Return to Tama log

[Hoky]

Prolly won't do a huge post today. We'll see!

Work was busy. I love my job, but sometimes it can have some tough aspects. Obviously can't get into details, but I like helping people succeed at their work, and when they make the active choice to not do their job and I have to watch things go poorly for them, it really bums me out. It's worse when I'm kinda the one who uncovers it, which is the situation I find myself in today. Oh well, at least it's Friday and all other aspects of my job are great and my team as a whole is being amazing all the time! Came home to my awesome wife and some egg bake. Now I'm watching Overwatch World League with my best friend (he lives about an hour away) and my brother's going to be casting in a game or two (my brother is one of the main Overwatch casters for Blizzard). Since it was payday, I ordered an Omegamon 20th Anniversary Digivice. I already have a preorder on the Pendulum ones, but I can't find my original and I've got the itch. XD

Morino Tama still on it's way...

AND MY V3 CAME!

Anyhow, updates:

P2: Sadly, Kusatchi passed away today while I was in a meeting. They get so sick, it's hard to keep 'em up and running. OH YEAH I NEVER POSTED ABOUT THAT EVOLVED INTO A KUSATCHI. No luck on getting it to Zatchi due to some big meeting strings. I need to pause stuff more, but that always feels weird on the P2. Anyway, I'm gonna leave it in spaceship mode until I get a handle on the V3 so I can focus.

Mini: Got my coworker's to a Mametchi. Scolded her for being a terrible tama parent. We seriously have no idea why she keeps getting Nyorotchi!! I'll keep training her to be the best! Meanwhile, my Mametchi is still mametchin'. We'll see if I get Bill!!

M!x: Same as before. I might marry him off this weekend, but I really, really like his design, so maybe I'll just have him keep doing his thing for a week or two more. He's super low-maintenance and goes to bed early, which makes him a good side-tama. I keep trying to remember what videogame character he reminds me of... I mean, the scarf is definitely Strider...

V3: Currently a Mizutamtchi. I get the naming thing now! I got a girl and named it T-Pain (my wife's nickname). Man, the pause feature is a LIFESAVER. It's super cool all the neat stuff in here, but I need to figure out how to unlock more games. The Get Note game is fun, but it takes so long! Anyway, I really think this is what I was looking for in my return to tama (OMIGOSH GUYS THAT'S THE NAME OF THIS LOG!!) because it's oldschool tama designs with a lot of the expanded features of the newer stuff. Considering the whole marriage angle, though, I feel pressured to get another Connection now... maybe I'll try a V4? V2?

....both...?

*counts on fingers how long it will be until bonus at work*

Maybe? Either way, thanks for all the great guidance. You all rock.

Anyhow, hope you're having a good Friday. I took monday off to hang out w/the wife before she has to do a crazy amount of OT for her job before the super bowl. Gonna do some writing, tama raising... might start up Digimon Cyber Sleuth again, too... and probably watch a lot of Overwatch. I'm not even that into it, but it's cool seeing my brother do his thing. Well, hearing. He's not usually on camera. XD

 

[Hoky]

Very lazy weekend, which is fine. My best friend got stuck here a little longer because we got hit with a ton of snow, but he'll be taking off this morning. Meanwhile, my wife's friend will be in town today so I'll have the place to myself (I took the day off so I can get some work done on my new novel and hang out w/my wife before she goes into super overtime mode for work). I went to dinner with my cousins on Saturday and showed their kids my tamagotchis. These kids already follow me around a lot because of my Transformers and Skylanders, but they couldn't quite get their heads wrapped around tamas. (The three of them between 3 and 6... I'm not 100% sure on their ages, but I'm gonna approximate instead of using names here XD)

6: "What do you do with it?"
Me: "You raise it, and feed it, and play games with it."
5: "How does the food get in?"
Me: "No, look... it's like little pictures of food. It's a game."
6: "Feed it ice cream"
Me: *debating on explaining why I wouldn't just dump snacks into a tama* "Uh... it's full... and you don't wanna give them too much ice cream because they'd get sick"
5: "Like you?"
Me: "What? Yeah, I guess?"
6: "Feed it ice cream!"
Me: "Okay okay" *I grudgingly feed it one ice cream"
6: "....I don't get it."
3: "LEMME SEEEEEEEEEEE" (Despite the fact that his face has been 5 inches from it the whole time)

Suffice to say, they're probably not new fans. Yet.

Anyway. Where we're at:

M!x: I think I've gotten what I want out of my M!x at this point, and I probably just need to straight-up pull the batteries because I'm having a hard time just letting it go. They look so dang sad when they get low. I still like the M!x, but it's starting to feel more like a chore than my other tamas, and that's probably a sign to put it aside for the time being.

