Took some pictures of the Tamagotchi friends

So, I finally got to buy the Tamagotchi friends in a nearby store, and offcourse had to get one. The display was.. well.. pretty paphetic.

https://pho.to/4nGjG/4nGii/original

https://pho.to/4nGjG/4nGij/original

https://pho.to/4nGjG/4nGj1/original

But hey, you don't allways get the chance to buy a new tama, just in your neighborhood toystore, so I went to search for the blue/white dalmatian shell. It appeared to be missing. After asking about it, I discovered it was allready sold out. Seems like a good sign. So, I took home the pink hearts design.

I had allready read about the scratches on the idl-like shells, so after gently removing it from it's packaging, I carefully inspected the tama. And though I'm not a purist when it comes to these things, I was a bit dissapointed that I have bought used tama's in better condition then this one.

I made all the following pictures after putting the battery's in and 5 minutes of gameplay. Everything I point out was allready there on outofbox-inspection.

The first few pictures are just closeups, the last ones I cirkeled the flaws.

https://pho.to/4nGjG/4nGiw/original

https://pho.to/4nGjG/4nGis/original

https://pho.to/4nGjG/4nGj8/original

https://pho.to/4nGjG/4nGj0/original

And the cirkeled ones;

https://pho.to/4nGkl/4nGkf/original

https://pho.to/4nGkl/4nGkj/original

https://pho.to/4nGkl/4nGka/original

https://pho.to/4nGkl/4nGkY/original

As you can see, there is a scuff in the middle of the screen, and a less obvious but definite scratch on the bottomright corner of the screen.

Below the A-button is a black 'something'

It looks to be dirt or grease, but it is set inside the paint.

A little right from the c button is a dent in the plastic ring.

And finally the back looks like a scratched up tama from '97. I couldn't get them to really show in the picture, they're really on the surface, not deep, but there's a lot of them.

Even though, I still enjoy it. The sound is horrible, but might just need some getting used to. It is very cute, and on lowest contrast I can pretty much see everything on the screen. So this isn't a bashing topic, just wanted to share this for future buyers, or other people interested.

Sadly I could only afford one right now, but I think I will buy another one for bumping, even knowing about the flaws. Probably wait for a pricedrop though, or the NA shells.

That's strange :/ Both of my Tamagotchi Friends were pristine when I got them; no flaws like that at all. The screen and shell were absolutely beautiful and in perfect condition! <3

It's good that you shared this but I don't know of anyone else who had flaws that bad

Oh and yeah, the sound is a bit like the Tama-Go's but louder I believe. I personally love the sound; the Connection sounds are too sharp for my sensitive ears.

Thank for for sharing your opinions and being reasonable unlike other people who just want to hate the TF

It seems like they rushed the production I mean they came out in November in Europe and bandai America are holding theirs till July so hopefully they will be better quality from taking time with production (I hope) there have been tamas that have this flaw before like the music stars mine in particular got a scratch because I wasn't careful taking it out of the box it's just because bandai uses extremely cheap and bad quality plastic on all tamas I mean even the colours use the same bad quality plastic but the other marks seem like it's been bumped before put in package (get it? Haha)

Yeah maybe the US release will have some improvement.

That's a shame about them having flaws like that. Some are not even noticeable when it's still in the packaging. At least the ones on the front you can see when it's in the box. When I go buy mine in a few month for the US release I'm going to compare them at the store to each other, while thinking "is this one perfect? it that one perfect" That's just me though lol.

Eternal Mametchi Fan said:

Yeah maybe the US release will have some improvement.

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Yes, I hope this is true. I would love for it to be a better quality product.

I heard that it was really difficult to see the screens well. Has anyone else experienced bad quality screens because this is putting me off buying one.

Cherebi said:

I heard that it was really difficult to see the screens well. Has anyone else experienced bad quality screens because this is putting me off buying one.

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The screens look fine to me, but you should check out some videos and photos to see how it looks for you. They're only hard to see without proper lighting IMO haha. But then again all I have is a crappy lamp in my room and I still don't have trouble distinguishing things on the screen. ;P

But I noticed my white TF has a lighter screen than my red TF...?

Also note that you have to get used to the screen. After looking at bright detailed screens on color Tamagotchis, video games, iPads, etc, the screen on a grayscale Tamagotchi might seem bad in comparison. owo;

Emf, everyone that bought a TFriends says their bnib Tama is scratched and they can't properly see the screen. Face it, you're wonder woman! <3

I'm a little worried about how the quality will be when coming to the USA. Everything we have here tends to be made in China, and I've had countless toys come to me with something or another wrong with them. (Usually bad paint jobs.) So I more than likely will really be scrutinizing the Tama before I buy it, if possible.

The blue dalmatian seems to be a popular choice, hopefully I'll have luck getting one pending they are ported here to the USA.

Also not sure how hard it is to see the screen, but I know the Bandai Asia version of the Digimon Xros Loader, it's VERY hard to see the screen properly and they do the gradient and all. Even messing with the contrast didn't help much. TamaGo I never had issues with seeing things.

Well, I would love to own some of the NA shells, so maybe we could do a trade by then.

About the screen, I think it's reasonable. Not as bad as I expected from reviews, but you have to wonder about the lack of a backlight.

And the flaws were not visible in box, otherwise I would have searched for a better one offcourse. It just all seems a rushjob.

I didn't know Bart Smit gave a 5 euro cashback return on them! I was thinking of getting one from bol.com, but I have a Bart Smit in my street so if I'm getting one I'll get it there now.

Thanks for the photographs!

Shame that it's already damaged. Maybe I'll open mine in the store in front of the clerk so I can get a new one if mine is damaged straight out of the box as well. Just to make the store aware of the issues. They might complain to Bandai about it if enough people do it.

Apart from the issues with the screen and shell; how do you like it so far?

I love it. It's not very demanding, but the games are fun. To be perfect it would have to have some more features, but I think this might be just the right challenge for the kids they are aiming at.

Intertoys has the same cashback option, just so you know.

Eternal Mametchi Fan said:

It's good that you shared this but I don't know of anyone else who had flaws that bad

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I made a whole topic about it. My first one was exactly the same. I wouldn't recommend anyone buying one new for the RRP.

Have you considered taking it back to the store and asking to exchange it? I don't know how simple returns are in Europe, but at stores like Walmart and Target, a flawed product like that would easily merit an even exchange or refund.

Exchanging it would be very easy, but I had allready anticipated on flaws, because of other reviews on forums and yt, so I didn't bother.

I think I would be trading one scratched tama for another scratched tama anyway, to be honest.