#neopet spinoff

[invadermak2016]

Okay, I'm going to bring up a game that I still miss greatly.

[neobastard]

neopets posted a very lengthy update to the portal site, the new format replacing the monthly AMAs.

the full post can be found here: https://portal.neopets.com/news/may22-neopets-updates

but i'll summarize the community questions and other updates beneath the cut:

community QnA:

Q: is neopets planning a "rugpull"?

A: no, the team working on the site has doubled over the past two years and everyone is working hard to revive not just the brand but the site itself. these teams' commitment to both neopets,com and spinoff projects and merchandise for brand relevance is described as "unwavering"

Q: why are they making money with nc releases but not improving the site?

A: there are different teams working on engineering, improvements, and nc releases simultaneously. the engineering and improvement team is much larger than the team working on nc, it's just less visible to players than new items because it's "wizard behind the curtain" changes (they described it as fixing issues on an older tech stack). every dollar they make goes back into neopets in some form, including events, collaborations, and further development. the company is still at a loss but it's not as dire as it used to be two years ago (which is a great improvement, NC discourse aside).

as for major updates:

revamped NC mall - the nc mall will get a new converted layout around late Q2 to Q3 this year, and a tutorial along with the changes.

easier to find on-site wishlist

one click purchasing (alongside the cart)

fixed pet preview!!

reorganized shop directory

new shopkeeper NPCs

here's the new mockup:

website loading speed improvements - there's been a 35% improvement in loading speed since january as a result of specific optimizations, such as backend enhancements, optimizing database queries, cleaning up records, and upgrading servers (a bunch of tech talk essentially)

anti botting progress - neopets has seen a 15% reduction in bot traffic by blocking it at the network level (which likely improved the performance of the site in and of itself). they intend to further tighten defenses, through methods that remain unstated but will likely hit these paid bots and the people who benefit from them hard.

wearable NP and NC item bug fixes - 37 items have been fixed since april, with 21 items on the chopping block for later this month.

and what's on the horizon:

altador cup: they grey year

enhancements to jhudora and illusen's quests, including new battledome item returns (and a $7 club perk that grants extra time)

more progress on converting NP and NC items

expansion of the avatar high score table

adding invisible pets to the customization spotlight

updates to the trading post, including a page conversion

and of course, the void within: episode 2

i'm glad that this new format allows for more transparency, a lot of people thought the video/stream format was too "corporate" and so these big updates to the portal allows them to cover a lot more. i'm excited for what's to come, and i'm honestly glad they ripped the bandaid off and just outright said "yeah we're working on the site behind the scenes y'all just don't see that part cause it's nerd shit".

a lot has improved over the last two years in this site, and i'm appreciative of the team's hard work regardless of my numerous complaints about things like neocash items and the $7 club. they clearly care about feedback and making neopets for the players before all else including any kind of profit.

[paulagnewart]

Trans40mers Pt. 3/12: Freebies Are the Right of All Sentient Beings!

Where did that last month go? Probably the same place this post's initial opening paragraphs centering around themed coincidences and free Hasbro-affiliated goodies ended up.

Ah well. No need for long-winded introductions, let's dive right in.

19th March 2016: Hoping to win back the youth crowd, notoriously conservative-pandering media machine Herald Sun release a free set of Transformers-themed Top Trumps trading cards. They're made available to hundreds of participating newsagents in Victoria (& some for NSW).

-=-=-=-=-=-

For over two centuries Australia has enjoyed mutual cultural ties with the United Kingdom. Many like Cricket, Fish & Chips, Action Man and Gogglebox stood the test of time and became beloved hits. Others not so much. Despite its status as a popular, long-running children's pastime, Aussies were notably late to the Top Trumps party.

Their first 'major' publicity push came in the April 2004 edition of K-Zone magazine, who devoted a half-page "exclusive" article boasting how it "already has a cult following in the UK" and won said Toy Fair's 2002 Game of the Year. Elsewhere this issue featured a splash page promoting various decks including Marvel Comic Heroes, Buffy, Star Wars, Dinosaurs, and The Simpsons.

But 2004 was a tough year for cards. Spurred on by Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z, competition was fierce among companies over who could win the quadrangle. Against new Yu-Gi-Oh!, Duel Masters, Neopets, plus Croftminster's Genio or Myths & Legends cards, Top Trumps faced an uphill struggle living up to its "most addictive card game you're ever likely to play!" claim.

When 2016 rolled along, Transformers scored their first 'retro' deck. Presenting a cutout token earned newspaper readers one of four free packs; Shopkins and Adventure Time over the previous weekend, while Transformers united with My Little Pony. Some 919 newsagents participated in this event, but a paltry 40 were located in New South Wales (6 from Broken Hill alone) and a lone 1 represented Canberra.

