Furby Fakes

NOTE: Pages on this wiki about Furby fakes were created for informational purposes, not to endorse the sales of counterfeit goods.

Due to the popularity of the Furby, many companies wanted to cash in on the popularity by copying them. The result is usually very similar. Some Furby fakes have inferior quality, and may be broken even if they are in new condition. Furby fakes may range from unlicensed electronic toys to merchandise released by various companies.

Generation 1 Furby Fakes

Like Furby, many of the 1998 Furby fakes speak a made-up language. Most of these languages are just remixed versions of Furbish, the language common to all Furbish creatures. Many of the 1998 Furby bootlegs share the audio with a single Furby fake, Furbish. These fakes are why Tiger Electronics began adding the purple "Furby Original" tag to any 1998 Furby and Furby Baby being sold.^{[citation needed]} The purple tags were also added to some Furby Buddies since there were bootleggers creating knockoff Furby Buddies.^{[citation needed]} Though many bootleg Furby goods were distributed internationally, they were more commonly sold in European countries and Asian ones.

Actions taken by Hasbro and Tiger Electronics

• Hasbro posted a warning about bootleg Furbys on the official French Furby website in 2000, warning people about Dubby.
• Tiger Electronics seized fake Furby toys and catalogues that featured Furby fakes from the Hong Kong Toys and Games Fair in 2000. 
  • Tiger claimed to take legal action against five Furby knockoffs being promoted at the fair. It's not known what fakes were being referred to, and if Tiger did take any action or if the attempt to do so was successful.
  • A spokesman for Tiger Electronics claimed it would take similar action in places such as Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore having had successfully taken legal actions against other bootleggers in China.
• In London, at Hasbro's headquarters, 20,000 knockoffs were crushed on the 29th of November, 1999. It's not known which fake Furbys were shredded. This incident has been referred to as the "London Shredding" incident by fans.
• In 1999, Tiger Electronics spotted four Furby knockoffs at a Hong Kong toyfair and discovered they were manufactured in Panyu, Southern China, a place where many other knockoff toys are manufactured. With the government's help, Tiger Electronics shut down a production line that produced 5,000 knockoffs daily.
• Tiger Electronics, Hasbro, and Hasbro France have attempted to sue the creators and distributors of Gowy.
• On the 15th of November, 1999, Furbishes in Japan were seized, and photos of many Furbishes that were seized, were taken at the Aichi Municipal Nishi-Biwajima Police Office.It has not been confirmed if the captured Furbishes later became a part of the London Shredding incident.

Gallery

A screenshot from AFLO's online archive of editorial images, showing two photos of seized Furbishes at a police station in Japan.

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Companies

Some companies that sold Furby knockoffs weren't very well-known companies with very little to no documentation on the other types of goods they sold, while some companies that sold counterfeit goods were well-known, such as Nissin, MGA Entertainment, and TOMY.

ABL Innovation

ABL Innovation was a distributor of Baby Birdy Bird, and other knockoff toys such as Robbie the Robot (a knockoff robot toy distributed by a variety of companies) and Hugzee Cat (a fingerlings knockoff). The company is located in Taiwan and was founded on the 15th of November, 1996. Aside from being the distributor of Baby Birdy Bird, another company called Simba Toys sold the knockoff in a few places in Europe.

Create Spring Products Limited

Create Spring Products Limited (聖春有限公司 in Chinese) was a firm located in Taiwan that was registered on the 26th of March, 1996. Create Spring Products was the creator and distributor of Marmo the Moon Angel. It's not known what other knockoff toys or products were offered by the company before it dissolved by striking off on the 5th of September, 2008.

Son Ai Toys

Son Ai Toys was a toy company which was known for distributing toy vehicles, toy robots, and drumming toys. The company's trademark was registered on the 12th of October, 1982.The company was also known for selling some singing animal toys such Magogo Gorillas, and is known to have sold only three versions of a toy called Phone Secretary.  The company's trademark was filed by Francie Gorowitz, and according to Trademarkia, the company stated that the transliterations of two Chinese characters in the company name translate to "Three Love Toys", with "Son" translating to "Three" and "Ai" translating to "Love". On the 19th of July, 2003, the company's trademark had been cancelled/expired.

Yahoo Toys, Inc.,

Yahoo Toys was a company that was founded on the 8th of February, 1999. It is not known if the company existed by itself or was a subsidiary of another company. Yahoo Toys was a distributor of Coobie that sold the toy as 'Foobie'. An employee from the company named West Caroline S. filed a trademark for Coobie's alternative name, Foobie on the 10th of March, 1999. The company dissolved on the 10th October 2000. It was located at the following address:

11515 Orchid Avenue

Fountain Valley, California, 92708

It had a jurisdiction which was also located in California, and it was registered by Tommy T Chang.

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Teamforce Co., Ltd.

