Thinkway’s Interactive Talking Shoyru Plushie - The Perfect Pick For Any Neopet Addict!
Written: Jul 21 '05
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Pros: Adorable plushie, over 50 programmed sayings, interacts with other Neopet plushies.
Cons: Takes a while to get used to the jibber jabber.
The Bottom Line: Love Shoyru’s? Addicted to Neopets? Kill two birds with one stone and get this unbelievably cute talking interactive plushie!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Thinkway Neopet Shoryo |
One of the very first pets that I adopted at the Neopets website was a Shoyru; she’s been a great companion and has stood by me through thick and thin, several guilds and more than a few quests. I always thought that the Shoyru’s were adorable and the mutant ones were even cuter so when I saw one of the Thinkway Interactive Talking Plushies at KB Toys I had to get one. There are two different types of talking toys in the Neopet line, the plushies and the smaller plastic ones that are interactive but not as soft and cuddly. While I do think that the Scorchio’s are cute, the Shoyru’s will always be my top pick [see my Epinions front page to see a color picture of one of the plushies] because they are fierce fighters but faithful friends - something that is a must if you are going to survive at the Neopet website! There are several other species to choose from [Uni, Kacheek, Scorchio, Aisha etc] but I really think that this one is the cutest.
Thinkway Interactive Talking Shoyru Neopet Plushie
If you are a fan of the Neopet website or have a pet Shoyru then chances are you will fall in love with this as soon as you see it. It comes with over 50 preprogrammed sayings as well as lights that flash and the vibration it makes when it is happy or gets scared. It is capable of a range of motions, most of which depend on the tone and sound of your voice. The emotions that it displays are really impressive; it can be happy, sad, normal or scared. What ever you do, don’t yell at it or tell it to shut up; if you do that it will start to shake and shiver, it’s face will start to glow and it will refuse to play with you until you start treating it nicer. These are more detailed than the Furby’s that were popular years ago and they have a clearer voice but they do tend to jibber jabber a little - but that’s common with almost all Neopets A cool thing you can do with this pet is to ask it a yes or no question - it will think about the question then give you an answer, giggle or wiggle depending on the mood it is in. .
Your Interactive Talking Neopet Plushie can play with other pets and petpets too! There is an infrared signal that is sent out from the chest area that will allow one pet to talk to another one. This is one way to let your pet learn new words and phrases. You can have as many pets or petpets interacting as you like but the manufacturer suggests that you try using no more than three at a time for the best results. One of the coolest things that you can do with your Shoyru pet is let it interact with a petpet, it will learn new words and phrases and instantly recognizes it and addresses it by it’s species. It will do this with some of the other pets but not all of them. The more pets and petpets that you allow your Shoyru to play with the more words and phrases it will learn. Once it has learned them it remembers them unless you press the reset button on the bottom of the plushie. Doing this will erase everything that it has learned and set it back to the original factory setting. You should only do this if your pet malfunctions or starts to act strange but make sure you check the batteries first. There’s no sense erasing everything and starting over when it may be something as trivial as a battery change.
Most of the Interactive Talking Plushies are between six and eight inches - this one falls right in the middle at about seven inches. There are some colors to choose from with the Shoyru but the only ones that I have actually seen are the purple ones, that’s the one I ended up buying. These are soft but since there is a voice box unit inside it, you can’t really squeeze it or toss it around without the change of it breaking. This isn’t machine washable and there is no way to remove the insides to do so, clean the outside of it with a damp cloth and brush the fur when it has dried to give it a nice fluffy look. Keep this away from water, out of direct sunlight and make sure that when you change the batteries you replace the cover and safety screw so that smaller children can’t get the battery case open. This is powered by two AA sized batteries that come with the unit but you might want to replace these since they are often used for demo modes and people do play with these a lot.
The one thing that I really love about these it that it gives kids something “hands on” to play with. If they are fans of the website this will allow them to appreciate taking care of a ‘pet’ and allow he or she to interact with it on a more personal level. They don’t need to feed it or read it books like you do at the website but they do have to play with it to keep it happy. This can teach kids a lot of responsibility; if they are mean to the Shoyru or yell at it, it will react and start to feel sick. The only way to perk it back up is to talk to it or have a petpet talk to it. They are capable of a wide range of emotions depending on the tone and volume of your voice. They don’t pick up on much of the common household background noise but if someone else comes into range of it and talks to it, they will respond. If you are lucky enough and treat your Shoyru nice enough it might sing you a song!
The Bottom Line
These were selling for about ten to thirteen dollars a piece when they were first released in 2003 but the prices have dropped a little since then. Neopets has released other toys based on the pets and petpets so these sort of got pushed aside for the newer ones. It’s a touch call whether these or the smaller plastic interactive ones are more fun. The plastic ones have moving wings and are a little louder but the plushie version is larger and softer to the touch. The more you play and talk to this and allow it to interact with other pets and petpets the more it will talk and respond to you. If you don’t want to invest in other plushies then you can check any of a hundred Neopet message boards for weekly and monthly gathers where fans of all ages get together and talk about, what else - Neopets. These are usually all age events that are held in public places like shopping malls and local toy stores. They are a lot of fun, allow you to meet others that are just as addicted and let your plushies make a few new friends.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): see review
Type of Toy: Other
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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