March 4th, 2026 - The Search For Paradise
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This past week really has been really tough. Amidst medical woes and anxieties around an upcoming appointment with the GP, I figured I could do with treating myself to something nice. I call it my "reward for not going AWOL".
I've been on a bit of a Tamagotchi kick as of late after poor Nigel -- My last Tama, a gen 1 who I'd been raising for three days before going out for a meal with my partner -- died tragically at The Chalet Sizzler (RIP Nigel). Because of this, I thought maybe I'd try my hand at the latest in the Tamagotchi series, the Tamagotchi Paradise.
If only I knew how difficult of a task it would be to obtain one in-person...
I knew going into this that my best bet for obtaining a Blue Ocean model would likely be via Amazon, but I've always been of the opinion that buying something in a physical shop is far more rewarding, and seeing an item in your hands gives you a greater sense of perspective as to whether or not the one you have decided upon is the right one for you. I'm a big fan of the colour blue and since all three "fields" within this Tamagotchi line are accessible later on through completing tasks and leveling-up, that meant my goal was more-so focused towards aesthetic value, i.e., the colour of the shell and design of the faceplate. In the days leading up to my fully fledged hunt for a Paradise, I'd been casually searching the toy sections of large supermarkets around my local area. A few years ago, this is where I had managed to obtain my first ever Tamagotchi. I should have anticipated however, that although Tesco may have come in clutch back then, they don't seem to stock the more "high-tech" models of the newer Tamagotchi generations. At least not where I'm based anyway.
This was no matter though, as I knew my partner lived only a short drive away from Basingstoke and we were due to spend a few days together during his time off work anyway. With no major plans on the table other than spending some much needed quality time together, the suggestion came up that we try looking in Festival Place. For the unaware, Festival Place is pretty large shopping centre and the complex alone carries quite a few shops that stock childrens toys and video games. It seemed like a no-brainer that we could go there, take part in the Pokemon Go Kalos Tour, get some lunch somewhere and find a Paradise.
Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Not a single shop in the whole of Basingstoke stocked Paradises. None in Festival Place, none in Argos, none in Smyths. Nothing. It was a completely and utter Paradise dead zone. I had already accounted for the fact that finding a Blue Ocean specifically might be a bit of a challenge, but never did I expect to find that not a single shop in such the area had one for sale.
Reportedly, a lot of shops had issues with availability due to theft, which despite my disappointment was a pretty amusing concept. Who knew? I did manage to get myself a small Angel Jr. in a blind bag at HMV though, which I'm very happy with. It even came with a cute sticker!
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That being said, me and my partner still had a lot of fun in Basingstoke and completed all the event challenges for the Kalos Tour together! I don't have many photos from that day as it was pretty hectic, but we did catch some pretty good Pokemon. Here's a couple of my favourites from our time spent together:
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When we got back to my partner's place, I decided to do some hunting online for any local stores that list the item as "in-stock". In regards to the Blue Ocean, I was only left feeling even more defeated upon seeing that not a single location within a 10 mile radius had it. Not one. So to say at this point I was feeling a bit down about the whole situation was an understatement.
During the early hours of the night however, I noted that while the Blue Ocean was out of stock, there was an Argos back in my home city that did at least stock the Pink Land equivelant. I'm not usually the biggest fan of pink, it's cute and all but generally speaking I tend to gravitate more towards cool tones, at this stage however with my dreaded GP appointment due for early the next morning I really just wanted any version of the game to take my mind off the situation. Since we would be heading back that way, I made a decision. I'd get that one. No shipping hassle, damage in transit or extra charges, I would buy it in person and finally get my hands on the damn thing.
I didn't sleep all that well that night (unrelated to the Tamagotchi, of course) but I did at least manage to get a few hours. My partner decided on the drive down that we had enough time to go grab a coffee before my appointment, which looking back was probably a blessing in keeping me on my feet all day. The GP appointment was surprisingly uneventful in the kind of ways you hope for, no bad news, just mundane discussions over precriptions which I won't bore you with the details of. After that was a trip to go get food (I tried my first Taco Bell, honestly pretty good!) and at last...made the short walk to the Argos situated a few doors down, placing my collection order for my Tamagotchi Paradise.
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At long last, I finally had it in my hands! I was so stoked. I'd bought some triple A batteries during the big food shop a few days prior in anticipation of this moment and had kept them in my rucksack quick start-up, but I had to hold off just while longer as after all, this was the last day I'd be seeing my partner this week and I wanted to make the most of our time together before he went back to work. The shops in my hometown are pretty naff to tell the truth, but we still had fun looking around some of the more nerdy ones. I did see this big Mametchi plush on sale in ToyTown though, but as tempted as I was I knew I'd spent enough money this week already and, regretfully, I have to be a responsible adult about these kinds of things now (lame).
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After that we got some snacks and ventured to the lookout point in the northern part of the city -- a big chalk pit with a pretty decent view. It was at this point while chatting and playing some Pokemon Go together I found myself unable to hold back, so we grabbed my batteries from my bag and opened the box for my Tamagotchi. I'd forgot to pack a screwdriver, but this ended up not being as big of a problem as anticipated as my partner used the opposite end of his work key to unscrew the back plate for me (by some miracle without stripping the screw...I'm not sure his employers would be as stoked as I was about that but I digress). I'm terrible at giving names to anything so I was a big stumped when promted to name my planet but my partner had the brilliant idea of naming it "42" (as in "the answer to the ultimate question; of life, the universe, and everything"). It felt very fitting as a sci-fi nerd who is essentially buidling a planets entire population from scratch, but that then begs the question...am I a Magrathean or a mouse?
This entry took a lot longer to write than anticipated as I was super exhausted when I got home and wanted to make some small adjustments to my website while I typed everything up, but since starting up my Paradise my Tama has evolved from a Babymarutchi, into a Land Kid, and around four o'clock today, into a Sprout Young. Perhaps I'll create another entry cataloguing my progression into the game? We shall see as I'm honestly the worst when it comes to making regular updates as you can see from my changelog. (I promise I'll get to work on making this site easier to navigate...eventually).
Well, until then, I'm going to take care of Dwayne (my partner's suggestion for my Tama's name, are you sensing a theme here by any chance?) and shall hopefully write another entry soon.
Ciao for now!
2023 | Last updated: 06/03/2026
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