Yak Bak was a line of handheld electronic voice recorder toys developed by Ralph Osterhout at Team Machina for Yes! Gear (a.k.a. Yes! Entertainment) in the mid-to-late 1990s. Several versions of the toy were developed which include the Yak Bak, Yak Bak 2, Yak Bak WarpR, Yak Wakky, Yak Bak SFX, and the Yak Bakwards. Some of these models also came in pen form as part of the "Power Penz" series. The Yak Bak was intended to be a compact, more affordable competitor to the Talkboy introduced by Tiger Electronics in 1992. History In December 1994, YES! launched its YES! Gear product line with the introduction of Yak Bak, a simple device consisting of a single speaker and two buttons. One button was marked "Say" and the other, "Play." By holding down the "Say" button, a person could record six seconds of sound, during which a light would shine to indicate that the Yak Bak was recording. Afterwards, the "Play" button would enable the person to hear what was just recorded. This was the basic premise for all subsequent models of the toy, each one adding a slight variance to the original. The television commercial for it showed a boy sitting in a living room recliner while his sister came by and started fussing at him. Then he kept playing his "Is not!" quote using the Yak Bak at his sister, while his sister kept saying "Is too!". Following encouraging sales of its 1995 line of miniature recorders, YES! introduced four new Yak Bak products for 1996 and lowered the products' prices to a more affordable range. The original Yak Bak would be re-released in 1997 as Yak Bak Classic and again in 2000 as Yak Bak 2k. Yak Bak 2 This was identical to the original, but added a locking mechanism which prevented the user from accidentally hitting the "Say" button and thereby erasing the stored recording. This locking mechanism became a staple of some of the future models. The most notable function of this version is the WarpR, which changes the pitch of the recording. Later models of this series had incorporated the WarpR design and function. It came in many colors. One of the toys of the year during the Sixth Annual CBS This Morning Toy Test and the Seventh Annual Sesame Street Parents' Toy Test. Yak Bak WarpR The Yak Bak WarpR provided users with the