The Hello Kitty vibrator is back! Well, almost. It’s available in Japan but there are no plans to distribute it to the United States. The New York Times took at look at how the original Hello Kitty “shoulder massager” became a sensation in the states as a vibrator. To get the scoop, they interviewed two of our Babeland staff!

When I first started working at Babeland over three years ago, we were carrying the Hello Kitty vibrator and I had a lot of awesome conversations with people who wanted to know what it was or wanted to get one for a friend. Often times, so-called “novelty” toys like the Hello Kitty vibrator are not as good in terms of quality. They’re made as real toys, not made to last. The Hello Kitty vibrator, however, was solid. It had the same base as the Waterdancer, a great toy so we knew it would last a bit longer than the average novelty toy.

The new “massagers” (pictured) are a different shape so I don’t know how they’ll hold up quality-wise, but I hope that Sanrio changes their minds and decides to open up the market to the United States. They’ll make a lot of money and we’ll be happy to have Hello Kitty back in our stores.