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Post by lachlant1984 on Aug 22, 2017 4:31:49 GMT -7
Teddy does indeed sing "Let's watch the ground so far below, let's watch the clouds as they fly by", you probably just misheard what he sung. Probably my favourite Teddy Ruxpin song is Will You Go To Sleep Before I do.
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Post by sparkpikachu on Aug 22, 2017 16:29:48 GMT -7
Thank you for the kind suggestion, Showbiz NC. I understand that I could still get an idea of what Teddy feels like if I got a non-working one, but I'd still prefer the full experience of Teddy working. I just saw your video of "Teddy Ruxpin Lullabies." Someone made a comment that the volume between the singing and instruments was off and I agree completely. I think something went wrong with the recording. Does your new one do this as well? I didn't like that Wicked Cool Toys cut out so much of the introduction. I'd very much prefer it if they left it alone. However, if it had to be edited, this is what I would do. I would only take out the part where Teddy says, "I'm getting kind of tired myself." This would give it much better flow. I did like that they at least kept the songs intact. The story wouldn't be complete without them. I also saw videos of "all About Bears" and part of "The Airship." I really didn't like how they cut a huge part of "your Friend" and the koala song. It made me sad to hear those edits. At least Wicked Cool Toys left the rest of the songs in "all About Bears" intact. I also have another question about the new Teddy. Does he have real, feelable, eyelids? I won't really be able to recognize his eyes without them.
On another topic, I've seen 2 different versions of "Will You Go To Sleep Before I Do?" The one that Blueoctapede uploaded is different from the one done by IlliopOctapede. Why is that? Is IlliopOctapede's part of the music tapes I've read about? I know it's in stario sound and some of the words are different. If someone can help me with this, that would be appreciated.
Thank you, Sparkpikachu
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Post by lachlant1984 on Aug 23, 2017 2:16:36 GMT -7
It was me who noticed the volume difference, I guess WCT remastered the original recordings. Regarding the song cuts, I too am a little disappointed. I offered WCT a suggestion about that issue. I suggested that they could implement a system of reading levels. Perhaps they could have a reading level for very young children in which the stories/songs are slightly shorter as WCT have done, then a reading level for older children and legacy Teddy Ruxpin fans in which the stories and songs are their original lengths. Regarding the introduction, the reason why they cut it out is because when you turn Teddy Ruxpin on, he introduces himself, so, I suppose WCT thought the introduction at the beginning of the story wasn't necessary. There were some Teddy Ruxpin tapes that were not recorded for the original toy, they were produced for play on regular cassette recorders, I'll need to watch IlliopOctopede's videos again, but I think they might be using the cassettes that weren't designed for the toy.
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Post by sparkpikachu on Mar 18, 2018 19:41:14 GMT -7
Hi:
If I may, I would like to provide my own little review and opinion of the new Teddy Ruxpin. I realize I may have mentioned some of this before but feel it would be good to get everything organized. There are some very positive aspects to Teddy's design. He is very soft, sort of reminding me of a fleece blanket. His hair is also really fluffy. He feels very nice to hold and is also very warm, which I think most kids would like. I also appreciate Teddy's size and how light he is, making him easy to carry under one arm. In comparison, I always found Spinoza to be awkward to carry because he seems to be about twice Teddy's size. The built-in stories are also positive because tapes or cartridges will not get lost. It is beneficial to hear the same voices used for the original Teddy. It would be very difficult for long-time fans to get used to completely new voices, so using the original recordings preserves the integrity. The sound quality is generally very good. The voices are very clear and don't sound muffled very often. Grubby's voice does sound a bit hollow towards the beginning of "The Missing Princess", though. I also like the fact that Teddy tells me which story I'll be listening to, in his own voice. This makes him more realistic, as well as enabling a degree of accessibility. It allows me not to have to label the tapes to know which story I'm listening to. The mouth movement is also realistic and synchronises well with the stories. The controls are easy to operate, without being so sensitive that they will be easily bumped. I would appreciate a volume wheel instead of an on-off switch though, for better adjustments. Also, I feel that a button to skip back through pages would be helpful. I like that the app is not necessary to make Teddy function. This will hopefully encourage less screen time for children. Because so many modern toys require dependence on a screen, children are losing their ability to use their imaginations to have fun. Teddy is meant to encourage real play, which can be done without forcing dependence on technology. A way to further this idea is by making actual books, as an alternative to the app. Many parents prefer the use of books for story telling, rather than a computer screen. The books could be made with a scannable code for Teddy, which could be scanned by enabling the blue tooth connection. This would not remove the app but create another method for obtaining more stories for people who do not have smart phones or other technology that works with it. Making physical books would promote greater accessibility to a far greater number of people. This includes the blind because the books could also be brailled with the right resources. Even the pictures could be made tactile. I think it would be fun to be able to read along with a Teddy story like sighted people can. These are the positive features I perceive for the new Teddy Ruxpin.
