Teddy Ruxpin

Teddy Ruxpin

The BackPack Toys version of Teddy Ruxpin, released in 2005
Type	Teddy Bear
Inventor	Ken Forsse
Company	Worlds of Wonder (1985–1990) Hasbro (1991–1996) Yes! Entertainment (1998–1999) BackPack Toys (2005–2010) Wicked Cool Toys (2017-presents)
Country	United States
Availability	1986–2010
Slogan	The World's First Animated Talking Toy

Teddy Ruxpin is an animatronic children's toy in the form of a talking bear. The bear's mouth and eyes moved while "reading" stories that were played on an audio tape cassette deck built into its back. It was created by Ken Forsse with later assistance by Larry Larsen and John Davies, and the first version of the toy was designed by the firm RKS Design. Later versions would use a digital cartridge in place of a cassette. At the peak of his popularity, Teddy Ruxpin became the best-selling toy of 1985 and 1986, and the newest version was awarded the 2006 Animated Interactive Plush Toy of the Year by Creative Child Magazine. A cartoon based on the characters debuted in 1987.

Conventional Compact Cassettes carried two audio tracks for stereo sound reproduction. Teddy Ruxpin cassettes used the left track for audio and the right track for a control data stream. The data stream controlled servomotors that moved the eyes and mouth and could also divert the audio signal to Grubby, the companion toy, by means of a proprietary cable. This allowed the two to engage in pre-recorded interactions. Grubby only worked with the initial WOW release of Teddy Ruxpin.

If a conventional audio cassette was played in Teddy Ruxpin, this would be detected and its right audio track would be ignored. Early versions of the toy used three servo motors, but this was reduced to two in later versions.

From his debut in September 1985 various toy makers have produced Teddy Ruxpin over the years. The first was Worlds Of Wonder from 1985 until its bankruptcy in 1988. The toy's rights were then sold to Hasbro, and produced again from 1991 to 1996. Another version debuted in 1998 by YES! Entertainment. In 2006, the latest version of Teddy Ruxpin, created by BackPack Toys, debuted.

Shortly after his debut, Teddy Ruxpin was dubbed the "Official Spokesbear for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children" in 1985.

Teddy Ruxpin was first produced in 1985 by toy manufacturer Worlds of Wonder. They also released the companion toy Grubby and several other non-animatronic companion toys and characters. This included two different versions of the bird-like Fobs (one orange, one purple) that were hand puppets with a sock-like, extendable neck. Other hand puppets were the larger Wooly What's-It, three interchangeable Anythings (This, That, The Other), Tweeg, and L.B. The Bounder. Other items produced by Worlds of Wonder for Teddy Ruxpin were the Answer Box and Picture Show.