Ma Shitu (2018)
The 2018 version of Ma Shitu was created and sold by Mamatell, like its predecessor. This time, it has blue, animated LCD eyes, and it can connect to the Internet. However, the design used for Ma Shitu's eyes was copied from Furby Connect, with some slight differences.
Appearance
This version of Ma Shitu isn't too different from the first version that has embroidered eyes, and it even has the same mechanism. However, it does come in five color schemes, as listed in the below table.
| Primary Color | Secondary Color | Vest Color |
|---|---|---|
| bergundy | white | green |
| brown | White | bergundy |
| orange | white | bergundy |
| dark blue | white | light blue |
| bright red | white | blue |
The secondary color refers to the color used for the feet, face, and ear insides. The primary color refers to the color used for the body, arms, legs, head, tail, and outer ears. Like the predecessor, this version has a very short, round tail.
The bright red version has a blue vest with a different logo that looks like it says "7Good". There's no info on why it has a different vest, and no photos of its box have been found.
Prototypes
Two prototype versions are known to exist, including a prototype brown one with a brown ring around each eye, and a prototype bergundy one that has a white ring around each eye.
Functions
Ma Shitu was described in an interview with an employee from Mamatell as a "little Baidu" that can filter content which children shouldn't hear. According to the interview transcript from a Sohu article, Ma Shitu is said to have 60 eye expressions, and if a child is going to sleep, Ma Shitu will stop moving to prevent the noise from affecting the child's sleep, and his eyes will be in 'sleep mode', so when the child looks at his eyes, they will feel like going to sleep.
Ma Shitu can answer questions in science and history. You can ask it what the English translation of a Chinese word is. It can apparently tell 10,001 stories, and knows 9,900 idioms and 2,000 mathematical formulas. He can also play children's songs, and teach children about discipline and good habits.
In addition to answering questions and following commands, Ma Shitu can be used to answer phone calls.
Art
Official art of this version of Ma Shitu exists, depicting the fox in either a blue and white color scheme or a pink and white color scheme, both without their vests. A fox in this art style can be seen on the front of Ma Shitu's box. The eyes in the drawings look a lot more like Furby Connect eyes.
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