Mini: I got Bill! I never even got Bill on my original P1! He looks... SUPER WEIRD on the mini. Half the time you can't really see his eyes. We'll see how long he keeps alive, and then I think I'll try to shoot for some of the lower-care tamas on it. I think I've already gotten like half the designs just after a few runs! I like the mini. It's a fun side-tama.

Gudetama: Got the best care one! My wife is kinda bonkers for it. Admittedly, it's pretty adorable. She goes on and on about how cute it's butt is.

....

Well, we all have our things. XD

One kinda interesting thing w/it is that instead of getting sick, chopsticks reach in from off screen and try to TAKE Gudetama. You hit the buttons to make them go away, but if you don't, they cook him. (He got microwaved on my wife's first run through it) Like the mini, it goes from egg to baby to adult, but it looks like there are a couple secret forms as well. We'll see!

V3: Man, when people called this tama low maintenance, they weren't kidding. I think min's dropped below one heart in anything only once. It needs less care than my mini, and that's saying something. I really dig it. It's very much my speed, but it makes me wonder if the 'higher maintenance' v4.5 is all that busy at all... and if it has a legit pause feature like the v3, that wouldn't even matter. Might be looking at that for my next one... Anyway, v3 (Tpain) is now a Obotchi. Reminds me of a Tamatchi from P1 with hair. I like the different variety of games that keeps unlocking, but a lot of them are kinda fidgety or too long. Still, it's cool having things like items and different food and such while still having that old school tama feel.

Anyway, once I've grown all the tamas on it, I think the Mini will retire for a bit and the P2 will go back into circulation. Still, my hat's off to the Mini as it brought me here and really helped me open up a part of my childhood that had been packed away. I'm definitely not the kind of person to hide that part of myself away - I like what I like regardless of what others think because that makes me happy -- but somewhere along the way tamagotchi kinda landed on the wayside. Maybe it's that there wasn't the wealth of variation there is now, seeing as how I unlocked everything from the P2 at one point or another. It's so cool that it's kept going, and I can't wait to see what they come up with next. The M!x is cool, but hopefully with the success of the mini, they'll feel more inclined to go back to that classic feel.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

I went to dinner with my cousins on Saturday and showed their kids my tamagotchis. These kids already follow me around a lot because of my Transformers and Skylanders, but they couldn't quite get their heads wrapped around tamas. (The three of them between 3 and 6... I'm not 100% sure on their ages, but I'm gonna approximate instead of using names here XD)

6: "What do you do with it?"

Me: "You raise it, and feed it, and play games with it."

5: "How does the food get in?"

Me: "No, look... it's like little pictures of food. It's a game."

6: "Feed it ice cream"

Me: *debating on explaining why I wouldn't just dump snacks into a tama* "Uh... it's full... and you don't wanna give them too much ice cream because they'd get sick"

5: "Like you?"

Me: "What? Yeah, I guess?"

6: "Feed it ice cream!"

Me: "Okay okay" *I grudgingly feed it one ice cream"

6: "....I don't get it."

3: "LEMME SEEEEEEEEEEE" (Despite the fact that his face has been 5 inches from it the whole time)

Suffice to say, they're probably not new fans. Yet.

Aww!

Next time, a good explanation to have on hand might be that it's a virtual pet - you have to take care of it like a real pet, but everything is done on that device.

Mini: I got Bill! I never even got Bill on my original P1! He looks... SUPER WEIRD on the mini. Half the time you can't really see his eyes. We'll see how long he keeps alive, and then I think I'll try to shoot for some of the lower-care tamas on it. I think I've already gotten like half the designs just after a few runs! I like the mini. It's a fun side-tama.

Congratulations, Hoky! I'm really glad to see that you got Bill!

At least one of us did! I've been going for him on my Mini at the same time as you, but a few care-mistakes have, I suspect, guaranteed that I won't succeed.

Well done!

It's very much my speed, but it makes me wonder if the 'higher maintenance' v4.5 is all that busy at all... and if it has a legit pause feature like the v3, that wouldn't even matter. Might be looking at that for my next one...

As far as I know, all of the Connections have the pause feature, if that's of any help.

Still, my hat's off to the Mini as it brought me here and really helped me open up a part of my childhood that had been packed away. I'm definitely not the kind of person to hide that part of myself away - I like what I like regardless of what others think because that makes me happy -- but somewhere along the way tamagotchi kinda landed on the wayside.

That's also exactly the case for me, too, funnily enough.

I guess that that's just life, sometimes, though!

It's so cool that it's kept going, and I can't wait to see what they come up with next. The M!x is cool, but hopefully with the success of the mini, they'll feel more inclined to go back to that classic feel.

If you ask me, they don't even have to go back to it - just offer it as an option alongside the more complex models. It feels like the two approaches (that of the originals and the Mini, and that of the Connection line and onwards, including the larger-sized models that have followed it) cater to quite different markets, even though they still clearly have some overlap.

