This article over at Sea Monkey Geek was so entertaining I thought id put it here so people can continue to read it. Enjoy!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Sea Monkey Geek . com
I've been a Sea Monkey fan since I was a wee lad and now I aim to the have the most complete Sea Monkey Site ever assembled. Enjoy.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Sea Dragons?
You may recall our discovery a while back that a Mexican company was selling a Sea Monkey knock off called Gluppy's. The Gluppy's folks seemed to have gotten as far as negotiating a deal with McDonalds.I haven't heard much about Gluupy's lately and I don't see any for sale on Mercado Libre so I'm guessing they are no longer in production. But NOW, along come the Australians, with Sea Dragons.I have a call in to the Sea Monkeys folks to find out if they know anything about these Dragons. I've also written to my brother, who just happens to live in Australia and I have him ordering a set for me.One interesting feature of "Sea Dragons" is that they have little pals available! "Teeny Weeny Winkles" (please punish whoever named these guys) are little purple snails that are marketed as perfect tank mates for "Sea Dragons." Hmmm. I would love to have some little purple snails in my Sea Monkey tanks. I hope to experiment with some reef snails from my local aquarium shop soon.I also see that they're experimenting with sea weed. It'll be interesting to see where that goes.
Posted by KLJ at 11:04 AM
Labels: sea monkey knock offs
16 comments:
Instant life is cool said...
Hi Sea monkey GeekThere seems to be some confusion about my product.Itsy Bitsy Sea Dragons.and another product that has supposedly been sold in Korea.Itsy Bitsy Sea Dragons are made, owned and manufactured in Australia. They are a different sp to sea monkeys (Artemia NYOS) Sea Dragons are (Parartemia australiensis) and so are not sea monkeys. They have never been sold as Sea monkeys and never will. I like to think I’m a more imaginative and creative type to just make a knock off an old product. Are you an expert in patent and copyrite law? ;)Also I can guarantee that no parts are made in china and I would be interested to know if most of the sea monkey plastic tanks and final packaging is. We have a license to display the Australian made logo which is only allowed to be put on ‘Australian made and manufactures produce’. There are hefty fines for a breach in this contract so this should be your proof of fact.Because we manufacture from local materials, our profit margins are very low and I do what I do for the love and interest in these amazing little creatures and for the pleasure that it creates for adults and kids that keep them. Little Aussie Products originally came into existence when we developed out highly successful product Billabong Bugs (an Aussie Triops kit) back in 2004. Our Itsy Bitsy Sea Dragons have been available for abut one year now and is the newest critter in our product range. The design and concept was originally meant for the Aussie market but we have had so many enquires world wide that we now sell them internationally as well.I feel the marketing motivations are different for sea monkeys and sea dragons.Sea monkeys use high end plastic tank design and artwork to create its seasonal product variation. I am more interested in creating a tiny easily maintained ecosystem, eventually composed of a wide variety of interesting and hardy animals that are either desiccation resistant in the form of eggs or the adult animals ability to undergo aestivation. You will be amazed at the animals that I’m experimenting with at the moment, some of them tiny little ball shaped creatures that I will soon ad to the list of creatures available, the little ball creatures will be called 'sea bubbles', others that look like little clams and a variety of snails that will help to create an interesting 'sea theme'. I’ve travelled to some amazing places around Australia in the search for these creatures. Currently I have about one and a half tons of dirt samples from the salt lakes and claypans and I’m always amazed at the new and different creatures that spring to life when a sample of the dirt is placed in water. Its really important to enphasis that I don’t want to compete with sea monkeys so there should be no feelings of threat. On the contrary, I would like to think that what I do is complimentary to sea monkeys. Indeed many of the creatures that I am working with are very compatible with artemia or seamonkeys - such as the winkles. So you don’t like the name Teeny Weeny Winkles hey? That’s Ok.What would you like to call them? Perhaps - Boring scientificus? ;) Seriously tho, So many people tell me they love the name. They think it’s cute and is a strong motivator to purchase some. Don’t forget that the name sea monkeys is poo-hooed my so many synic's these days as well. ;)But honestly, I think sea monkeys are a cool name. Go Harold Von braunhut for coming up with such a groovy name.Any way, you’ve got a good site and although you are a directly sponsored by the sea monkey people and therby maybe just a little biased,;) I do hope you do the right thing and help to dispel a few myths. After all the net is full of misinformation and you do have to wonder why. Ps If you would like me to provide you with updates about new items being added to the SeaDragons range I’m happy to do so.Kind regards John Bodman
December 15, 2007 1:40 PM
KLJ said...
