then out of nowhere, the Furby shows up and completely changes the game. I mean, the late 90s were wild. It was fun. But back then, kids were kids, right? We used to have a whole world of gifts that were really meant only for kids. And they came with their own commercials, their own cults. And if you lived through the 90s, you remember the two big ones. Oh yeah, you do.
baby welcome to the dark history of beanie babies and furbies
Hi friends, I hope you are having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here, we believe history does not have to be boring. I mean, it's tragic a lot of the times, sometimes it's happy, but either way, it's our dark history. So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and just let me talk, baby, because I got some hot, juicy history goss for you.
Okay, do you remember Tickle Me Elmo? - Tickles, Tickle Me Elmo. Elmo's a chalupa. - But I remember those damn toys being like in the news every time I turned on the TV, you know? And it was like brutal. You had to give your blood, sweat and tears just to get your hands on one of those vibrating Muppets. Yes.
People were sitting on that Muppet, okay, and getting something else from it. But still, everyone wanted one. I'm just kidding. I don't think anyone sat on it. But that's not a bad idea, actually, because he did vibrate. Anyways, these things were so valuable. The freaking...
Cartier. Do you know Cartier? They're really expensive jewelry and stuff, right? Yeah, they are. But Cartier took advantage of the hype to sell their own products. Here's what they did. Cartier offered a Tickle Me Elmo for free under one condition. You have to buy the $1 million necklace draped around Elmo's neck to get it. Seriously, rumor has it.
People bought it. I don't know. I don't know. I want to meet that person. I mean, I'm sure you're aware, but most people couldn't afford to buy a freaking diamond necklace just to get a Tickle Me Elmo. So they had to rush to the stores. I'm talking as soon as like store doors had opened, bones were broken, people were trampled, parents were like having mental breakdowns in the Kmart parking lot. It was just like that movie Jingle All the Way with Arnold. You know, it's a good one.
but instead it was real life. What a time, huh? It was like mobs would show up, people would tackle each other just to get a toy.
wild times. And I feel like that time period is just really unique. It's around the same time that Lisa Frank is popping the hell off. So kids had a huge part in the economy. I mean, they were demanding colorful, bright, exciting, fun toys. And as a result of that, money hungry corporations, of course, were racking their brains to figure out exactly what to give them or maybe what to sell them. And
how to even like market to the children. Now we have our phones, TikTok, algorithms, and that's really how things are marketed to us now. Everyone's in an absolute panic about it. Like our kids are going to grow up and become money hungry capitalists. Everyone seems to forget what it was like to be a kid in the 80s and the 90s and have like unsupervised access to TV, especially kids TV.
Channels like Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel created content specifically for children, which is great. You know, like kids, we wanted TV shows too. We don't want to watch those boring shows our parents watched. And having channels cater to the children makes perfect sense. But the content wasn't the only thing being catered to them. The advertising was too. That's right. Back in the good old days before children were being influenced by advertisements on the internet.
Things were simpler. In between episodes of like Double Dare and Hey Dude, do you remember Hey Dude?
I know you know. Anyways, kids were being like bombarded with commercials and the commercials basically went like this. Toy, toy, toy, sugary cereal, toy, toy, local amusement park, toy, toy, toy. It was aggressive. They were like, you want this, this monster truck. Whoa, but you wanted it. And because the content wasn't inappropriate, you know, parents weren't thinking anything of it. They just looked the other way.
Can't blame them. They didn't feel the need to like monitor what their kids were watching, right? Like how bad could it be? Meanwhile, all those toy ads were becoming core memories for us and our little hearts were becoming obsessed with having the it toy of the moment. I want that toy mom!
And for a while, that toy was Tickle Me Elmo. And the Tickle Me Elmo craze taught companies something about manipulating the toy market. Step one, get the kids obsessed. Okay, they want this toy, bitch. Step two, get the kids to bother their parents who control the family money. Step three,
Buy the toy to shut the kid up. So actually, they needed the parents to be obsessed in one way or another, you know? Oh my God, when you think about it, it's like, yeah, they would get you and you'd be like, I want that toy, I want that toy. And you would bug your parent. Like, please, mom, please. I was bad. I was ruses. I was like, every day, please.
It was bad. I mean, and their plan worked. Elmo became a cultural fad to the point where like the company didn't even need to advertise anymore because now the toy was fueled by word of mouth and exclusivity. Ooh, everyone was talking about it, but not everyone could get it.
That's how you get people wanting it even more. Around the same time, a couple of toys seemed to come out of nowhere and they were hoping to ride that frantic high of what was happening in Elmo Toyland. Oh yeah, baby. But their creators had to figure out a way to make children absolutely crazy about them. And girl, they eventually did it. These two toys alone changed the economy.
economy, the way we shop and forever like rewired our impressionable little brains. I'm talking about weenie babies and furbies, you know, you know, you know. You know that one good tank top that you wear like all year round? I mean, it fits you just right. So you wear it all the time, but maybe now it's getting a little old. Shifting my wardrobe from summer to fall is always a challenge. Luckily, Quince offers timeless and high quality items that I
love so I can make sure my wardrobe stays fresh and I don't blow my budget. They've got cashmere sweaters from $50, pants for every occasion, washable silk tops. And my favorite part, all Quince items are priced $50 to
80% less than similar brands. By partnering directly with top factories, Quince cuts out the cost of the middleman and passes the savings on to us. And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices
and premium fabrics and finishes. I recently got this 100% European linen short sleeve shirt. Ooh, I love linen and you know, it was so comfortable, so cute. I can finally retire my old ratty tank top.
RIP. Make switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash dark history for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash dark history to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash dark history.
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what.
Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer survey who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. Celeste, I have a Beanie Babies. You good about that? Okay. Yeah.
So, Beanie Babies technically came first. Most of you have seen them before. They're these small stuffed toys that kind of feel like tiny bean badgers. And every single one of them was special. They all had a name and a poem about them on those iconic red heart tags, which are stapled to their ears. So, Joan has her little, it's not a T-Y tag, it says JC. Praise God. Ah!
Oh my bad girl, it's her initials. I was thinking, Jesus, I was like, that's so cute. Okay, not a Beanie Baby. Paul came ready today with his Beanie Baby little outfit. And Paul, I love it. I love the dedication you have. Joan, get it together. Do better. Anywho, and did you ever think to yourself, like, why do those red tags have a T-Y on it? Now, I personally always thought it stood for thank you.
