What's wrong with my Storytelling ALF?

[ALFicionado]

Last night when I put on my Storytelling ALF for a while, he uttered a few words then stopped talking, both his voice and his his face-movements stopped simultaneously. I thought it was time to turn the tape and did so, no response. After doing this for a while, the batteries finally died. I thought that the batteries had gone too weak and that was the problem. So I bought new batteries today but the same problem occurred. Thing is, when you put him on at first, his ears, eyebrows & lips move for about a second, then stop.

Is it the voicebox that is broken? If so, why would his face-movements die down at the same time, are they connected? I tried to put on another tape, but that didn't help anything.

[Jessica]

What was the story called?

[ALFicionado]

I don't remember which one it was, it was from the tape that came with the doll though.

[Jessica]

Okay. I assume it was english.

[ALFicionado]

Yes, this was never released in Sweden.

[spanks_4]

Did you ever figure it out? If not slap an Ozzy Osbourne tape in him and see if it helps!

Yes Alf will move with other tapes. I have tried Vanilla Ice, Ozzy, Metallica, etc. etc..

[ALFicionado]

I've tried other tapes, no sound comes out at all

[spanks_4]

Their is a person on ebay that fixes these kinds of things. I have had some dealings with her for a bunch of Alf stuff, but as far as her work I have no clue. You can always give it a try.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Worlds-of-Wonder-Ta ... 911.c0.m14

[ALFicionado]

Their is a person on ebay that fixes these kinds of things. I have had some dealings with her for a bunch of Alf stuff, but as far as her work I have no clue. You can always give it a try.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Worlds-of-Wonder-Ta ... 911.c0.m14

Thanks, but it would cost too much for me to send my doll to her, pay her for her work and then pay for the postage back. I live in Sweden, so it would be cheaper to buy a new one.

[spanks_4]

Yes it would be cheaper to buy a new one. I am sure someone over in Sweden probably offers the same service. Talking toys were sold all over the world so a little research might produce some decent results.

[joshdoll]

i know whats wrong with your alf i have repaired a lot of them along with a lot of talking dolls from the 80's his bands inside have poped or busted

[spanks_4]

Where are you located Josh? The person I was going to get to repair mine has seemed to disappear on me.

[ALFanatic]

joshdoll,

In your post, are you referring to talking toys that use a "voicebox" that has a rubber band as part of drive system which produces sound? If so, I agree these talking toys are often fairly easy and inexpensive to fix.

Although AxelFoley did mention "voicebox" in his original post, his concern is actually with talking toy (Storytelling ALF) that uses an internal cassette player to play a cassette tape to produce sound. These types of talking toys most often are not easy or inexpensive to fix when the cassette player is apparently malfunctioning.

Welcome to the Forum.

Mike

[spanks_4]

joshdoll,

In your post, are you referring to talking toys that use a "voicebox" that has a rubber band as part of dive system which produces sound? If so, I agree these talking toys are often fairly easy and inexpensive to fix.

Although AxelFoley did mention "voicebox" in his original post, his concern is actually with talking toy (Storytelling ALF) that uses a cassette player to play a cassette tape to produce sound. These types of talking toys most often are not easy or inexpensive to fix when the cassette player is apparently malfunctioning.

Welcome to the Forum.

Mike

The talking toy that Axel is referring to also uses belts/bands inside of them for different movements. A lot of the times the plastic gears get stripped which kills the movement, but the tape decks are fairly easy/cheap to replace or fix.

[ALFanatic]

spanks_4,

The plastic gears inside StoryTelling ALF do often become damaged resulting in non-operation of moving body parts, and may be additional part of problem for AxelFoley; however, still apparent that the cassette player not working is also primary problem. While parts (if available) and/or electronic fix necessary to repair cassette player may not be too expenive, the removal, diagnosis, repair, and proper reinstallation of cassette player will not be inexpensive, unless labor time is "dirt cheap".

I have performed several major "operations" to repair StoryTelling ALFs, with the time involved to complete the process always being considerable. Even at any reasonable rate, having to pay for the cost of time involved would have been expensive.

Mike

[spanks_4]

While I agree with you Mike to an extent my other main hobby is classic arcade games *Mrs. Pacman, Neo Geo, Super pacman, etc. etc...* so while most people have the thought that things are extremely expensive to fix they usually are not.

http://www.thetoydoctor.com/toyrepair.html

[scottdr36]

hello,
I bought an alf for my wife, when we put the cassette in he doesnt talk, but if you press the FF key in partially he starts talking or all the way in it goes fast forward, ears move etc. could that be a stripped gear? assume no as FF works. any ideas?