rosk
Member
Long time TR and WoW fan.
Posts: 11
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Post by rosk on Jan 4, 2018 19:31:51 GMT -7
Here they are - Amber and Newton Gimmick at Alchemy II office, 1996 www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BN5amk3OMYThe story of Amber, as I remember it, told to me by various people long ago: When the development crew were converting Simeon Greep and his story into the marketable Teddy Ruxpin we know of today, they pointed out that all the principal characters of the story were male and it would be more 'politically correct' to have at least one strong female character. So they came up with Amber - an Illiop Doctor. But Ken would have none of it! The response was something like 'This is my story, the lead characters are who they are and it's not going to change.' And it didn't. So Amber stayed on the shelf. I think I heard that there were two prototypes made. In the video you see one of them. She is obviously based on an early Teddy Ruxpin design. AFAIK she was not animated. Seriously - it would have taken a major story re-write to include a Female Doctor in Teddy's expedition to Grundo. Cute though she is, I don't miss her presence.
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Post by BeachBear on Jan 4, 2018 21:09:52 GMT -7
This is incredible! I can see so many things I truly never thought I would see, I have so many questions! This information and footage is so appreciated, thank you!! Do you have any information about Mother Goose and Hector, prototypes and the playskool version made? I am lucky enough to own two playskool mother gooses in their boxes, but the history is just so scarce! I would love to hear anything you know please Edit: I've subscribed and commented on the video! I hope to see more and can't thank you enough for this! Edit edit: I absolutely adore Gimmick's socks!
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Post by harrynye on Jan 5, 2018 9:43:57 GMT -7
Wow! Thanks!
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rosk
Member
Long time TR and WoW fan.
Posts: 11
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Post by rosk on Jan 5, 2018 10:04:34 GMT -7
Re: Mother Goose etc: Sorry, I have no information on those products.
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Post by worldsofwonderfunfan on Jan 7, 2018 15:00:26 GMT -7
this is amazing. is that the gimmick toy he kind of looks like the live action gimmick. he dose look weird without the glasses. I wonder what he looks like working. I wonder who played amber. I do wish amber made it they could have made her eyes like bright green.
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Post by worldsofwonderfunfan on Jan 7, 2018 15:00:50 GMT -7
Do you have any info on gimmick.
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rosk
Member
Long time TR and WoW fan.
Posts: 11
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Post by rosk on Jan 7, 2018 17:42:44 GMT -7
I have no information about Gimmick in particular.
The toys in the video are mostly prototypes or very early production samples, when the toy was actually produced.
I do remember that the TRs in unusual costumes were sent to Alchemy II by fans in other countries, re-dressed in a typical local costume.
Robert Skegg
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Post by d.ruxpin on Jan 8, 2018 19:20:32 GMT -7
Thank you SO much for this video!! Alchemy II has tried to stop prototype footage from getting out for some unspecified reason, but we finally get to see some!! Fantastic!!
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Post by illiopmom on Jan 9, 2018 7:12:52 GMT -7
Here they are - Amber and Newton Gimmick at Alchemy II office, 1996 www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BN5amk3OMYThe story of Amber, as I remember it, told to me by various people long ago: When the development crew were converting Simeon Greep and his story into the marketable Teddy Ruxpin we know of today, they pointed out that all the principal characters of the story were male and it would be more 'politically correct' to have at least one strong female character. So they came up with Amber - an Illiop Doctor. But Ken would have none of it! The response was something like 'This is my story, the lead characters are who they are and it's not going to change.' And it didn't. So Amber stayed on the shelf. I think I heard that there were two prototypes made. In the video you see one of them. She is obviously based on an early Teddy Ruxpin design. AFAIK she was not animated. Seriously - it would have taken a major story re-write to include a Female Doctor in Teddy's expedition to Grundo. Cute though she is, I don't miss her presence. Good catch on Ken's part, haha. I agree with you, Amber's cute but she doesn't really belong in the story. Very glad that the attempt to cram her into the stories did not go through.