Hopefully, the fact that they issued the Shuku 20 Shunen Tamagotchi P1 and P2 replicas to mark the end of the line's 20th Anniversary might be a sign that they can see that.

Personally, I'd really love to see a modern Tamagotchi release that takes the slightly more "old-fashioned" route and isn't overcomplicated with things like jobs, marriage, breeding, shopping, virtual immortality due to there being no death from old-age, and so on.

 

[Knighttchi's Ballad]

As far as I know, all of the Connections have the pause feature, if that's of any help.

V3-V4.5 have a pause feature and I wager the V1 and V2 do as well. The V5 and V5.5 do as well except the pause feature can only be used when the tamagotchi is awake. The Music Star/V6 probably also has a pause feature but I don't know if, like the V5, the tamagotchi has to be awake. As a general rule of thumb, vintages and Japanese Tamagotchis can only be paused by stopping the clock while all the rest have the pause feature.

@Hoky - That was such a cute conversation between you and those kids XD

 

[Hoky]

Well, just found out my wife's grandma passed away in the night. She got pretty sick yesterday, and while we were able to go and visit and talk w/her, we kinda saw this coming. Don't worry about me on this one - I didn't know her super well and while I'm bummed out for my wife, I don't usually really get that bothered by death. Even so, I'm down to only 1 grandparent myself over the last few years, and I strongly encourage all of you reading this to take some time to connect with your grandparents and tell 'em they're important. I didn't get much of a chance with mine (aside from the one who's still alive), and that's something that I actually have a little regret for. Maybe I'd have that regret anyhow because we always feel like there's more to say, right?

THAT SAID, it's prolly gonna be a hectic week, so apologies in advance if I don't get to post much for you all. :/

Time's short. Be excellent to each other.

 

[Iza]

Well, just found out my wife's grandma passed away in the night. She got pretty sick yesterday, and while we were able to go and visit and talk w/her, we kinda saw this coming. Don't worry about me on this one - I didn't know her super well and while I'm bummed out for my wife, I don't usually really get that bothered by death. Even so, I'm down to only 1 grandparent myself over the last few years, and I strongly encourage all of you reading this to take some time to connect with your grandparents and tell 'em they're important. I didn't get much of a chance with mine (aside from the one who's still alive), and that's something that I actually have a little regret for. Maybe I'd have that regret anyhow because we always feel like there's more to say, right?

THAT SAID, it's prolly gonna be a hectic week, so apologies in advance if I don't get to post much for you all. :/

Time's short. Be excellent to each other.

I get what you say about grandparents. It's a long story but my grandpa became so ill that he didn't talk or understand much for three years, before he passed. We had a problematic relationship but I loved him and it was very hard to see him dying and not be able to tell him what I wanted to tell him and fix things. I know he died being sad. I still carry a lot of regret for not taking the chance when I had it.

I'm sorry for your wife, a little bit of regret is normal, but I hope that at least she didn't have unresolved issues with her grandma.

 

[Hoky]

I get what you say about grandparents. It's a long story but my grandpa became so ill that he didn't talk or understand much for three years, before he passed. We had a problematic relationship but I loved him and it was very hard to see him dying and not be able to tell him what I wanted to tell him and fix things. I know he died being sad. I still carry a lot of regret for not taking the chance when I had it.

I'm sorry for your wife, a little bit of regret is normal, but I hope that at least she didn't have unresolved issues with her grandma.

Sorry to hear about your experience as well, Iza, and thanks for sharing it. Time moves forward, right? We all do the best we can, and where this forum is full of really wonderful individuals, even if we couldn't change those situations, we can all be here for each other.

 

[Iza]

Sorry to hear about your experience as well, Iza, and thanks for sharing it. Time moves forward, right? We all do the best we can, and where this forum is full of really wonderful individuals, even if we couldn't change those situations, we can all be here for each other.

Thanks Yes, and it's very comforting to have people who are there for you even if you fail to do the best sometimes.

 

[Hoky]

Alright, back in action. Long week, but next one will be better!

I'll keep things short today.

Mini - Bill passed on shortly after the end of my wife's grandma's funeral, once we had gotten home. GEEZ the noises they make when they're dying of old age did NOT help. Bad timing, Bill. >< I've decided to put the mini aside for the time being for reasons I'll get into at the end of the post. The upshot is, in the roughly 2 months since I got it, I've been able to go through all the forms except Nyorotchi, and my coworker has had that one so many times I've seen plenty of it. XD

M!x - Right now, the M!x is just kinda in a loop of care. I'm not starting another generation just yet. I might once I have another M!x to unlock areas with, but for now I've kinda done most of what I can do on it, so I feel pretty satisfied. I'll probably drop it off the log until I do more with it. But hey, thanks for being cool exposure to modern tamas, M!x!

