Virtual Pets- Virtually Replaced

I volunteer in a grade one classroom on Fridays, and lucky pour moi, Friday is show'n'tell day. Sometimes the kids bring in some pretty sweet stuff - I've seen light sabres, an old hornet's nest and old baseball cards to name a few. But what I cannot believe is the overwhelming amount of WEBKINS that are brought in. Week after week, it never fails. I know fosho that atleast one kid is bringin' in a webkin.

For those of you who don't have younger siblings, or simply don't know what Webkinz are, they look like your average stuffed animals - cute, fuzzy, with those big droopy eyes. What is so popular about them though, is that they require more "care" than plain old Mr. Bear does. At WebkinzWorld online, kids can register (a.k.a adopt) their webkinz via a secret code found on their tags to delve into an online world of fun.
Once adopted, children can earn "kinzcash" to build their webkin a house, buy their webkin clothes, purchase their webkin food, and even play games with their webkin

So....right. How does this relate to the 90's? Well, the concept of Webkinizm reminds me an awful lot of the virtual pet craze that passed in the 90's. Just about every kid I knew owned a Nano, Tamagotchi, or Gigapet, and in some cases, they owned all three...(lucky ducks). I am no toy expert, but I assume what was so cool about these egg shaped computers too was the fact that, as children, we could control the happiness of our virtual pets through feeding, cleaning and playing with them simply by clicking three small buttons.

Now let's compare webkinz and Tamagotchis.

Webkinz world is available online anywhere. Tamagotchis were only available if your battery didn't die out. Webkinz come in all sorts of animals - tigers, elephants, bears, cats. Tamagotchis were only one kind of pet .... but ummm .... .whoa .. .. what were tamagotchis? Webkinz allows you to build your pets new homes. Tamogotchis were restricted to life inside an egg. And finally, Webkinz are soft. Tamagotchis were plastic.

So like, holy-genius Webkinz inventor. Way to re-invent (and improve) the virtual pet of the 90s. I give you my kudos big time. You're like the next Ty Warner! Combining various kinds of play into one furry plush toy, what a great concept. Looks like if you take the centuries old stuffed animal and inject it with some "virtual pet" qualities, bam, you've got yourself a recipe for success.