ABOUT


WebkinzInsider was a popular Webkinz forum that lived from 2007-2021. I was a part of a community on there in the "Meet My Webkinz Family" (MMWFT) section, where cool kids like me would post updates on the lives of our Webkinz. I called mine Valley of the 'Kinz.
Now I did lose all of the stories I made for it. Super didn't archive them, and neither did the Internet Archive. But I did keep everything else, inlcuding this vintage family photo complete with authentic 2010 graphic design...choices...

Xanthe Jocosa Slowpoke Lucky Olive Paige Sokka Ella Sierra Charlie Charlotte

Xanthe/March 6, 2005

Charlie's little sister. They had their own section of the thread, "Puppy Allegory", where they would spend lots of time exploring nature and climbing trees together. @the person at Disney who recognized that I had a Webkinz tied to my backpack: that was Xanthe! This is me! hi!!!!

Jocosa/February 13, 1994

Jocosa was a cop for a hot second, until I decided there was no reason for the Valley to have a police force and changed her job. abolition any% speedrun-- She's a Kinz Scouts leader. Stopped going on outings with me after some kid in theater waved her around by the tail and smacked her into things :( so rude

Charlotte/November 8, 1981

Charlotte and her kid, Charlie, were a gift for my 12th birthday in one of those short-lived Webkinz and Lil'Kinz combo sets. She is a teacher, and lived in England as a puppy. She has misophonia and I think she's the oldest 'Kinz in the Valley (in terms of her character's age, not the plush's age).

Ursula Natalie Lucky/April 16, 1999

First of 'em all, found in 2008 at a toy store that has since closed. Mayor of the Valley until I realized she'd been Mayor for the last decade. She is enjoying her retirement from politics with her wife Sierra, who was always referred to on the original thread as her "best friend and right-paw 'Kinz" because WI was suuuuper against romance and I'm pretty sure if I made the stuffed animals hold paws gayly I would've been banned on the spot.

Sierra Caoilfhionn/February 9, 1998

Purchased in 2010 from Wal-Mart in one of their "lil'kinz and a pack of trading cards" sets that honestly they should've kept around for way longer than they did. Sierra is a gay little Irish mall goth who has used the same ninja costume for Halloween for 14 years.

Ella/July 8, 1997

An adventurer and hiking enthusiast. Her collar was a survival bracelet I found at the bottom of a lake. She and Xanthe were found at the same time. She spends a lot of her time LARPing with her best friends Kari and Wester, they have matching capes, it's adorable.

Slowpoke/August 24, 2004

Paige's culinary arts teacher, down-to-earth foil to her antics, and closest friend. A gift for my 12th birthday, alongside the Spaniels. Okay so it looks like she's sticking her fin out to poke somebody and because poking people was the big thing on Facebook at the time, that's why her name. The first thing I did after adopting her was to give her fish sticks to see if she'd eat them...

Avalyn Olive/February 15, 1997

Huge weeb, to put it briefly. Lead singer for the band Paper Napkinz, and a former acrobatics teacher before the Accident. Due to the limited distribution range of the Opossum, she is now one of my rarest 'Kinz! I adopted her in 2011 and she has been hanging around by her tail ever since.

Charlie/July 25, 2003

Has been my hiking companion for so long that he's got the soft fuzzy fur that only a very frequently washed Webkinz can earn. His behind-the-scenes lore included a story where he meets his long-lost Chihuahua friend from the toy store, but I never found one, so it was never canonized. Are you still out there, Samantha?

Paige/May 8, 2002

A gift for Christmas 2009, and the second 'Kinz to join the Valley.
She had her own shade of blue that she typed in,
and was able to interact with her surroundings with cartoon logic. She probably still has her Toonkind ways, but without the thread, she doesn't have a fourth wall to break anymore, so she focuses on her bakery with Slowpoke instead.

Sokka/May 6, 1995

Sokka and Jocosa were Christmas 2010 gifts together. He's an activist who used to advocate for Autism Speaks when I was 13 and was getting all of my political stances from autism moms on a webkinz forum. We have since learned better opinions. Autism Speaks explode challenge.
His petition to Customer Service to get his name legally changed is gathering dust.

STATS


By the time the thread closed in 2013, it had gathered 79 updates (short stories less than 2 posts long), 15 full length stories, and the coveted 5-star rating B)
Working on VotK turned Webkinz into my first special interest, and it defined my early Internet experience! It taught me how to use a camera, navigate forums, write the world's most basic code, and get really creative with character concepts because I had to write almost 80 biography snippets for the cast page by the end of the run.
Click on the 'Kinz to learn more about them!