#browser the webhound

[webheads-dot-com]

Looking to know a Webhead?

>>READ HERE<<

Hi there! My name’s Michael and I made this blog because I took a funny little interest in First Ideas’ Webheads toy line from the early 2000s. They’re a fascinating group of computer and internet themed toys, meant to be monitor companions and photo frames. Now out of active production and circulation and never reaching popularity, the Webheads line has faded into obscurity, and in many cases presents a mystery. What happened? Why is there so little information online about them? Where did they go?

While I’ll be trying to dig up more about them, what I know for now is that there are 16 total dolls listed on the archived iwebheads.com via the wayback machine, several of which have no available photos beyond blurry thumbnails for their bios, and who present both an interesting cast of characters, and a fun look back into the early days of the internet.

These characters are:

Auntie Virus • Baby Boy.com • Baby gURL • Browser the Webhound • Cookie • Cyber Cat and Mouse • Dot e.com • Dr. Disk • E-male • Eve Shopper • Hacker • Melissa LuvBug • Wally Wallstreet • Web Mistress • Webmaster • Web Surfer

Here I’ll be posting the history bits I’m able to find on the Webheads line, the characters’ bios, playlists, headcanons, OCs, art, and more! So if you’d like to stick around and learn about some friendly computer companions that nearly count as lost media, you’re in the right place :-)

I got some fanart to kick this blog off, which is just absolutely gorgeous and shall remain here because it’s very close to my heart.

Tag directory is under cut, and otherwise have an epic day!

Characters will be tagged by their names as done so on this post, and each of their bios will be tagged with #site bio for their official ones, and #webheadcanon bio for my takes/additional bios on their characters

Posts featuring media from the webheads website will be tagged as #web(head)site

Posts with headcanons or analysis on the possibilities of the web-world and characters will be tagged as #webheadcanons

Posts talking about the current state of the brand, new information found on other sites, or anything to do with finding more than I have will be tagged as #webheadsleuthing

Posts with random mod commentary or ab irl stuff will be tagged with #off the web and details and reviews on different Webheads dolls as I track them down and collect them will be tagged with #doll reviews

Original characters will be tagged with their names, as well as with the tag #original computers

Fanart and fic will be tagged as #art and #fic respectively

Asks and submissions will be tagged with #web mail

[tiptapricot]

Ok so I should actually post ab the chemical reactions that have been happening in my brain over the last week/day.

So for my bday last year my sister got me this doll from Goodwill:

Obviously just… I love him so much. He is amazing. The colors, the aesthetic, the early 2000s computer monitor head. What is this.

So according to his tag he’s part of a toy line called WebHeads, which came out in the early 2000s and were advertised as little companions to sit on top of your monitor. You could insert different photos into the screen of their faces, and were encouraged to do so with loved ones based on the personality of each punny character. They were all based on internet and computer features and slang of the time, and there are sixteen different dolls from what I’ve been able to find.

However there are 4 these (baby gURL, Browser the Webhound, Cyber Cat and Mouse, and Doctor Disk) that I have not been able to find any photos of beyond the grainy ones pictured above, which I found via the archived WebHeads site on the wayback machine (www.iwebheads.com).

There at a few characters with listings on eBay and around the internet, but they’re honestly nearly lost media with the fact that they are no longer being made, were never popular, and have a site where half the product pictures don’t work if you actually click on them.

However! The archived versions of the site on the wayback machine do have every dolls bio, which give things like their favorite phrase, food, and song, and a brief description of their personality. Which I’ve taken screenshots of, and edited in photos for the ones that didn’t work on site. That may be another post if ppl want to see them but THE POINT IS

Through all of this my brain decided to do what it always does: make headcanons and lore based on the extreme lack of information we have on something.

And long story short, I have made myself invested in a civilain/hero and hero/villain love triangle-ish dichotomy between E-Male, Webmaster, and The Hacker, pictured below (though I don’t subscribe to their in box face insert faces). And I have thoughts. And I’m getting some gay computer art of it.

(IDs in ALT for all)

Just got some (to exist) gay computer art. Proud of myself.

[webheads-dot-com]

🔌 🐶 Webheads bios: Browser the Webhound

Transcript and ID:

A screenshot of Browser the Webhound’s bio from the webheads site. It says “Bio for Browser the Webhound” at the top. There is a picture of him below it, but it is very blurry, showing a doll with a white, bulky computer for a head, and a face of a brown dog wearing some kind of grey hat inserted into the picture frame screen. He is wearing a large grey overcoat with big black buttons, and some kind of red scarf or undershirt. His legs are bare and brown, and look possibly velvety. His bio reads as follows:

Favorite Phrase: “I Am Bad to The Bone.”

Favorite Food: Big, Bigger and Biggest Bones available in season

Favorite Website: Petco.com and Netscape.com

Favorite Clothing: Any kind of Coat

Favorite Hobbies: Diggin dirt, sniffing trees, and running through wide-open web-fields

Favorite Song: “Who Let the Dogs Out” by the Baha Men

Perfect for photos of your favorite DOG!

BOW WOW, BOW WOW WOW! — Dogs R US. Every Webheads best friend—the loyal and always faithful Webhound. The information K-9 patrol is here to stay. Finding the juiciest bones of information buried on the Web is a walk in the park for this talented search canine. Browser sniffs out and finds information on the Web that’s not always easily seen or understood by humans. In fact, a loyal Browser is helping you right now with the program you are using to view this information. Now you know why Browser is a Web-user’s “Best Friend.”