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Interactive Yoda History (YodaJeff's Interactive Yoda Page)

Interactive Yoda History

It all started back in February of 1999. YodaJeff broke the news of a Yoda Furby, scheduled for release in September of 1999. It wasn't until weeks/months later that many of the larger Star Wars sites mentioned the news. On April 20, 1999, Wired ran an article on the Yoda Furby, being the first to release it's official name of Interactive Yoda. (Click here to view article) News was pretty slow for the next few months, until September 1999 when there was a rumor that the Interactive Yoda had been cancelled. Thankfully, the rumors were proved false. Unfortunately, the release of the Interactive Yoda was pushed back to November 1999. In early October, there were earthquakes overseas that damaged and disturbed the plants where the Interactive Yoda's computer chips were being made. Tiger Toys planed to release some in mid-November, with the rest coming in January 2000. November and December went by, with no news of the Interactive Yoda.

Finally, in January, FAO Schwartz listed the Interactive Yoda on their website, along with one of the first ever pictures of the Yoda. (Click here to view picture) FAO mentioned a "Late Spring Delivery" and also broke the news that Yoda would come with a training lightsaber. Twelve days after the picture and information were posted on my page, TheForce.Net finally mentioned the news.

On February 25, ZD-TV had a feature on their show "Fresh Gear" that showed the Interactive Yoda at the toy fair. (Click here to view the feature. It is 1.3 MB) This contained the first ever video of the Interactive Yoda, along with the first sound clip. (Click here to hear the Interactive Yoda speak. It is 70 KB). On March 17, the Official Star Wars Site mentions the Interactive Yoda for the first time. Then, on April 27, a FAO representative said that they expected a shipment of Interactive Yodas in later that day. Unfortunately, that shipment didn't arrive. Most online retailers started to list a June release for the Interactive Yoda.

In late May, Tiger Toys sent out an e-mail, announcing the Interactive Yoda's voice would be supplied by Frank Oz, who was Yoda's voice in all the movies. Finally, on June 8, 2000, Tiger Toys updated their Interactive Yoda section announcing the release date as June 14, 2000. (Click here to view their section) The page also contained an Interactive Yoda commercial that will soon be on television and a downloadable version of the Interactive Yoda's owners manual.

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