Origins of an Obsession: That Really Tamas My Gotchis issue no.1

I encountered my first keychain/pocket virtual pet in the summer of 1997, whilst doing a little back-to-school shopping with my mother and my sibling. We were in a shoe store of an outlet mall, waiting in line to check out and we saw these little red gadgets in plastic shell packaging, with the words Electronic Pocket Pals at the top of the cardboard insert (which was made to look like the back pocket to a pair of pale denim jeans). 

irresistible

image source: here

Now, my sibling and I have always been fond of pets and, since our folks were not keen on video game systems and we didn't have any in the house (no, not even a Gameboy, though we had seen our cousin's), we were desperate for something game-like. Our eyes went wide and we immediately turned to gaze hopefully at our mother.

 

same image source as above

The Electronic Pocket Pals were pretty darned cheap (i wanna say less than $10USD?), my sibling and I had been very well-behaved during the shopping trip, and it would give us something to do on the long drive home, so Mom agreed to get one for each of us. 

Lookit this lil guy!

image source: here

Once school started, I discovered name-brand Tamagotchis and ya know what? 
I still loved my little dino guy. I knew it was a cheap knock-off, as soon as I saw the sleek, complete design of the authentic Tamagotchi and its whimsical packaging, but the dino's buttons were still more responsive, the sounds less squawky (though quite shrill), and the menus were a little easier to understand. Don't get me wrong, the lore behind the Tamagotchis was (and continues to be) very cool, but it all felt a little unnecessary to my 11-year-old self. Like an adult trying to make a simple thing sound way fancier than it was. 

  
The dino buttons were a firm-ish rubber, more wide than tall, made contact with even a fairly light press, and made a beep of confirmation right away, while the Tamagotchi buttons were narrower and taller, likely due to the thickness of the Tamagotchi's plastic shell (body? chassis?), and felt kinda mushy when pressed. Sometimes they'd just squidge under your press but not make contact at the bottom, and I learned that you had to press with the tip of your fingernail in the center of the button to make sure it registered properly (something I still run into with modern Tamagotchis, but less so). 

why, yes I did paint the little bones and paw prints with glitter polish; how did you guess? image source: me!

After nearly 30 years, I still have my lil dino guy, but not the packaging so shout-outs to the people who keep sites like Tamenagerie alive, the beautiful folks on Reddit who get lovely, clear photos, and the handful of weirdos who kept theirs in the original packaging and are listing them online (I'd grab one, but I still have mine. Go, experience the... something. Idk. I loved my lil dino.).  

A buddy of mine helped me gain the courage to finally crack open the shells of my little pets and take a look at the insides and see if we can solve the mystery of mushy buttons and faulty feedback, which we'll take a peek at in issue no.2 of That Really Tamas My Gotchis! 

 

In The Weebs, issue #1: Atelier Rorona

 Astrid Zexis is a retired self-insert protagonist whose author got everything she wanted and kinda ran out of ideas for. She dated (and broke up with) the handsome knight captain, ran her own successful alchemy workshop, and became the most powerful alchemist in the region (if not world).

You do not play Astrid. 

No, you play Astrid's apprentice, Rorona! A kind-hearted, klutz of a girl who is as clumsy and oblivious as she is charming; a classic young female lead. 

How did Rorona and Astrid meet? Well, when Rorona's mother fell ill and needed an expensive medicine, Rorona became Astrid's apprentice to pay the debt (it has been years; how expensive WAS that medicine??). The hook of the game is that the powers-that-be want to tear down the alchemy workshop and build townhouses where it currently stands. As often happens to apprentices, Rorona is saddled with all the legwork.

While not the main character, Astrid is a prominent figure in the game. She's just as burnt out as you'd expect and still has a dozen or three loose ends of her own that she never tied up, which Rorona promptly gets tangled in. Astrid is also the token lech of the game, and seems to relish making people uncomfortable, or just getting big emotional reactions out of them, and gives some self-aware self-insert Shakespearean-fool vibes, as time goes on. 

 Overall, while it isn't revolutionary, I had a good time with this title and I look forward to the next playthrough (gotta get that Perfect Ending!!). 

Elfy be blogging once more!

 Oh my beans and biscuits, it's been a long heckin' time, but I'm glad to see Blogger still exists! 

I'm gonna be experimenting and getting the hang of the tools here, and then I think I'll set up my initial Is Grandma OK blog here, too. 

Because everything else requires HTML stuff and money and I'm dumb and broke low on mental, emotional, and financial bandwidth. So, Blogger is it. 

 

Wish me luck, internet!