Tickle Me Elmo Sans Fur is Scary!

When I was a kid, I was a real "taker aparter." No matter what I got, sooner or later I had to break out a screwdriver and find out what made that toy tick. Never, in all those years, did I ever encounter anything quite as creepy as Tickle Me Elmo without his fur.

I clearly remember taking apart this toy I had called "Robbie the Robot." It was my favorite toy because it performed so many task. Why, Robbie even had a voice. Now, granted, it was an oddly modulated metallic sounding voice, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

WEll, I had to know what made Robbie talk, so I got one of my dad's screwdrivers and dug right into the machine, To my delight, it turned out to be a tiny record about the size of a silver dollar. When you turned the handle on the outside of the robot, Robbie said, "Hello. I'm Robbie the Robot. that's it; just that one silly phrase.

Anyway, once I was satisfied that it was a tiny record that made Robbie talk, I began the process of putting poor Robbie back together. Well, he went back together just fine and actually worked afterwards.

You're not going to believe what kind of "Side Show Freak" Elmo is without that layer of cloth over the skeleton. I'm afraid the entire apparatus resembles something from a science lab that has gone terribly astray!

At any rate, get ready to get a little creeped out by Elmo without his skin