The iDog is a robotic dog toy that was released amid the iPod craze that started in the mid-2000's by Sega Toys in Japan before being imported to the United States by Tiger Electronics, a subsidiary of Hasbro. The first iDog toys were produced in 2005, with the last being released in 2009.
The original iDog has a jack that you were intended to plug your iPod (or other music device) into, causing it to bop its head to whatever music you had on and acting as a speaker for the iPod's audio. It also has seven LED lights on its eyes that would light up to indicate its mood, often in relation to whatever music you had playing for it. It was also a virtual pet; you would "feed" it the music and give it affection to make it happy. Depending on what music you played for it, it would develop a different personality.
Several color variations, upgrades, and alternate versions based on different animals were produced. The iDog Amp'd had animatronic technology that allowed it to move its legs to the music as well as its head; the iDog Pup completely removed the iPod capabilities and would simply move its head to any sounds it picked up on its microphone; the iDog Clip was a clip-on device that was shaped like an iDog head and would function as a speaker much like the original toy; the iDog Dance had more complex animatronic capabilities compared to even the iDog Amp'd that allowed it to dance to the music, with its head being shaped differently; and the iDog Soft Speaker was a plush version of the iDog Amp'd that retained the iPod functionality and LEDs. The iDog Plush Puppy, one of the last iDog released, had essentially the same function as the iDog Soft Speaker and also had a clip on it similar to the iDog Clip, but didn't have LEDs. Versions crossing over with KISS and Spider-Man (the latter in commemoration of Spider-Man 3) were made as well.
As for alternate animal variations, the iCat was a cat version of the iDog with all the same functionality; the iFish would spin around to the music (but sadly, wasn't waterproof); the iCy is a penguin version that moved from side to side when an iPod was playing music and had its LEDs on the middle of its body; and the iTurtle would move its head and shell and had LEDs on its shell.
iDog and its other versions contain the following tropes:
- Cartoon Penguin: One of the colors the iCy could come in was a simple black-and-white scheme.
- Character in the Logo: The logo featured the seven-LED face of the iDog in place of the dot in the "i".
- Color-Coded Emotions: The LEDs indicate the iDog's mood; if they're green, it's happy, if they're yellow, it's feeling alright, and if they're red, the iDog is angry.
- High-Tech Hexagons: The arrangement of the LEDs on the robotic, futuristic iDog and friends resembles a hexagon.
- iProduct: iDog, iCat, iCy, and iTurtle. Justified, as in most cases, the toy was meant to be used with an iPod.
- No Plot? No Problem!: There was absolutely no lore to the iDog apart from "it vibes to whatever music you play on your iPod".
- Pictorial Letter Substitution: The iDog logo has the toy's seven-LED face where the first letter's dot would be.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The 2008 Burger King
Kids Meal Toys had a pink-colored iCat dressed in princess clothes and a blue-colored iCat dressed in a robot outfit. - Polar Penguins: iCy, the penguin, is named after ice.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: Both the American and Japanese versions of the iDog would occasionally play snippets of public-domain songs, though it's far more common with the Japanese iDog.
- Punny Name: The iCy. It's a penguin, which is associated with ice. The word "icy" in this case is combined with the CamelCase that comes with the iProduct trope.
- Robot Dog: The iDog is a sleek, robotic dog meant to be used as a speaker for your iPod.
- Virtual Pet: You would "feed" your iDog (or equivalent thereof) music to keep it happy, and give it love and affection by petting it on different sensors on the toy.
- Visual Pun: The "Happy Version" of the iDog has stars for its LEDs - it's literally starry-eyed.
- Wingding Eyes: Alternate versions of the iDog exist that turned its LEDs into stars and hearts, known as the "Happy Version" and the "Lovely Version" respectively.
