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In the early 1990's, Worlds of Wonder, Teddy
Ruxpin's original manufacturer, went bankrupt. The license was
transfered to Playskool, who briefly produced a smaller version of
Teddy which used cartridges instead of cassette tapes to make Teddy
animate.
In 1996, Hasbro's license expired,
and for about a year Teddy was without a
manufacturer for the first time. During the same time, Don
Kingsborough (the founder of Worlds of Wonder) was having some success
at the latest company he had created, Yes! Entertainment. Kingsborough signed on for another round of Teddy, and in
1998 Yes! released a new version of Teddy Ruxpin, this time
he featured a red shirt and blue pants instead of
the classic Tunic, and went back to using cassette tapes instead of cartridges
to make Teddy talk.
The new
version had a few original WoW stories, with updated artwork,
released with it, and a few episodes of the TV series were also
re-released on VHS. The Yes! Teddy also had a "Video Pack" accessory
which plugged into a VCR.. with the Yes! VHS releases, Teddy would
commentate on what you were watching on TV.
Other than
that, the biggest accessory the Yes! version included was broken
promises. A "Computer Pack" was promised but never released, as was
a new TV series. Rumors of several other accessories turned out to
be just rumors, and Teddy quietly left the shelves again in 1999
after a very short and unfortunately unsuccessful run.
This is the
only version of Teddy that I cannot reccomend purchasing.. and if
you do decide to purchase one from an online auction site, make sure
it is actually pictured as Teddy's that were never opened by the
original owners could have serious defects, some wouldn't even
operate correctly when fresh out of the box.
However,
with the re-release of Teddy from BackPack Toys, not purchasing one
of these should be a non-issue. The new version is of a much higher
quality and returns Teddy to his classic exterior look. In addition,
Ken Forsse has re-worked many of the original WoW book & tape
stories, and they have improved artwork and new voice
recordings. For those who may be considering buying a Yes!
Teddy instead of the new BackPack version because you have original
WoW cassette tapes you want to use, keep in mind the old cassette
tapes are not compatible with the Yes! Teddy.
The Yes!
Teddy did come with one cool accessory, a small "Beanie Baby" Teddy
(Beanie Babies were extremely popular at the time of the release)
came packaged with the talker and is the only accessory Yes! created
which was not already available (and in better quality) from Worlds
of Wonder.
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