in the packaging touting the Deluxe Talkboy, which had new sound effects so that it actually functioned like the one in the film. As theexplained in a report months later, toy buyers, who had placed their holiday orders in the spring, did not anticipate the second wave of demand the VHS release would inspire—Fox said it soldby December 1993—and ordered too few Talkboys, meaning Tiger also manufactured too few units.
“She stood in the aisle and cried that if she didn’t get a Talkboy, her whole Christmas would be ruined!” wrote“Her hair was plastered alongside her wet cheeks and her eyes were borderline wild and frightened.” Of course, the big reveal is that this wasn’t some spoiled brat kid, but rather a tear-stained mother learning she’d be leaving the store empty-handed.
Tiger ramped up production at its Hong Kong factory to run 24 hours a day to try and manage the shortfall, but it was an impossible feat. The company was also fielding hundreds of calls a day from distressed customers—some even famous ones.
We played with them in the Best Buy district office