aevaRE: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@aeva/115620614043295134
ok so I've got a furby now,
it was an interesting experience for the hour or so where it seemed to be functioning normally. i quite liked that it has a fortune telling mode. i think all vaguely notoriously haunted toys should include the ability to confer with the supernatural. also there's a guided meditation mode, and a "light show" mode. i get the feeling the target audience is people old enough to buy weed
however, sadly the thing is behaving as though the button on its forehead is stuck, so it can't actually shut off and stay off. so now the batteries are removed while I decide what to do with it.
there's at least one report of zinc whiskers forming causing the same symptoms https://www.reddit.com/r/furby/comments/1hn3vk8/fixed_2023_purple_furby_heart_button_not_working/
also I've found documentation of multiple teardown attempts that quickly descended into "fuck it, I'm not putting this thing back together again", which doesn't inspire confidence
however, the design of the electronics is quite modular, so while structurally the internals are a hot mess, hypothetically affixing the peripherals to a different micro controller is likely to be within my skill set. I'm not sure what I can realistically fit in there, but maybe I can fashion a little backpack for it to wear with its new brain in it. I'm leaning toward that solution so I can just use a regular sized rpi or that riscv beaglebone I've got in a drawer and call it a day
so I've decided rather than do something reasonable like try to send it back for a replacement, I'm gonna see if I can stuff mollytime into its corpse.
I give this project decent odds of ending up on the bone pile unfinished, but you miss every shot you don't take.
also a friend had a really good idea which is that I should amass a collection of adam west batman soundbites to chop up to give it a new voice so it just randomly says stuff like "some days you just can't get rid of a bomb"
Fabian Giesen@aeva "Good grammar is essential, Robin."
"Noble of that animal to hurl himself into the path of that final torpedo."
"This money goes to building better roads. We all must do our part."
"A boy of your age is not allowed in a drinking tavern." which combos with
"They may be drinkers, Robin, but they're also human beings"
"Language is the key to world peace."
ofc
"The Penguin and I have a score to settle."
is a fantastic line to put in a Furby
@aeva "Our main concern is to a frightened public, whom we seem to be failing."
"I knew you'd employ your sneezing powder, so I took an Anti-Allergy Pill!"
"'Gone straight', huh?!"
"Don't interrupt! I'm trying to fathom the sub-conscience of a deadly criminal!"
"My crime fighting leaves me little time for social engagements."
"Hieroglyphics self-taught are a chore, Robin; but, it is a surefire way to unravel the secrets of the ancient mystics."
"I knew you'd employ your sneezing powder, so I took an Anti-Allergy Pill!"
"'Gone straight', huh?!"
"Don't interrupt! I'm trying to fathom the sub-conscience of a deadly criminal!"
"My crime fighting leaves me little time for social engagements."
"Hieroglyphics self-taught are a chore, Robin; but, it is a surefire way to unravel the secrets of the ancient mystics."
mym
halcy 
LR
archiloque@aeva does it feast from your dark fears or something?
@archiloque blessedly it hasn't woken up again since I took out its batteries
Jon Valdés@aeva
That furby was born to say things like:
"I am an emmisary of the Elder Gods. They will soon be breaching this dimension. You can choose to submit, or be annihilated. To submit, hug me"
That furby was born to say things like:
"I am an emmisary of the Elder Gods. They will soon be breaching this dimension. You can choose to submit, or be annihilated. To submit, hug me"
Jakob (Jack/Jackie)@aeva you could ask Sam from LookMumNoCompurers. I think he disassembled more Furbys than anyone else ^^'
Klara in the hidden land@aeva Realizing that I did not at all understand what Furbies were for, apparently.
Was the idea to give your kid early exposure to a simulation of being friends with kind of a pushy hippie, way before they're old enough for anyone to possibly invite them to Burning Man?
Maya@klara @aeva The 80s and 90s liked its toys to be disturbing mockeries of life, mostly because the independent inventors making this stuff were the types who would go to Burning Man, and watch gremlins stoned.
Remember Teddy Ruxpin and the various brands of creepy animatronic baby dolls? There were even animatronic Cabbage Patch Kid dolls for maximum horror factor.
The main market for Furbies today are the people who are actually nostalgic for this kind of nightmare fuel, but also want something that is better at conning them into thinking it is alive.
In short, LLM users.
I still break out into a cold sweat when remembering the demon chanting "u-lah lee loh, u-lah lee loh" in the middle of the night from my brother's bedroom.
EDIT: Just to make it clear, this is me being silly about my fear of creepy animatronics, which is a downright weird phobia to have for someone into robotics.
I do not actually think people who like furbies are LLM users, and I apologize for the poorly considered joke.
@Mayabotics @aeva You know, I guess it is weird in retrospect that I grew up just learning to ignore ads for all sorts of questionable-to-horrific childhood products, but, I dunno, it was America in the 80s.
@Mayabotics @klara interestingly the 2023 redesign is very clear that there is no app involved, no internet connection is involved what soever, and the furby is very definitely not spying on you. so I think you are partially wrong, the target audience is someone who *does not* want an LLM in their home
@Mayabotics @klara imo they did a pretty good job at not hitting the uncanny valley with this guy.
@Mayabotics @klara also consider I did put that on my wishlist, so you are talking shit about me right now whether or not you intended it
@Mayabotics @klara now, I'm sure your first instinct will be to reply "but aeva, you're different, the average person does not see a furby as a raw material for unhinged projects" a quick search on youtube says otherwise
@aeva @klara I knew I should have left the /joke in.
I thought the post was over the top enough to be clear it was meant as a joke, so I apologize for implying that you would use LLMs.
That bit was riffing a bit on the silliness that supposedly caused the NSA to ban Furbies from their office, because they thought it could learn and repeat what it heard, despite that a tear down would have quickly shown that wasn't the case at all.
That said, I totally buy that the average person enjoys grotesque parodies of life; the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise is a massive success after all. Meanwhile, I noped out at the first monster in My Friendly Neighborhood.
yomimono, still on land@aeva @klara Oh good, I’m glad you already know about the unhinged projects. Also not surprised.
There’s a repeating exhibition of Furby art in Madison on Friday the 13th (at least, the most recent handful of them), which isn’t really big enough to justify a trip from Chicago by itself but would definitely be a highlight of a visit if you happen to have other reasons.
Bert Koorengevel
Haijo@[email protected] i was planning to hack one of the older ones (not the original ones) with led matrix eyes. i wanted to play tetris on it. haven't done that yet though
I Forget