V3 -Got a Pyonkotchi. She's pretty fun, and while the games on the v3 are kinda time consuming, they're fun to play. The buttons on mine can be a little finnicky, so some of the more timing-intensive ones are hard to do, but for the most part I still have fun. It surprises me that the adult sprites are smaller than the adults on the P1 and P2, but then, it gives them more space to bounce around. I like how sometimes the v3 tamas just do stuff like sing or brush their teeth. It's a neat touch. It's odd that you can't play games if their weight is low. I guess it makes sense, but sometimes, I wanna make some cash while I'm bored without feeding it a ton of treats!

Also, holy cow, lowest maintenance tama EVER. Even with the pause turned off I can probably check it once every few hours and it'll still be fine. Makes me wonder where something like the P2 falls on that scale, since I feel like that one requires a lot more attention than the V3

P2 - SPEAKING OF THE P2 - since I'm setting the mini aside for a generation or two, I figured I'd pick the P2 back up. Currently have a Tonmarutchi. Let's see if I can get a Zatchi this time.

Gudetama - Still 'perfect care' adult gudetama. It's pretty adorable.

Anyway, that's all for now. I should be getting my 20th anniversary Digivice and Morino Tama this week, so they'll be in the rotation soon.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a good weekend!

 

[Iza]

V3 -Got a Pyonkotchi. She's pretty fun, and while the games on the v3 are kinda time consuming, they're fun to play. The buttons on mine can be a little finnicky, so some of the more timing-intensive ones are hard to do, but for the most part I still have fun. It surprises me that the adult sprites are smaller than the adults on the P1 and P2, but then, it gives them more space to bounce around. I like how sometimes the v3 tamas just do stuff like sing or brush their teeth. It's a neat touch. It's odd that you can't play games if their weight is low. I guess it makes sense, but sometimes, I wanna make some cash while I'm bored without feeding it a ton of treats!

Also, holy cow, lowest maintenance tama EVER. Even with the pause turned off I can probably check it once every few hours and it'll still be fine. Makes me wonder where something like the P2 falls on that scale, since I feel like that one requires a lot more attention than the V3

P2 - SPEAKING OF THE P2 - since I'm setting the mini aside for a generation or two, I figured I'd pick the P2 back up. Currently have a Tonmarutchi. Let's see if I can get a Zatchi this time.

On V2-3 sometimes in the games the buttons don't respond if you press them too quickly after the previous time, it takes some time to get used to. I like the animations too. As for the weight thing, I usually just feed it a snack or two when the happy hearts drop a bit, so it's always a bit above the lower weight. I like how the P2 is more high-maintenance. ^_^

I still have a Tonmarutchi too. ^_^ I don't have any characters in mind, I just don't want to get the two worst-care ones. It will be progress.

 

[Hoky]

As for the weight thing, I usually just feed it a snack or two when the happy hearts drop a bit, so it's always a bit above the lower weight. I like how the P2 is more high-maintenance. ^_^
I still have a Tonmarutchi too. ^_^ I don't have any characters in mind, I just don't want to get the two worst-care ones. It will be progress.

I wasn't sure if weight affected evolution on the v3, but considering 90% of the V3 is new to me, I suppose it doesn't matter. XD

It's crazy snowy here in MN today. I almost got stuck coming out the parking lot for my work. I drove home, my normally 10 min commute taking twice that, only to realize w/in a mile of home that I FORGOT GUDETAMA AT WORK. >< Knowing that my wife would be bummed if the poor little guy was stuck there, I drove aaalll the way back. Overall, the whole trip took me an hour, not including the 10 min of me having to shovel my driveway to not get stuck again. (But at least Gudetama is safe and sound!)

Today was weird. I got a lot of work done, but it was mostly administrative stuff for my team (nearly all of whom were working from home today). Then, I rustled some jimmies over some Transformer-related stuff on another board. Long story short, some guy said that a figure wouldn't have a poor design flaw that I called out a few months back. Figure comes out, design flaw is there... I gently mention it to the guy who was giving me grief before. He got mad. Oh well, can't help it. I'm just good at pushing buttons (tamagotchi or otherwise) XD

BUT

My Morino arrived today!

So, on to the updates.

P2: Once again, Tongaritchi! Fingers crossed I can actually get him to Zuccitchi this time. If not, I'll be happy with anything other than Mimitchi and Kusatchi. Don't get me wrong, I love me some duck plants, but I've already had once since my return.

See, this is what I like about old school Tama design. He's basically an onion with off-kilter eyes and feet. That's rad! He has little pointy teeth when he eats as well. THAT'S ALSO RAD! There's just something unexpected with how the original tamas were. Sure, there were aspects of other animals, or sometimes even close approximations, but there was always some sort of strangeness to it, and I think that's what makes me gravitate towards them. I've seen people mention that newer tama designs are too 'girly' elsewhere on the site, and while it's not my aesthetic preference to have a bunch of lacy, pink, cute things on my tamas, I get that 1) a big part of the demographic feels otherwise, and 2) I don't think that the problem is that it's lacy, pink, and cute, the problem is that it just looks like little people rather than crazy weird duck plants or flying rabbit things or whatever.

