Teddy Ruxpin is an animatronic children's toy in the form of a talking 'Illiop', a creature which looks like a bear. The toy's mouth and eyes move while he reenacts stories played on an audio tape cassette deck built into its back. While the character itself was created by Ken Forsse, the talking toy was designed and built by Forsse’s Alchemy II, Inc. employees, including Larry Larsen and John Davies. Later versions have a digital cartridge in place of a cassette. At the peak of its popularity, Teddy Ruxpin became the best-selling toy of 1985 and 1986. The 2006 version was awarded the 2006 Animated Interactive Plush Toy of the Year award by Creative Child Magazine. A cartoon based on the characters debuted in 1986. Teddy's extreme popularity in 1986 buoyed the controversial launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System, also distributed by Worlds of Wonder. Technology Conventional cassette tapes carry two audio tracks for stereo sound reproduction. Teddy Ruxpin cassettes use the left track for audio and the right track for a control data stream. The data stream controls servomotors that move the eyes and mouth and can divert the audio signal to Grubby, the companion toy, by means of a proprietary cable. This allows the two to engage in pre-recorded interactions. Grubby only works with the original WoW version of Teddy Ruxpin. If a conventional audio cassette is played in either the second or third generation models of the original Teddy Ruxpin, this is detected and its right audio track is ignored and Teddy will not move. The production eject mechanism was design by global design firm RKS Design. Early versions of the toy use three servo motors, but this was reduced to two and even one in later versions. History 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, owned and operated by Robert Taylor. The most recent version was produced by Wicked Cool Toys. Shortly after his debut, Teddy Ruxpin was dubbed 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