Epic Win: Yak Bak
Submitted by Briana M, audiophile
This line of handheld voice-recorders had all the essential qualities of a classic ’90s toy: it was trendy, obnoxious, and looked way cooler in the commercial. But the idea of having one short audio clip to interrupt whomever you’re talking to is priceless. I remember recording myself yelling “WHAT!?” Conversations went like this:
Oh hey, how’s it–
WHAT!?
What the heck is that? Is that a Yak–
WHAT!?
Please stop–
WHAT!? WHAT!? WHAT!?
I’m going to kill you.
I had something similar, but I think it was licensed by Nickelodeon. . . It had some sort of cone on it, so that you could essentially use it as a megaphone.
the Mighty MegaMouth, maybe?
Might’ve been. I honestly wish I could remember.
Now I want one…
I had to rebuy so many yakbaks from teachers taking them to them getting lost and when the yak-pak plus’s came out it was like jesus came back… in yak-bak form!
I had one of those. I remember the commercial making it look like the coolest thing ever. It succeeded in annoying anyone you used it near but other than that it was a big letdown.
Yakbak didnt last to long did it?
My babysitter had one of these, man, I remember when we would sing back song lyrics like “Allstar” man, that song by smash mouth was the thing back in first grade. I had such a fun babysitter… when she moved onto college though, that was sad…
I used to have one of these, until my neighbor threw it down a sewer drain.
I had one and I loved it. I was so “cool”. Mine had a few sound effects along with the recording.
I let a friend borrow it and she used it during class causing the teacher to take it away and she wouldn’t give it back till the end of the year…. so I never got it back. I’m still kind of pissed at both of them… and myself.
I think it was like 30 bucks to buy one of those things.
I remember getting one of those for my friend when we were kids. It had a feature where it would record what you said into it and play it in reverse. Seeing as how we were about nine years old, we had a grand old time saying things like “tish” and “kuf” into it to see what it sounded like played back. Definitely a toy for the immature stage in one’s life!
yak bakwards. that’s the one i had, and yes, it ws totally perfect for that time of life!
do you remember that it came with a list of words and their opposite sounds? awesome.
I still have mine. XD
None of my friends remember them at all though. So I’m glad to see it’s on here. Makes me think I didn’t imagine the whole thing.
I had one of those. A lot of fun. Gave it to my sister when she went off to college with a recording of me saying “oogly boogly” in this fake Bela Lugosi voice. That was around 1993 and she still has the damn thing. It still works and still has the recording of me saying “oogly boogly”.
the Yak Backwards was way cooler.
Yak Bak! The ultimate in little sister/brother weapons.
I never had one myself, but had enough friends who grew tired of them so quick I got to borrow them all the time to annoy my big sis.
Was this what Kevin used in Home Alone 2, or was that another device? I remember similar hand held recorders becoming very popular after that movie.
Nah, Kevin used the TalkBoy.
i had one of those, too.
(warble,warble) *i had one of thoes too*
I had the SFX version of this gadget… with the splat sound, clown laugh, lightning strike + scream, breakbeat, and heavy guitar riff. Anyone else had the YakBak SFX?
I had one of these, but the Talkboy was much cooler.
I still got it somewhere.
WHAT!?
They speak English in what?
I still have my YakBak pen
and it is still awesome
Remember when they had Yak Baks that could actually alter the voice. I wished I had one of those, instead I head the normal Yak Bak. Moine was teal and purple I believe.
I had the YakBak 2 (variable speed playback)
and later the YakBakwards (variable speed, and played audio backwards)
I still have mine! It’s purple!
D
I used to have one of these, they were AWESOME! they NEED to bring these back!
LOL that’s awesome. WHAT?! WHAT?! XD
I was just thinking about this the other day…not about a YakBak per se but when I was growing up, my neighbor got a little tape recorder (like doctors use) and his kids and I spent a hilarious afternoon playing with it. For some reason we thought it was a riot to say “Joe Piscopo” (gad, it tells you how long ago this was) and play it slow/fast/backwards….
Ah, the simple joys of childhood. XD
I had a Yak Bak. It never worked once. I did have a little handheld tape recorder that my cousins and I would play with. We’d make ‘radio shows’ and stuff. I still have an old tape that I recorded when I was…nine maybe? I kept it for the memories.
Thanks once upon a win for making me go digging for that little casette tape!
Oh hey, how’s it–
WHAT!?
Quoat-What the heck is that? Is that a Yak–
WHAT!?
Please stop–
WHAT!? WHAT!? WHAT!?
I’m going to kill you
LOLOLOLLOLOLLOLOLOLOLrofl OMG HAA!!
I had one of these! In bright orange. I had tons of fun with it, was so pissed off when it stopped working…..
I had the talkboy pen! At the time I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Seems so technologically unadvanced now.