Amazing Amanda
The 21-inch doll that learned your voice, called you Mommy, asked to be fed and pouted when she didn't get her way. Playmates put her on shelves in August 2005 at $99.99, and she turned out to be the surprise of that Christmas, with supplies running low in December.
Amazing Amanda was a 21-inch interactive doll made by Playmates Toys, and the toy that relaunched the company's "Amazing" brand. She combined voice recognition, a set of sensors and an animatronic face that moved when she talked. A preview that summer promised she "can show the whole gamut of human emotions including laughing and crying." She arrived in stores in the United States, Britain and Australia in August 2005, priced in the neighborhood of $100.
The trick was the bonding. After a five-minute introduction session, Amanda recognized her "mother's" voice and responded differently to anyone else. She had seven sensing areas, including her right hand, her hair, her chest and a microphone, so she knew when she was being hugged, when her hair was being brushed and when a bowl of pretend food had been placed in her hand. She reacted to her accessories, her food and her potty, and she could be set to wake up at the same time every morning, which made her a sort of alarm clock as well.
She sold. A December 2005 report on holiday shopping listed Amanda, at $99.99, among the toys whose supplies were running low, and called her a surprise given the price. In its annual report for 2005, Playmates said that with Amanda it had "reestablished its dominance in the large doll category," that she had been among the best-selling large dolls in the U.S., U.K. and Australia that year, and that the Toy Industry Association had nominated her for Girls' Toy of the Year.
What kids remember is less the technology than the personality: a doll who could be disappointed in you. The dolls still turn up on secondhand sites, often still talking.
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