The Late 2000's E-Pet Boom

Remember Webkinz? I think a significant portion of people who grew up in the 2000’s vividly remember the really cute plushies that came with codes that were able to be used online to unlock your very own online pet you can take care of. That was the marketing strategy for them, anyways. And it was quite effective! Not only did Webkinz rule the online net with codes, but other big toy companies definitely took notice and jumped on the trend. Online codes were everywhere. For example, did you know Baby Bottle Pop (yes, the candy) came out with its own version of a virtual world accessible through codes you could find in the bottles?

Everywhere you went there was some new virtual world being advertised that used the promise of buying a physical good to grant you access to the keys of the kingdom. Or maybe the virtual world creators were smart and allowed free players to roam around in their kingdoms, slowly fueling jealousy within their free player fanbase to convince them to buy their own fuzzy friend (or doll, or weird hard plastic things…).

The more that Webkinz grew, the more that they became the biggest example of the ‘e-pets’ craze. Everyone wanted an e-pet and everyone wanted a virtual world where they can play with their e-pet! I define e-pet games as a virtual world that requires the purchase of a plush to sign up to their online service. Unlike other virtual worlds where you can sign up and gain extra perks by entering physical codes, these ones were effectively paywalled until you gave in and brought home a friend or two!

Now here’s where I fit into all of this. As an early tween in the late 2000’s, I was absolutely addicted to online worlds. I was painfully shy as a kid, but I adored the concept of running around with a virtual avatar that may or may not be a version of me. They were very enticing, and during that period of time where virtual code worlds were the (debatably) smartest business decision a company can make to rake in tons of cash, I signed up to as many as I could. And when I say many, I mean many.

I hope to catalog most if not all of the e-pet worlds that I can remember. The reason why I’ve stuck with specifically e-pet worlds is because if I broadened it to virtual code worlds in general, I’d be left with even more nearly lost media to describe! (Though I hope to make more write ups in the future that touch upon virtual code worlds such as Build-A-Bearville where it was free to sign up!)

I also really found it funny how many companies made their own e-pets, most likely due to the success of Webkinz -- I mean, who wouldn’t! I will say, none of these worlds really got to the insane popularity that Webkinz did, but there were many dedicated players to each one. If you remember playing any one of these games, please feel free to let me know in the guestbook as I love hearing other people’s memories of these e-pet worlds!

The absolute classic. The one and only original. There isn’t much to add about Webkinz that other people haven’t already delved into. I think one aspect that I haven’t heard people mention a lot when talking about Webkinz nostalgia is that at one point they made music videos every month featuring a pet and an original song. It was really cute and I looked forward to hearing when the next new Webkinz song would drop! The one I linked called ‘Nine Lives’ is one that made me cry very recently on rewatching so I highly recommend taking a listen.

What Did I Have: I had way too many Webkinz to remember them all effectively; they were all mainly Lil’kinz as my family couldn’t afford the full sized ones unless it was a special gift. I probably had around 20. I also bought a lot of the extra goodies that Webkinz sold in their heyday such as Webkinz branded lip balm and Webkinz branded fragrance spritz. I also had 2 clothing items, one Webkinz figurine (It was a dog playing soccer if I remember correctly) and a bunch of Webkinz trading cards from when they wanted to also be a card game I guess!

Probably one of the closer clones of Webkinz. They really wanted in on the ‘trying to be Webkinz’ train, and also made their own fun song parodies that would play on the front page of their website. I vividly remember a turkey and the song “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. However, in trying to find if this existed, all I could find is an e-card version of the same idea. The commercial that they used to advertise Beanie Babies 2.0 is such a classic though!

Another very unique aspect of Beanie Babies 2.0 was the fact they had their own mascot, Snootz! He was a part of a very long series of minisodes that played on the website! I remember watching a lot of them when they came out. Ty was really serious about Beanie Babies 2.0! Here's one animated short made to announce their 'Teenie Beanies' discovery, which essentially was a soft-announcement for Teenie Beanies having codes for 2.0. Hmmmmm, seems awfully similar to Lil'kinz...

Other than that, the gameplay mainly involved taking care of your pet much like Webkinz. I remember that beans were very involved in the game play somehow, but not much else aside from that. I was more preoccupied by Ty’s other ventures into e-pets…

What Did I Have: Clipper the Dolphin

The business man who thought about creating plushies that were also girl dolls was a visionary in this era. TY Girlz had a really odd gameplay loop that I barely remember, but it seems that some people have delved into it deeper than I have. All I really remember is that you were able to dress up the girl you bought and chat online to other TY Girlz players. Honestly, now that I think about it, it’s probably closer to Stardoll than a Webkinz clone in terms of gameplay, but they had that virtual code spice to it. Someone did record a portion of the tour that you’d see on the site trying to convince little kids to buy them.

Another funny memory I had about TY Girlz was when I was finally gaining free will as a young tween and realized that shoplifting was possible, the thing about the TY Girlz tags was that…they were so easy to tear off. They did not learn from their Webkinz predecessor! And so, that was when I stole one tag from a TY Girlz in order to join the online world. I did eventually get another girl afterwards because of catholic guilt however…

What Did I Have: Dazzlin' Destiny (stolen tag) and Sizzlin' Sue

No, not Mattel’s Shining Stars, but Russ’ Shining Stars! The gimmick of this plushie line was that you would unofficially name your own star via the purchase of a plush. The plushies were actually very cute and well made last I remember! There’s still a live page on the International Star Registry site that lists all the plushies that were available to buy! Other than that, the online world was pretty simplistic. You can explore a space themed world and go to many different parts of it, play their small variety of online games, and dress up your online creature too! I don’t have any other memories of this game as it was pretty obscure and pretty simple in gameplay. I’d say it’s probably the closest to Webkinz gameplay than the other brands!

What Did I Have: The Pink Poodle!

No, not LPS Online but a whole separate thing! Apparently this only lasted a year or so before being shuttered! Unlike LPS Online which didn’t have a code paywall, this game had to have a code much like Webkinz. However, I remember only playing on this site a handful of times before getting bored. If you saw the gameplay, you’d understand. It also looked like an unfinished game at all times and was perpetually empty. So weird!

What Did I Have: Purple Panda!

Another more obscure e-pet world except I played this one much more than LPS VIP's. There was just so much more to do in this rather than run around an empty virtual world, such as playing in much more interactive environments. You could feed them, take them to the vet and also decorate your room. It’s a closer clone to Webkinz than most!

The concept this e-pet world took was the ‘rescue’ route, where you are effectively taking in rescue pets to give them a better life. Yes, they even had their own ‘adoption’ papers much like when you would input a code into Webkinz. I didn’t play long enough to experience the 3D version of this game, but seeing the small amounts of gameplay makes me believe it really was trying to milk any remaining money from the fad (I also really enjoy hearing how this was a pretty new computer at the time!).

What Did I Have: I am 99.9% sure it was the husky!

SPECIAL MENTION

• BE BRATZ: Really wanted one but never did! This one is also in the other weird fad of making very electronic or futuristic toys that require hardware to directly connect you to the virtual world.

Do you remember any of these e-pet games? Have you played any of them? Feel free to let me know in my guestbook! I’d love to hear anyone else’s experience with any of these games! If I also missed any e-pets, please let me know too! I might also have forgotten some as I really tried to nab as many as I could as a kid.

An extra special thank you to Miles for proofreading and editing as always!