Fans already put off supporting Rupert Murdock's racist rag found further disappointment when opening its plastic wrap. The box paraded a mighty montage of Marvel era illustrations, yet each card used reproduced 1984-5 toy packaging art on white backdrops likely sourced, as many did at the time, from Botch the Crab's excellent archive. Tech Specs faced creative liberties, character choices bizarre, plus an overwhelming number of Autobots left budding players bewildered.

"How do you do fellow kids?" indeed.

21st March 2003: Australia scored its first ever official Happy Meal promotion. McDonald's import and repackage all 8 USA Transformers Armada characters slated for sale over 4 weeks, until Megatron and Demolishor are recalled when real-world events label them "war toys".

-=-=-=-=-=-

After the half-hearted, half-a-toyline that was Robots in Disguise, Hasbro Australia were banking on Armada giving the brand a big boost of confidence.

First out the gate were Big W, stocking shelves with the second wave of toys just in time for Christmas 2002. Other retailers joined in by late January, by which point Hasbro went hard with cross-promotions. Those scallywags Jade and Ryan gave a glowing review in Cheez TV's toy testing segment. The 2nd anniversary edition of Mania magazine devoted two pages covering the series' history and introduced fans to new favourites like Alexa, Bureshock and Star Scream. Warner Vision scored the DVD rights, and with a Melbourne-produced video game in the pipeline, 2003 was shaping up to be Year of the Transformers.

But when Dreamwave's spinoff comic was skipped by newsagents, nor space to air the anime on Cartoon Network or Channel Ten until July and August respectively, they needed material to maintain momentum and fast. In stepped McDonald's who, in a first for its time, brought over all 6 toys from their 2002 USA campaign. Swapping out Hello Kitty for Ohio Art's Betty Spaghetty, young fans guzzled cheap fast food, saved their $5 Toys R Us voucher, then logging onto the Happy Meal website for a chance to win over $300 worth of toys.

Wait. All 6?

One day before this promotion began, Australia's Government ordered SAS troops in the Persian Gulf to join a US-led 'Coalition of the Willing' and launch mass strikes on Baghdad. "Countdown to Conflict!" blared across the news. Disney Adventures magazine's feedback column filled with letters from readers who "feel scared and sometimes unsafe". The War in Iraq had begun, and after witnessing mass anti-war protests across our cities, McDonald's ordered Megatron and Demolishor with their controversy-causing tank modes be swiftly scrubbed from stores.

Yet again Transformers were embroiled in real-world conflict, and yet again Australia banned a Megatron toy for being too realistic.

25th March 1996: Speculation mounted among locals at alt.toys.transformers over whether or not Hasbro Australia would import Kenner's brand new Beast Wars toyline. This soon hit a peak when Melbourne fan David Golding logged on to proclaim the series had been discontinued.

-=-=-=-=-=-

"Transformers DISCONTINUED?" may sound like yet another buzzword-boasting, self-aggrandizing social media effluencer's conspiracy theory video, but for fans pondering the fate of Cybertron's finest nearly 30 years ago, a message title like that meant nothing short of serious business.

Better people on better sites have waffled philosophically how The Transformers were in terminal decline. Those glory days of being crowned Toy of the Year had long passed, and not even a nation like Australia who enjoyed ten unbroken years of plastic robot action were immune. They survived He-Man. They survived Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They survived The Simpsons. But stiff competition from superheroes, Matchbox Action System and the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers looked to be their undoing.

Easter and a potential sales spike was two weeks away. If Hasbro hoped Cheez TV's 7am repeat run of Generation Two would elevate interest, they were quashed days later when Power Rangers introduced Australia's own Katherine "Kat" Hillard to the team. Ninjor powered heroes were in, while unsold Laser Rods, Rotor Force and Classics Combiners languished in discount bins.

Speculation on the brand's future flooded from emails over to then-juggernaut watering hole alt.toys.transformers. Eyebrows were raised when one user delivered "bad news for Australian Tf fans, it looks like we AREN'T getting Beast Wars down here. I ran hasbro today and they said they weren't carrying TFs this year.", but Golding's later proclamation drew the most discourse.

"I live in Melbourne, Australia, and at a toyshop recently I was told that the Transformers line had been discontinued. I would like to know if this was errant b******t on the part of the toyshop owner, or if this is really true?"

The comment was evaluated, dissected and criticized by fans both local or overseas. And while Beast Wars did eventually arrive in time for Christmas, those next 9 months would prove an ultimate challenge for diehard Aussie fans.