I was like, "You're welcome. I love you." No, it actually stands for the name of the company's founder. Yeah. H. Ty Warner is the founder of Ty Inc. and the inventor of Beanie Babies. And to this day, he's one of the richest people in the world with a net worth in the billions. But he's quiet.
He's quiet. But just like our girl Lisa Frank, I mean, not much is known about the guy. He grants very few interviews and lives a very secretive life. He claims to come from like very humble beginnings, but you know, that's what all billionaires say, huh? They want to have that relatable story. It's like, sure, Ty. Okay. So here's a little backstory on Ty. What we know. Ty was born on September 3rd, 1944. So he's a Virgo.
And he grew up in Illinois with like his parents and his younger sister. His childhood home was designed by one of the most famous architects of all time. Oh my gosh, Frank Lloyd Wright. I'm a big fan. He's like, "Yeah, everyone grew up in a house made by a famous architect, right? That's how houses are made." Like, no, Ty. I lived in the suburbs. Dirt in our backyard.
You know, at least it was a roof over my head. But anyways, as a teenager, Humble Ty was sent away from home to a school called St. John's Northwestern Military Academy in Wisconsin. Now this was like a military boarding school. And he's never publicly explained why he was sent there. But I'm guessing, you know, most people go to these things because of bad behavior. But, you know, we don't know. Maybe it was for good behavior. Maybe he wanted to go.
When reporters went like sniffing around the school to find out more about his time there, it seemed like Ty got to them first and told the school to say nothing. Were they paid off? I don't know. Maybe. Snitches get stitches. I don't know. Which normally is kind of like whatever, but when you're going out of your way to make sure that people don't know something about you, there's got to be a story there, right? What's up, Ty? What's going on?
Tai eventually graduated from his super secretive military boarding school and then he went on to college. But he dropped out after just one year. It just wasn't his thing. He floated around for a few years after that, just doing different like little odd jobs, like working as a bellman in a hotel. He did valet and also he was an encyclopedia salesman.
Yeah, that's an old school job. People would go door to door trying to sell encyclopedias. You couldn't even think about that now. But back then?
That's what people did. But he realized none of these were really his passion. But then Ty got lucky. After bouncing from job to job, he reached out to his daddy, Daddy Hal, asking for help. Hal, his dad, was a toy salesman at a place called Dakin Toy Company. Now Hal was able to pull some strings and get Ty a job as a salesman.
at his work. Ty turned out to be a natural salesman. Like he was really good at it, but the way he went about it was like a little quirky, strange, some might say. Ty would arrive at sales calls in a Rolls Royce late wearing a fur coat, top hat and carrying a cane. Okay, bro. You know, that's a choice, but good for him. So he was a toy salesman, like who came to work dressed as the Monopoly guy, which
Kinda makes sense. I don't know. He wanted people to think that he was loaded. You know, they say dress for the job that you want, not the job that you have. And he was dressing...
Well, did he want to be the Monopoly man? Maybe. We don't know. Anyways, he wanted people to think that he was loaded, okay? And apparently it worked. I mean, he was reportedly making six figures at the time. And this was in the 80s. So that was a lot. I mean, it's still a lot, right? But like back then, that was like a lot, a lot. Ty was just living his little rich life, killing it. Until one day, he was fired. Oh, yeah.
Apparently, allegedly, on the side, Ty was trying to make his own toys that could like make him even more money. And he was caught trying to sell a few on company time. So they had to let him go. Plus he was making his dad look bad. Come on, get it together. So Ty took a little time out from the toy industry for a bit. And during this time, his father Hal sadly passed away. But Ty inherited a ton of money from daddy. Wow.
Instead of using it on another fur coat and top hat, Ty pours the money into his own company. And in 1986, he came back swinging with his own company, Ty Inc. So he first launched the company with like a line of toy cats.
And they were successful like right away, not because they were cuter than any other toy cat on the market. It's because they were stuffed with PVC pellets instead of stuffing. So they had a much more like satisfying squish to them, way better than a regular stuffed animal that had more of a pillowy feel. Okay, so the toy cat does well. So he's like, okay, I gotta do something else.
Ty decided he had to like go with the pellet stuffing again. And he knew his key to success would be giving people what they expected, but like slightly different.
So he decided to go with stuffed animals again, but this time he was going to under stuff them. I know at first I was like, oh, so he's being cheap. No, he had a strategy. As well as under stuffing them, he was going to make them smaller. The idea here was that kids would be able to pose the animals in different positions. So they wouldn't be stuck in just one shape. Plus they were like, I don't know if you ever had a beanie baby, but if you got one and you threw it at your sister, it wouldn't hurt as bad.
You know? You could hit each other with it. It wasn't that bad. I might throw you across the room, Joan. Once he had the prototype, he knew like, this is it. This is going to be my moneymaker. And then...
The Beanie Baby was born. Praise God. He debuted them at the 1993 Toy Fair in New York City. I know, there's a Toy Fair. I'm like, can I go? Is it still happening? It is still happening. There's one coming up, like, not that, in, like, the summer that I kind of want to go to. I just want to see what's out there.
I like toys, they're fun. So he first came out with like his first run of Beanie Babies and they are now known as the original nine. So the original nine included Chocolate the Moose, Cubby the Bear, Flash the Dolphin, Legs the Frog,
the frog, Patty, the platypus, Pinchers, the lobster, Splash, the orca, Spot the dog, and Squealer, the pig. Which one did you have? Let me know down below, 'cause I know you had one. I fricking loved Patty the platypus. I mean, she didn't have arms, but she did so much. And Pinchers the lobster, ugh.
Remember when they did a McDonald's thing? I got them in a Happy Meal. So, okay, we all thought they were cute, because they were. They were so cute. And that, of course, helped sales. But the big boost for Beanie Babies was their price point. Originally, Beanie Babies were only $5 each, which meant that they were accessible to almost everyone who was in the market for a toy. But here's the thing, you know, people weren't really in the market for them at first. One of Ty's earliest employees said, quote,
At the beginning, nobody really wanted Beanie Babies. End quote. What a diss. I'm just kidding. This is the truth. At first, not only were customers kind of meh about them, but toy store owners didn't think they fit the vibe of their stores. After putting everything on the line, Ty realizes that he needs to like come up with something to make the world want the Beanie Baby. So he, uh...
