Tamagotchi

 

 

When I was a kid, we had a thing called "fads".

 

I know, starting like that makes me sound old, but I just feel like "fads" aren't really a thing anymore. There's no longer crazes taking over school or anything like that, it seems like, that all the kids are absolutely obsessed with, and honestly, it makes me kinda sad. I always thought it would be a thing forever. Even with the advent of the internet, there's just nothing like that feeling of the community of childhood where you all have to have the same toy or be reading the same book or wearing the same kind of pants or whatever it was that particular month that we were all into. And while I was never -and I'm not saying this to make myself sound cool, I'm saying this because I was just that big a loser - into most of the fads everyone seemed to be into, one of the few I did get somewhat interested in was the virtual pet concept.

The virtual pet, which covers things like robotic dogs, the furby and others, was a strange phenomenon that we all sort of conveniently forgot about, it feels like. I mean, sure, the Furby (which will be talked about at great length at some point in the near future on this blog) still has its claws nestled somewhat in internet culture, but other than that we seem to have just written the whole thing off for what it ultimately was, a fad. And that's the great thing about fads. We can just kinda forget about them after having fun with it for a while, and it's never really harmful to anyone.

But there was one that I never got interested in, and that was the Tamagotchi. Not because I didn't want to be, but moreso because I just kind of missed the boat on it. I told you I was a huge loser, so you can't be too surprised by this admittance that I somehow managed to be bypassed by an entire fad. I was aware of them, I knew kids who had them, but I myself never managed to actually snag one. I've started looking on eBay for one, and do plan to eventually buy one some point down the road, but that's another post for another day.

So what the fuck was the Tamagotchi?

Well, according to our folks, a waste of money, but then again what wasn't a waste of money to them? They wanted to spend money on lame adult stuff, like mortgages and life insurance. Pffft. Boooooring. You know what's not lame and boring? Digital pets, that's what. Which is why all the kids were hip to 'em, cause kids know what's cool and rad. Kids are with it. Or, at least, they think they are. In hindsight, digital pets are still kinda cool, I suppose, but you get what I'm trying to say. Anyway, the Tamagotchi was created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi and Aki Matai, and released by Bandai in late 96/early 97. As of 2017, over 82 million units have been sold. Considering the thing is over 20 years old, that's pretty goddamned impressive, for a fad that managed to burn itself out after maybe a year or two. According to Bandai, the name is a portmanteau combining the two Japanese words Tamago (egg) and Uotchi (watch).

It was an extremely simple digital pet, with only 3 buttons and a tiny screen, but a brilliant part of its design (and a big part of its backlash in part due to its design) was the accessibility factor. It was a keychain. This meant kids could attach it to their backpacks or whatever, even just stick it in their pockets, and take it with them anywhere. Of course, as I said, this brilliant design also was a flaw because that accessibility meant kids were playing with them in class at school, eventually leading schools to ban them outright. The reason kids were doing this wasn't necessarily because kids are uneducated little heathens, but more because the Tamagotchi had one fatal flaw...

...your pet would die in less than half a day if not being fed.

This meant they required constant attention, and while I'm all for teaching responsibility to children when it comes to caring for something, there's something incredibly sinister behind that decision, I think. It almost feels intentionally that short to traumatize kids and teach them that if they don't constantly see to the needs of something other than themselves, it will fucking die because of their negligence. That's just cruel.

And understandably, this only lead to further problems, because thanks to the restrictions put on the toy by parents and teachers, and because kids become overly attached to things, when their Tamagotchis inevitably bit the digital dust, they lost their shit and began having entire funerals for the pets. And while that's morbid, it's also just kind of funny, because, let's face it, burying a digital pet that you knew for less than a week is...I don't know, I can find the humor in it. What I can't find the humor in, obviously, is the actual tragic event that came of it when a teenage girl actually committed suicide by hanging herself thanks to being so overly distraught at the death of her Tamagotchi after her parents took it away as a consequence.

That's a hell of a guilt trip to live with, really. Imagine not only blaming yourself because you inadvertently caused your own childs suicide but then on top of it blaming a fad toy that dropped tremendously in relevance after the first few years of being out. Yikes.

As someone who's attempted suicide numerous times, and has lived with the ideation of it my entire life, this is something I can personally relate to, in a warped way. Sure, I never had a Tamagotchi, but I've gotten emotional over a lot of things nobody else would ever comprehend (especially when I was younger), and for that reason, I can see where her mindset would be. When you're a teenager, your emotions reach heights that are so high, it's almost like a drug. I was thinking about this last night in particular, about how now, as an adult, I don't feel nearly as alive or real simply because I don't feel things at the same ferocity that I once did. I became addicted to those highs and lows. It's sick, honestly. With that said, yeah, I can totally understand why a teenage girl - having been a teenage girl - would kill herself over something so seemingly "insignificant" to adults.

So, to liven the mood after that sort of somber note, here's an absolutely hilarious thing I found regarding the death of Tamagotchi's themselves. When a pet dies, at least in Japan, the toy usually then features a headstone and a ghost. However, thanks to the puritanical overlords in the good ol' US of A, the English versions of the toy have changed this to show an angel at death. But, as if that wasn't weird enough, some, for some reason, show a UFO instead, presumably indicating the pets return to their "home planet". But frankly, to me, this just makes it feel like a UFO is the same as an angel. Nothing like believing in the church of the unidentified, am I right? I'm Jewish, myself, so I don't really care either way what it chooses to show, but I say if you're going to make it show an angel, then do that for all of them. Go big or go home, guys. Don't wuss out and throw in something random like a UFO, because then you're confusing something real (UFO's) with something false (Heaven), and that's just going to bother everyone, quite frankly.

All in all, the Tamagotchi is honestly, in hindsight, a groundbreaking toy in many ways.

It not only paved the way for all the other e-pets, online or physical, but also a trailblazer in interactive toys of its kind. It really should be remembered as more than simply a "fad", and speaking of fads, I hope one day we can bring them back. I miss seeing everyone collectively being into one single item and everyone showing one another their own item. With a world so split apart these days, fads may be the one thing that could still unite the people. Hell, maybe the fad will be saved by the Tamagotchi, even.

Here's to hoping that's how it goes down.