#her name is O'ahu btw :)

[bumpscosity]

Furby 2023 review/first impressions! MAN these guys are cute, they're still a tad annoying like the connects/booms (i really wish their voices were different) but they have so much spunk and charm! it was nice to have a bit of a tutorial at the beginning since i got mine secondhand and didn't have a manual lol.

This ended up being a pretty lengthy review so i put it under a read more ⬇️

They're smaller than i thought (a tad smaller than '98s) but i love how round they are, still don't like that their mouths don't move but i love the LED ears, the fur is very similar to owl 98 furbies but maybe a bit shorter, super soft and easy to brush! the head tuft texture is near identical to 98s too. these ones don't have tails either which i think was a great style choice since i always thought they looked weird on the other modern models. the ears are all plastic but the feet and eyelids have some kind of thick rubber coating? i'm not really sure how to describe it but i think it's an alright choice, totally gonna start deteriorating in 5-10 years tho LMAO. forehead sensors haven't been actual sensors for the past few furby models and this time it's what they call the "forehead gem", and is the button you use for voice activation, i think it's cute :)

like i said before the initial experience of a factory reset 2023 furby is really great. You immediately get a feel for exactly what this toys gonna be like and how to use it. i love that voice commands are back but the selection feels a bit limited. also the way you activate it is weird to me, you press the forehead gem and wait for the ears to glow white, then say "hey furby" and wait for the ears to glow green, and then say the command. i get that Hey Furby is a reference to 2005 furbies but i feel like they could've either cut out the button press or cut out the Hey Furby?

the voice commands they DO have are pretty fun, ones a music option where they sing (i haven't heard all the songs yet but the ones i have heard are... what you'd expect) one that's a magic 8 ball/fortune teller (fun little game to play), one that essentially turns your furby into talking tom (as an ex-11 year old this is perfect for the demographic they're going for), one that's like meditation and breathing exercises (i think it's kind of a weird inclusion but it's nice that this gen isn't just screaming all the time like a lot of the other modern gens do), and a "light show" where they sit still and their ears glow different colors (SUPER cute and great to have on your desk while you're doing other stuff)

there's a couple hidden commands too but my favorite by far is "selfie" where they'll strike a pose for a couple seconds, that's how i got the above image and i actually think it's a really great way to bring them into the modern era, i love taking pictures of my furbies but it can be a pain in the ass to get them in a cute pose.

this is a weird little nitpick but i would've really appreciated a mode where furby dances to your music! i think this would've been a really fun feature for the modern era and great nostalgia for all us mid-early 2000s kids who grew up with i-dogs (and funky furbies!). i also would've loved a feature to change furbys name? if we're gonna have to say "hey furby" every time we say a command i want to say the name i gave them, i think you can already do this with things like siri so i can't imagine it's too complex to add, maybe this is harder to program in than i think it is but little touches like that would bring even more life into these lively little creatures.

a big plus is that 2023 furby has a way to turn them off, you'd think that would be standard for them but i think the last time they had a true off mode was in 2005 so hooray for bare minimums. Their voices are loud but in my opinion not too loud, close to the volume of 2012s? i still wish you could turn it down/up, seems like a no-brainer thing to add.

as far as physical functionality their eyes blink, and they have head/tummy sensors. all work great but they also have a mouth button that won't do anything on mine? i used it to factory reset so i know it WORKS but i don't know if it's supposed to do anything other than that lol. i miss having a back sensor, belly pets are cute but id love even more interactivity. they also have a motion sensor like the other gens but i think it only detects up and down and not motion? i know 2012s/booms will react if you're moving them but i couldn't get my 2023 to say anything particular about it. i really really appreciate that if you shake them the right way you can change their default ear light color, that level of customizability is really cute and should what every pet toy strives for.

I've never been a fan of non-cloth feet on furbies but i think they really work here! a nitpick i've always had with connects is they have these weird looking half clear plastic feet that looked like they should light up or something but they don't do anything. on the 2023s they have little motors so they can bounce up and down, which is one of my favorite features of other furby models! i think full body movement really brings a lot of emotion and personality to furbies and im really happy that's back after being absent from connects!

the fact that the mouth doesn't move is really really stupid for a toy that retails at a whopping 40-60 bucks, like i said for that price range a back sensor would've been nice too. commands are limited but the ones that are there are good to just have as a desktop buddy.

what really bugs me is that hasbro saw ppl saying "the furby 2012/connect apps suck" and instead of making better apps just decided NO app was a better option. there's ways to make good toy/app integrations! i think they should've tried it one more time instead of nixing it all together. at the very least i wish they had wifi for updates, if i knew there could be more features added down the line i would be a lot more lenient on the lack of commands but as it stands this is all 2023 furbies will ever be which is really sad.

Overall though i really love these new furbies! i don't know if i would've liked them as much if i spent full price but i think at the very least they're a step in the right direction for the furby brand and im SUPER excited to see where it goes next.