#hitorikko

I've noticed these things popping up all over the place. The packaging is very cute, so it's tempting to check it out. But don't. You'll notice almost every single listing here is "new in box" which likely means it's not opened and untested. I don't think that's a coincidence. Likely several crates of these were discovered in a warehouse somewhere and auctioned off to "professional reseller" clowns who take advantage of hobbyists. The only thing they have going for them is that they're usually cheap ( unless the "professional reseller" is an idiot who thinks all old things are worth whatever they think they can get away with. ) and they have a cute design and shell.

I have actually gotten several of these, at first it was intentional because a V-pet discord group told me what they were, they were simply repackaged Hitorikko pets, which were going for a little bit more money than these more cute ones online. So I bought one of each... and none of them worked. Like, they power on, they make noise, the buttons work, but... nobody should be okay with screens like these.

It's easy to look at these and tell me I got a bad batch from a seller who stored them improperly.

Nope.

I thought the same thing at first, but because I wanted a working one, I actually ended up with 9 of these things from various sellers. I tried getting them from a different seller, and then some sellers included them in lots.... every. Single. One. They are all like this.

These are probably very cheaply made defective bootlegs, or they didn't pass quality control and got stowed in a warehouse, only to be auctioned off to the aforementioned e-bay circus entertainers.

If you want this pet, just buy a legit Hitorikko. It won't have a shell this cute, and the packaging has boring clipart-core animals. But they're much more likely to work than the ones with the cute pictures. Maybe it's possible to do a shell swap if you snag some of the bootlegs for cheap, but I'm not comfortable doing that. Besides, I have not seen a fish version of these bootleg pets, nor a dinosaur version of the Hitorikko. Again, look for this package if you want the programming without the shit screen ( Shit screen still entirely possible to get on legit Hitorikko. Never buy vintage pets if they're not willing to show the screen functioning. )

Hitorikko Fish egg in tinsel.