Sat down, put his little fingers together, you know, got to using his noggin. And he had, he came up with a little genius plan. Maybe an evil plan, some might say, but whatever. So he thought to himself, hey, what if not everyone could get them?
You know? Like, what if they were kind of like a VIP collector's item? All he had to do was play a few little mind games on the entire world. So listen, in 1995, Ty Inc. made a big announcement. They basically told the world, your favorite Beanie Babies are retiring. R.I.P. LOL. Okay.
Okay, listen, this wasn't exactly his own original idea. At the same time, like Disney was doing the same thing with some of their movies. Remember with the damn vault? They would put on these commercials explaining that there were only a few weeks, a few short weeks to buy Aladdin VHS before it went into the vault forever. And you fucking lost your mind. You're like, I have to get Aladdin VHS. It's going in the vault forever. You don't understand mom. I need Aladdin. Like what will I do without Aladdin?
So you panicked. You took it to your parents. Go out and buy it, right? And they did because it was going in the vault forever because we fell for it every freaking time. Ty was doing the same thing with the beanies. And kids were like freaking out. Like, not Pinterest. Lobster. Please not Pinterest. I have to get him. And because of this, like people rushed to the stores to collect the retiring beanie babies, you know, before they were gone forever. But even that didn't give Ty the numbers he wanted. He wanted more.
Ty had this method where he would sell each store 36 new Beanie Babies at a time. That way people would just like rush out to get them, just like they did with the Tickle Me Elmo.
Right? I mean, there's only a limited amount. People wanted it. People were buying the Beanie Babies and selling them at like insane markups because they knew someone somewhere was going to pay that price. People would like, you know, go to the local store, get their hands on like an Iggy the Iguana Beanie Baby for five bucks. And then they would turn around and sell it online for like 15 grand. And someone would buy it.
I don't know. It wasn't even one of the good ones either, but someone bought that. But this is where like Ty thrived. He really killed it when it came to creating a demand for this product. And again, listen, this was the 90s. So just as the Beanie Baby madness was rising, the internet was being born. Or it was kind of like becoming the internet. You know what I'm saying? And we were like, what?
SpaceJam.com. And thanks to Beanie Babies, one of the first online stores ever was able to turn into a billion dollar company. Yes, because of the Beanie Baby. I'm talking about eBay.
I have a love-hate relationship with eBay. I go through phases where I'm like all into eBay to stay. I'm like, I don't know what I'm trying to buy. I bought a bunch of VHSs recently for a good price. But I love me some eBay. You can like... Anyways, let me not go into an eBay freaking rant. Anyways, eBay...
eBay thrived because of the Beanie Baby. Beanie Babies and eBay became so tied to each other that within two years of eBay's launch, 6% of sales on the site were just Beanie Babies. And because this age of the internet didn't have a lot of like protections for buyers, sadly, a lot of people were getting ripped off left and right. Like there was this one guy on eBay who would list and sell Beanie Babies.
that he never had, he would take people's money and then delete his account. He was trying to hustle. That's shady, but you know, someone was gonna do it. When the authorities were closing in on this guy, his response to the accusation was the following.
And then he said, quote, Anyways, he posted this online in like 1996. And I think
And I think I did a great read on that. Ha ha ha ha ha. I felt it, the emotion. Even though some people shied away from eBay, a lot of people just didn't know how to use the internet. Good. Anyways, a demand for mint condition Beanie Babies, it kept skyrocketing. I mean, people were taking it to the extreme. They would put their Beanie Babies in like those clear boxes
for protection and then have the clear heart-shaped plastic cover for the tag because people want to protect it thinking long term this is going to make me a lot of money if it's in mint condition. Anyways, if they were listed in those plastic protectors and whatnot, those sold for like tens of thousands of dollars. There were even products like the unofficial Beanie Baby handbook being sold.
And this handbook was kind of like a Kelly Blue book, you know, the one for cars, but it was for Beanie Babies. Yeah. And it showed like their current value and predicted, made up what their future value would be. You know, did you have this book? I had this book. I would read it at night. I don't know why, but I was like, I want, I would, I would put a little star by the ones I wanted.
And that's like the one thing people really cared about was like, will these beanie babies pay for my retirement? And I will say this is my own personal opinion, but I feel like this is when it became not fun anymore because the adults stepped in and made them expensive. And all they cared about was money where the kids, us kids at the time, we just wanted it. It was so cute, you know, and it was only $5. So you could like get it with your allowance.
Remember allowances? Do people still do allowances? Let me know down below. Do you Zelle your kid? How does that work? As their popularity continued to rise, Beanie Babies got more and more and more love from the media. This is because Ty did what a lot of people refuse to do even today.
he made sure his toys were mostly sold in small businesses. He didn't sell to those big ass corporations that were just adding money to the Scrooge McDuck pile of cash, you know? Gold bars all around them. He knew he'd make money off these beanies either way. So it's like, why not help small businesses along the way? And it was like, aw, I love that, you know? Ty.
Sweetie, that's so sweet. I love that. But in 1997, they hit it. Ty immediately backtracked his small business thing and locked down a major deal with McDonald's. Oh, I love McDonald's. I know it's bad. I know, I know, I know. But give me a chicken McNugget happy meal with some barbecue sauce and I'm a happy, happy little meal.
Anyhow, so he partners with McDonald's. And McDonald's, they asked Ty to create a special line of teeny Beanie Babies for their Happy Meals. And even those became collectibles. Yeah, the hamburger toys.
I won't lie to you, there is a bin in my mom's... I think it's at my mom's house that is filled with the McDonald's Beanie Babies. So let me know if you want to buy one for me. I got them all. I'll go to my mom's, I'll get that bin, okay? And I'll sell them to you if the price is right. But yeah, I fell for that. I love Beanie Babies. Anywho, Beanie Babies also gave the 90s one of the biggest retail events of the decade.
And it had to do with the death of one of the most beloved celebrities of all time. You know that one good tank top that you wear like all year round? I mean, it fits you just right. So you wear it all the time, but maybe now it's getting a little old. Shifting my wardrobe from summer to fall is always a challenge. Luckily, Quince offers timeless and high quality items that I
love so I can make sure my wardrobe stays fresh and I don't blow my budget. They've got cashmere sweaters from $50, pants for every occasion, washable silk tops. And my favorite part, all Quince items are priced $50 to
80% less than similar brands. By partnering directly with top factories, Quince cuts out the cost of the middleman and passes the savings on to us. And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices
and premium fabrics and finishes. I recently got this 100% European linen short sleeve shirt. Ooh, I love linen and you know, it was so comfortable, so cute. I can finally retire my old ratty tank top.
