Fisher Price's Iconic Toy Telephone Now Actually Makes Phone Calls

December 2, 2021 7:31 AM

Remember the classic toy Chatter Phone made by Fisher Price? It now has a version with bluetooth and can make calls. Gizmodo reports. The Onion reflects.

Available at Best Buy (but, alas, sold out).

posted by ShooBoo (29 comments total)

From The Onion article:

The ability to make calls is the last thing I look for when buying a new phone.

Too real
posted by an octopus IRL at 7:36 AM on December 2, 2021 [17 favorites]

We've come to a pretty pass when The Onion is doing straight reporting and Gizmodo reads like on-the-nose satire.
posted by cstross at 7:50 AM on December 2, 2021 [11 favorites]

Interesting. This was not a part of my childhood, despite being in the right age range. I don't think I've ever seen one before. A phone on a wheels that you pull is a truly bizarre concept. Cars and ducks and horses on strings I sort of understand. Now I'm wondering what other random things you could put on wheels and sell to kids. Donuts? Sneakers? Toasters? Electric shavers?

It also reminds me that my silly idea to make a bluetooth mic/speaker that looks like two rusty cans joined with string would now take two hours to build, instead of a week as originally conceived. Maybe someone else will take the idea and sell me one instead.
posted by eotvos at 8:12 AM on December 2, 2021

I would just be happy to be able to use a handset again instead of holding that flat thing up to my ear and never getting the angle quite right.
posted by JanetLand at 8:18 AM on December 2, 2021 [11 favorites]

Busy Box gonna have to raise their game
posted by thelonius at 8:21 AM on December 2, 2021 [4 favorites]

@JanetLand -- looks like $18 and you can.
posted by heyitsgogi at 8:22 AM on December 2, 2021 [5 favorites]

I would love to see this in adult-size, to be used with my iPhone.

I know that "everyone" loves earphones, but I miss picking up a handset to talk to people. It would be fun to have this ridiculous thing around my WFH space for a little whimsy, and the relatively bulky form factor means they could pack a really big battery in there!

It makes me wonder why the only real options for "taking a call via BlueTooth" are pretty much earpieces; cheap plastic handsets that look like 1973; or yelling at a conference room tabletop unit that looks like "The Glaive" from the movie Krull.
posted by wenestvedt at 8:29 AM on December 2, 2021 [4 favorites]

My daughter's daycare over ten years ago had one of those Fisher Price phones, just like the one I remember playing with as a kid at my own daycare. The thing was absurd, since what toddler would look at one of those things and think "phone"? I mean, the whole idea of a handset has been obsolete for years, not to mention a dial. You might as well give kids a plastic cash register with coins to play with. Oh wait...
posted by St. Oops at 8:30 AM on December 2, 2021 [5 favorites]

Inspired by the original toy, it makes both imaginary and real phone calls

Heh
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:39 AM on December 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

Your childhood is calling, now you can actually answer.

Worst ... tagline ... evar.
posted by chavenet at 8:41 AM on December 2, 2021 [3 favorites]

Now I'm wondering what other random things you could put on wheels and sell to kids. Donuts? Sneakers? Toasters? Electric shavers?

Fisher-Price mostly stuck with animals, people, and vehicles, though they did find room for the very popular corn popper series and the occasional coffee pot or iron.
posted by box at 8:46 AM on December 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

holding that flat thing up to my ear and never getting the angle quite right

My stupid face mutes and/or misdirects me through a phone tree at least once a week
posted by Sweetie Darling at 9:06 AM on December 2, 2021 [4 favorites]

Inspired by the original toy, it makes both imaginary and real phone calls

Like the one in the Twilight Zone, perhaps?
posted by Melismata at 9:14 AM on December 2, 2021 [3 favorites]

I got a chuckle out of the occupations listed for The Onion’s interviewees.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 9:46 AM on December 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

Why did they make the eyes less creepy, but not make them not creepy?
posted by Mchelly at 11:13 AM on December 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

I got a chuckle out of the occupations listed for The Onion’s interviewees.

Me, I just got kind of wistful imaging having one of those as my job. (Aside from the unemployed dude, that one I live.)
posted by maxwelton at 2:01 PM on December 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

@JanetLand -- looks like $18 and you can.

