We're used to seeing some pretty strange and interesting custom computer setups, but the Bear-A-Byte PC probably takes the prize for the weirdest. It is an IKEA Varlig Big Boy Teddy Bear with a Pentium III personal computer inside and is the subject of the latest video from the YouTuber LGR who recently rescued the machine after seeing a Twitter user named @compgeke posting about it being up for sale on Craigslist in LA (thanks PC Gamer!).
According to LGR in the video, many of his viewers had tagged him in the initial post and, although he lived on the opposite side of the US, he eventually found a way to get someone to ship it across the country to him so he could take a closer look.
If you're anything like us, your main question upon seeing this for the first time is probably, "Why does it exist in the first place?" And well, the answer to that is surprisingly kind of sweet.
It is the work of Peter Isaacson, a case modder and computer fan, who originally built it for his wife (who apparently loved teddy bears) before later regifting it to his child. It is the third case mod Isaacson ever worked on (per his old website accessed via Wayback Machine), and he was even at one point planning to take orders to build more before IKEA discontinued the brand of bear used for this specific mod. Yes, that means this is one of a kind!
When it arrived with LGR after its cross-country trip, it apparently came with all kinds of “general nastiness” and “hadn’t been tested in a long time”, but the YouTuber cleaned it all up with an air compressor, replaced some parts (including the power supply and optical drives), and gave the friend-shaped PC some much-needed TLC.
As a result, by the end of the video, he was able to install the Windows ME OS on the machine and even got to demonstrate some bear-themed games on the computer, such as Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise and Mechwarrior 2: Ghost Bear's Legacy.
You can watch the full video above for all the "grizzly" details.