# Hatchimals FML **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 3, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753 "2016-12-03T17:33:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753/21 "2016-12-10T04:30:58Z")
> [@Azeotrope](#): > > I worked in a toy store when Furbys were the “if I don’t buy this, my child will hate me forever!!!” toy of the season. We got a single shipment of them in December and the store circular announced the day the shipment was coming. Limited quantities, no rainchecks, no layaways, first come first served. Strict limit of 1 per customer. > > There were 36 in the shipment. People were lined up around the block at 6 am. Some of them tried to strongarm their way into the store through the employee entrance when we tried to get in to work. > > And when the store opened for business… holy fuck. > > First, it was a total fucking mob scene as people shoved past each other trying to be right in front of the door. People were pounding on the door and windows so hard we were afraid they’d shatter and yelling to be allowed in. The owner was smart enough to bring in her husband and college-age son to man the front door which was opened just enough to let one person at a time in, locked right away, customer was escorted to the register by the manager, one employee (me) would go in the back, bring out a Furby, which would be rung up and bagged by another employee. > > People tried every excuse in the book to buy more than one, including threatening to sue the owner for false advertising even though the ad said limit 1 per customer. > > Whichever color Furby they got, they got, because whichever color Furby it was, it was the wrong one. We don’t care if you promised your daughter an all white one; the tiger-stripe one is just as creepy and annoying. Take it or GTFO. > > There were a couple who flat-out admitted they were just buying them to make a killing on eBay. Whatever, just pay your $39.95 + tax and GTFO. > > Outside was bedlam as people tried to trade the “wrong” Furby for the “right” one, and after we ran out, those who didn’t get them trying to beg, borrow, or steal from the enFurbied ones. > > When we ran out, it might actually have been worse because in spite of the giant SORRY SOLD OUT OF FURBIES sign on the front door people were convinced that we were hiding hundreds of them in “the back,” that mystical realm where retail drones hide all the good stuff, even though the whole fucking point of a retail store is to sell shit to make money. Even personally walking these toolbags into “the back” and pointing out the empty Furby carton didn’t do it, because it just convinced them that we were hiding them all somewhere else for our own nefarious purposes. > > The owner promised she’d never make the effort to bring in the “OMG Chrismas is ruined forever if I don’t get this!!!” toy of the year again because it wasn’t worth the hell on earth. > > Of course, by June, we had Furbies out the wazoo and couldn’t sell them even on clearance, because parents found out how annoying they were, and the kids had all moved onto something else. No one’s Christmas was ruined, no one’s kids hated them forever. Kids are resilient; they’re upset for a little while but they get over it. > > TLDR version: **AngelSoft** , thanks for being one of the _sane_ parents. :D:D:D Har we still have two original furbies with their little idiot tags. They still work and talk to each other in their stupid furby language. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753/22 "2016-12-10T04:36:08Z")
Isn’t a Hatchimal the same as a Furby in an egg-shaped case that splits? After it opens, what have you got besides an overpriced gadget and a useless, cracked plastic egg? Anyone for a pet rock? Now _that_ was a toy! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753/23 "2016-12-10T05:06:53Z")
I was lucky – my godfather (although fuck him, he’s an asshole), got my Cabbage Patch Kid when he was in England. HA! ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753/24 "2016-12-10T18:05:51Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > \*\*Isn’t a Hatchimal the same as a Furby in an egg-shaped case that splits? \*\* After it opens, what have you got besides an overpriced gadget and a useless, cracked plastic egg? > > Anyone for a pet rock? Now _that_ was a toy! Yes. Except these monstrosities have blinky eyes and move on their own. Which is why you smash them with the vastly superior pet rock. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753/25 "2016-12-11T04:43:58Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I was lucky – my godfather (although fuck him, he’s an asshole), got my Cabbage Patch Kid when he was in England. HA! A friend got ours in Denmark, where there were as many as you wanted just sitting there. No shortage, no problems. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2016, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753/26 "2016-12-11T05:11:04Z")
I just went through my stuffed animals and dolls recently and my CPD was so ragged she had to be tossed. ☹ I think parents get into it more than kids do. First I got a home-made cabbage kid, which was cool. (What I REALLY wanted was I was five my Barbie town house, and yes, I got it) I think if “Santa” leaves an IOU, kids will understand. (I remember when I was five and I could hear “Santa” putting my Barbie house together and I got all excited telling my parents about it. That’s what Xmas is about when you’re a kid. Just the magic of it all. Even if it “Santa” can’t get it get it right away, (“he’s busy, the elves are over worked, the demand is very very large”) they’ll understand. Kids are stronger and more resliant than we think they are. If anything, kids are strong than adults are. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2016, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753/27 "2016-12-11T05:33:14Z")
My sister wanted a horse. She received a lemon pie. She was happy. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2016, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753/28 "2016-12-11T05:40:58Z")
Yesterday a friend and I were talking about how we were getting excited about the holidays, and what it was like when we were kids, and one of the things we shared was our memories of the toys we never got. They weren’t sad memories at all, just memories of the excitement of that one toy you really, really wanted, and how you got all sorts of great things that you loved, just not that one. I think it’s probably a good thing for kids to go through, to realize that even though you don’t get everything you want, you can still enjoy the holidays, and there’s something magical about just wishing for a toy. I’m thinking that our memories would not be as fond if we had gotten those toys we wished for. It was the anticipation and idealizing of them that made them so great. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753/29 "2016-12-12T17:40:54Z")
Interesting story about Sara Gruen (best-selling author of _Water for Elephants_) who paid about $151 a piece for over 150 hatchimals on eBay hoping to resell them for a lot more, as a means to raise money for legal fees an innocence project that she is working on. She’s having trouble making her scheme work, and the value of the hatchables will likely crater once Christmas has passed. [http://time.com/money/4591978/hatchimals-sara-gruen-resale-ebay-flipping-profits/](http://time.com/money/4591978/hatchimals-sara-gruen-resale-ebay-flipping-profits/) As a side note, my daughter purchased one of these toys, with her own money, back in September. Was a major let down for her after the stupid thing hatched, after about an hour after she activated it. As someone above, said, after it hatches, it’s basically a Furby. Definitely not worth the $65. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753/30 "2016-12-12T19:14:55Z")
My mother gave the youngest Barbarian a Hatchimal earlier this year, before anyone else had ever heard of one. It was mildly of interest for about ten minutes while it was in the egg, but it’s in the egg for 20 minutes to an hour. Then it starts to hatch, a one-time-only process which takes about half an hour. That’s cool because the kid has to destroy the toy in order to play with the toy. Then it’s hatched, and the first question is: can we put it back in the egg? (You can’t. Ever.) Total play time in the four months since: 10 minutes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatchimals-fml/773753.md?page=1)