ANYWAY I like my onion guy. XD

V3: Matchmaker showed up today. I was all like "Tpain ain't got time for romance right now because it is 11am and I am at work". She'll have to stay single for now! I wish there was a quick option for the games, especially because a lot of them take a couple minutes. They're still fun, but it's the only 'high maintenance' thing about the v3, considering that additionally you have to do decent in the games to get happiness (I suppose that's no different than other tamas)

Anyway, here's Tpain: I'll find someone for her soon! (I mean, if I work from home tomorrow... no one will notice me paying a ton of attention to a baby tama....)

Speaking of Tama design, this is one that I feel starts leaning towards the newer mindset. Maybe it's just that there's more pixels to work with in the v3, but Pyonkotchi just kinda looks like a cat. There' still that bend of tama weirdness, but despite my fondness... I dunno. I DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT IT YOU GUYS!!!

Gudetama: Still adorable. That's all. XD

Oh, one other thing I suppose: Sometimes he makes a noise and he's being kidnapped by a pair of chopsticks and you hit 'A' to save him. I think it's the Gudetama equivalent of 'sick'. Other times, he makes the SAME NOISE and has NOTHING WRONG WITH HIM.

MORINO!!!!

Oh man, I was so excited for this one. I love bugs. I loved raising bugs as a kid! I love the sprites I've seen for this! It's so cool!

..... Dude it is so low maintenance! It took an hour for its meters to go down just one leaf! I'm cool with that. You can also pick 2 different eggs at the start, which basically makes for 2 different 'modes'. The white egg is normal tama mode, while the spotted egg always results in a stag beetle tama, and that mode is all about making the Kabutochi as long as possible (too bad there's no actual beetle fight game!) I'm excited to see the temperature feature that shows up when they're in their chrysalises, and the feature for scaring away predators too. Lots of neat new stuff, even if one mode is basically just a motionless cocoon! XD

Also, weird thing to note, but the speed at which the clock feature slides on and off the screen is SUPER FAST, and I like that.

Anyhow, here's the Babymotchi form:

And here's his super awesome mad sprite:

It should be noted that the music on the Morino is sliiightly different than the P2, which totally weirds me out in a good way. XD

There's so much cool stuff out there. I'm glad I tried something new. I've heard the umi tama is a BEAST to manage, but I might shoot for one of those next, especially considering it seems like my perspective on what 'high' maintenance is is SUPER DIFFERENT from other people. Maybe I'll get a v2 as well after all of Iza's log pics and praise. Definitely looks like the kind of tama I'd go for (and it can interact with my v3, right?)

DRIVE SAFE AND STAY WARM IF YOU'RE IN THE NORTH!

 

[Penguin-keeper]

There's just something unexpected with how the original tamas were. Sure, there were aspects of other animals, or sometimes even close approximations, but there was always some sort of strangeness to it, and I think that's what makes me gravitate towards them. I've seen people mention that newer tama designs are too 'girly' elsewhere on the site, and while it's not my aesthetic preference to have a bunch of lacy, pink, cute things on my tamas, I get that 1) a big part of the demographic feels otherwise, and 2) I don't think that the problem is that it's lacy, pink, and cute, the problem is that it just looks like little people rather than crazy weird duck plants or flying rabbit things or whatever.

ANYWAY I like my onion guy. XD

I think that part of the issue here is that the norms of "cute-culture" have changed between the time of the original Tamagotchi line-up and more recent times ("more recent" being since around the middle of the Connection era, I think).

Creature-designs from "cute" products tended to be more gender-neutral back then than they are now, and also tended towards some slightly "weird" and wonky-looking elements as part of their appeal (for example, the eyes on several of the P1 and P2 Tamagotchi characters). But at this point in time, it looks like there's a much stronger leaning towards an aesthetic that seems to combine something like Sanrio's style with more typical anime-like visuals, and that has, of course, influenced the current direction of the Tamagotchi line.

That may very well change in the future, of course!

 

[Iza]

The morino looks so nice!! I'd want an umino too, if only it wasn't so difficult to raise.

As for V2s, they're basically like your V3 but with different characters and different games, as far as I know. I just happen to like the characters cause they're weird, as you say. But, as I said in the latest log, for some unknown reason, as much as I like its features, I always end up being more attached to the P2. ANYWAY don't blame me if you don't find it that special.

PS: Your log is funny, I like it.

 

[Knighttchi's Ballad]

Speaking of Tama design, this is one that I feel starts leaning towards the newer mindset. Maybe it's just that there's more pixels to work with in the v3, but Pyonkotchi just kinda looks like a cat. There' still that bend of tama weirdness, but despite my fondness... I dunno. I DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT IT YOU GUYS!!!

