Collecting Tamagotchi?

Hello, long time lurker and first time poster. I recently moved houses and managed to find my small tamagotchi collection (Basically Multiple V2's/V3's from my childhood) again and all the memories literally flooded in. I was thinking if I should start collecting again, and I just have a few questions:

-How do people generally find these tamas in the first place? Since they are'nt sold in North American/European/Australian stores (?) anymore, where is the best place to find them? I am a Canadian so most american stores are off limits to me.

-Where do people store them, and what would be the safest and most economical way to store them? Mine are all out of package, but if I were to find some inpackage, how are they stored?

-Do Tamagotchi cost more at certain times of the year? Like, is there a certain time of the year when more seem to come out of hiding and be put up for sale?

and one random question, how come they seem to be released more in Japan than north america? Is there no market for north american tamas anymore?

sorry if this is in the wrong section!

Well, you can find a lot on eBay, some dollarama might still have some, I found tamago figures in markham store.

and because Bandai is a japanese company and tamagotchi is very popular in Japan. North America is ok, tamagotchi friends came out and sold out right away, could be new fans or old tamafans.

Markham, really? I moved upto dufferin county (especially on the highway) so it's a bit of a long drive.

Tamagotchi friends? when was this released? I was a big fan back as a kid but the whole tamagotchi concept seemed to die once I hit middle school...I wondered where they all went :/

Goldlights said:

Markham, really? I know it's more of an asian community depending on the part, so it makes sense. I moved upto dufferin county (especially on the highway) so it's a bit of a long drive.

Tamagotchi friends? when was this released? I was a big fan back as a kid but the whole tamagotchi concept seemed to die once I hit middle school...I wondered where they all went :/

Click to expand...

Ya it is asian community, but I don't get what you mean by it make sense.

Anyways, tamagotchi friends are in toys r us

derekq said:

Ya IK it is asian community, but I don't get you mean by it make sense.

Anyways, tamagotchi friends are in toys r us

Click to expand...

Tamagotchi's are Japanese, and I've been to markham before so there's tons of Japanese/Korean/Chinese little trinkets for sale. Sorry if I confused you! (It was more me ratonalizing to myself, please ignore)

I see the Tamagotchi friends, but what does it do?

Goldlights said:

Tamagotchi's are Japanese, and I've been to markham before so there's tons of Japanese/Korean/Chinese little trinkets for sale. Sorry if I confused you! (It was more me ratonalizing to myself, please ignore)

I see the Tamagotchi friends, but what does it do?

Click to expand...

You know it is a Tamagotchi and just like the old day virtual pet expect much more features, different characters,etc.

Ask Eternal Mametchi Fan, she will explain everything.

Googling so far, and holy crap these look on the thick side o___o Might just be nostalgia but I miss the old degsin! (even the P2 I had way, wayyyy back then that I /stole/ I mean took from my brother)

and T-bay is closed? Do people still trade with their own discrection?

Goldlights said:

Googling so far, and holy crap these look on the thick side o___o Might just be nostalgia but I miss the old degsin! (even the P2 I had way, wayyyy back then that I /stole/ I mean took from my brother)

Looking at T-Bay but how come I can't see the subsections (i.e; seeing actual ones for sale and not just guidelines). Assuming I need to wait a certain amount of days and then I can see it?

Click to expand...

For t-Bay it closed few months ago.

If you still want the connection tamas you might want to try eBay

Edit: Besides eBay we could also try Facebook groups.

Well, derekq answered most of your questions, so I'll tell you how I store my out-of-package tamas. I have medium-sized deep totes I keep mine in. Each tama is kept in its own case in the tote. I buy small zippered coin purses for them, and they work beautifully. If you ever go to KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), save the small plastic side dish containers with the lids. These work for all but the deep-bodied tamas (such as the Tama Go). I wrap each one in a piece of bubble wrap before putting them in their cases. Don't forget to put some silica gel pouches in with them to keep moisture out. We have a floor safe, and that's where the totes with the tamas inside go. I have an extra tote for accessories such as extra batteries, lanyards, books, manuals, etc. I hope I helped you, and welcome to TT!!

magicboa said:

Well, derekq answered most of your questions, so I'll tell you how I store my out-of-package tamas. I have medium-sized deep totes I keep mine in. Each tama is kept in its own case in the tote. I buy small zippered coin purses for them, and they work beautifully. If you ever go to KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), save the small plastic side dish containers with the lids. These work for all but the deep-bodied tamas (such as the Tama Go). I wrap each one in a piece of bubble wrap before putting them in their cases. Don't forget to put some silica gel pouches in with them to keep moisture out. We have a floor safe, and that's where the totes with the tamas inside go. I have an extra tote for accessories such as extra batteries, lanyards, books, manuals, etc. I hope I helped you, and welcome to TT!!

Click to expand...

Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for the explanation! I never knew people kept the manuals as well, let alone the books. I always imagined these huge collections in like temprature controlled cases o_o

This makes me so excited to get more tamas, is there a model of tamagotchi that are generally cheaper? I'd like to add a P1/P2 to my collection again, or even the TMGC+C. It looks so amazing, but why so expensive even if it's an older model?

^^You kinda have to shop around. The TMGC+ Color was the first ever color tama, and sold rather quickly, so it's now rather uncommon (compared to the iDLs and the Ps). Sometimes you can find screaming deals on ebay and other sites like Amazon, but you have to keep looking. I really can't think of something inexpensive unless you buy used. Some people just want to get rid of them, so possibly will sell them cheap. ETA: If you find a good deal on ebay or other site, look carefully at the pics the seller should provide. Beware of "stock" pics. Ask them to email pics of the actual item. Also ask questions about the item if the pics aren't that clear.

magicboa said:

^^You kinda have to shop around. The TMGC+ Color was the first ever color tama, and sold rather quickly, so it's now rather uncommon (compared to the iDLs and the Ps). Sometimes you can find screaming deals on ebay and other sites like Amazon, but you have to keep looking. I really can't think of something inexpensive unless you buy used. Some people just want to get rid of them, so possibly will sell them cheap. ETA: If you find a good deal on ebay or other site, look carefully at the pics the seller should provide. Beware of "stock" pics. Ask them to email pics of the actual item. Also ask questions about the item if the pics aren't that clear.

Click to expand...

Oh, okay. I don't mind a used one as I actually would like to play with it, it looks so cute! I'm still trying to learn the difference between all 3, but I noticed I saw some of the colour ones for 20 dollars. Thanks for the good advice, i'm stalking ebay like crazy!

Some more advice--beware of fake "Tamagotchi". If the BanDai logo is not present on the packaging, or on the tama itself, has more than 3 buttons (unless it's a Mame game,a Tamasuku, or a Yasashii). If you see the JD logo, it's definitely not real. Usually, fakes are fairly inexpensive also. If the price is too good to be true, it's probably a fake. See "Tamagotchi Warnings" here on TT for examples of fakes. However, there are other virtual pets not made by BanDai that are not fake (such as Dinkie Dinos, Giga Pets, Nano Pets, etc).

Well I can't answer #2.... sorry. Because I seriously don't have a collection.

Okay. On to #1. Most of the time online (eBay, Amazon, etc.) But if you're lucky, like me, I found a v7 years ago lying around in a toy store. But if you are going to/live in Japan, there's TamaDepa and video game stores which sell the older versions.

For #3, I guess it's because it's really popular and started IN Japan.

Hope I helped!