RIP. Make switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash dark history for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash dark history to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash dark history.
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.
So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations.
- August 31st, 1997 is a day that people, a lot of people will remember for the rest of time. There was shock across the globe. That's because that was sadly the day Princess Diana died in a car accident. So, Ty out of nowhere was like, "Hmm."
No. But like, you know, he was. Because Ty was like, we're going to sell you something you never knew you needed. A super special edition Beanie Baby honoring Princess Diana. When you look at it now, it's kind of like, bro, really? Look at it.
I mean, look, it was like the classiest Beanie Baby the company had ever released. If you don't remember, you don't know, listen, it was royal purple, the beanie, the bear, it was a bear, and it featured a white rose on its chest. It was beautiful. We were crying. We were crying. I remember looking at it like, oh, it's so beautiful. Apparently, the funds from the sales went straight to Diana's memorial fund.
But did they? I don't know. Either way, it made people, I guess, feel good when they were buying it. They were like, oh, we're helping, you know? But just like with all the limited edition beanies, people were frantic to get their hands on one. They really believed if they got one, they wouldn't ever have to worry about money again. Instead of stores selling 36 bears like normal, they were only able to sell 12.
So just like with the Tickle Me Elmo, people were going to do anything they could to get one of those Diana beanie babies. Even if that meant shoving a bitch. Get the fuck out of my way. I need that Diana fucking bear. One woman, her name was Gretchen LeMay, told a story about fighting. It's not funny, but she told a story about fighting an old woman for her Princess Diana bear.
Yeah, she literally came out and said, quote, she was going for it, but because I was younger and faster, I got it first. If it were anything else, I would have relented and said, oh no, you go ahead. But I was like, this one's mine, end quote. Okay, Gretchen, you go. Worth it. But in the end, Ty, it's just funny that she came out and admitted like, yeah, I pushed that old woman out of the way. Yeah.
I respect it, Gretchen. Honesty, that is. But anyways, in the end, Ty kind of screwed over those people when he went against his own rule and made more Princess Diana Beanie Babies unexpected. Yeah, what? Yeah. This meant that more people had them and they became, you know, less special. In other words, less valuable.
because I literally went on eBay the other day, you can still find some eBay listings offering the Princess Diana Beanie Baby at insane prices. It's weird. I mean, that doesn't mean anyone is buying it, but I want you to buy it and let me know. I just want to know, like, is it a scam? I can't figure it out. Because why are they listed for...
God, thousands of dollars today. It just doesn't make sense. So if you buy one, let me know if it's a scam or not. I'm just curious. If you have one and you want to get rid of it, send it my way. I will replace Joan and put the Princess Diana Beattie baby right here because she is beautiful. Okay, she deserved, sorry, you could go. I'm just kidding, Joan.
So in 1999, Ty Inc. made an earth-shattering announcement to the press. It was on their website too. Maybe you remember this. It left everyone shooketh. It said the following, quote, Very important notice. On December 31st, 1999, 11.59 p.m. CST, all beanies will be retired. End quote. This was up.
People were speechless. Shocked collectors and fans everywhere didn't know what to do. They were losing it. What? Ty, no, you can't do this to us. No.
It was drama. People were freaking the fuck out. But of course, people forgot who was making this big announcement. You know, Ty is famously unreliable. And then a few months later, I think it was in January, if I remember correctly, I did live through this iconic moment in history. Thank you. But Ty took back the announcement. Yeah. And with that, he launched a brand new Beanie Baby for the new millennium. And it was ugly, too.
It was. Come on. It was ugly. I mean, hello? Hello? Are you listening? Are you paying attention? This is the guy who made an entire business off of playing mind games with people. You know? But what do you do? It was like, do you believe him? Or like, maybe he's bluffing? Eh.
But of course the announcement was fake. But also this was a time when we thought the world was gonna end. You know, remember 1999, December 31st, we thought the world was gonna end. So it was kind of like buy the Beanie Baby 'cause you're gonna die tomorrow. So, facts. But this latest marketing scheme was the final straw for Beanie Baby fans.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me can't get fooled again. Is what people were thinking at home. Look, they'd been burned by Ty one too many times. And this really pissed them off. How dare you lie to us and tell us it's going away just so you could see. We knew what he was doing and it was obvious this time. Okay? I was one of the pissed off people. So people like after this, they stopped buying Beanie Babies. Beanie Babies? Flatlined.
Ty didn't think this was a big deal at first. Like he always thought the fans would, you know, make a comeback. Plus all of his sneaky Beanie Baby moves throughout the decade made him worth like $4 billion in 1999. So he's like, I'm good, whatever. Just trust the process. But this time, Ty was wrong. We were loyal as upset customers. We were not buying Beanie Babies ever again.
By the year 2000, Beanie Baby sales were taking a frickin' nosedive. Like the plane was going down, okay? And along with that, his precious net worth too was falling from the sky. But Ty wasn't gonna, he wasn't gonna go down without a fight. And he's not gonna like let anyone take his fortune either. So this genius, he hides about $93 million in Swiss bank accounts.
You know, so he wouldn't have to pay taxes on it. But he ended up getting caught. In 2014, he was sentenced for the crime of tax evasion. And he received a whopping two years of probation, a $100,000 fine, plus 500 hours of community service. I know, I know, I know what you're thinking. Rich people get away with everything. I know. $93 million in an offshore account? And he gets a little...
Slap on the wrist? I know. I was thinking, like, I wonder if he sold one of his Princess Diana bears to help cover the fine. So on top of Ty's fall from grace, there was another problem that added to the Beanie Baby flop era. It was Y2K. I know, I just talked about, but do you remember? Do you remember? Do you remember?
Look, in 1999, people were worried because everyone thought computers wouldn't know what to do when it switched from 99 to 00. Nobody thought the computers, they were all gonna explode. Everything was gonna shut down and the world was gonna end.
Yep. And we were all collectively clenching our butt cheeks, terrified that it might happen. At the same time, people were starting to have personal computers in their home. Society is becoming obsessed with the potential of technology. And because of this, plain old plushies or beanies just weren't cutting it anymore.