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Post by BabyEinstein204 on Jan 12, 2018 15:38:45 GMT -7
I have no information about Gimmick in particular. The toys in the video are mostly prototypes or very early production samples, when the toy was actually produced. I do remember that the TRs in unusual costumes were sent to Alchemy II by fans in other countries, re-dressed in a typical local costume. Robert Skegg I think that the tools in with that Gimmick toy e.g. the pens might be real because kids can use the tools to be a future adventurer.
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Post by illiopmom on Jan 12, 2018 16:13:37 GMT -7
I have no information about Gimmick in particular. The toys in the video are mostly prototypes or very early production samples, when the toy was actually produced. I do remember that the TRs in unusual costumes were sent to Alchemy II by fans in other countries, re-dressed in a typical local costume. Robert Skegg I think that the tools in with that Gimmick toy e.g. the pens might be real because kids can use the tools to be a future adventurer.I'd bet it's more likely that that's all they had at the time to fill in his pockets. That one pen looks exactly like a sharpie, haha.
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Post by FilthyAnimal on Jan 13, 2018 9:00:31 GMT -7
Holy cow! Thank you so much for this! This makes me so happy! I was starting to think these things would be forever lost with time. Extinct media is really terrifying, in a way. Seriously, thank you so much for sharing...! If you have anything else from then worth sharing, we'd love to see it! There was apparently a whole DVD leaked out a while ago that nobody shared, which is frustrating and scary because VHS recorded media is becoming lost with time.
While Amber is a cool idea, I can't say I like how much she just looks like a girly TR. And Ken's insistence, well... Not including good female characters in a main cast is lazy writing. A female character would have never hurt the story like a /badly written/ female character that's either squeaky, annoying, boring, rarely shown, etc. I'm sure he could have done it someday and made it work, he just chose not to. Calling him out on it, is all. The story is good as it is, sure, but a female character in it would have been fine assuming it was done well.
And the idea of her being a doctor? Super useful!
I'm also curious about the lost future of Mother Goose. I think her and Hector might be my favorite of the character series that got released. Any idea if there were plans for more to her or Hector?
I have to wonder how they planned to connect Teddy to Gimmick. Were there ever plans for a cord to attach BOTH Grubby and Gimmick at the same time?
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Post by worldsofwonderfunfan on Jan 20, 2018 12:09:27 GMT -7
yea I think ken could have wrote a story to introduce Amber. I'm going to try and do that. some basic ideas are..... So Fuzz (the fob) gets hurt badly when he falls of the airship. He has to be taken to the Grundo hospital. where Teddy meets Amber. the forest babies are there also. They help assist Amber in her doctor duties after she treated their wounds after they got hurt. Teddy likes the way Amber takes care of, and helps animals and people. So Teddy starts dating her. just a little of what I'm thinking. I'm going to write a actual TR book. What do y'all think of the story. I'm also going to draw and color pictures for the book.
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Post by illiopmom on Jan 20, 2018 12:28:32 GMT -7
yea I think ken could have wrote a story to introduce Amber. I'm going to try and do that. some basic ideas are..... So Fuzz (the fob) gets hurt badly when he falls of the airship. He has to be taken to the Grundo hospital. where Teddy meets Amber. the forest babies are there also. They help assist Amber in her doctor duties after she treated their wounds after they got hurt. Teddy likes the way Amber takes care of, and helps animals and people. So Teddy starts dating her. just a little of what I'm thinking. I'm going to write a actual TR book. What do y'all think of the story. I'm also going to draw and color pictures for the book. I still think that adding her in haphazardly would be detrimental to the overall story. But to each their own.
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rosk
Member
Long time TR and WoW fan.
Posts: 11
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Post by rosk on Jan 26, 2018 16:55:40 GMT -7
After three weeks of work recovering my 20+ year old animation system and re-creating the animation files (the master tape - nowhere to be found), here in glorious HD is the digitally re-mastered Duet by Teddy Ruxpin and Amber. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpCw4cHyiSk&feature=youtu.beEnjoy!
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