Furbies are well-known amongst Millennials and Gen Z people as terrifying animatronic toys created in the late 90s. Most people probably had one or at least knew someone who had a Furby when they were children. Considering that Furbies were one of the first popular animatronic toys to be mass-produced around the world, they were fairly experimental. This meant they didn't always work perfectly, which resulted in some pretty scary malfunctions throughout the years. These malfunctions resulted in the widespread theory that all Furbies are evil.The theory that Furbies are evil definitely still holds up today, as seen in this viral tweet that notes Furby's iconic design. "The Furby's eyes are on the front of the head, which implies that it's a predator."
Other theories about the furry animatronics started to circulate back in the late 90s and early 2000s just after their release. People believed that Furbies could teach their children swear words and tamper with medical equipment because of their ability to repeat speech. There were also some wilder theories, like theories of Furbies posing a threat to national security, disrupting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight equipment and the use of real cat and dog fur in the manufacture of the creepy toys. One of the craziest theories was that Furbies could launch spacecraft -- this theory spread because the use of sensors in the Furby toys was very modern and strange at the time that they were first released and most people did not understand how the technology worked.
The theory raised in @BathysphereHat's tweet definitely seems valid in comparison with other people's stories about their Furbies displaying scary and predatory behavior. In the r/AskReddit subreddit, multiple users have told stories about waking up to the sight of hordes of Furbies sitting on their bed and hearing their Furbies laugh at them when they go into their dark kitchens at night. This aligns with @BathysphereHat's replies to their original Furby tweet, stating "The sensor on their head lets them sense infrared so they can find prey in the dark." They follow up their tweet by referencing their short legs. "Since their short legs give them a slow sprint speed, they're likely ambush predators." Furbies also heavily resemble the Mogwai from the 1984 movie Gremlins. The Mogwai starts out as a small, cute, fluffy creature with large ears and small legs and turns into a predatory Gremlin if it is fed after midnight -- and yes, the Mogwai has its eyes at the front of its head too.
This predator Furby theory harkens back to a scene from The Mitchells Vs. The Machines. The Mitchells Vs. The Machines is an animated movie about an AI uprising. All of the Furbies in a toy shop start attacking the titular family because they each have a PAL chip installed inside them which makes them evil. After Rick Mitchell shoots down a regular-sized Furby with his bow and arrow, the rest of the Furbies awaken the elder Furby, which, according to its display window, is the world's largest Furby. It promises to avenge its fallen children and starts shooting laser beams out of its beak at the Mitchells as they run away. This colossal Furby is reminiscent of other movie monsters like Godzilla and King Kong, as it towers over everyone and destroys everything. The overarching plot of the technological uprising in The Mitchells Vs. The Machines is also very similar to theories about Furbies that surfaced in the late 90s.
Most people seem to have embraced this theory of the predatory Furby, either staying well away from the toys or modifying them to create the terrifying long Furbies that have been taking the internet by storm. There are plenty of other children's toys that have messed-up theories behind them, of course. For example, theories suggest Beanie Babies are filled with spider eggs, that Cabbage Patch Kids have chubby cheeks as a result of nuclear fallout and that Ty Monstaz have hidden messages in their gibberish speech. None, however, are as influential as the Furby. The combination of the Furby's otherworldly appearance and its creepy voice has been enough to scare children over multiple generations and introduce creepy theories that align with its predatory characteristics.