ONTD

Of all the childhood toys to update for the early 21st century, the Furby seems like a no-brainer. After all, the hairy ball of amalgamated animal strangeness packed in electronics so baffled the general public that it managed to get itself banned from the Pentagon as a threat to national security. After the Furby was first decommissioned in 2000 (managing to sell an impressive 40 million units in its first three years), Hasbro attempted to revamp the line in 2005 with Emtro-Tronic Furbies, bigger versions of the toy that brought increased facial emotions and voice recognition, failing to recapture the success of the original line.

The latest addition to the line marks a much more significant update for our old furry pal, bringing him up-to-date for a generation growing up with smartphones and tablets, with revamped aesthetics, new innards and an appetite for Apple's iPad. We managed to get our hands on the squirming and verbose little Mogwai-esque creature -- four of them in fact -- for a bit, when Hasbro popped by our office with a furry blue army packed in a duffel bag. Check out some impressions of the reborn furball after the break.

It's immediately clear, right off the bat, that we're not dealing with your older sister's Furby here. Those big, white, glowing eyes get you immediately. In place of those familiar plastic spheres are two big LCDs that comprise roughly a third of Furby's body. The new eyes significantly contribute to Furby's range of emotions, allowing Hasbro to design different dot matrix pupils for different moods like anger and innocence. Graphics are in the mix as well, with images of things like rainbows and two-finger peace signs cycling through the mix. As with his predecessor, this Furby's got eyelids, though they play a fairly limited role, like opening up when it wakes up from sleep mode.

Beyond the eyes, Furby looks largely similar to earlier units, if "slightly larger," according to Hasbro's measurements. Our unit was covered in thick, neon blue fur. At launch, it will be available in six colors, that number jumping to 10 by the holidays. His tail, plush feet and moving pointed plastic ears are all a slightly lighter shade. In the middle of its forehead is a black marking -- it doesn't actually serve a particular function, instead serving as a "legacy" design, where the toy's IR sensors once lived. Just below his eyes is a yellow beak that opens and closes as it speaks. Inside is a red tongue. Pressing down on this starts Furby chewing as though it were being fed.