Even with the positive features, there are still some aspects that I feel could be improved. The major one is the edited stories. Like many people have already said, it would be great to incorporate a reading level system in the future. Longer stories are better for older children, allowing them to be more focused and engaged with their reading. Shorter stories have the potential to become boring more quickly, especially for older children, or fans who are more used to the older versions. The ability to choose would also encourage forming longer attention spans for children of all ages. Also, I'm not sure if little kids really care so much about length. If they like something, they will watch it over and over. Teddy could do the same thing. Shorter stories also balance out the length with longer stories, making the overall length fairly equal. The one positive is that most of the stories didn't get hit as badly as the three built-in ones. "Grubby's Romance", for example, is almost untouched. At least, the edits could have been done slightly differently. For example, the introduction to the Lullabies could go something like this. "(yawn) How are you? Oh, uh huh. I'm getting kind of tired myself. When I start to get sleepy, I like to sing a lullaby." The introduction to "The Airship" could start with something like this. "I really enjoy talking to people. I would like you to meet some of my other friends too. We're going to have lots of good times together. There's Grubby ..." This would make the stories sound much more natural and promote the kind of bond that most earlier fans already established. For these reasons, it would be beneficial to release the unedited versions of the stories, along with the edits, in order to maintain freedom of choice.
Another change that could make Teddy more fun is to make his clothes removable and produce other optional outfits. Giving kids the ability to dress Teddy differently would make his popularity more enduring because it would allow for varying play. I also agree with the eyelid idea. This would eliminate the need for a sleep mask, which has the potential to get lost or broken easily. Also, the mask is hard to manipulate with the use of only one hand. I had to fumble with it for a while to get it on properly. I know this won't be much of a problem for most people but is still a bit tricky for people like me. Mechanical eyelids are also more accessible, allowing blind people to know that Teddy was off, without having to squeeze his hand. For me, there is no indication when I turn Teddy off because I cannot se his eyes go dark. Having to squeeze his hand caused a scare for me when I flipped the switch in the wrong direction and got blasted by a very chipper announcement of: "All About Bears". I was half asleep at the time and got a bit of a shock. It's funny now but I don't want something like that to happen again. Closing eyelids would prevent it from happening in the future. I've also noticed some small problems with the stories that have already been released. One of the more major of these is in "The Day Teddy Met Grubby". At the beginning, Teddy's voice is at a much lower pitch than usual. Grubby sounds normal but Teddy's voice pitch drops significantly. It clears up after about a minute but is enough to be concerning. It happens even when the batteries are brand new but no other stories have this problem. Another issue I've noticed is that the page jingle is partially edited out in some stories, including "Captured By Mudblups". It sounds very awkward to hear a partial jingle. In "The Missing Princess", parts of Grubby's words are also missing. "Teddy Ruxpin's Christmas" and "Teddy Ruxpin Lullabies" start differently than the original versions. "Teddy Ruxpin Lullabies" should not start with the "Come dream with me tonight" introductory jingle. The original version of "Teddy Ruxpin's Christmas" also starts with a special Christmas version of the jingle, which would be better to retain. Due to the issues I've noticed, I would give the new version of Teddy Ruxpin seven out of ten.
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