Anybody who remembers watching toy commercials in the late ’90s remembers the much-coveted Furby robo-doll. But even though the enormously popular fuzzy n’ huggable Furby sold 40 million units over three years (which at $35 a piece would total $1.4 billion), as of today, it’s waned in popularity to the point of being forgotten. There is one extant community of Furby lovers, however, and they make some incredible creations with the Furbish-speaking toy. Why, here’s one now: It’s a Long Furby and it’s both beautiful and cursed.
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Vice first broke the story of longifying Furbies back in May 2018, giving credit to a then-23-year-old “photography student turned wedding caterer” who goes by the name Aloe. However, it turns out there has been a thriving community of Furby lovers on Tumblr for some time, and they’re now using the hamster/owl-like cuddle bug as a medium for expressing playful forms of creativity.
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The Long Furbies in the pictures you see here (via LaughingSquid) are the creations of Brooklyn Williams and her girlfriend. Williams, who goes by the moniker boots_with_the_furb on Instagram and Look_I_Made_A_Hat on Instructables, is an apprentice costume designer deep in the Maker movement. She spoke with Nerdist, and wanted to first note that her and her girlfriend’s Long Furbies—including Mothball, the caterpillar Furby in the top picture—were inspired by a video made by YouTuber STRANGE ÆONS (immediately below).
Williams says that her girlfriend originally showed her the YouTube video, but that since then, they’ve “found inspiration in many forms from many places….” She adds that “it was merely [her] Instrustables [sic] post that broke the barrier and released the long furby from the dark, dank corner of the internet where it usually lurks.” Williams says she obtains the Furby faces on the elongated bodies from donors sourced on eBay, although she’s looking into a supplier for the 1999 Furby faceplates cast in resin.
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In regards to the spirit of the Furby, both of those long and regular-sized, Williams says, “Much of the furby community dislikes them being called ‘nightmarish’ or ‘freaky’, although it’s hard to deny they are a little cursed.”
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Images: Brooklyn Williams