Teddy Ruxpin Is Back to Delight/Terrify New Generation

The bear is back: CNN reports a new-and-improved Teddy Ruxpin will be released next year. The original talking bear, released in 1985, was one of the first animatronic toys ever and one of the best-selling toys of all time, according to Gizmodo. Teddy Ruxpin 1985 had a moving mouth and eyes and told stories to kids via a cassette player in its back. It was "mind-blowing to kids who didn't grow up with smartphones." Or as TechCrunch—which may or may not have developed a childhood Teddy Ruxpin phobia—describes it: "A robotic toy that reads to children and then flays your mind from stem to stern, stealing all hope and blasting your personality to ribbons cast upon a sand-choked hellscape."

Teddy Ruxpin 2017, being developed by Wicked Cool Toys, updates the older model with LCD eyes that can display 40 animated expressions (including stars and hearts), an internal hard-drive that can store up to 40 stories, and an app that lets kids read along with it, Engadget reports. "The kids who embraced him back then are 28 to 40 years old now," the co-president of Wicked Cool Toys tells CNN. "They have young kids who they'd want to introduce Teddy Ruxpin to." The new Teddy Ruxpin will sell for $99 when it's released in July 2017. (The inspiration for teddy bears is no longer endangered.)