Book Reviewed by:The portability and low price point of cassette tapes meant that they were easily integrated into many areas of technology, as Marc Masters explores in High Bias. Toys began incorporating tapes too, and the most famous tape-playing toy of all was named Teddy Ruxpin. First introduced in 1985, Teddy was quickly a favorite cutting-edge toy as well as the first fully animatronic one.
Inventor Ken Forsse was Teddy Ruxpin's creator. A longtime engineer for Disney, Forsse created the first animatronic animals at Disney theme parks, as well as the Haunted Mansion ride. His career also included stints at Chuck E. Cheese and Atari. Once he had the idea, Forsse assembled a four-person team to bring Teddy Ruxpin to life. (A similar toy named AG Bear was already on the market; AG Bear could talk, but did not sing or tell stories.) If you want to learn more about Forsse, Billy Tooma's docuseries Come Dream with Me offers a robust nine hours.
Teddy's internal mechanics sound like a steampunk ...
