Digimon of the franchise, a device marketed in June 1997 with the name Digimon, a short for "Digital Monster". Aiming at the male audience and created by Akiyoshi Hongo (a pseudonym that refers to the creators of "Tamagotchi"), this device shows to players a virtual pet composed entirely of data and designed to play and fight. In February 1998, the "DigiMon" fighting game, compatible with Windows 95 and developed by Rapture Technologies, Inc., was announced. The one-shot manga "C'mon Digimon", designed by Tenya Yabuno, was published in the Japanese magazine V-Jump by Shueisha in 1997. A second generation of "virtual pets"
The Heavy Pets together with bassist Robert "Chops" Froehlich and Syracuse University drummer Kinyatta King under the name My Friends Band, but the group disbanded after 2003. The high school crew partially regrouped after college, but remained a completely underground band. In 2004 Lloyd got a call from former Heavy Pets bassist Joe Dupell, who had moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to start an internet marketing company. Dupell invited him to visit, and Lloyd saw it as an opportunity to leave New York. Garulli followed, and The Heavy Pets were officially formed. Wuest arrived soon after. Lloyd had his first Florida debut jamming