The irony of this is how Pyonkotchi is actually a vintage character. Pyonkotchi comes from (I think) the Mesutchi, the female counterpart to the Osutchi. The Mesutchi and Osutchi are a pair of vintage Tamagotchis that have the ability to connect and produce offspring, hence they are sometimes called "mating/wedding" tamas. Mesutchis have female characters while Osutchis have male characters and they connect together by a port at the top of the devices covered by a removable egg shell. For every character on the Mesutchi, their is a male equivalent on the Osutchi and they often share similar designs. I think the V3 has the most vintage characters while the V4-4.5 start introducing characters from the later Japanese connections.

Personally, I prefer the older character designs as I find they are more unique. Perhaps this also has something to do with how I am not fond of pastel on pastel and the more girly characters use that allot.

 

[Hoky]

I get what you're both saying with uniqueness and color. Maybe that's putting a finger on what I'm trying to articulate as well. Maybe it is the whole gendered cute thing too, though I wonder if that goes along more with the Japanese trends of moe/hypercuteness? I don't know enough to really speak authoritatively there. Still, I think the popularity of Gudetama (to the extent that he's the only Sanrio character with his own dedicated tamagotchi) shows that there's a space for weird/cute yet.
Still, for me, it's never really been a 'cute' thing about tamas at all. Probably more that with the cuteness has some some loss of uniqueness. Raising a weird duck snake is neat. Raising something that just looks like a tiny person doesn't quite do it for me.

(Also: Glad you're liking the log, Iza!)

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Raising a weird duck snake is neat. Raising something that just looks like a tiny person doesn't quite do it for me.

You're not alone in that.

I feel the same way, myself, and it's also why (as I've mentioned in my own log) that I've never found the older virtual "pets" with human characters to be appealing - part of the appeal of virtual pets for me is in the raising of animals that, for whatever reason, you otherwise couldn't keep.

 

[Knighttchi's Ballad]

Maybe it is the whole gendered cute thing too, though I wonder if that goes along more with the Japanese trends of moe/hypercuteness?

I do know quite a few guys have already complained about the girliness of Tamagotchi, that seeming to be a major gripe with the male fanbase. It does seem both sides have complained about the lack of "gender-neutrality", but the more I think about this the more I feel it is a complaint about colours and female clothes, basically girliness. I do know that the trend in the animanga genre magical girl (basically female superheros) is to have costumes that are short, fancy dresses in solid pastels - usually white and then another colour. In this genre alone - which is particularly aimed at girls - there is a distinct focus on fashion so all the main characters are always wearing something that makes them stand out. In light of that, some of the female Tamagotchi characters could pass for off-duty magical girls. I haven't seen enough modern animanga to say anything more than that but it is worth noting that with the prominence of the "marriage" option, there will always be masculine Tamagotchi characters.

Raising a weird duck snake is neat. Raising something that just looks like a tiny person doesn't quite do it for me.

This reminds me of one the older threads discussing Pixel Chix. Pixel Chix are basically toys with an LCD screen panel and a row of buttons beneath that allow interaction with a virtual girl. This was way back when 10-13 year olds frequented TamaTalk and brand loyalty was a big deal, hence people hated Pixel Chix because they were "competing" against Tamagotchis. Anyway in the thread one person said something like "Taking care of virtual pets is cool. Taking care of virtual people is dumb!". There is also a flipside to that where some people have said they never saw tamagotchis as animals so the more human qualities don't bother them. I get why raising a person is something categorically different because the more human-like something becomes, the more human standards are applied to it. Hence why some people make a big deal over their tamagotchis being "fat" even though chubbier animals are thought of as cute. Also why this is favored over this by modern fans. It is much easier to find something ugly if it tries to be human.

The thing about tamagotchis always seeming to be people to some and animals to others is rather interesting. I feel it strikes an interesting parallel with how some pet owners feel their pets are their children, some even calling them "fur babies". But in the case with real life animals, one is continually aware how different they are from people which makes me think the virtual medium makes it easy to disassociate the animal nature of Tamagotchis.

 

[Hoky]

NOTE: This is not a tama update, just a continuation of the fantastic conversation going on in this log. Feel free to skip it if you just want to see some tamas, because it is LONG. XD

I get why a lot of guys wouldn't like 'girly' designs. Call it societal conditioning or bias or whatever, that's fair, that's a thing that exists.
The more I think about it, the more interesting it gets though. Take the M!x for example. My first 6 generations were all male, but took nearly all their traits from their mothers. That wasn't really what bothered me, it was more that they just looked less and less tamagotchi-ish and just more and more like 'generic cute mascot'.

