Teddy Ruxpin Teardown Reveals What Makes The Bear Tick

Teddy Ruxpin: you may remember him as the bear that haunted your childhood, the robotic toy horror that paved the way for the Furby and a string of other frightening, rudimentary robots. It's fair to presume he's powered by some ancient evil reincarnate, but alas, he's not. How do we know this? Thanks to the work of some brave industrious fellow who cut Teddy open and filmed what lies inside.

There's a new, updated version of Teddy Ruxpin debuting next year, so there's no better time than now to find out what makes the original tick. The folks over at "What's Inside" recently did just that, taking an original 1980s era Teddy Ruxpin and tearing him open in some macabre form of animatronic autopsy.

This involved sawing his face off first — yes, they did it in proper horror movie fashion, at one point wearing his furry face over their own. All of this in the presence of a child who, at one point, says the bear is his "worst friend" and balks at the thought of making it his best friend. Yes, he learned, the bear does in fact talk.

Ultimately, though, Teddy Ruxpin is pretty simple on the inside. There's a cassette player hidden in his back and a thin brown plastic skeleton cushioned by yellow foam under his furry pelt. Removing his face and head padding doesn't in anyway affect his performance — he still blinks and talks, unaware that's he being dissected. A bunch of springs and small motors make his movements possible. His chest is primarily composed of a giant speaker, and after they smash that open, he finally dies.

VIA: Gizmodo