Cubby, the Curious Bear

Cubby, the Curious Bear was released in 2019 under the FurReal toy line and is meant to be the size of a grizzly bear cub. This toy has light brown fur spanning of the majority of its body, with cream accents on the face and chest, green eyes, a dark brown nose, gray paw pads on its hands and feet, and a dark brown tuft of hair atop its head. Cubby comes with a pet care guide and a 3-in-1 feeding accessory, in the form of a bottle.

## Features

Cubby has a total of 9 sensors throughout his body:

* Three touch sensors on his head
* A microphone on his muzzle
* A sensor in his nose
* A lever in his jaw
* A touch sensor on his torso
* A gyroscope within his torso
* A button on his left paw

Patting Cubby's sensors on his head will cause him to react with various cooing noises and kissing sounds, with the occasional raspberry blow. Blowing on his nose will cause him to either raise his arms to "blow a kiss" or to make sneezing sounds. There is also a microphone on his muzzle which can pick up a person's voice, which in turn will cause him to "babble back." Cubby can also detect music with this microphone and begin to sing along to it after a few seconds. Touching the sensor on his torso will cause him to laugh as if he's being tickled. Pressing a button on his left paw will prompt one of two reactions:

* Raising his arms to be picked up
* Covering up his eyes to play peek-a-boo (saying, "peek-a-boo!" into his microphone will make him uncover his eyes and respond with a "peek-a-boo!" of his own)

Cubby also comes with a 3-in-1 feeding accessory. There's a brush to maintain the fur with, as well as a plastic honey stick. When these components combine with the middle portion shaped like a beehive, they form a "honey bottle." Gently depressing Cubby's jaw with this accessory will cause him to make eating sounds as he moves his jaw up and down to simulate chewing.

Finally, if you lay Cubby down on his back, engaging his internal gyroscope sensor, he will close his eyes and making sleeping sounds before going into sleep mode. Leaving him alone for about a minute will also cause him to enter this mode.

## Night-time Mode

A first for the FurReal toy line, Cubby also features a night-time mode. On Cubby's on/off switch is a middle position, marked by a crescent-moon symbol. Flipping the switch to this position will cause Cubby to make sleepy sounds as if he is lying on his back, as he plays one of three sequences of ambience:

* Forest sounds
* Riverside sounds
* A guitar arrangement of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

This night-time mode is featured on various modern FurReal toys including Dazzlin' Dimples, My Playful Dolphin toy, Sweet Jammiecorns Lamb and Unicorn toys, and Cinnamon, My Stylin' Pony toy.

## Variations

One month after Cubby was released to stores, a variation was released as Plum, the Curious Panda Cub. Plum has exactly the same features as Cubby, but the fur is designed to look like that of a panda instead of a grizzly bear. The eyes were changed from green with brown eyelids to purple with purple eyelids, both of which accented with glitter, and a tail which resembles that of a real panda bear. This pet also did not come with the same feeding accessory; instead, Plum comes with a "bamboo bottle" and a separate brush. These are separate accessories that do not combine.

One year later, another variation was released as an Amazon exclusive, an unnamed polar bear. This toy is also practically identical to Cubby, only with fur like that of a polar bear. This new variation comes with recolored accessories from Plum, and it features plain white fur, sparkly blue eyes and eyelids, and a sky-blue neckerchief with various patterns and abbreviated FurReal branding designed on it.

## Notes

- Cubby seems to share numerous qualities with previously released toys in the FurReal line; namely the Luv Cubs, released in 2005, which featured moving arms that allow them to give their owners a "bear hug", as well as a twitching muzzle and ears. These toys also similarly played "peek-a-boo" when prompted, only instead of being voice activated the owner activates the foot sensor on the Luv Cub.

- Cubby also makes a cameo appearance on the packaging for GoGo, My Dancin' Pup, appearing as a DJ for the dog.

- Curiously, Cubby is the only FurReal pet of recent memory to have an official birthday. According to the included pet-care guide, Cubby was "born" on November 7 - which happens to also be National Hug A Bear Day. Clever.

## Voice

Cubby, the Curious Bear is voiced by Thomas Hagena, an actor who lent his voice to various television commercials for companies such as - to name a few - Pizza Hut, Wal-Mart, Toyota and L.A. Fitness; he has also played voice roles in video games such as NBA 2K21 and Brawl Stars. His LinkedIn account describes him as "your millennial best friend [that] moved in next door."

## Sources

Thomas Hagena info: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashagena

Images:

* https://www.amazon.com/Furreal-Cubby-Curious-Interactive-Plush/dp/B07M7KVVFL
* https://www.lennoxnews.com/single-post/2019/11/20/lennox-native-makes-way-as-voice-over-actor-in-la
* https://www.amazon.com/furReal-Polar-Interactive-Amazon-Exclusive/dp/B0877D5RMR
* https://www.amazon.com/Furreal-Curious-Interactive-Amazon-Exclusive/dp/B07R4PJGC6
* https://furreal.hasbro.com/en-us/product/furreal-gogo-my-dancin-pup-interactive-toy-electronic-pet-dancing-toy-50-plus-sounds-and-reactions-ages-4-and-up:D120420F-AF13-43A6-AA6B-A521261A9D75