Cregit

Cregit (クリジット) was an unreleased toy from Tiger Electronics. According to the transcript of an online interview with Dave Hampton, Cregit used only some of his tech and the look of the toy didn't come from him.

"cregit started out as something else that was more mine, cregit only uses some of my tech" - dave_h4 (Dave Hampton)

Appearance

Cregit has brown, soft fur for its body with light brown fur on its tummy area. Cregit has a pair of arms and legs with four fingers on each hand and four toes on each foot. The toy has slightly round brown ears with white fluff on its forehead and two small bunches of white fur under each eye. Cregit also has a long, soft, brown tail with a fluffy, white tip.

History

The toy was displayed at the Tokyo Toy Show in 2001 by Sega Toys. Though the target audience for the toy was the U.S. market, Sega Toys planned to sell the toy in Japan. Cregit could be connected to a computer wirelessly and be programmed via block-based programming. You could also make Cregit talk and give him voice recognition, but this would require you to install a program for the voice recognition on your computer. According to an article from Game Watch, the design of the toy was subject to change. Sega Toys planned to release the toy for 9,800 yen by the end of October that year. However, Cregit seems to have been unreleased.

Unused I-Furby & My I-Furby trademarks

On the 13th of March, 2000, Tiger Electronics filed a trademark called "I-Furby" and another called "My I-Furby". Nothing is known about these trademarks, nor are they confirmed to be related to Cregit. I've only got them here since there is a chance they are related to Cregit's existence.

Cregit's Voice Actor

I came across a resume belonging to Kevin Kolack, who voiced "Furby 2001 (prototype)". I sent an email asking if he had more information. His voice123 profile also mentions he voiced a "next-generation Furby prototype".

Transcripts

Reply

Hiya,

I’m afraid you’ve reached the limit of my memory. I do remember the job you’re talking about, but it was before I was using Google calendar/email, so those records are long gone.

As I recall, the prototype was being developed by Tiger Toys, and the recording session was several days long in 2000 to capture the many interactive responses they had planned. This was the early days of the internet, and I believe they’d planned sort of a Teddy Ruxpin on steroids kind of thing. I don’t remember ever seeing the prototype or if it was ever produced, but it sounds like what would have been called an I-Furby. I don’t remember them calling it that. I vaguely recall maybe a temporary commercial with a mockup, but I could be confusing it with the regular Furby spots. I was told the project had been shelved some time after we recorded. I have a lot of the scripts from jobs I did in the early 2000s, but I don’t think Furby is among them.

I was able to locate a letter I sent on March 14, 2001 that talks about the project. I’ve pasted it below. Hope it helps you get to the bottom of it!


Letter

Jeff Jones, Sr. VP of Marketing

Tiger Electronics

980 Woodlands Parkway

Vernon Hills, IL 60061

March 14, 2001

Dear Mr. Jones,

I tried to catch up with you during the Toy Fair, but you were too busy. I hope you had a successful trip to NYC and that things now are as calmed down as you’d like.

After what I was told was an exhaustive search, I was the one chosen to work with Sandy Schneider and Mark Stebbeds on the now defunct Crigit/Furby2000 project. I absolutely wanted to maintain contact with Tiger, and now that Sandy is no longer there, I was told to contact you.

As the enclosed CD should show (Track 3 especially), I can provide a HUGE variety of character voices and dialects, and as the sessions in NYC proved, I’m fun and efficient to work with. I am from the Midwest (moved to NYC from Bloomington, IN) and would be happy to meet with you next time I’m out there, or on your next visit to New York. The Furby2000 concept sounded really great, and it certainly seems Tiger’s toys are moving in the ever-more-interactive direction. When further concepts are developed and you are seeking a voice to assist in bringing the character to life, I hope you’ll again consider me.

Sincerely,

Kevin Kolack


I also sent an email telling him about how Sega showed Cregit at a toy fair in 2001, despite the project for Cregit being cancelled, and showed him the above photo. I also asked if I could share screenshots of the information he sent.

Reply

I want to say the picture looks familiar. I do think that was it. It's odd that it was at the toy fair in 2001, as they told me it had been scrapped by the end of the year 2000.

I have no recollection of whether I signed an NDA or not, and it was 24 years ago, so hopefully no one would care- feel free to share away!

All the best,

Kevin


By the sounds of it, someone at Tiger was thinking of creating a more advanced version of Furby, but the product became something else other than a Furby and never got released.

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