Kids are seeing like all this tech pop up around them and they're like, "Hey, like why can't we have that too?" So in the early 2000s, there started to be this intersection of like toys and tech. Oh, it was so cool. It was so exciting. Do you guys remember those robot dogs? Those little ones in the Janet Jackson music video?
I wanted those so bad, so bad. It was so cool. It was so exciting. It was like, these are the toys of the future. Oh, such a fun time. Remember recording devices? 'Cause Home Alone.
I wanted a Talkboy so bad. I wanted one of those. They had all these exciting tech toys coming out and it was just like, wow, this is the future. Like, I don't want a BBB anymore. I want something cool that does something weird. These were toys that could do things. They could move, bark. They had these like light up eyes that were kind of low-key creepy. Like, are you...
It's gonna like laser me or something. I don't know. But whatever, it was cool. And they made stuffed animals look kind of boring and dated. Like, Bitty Baby, you're not talking to me. You're not barking at me. You're doing nothing. And those little robot dogs were just the beginning. Because the next big thing was already in the works. It was an ultimate mashup between technology and toy. If they had a baby. And its name was Furby.
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R.I.P. Make switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash dark history for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash dark history to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash dark history.
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
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♪ This is the story of a guy ♪ ♪ Who invented Furby on his time ♪ Hey, I tried on a whim. That was pretty good. Anyways, let me tell you a story about the guy who invented Furby. You know Furby. God, I love Furby. His name was David Hampton. So David...
He had a brilliant mind when it came to engineering. He was a smart guy, okay? When he was just a kid, he would entertain himself by doing stuff like taking apart toasters. You know those people. They like to tinker. And also like fixing his neighbor's broken radios. Like that was his idea of fun. And I love that. I respect it because you don't want that person smart and they're going to go far in life. And you're like, fuck, I suck at everything.
I did! I sucked at every- Anyways, I'm here, so let me shut up. When he was old enough to work, he took a job at a TV repair shop. And even after that, when he enlisted in the Navy, he trained in aviation electronics, where he would like work on planes. After traveling the world with the Navy, he ended up in Silicon Valley, California.
This is where David becomes friends with another toy maker named Caleb Chung. In 1997, Caleb and David, they made their way to a toy fair in New York where they lay their eyes on one of the greatest toys ever invented, the Tamagotchi.
Oh, the Tamagotchi, don't get me started. You know what a Tamagotchi is, right? Well, if you don't, I don't know where you live or what you're doing, but let me tell you, Tamagotchis were like these little egg-sized toys with a tiny screen, and you would like interact with a digital pet on the screen to keep them alive. It was a virtual friend, and you were completely responsible for it. And the game is...
Just don't let it die. Okay, that's the whole point of the game. Don't let your Tamagotchi die because you're a bad parent. You felt bad. And all the poops everywhere. Remember the poops? There were two types of Tamagotchi people. You were either the kind of person who was obsessed with keeping your Tamagotchi alive, or you were like most people and you were like, whoops.
He shit everywhere, died. Poor guy. Poor Harold. RIP. You know you did that shit on purpose. Murderous! The toy set itself apart because it gave kids a sense of responsibility. They were responsible for this cute little creature and if you killed it you were a murderer. You know? But it was cute. And it was so successful, apparently the two people who invented the Tamagotchi won a Nobel Prize in 1997.
I did not know that. Did you know? I didn't know that. Good for them! Once they got to the US, Tamagotchis became one of the biggest toy trends of the decade. Over 91 million Tamagotchis have been sold since then. Now if you do the math, which I'm not gonna do, but if you did it, that's a lot of money too, right? And it got me thinking, like I wonder how many of them are still alive. If you still have a Tamagotchi and it's alive, let me know down below in the comments.
Would I grow into it? Because I never got that far. Remember I would grow from like a little dude to like a cool alien and you never knew what kind of alien you were going to get. And I never got that far because he always died.
'cause I had to go to school. I couldn't take the Tamagotchi to school. Like they banned them because it was becoming a problem in the classroom. So I'd be at school all day. I'd come home dead, killed my Tamagotchi every time. Back in the 90s, like a whole bunch of schools also ended up like having to ban the Tamagotchi because kids were focused on trying to keep them alive and totally ignoring like, "Hello, you're in a classroom, pay attention." So parents were like taking their kids' damn Tamagotchis to work with them and trying to remember to feed it and like keep it alive for the child.
The child. What about the children? You know? And if they didn't, they would die and their kids would freak out. I mean, if you have kids, which I don't, but if you have kids, you don't want your kids to freak out. No. Well, that's right here. It goes real bad. Anyway, so David and Caleb are watching the Tamagotchi take the world by storm, okay? But David sees one problem with the design. Quote, you can't pet it. End quote.
Great point. It was a pet that you could not pet. But David and Caleb loved the idea of an interactive pet toy. I mean, it was the future. It was technology. And it was a friend.
And kids had to play with it. It's kind of toxic if you think about it. It's kind of like our phones. It was a toy that demanded your attention and to be played with instead of focusing on your schoolwork, children. Like, of course you're going to forget about all the other toys if one of them is threatening to die. It's very dramatic. Apparently, David turned to Caleb and said, quote, I just want a little guy that'll be my friend, end quote. Aw.
Same David, same. So David gets to work. This guy's smart, remember? He's like, "I'm gonna build a toy that takes the best of Beanie Babies and Tamagotchis, mush them together and make a baby." So he starts off by building
Oh yeah, Frankenstein. A brain that would like have its own language and be capable of quote, "learning." They take the concept to the CEO of Tiger Electronics to a guy named Roger Schiffman. Caleb and David, they pitch Roger by calling their toy quote, "a living gigapet," end quote. Which by the way, a gigapet was like America's knockoff of a Tamagotchi.
Same family, different pet. But Giga Pet. Oh yes, sorry I just had a flashback. I remember those. I had a Giga Pet because they were cheaper too. Couldn't afford the Tamagotchi. The Giga Pet was like lower end. I would go to the Merino Valley Mall and get me a Giga Pet.
Shout out to MoVal. But David and Caleb really win Roger over with their pitch. They tell him about like how their toy was designed to build a relationship with its owner. It would be able to react to touch. So a kid could pet it and it would make like, you know, crazy little noise, sounds. And with the advanced toy brain, it could even react to light and snore once the lights went out.
The cherry on the cake was that Furby had its own language. Now, this is true. It was actually a combination of a bunch of different languages, which David learned back in his Navy era. So the Furby vocabulary would include words from Mandarin to Hebrew. He called the language Furbish. Allegedly, the original name for the Furby was Furball, and it was shortened to Furby, plural Furby.
