Interactive Yoda Articles

Tiger Electronics will ship its Interactive Yoda in January [ha ha ha], and once you see what this Yoda can do, you'll be green with envy.

Your personal Jedi Master, Interactive Yoda guides you through four levels of Jedi training in the ways of the Force, communicating through a series of light and infra-red sensors, plus a vocabulary of 450 words and phrases. A seperate, "smart" lightsaber allows Yoda to teach you how to use that most elegant weapon.

Not just another plush toy, Interactive Yoda behaves like a living creature which you can care for. And if he's tired, he'll sleep. Yoda also has hidden "Easter Eggs," uncovered as you go through your training, which include pearls of Jedi wisdom, special questions and games.

As would any good teacher, Interactive Yoda tracks your jedi training and offers feedback, with compliments and criticism. If you master a level or activity quickly, he provides "rewards." If you fall behind, he gives encouragement. Essentially, Yoda tailors the training to your pace.

The Jedi apprenticeship is divided into four activities - lightsaber training, mind training, Jedi quizzes and training to control the Force, with the degree of difficulty growing in each as your progress. And along with the training, Yoda takes you through two other Jedi activities unrelated to your regimen: "Knowledge of the Force," where you dispenses Jedi knowledge so you can answer questons, and "Yoda Communciation," which allows two Yodas to talk and compare their students' progress - just to make sure the Force stays with them.

The buzz about Tiger Electronics' Interactive Yoda has been considerable for the better part of a year, and we're pleased to report that the finished product more than lives up to expectations. As AFD [Action Figure Digest] readers already know, the figure will train kids in the use of a lightsaber using interactive technology adapted from the company's successful Furby line. What makes this figure truly spectacular, however, is the life-like appearance of the character, with moving eyes, mouth and ears.

Sculptural Tour de Force
Cindi Kotik of Creative Arts Unlimited in Pinellas Park paints a 16-foot sculpture of the "Star Wars" character Yoda on Monday. The company is making the sculpture for display on the exterior of the FAO Schwarz toy store in New York City. The statue, which took about two weeks to complete, will be used to promote a Yoda toy. [Hmm, the only big Yoda toy that FAO would want to promote = Interactive Yoda]

A Furby You Seek, Hmmm?
Apr. 20, 1999
Luke Skywalker better get ready to take Jedi lessons from a Furby.
Tiger Electronics, the company that created the immensely popular Furby, is set to release an Interactive Yoda around September [1999, make that June 2000]. If the Yoda toy proves anywhere near as popular as the Furby was last Christmas, the little guys may be almost impossible to get. Already, scores of customers have bid on pre-sell offers on Amazon.com and eBay at prices from US$39 to over $60.
Company spokeswoman Lana Simon stressed that the toy is not a Furby. Well, not exactly.
"This is an interactive toy that utilizes Furby technology," Simon said. "It will react to its surroundings and will talk."
But Simon is mum on exactly what the Interactive Yoda will say.
"It will be very Yoda-like, that's all I can tell you," Simon said.