In the ‘90s, Kevin McAllister from Home Alone was the ultimate in kid coolness. And nothing made him cooler than the Talkboy he used in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York to constantly outwit adults. In case you don’t remember, the Talkboy was a handheld voice recorder with a variable-speed voice changer, not only letting Kevin record things and play them back, but also letting him change the speed of the playback to sound slower or faster.
Kevin used the Talkboy throughout Home Alone 2 — in fact, it was pretty integral to the plot. He recorded his uncle Frank in the shower, and used that recording later to fool the bellhop at the hotel into thinking his dad was showering. He recorded himself to book a room, but slowed down his voice to sound like an adult. And, of course, he recorded Harry and Marv talking about their master thieving plan and gave it to the police. What would Kevin have done without his Talkboy? He wouldn’t have gotten very far, that’s for sure.
But did you know that the Talkboy was originally just a prop for the movie? That’s right, the movie prop inspired the toy, rather than the other way around. Writer John Hughes didn’t want Kevin to use a toy that already existed — he wanted Kevin to be ahead of the curve compared to the average kid. So, he and distributor 20th Century Fox turned to Tiger Electronics to get them to create something for Kevin to use in the film, and in a few weeks, the Talkboy was born.
Tiger Electronics made a deal with Fox to sell a retail version of the Talkboy, which was released in stores in late 1992, coinciding with the debut of Home Alone 2 in theaters in November 1992. The problem was, the original version they released didn’t have the feature that made the Talkboy special in the first place — the voice changer! So, they went back and made an updated, Deluxe version that was released in April of the following year which included the variable-speed voice changer, and a hit was born.
To everyone’s surprise, the Deluxe Talkboy was a smash success and quickly sold out in all retail stores — it was the top-selling Christmas toy of 1993, featured in our article The Most Popular Christmas Toys from 1980-2000. In fact, stores didn’t order enough to cover what would become a huge demand — they ordered 300 to 400 percent below what would’ve been needed to cover said demand. The Deluxe version of the Talkboy performed so well that it inspired spinoffs, including a pink Deluxe Talkgirl in 1995. You know, trying to cater to the girls as well. That same year, Tiger released the Talkboy F/X+ and Talkgirl F/X+, which were writing pens with a 12-second recorder, three-speed playback, and six buttons that played sound effects. Instead of a cassette tape, the pens combined solid-state storage and a voice-recording computer chip.
Did you manage to get your hands on a Deluxe Talkboy in the mid-’90s? My brother definitely had one, and I remember recording and playing back our voices either sped up or slowed down, laughing for hours at how ridiculous we sounded. Tell us about your Talkboy memories in the comments, but first, check out this commercial from 1994 for the Deluxe Talkboy.
- Tiger came out with at least 11 different spin offs of the Talkboy, including the Talkboy & Talkgirl Jr, the Talkboy F/X+ Phone, Talkboy Walkie Talkie, and the Talkboy Tic Talker (a watch).
- Aside from the television commercial above for the Deluxe Talkboy, Tiger didn’t do much advertising, instead largely relying on the home video release of Home Alone 2, which had an insert advertising the toy, and a cross-promotion with Life cereal featuring the toy on a side panel of their cereal boxes.
- Originally, Home Alone 2 writer John Hughes had the idea that Kevin would have a gun as his secret recorder, but Tiger’s executive vice president thought that was impractical as Kevin needed to take the toy through an airport, so his team came up with the design of the Talkboy instead.
- The Talkboy/Talkgirl F/X+ pens sold more than a million units in 45 days when they were released in 1995.
- Yes! Gear released a more compact, cheaper competitor to the Talkboy in 1994 called the Yak Bak, which wasn’t quite the same as it was really just a record and play toy rather than one that allowed you to change the voice speed.
- Tiger came out with at least 11 different spin offs of the Talkboy, including the Talkboy & Talkgirl Jr, the Talkboy F/X+ Phone, Talkboy Walkie Talkie, and the Talkboy Tic Talker (a watch).
- Aside from the television commercial above for the Deluxe Talkboy, Tiger didn’t do much advertising, instead largely relying on the home video release of Home Alone 2, which had an insert advertising the toy, and a cross-promotion with Life cereal featuring the toy on a side panel of their cereal boxes.
- Originally, Home Alone 2 writer John Hughes had the idea that Kevin would have a gun as his secret recorder, but Tiger’s executive vice president thought that was impractical as Kevin needed to take the toy through an airport, so his team came up with the design of the Talkboy instead.
- The Talkboy/Talkgirl F/X+ pens sold more than a million units in 45 days when they were released in 1995.
- Yes! Gear released a more compact, cheaper competitor to the Talkboy in 1994 called the Yak Bak, which wasn’t quite the same as it was really just a record and play toy rather than one that allowed you to change the voice speed.
2 thoughts on “Talkboy: The Coolest ‘90s Toy Inspired by a Movie Prop”
Hi good morning where can i find Vintage talkboy cool pen please.
Thanks
Give eBay or Etsy a try!