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About AG Bears
In the mid-1980s, a company named Axlon, founded by Atari creator Nolan Bushnell, decided that the perfect thing to help them compete in the high-end toy market was a bear who would be able to interact with its owner. Working with Applied Design Laboratories, a concept dubbed "growl-back" was created which involved using the speaker's voice pattern, adding the bear's inflection, and then mumbling it back to the speaker. The result was a talking bear that made little sounds instead of words, leaving its owner to imagine what the bear was saying. They named their creation, A.G. Bear which, according to the web page, stands for Almost Grown. AGs react to both movement and sound and chatter happily when riding in a car.
Axlon eventually produced an entire family of bears including Grandma and Grandpa AG who not only talked, but also moved their mouths, Grey, White and Brown AGs, and a Baby AG who makes an extremely high-pitched noise. You can check out pictures of most of these treasures on our portrait page. Unfortunately Axlon was not able to compete with the large manufacturers that were producing toys in huge volume and the company was eventually shut down. This has made many fans of this sweet bear very unhappy.
Although AGs have not been available in the retail market for many, many years, his fans remain devoted to him. We frequently get e-mail from people in search of AGs and, in fact, there is a wonderful web page dedicated to this search. AG has shown up in such diverse situations as classes for the developmentally challenged and police departments. There is something wonderfully comforting about having this small bear hold a conversation with you. If you put two AGs next to each other, they will interact.
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Our friend Marianne contributed this page from a catalogue that included our favorite treasures. You can see a larger, slower loading version by clicking on it. She and her husband share our love for AGs and for all things animated. They are a wonderful source of information and, since Marianne sells animated treasures and her husband, Dr. Stan, repairs them, they are also a wonderful resource! |
If you have an AG, we are sure you have discovered the delights of owning this bear. He has made a lot of people smile.