I like a lot of the M!x designs are samey, and that's just coincidence with the pink and lacy aspects. To me, aesthetically, Lovelitchi, Nijifwatchi, and Watawatatchi have a lot of very 'same' elements, while some like Memetchi and Voiletchi are basically just slightly more elaborate stick people. That said, there are some great designs here too, like Guriritchi and Shinobinyatchi, but there's still very little overall diversity.

On the other hand, here are the guy sprites:

I feel like every design on that list has something interesting and unique about it. None are quite the same, and all really nail their respective towns. They're still all cutesy designs, but I like them despite my overall aesthetic preferences leaning more towards 'giant robot' than 'cute'. So where's the disconnect?

I just thought of something:
So the main demographic for Tamas is female, right? The M!x almost seems like you're trying to make your own 'avatar' compared to other tamas in the past to me. I could never really see 'myself' in a duck plant, but I could in a tiny, person-like thing. It becomes less of a virtual pet and more like Animal Crossing (which is a comparison I've heard a few times when it comes to the M!x). When all the traits are pulled from a list of traits that I really find somewhat bland, that makes me feel like my M!x tama just isn't really MY tama anymore, and just a character that was arbitrarily created, despite me trying to pull specific traits over generations. That's probably one of the main reasons I haven't married off my current one - I think he's a really good blend of traits that works, and I'm finally kinda attached to the design.

BUT
I think the majority of the demographic would relate more to the 'cute' designs that don't appeal to me, and that makes total sense.

This also connects back to the 'person or animal' point. For me, tamas have always been animals. 'Sentient' animals with their own personalities, sure, but more like a talking pug than a person that also looks like a talking pug. That said, I love animals (one of the reasons I like tamas is because I like basically any game where you raise something), but I'm definitely not a 'fur babies' person. There's always been that distinct line. You could tie that back to my 'old school' roots and not naming stuff, but I think it goes past that since I'm actually enjoying naming my V3 tamas. So, here I am, on my M!x, trying to make an animal/avatar combo and ending up with these little fluffy things over and over that just start looking homogenized, and that takes me out of it. Every time I had a male character get married, it just made the next one look more like the designs I didn't like.

..... *deep breath*

Okay, so, I think what I'd like from whatever Tama comes next is the trait-sharing system of the M!x, but more choice on what traits get carried from one to the next. The M!x is too random and always kinda felt like it was pulling the 'wrong' traits from what I wanted, and maybe just make tamas genderless so you could marry whoever you wanted for traits and not have to wait on a girl to be born to get some weird Kuchipatchi duck-face in your family tree. I love the random aspect of tamagotchis, but the M!x just felt like it was pulling control out of my hands more than other Tamas. And the crazy thing is that nearly every other stage of life on the M!x is already genderless outside of coloration (which doesn't matter after the first gen anyhow). Besides, that's one of the cool things about the v3 after all - there's no gender restrictions to the different tama forms outside of the infants, and in today's society where people can look how they want, shouldn't our tiny virtual buds be able to do the same?

....well, that was a lot of words I just wrote. XD Props if anyone bothers reading all of them. I'll make a separate update tonight/tomorrow so people can skip this one if they want. XD

 

[Hoky]

OKAY, actual update time. No more super long rant. XD

It's been a pretty good but weird week. It snowed HEAVILY all through Monday, resulting in the majority of my team working from home Monday and Tuesday. Made for an easy day for me! Tuesday, though, water was leaking into my garage from the deck above it, so I took the day off to work on that. Didn't get super far, but at least I identified that the wood for the deck is fine and the problem is with the weird vinyl decking leaking, so... yeah. That's SUPER INTERESTING, I'm sure. XD

As luck would have it, a bunch of stuff I had preordered/ordered from Japan is all arriving this week, so that's helping. Monday I got my Morino, Tuesday I got.... extensive deck problems.... Wednesday I got my Digimon Fusion Loader (Which... I'll talk about that briefly towards the end), today I'm getting some Transformers, and Friday I might be getting my 20th anniversary Digivice!

....Good thing too because now I have to save for deck repairs for a while. Home ownership is awesome and also terrible.

OKAY NO MORE TALKING ABOUT LEAKY DECKS.

P2: Still an onion with feet and spiky teeth! I think he should evolve today? Fingers crossed for a Zuccitchi. Man, when I was little and the P2 first came out I was SUPER GOOD at getting specific Tamas. Oh, the halcyon days of youth, running through open fields with arms outstretched, a tama clutched in both hands, falling to the long grass and laughing joyously without any deck problems...

....*clears throat*

Gudetama: Still adorable. Not sure how long I've kept this one alive? Trying to keep it going as long as possible. XD It's pretty harrowing when the giant chopsticks come out of the sky and try to take it away. I guess the closest thing I could compare it to (in tama terms) is when someone tries to step on your Morino tama.

