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It belches, it's bug-eyed and it's the hottest of the Season
By Steven Theobald   
Toronto Star Business Reporter
   
Furby can speak 200 words and when it sees another, it giggles.  Tickle Me Elmo with a brain.  That's Furby, a new interactive stuffed toy that's being touted as this year's hottest stocking stuffer.
Debbie Lincoln, a mother of two, missed out on the Elmo craze in 1996, but this time around, she's getting on board.
After hearing on the news that Wal-Mart was bringing Canada's first big shipment of Furbies to its Square One store in Mississauga yesterday, Lincoln decided to get there early.
``They're supposed to do all these different things, so I am curious to see just how amazing it is,'' she said.
``The movie with those gremlins, that's what they remind me of.''
People started lining up at 7 a.m. and by the time Lincoln arrived 45 minutes later with her 2-year-old, Alexis, there were about 20 to 25 determined shoppers.  Despite a two-per-customer limit, 1,008 of the $40 furballs sold out quickly.
``I got a pink-and-gray one and an all-white one,'' Lincoln said.
Furby mania is just starting, but once the TV commercials start coming out, look out, said Lincoln.  ``Kids are going to be calling Furby, Furby, Furby.''
The hi-tech plush toy is 12.5 centimetres tall and has a vocabulary of as many as 200 English words, as well as a lingo called Furbish. A dictionary for translation is included.  The more you talk to Furby in its first 12 hours, the more quickly it develops its English vocabulary.
The creature has seven sensors, including one that initiates a chewing motion if something is placed in front of its mouth.  But be warned, the bug-eyed Furbies tend to belch a lot, and they're flatulent.
Bring two or more together and infrared signals allow them to communicate with each other, which can lead to giggling or sneezing fits - a built-in incentive to buy a whole family.

Wow.  Imagine a whole family of belching, farting furbies.  Sounds like my own family getting together for the holidays.

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