Dottie Russo had some choice words for those who would inflate the price of the hot holiday toy to sell online to desperate parents Watch video
Dottie Russo of Paramus finally has her Hatchimals. After a viewer saw a recent Eyewitness News report on WABC about her desperate quest for the in-demand toys, the Bergen County mother was able to buy two of the egg-themed playthings for her daughters.
It was Russo's video rant (see clip above) about the scarcity of the hot holiday toy that drew interest to her plight.
Hatchimals, the designated "it" toy for holiday 2016, are little Pokemon-like creatures (their features resemble mashups of actual animals) from Canadian toymaker Spin Master that reside in eggs that "hatch" after they're bought and opened -- the buyer doesn't know the identity of the animal inside, and the owner of the Hatchimal must care for it as it proceeds through infant, toddler and "kid" stages of life. After the toys sold out at many locations, a spokeswoman for Wayne-based Toys 'R' Us said a new shipment was due this past weekend to satisfy the demands of holiday shoppers.
"The consumer response to Hatchimals has been extraordinary, exceeding all expectations," reads a pop-up message on the Hatchimals website, saying the company has ramped up production to roll out new Hatchimals in early 2017.
Russo's four-minute Hatchimals video, titled "Freakin Hatchimals!!" has drawn nearly 18,000 views since it was posted on Nov. 11. Her frustrations target what she sees as a hypothetical spoilsport of the Christmas season -- That Guy -- an archetype of a 43-year-old man sitting in his mother's basement playing PlayStation "with his little Cheez Doodle-crusted hands," urinating in Poland Spring bottles because he doesn't want to take a break from "Call of Duty." That Guys, she says, ostensibly hoards Hatchimals for his own or inflates the original $69.99 price to sell them online for upwards of $200.
"Have you no soul?" an incredulous Russo exclaims. "Do you not know what it was like to be a kid?"
Hatchimals are *the* toy to have for holiday 2016. (Toys 'R' Us) Come for the rant, stay for the condemnation of Hatchimals breeding practices.
"A Burtle -- Apparently it's what happens when you mate a turtle with a bee," she says. "Um ... which are visions I can't get out of my head."
When she was still Hatchimal-hungry, Russo -- who told ABC she was ultimately able to buy two Hatchimals at a fair price from a woman who saw the segment on her video -- suggested she mate her Shih Tzu with her neighbor's Pekingese.
"And then I can just put the puppy in an egg and tell my kid it's a Peki-Shih, because I've had enough," she said. "Good luck, ladies."
Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.