When Jared Winegarden bought the Hatchimal for his youngest daughter, he felt like 'Super Dad', he wrote in a review on Amazon.
"I don't want to mention how much I spent for this thing - it's embarrassing," the father wrote. "I was stepping in for the 'big win.' A quest; if you will, to be the most awesome Dad ever. Bought, paid for, and delivered."
His daughter, like millions of other children, had been captivated by the biggest toy craze of the year. The Hatchimal, the fuzzy interactive toy that hatches out of an egg, flew off the shelves across the country. Parents waited for hours outside stores to buy them, while others paid up to seven times the retail price on eBay, Amazon and other sites.
Hatchimals were originally listed at about $70, but online marketplaces have asked for up to $350 for each toy. It was even featured on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
When the "big day" arrived for Winegarden's family, his daughter ripped open the wrapping paper "like a starving man tearing into a Big Mac," her eyes brightening when she saw what it was. Victory, her father thought.
Carefully reading the instructions, they began to give the egg the love it required, rubbing it and waiting in anticipation to witness the toy's highly advertised miracle of life. The teal-and-pink-colored Penguala (reminiscent of a penguin) cooed and blinked its eyes. But alas, the batteries ran dead, and the fluffy creature did not hatch. Winegarden's wife had to put on her veterinarian costume to surgically extract the Hatchimal from its egg.
"We replaced the batteries, but like humpty dumpty, the hatchimal couldn't be put back into the egg," Winegarden wrote.
According to a class action lawsuit filed against Spin Master Corp Winegarden's daughter was not the only child faced with an utter Hatchimal letdown on Christmas morning. The lawsuit, handled by famed lawyer Mark Geragos, claims that Hatchimals don't always hatch, creating unhappiness in families that can range from "extreme disappointment to tragic."
"When we purchase an iPhone, we expect it to make a phone call. When we purchase a yo-yo, we expect it to come back up," wrote the attorney. "Unfortunately, this Christmas season, millions of children and families across the globe were sourly disappointed with coal in their stockings, in the form of a bait-and-switch marketing scheme perpetrated by Spin Master, the manufacturers of this Christmas season's 'it' gift, Hatchimals."
Spin Master, a Toronto-based company behind popular toys Etch-a-Sketch, Build-a-Bear Workshop and Tamagotchi, released the toys in early October, just in time for the holidays. Hatchimals come in an egg a bit larger than a grapefruit and can be one of five different "species," Pengualas, Draggles, Burtles, Owlicorns, and Bearakeet.
Each egg, the company says, requires "a lot of love and care to hatch," making pecking noises and lighting up its eyes in different colors to display its "feelings" - whether it's cold, upset, tired, scared or has to burp or sneeze. The egg can take up to 25 minutes of rubbing, tilting and tapping for it to begin hatching, which then can take up to 30 minutes.
But this excitement was replaced with frustration and tears for many children, and regret among "the dutiful parents who waited hours and days outside retail stores," the lawsuit stated.
Jodie Hejduk, the lawsuit's lead plaintiff, lives in Bakersfield, California and purchased a Hatchimal for her daughter's birthday from Walmart. Hejduk and her daughter followed the instructions included in the packaging in attempts to hatch it, to no avail. The creature now remains in its egg, unhatched.
The company has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
But in a Facebook post on December 28, Spin Master wrote that "while the vast majority of children have had a magical experience with Hatchimals" the company had also heard from consumers who had encountered challenges. In response, the company said it increased its number of consumer care representatives, extended its hours and increased the capacity for callers in the queue to help prevent calls dropped due to the holiday volume. It also created troubleshooting tips and videos on its website.
The lawsuit seeks to represent both a California class and a national class, though Meiselas says his office has been getting calls from people around the world, Courthouse News reported.
Reviews from angry parents on Amazon and Toys 'R Us described experiences similar to the lead plaintiff's.
"My daughter got this as a Christmas gift from her grandma," one post on Toys 'R Us read, according to the lawsuit. "We opened it and did just what the box said only to have it do NOTHING!! it never lit up never made noise nothing. After 4 hours and my daughter crying because its not doing what the videos show."
"Rainbow flashes, buzzing motor then stops," a reviewer wrote on Amazon. "Now 3 hours later it's lying in the box of shame. Thanks for nothing Spinmaster!"
"IT NEVER HATCHED!" a different parent wrote. "We had to perform a C-Section."
"I honestly think I gave birth to my daughter in less time than it took for this thing to "hatch," another mother wrote.
In Winegarden's scathing Amazon review, the Tennessee father wrote: "DO NOT BUY THIS TOY!!! It does not work."
Next Christmas, Winegarden wrote, he is buying Lego.
This is an edited version of an article which first appeared in The Washington Post.