Furby Boom Figure (Waves)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



If you're considering a Furby Boom for a younger child - say, four to eight years old - BEWARE of the Furby Boom's multiple personality disorder.



We bought two Furby Booms (Waves and Triangles) for our seven- and eight-year-old daughters, after the seven-year-old fell in love with one at Costco. (We committed to making it a Christmas gift before looking at the price - bad move on our part.) After several weeks of "showing around" Furby Booms at every store that we visited that had them in stock (the seven-year-old would carry her favorite patterned-Furby all around each store, putting in back on the shelf just before check-out), we arranged for two Booms to be delivered as a Thanksgiving-night gift. (We're going to be traveling Christmas day, so the "main gifts" came early this year as a bit of a makeup for the loss of the usual time around the tree.)



Anyway, with the level of anticipation, the Furbys were an immediate hit, with their fresh-out-of-the-box "sweet girl" personality. But it was an earth-shattering jolt for the girls when first one Boom, then the other, announced "Me change!" after an extended feeding, then began speaking in a rather obnoxious (drunken?) masculine voice. Imagine if your child's cuddly new terrier puppy went out the dog door, then came back in as a lumbering full-grown sheep dog with a bad case of gas, and you may get some idea of the impact. In fact, it left the seven-year-old in tears, and severely tested the eight-year-old's determination to befriend everyone she meets.



Fortunately, after a couple of hours of experimentation (no, the "reset" button won't reset the personality - nor will removing the batteries, putting the Furby "to sleep," &/or pleading with it), we found a website that does a pretty good job of describing the personalities, and how to initiate a change to each one: http://ift.tt/1hGmYoX



This was a welcome contrast to the coy non-information that Hasbro provides on their websites - a particularly obnoxious approach, if you're the parent of a distraught young customer. I understand that part of the fun, for some older kids, may be in the surprise of the personality changes, then trying to initiate the changes intentionally, but for a younger child who has fallen in love with the initial sweet personality, Hasbro comes across rather like Sid, the kid next door in "Toy Story" - just plain cruel.



So, yes... beware. Our girls are once again happy with their Furby Zooms - but they're also handling them rather cautiously, for fear of inadvertently changing the personality. (And all of the other personalities are at least mildly obnoxious - even beyond the constant yammering that ALL of the personalities exhibit, which even wears on the seven- and eight-year-old after a few hours.) It's a shame that Hasbro chose to incorporate four evil siblings and just one sweet one in an otherwise rather fascinating and entertaining toy - and Hasbro compounds the misstep, in my view, with the coyness of what little information they do provide regarding personality changes. But, hopefully, as more information becomes available through other sources (Amazon reviews, for instance), fewer parents will have to spend several hours trying to figure out how to "fix" their child's disturbed Furby. (But even then, the fixes take some time and determination to execute, especially the return to the "sweet" personality. It took one of our Furbys a good fifteen minutes of steady and determined petting before it made the final "Me change!" back to sweetness.)



In summary, buyer beware. Furby Booms can be entertaining, even for adults open to the concept - and they will likely quickly capture the hearts of younger children. But if you make the investment, prepare your child for the possibility of a sudden personality change in their new friend. And prepare yourself for expending some time and effort in your new Furby's rehab therapy sessions.