My dear grandchild Mametchi.
I never expected to be a grandma so early on and most definitely not a great-great-grandma. Well… I’m talking about virtual grandchildren within the Tamagotchi world. 🥚
First of all, if you don’t know what a Tamagotchi is then shame on you! Originated in Japan this toy took the world by storm. It’s the original virtual pet and I have fond memories of playing with it… I’d like to say when I was a kid but I was actually in college. 😂 Tamagotchi was developed for a need. It wasn’t just another toy conjured up in thin air. It was designed as a solution to pet keeping. In Japan where the population is dense and living quarters are small, people who wanted the experience of pets had no one to turn to. Tamagotchi, tamago meaning egg, and tomodachi meaning friend was a pet you can take care of and carry around even in pet restricted areas such as school. This toy is the child of Aki Maita who was just a mom and an office worker in Bandai, not a developer or product designer, that approached a toy designer Akihiro Yokoi with her clever solution. To succeed it was decided to target young girls and as many as 200 were given away to teens and data was collected to hone the product from fussing over the color to the length of the keychain. Released in 1996 it spread like wildfire all over Japan. Despite Maita’s heavy involvement in analyzing data and product development, being sold in over 30 countries with over 400 licenses in merchandise generating over $900 million in revenue she receives nothing more than a mock award. After all she’s just a mom, just a woman working in an office. So I guess I am just a mom babysitting a Tamagotchi over 20 years later and nothing more!
Let’s look at the commercials from back in 1997 and the latest 2019 version.
Wow. So you can see how complicated it has become with all these new features. Though I don’t like the fact that it looks less gender neutral it’s still okay 👌 with me. I don’t see huge issues. Boys and as a matter of fact, MEN still want one. What I really don’t like is that the twins are always identical (of the same gender) and marriage is only limited to heterosexuals.
So imagine a mom struggling with her twins and a new baby on the way babysitting her virtual grand grand grand child. It really is as if my life really isn’t complicated enough. Nope.
Secretly. I kind of enjoy it! 🤣