After the September 1985 debut, various toy makers have produced Teddy Ruxpin over the years. The first was Worlds of Wonder from 1985 until its bankruptcy in 1988. The cut rights were then sold to
Hasbro, and produced again from 1991 to 1996. Another version debuted in 1998 by Yes! Entertainment, and another version in 2006 by BackPack Toys. The latest edition was produced by Wicked Cool Toys. Shortly after his debut, Teddy Ruxpin was recognized as the "Official Spokesbear for the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children" in 1985.
Worlds of Wonder Teddy Ruxpin was launched in 1985 by toy manufacturer
Worlds of Wonder. Then came the companion toy Grubby, different outfits for Teddy and Grubby, and several other non-animatronic companion toys and characters. This includes two different versions of the bird-like Fobs (one orange, one purple), which are hand puppets with a sock-like, extendable neck. Other hand puppets include the larger Wooly What's-It, three interchangeable Anythings (This, That, and The Other), Tweeg, and L.B. the Bounder. Other items produced by Worlds of Wonder for Teddy Ruxpin are the Answer Box and Picture Show. Actress
Joanna Kerns served as Teddy's spokesperson shortly after its introduction, while at the height of her fame as Maggie Seaver on the
ABC-TV sitcom
Growing Pains. Teddy Ruxpin sales peaked in 1986. and the
United States Lifesaving Association. WoW became the exclusive distributor for the
launch of the smash hit
Nintendo Entertainment System, based on leveraging the undeniable strength of Teddy Ruxpin and
Lazer Tag. In 1987, Worlds of Wonder partnered with
Wendy’s to launch a Teddy Ruxpin-themed Kid’s Meal promotion. These are similar to the miniatures produced by Worlds of Wonder, except they are smaller and
flocked. Teddy Ruxpin characters joined the
Ice Capades program, which toured the country. In 1987, Worlds of Wonder’s executives misjudged the market, vastly overproducing Teddy Ruxpin at a time when interest was fading and the NES dominated consumer attention. Teddy Ruxpin parts orders strained company assets, a problem worsened when insider trading shook investor trust. In response to devaluation, WoW issued Non-Investment Grade Bonds, commonly known as
junk bonds, in an effort to buoy itself. Although there is some contention as to whether this strategy would have helped, the attempt was made moot by the
1987 stock market crash. Worlds of Wonder filed for bankruptcy protection and was liquidated in 1988. They went through a series of layoffs. The creditors continued to operate the company in receivership until finally closing in late 1990. By 1991, Worlds of Wonder had closed and the remaining assets were liquidated. This design is smaller and uses cartridges that resemble
8-track tapes, instead of
cassette tapes.
Yes! Entertainment From 1993 to 1995, Yes! Entertainment responded to Teddy Ruxpin with an "interactive video" animatronic toy released under the branding "TV Teddy". The TV Teddy system consists of a series of specially encoded
VHS cassettes, an
RF-transmitter that relays signals encoded on the video track to the toy, and an animatronic RF-receiver consisting of a loudspeaker, and two servos which provide much-simplified eye and mouth movements compared to both the WoW and Playskool versions. The VHS cassettes consist of original opening content specifically designed for Teddy to interact with, followed by previously released videos (among them
The Berenstain Bears and titles from
Family Home Entertainment) which are encoded with additional content for the animatronic toy. In 1998, Yes! brought Teddy Ruxpin back to stores for a third time. The toy's size is largely the same as the Playskool version. Yes! returned to using the standard cassette tapes. A small
Beanie Baby version of the toy was boxed with the Yes! Teddy Ruxpin based on the popularity of
Ty's Beanie Babies at the time. This venture was short-lived, however, as Yes! Entertainment's corporate management and financial troubles ultimately resulted in Alchemy II withdrawing the licensing for Teddy.
BackPack Toys In 2005, BackPack Toys announced a fourth version of Teddy Ruxpin, which replaced the audio tapes with digital
ROM cartridges. == Film adaptation ==