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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2011 15:00:36 GMT -7
Hi everyone. It hadn't been in my plans to end up with a third Teddy Ruxpin (a second large-sized one), but basically I bought a Teddy/Grubby pair, because Grubby is not so easy to get hold of in the UK, and Teddy came with him. However, the Teddy is, well, really strange. Since I was actually only wanting Grubby in the first place, I wasn't expecting anything special of Teddy, but I was wrong. He's a three-servo Teddy (he arrived with his mouth open, which allowed me to see down his throat - you can't do that with the two-servo kind; Moreover, his top jaw will stay in place if you gently move it), with a metal tape deck. His head shape is somewhat similar to those of the "Teddy II", which, whilst I know there's a fair bit of manufacturing variance with the larger Teddys, is something that I haven't often seen from the large-size model. I first noticed that there was something up when I turned him over to put batteries in him in order to give him a test run. The first thing I spotted was that his power/volume wheel was absent. It doesn't appear to have been broken and yanked out, though - it looks more like it was never there in the first place.  My apologies for the fuzzy photo of this - my camera didn't want to focus on it, for some reason. Hanging down a little bit into the bay where the volume dial would normally be, is a small black wheel with what looks like a square metal rod sticking out slightly from the centre of it. He came wearing the hiking outfit, so it wasn't until I opened the back of the outfit that I noticed that there truly is something really weird about this guy. I was soon greeted by this, on the back of his battery cover;  I figured that it was a bit strange, but the strangest sight greeted me when I popped the battery cover off;   It was then that I knew that something wasn't quite right.  Obviously, it's not possible to put batteries in and close the battery cover with those wires and the soldering there. I've never seen anything like this before, and as you can see, those weird wires in his battery compartment, and the jack on the outside of it, don't exactly seem to look unprofessional or hackish. The person I got him from never mentioned anything about this, either. Does anyone here know what the deal is with this guy, please? I'm really confused by him.  |
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Oct 24, 2011 19:49:44 GMT -7
It sounds like it may be one of the first run Teddies, seeing as he has three servos and a metal tape deck. The missing power/volume wheel may have been a factory defect. Of course the fact that it seems to have two female ports for the Grubby cord is strange itself. I'm guessing that's was that metal circle thingy (behold my uber technical vocabulary!) on the front of the battery cover above the usual port location is. Correct me if I'm wrong. Possible prototype perhaps?
I don't know what to make of the wires in the battery compartment, though. I have heard of people jury-rigging a Teddy so that he can be powered by a wall socket, but that wouldn't explain why the wires are only soldered onto the battery cover and two of the battery leads.
Can you make out the text on the front of the battery cover? It looks like there was a warning label there at some point. Also, is it possible to manipulate the wheel to the point where he turns on? I'd love to know if this Teddy works.
Darn, we need Mr. Forsse or someone else involved with the manufacturing process as a regular or semi-regular member.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2011 20:49:27 GMT -7
It sounds like it may be one of the first run Teddies, seeing as he has three servos and a metal tape deck. He's definitely pretty early. I'm wondering if it's absent on purpose, myself... Oops, I should have been more clear - that female port on the battery cover isn't for Grubby, it goes right into those wires in the battery compartment! Two of them are linked to it (hence why the wires are also attached to the compartment's door), and two are linked to the springs at the bottom of the compartment. This looks more professional than some of the descriptions I've heard of this sort of thing. I'm starting to wonder if he's actually from a store display unit - that might explain the apparently never-there dial, too. It's just the standard label about how you should use alkaline batteries - unfortunately it's nothing special. It's not, no! It only seems to move up and down, not around. Moreover, since it's not possible to install batteries in him, it looks like he can only operate with whatever power supply was supposed to go with him. I'd love to know if he works, too - I was pretty happy to find that he had a metal tape deck, since the sound-quality of those is apparently quite a bit higher than the plastic ones. Yeah, we do. ;D EDIT 2011/10/25: Ok, this is even weirder. His mouth parts are pretty clearly original (they look to be the same level of care-worn as the rest of his fur is, and I'm not seeing any signs at all that he's ever been taken apart), and yet, he has a hard plastic nose. I thought that they didn't even start using these until the rubber ones ran out a while after they dropped the metal tape players? |
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Oct 25, 2011 8:21:22 GMT -7
It may very well be one specifically designed for the POP display. The wires could have been for an external power source, since they probably didn't want to risk battery acid damage. And I'm sure they didn't want anyone fiddling with the volume.
