Furby Fakie

July 9, 2023.

Hasbro's electronic toy-companion, Furby, sparked a frenzy with its first release-- toys flew off the shelves as kids and parents put aside their inhibitions to get their hands on one of the weird creatures. Naturally, many imitators sought to flood the market with Furby-like fakies. Countless counterfeit robotic pets and furby-inspired plushies were produced to try and catch the attention of those looking to get their hands on the real things. By 2023, the Furby fever has long since died down, but the line still lives on through its many reboots. The volume of imitators seems to have likewise decreased, but cataloguing the dark underworld of furby fakies remains a passtime for many collectors online. This plushie that has passed through my collection is one such counterfeit Furby.

Quite simply, this thing is weird. Its face and body are definitely Furby-like, it has piercing eyes and eyelashes evocative of the original generation of furbies. It has an orange, furry body, with a tiger-stripe pattern-- not unlike the original furbies, many of which had coat patterns inspired (often loosely) by real animals. It has a stripe of hair or long fur that starts as a tuft at the top of its head and continues down its back. Though not entirely faithful to the Furby blueprint, the body of the plush is very clear about what it is imitating.
Where this plush quite obviously diverges from the original furby inspiration is... Well, the human limbs. The plush has arms and legs attached, rendered in fabric as light-skinned human limbs. This is far from the only Furby fakie to have skirted the copyright issue by sticking limbs on a Furby, but most plushies use a bit of a "cuter" design, giving them limbs that don't look out of place on a furry animal.

These pictures come from the Furby Wiki's List of Furby Fakes, uploaded by users Cute Furby, Jcgkdjrggfdfssfgdg, and Vocaloli 1998. When compared to other limbed fakies, this plush uses an uncanny and unconventional method of making itself distinct from its inspiration.

Though I don't have a collection of Furbys or Fakies, their charms are undeniable. They're really weird creatures. The real Furbys look right at home with their own counterfeits.