Oh, I Had That: Giga Pets
Man.. oh man, do you remember the Tamagotchi craze? It was like Beanie Babies or fidget spinners, a passing fad that still exists but only a much smaller audience cares. I never had the Tamagotchi, but I did have two Giga Pets, a similar device that focused more on realistic animals and licensed characters.
When Giga Pets hit stores in 1997, I was arguably a little old for them clocking in around 13. Still, I wanted to carry this amazing digital device around so I bought a Giga Pet dog.
It was fun, I’m not going to lie. I had a blast trying to keep the dog alive and training it. Then I ran across a T-Rex from The Lost World so I let my dog die and I focused on my dinosaur.
Like all fads, this didn’t last all that long nor did my interest in it. After about the third time of losing all my hard work because of a particuar busy day of school or just general forgetfulness, the Giga Pets made their way onto my bookshelf as a display item where they remained for a handful of years before being donated.
I had the KFC dog. I named it Gwen 2. Gwen #1 was the gold fish I had who died in October. It was legendary at my junior high. It lived for 169 days. The counter stopped working on it after 99 days. I figured how to hack it by memorizing what the pet wanted at certain times of day. It napped at 11 something AM. I remember a substitute teacher chewing me out for having one. It’s 11 something my dog needs a nap ok? Then one day I came home with 3 pets my dog and a monkey and kitty that belonged to other people. My mom asked who those other pets belonged to. I was trying to get their pets up to par.
Wow I didn’t even know there was a KFC brand Giga Pet! Was there anything KFC about it other than the packaging?
There were 4 different types of the KFC pets. There were 2 dogs and 2 cats. They had a small picture of the colonel on them. I really hope that my parents would not get me a KFC one cause I knew the other kids would make fun of it. Sadly I did get it and the kids made fun of it. I scratched off the picture of the colonel on it and then finished the job with nail polish remover.
Here is a link to the old commercial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEb2z2TKUc0