I didn't have my hopes up before. Now I REALLY don't have my hopes up. 21-29 women. Seriously. In my opinion, I don't think that half of those people are actually going to remember it unless they're real fans. The rest would just look at one of those products and go, "Oh, that reminds me of some little toy my parents bought me for Christmas one year. Wonder what happened to it... oh yeah, I sold it at a garage sale."
I agree with this completely CheesyNoodleTama. I was thinking that myself. I don't think the majority of women in that age group will remember Tamagotchi and see a t-shirt and want one, especially if you consider that during the virtual pet craze there was a HUGE diversity of virtual pets and Tamagotchis were not particularly an overwhelming presence in the virtual pet scene. In my middle school in 6th grade, EVERYONE had a virtual pet, but only a few people I knew had Tamagotchis. The majority of people had a Nano Pet/Baby, a Giga Pet, Digimon, or one of hundreds of various cheap off-brands that were sold by the bushel at mall kiosks.
While I do agree that 20-29 year old women is a big money spending group, I do not think this helps the LIFE product line. 20-29 year old women spend their money on clothing, cars, food, cosmetics, rent, phones, BILLS, school, marriage, children, houses, family. They are not as big a spending influence on the toy industry as teenage girls, unless they are buying toys for their own kids. I've read before that teenage girls are a target for so much merchandise these days because they have the most expendable income of any demographic. Teenage girls don't tend to have bills to pay or have to pay for their own living or food expenses, so most of the money they earn can be totally splurged. Targeting to that demographic would at least be a wiser move for Tamagotchi LIFE.
Also, I want to say to some people on this thread, it's not fair to tell others how they should feel about something. It's not fair to say people are just complaining and should have more faith in Bandai. Some people want to be optimistic. Others would rather not get their hopes up, and later they can be pleasantly surprised if things do turn out better, but they'd rather not be more disappointed by hoping for or expecting something better in case nothing better comes. I am one of those in that group, and I can't stand when people think that the complaints we have are inappropriate or pessimistic. Complaints are just verbalized concerns. They aren't a bad thing. We couldn't have helpful conversation about the future of our beloved Tama franchise without people criticizing Bandai for their poor decisions. I'm not gonna tell the people who do have hope in LIFE being a kick-starter to the franchise that they shouldn't get their hopes up. Everyone has their own feelings on the matter.
I honestly don't see this as a boon to the series though. Go to your local Wal-Mart or Target and look at the folded t-shirt section. You will see a variety of vintage, beloved characters there that are on t-shirts because people remember them fondly, but you'll be hard pressed to find other merchandise of a lot of them. You aren't gonna see a new wave of Fraggle Rock toys just because people remember it fondly enough to want a t-shirt of it, and similarly, I don't think Tamagotchi had the kind of presence here in the US to inspire a resurgence of interest based on a daily-needs product line. There wasn't an anime series here or any forms of media entertainment to really popularize the franchise widely in the US when it was first successful. That stuff was all developed much later, after the virtual pet craze, and stuck with the dedicated Tamagotchi fan base, more than it roped in new customers.
I agree that Americans are more interested in an app that's a few bucks than a fully-fledged well developed toy that is 60 bucks. In that price range, you're more likely to see interest in video game sales, or larger toys like RC cars and playhouses and stuff. I hate to say it, but I think Tamagotchi is going to die out in the US and I think this is their last attempt at milking some money out of it before the public at large completely forgets what it is. Will people see the new Tamagotchi LIFE products and immediately recognize them? No, I don't think so. I think for the most part women 20-29 will look at it and say "What the heck is this little weird thing in the bath aisle?" They'll read the tag and go "Oh, it's a tamagotchi! I remember those. That's cute, but I'm not paying 4 dollars extra for lower quality soap just because it comes in a bottle shaped like a weird little green duck." Does it have Vitamin E and moisturizers, or exfoliating beads? Is it all natural? Is it affordable? That's the kind of things 20-29 year old women look for in bath products. Character themed ones would attract the attention of children, rather.The t-shirts might get some sales, but I think that all the novelty products will mostly see sales to the existing fan-base, which I think is dwindling more and more with each of Bandai's poor decisions and lack of faith in its fan base to respond well to a new virtual pet toy. If anyone needs to show more faith here, it should be Bandai to their fans. Give the most interested tamagotchi fans what they really want, a new Tamagotchi. Not some tamagotchi-branded daily products with a jacked up price.
I honestly think the idea of the LIFE products would do increasingly well if they were releasing a new Tamagotchi or re-releasing some older versions simultaneously, because the people who would spend money to buy a Tamagotchi shirt out of nostalgia would probably think "man, I wonder if those are still around?" and go check the toy aisle for them. You can't really create a franchise that isn't centered around a form of media entertainment these days. The Tamagotchi characters will not work on their own. There needs to be a game, a show, a movie, a new virtual pet, or something to be the centerpiece for the franchise that all the other goods sort of spawn off of.
I'm 13 and people think im weird because i still play with tamagotchis. i just give them a nasty glare!!!!!!! BUT NOW THEY ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYING THE MAIN PURPOSE OF TAMAGOTCHI!!!!!!!! THE VIRTUAL PET NEEDS TO LIVE ON 
) I fall dead center in that category. I'm a 26 year old girl with money to spend and loves vintage Tamagotchis. 