So at this point in their presentation, I imagine the toy executive, Roger, was just frothing at the mouth. Caleb and David were legit geniuses, right? We know this by now. I hope you know this. Genius, smart people. So they were confident that their Furby was going to be like the next big thing. He's like, "Take my money!"
So Tiger Electronics bought the rights to Furby, but a few months later the company got acquired by Hasbro. And if you don't know, Hasbro was the toy company. And it happened on the opening day of the big New York Toy Fair. So according to our expert, Chris Byrne, it was the talk of the town at the fair.
People all over the building were running around like, holy shit, did you hear the news? Hasbro just bought like this blah, blah, blah. Because Hasbro, the biggest company in the industry, apparently paid $335 million for Tiger. Now, Tiger at this time was like a little company that no one really cared that much about. You know, Tiger's showroom had been empty. And then once word got out, it was like suddenly mobbed by a ton of people.
And everyone knew something big was coming. You know that one good tank top that you wear like all year round? I mean, it fits you just right. So you wear it all the time. But maybe now it's getting a little old. Shifting my wardrobe from summer to fall is always a challenge. Luckily, Quince offers timeless and high quality items that I
love so I can make sure my wardrobe stays fresh and I don't blow my budget. They've got cashmere sweaters from $50, pants for every occasion, washable silk tops. And my favorite part, all Quince items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. By partnering directly with top factories, Quince cuts out the cost of the middleman and
and passes the savings on to us. And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. I recently got this 100% European linen short sleeve shirt. Ooh, I love linen. And you know, it was so comfortable, so cute. I can finally retire my old ratty tank top.
R.I.P. Make switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash dark history for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash dark history to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash dark history.
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.
So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer survey who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations.
In February 1998, I just had a brilliant idea, Joan. What if I replaced you with a Furby instead? At least a Furby could talk to me. I know, I'm looking for a replacement in front of you. That's kind of rude of me. Let me know down below if I should get a Furby instead. In February 1998, the Furby makes her red carpet entrance at the same toy fair where Beanie Babies first debuted. And the news spread like wildfire. Like, what's this Furby? And Furby's in there like, Furby!
When people first saw Furby, they were like kind of confused. I mean, I get it. It basically looks like an owl and a chinchilla had mated, you know? And there was no gender. So it wasn't clear who would gravitate more towards this creature. Was it gonna be boys or girls? They don't know. But here's a cool toy. We'll see. But the Furby was undeniably unique. And Hasbro really believed in Furby's potential. So they fast-tracked it.
The plan was for Furby to be released in time for Christmas. Genius. Love that. So the marketing team at Hasbro gets to work fast. Everything was riding on Furby being like the it toy in time for the holidays.
It wasn't enough for Furby to be on the shelves by December. I mean, there had to be buzz around it. So they start shooting all these commercials because bitch, they needed to hustle. And of course, they air the commercials at prime time, just after Saturday morning cartoons. Genius. These commercials promised something more than a toy. It was a friend who desperately needed you.
Kind of like the Tamagotchi, but it couldn't be killed. And it talked and you could touch, you could pet, you know? It was a codependent love story. Furby would arrive at your home speaking only Furbish, its native tongue, but slowly it would apparently, allegedly, learn English as you taught it. I remember like, okay, so I got a Furby, of course. Hello, I was a kid. I wanted it so bad. I got a Tamagotchi and I also got a Beanie Baby. I was hitting them all.
they got me good okay with their marketing i was a kid and i just wanted to furby okay i got one eventually and uh when i got one it was just so much pressure like i feel like i had to talk to it all the time so it would learn but then there was rumors that like you know it was listening to you and like being like devil i don't know okay but listen to this we we here at dark history
We found the truth behind the Furbish language. There was no learning happening like they said. The more the Furby was used, the more words would be unlocked. You know? So the English words were already in there the whole time. And they were tricking us to believe that it was learning from you. But it wasn't. It was...
It was programmed to, with the words. Do you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying. But regardless, it felt like Furby was learning. And isn't that like the most important thing? Plus it was more technologically advanced than any other toy on the market. No one could figure out how this thing worked. David admitted that if he had access to a Furby when he was a kid, the first thing he would do was quote, "take the fur off."
Hot. Wow. And then he would take it apart and see if he could put it back together again. I know, very Ed Gein. I don't know. Like, great, David. That's great. In October of 1998, just a few months before Christmas, Hasbro staged a meet and greet for Furby at Chicago's FAO Schwarz. I think I said that correctly. Which was a huge, fancy-ass toy store. I mean, a...
The line, it had stretched blocks down Michigan Avenue and people were like so excited. Yeah, if I could meet Furby, I would be lined up too. By the end of the day, thousands of Furbies were on back order and the Hasbro people must have been like, yeah, bitch.
Oh, Furby. By December, people were getting in line at big department stores at like 2:00 AM to ensure that their kids would have a goddamn Furby for Christmas. But there just like weren't enough of them to go around.
No, they were not pulling a Ty Warner and, you know, creating demand. They just were selling out. Everyone wanted one. I mean, look. So I don't know how old I was at this time, but I know I was young. And every day before school, I would call Kmart and like Target. I would hit all of the toy stores and ask if they had a Furby in stock. And I did this for weeks, maybe even months.
I don't know, it just became like a habit. I would do it all the time. And every day, no, we don't have any. Click and whatever. And then one day, "Hi, do you have Furby in stock?" "Yeah, we have one." Like, I didn't know what to do. I went into my parents' room. I woke them up. I was like, "There's one Furby at Kmart. You need to go and get it." And they were like, "No, like, no."
trying to, you know, they were trying to parent me. No, I need to work for it, whatever. And I was like, God damn it, parents, get it together. Get me that Furby. I wasn't spoiled, I swear. I just knew what I wanted. And I wanted a Furby. Anyways, so my parents told me, no, we're not getting a Furby. No, no, no, no, no. And then when I got home from school, they had gotten me the Furby. I know, I know. I was like gonna cry. So dumb. But I...
Shout out to my parents. You guys really came, you know, it was so great. I was so thankful. Unfortunately, the fun, it didn't last that long because my Furby wouldn't shut up. Like he would talk all the time and I was like, girl, I can't think. Okay, you're talking too much. So then I put a pillowcase over his head because I wanted to like cover the sensor so he'd go to bed. And even with the pillow over his head, he didn't stop. I think mine was defective.
