The Beginning of Digimon’s Vital Bracelet Journey ⋆ Soulcial Dreamin' Ent.

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I have fallen in love with a wearable toy which is known as the vital bracelet. The United States came out with its own iteration called the Vital Hero. I received my first vital bracelet which was a special edition that came with Veemon & Pulsemon DIMs. DIM(Digimon Identified Memory) Cards is an accessory that you insert into your vital bracelet/vital hero watch and install your digiegg and that is where you will embark on your very first adventure as a Digimon tamer. My very first adventure began on November 26th, 2021, and I have been through ups and downs with this whole experience.

【EP1: NEW DIGITAL MONSTER BEGINS】 DIGIMON PROJECT 2021／デジモンプロジェクト2021

So the object of the vital bracelet is to insert your DIM Card into your watch and bring your Digimon to life. Your daily activity will determine which evolution tree your digital monster(Digimon) will evolve(digivolve) to based on your activity. Since my vital bracelet was imported from japan, I always referred to https://humulos.com/digimon/vbdm/

which served as the go-to site for everything vital bracelet related. Learning Japanese names and connecting them to their American counterparts from the days I watched the Digimon anime. Some names I have remembered and others I learned through experience with raising my Digimon. I was so excited because I have seen the commercials and joined communities that helped me learn a game that turned physical activity into a game through constant movement. Since I work in retail, I am always on my feet. My steps will convert into vital points which will contribute towards the strength of your Digimon. Trophies are a reward that is obtained from a variety of workouts involving your Digimon. Such as squats, crunches, punching, or sprinting. I am growing with my Digimon through every step I take along with every move I make. For those who aren’t as active, there are alternative ways to accumulate vital points through shadowboxing and completing missions from the vital bracelet lab app. With through vital bracelet lab app, you can battle, monitor your Digimon’s exercise level and care for your companion after an intense battle. There are items that are used to heal and help your Digimon make it to the next level. Certain evolutions take time through merging certain types which are referred to as jogressing/DNA digivolving. There are other evolutionary methods that are done by working out with your Digimon. Therefore giving multiple opportunities to make it to the next level. I decided to run to the bathroom and do squats for 30 seconds, jog in place or do shadowboxing in between taking care of customers. If an exercise isn’t completed, the vital bracelet will let you repeat it as many times as you need to until you complete it. I referred to Humulos countless times to see which activities are needed for that specific evolution. Exercises ranging from a high exercise level to a low exercise level to influence how you as a tamer will raise your Digimon and evolve it to the next level in your adventure. In every evolution, there are prerequisites along with with a timer to complete the required objectives needed to achieve during the evolution process.

Veemon’s Evolution Chart from Birth to Champion form.

As I unboxed the Digimon vital bracelet, I was so excited to embark on my adventure. In the real world, while I am working, a Digimon rests on my wrist. I had to be super careful since the screen can get scuffed up easily along with water damage. The good news is there are also accessories that aid to protect and contribute to the lifespan of the vital bracelet.

It was the day after Thanksgiving and I had to work on that day. Most families united together as I was getting closer to hatching Chibimon. Veemon has been my favorite Digimon of all time. Most would say Agumon, Gabumon or any of the Digimon which belonged to the original 8 Digidestined. I took care of customers and one hour passed by. My vital bracelet made a noise and it was ready to digivolve. I pressed the lower side button to initiate the evolution sequence. I noticed Chibimon evolving into DemiVeemon. I was happy to see my Digimon grow before my very eyes.

More work happened and it was almost towards closing time. The customer traffic was slow and I was able to focus more on DemiVeemon along with my tasks at hand. I heard the beep on the vital bracelet and it indicated that 3 hours has passed and is ready to digivolve again. DemiVeemon digivolved to Veemon and this is where raising your Digimon gets serious.

Many options to decide with raising your Digimon. I wanted to go for Flamedramon. So I went over to humulos and looked at the requirements needed to activate the digivolution.

With hard missions, the least amount of trophies I can get is 4 per day and the most are 8 depending on how I do the exercises. I did some shadow boxing and I ended up with 4 trophies for that day. My vital points were over 500 but I noticed Veemon had an angry cloud over its head. I googled why is my Digimon upset. Google informed me that my vitals were slipping down due to the heart sensor being very flawed in the version that I purchased. It is a toy and not a premium smartwatch in comparison to an Apple Watch or a Galaxy Smartwatch. Since my complexion is dark, the heart rate sensor wasn’t picking up vitals like it was supposed to.

I decided to open up the VB Lab App and did a battle using my Veemon before its bedtime. I was learning the ropes of the Vital Bracelet along with having a battle. Also please forgive me for the garbage video quality.

Veemon vs Gabumon (Black) on the VB Lab App

Veemon went to sleep at 8:00 pm automatically and with this version, Digimon has designated bedtimes.

(The auto bedtime functions do not apply to the Digivice V/Vital Hero/ Digivice VV/ Vital Bracelet: BE due to a manual sleeping function that can be activated at will )

I took my vital bracelet off for the night due to the strap feeling uncomfortable. When a Digimon falls asleep, the vital points are preserved until the next morning. Veemon wakes up at 8 am, I usually wake up at 10 am – 11 am. I lost some vitals and I found some design flaws due to the heart rate sensor not picking up my pulse. I started to gain some vitals back and another digivolution happened while I was at work.

Veemon Digivolve to Flamedramon

I went back to Google and learned about the wackiest workarounds for the heart rate sensor to pick up my pulse. One of the wackiest workarounds was placing a piece of paper towel so it can detect your complexion. In my experience, it actually worked. The strap got dirty and started to stretch apart. The demographic for the vital bracelet was focused on kids and the majority of adults use the vital bracelet as well. I became curious about finding watch straps that were compatible with the vital bracelet. I searched on eBay and saw that it only came in starter bundles for the Digimon vital bracelet. I didn’t want to get another vital bracelet for a strap extender.

The stand-alone alternatives were from AliExpress, E-Bay, Carousel, and so on. I headed over to social media and went into the Digimon Underground. The Digimon Underground community is well-informed about everything Digimon under the sun throughout the world wide web. Want to customize your virtual pet, there is a solution for that. They’re people in that community who will help and guide you along the way from installing a backlight to a custom glow-in-the-dark background or fixing a damaged motherboard and the options are endless.

Want to purchase watch adapters so you can incorporate your existing watch bands with your vital bracelet, that is an option as well. Information is being constantly exchanged and that community has enlightened me with the vast knowledge of the Digimon vital bracelet. I came across a shop called “ERodsBuilds” which the community held in high regard. The community recommended him heavily for my first vital bracelet strap mod. This business is stationed in the USA, so I didn’t have to worry about the hardships of international shipping and waiting through customs clearance.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/erodbuilds

I met someone in the community who was an independent merchant who I can vouch for heavily. Gabriel Restua has a network of connections at his fingertips and I have done multiple transactions with him. Gabriel assisted me with getting my vital bracelet upgrade which is known as the Digivice V. The Digivice V has improved quality-of-life features that the original model didn’t have. It took fewer steps to accumulate vital points, and sleep function and it has a rocking mechanism where the steps are being tracked as opposed to the heart rate sensor which was garbage in the first version of the vital bracelet.