IMPORTANT: This page is not yet complete (and definitely needs to be proofread for errors).

Chatbird Dai-chan

Chatbird Dai-chan is an interactive bird that was sold by Takara toys and a few unidentified companies. The design for the toy has also been used for webcams, windups, and a computer assistant called PC Mascot. To read about Mitsumi's PC Mascot, click here.

Chatbird requires 2 AA batteries.

Appearance

Chatbird has a silver body, head, and pair of wings. His perch and its base is also silver. He has a black beak, pair of eyes, and crest on the back of his head. His feet and tail are also black. The front of the perch's base has a sticker that says "chatbird" and "I am Daichan" as the caption beneath "chatbird". Chatbird has two orange spots on his chest, a silver pair of nostrils above his beak, and a raised circular bump on each side of his head. Chatbird has a large, black, translucent, rectangular visor on his forehead, with two lights behind it.

Chatbird comes in four color variations, including:

Silver
White and blue
White and red
White and yellow

Functions

You can call Dai-chan by his name, ask him a question, and Dai-chan will think of an answer to your question. Dai-chan likes to speak to you. He moves his beak as he speaks, and can also move his wings and flutter his tail. He can use his visor to display a glowing red light or green light. The green light means Dai-chan is in a good mood, while the red light means Dai-chan is in a bad mood, but if one of (or both? I'm not sure) the lights flash, it means Dai-chan is thinking.

Dai-chan can fall asleep from being in a bad mood or feeling bored. It will fall asleep after 15 minutes of being left alone, but will wake up if you start talking to it. There is an ON/OFF switch on the right side of the base. The box states that Dai-chan is a bird who is learning words, and may say things at times that don't make sense. ~~But, I don't think he actually learns words he hears. lol They could be pre-recorded lines.~~

I don't have much info on Dai-chan, but according to Takara's Robopals microsite, Dai-chan has four modes that he speaks in: fortune-telling, conversation, love, and guchi (possibly a 'grumpy' mode where Daichan complains?).

Videos

Other Versions

Box/Name Variations

Disclaimer: I am not trying to list these boxes in order from oldest to recent. I don't even have info on what company sold this toy first and what the box looked like originally. I'm just trying to distinguish them.

Box 1

Box 1 is similar to Chatbird Dai-chan's box. Box 1 has text in English, and the logo on the box features the word "chatbird", but without the name "Dai-chan" in Japanese. An unidentified company's logo can be see on the front of the box, instead of Takara's logo, and the box has illustrations of what appear to be small, yellow flowers(?). The box has the words "Sound Control" on a yellow label printed on the box, and the top of the box has a picture of Chatbird on his perch facing the right. There is no mention of the Robopals brand.

The label on Chatbird's perch has "Chat bird", instead of the word "chatbird". The phrase "I am daichan" is also missing from the label.

Box 2

This looks more like box 1, but with some differences: The label with the words "Sound Control" is blue, and it looks like small illustrations of the sun, a bird, and a flower are on the box (I really need better photos of box 1 and 2). The model number on the front of the box is now near the right corner, instead of the left corner. No company name is visible on the front of the box, and the picture of Chatbird ontop of the box is facing the left. Like box 1, there is no mention of the Robopals brand.

Box 3

This box looks identical to Chatbird's box. Takara's logo is missing from the front of the box, strangely. I'm speculating another distributor sold it, since Jaretto, another Robopals toy, was sold by Sonokong in Korea.

Chat Bird

This one not only has a completely different box and label for its perch, but even the toy looks slightly different. The eyes of this version (the one pictured at least) don't look like they were completely painted black. However, its nostrils were painted black, unlike Chatbird Dai-Chan's, which were left silver. I wonder if the eyes are a little more raised than usual. It sort of looks like it from the angle shown in the photo, but Idk.The label on its perch is purple with the words "Chat Bird" in white, capital letters.

Light-up Keychain

Only known to come in silver. A red spot on the chest is supposed to glow.

Webcams

Regular Webcams

TBA.

Christmas Webcams

I'm not sure if a wholesaler purchased these and put Christmas decorations on them to resell them. The Christmas-themed ones feature a decorated wreath with the words "Merry Christmas" on the front of it, near the bottom of the perch, and a gold ribbon with two gold bells, at the top of the wreath.

The silver chatbird here has a purple wreath, decorated with silver baubles, plastic snowflakes, and a silver string with silver stars and beads. The gold chatbird has a green wreath, decorated with a gold, glittery ribbon, and round, and fake red berries with leaves.

Musical Toys

Bird

IMPORTANT: While this toy isn't as detailed as Chatbird, I cannot tell if this is a knockoff, or if this toy used Chatbird's design with permission (OEM).

A toy called Bird uses the same design Chatbird has, but it appears to be less detailed. A lot of the ridges on its body which added detail, appear to be missing, and its eyes are completely translucent. The rim of Chatbird's eyes is silver, in contrast. This version also has three rounded claws on each foot.

It is only known to come in four color schemes, and no video footage of it is known to exist.

Arabic Version

This version has a golden string on its head, and it has a small lantern hanging from gold string, which the bird holds by its beak. The visor on its forehead is just a translucent piece of plastic that does not glow.

The box shows a version of the toy with a yellow head, pink body, pink wings, pink claws, a purple beak, and a blue feather(?) on the left and right side of its head. Its claws are blue, and it has a blue circle on each wing. This version has a gold lantern and appears to have one chrome gold earring on its right and one chrome, purple earring on its left. Its chest seems to have two pink spots, and its head has a translucent green visor. The color of its crest is unknown.

The one standing outside the box has a light green head, a darker green chest and visor, a pinkish (not sure how to describe the color) beak, yellow body, red crest, and yellow feet. Its feet have purple claws, its wings are blue, and it has two purple lantern earrings. It carries a green lantern, appears to have pink circles on its wings, and it has a green feather on each side of its head (matching the shade of green used for the head).