In stores, Furbies retailed for like $30. But just like the Beanie Babies, people had started snatching them up and then, you know, reselling them for profit. Furbies would get listed on places like eBay for hundreds of dollars. It was insanity. And as it got closer and closer to the holidays, these prices just went up and up. It got to a point where parents were buying eBay Furbies for thousands of dollars.
Customers started to get angry. They saw this limited availability as an attempt to gatekeep Furbies and drive up demand. I mean, everyone thought this was like another Ty Warner gimmick, but engineered by Hasbro, you know? So they could make more money. And can you blame the people? I mean, we had trauma from that Princess Diana bear. Hasbro claimed that they were working as hard as they could to get Furbies out to everyone who wanted one.
And it seems like they were being honest because they were forced to like overnight ship product from China. And this put like a major ding in their profits. Clearly, they didn't see this coming. At the end of the day, I mean, no one can plan for a fad. Not even Hasbro.
At the end of the day, Furby's success didn't come from like supply and demand tactics like Beanie Babies. It came from the twisted but genius codependent relationship it created between kid and toy. It was beautiful. Genius. I mean, kids were like totally attached to their Furbies. It was everything and more than they were promised in those Saturday morning commercials. Unlike with Ty, we'll never know just how profitable Furby was for David because David
Very extremely private person. Good for him, you know? I mean, Ty Warner literally took like out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal to announce to the world his many millions in profits. But David, he was giving Unabomber vibes, just total opposite. No, in my opinion, he was giving Unabomber vibes is what I'm saying. Don't wanna get in trouble. As soon as the Furby fever ramped up, David was like, I'm out.
Peace. Good for him. You know, he basically disappeared off the face of the earth. He ended up moving with his family to a house in the Tahoe National Forest where they lived off the grid, like even without electricity. Unabomber, I know. And he never disclosed the location of the house because he was so worried about crazy people like coming to him and demanding a freaking Furby. I guess it was happening all the time. All we know is that he lived like in an area where the nearest town was like 25 miles away. Good for him.
I like people who just are like, "I'm out, bye." But David's invention would become so popular that Furby was even referenced during President Bill Clinton's impeachment hearing. Yeah, we've got some weird crossovers happening here, right? Beanie Babies intersected with the death of Princess Diana. Furby's had the Clinton impeachment. It was wild times, wild. I'm surprised OJ didn't end his Bronco chase by tossing a Tickle Me Elmo out the driver's side door.
Elmo wants a chalupa. Throws him out, you know? Now, if you're a little on the fence about Furbies, I get it. They've got something in their eyes, you know? They're watching you. It's kind of freaky. And they've got this, like, freaky telekinetic feature. When you put two Furbies next to each other, they know. Oh, they know. And they'll even talk to each other. In Furbish, of course.
Which kind of like freaked people out and had everyone thinking like what the hell is going on with these Furbies? What is this newfangled technology? The parents who bought the Furby for Christmas in 1998, they started to panic because there were some things about Furby that were just a little odd, suspish, questionable.
One thing that really freaked people out was like, the Furby didn't have an off switch. You know, Furby was always, they reacted to movement and touch whether you wanted them to or not. They were kind of like a broken smoke detector, you know? Oh, I hate that. You can't reach it. So you're just like, someone will fix it one day, but not me.
The only way you could get peace from this little creature is if you like rip the batteries out of it. This made me think of another Furby story for you. My grandpa had a Furby for like 15 years. The same Furby. He kept the conversation going. He kept it alive. He swore that the Furby was so smart. He was a really smart guy, my grandpa. He loved his Furby.
That's him right here. Just kidding. Shout out to grandpa, RIP, love ya. Some parents claimed that their children's Furbies were picking up their adult language and repeating it back to their kids. So listen to this. There's a Walmart in Pennsylvania that had a display of Furbies that they had to remove after customers complained about their foul language. Yeah, I guess people thought that the Furby was greeting customers by saying,
"Fuck me!" You know? Turns out the Furbies were saying, "Hug me," but people thought he was saying, "Fuck me." So who's the problem, the Furby or them? You know? Maybe they wanted to hear "Fuck me." I don't know. Anyways, our expert, who was interviewed a bunch during the Furby Freak Show, he even got some outraged calls about this. I remember this specifically 'cause it did sound like Furby was saying some inappropriate words, but maybe we just wanted to hear those words.
Just, I don't know. On top of that, the technology used in Furby was very impressive. I mean, especially for like the late 90s. People really overestimated it. There were claims that Furby contained enough high-level technology to launch a freaking space shuttle. I know. I kind of love the idea of Furbies in space. They should have launched like a rocket or something to space full of Furbies. Would have been iconic.
Can we do that now? Let me know down below. So because of all that, there was like this new fear that Furby had posed as a national security risk. Because Furby was able to like react to even the slightest movement, the assumption was that they were constantly monitoring and recording everything that happened around them. I mean, I remember the news reporting on this too. "Furby's are recording your thoughts." It was just like,
And then the theories got really wild. Suddenly word on the street was that Furbies were spies. The Furby gossip was so convincing it became fact to pretty much everyone. Even the National Security Agency and the Pentagon.
banned Furbies from their properties. And some people in the government started to believe that the Furby was actually a Chinese spy toy that was bugging every home in America. It was growing and it was insane. It was out of control. They didn't know like who the information was being delivered to, but still it is recording you.
It was absolute chaos. This became like a huge cause of panic, but the CEO of Tiger Electronics had to issue a statement reassuring people that the toy did not have the ability to record and also was not a Chinese spy.
You guys, chill. It's a toy. It's too late though. I feel like the damage was already done and everyone believed it. It's kind of funny when you think about it today. Like we're absolutely surrounded by technology that can and does record us. Kids are playing on iPads, talking to Alexa or Siri
whatever and scrolling on TikTok and no one seems to really care that much but back then Furbies were enemy number one and they were people were lighting them on fire you know for being spies it was like a little dramatic you really gotta light them on fire you can't just like toss it or donate it or something it was like satanic panic but Furby panic same thing
So besides the spy stuff, there were a few other concerns about Furby's technology. Some thought the tech would mess up medical devices or even the electrical systems on planes. Sorry, I'm not laughing. It's just thinking like a plane goes down because of a Furby would be wild. Anyways, all of those theories were proved wrong, of course, but my personal favorite conspiracy was that Furby was covered in fur from real cats and dogs.