Egads, if I'd known there was an "Itsy bitsy" in their name I'd have complained as much about their moniker as a I did about them Teeny Weeny Winkles.Nope. I'm not expert in patent and copyright law. I do know that your product IS sea monkeys, with a few minor tweaks. Lets not kid ourselves here, there's nothing original in this product. As for my bias. Sure, I don't hide it. But I was a fan long before I got the sponsorship. I was blogging at my personal blog about my sea monkeys long before I got the sponsorship. I was and am a fan of a truly unique and original idea (both the product AND it's marketing.)By the way, you do know that your website has "Sea Monkey" in it's title right?"Sea monkeys: The Little Aussie, Itsy Bitsy Sea Dragons: The Official Site." That's the title of your site. Now, tell me how original you are again.
December 15, 2007 2:08 PM
Vivien said...
Well, although "Sea Monkeys" were the first to market brine shrimp as pets, it doesn't give the company the exclusive rights to sell them. The original patent (if there was one) must have expired years ago. Many products that we use today were born from the ideas of other, older companies (zippers for example). And besides, "Sea Monkeys" didn't discover nor create brine shrimp; brine shrimp and/or live brine shrimp are sold by many companies that have not been influenced by the company that made sea monkeys.It is very possible that the makers of sea dragons were influenced by sea monkey products, such as the air pump. But from pictures, they seem to be another strain of artemia. Their bodies are much paler and they do not usually have the colored spine that many sea monkeys have. So, although the product is similar, there's no reason to be bitter toward sea dragons. Ideas are often tweaked and and formed into new ideas; that's how we get product variation. Personally, I love sea monkeys, and I am going to get some sea dragons as well, because I like their pale color and aesthetically pleasing tank decorations. :)
December 16, 2007 10:39 PM
KLJ said...
Vivien,I can tell by your hilarious post that you are in no way affiliated with Sea Dragons, and are completely impartial in every way. (Oh, and isn't it great that in John Bodman's original comment, the one where he doesn't call himself Vivien, he calls himself "instant life is cool"? See "instant life" is a term used by the original Sea Monkeys. This product is the very definition of a lame knock off.)
December 17, 2007 4:02 AM
Vivien said...
Uh... well, if you think I am John Bodman, there's no way I can prove to you that I'm not. Hey, I see where you're coming from when you speak against the Sea Dragons. I have loved Sea Monkeys for quite a while (I don't have a set yet since I'm so busy right now) starting from when I began to keep some feeder brine shrimp as pets. And when I saw sea dragons, I thought, this is the same thing as Sea Monkeys!But then again, how many more ways can you market brine shrimp as pets? The company probably got some ideas from the Sea Monkey company, but is that really that bad? They offers some stuff we wouldn't be able to get from Sea Monkey sets, like the snails. Besides, pretty much everything we buy is not made by the original company who thought of the idea. So yea, other companies developing older ideas happens all the time, and it might take part of the market, so it isn't good for the original company, but it does offer consumers more choices. Since you have been a fan of the original Sea Monkeys for a long time, you must not to like the Sea Dragons. But hey, they offer those purple snails you can get to clean your tank.Besides, I've always thought of knockoffs as something that is blatantly product/trademark plagiarism. Like those Sailor Moon toy knockoffs that market her as "Sailor Anne" that look exactly the same as Sailor Moon. I mean, they obviously didn't think of a character that just happened to look exactly like Sailor Moon. But with brine shrimp... it wasn't a person that made them, so Sea Monkeys can't take credit for "making brine shrimp." It was very creative to market them as pets, but there's no restriction now saying others can't also do it.And dude, you need to appreciate their mermaid decorations. I saw them, and thought "HOLY CRAP, you can see her nipples! And this is supposed to be for kids!" But hey, she's hot. Now you can look in wonder at your swimming sea monkeys AND appreciate the hotness of a woman-fish hybrid. It's not all so bad...
December 19, 2007 10:29 PM
KLJ said...
I'm more convinced then ever that you are affiliated with John and with Sea Dragons, which are sea monkeys, even by their own descriptions. Knock off, mermaid nipples not withstanding.
December 19, 2007 11:27 PM
Vivien said...
Isn't John Bodman in Australia? Well, whatever. I still say that you can't really "knock off" an animal.I mean, what if you heard someone say, "Dude, your cat is a knock off of the real company that makes cats!"
December 22, 2007 1:43 PM
KLJ said...
If this was just a matter of an animal, there'd be no patent. In fact aquariums all over the country sell brine shrimp and brine shrimp eggs, even brine shrimp hatcheries. This is a marketing approach which is a total knock off. Sea Monkeys vs. Sea Dragons, "Instant Life", three envelopes, it's all the same damn thing. So Vivien, you bit of fiction you, how'd you come across this article? How'd you come to be familiar with Sea Dragons? What part of the world do you hail from?
December 22, 2007 3:53 PM
Vivien said...
Just a bio student who likes Sea Monkeys because they're awesome. Anyways, I'll say that Sea Dragons could definitely be more original (some things are probably taken from Sea Monkeys), but there's not much that can be done if they want to market their product. Besides, it makes sense to have three packets... unless you combined the salt and the eggs, but who knows how well that would work.That's what I mean when I say it's not a knockoff. Knockoffs look exactly like the original product, even the company logo, and try to fool you into thinking your getting something legit. And you do, until you open up the package and actually use it. So, you know you're getting something different if you buy Sea Dragons... (or those Gluppys) so it's like they're trying to fool anyone with a knockoff.
