Poochi The Robotic Dog

The 90s saw an influx of one particular thing...robotic pets.

For a long time, I've wanted a FurReal Hasbro Squawkers McCaw animatronic parrot (I still look for them occasionally on eBay), but that isn't exactly what I'm talking about here, even if it's somewhat of the same vein. Here I'm talking about pets that were actually sold as a pet, but were robotic. Sure, Tamagotchi's are also in the same line up, but what I'm referring to specifically are these little guys, The Poochi Robotic Dog. Their visual aesthetic lined up perfectly with the 2000 era of design, where everything was hyper futuristic and made of see through colored plastic, and unlike a good portion of the toys I feature on this blog, I actually had one of these for a change.

These guys were one of the first generations of robopet toys, designed by Samuel James Lloyd and Matt Lucas, manufactured by Sega - of all companies - and distributed by Tiger Toys, one of the leading toy companies at that time for making wild crazy out there stuff like The Furby. This was a perfect fit, honestly, for Tiger. It was initially released in the year 2000 and eventually discontinued only two brief years later in 2002, despite creating a boom of knock offs during its short stint in existence.  They actually sold for only 25 dollars, which is kind of a steal, if you ask me, for something this unique and cool back then. Part of the reason for their release, however, was partially due to the fact that sales from The Furby line were in fact waning by this point, and this seemed liked a perfect revitalization of the same caliber toy. They weren't wrong either, as it sold over 10 million units worldwide in just 8 months since release, making it an astounding success.

Ironically enough, and I did not know this going in, the FurReal lineup I mentioned at the start is what replaced these come 2002 when they were discontinued.

But they made a ton of things in this line, all ending with the prefix "chi", which lead to some ridiculous goddamned names like the Petalchi, which was a robotic flower. They also churned out a dinosaur, a bird, a cat, a larger version of the dog called a Super Poochi which just sounds like a cool robot dog superhero honestly, a regular robot just called a Botster and, perhaps more horrifying of all, Robo Baby which is exactly what the name sounds like and I will not be posting an image of Robo Baby because I respect my readers mental health too much to subject them to the horror of this Issac Asimov nightmare fuel.

The dog could bark songs and make general dog noises that were prerecorded, but thanks to limitations in technology, all these sounds were essentially beeps. Frankly I think this is a better design choice anyway as it keeps in line with the robot part of the dog which is the most interesting aspect of this thing as it is. It also showed emotion via LED lights in its face.

And as you can see from the box I've posted a photo of, Hasbro really hammered home the "Furby" aspect, by putting it right on the box for all to see, just to let you know that, hey, if you liked the Furby, you'll probably like this. Poochi is certainly nowhere near as iconic or memorable as the Furby, partially because it's just a dog who happens to be a robot instead of a demon seed sent from hell to steal our souls through the guise of playtime, but it definitely left its mark, both in the toy market and on our carpets.

I say this because Wikipedia actually has a sub section for "robot dog" toys. These things opened the floodgates to a million other types of robot pets, specifically robot dogs. Sure the idea existed before them, but this is what made it mainstream. Hasbro also released something called the iDog, just to prove how invested they were in this concept. Hell, people still make things like this it was so popular. I was in a Toys R Us just a few years ago and they were still churning out robotic pets, so despite Poochi eventually being put down, the overall idea continues to thrive. I think part of that is owed to the fact that it's a cheaper, safer alternative to giving a child an actual pet, but that's just my opinion and I could be wrong. There was also Tekno The Robotic Puppy which launched in late 2000, and, despite coming out in the 60s and not really being "robotic", our good ol' pal Gaylord who we featured here already!

So yeah, this time period saw a really cool series of toys come out, and sure robotic dogs weren't a brand new concept but this futurism take on them certainly was, and the 2000 aesthetic was really what made them stand out and still does to this day. The iDog, also released by Hasbro as I stated, is far more minimal in its design, sleeker and more modern, and could also double as an mp3 player which was cool sure, but that to me makes it more of a novelty than an outright toy. Poochi and the whole "chi" line were toys, first and foremost, and I'm really happy to be able to say that I got to experience this wonder outright as a child. I even had dogs growing up and I still loved this stupid thing. But, like I said, I'm a sucker for animatronic animals.

So that about covers the Poochi, and thus, wraps this month on the blog. Fret not, though, because we'll return in November for another 4 posts! It's been fun, and I hope you've enjoyed this little walk down memory lane as much as I have. Until then, keep it real and don't forget to feed your robotic loved ones. It's easy, as they eat microchips.

Except the Robo Baby.

That thing eats fear.