M!x: After my longwinded and ponderous rant about the M!x, I decided to get the next generation rolling.I've been checking out some of the other logs where people are running 20th anniversary M!xes, and I kinda feel like maybe that one would appeal to me a lot more since it's got a lot of the old school characters, but with the same M!X concept (and I could finally unlock Gozaru and Mermaid towns).
Anyways, here's pics!

Married a Himespetchi (On my wife's request of "No! No do the space one!")

Tamapatchi into Tantotchi, still retaining that Kikitchi monkey head. XD She likes hanging out in hot tubs in the forest.... I thought I raised her better than that. (But actually I'm kinda excited to see how this one grows up and then she's gonna marry Kuchipatchi because it's high time this family tree had a weird fat duck in it)

Meanwhile, got this messaged from my wife last night:

Laughed pretty hard. Being the brilliant woman that she is, she figured it out quickly (had to clean up after it) and it was a nice, cheerful Haretchi with a monkey head when I got home. XD

Oh! Oh! Also, the other night around 9pm, the M!x started beeping for no reason. The screen lit up, and my tama was having a nightmare! There were black clouds at the top and bottom of the screen and it was walking through a house slowly filling with tamagotchi ghosts!! I didn't know that could happen! I couldn't do anything for it, but it was neat to watch. At least it wasn't having nightmares about repairing it's de... NO. NO MORE OF THAT.

V3:

Tpain had a kid and it's a boy! Nothing much happened beyond that since I had to leave it paused all day, but I'm super excited for another generation on the v3! The variety is super cool on this one.

Morino:
Morino might be my favorite right now. I just love bugs, and from the shell design to the games to the whole tapping on the screen aspect, it's just so unique and fun. The characters so far have just been a little black larva and now an inchworm, but I'm excited for the weird bugs they'll turn into, and the animations for both have been active enough that it's still fun to watch. I get people's gripes about the screensaver mode, but I haven't minded it too much.

Little imotchi inchin' along

Took me a second to realized this was the 'sick' sprite... might have gotten stepped on while I was in a meeting. But still, even that's a pretty cool design.

Anyways, that's it for Tamas!

Quick note on the Xros Fusion Loader: I knew it wasn't quite a 'virtual pet', but I kinda wanted one with a pedometer just to see how they are. Design looked cool, sprites looked cool, and I liked the idea that you could download new Digimon by playing sounds to it. That said... it is not good. Glad I didn't pay that much on Ebay for it, because the screen is REALLY hard to see in all but direct lighting, even if you adjust the contrast. They could have definitely managed to make the screen a little taller as well, since the fact that it's set back so far limits what you can actually see due to the shell casting a shadow on the screen itself. Additionally, the sound is SUPER LOUD.

As for gameplay, it's okay, but the menus are super cumbersome and the screen makes it really, really hard to want to spend time with it. Oh well. Caveat Emptor. XD

Other than that, I hope you all have a wonderful day, get to spend some time with your tamas, and not have to worry about any problems with your decks.

 

[Jhud]

Putting continuation of the rant under the spoiler so it doesn't trash your log too much:

Spoiler

I'll pitch in on the rant a bit. Probably not many people anymore know that the anime show was a big part of the Tamagotchi franchise for a while. So yes, tamagotchi are basically people, not pets And that's how it always been, really! The basic "plot" of a (vintage at least) tamagotchi is that they are aliens from a different planet that crashed on Earth and the toy itself is a capsule we help them survive in. On later iterations when the parent leaves their egg, the parent leaves to the Tama Planet. In the newer versions they got humanized even further, to match the anime themes. The anime was basic at first, before evolving through many genres- majority of the series was based on music idols. So yeah, basically on most color tamagotchis you're raising a super idol that poops on the carpet, for some reason. The iD, iD L, P's and 4U were notorious for being tied in with the anime that they pretty much can be called anime merchandise. (there was a lot of other merchandise related to the anime, like an electric violin of Melodytchi, etc)

I don't think the designs really got cutiefied for any weird "avatar" reasons, not really, it's mostly to make them work in the anime and also sell on the mascot/cute desgin department (because they had to sell plushies after all). The kids would want to raise their favorite character from the show, mostly.

Digimon, as Tamagotchi's sister franchise, also kind of started being shoved away in favor of the anime, moreso than tamagotchi since the show was very popular. Rather than vpets they focused on digivices and show replicas overall, then figures. Most of the digimon merchandise tries to be made in favor of the anime nowadays, as well as the nostalgic audience. It's also good to point out that while Digimon have more elaborate designs, a lot of them are also humanoid, and a vast majority of them is at least sapient.

As a guy I don't personally mind cutesyness, but I also wish the designs were a bit more creative, even if there are reasons for them. It seems that the anime hasn't been renewed for a new season yet though, so maybe the new Tamagotchi will change that.

Alright. XD Now to your log. I really love your log, I've read the whole thing! I do enjoy how simple it is and your inclusion of pictures. Hoping to see more of the Morino.