It’s Black Friday 2009, and you’ve just spent the last 5 hours shuffling through the mall with your mom. After the 45th time moaning, “my feet hurt,” your mom reluctantly stops by the infamous mall toy shop to give you the adrenaline boost needed for 10 more stores. After a brief moment of overwhelming excitement, you see it: Google the Platypus. The white patchy ‘fur’ of the Webkinz hypnotizes you, and it’s now all you can think about. After many not-so-convincing promises to stop complaining, your mom purchases him and thus sparks a relationship only other former Webkinz addicts would understand.
I recently learned that Webkinz is available on the App Store of my MacBook, so, of course, I had to see if Google, now renamed Coconut, was still alive. I begged my dad back home to rummage through his desk and find the tiny tag that came on the plush, as 7-year-old me was intelligent enough to write down the password to the account on it. After logging in, a wave of absolute nostalgia hit me like a brick wall. Nothing had changed: my house was still extremely ugly, but somehow, Coconut’s outfit was even uglier. I remember being completely mesmerized by the polka dot pants and pirate hat combination as a kid, so much so that I asked my mom to get me the same outfit in real life.
The first thing on the agenda was to feed Coconut, as he hadn’t eaten in at least a decade. I’m beginning to question if Webkinz is immortal. With food in his belly, bath taken, and backyard crops harvested, it is now time to visit my favorite spots in town.
“Welcome to the Curio Shop. Hope you find what you’re looking for,” scratched a part of my brain I didn’t know itched. I didn’t find any gems in the mine, and I am still working towards the Legendary Crown of Wonder gifted to the elite Webkinz, who mine every gem. The next stop was the arcade, where I earned 60 kinz cash at the wishing well and a new rug from the wheel of wow. I never had this much luck when I was a kid; I guess Webkinz just really missed me.
After promising Coconut I wouldn’t let him starve like that again, I put him to bed and logged off. In all honesty, Webkinz is still just as amusing as it was 14 years ago sitting at my parent’s gigantic HP desktop.