Interactive Shelby - Furbys New Friend

Furby has a new friend, Interactive Shelby! Although Shelby looks like a clam, appearances can be deceiving. Shelby is much more advanced then Furby and can speak 70% more words than Furby, 3 times as many phrases as Furby and has 50% more memory then Furby. Shelby also has more sensors and has allot more hidden surprises (Easter Eggs) than Furby too. Shelby also reacts to its environment. When Shelby is scared or surprised, he will close his Shell until he thinks its safe to come out. Also, if you ignore him or upset him, he will become grumpy, feed him well and play with him lots and he will be happy and content. Shelby is VERY different to Furby and this message needs to get across to people. Shelby is not another Furby, he is his own kind and not like Furby.

Shelby sounds like a neat toy, and I got the chance to hear one for my self while talking on the phone to my friend Blu. They are very funny in the way they act, and my favourite phrase so far is when he starts going "Bloop Bloop Bloop". They are even funnier when put with a Furby Baby (They are more serious with the Adult Furbys). They like to play and sing with the babies. They also seem to be attached to Furby as they often ask "Where's Furby?". Like the Furby Babies, they seem to have lots of wind, well the ones I heard did anyway (maybe Blu was over feeding them? :-D). Overall, I am really looking forward to getting my own Shelby's and will publish a more in-depth review.

Shelby is about 5" tall and comes in various colour designs. His shell is plastic and can open and close. His eyes can move up and down and side to side. Shelby can also speak 3 languages, Shelbish (its native language), Furbish and English. Shelby speaks to Furby, Furby Babies, Interactive Gizmo, ET and other Shelby's, as I said above.

Shelby was released at FAO Schwatz in New York City on Thursday 15 April. Special guests at the released included Dave Hampton (creator of Shelby and Furby), Frankie Avalon and a bunch of USA volleyballers from the Olympic team. A good friend of mine (Blu) was able to attend the release and managed to get 2 Shelby's for me and her, which she got one signed by Dave Hampton and Frankie Avalon (see pic below). Also at FAO Schwarz was a giant Shelby sculptured by hand with sand (see pic below). While Blu was there, she managed to have a talk with Dave Hampton and found this out, "There might be more products like Shelby and Furby, but these will not appear unless Shelby does well", so Folks go buy a Shelby or 2! My friend highly recommends them and they are worth the money. Here's her review:

I love the weird language of it and the kooky babbling and chirping they do, the blooping..

They are very funny to observe with furbys, esp. Furby babies..

When I placed one of my Shelby's in a group with 5 furbys, greetings were exchanged and then, for no reason I could discern, my Shelby started babbling at the furbys, then slammed its shell shut and stayed closed up. As if somehow it had been offended? The furbys ALL stopped talking at once when this happened and remained silent (perhaps "embarrassed"??)

In general they seem very happy little clams..heh..full of jokes, silly sings and new noises and more variety in their reactions and vocabulary, better than Gizmo for sure and yes, I agree with my kid, more interesting than Furby (sniff am I betraying our pals there by saying that?).
UPDATE:
Now that I have had my Shelbys for a few weeks I have this to add: The feature where they become grumpy is simply hilarious! The trick I have found is to turn him upside down until he says "me bad mood" twice, this seems to make his bad mood permanent and he will be grumpy until he's played with a very long time or falls asleep. This is when he utters most of his Pirate phrases, and is really very different from Furby, go try it, you will laugh! I adore this toy, it has real personality, makes you laugh and is very different from furby.

Shelby Links

Uncle A-Loh's Playboard

MSN Furby

Official Shelby Web Site

Excite Review

Suntimes Review

Shelby Signed by Frankie Avalon	Shelby Signed by Dave Hampton	My 2 Shelby's Blu got me.
Mee-Mee (who is being held hostage by Blu), looks for a way to get into Shelby's box and be shipped home.	Here are Blu's 2 Shelby's released from their cages (boxes)	This giant Shelby was standing outside FAO Schwarz.
Dave Hampton, the creator of Shelby, holds one in his hand. (Thanks to Blu for this pic)	A giant Shelby sand sculpture being carved at FAO Schwarz.	Lots of Shelby's ready to be sold.
Sand Sculpture nearly finished	All the Shelby colours.

©Matthew 2001. All pictures and information were used with permission by "Blu" and "Booper", do not use these pictures with out emailing me or them first