These look cool…. but why is every single “Customers also viewed these products” product a bucket hat?
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 2:07 PM on December 2, 2021

If you think that one looks cool, check out what you can get for $40.
posted by box at 2:38 PM on December 2, 2021 [5 favorites]

"The thing was absurd, since what toddler would look at one of those things and think "phone"? I mean, the whole idea of a handset has been obsolete for years, not to mention a dial. "

My oldest, who is 12 years old, got a chatterphone for Christmas when he was about 20 months old. He squealed with delight, pulled it around, and said "TRUCK!"

I said, "No, sweetie, it's a phone."

He looked at me quizzically, looked at my cellphone, looked back at the chatterphone, and announced, more emphatically, "TRUCK!"

I remember it vividly because it was the first time one of my kids clearly thought I was an absolute and utter moron.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:14 PM on December 2, 2021 [13 favorites]

If you think that one looks cool, check out what you can get for $40.

(Boop-e-boop-a-doop)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 3:15 PM on December 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

My daughter is 15 months and we got one of the classic Fisher Price phones second hand and SHE LOVES IT. Shes totally learned to put the handset to her ear by mimicking us, but I'm not sure if she understands she's supposed to be talking to someone through it. Lol
posted by vespertinism at 4:07 PM on December 2, 2021 [4 favorites]

I have 4 of those phones and 3 corn poppers in my (infant) classroom right now. There's a couple phones in the toddler room as well. The kids do pretend to use the phone like vespertinism describes. My nearly 18 month old (student, not my baby) even says "hello mommy" when using it.

I totally want to get one for my boss to have in the office.
posted by kathrynm at 6:02 PM on December 2, 2021 [3 favorites]

“ check out what you can get for $40.”

That was an easy Xmas present for a friend. She will likely take it to work and use it to take calls there.

Another one is getting the best one though - a Joel Osteen Inspiration Cube. For the past few years he has taken great delight in frequently calling me on Sunday mornings to inform me that Joel Osteen is presenting the Good News (tongue in cheek of course). I saw it and instantly thought of him. It also has Bluetooth.

I’m sure he will be pleased. 😉
posted by cybrcamper at 7:47 PM on December 2, 2021 [3 favorites]

Tangentially related: you know that thing where you pretend to make a phone using your fist and extended thumb and pinky? It's depreciated along with that style of handset! Recently someone asked their kid to show them phone action and they put a flat palm to their ear. (Much shock!) But it goes further: my neice (age 3) pretended to call me using her flat hand (a la smart phone) but extended out in front of her face- like a video call, since that's how we phone each other these days.

I'd love to know what littlefeet (approx 18 months) would think of this phone. "Where's the video?" possibly. I've voice called my parents and she's demanded to see the screen so she can see them.
posted by freethefeet at 2:07 AM on December 3, 2021 [7 favorites]

the whole idea of a handset has been obsolete for years, not to mention a dial

I have a phone on the kitchen wall because the landline basically came with the internet, and it keeps working when we have power outages. It is just a 10 dollar phone, but it works. What I really want to do is go get an old yellow western electric phone. My neighbor has his old one mounted in his garage, and it is kind of cool. Anyhow, my kid knows that some phones look different, even if she thinks that they are really, really dumb.
posted by eckeric at 7:44 AM on December 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

I've got an old Northern Telecom DTMF desk phone that I've been wanting to convert to Bluetooth while retaining the ringer and functional buttons. Looks like that is now possible without much work.
posted by Mitheral at 9:57 AM on December 3, 2021 [4 favorites]

This Fisher Price phone was one of my favorite toys when I was tiny! There is a picture of me in my playpen happy as a clam ‘on the phone’ it’s funny because both a significant part of my working life AND a lot of my political work has involved using phones. The only thing I liked better was when our pet monkey stole fruit to share with me.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:30 PM on December 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

Another one is getting the best one though - a Joel Osteen Inspiration Cube.

Why in the world is Amazon offering me a 15% Subscribe-and-Save discount on that thing??
posted by kdar at 10:12 PM on December 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Because abundance is coming your way?
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:14 PM on December 4, 2021 [1 favorite]