Banjo & Kazooie (Animatronic)

Banjo & Kazooie is an animatronic/puppet duo created by AnimatedFX, Inc. for use in a 1998 commercial for the game Banjo Kazooie. The animatronic consists of two separate bots: Banjo, whom is depicted like a realistic bear in a dangling pose, and Kazooie, who is picking him up in the air.

History

The animatronic would be used for two shots in it’s produced commercial, one being of Banjo and Kazooie swooping in on the main characters, and a wide shot of them flying in the distance. Other shots show Banjo grabbing and holding onto one of the characters. The Banjo was possibly reused from AnimatedFX’s “Grizzly Bear” prop, which consisted of multiple different suits and animated heads to be puppeteered for various occurances.⁽⁵⁾⁽¹⁾

The Kazooie part of the bot would surface in 2025 after being purchased by a collector from Auctioneers.com for $2100 in December of 2024.⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾ Portions of the Banjo section are seen, but the bear body was not part of the current state of the animatronic.^[2] The Kazooie bot would then resurface on November 2nd, 2025, being posted in a video by WoodmanClassics restoring the unit. The beak’s servo, which originally had its power and control lines cut, would be reconnected with a new custom controller shaped like the game’s Jiggy collectables. ^[6]

Movements

Only Kazooie’s beak is a proper movement, using a servo. The rest of Kazooie is puppeteered for movement. It is unknown if Banjo had any servos.^[6]