It wasn't true. Again, Tiger Electronics was forced to respond to these allegations and they had to assure everyone that Furby's fur was 100% acrylic. Everyone, again, calm down.
Of course, all of these fears and the overall weird vibe of Furby had led to a bizarre second life for the toy on the internet. Today, if you look up Furby on Etsy, there are a ton of bizarre versions. Some people have been inspired by David Hampton's weird pitch to defer all of the Furbies.
And they do just that and it's creepy. It gives me Terminator vibes, you know? You're like, "Oh my God, Furby, you're naked. I can't look."
So creepy. So people like take off the fur of the Furbies and they would use it in insane ways. You can buy hats, sweatshirts, scarves, backpacks, all with the original Furby face on them. Like I don't mean like an image of Furby, I mean the literal eyeballs and beak from classic Furbies. These people are artistic and creative, but damn is it creepy. Plus a few different shops offer quote,
"long Furby," which is an absolute nightmare. I don't know why people do this. I'm not hating on it. I appreciate art, but this is questionable. It's like a long L-shaped pillow with a Furby face popping out at the top. Only the internet could create something
So artistic and beautiful, but yet so gross. Good for us. We're creative and a little questionable, but whatever. These days, the official Furby has transformed, you know? As technology has advanced, Furbies are now closer to what all of those conspiracy theorists feared they were. There's a new Furby out. Yeah, the newer Furby is called Furby Connect and even comes with its own app.
Oh yeah, app on the phone. Jessica Card, a computer programmer, even hooked up a Furby to chat GBT and the results were, uh,
A little scary. According to Jessica, FurbyGBT said, quote, Furby's plan to take over the world involves infiltrating households through their cute and cuddly appearance, then using their advanced AI technology to manipulate and control their owners. They will slowly expand their influence until they have complete domination over humanity. End quote. Great. Can't wait. What about you? Ah, ah.
But imagine if after all the crap that we've been through in the last few years, like the Furby is what's gonna take us out. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I mean, if that's how we're taken out, at least it's gonna be by a cute little friend.
The culture was forever shifted by Furby. I mean, it paved the way for more advanced toys, but there's really like never been anything quite like it, right? Even though kids today mostly just want to play on their iPads or their phones or whatever. If you think about it, adults today are still kind of looking for the things that those first Furby commercials promised. Companionship from a robot. Are you a robot?
You know, when you really think about it, Furby was kind of like the training bra for Ciri. And with people getting deeper and deeper into AI to the point where we aren't even sure what's real and fake, my only question is, is this part of Furby's plan?
Toys in the 90s made people lose their minds. Kids and adults were brought together by the frenzy surrounding Beanie Babies, Furbies, Tamagotchis, almost like the tween girls and adult women being brought together in the Sephora aisle today, you know? I think the takeaway from this is that capitalism has been making people insane for years. And the next time you see a weird looking toy, just know the toy creator is probably a little odd.
Well friends, thanks for hanging out with me today. Now with St. Patrick's Day coming up, I was inspired to look to the Emerald Isle, you know, Ireland, for an episode idea. So I started to get into Irish history and I came across the classics, like the very depressing Potato Famine. Yeah. But one thing jumped out at me, something I saw repeated over and over again.
and it was something I never heard, I've never heard of before. Starting in the 1700s, there was a place where, quote, fallen women, end quote, in Irish society were sent to straighten out their lives. Turns out these places were absolutely horrific and resulted in the abuse and deaths of countless women who were forgotten by society. Come back next week for the dark history of the Magdalene laundries. And I'll tell you this, it's not...
It's not like a laundromat. You know what I'm saying? It's rough. Also, join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder, mystery, and makeup. I'd love to hear your reactions to today's story. So make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can see what you're saying. Because I go looking.
Now let's read a couple comments you guys had left me. Shall we? Summer left me a comment saying, "Bailey, I would love to watch you play Sims. Maybe consider a stream. I'm all about Sims 3 right now." Summer, that's a great idea. I just don't know how to do that. And I like killing my Sims and I don't know if anyone wants to watch me kill my Sims. I'm not, I'm just,
I don't have time. But then like I play these games and I'm like, why am I playing this game if I'm complaining about not having time? And then they die. And plus the Sims these days, you have to go to work, keep the house clean, eat, like make sure you eat, shower, be social. It's so demanding. It's like real life. I'm like, where's the fun? Because my Sim hates her job.
First of all, I could go on about this forever, but thanks. Maybe I should. Help me, um, how do I do a stream? Let me know down below. Thornton Girl left me a comment on our Valentine's Day episode saying, my kids call themselves mom's party favors because they were all conceived on vacations.
Your kids are funny. Good for them. Maybe you should get them all shirts that say, Mom's Party Favors. For Christmas? That's a good idea. Have them wear it, take a little family portrait, and then send it to me. Al left us an episode suggestion saying, Have an idea for Dark History? I want us to do a deep dive into NASA world. Why didn't I think of this? That is genius, Al. NASA. NASA is huge. NASA is cool. Space?
Maybe we can totally do that. Al, you're great. I'm writing it down right here and I'll let you know when it's up. Hey guys, I really appreciate you for hanging out and watching and I love you for engaging. So keep the comments coming because maybe you'll be featured or maybe you won't, but I read them. Yeah. So...
Do it down below. Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Junya McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grush, and Matt Enloe from Maiden Network. Writers Joey Scavuzzo, Katie Burris, and Allison Filobos.
Production lead, Brian Jaggers. Research provided by Xander Elmore. And I want to say a special thank you to our expert, Christopher Byrne. And a special thanks to Jessica Charles and Xander Elmore. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good rest of your day. You make good choices, and I'll be talking to you next week.
It's how you internet. Check availability today.
Wouldn't it be nice if we were always in control of the when and where in our lives? Yes, I'll get you those figures today. Mom, check it out. I learned a new song.
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I'm Stanzi Potenza. And I'm Brad Padre. Launching June 13th is our new podcast, Late to the Party. In this post-ironic chat show, we'll show you a window into our world of crazy post-ironic thoughts. An unlikely friendship founded on a shared love for riffs, ranting, and getting absolutely wrecked.
Consider this an invitation to our inside jokes. You're late to the party, but no one cool ever shows up on time. Follow Late to the Party on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to this kind of stuff.