December 30, 2007 3:26 AM
KLJ said...
I don't believe you that you're not affiliated with the Itsy Bitsy, Ootsy wootsy Sea Dragon company. I mean, I've had this blog for quit a while and never heard from you before. I'm kind of done tossing around the same argument over and over.
December 30, 2007 9:11 AM
Vivine said...
Alright, fair enough. Well, I just got into Sea Monkeys recently when we experimented with brine shrimp in my marine bio course (it was not a pretty one, unfortunately). So I started keeping some for fun.Sea Monkeys are on sale at toysrus.com by the way. Two pack for $3.99. Shipping is a bit much, but since SM don't weigh much, it costs the same to ship 1 or 10. Also, if you manage to get $75 worth of them, they give you $20 off.It's a good deal, but I just don't know what I would do with so many Sea Monkey packs... Just putting it out there in case you find some use with the sale.
December 31, 2007 4:13 AM
Vivien said...
Nevermind about the $20 off $75 bit; it expired.Arg...But then again, 40 packs of Sea Monkeys is quite alot.
December 31, 2007 4:19 AM
Unknown said...
Hi, I've been reading ur blog since last year but nvr commented. Sea dragons technically would be more interesting than sea monkeys. However I feel that sea dragons are seriously unoriginal. Ok cya! P.s Gluppys are really really lame.
January 11, 2008 10:34 PM
Stephen said...
intresting argument here. i stumbled upon this post here a few minutes ago in a sea dragon search, sea dragons i stumbles upon a bit earlier in an ebay search for seamonkeys.my point of view is that the sea dragons are pretty much a copy and are sucking on sea monkeys sucess. however, what i gathered from 'instant life is cool'/vivien post, it sounds like the new approach they are taken is quite cool. i guess i imagine that the sea dragons themselves were a copy, but perhaps the creator was thinking about seamonkeys one day and thought "hmm, wouldn't it be cool if i could throw these seamonkeys and a bucnh of other teeny critters together?". it seems like that's the idea, and i think its a good one. so when you look at them as a whole, its not really a ripoff, but perhaps the seadragon product on it's own is.anyways, i want to start a family of seamonkeys/seadragons along with these wrinkle things. now that i know of this seadragon variety, can somone tell me which i should go with? i have even considered just getting normal brine shrimp of some sort, would those still be compatible with the wrinkles?and if the "instant life is cool" guy is still kicking around here, can you tell me when the bubble things will be available and if they are only compatible with the sea dragons?thanks.
January 13, 2008 2:11 PM
Sea Monkey Geek said...
Bodman,I deleted your last two comments.This is not a place for you to get free advertising/spamming rights for your products. Please know that I will delete all future comments that have that spammy smell about them. Thanks,SMG
January 16, 2008 9:42 AM
Gary said...
I'm liking this geek-war, lots of fun. :)Well I found this when searching for information about the Teeny Weeny Winkles. I think they sound cool, and I'm looking forward to getting some for my tank.FYI: I have sea monkeys, and I also have some brine shrimp for feeding to fish. I keep my sea monkeys in a small tank with a pump that puts a small amount of oxygen into the water at regular intervals. Seems to be very succesful and I enjoy watching them. I live in a small apartment in London which doesn't allow pets, except for fish, or small enclosed creatures such as stick insects. As kids we had sea monkeys and I thought I'd give them a try again.My opinion is that the itsy bitsy sea dragons are probably copying sea monkeys in the idea, but then again does that really matter? Good ideas are always copied and sometimes modified. That's what keeps ideas fresh.I'm also hoping to get some triops, just for a change. I've heard that the tanks can get a bit smelly though so I have to look into this a bit more.I really like the idea of having more than one thing in a tank. So having the sea monkeys and the snails in the one tank would be great. Having other creatures in the same tank would be even better. I imagine a well lit tank with lots of creatures living together, it's own micro-system. You could watch it for hours.I can't sea the sea dragons company competing with sea monkeys. After all, sea monkeys have been around for a long time and we all grew up with them. The sea monkeys (I presume) are sold and marketed by a large company with the finance behind it to continue. The sea dragons are a small company run by one person (from the sounds of his message). It'll not be easy for a small company to take over from the large company. Sure he might take some of the Australian market, but that's about it. Enough to keep him in business I hope, but not enough to affect Sea Monkeys company.I think John Bodman should concentrate on his eco-system theme, that's where I think he'll do the best. He may sell a sea monkey equivelent, but I think people are more interested in the ecosystem idea. They'll want the snails, the brine shrimp, the sea bubbles and all the other things he mentions. I'd love to add those things to my tank of sea monkeys.Good luck to John, and may the sea monkeys and other ideas continue for a long time. They are a great educational product for kids and adults. They are great in the office, and they are great at home.
