Purby (Furby Fake)

Purby is a 1998 Furby rip-off which speaks Purbish (not to be confused with another knock-off that speaks Furbish). It’s unknown which company made him.

Appearance[]

All Purbys have a face similar to a Furby's face, and sometimes they have a mane around their face. Purbys are only known to have tails and tufts of fur on their heads. They don't have manes on their backs. They can't send infrared signals or receive them, but they do have a light sensor. The black piece of plastic where the light sensor is located looks similar to that of a Furby's.

Versions of Purby[]

Some Purbys may have features which are different from each other. Here are five variations Purby is known to come in.

Orange fur with a white face mane and a yellow tuft of fur on its head. This version of Purby also has arms like a Furbish and Furby-like feet. Its outer ears are yellow, and its inner ears are white. The photo of this Purby on the box has white eyelashes, however, photos of this variation have black eyelashes. On the box, this version has yellow fur, instead of orange fur, with orange feet.

Pink and white fur with a pink face mane and white paws. This Purby has pink fur on the front where its face and stomach is, but the back of this Purby has white fur. The paw pads of this Purby are red, and this Purby has a fluffy, pink tail. It has pink inner ears and white outer ears.

White fur with a pink face mane and white paws with red paw pads. Poopi is also known to come in this variation.

Orange fur with white fur beneath its beak and faceplate. This version of Purby lacks arms and legs. It has a white tuft of fur on its head and a pair of orange feet like Furby's feet. It also has a soft, round, orange tail. It has orange outer ears and pink inner ears. Its beard looks similar to Kokie's beard, but it appears to be less puffy.

Gray fur with white stomach fur. This version also has teddy bear-like arms and paws like the unknown OCCO fake instead of feet. Its inner ears are white, but its outer ears are gray and they appear to be more fluffier than the ears of other Purby variations. No actual photos of this Purby have been found, but it can be seen on Purby's box.

Phrases from Purby's vocabulary[]

"Uh-oh, worry"

"Ay-tay wah!" (Furbish for "feed me!" or "very hungry!")

"Oh-kay" (okay)

"Ogenki desu ka" (Japanese for "How are you" or "Are you well?")

"Omoshiroi desu ne" (Japanese for "Isn't this fun?")

"Again, doo-moh" (Again, please)

"Kah dah-boh-bay" (Me scared)

"Hey, kah noh-lah!" (Hey, me dance!)

"Now, now..."

"Goodbye" (they say this if you don't play with them for a bit, and after a while they will go to sleep)

Trivia[]

A version of Poopi, which lacks a mane around its face, has been referred to as Purby mistakenly by some fans. It remains unconfirmed whether if Purby can look exactly like the version of Poopi which has no face mane.
Some Purbys with a pink face mane and white body fur have been repackaged as Poopis.

Techical information[]

A detailed disassembly of a Purby can be found here.

For some reason, some of the wires leading to the front panel assembly (infrared LED and infrared photodiode) appear to have been cut off by the manufacturer. Those from the ambient light sensor (a CdS light-dependent resistor) seem to be intact, however.

Additionally, the main microcontroller appears to be in a DIP package as opposed to the epoxy blob mounting style common in cheap electronics (and indeed, both in the original 1998 Furbys and the fakes thereof).