Reference Desk

Which Furby generation is this?

Five Furby generations listed by eye type: 1st, 1998-2002, and 2nd, 2005-2007, mechanical eyelids; 3rd, 2012-2015, black-and-white screens; 4th, 2016-2017, colour screens; 5th, 2023 to now, flat drawn eyes. A note says the 1998 has an infrared port between the eyes and the 2005 is visibly bigger. — The eyes place a Furby: mechanical eyelids for 1998-2002 or 2005-2007, black-and-white screens for 2012-2015, colour screens for 2016-2017 and flat drawn eyes from 2023.Illustration: LinkToLooks

Five generations of Furby exist and only two of them look alike. Work down this page in order and you can place any Furby from a single photograph of its face.

Start with the eyes

The eyes settle it faster than anything else, because Hasbro changed the eye technology three times and never went back to the same solution twice.

Mechanical eyelids that physically open and close over painted eyeballs — 1st or 2nd generation, so 1998-2002 or 2005-2007.
Black-and-white screens — 3rd generation, 2012-2015.
Colour screens — 4th generation, 2016-2017.
Flat drawn eyes that never change — 5th generation, 2023 to now.

The full generation table

Generation	Years	Maker	The tell
1st	1998-2002	Tiger Electronics / Hasbro	Mechanical eyes and beak driven by a single motor. Infrared port between the eyes. Speaks Furbish first, then learns English.
2nd	2005-2007	Hasbro	Noticeably larger than the original with a more expressive face, and voice recognition added. Eyes still mechanical.
3rd	2012-2015	Hasbro	Monochrome LCD screens in place of mechanical eyes — the single clearest break in the whole line. Wider range of movement, 14 languages.
4th	2016-2017	Hasbro	Colour LCD eyes and a small translucent joystick on top of the head. English or Russian only.
5th	2023-present	Hasbro	Back to drawn, non-screen eyes. Glowing ears, five voice-activated modes, over 600 responses.

Separating a 1998 from a 2005

This is the only genuinely hard call in the line, since both have mechanical eyes. Three checks, in order of reliability:

Size. The 2005 Furby is visibly bigger. Side by side it is obvious; alone it is not, so measure rather than eyeball.
The infrared port. A small dark window centred between the eyes on the original marks the 1998 generation, which used it to talk to other Furbies.
The box, if you have it. A Tiger Electronics box is 1998-2002. Hasbro absorbed the Tiger branding afterwards, so a Hasbro-only box is 2005 or later.

What Furbies cost right now

What you are looking at	Listings priced	Cheapest	Median	Dearest
Furby-branded toys, all US advertisers	46	$5.99	$19.53	$150
New at US retailers	33	$5.99	$18.13	$126.66
Resale, peer-to-peer sellers	13	$6	$26	$150
Furblets (current mini line)	11	$5.99	$13.99	$20

The number worth noticing: peer-to-peer sellers ask a median of $26.00 against $18.13 at retailers, and the Furblets that dominate current retail sit at a $13.99 median. The gap is not nostalgia pricing a rare object — it is a boxed original competing against a $14 pocket toy that shares a brand and nothing else.

Only 13 Furby listings in this pull come from peer-to-peer sellers, and none of the listings here photographs a battery-compartment date stamp or a model number, so no individual Furby on this page is dated by us from its markings. The generation table is from published reference material.

Last verified 7 September 2026 against 46 Furby-branded toy listings from US advertisers in the CJ product feed, all of them carrying a usable price. Apparel, mugs, jewellery and other Furby-branded goods that are not toys are excluded. Peer-to-peer asks of $500 or more and repdigit asks are dropped as placeholders.

Questions people actually ask

How do I tell which Furby generation I have?

Look at the eyes first. Mechanical eyelids mean 1998-2002 or 2005-2007; black-and-white screens mean 2012-2015; colour screens mean 2016-2017; flat drawn eyes mean 2023 or later.

What is the difference between a 1998 and a 2005 Furby?

The 2005 Furby is larger, has a more expressive face and added voice recognition. The 1998 original has an infrared port between the eyes for talking to other Furbies and shipped in a Tiger Electronics box.

Which Furby generation is the most collected?

The 1998 first generation, by a distance — it is the one people remember, the one that sold 40 million units in three years, and the only one whose boxed examples routinely ask three figures on the resale market.

Sources

Wikipedia, Furby — the five generations and their production years, the mechanical-to-LCD-to-drawn eye changes, the infrared port, the 14-language third generation, and the 1998-2000 sales figures.
CJ Affiliate product feeds, US advertisers, queried 7 September 2026 — every price figure here.