How do those POP displays work anyway? Finding that out might shed some light onto this.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2011 8:27:16 GMT -7
That's my thinking, too. I've been trying to find more info on the point-of-purchase displays, but all I've been able to come up with so far is photographs of them from the front, in their fully-assembled state, along with a video of one that also shows some utterly terrifying pictures of the prototype Teddy that's used in the product pictures on the back of the display. Also, I just added an edit to my previous post about the nose on this Teddy. He sure is a weird fella. |
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Oct 25, 2011 17:55:49 GMT -7
I think someone here won one off of eBay not too long ago.
The rubber noses came before the plastic ones? I thought it was the other way around.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2011 19:41:17 GMT -7
The way it's wired also leads me to believe this is a store display model. I'd bet money that the jack on the battery cover is for an external power source, and, as has already been pointed out, I'm sure they didn't want anyone fiddling with the battery. The store display Teddys were definitely constructed differently, or so I've read. Depending on the display, it was often found that the actual circuit boards to Teddy and Grubby were located inside the display itself rather than in the dolls. The ON/OFF switch was most likely part of the display. As far as rubber vs. plastic noses, if this is a store display it was probably constructed to withstand possible fondling by consumers. There is no real way to tell, I suppose. I would contact blueoctopede on YouTube. I know that she owns a Teddy/Grubby store display and may be able to shed some light on just how these things work. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2011 6:47:28 GMT -7
The rubber noses came before the plastic ones? I thought it was the other way around. As far as I'm aware, from this, the rubber noses came first, and whilst some two-servo Teddys have rubber noses, most of them have plastic ones. (Myself, I still have yet to see a rubber-nosed Teddy, haha.) The way it's wired also leads me to believe this is a store display model. I'd bet money that the jack on the battery cover is for an external power source, and, as has already been pointed out, I'm sure they didn't want anyone fiddling with the battery. That's how I'm seeing it, too. It certainly doesn't seem like the scary hack described in this thread, at least! That notion about needing a more durable nose for a store display makes sense. I can't imagine any other reason (apart from modifications of some sort, which don't appear to have been done to this bear anyway) that a three-servo Teddy would have a plastic nose... I suspect that this Teddy might have his PCB in him*, though, as he came with a tape still installed, which happened to have been left halfway through. It was The Wooly What's-It, which is one that I didn't have before, which was a nice surprise! *What I remember of the UK store displays is that they were quite small, which might make a difference here. I've not seen any photographs out there of the ones I saw as a child. Thanks for the pointer! I've just sent her a message, and I've sent one to Dr. C.E. A.S. as well, since I noticed that he's restored some store displays before. Hopefully one or both of them can shed some light on this bizarre Illiop. EDIT 2011/10/26: I forgot to mention, there is absolutely nothing unusual about Grubby. |
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Oct 26, 2011 11:43:17 GMT -7
blueoctopede has some of the best Teddy related videos on Youtube. It was thanks to her that I was able to first hear Teddy in Japanese.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2011 11:44:31 GMT -7
Same here, although hearing it for the first time was a bit of a shock - that's not the sort of casting I was expecting! The Japanese version of "My Friend" is ridiculously addictive to listen to, too. |
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Oct 26, 2011 15:43:19 GMT -7
I'd love to find who was on the Japanese voice cast. I suspected that Teddy would have a high-pitched voice and Grubby a low-pitched voice, but I had no idea Gimmick would sound so mad.
I'm dying to know who provided Arin's voice in "The Missing Princess." I swear, he sounds just like Japanese Meta Knight in Hoshii no Kaabii.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2011 15:49:18 GMT -7
I suppose the Japanese books would list them, just the same as the English-language ones do. Of course, not having seen one, I wouldn't know. |
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Oct 26, 2011 20:27:08 GMT -7
I can't remember if they do or not. I'll have to look again when I get back home.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2011 5:36:37 GMT -7
Let me know - I'm curious as to who the voice actors are, myself! More on-topic, I received a message back from blueoctopede - she reckons he's just been modified. I'm still waiting to hear back from Dr. C.E. A.S.. I might try a long-shot and see if anyone from Toys 'R' Us UK (the only chain here that had Teddy Ruxpin store displays) might recall something from way back then, if I can manage to get in contact with them. I know that our displays were a bit different looking, and a fair bit smaller (and I remember that from when I was very small, when everything's meant to look bigger to you! Haha. ), so I wonder if any differences existed in their construction? |
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Oct 27, 2011 7:51:41 GMT -7
Wasn't there more than one type of display? I think I remember see two different types.
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