Yano Interactive Storyteller

Yano's face may be the last thing you see before you die

Yano's face may be the last thing you see before you die

Sometime in early or mid 2010 I saw this unusual and creepy toy at the Camberwell Sunday Market. I found it interesting and the owner claimed it was worth hundreds of dollars on ebay and they were willing to sell it for $35 or something like that. I tried looking up whatever they said it’s name was but i couldn’t seem to find out any information on it. I didn’t buy it and forgot about it. Last week I was at an op shop and found a Furby, all their soft toys were $2 each. I looked around to see if there were any more Furby dolls and then saw Yano’s face looking out side of giant wire framed basket under a pile of other boring toys. I grabbed it and noticed the face was damaged but considering it’s age and the material it was made from it seemed ok. I took it home and realised it still had batteries in it and wow. My friend who was with me was super creeped out by it’s loud grinding gears as it’s head turned and his face moved as he talked. It told us an awful story called “The Magic Singing Stone”. To continue the story we had to press either the Yes or No button on its chest. I’ve since found out that it is meant to come with a special controller that is better for communicating with Yano, but I’ve since been back to the store and couldn’t seem to find it anywhere. Not a big deal.

Yano compared to a Furby.

Yano compared to a Furby.

Yano was made in 2001 by The Original San Francisco Toymakers Ltd. Some searches on Youtube have shown that this toy was just as terrorifying to kids in 2001 as it would be now. It reads stories out of a chip that is inserted into the bottom of the toy. It runs on several C cell batteries. One video mentioned that the kid’s parents used to threaten them with Yano if he did not eat his vegetables or something. Other people have made amusing videos using creative lighting to highlight how creepy this toy can be and other people have modded it and used it’s robotic face for their own uses.