Teamforce is a manufacturer and distributor of electronics and has been in operation since 1983 in Taiwan. The company used to distribute and manufacture knockoff Furbys. They include the following:

• Gizbo
• Gizbo (robot variant)
• Gizbo II
• Peebo
• Habby
• A fake Furby with an unknown name
• Space Robby
• Space Robby II
• Space Robby III
• Robonagi 
• Bulinagi

A few examples of other knockoff toys sold and manufactured by Teamforce include Popito Jr. (a Poo-chi knockoff) and Q-Pets (Micro Pets knockoffs). Not all, but some Habbys, Gizbos, and Peebos are known to have the same type of eyes that Space Robby I and Space Robby II have, while it isn't known if the fake Furby with an unknown name could have the same type of eyes. In France, TOMY distributed Robonagis as a part of a series of toy robots called Robonetic.

OCCO

Fake Furbys produced by Teamforce which have fur have a marking on their base that says "OCCO". Theses fakes cannot be found on Teamforce's official website despite Teamforce manufacturing them. Teamforce has two emails which include OCCO@MS19.HINET.NET and  TFCLTF@MS17.HINET.NET according to the World Importer Directory's website. However, some websites list the email address with another company's name, claiming it belongs to Ming Fung Towels Limited. Though OCCO could be a subsidiary of Teamforce, its identity remains unknown.  

A screenshot from the Wayback Machine listing some of Teamforce's products.

A Robonagi that was distributed by Tomy.

The back of the box belonging to a Robonagi that was sold by Tomy.

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Generation 2 Furby Fakes 

Only three Emoto-tronic Furby fakes are known to exist. This possibly could be due to the poor sales of the 2005 Furby's or because companies who wanted to compete against Furby couldn't produce an electronic knock off toy cheaply with similar features to an actual emoto-tronic Furby. Bootlegs which were produced for this generation include an unnamed bootleg plush, Wise Owl Interactive Toy (Furby Fake), and an unnamed money box. Some fans believe Brrrbils could be 2005 Furby rip-offs, however, the mechanisms seem to resemble those of an original Furby's. Wise Owl also seems to more closely resemble an original Furby, however, the box type and box art closely resemble the type of box and box art that belongs to a 2005 Furby. It is not clear whether if Brrrbils were meant to be 2005 Furby rip-offs, though they were supposed to have been released in the late 2000's. There are no Furby Baby knock offs and Funky Furby knock offs which are known to exist, but it is possible that the unnamed bootleg Furby plushes were sold in the color purple because of the Funky Furbys. However, the plushes don't have a tail like an actual Funky Furby does.

Generation 3 Furby Fakes

2012 Furby fakes don't speak their own made-up language. however, some Furby rip-offs are known to have the same voice as a 2012 Furby or they will have a voice of their own. Only Little Hibou and the Fuzzy Wonderz are known to share the same voice. Some fakes that relate to the 2012 Furby's and their relatives have the word "Phoebe" in their name. This is probably because when the word "Furby" is translated from Chinese (菲比精灵 or 菲比小精靈) to English using Google Translate, it would be translated to "Phoebe Elf". However, there is a knockoff toy called Phoebe that looks like a 2012 and rocks side to side while talking. The box also looks similar to a 2012 Furby's box. 

Furby Boom Rip-offs

There is a version of Phoebe that were released after Furby Boom had been released. These Phoebe's have multiple colors on their fur. After this version of Phoebe was released, Pixy had been released. The earliest version of Pixy has a beak that matches its fur color, but later Pixys with orange beaks and orange stickers on their ears were released. The ones with beaks that match their fur color could only respond to commands in Russian, but the later version of Pixy came with a remote control which could be used instead of speaking commands to it. 

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Famosa Furby Rip-offs

Because of the popularity of the 2012 Furbys, some companies, including ones that remain anonymous, have created bootlegs based off official merchandise which was released by Famosa. Famosa is a company which has distributed a wide range of licensed 2012 Furby plushes and soft key chains. Bootleg Furby plushes are almost identical in appearance to the official Furby plushes which were made by Famosa. Some knockoff Famosa Furby plushes can repeat what you say while either shaking back and forth or moving on wheels. The knockoffs can also say some of the exact phrases a 2012 Furby would say. The knockoff keychains, based off the official Famosa plushes, cannot move, but some can talk.

Packaging

Some of the companies that produce these rip-offs have stolen the Furby logo and even images from the official 2012 Furby boxes and have used them on the packaging of their products. They have also stolen the official 2012 Furby slogan, "Mind of its own", and have used it on the packaging of these counterfeit Furby's. By using these techniques, customers have been tricked into thinking that they were purchasing an officially licensed Furby product. Despite how some knockoff Famosa Furby plushes have had stolen box art used on their packaging or tags, bootleg Famosa goods don't have any licensing information on their tags or packaging.

A few years after the release of the Furby Boom's, some companies which produced Famosa Furby rip-offs based on the 2012 Furbys, began creating bootleg Furby Boom plushes and keychains based off BBR Toys' official Furby Boom plushes and keychains.

A counterfeit Famosa Furby in its box

A real Famosa Furby plush (left) and a fake Famosa Furby plush (right)

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Trivia

• In 2013, 720 Furby knockoffs called Parrot Furbys were crushed.

Parrot Furby's in boxes before being crushed.

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See also

• List of Furby Fakes