31st March 2023: Taronga Zoo Sydney and Western Plains Zoo Dubbo culminate their Hasbro partnership with the official Rise of the Beasts Roar & Snore Experience. Over five nights, a select few lucky fans (and celebrities) are treated to a beastly Base Camp under the stars.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Is it truly a Transformers movie without heavy emphasis on promotional contests? Be it humble days of free posters and toys in late-1986, Civic Video's colouring page for free toys come 2007, right up to an Oliver Brown sponsored New York trip complete with… free toys. This may be a series built on change, but as Airazor once proclaimed, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Not since the long-forgotten Transformers stage show at Louisville Zoo had fans witnessed their favourite robots duke it out among nature. Unusual for the time, but after two generations plus a new film built on 90's eco messages and character nostalgia looming over the horizon, promoting the brand at two wildlife sanctuaries were simultaneous strokes of creative and obvious genius.

The contest began on 9th January and focused on zoogoers wandering around to complete their free Beast Power character map. Dubbo's visitors were assigned to locate and decode a message among each Maximals' signature animal; Siamang, Ostrich, White Rhinoceros, Cheetah and African Wild Dog. Sydney on the other hand received their own set of beasts in the forms of Western Lowland Gorilla, Andean Condor, Asian Elephant, Sumatran Tiger and Corroboree Frog. Once complete, the decoded message was submitted online and in with the chance to win.

Quite the generous contest in itself, but Taronga were only getting started. A week later, obnoxious stickers slapped on by underpaid workers littered figures across every Big W. They boasted more prizes; 10 guided zoo tours, 100 free entries, 100 movie tickets plus another round of overnight stays at the newly-branded Beasts Base Camp.

Parents, celebrities and social influenza fans who believe the brand revolved around them flocked at the chance to attend. And thus those nights soon came to pass; drinks, cheese patters, twilight tours, selfies and more free toys awaited them, all under the watchful gazes of life-sized Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal statues.

[the-small-m0th]

I should use this account more lol

🌈 I'm Moth, I'm an age regressor/age dreamer! My big age is 25, but my little age varies a lot.

🖍 I love nostalgic toys/plushies, crafts, video games and cartoons! My current hyperfixations are Brawl Stars, Super Mario (Especially spinoffs like Mario Kart or Mario Party!) ROTTMNT, Deadlock (The Valve game), Splatoon, Monster High, Neopets, Cookie Run and Crashbox!

🧸 I dunno if I'm ever gonna do requests for agere content but I might in the future!

🍭 I do not consent to N/S/F/W and k!nk interaction (THIS INCLUDES DUAL/COM BLOGS), and I do not want bigots, pr0sh!ppers/darksh!ppers, Pro SH/ED blogs or ant1-agere people interacting with me! I hate you guys

🪀 Please don't curse in my replies/asks! It makes me uncomfortable when I'm regressed. Also please don't type in baby talk in my replies/asks, it's very difficult for me to read.

🧃 Sometimes I spam like from my general account @m0th-punk , usually to save stuff to reblog to this account! While I try my best to keep my general account SFW, it may still have some heavy topics or adult humor, so please proceed there with caution!

☀️ Sometimes I might make agere content for more adult oriented media. I will never make content for something that's overly sexual, but sometimes I may make content for horror movies, violent games, etc. I will tag them with the hashtag "Big kid media", so if you'd rather not see that content make sure you blacklist that tag!

I think that's all for now! Feel free to follow if you don't fit any of the DNI criteria :)

(Banner by @the-little-moss)

[crybabypupper]

About Me:

Hi, I do things and stuff. :3

Will Make Agere Content For:

- Animal Crossing: New Horizons

- Cult of the Lamb

- Dark Deception

- Disney's Hercules (Including the spinoff show)

- Disney's Tarzan (Including the spinoff show)

- Dragon Quest: Builders 1 & 2

- Five Nights at Freddy's

- Gravity Falls

- Lackadaisy

- Lucifer (The Netflix Series)

- Monster High (But Only Gen 1)

- My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

- Neopets (I've only had an account for like two months now, though)

- Nimona

- Poppy Playtime

- Stardew Valley

- The Amazing Digital Circus

The Book of Life

- The Nightmare Before Christmas

- The Owl House

- Vampire In the Garden

- Warrior Cats

- Wings of Fire

On the Fence About:

- Bee Swarm Simulator

- Bendy and the Ink Machine

- Centaurworld

- Chillin' In Another World With Lvl 2 Super Cheat Powers

- Delicious In Dungeon (Only watched the first few episodes so far, though)

- Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

- Indigo Park

- The Lion King/The Lion Guard

- The Road to El Dorado

- Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia

- Willy's Wonderland

Probably Won't Make Agere Content For:

- Arcane: League of Legends

- Campfire Cooking In Another World With My Absurd Skill

- Cattails

- Megamind (The awful spinoff stuff doesn't count)

- Shipwrecked 64

- Terraria

- Wakfu

- What Remains of Edith Finch

[kitkat-the-muffin]

Here I am, once again~ Playing Cloutchase with my friend~

Anyway hi! Welcome back to Muffy-Posts-Cloutchase-Spoilers!!! Here are the other two installments: [1][2]

I had SO MUCH fun playing Vol. 3 with my friend! She is amazing at doing impressions and gave YouTube and Twitch the perfect voices, I couldn't ask for anything more. But enough about her since she prefers to remain anonymous, today I am here to present my favorite screenshots from the latest release of Cloutchase!

Without further ado, here are the spoiler-free teases:

And there's the cut!

Aight let's do this

First thing I absolutely loved was that Twitch is so expressive! The facial expressions were all so delightful. ALSO. CLUB PENGUIN. AND WIZ101. And of course Webkinz, Animal Jam, and Neopets are in the background as well hahah, love that too!

This minigame was SO AMAZING omg I am OBSESSED with these character costumes and the fight animation too. Love all the cameos but this Strife content was so awesome!!!! The buttons were a little non-responsive at times but I managed to beat Twitch first try heheh

This is a pretty awesome frame and I'd like to shoutout AJ who I'm pretty sure drew it but I don't have the time or computer charge to reopen the game credits to check. If I'm wrong lemmie know but AJ deserves a shotuout anyway

I love how the subs are sub-sandwiches and I love the design of the camera and chat

I love how complex Twitch's route was. It was very compelling and definitely something I think most streamers need to hear. Swell job Team Timesync! Swell job indeed

I could shout about filmscore and the ghostie crew but instead I'm gonna scream about the google floor lmbo look at it I love it

Oh this. This is beautiful. I read the bonus room content and it's so neat that the timelines lined up coincidentally

Love the dramatic over-the-topness of this fake apology. He's so fake I love it. The voice my friend gave him was kinda like if a greaser was born in Alabama but raised in New York if that makes any sense

I STARTED SCREAMING AT THIS HAHAHAH! YOUTUBE KIDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Peak good end, now I know how to tie a tie. I actually really liked YouTube's route as it was cleverly designed and I love all the many different endings. It was kinda like wading through YouTube's recommended section where you'd save each different possibility of choices in your Watch Later and visit them all when you have the time (which is usually never). So many options but what to pick? I picked them all!

So when I got to this point I started laughing because my friend does all the voices and I only play User and Miss Blog Runner so she was carrying this entire section of the playthrough... AND THEN-

AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR! SHE HAD TO VOICE ALL FOUR OF THEM HAHAH! AND SHE DID AMAZINGLY! I kinda wish she wasn't anonymous cause I wanna give her a shoutout, but maybe when all the routes are released I can convince her to voice them all in a fandub (well not them ALL but definitely Kik and YouTube)

SWEET SWEET REVENGE HAHAHAHAH!!!! Totally deserved as long as they're done here hahahah. I do hope they can all tolerate each other again tho but I love this ending

This volume was long but a lot of fun! I love the Strife minigame and kinda hope it comes back in the future with more mechanics. Maybe an entire spinoff game like Smash Bros idk. Everything was so well written and I love how complex the characters are

Another fantastic entry for a fantastic game! Remember to recommend this game to various streamers to give it the attention it deserves (but not too many, don't wanna overwhelm our fav indie creators!)

[carefreemonk]

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is. Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing! Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Key

Pronouns: she/her

Birthday (no year): jan 6

Where are you from? What is your time zone? west coast canada, PST

How long is your roleplay experience? between 25+ years

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? jesus uhhh that was like 25 years ago. started out “gming” worlds for friends as we ran around the neighbourhood throwing pine cones at each other n stuff. you know. the usual. then came the interwebs (i was like idk 11 and debatably should maybe not have been left to my own devices there). found avidgamers rp forums via neopets. medieval/fantasy, seattle alley cats, and pokemon rp were i think all my first written rp experiences in close/overlapping order

How were you introduced to TOA? old ferp pals on twitter kept making mention of it. eventually succumbed ha ha

Do you have any pets? black cat named cabbage. she was the 16th meow meow i fostered before i stopped (maybe get back to it some day…)

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) when the trees are bright red and gold and the air smells crisp and you can comfortably wear a jacket again… :softsmile: and the leaves are crunchy... tho i haven't crunched leaves since the wasp incident

What is your IRL occupation? admin/bookkeeper

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? webcomics, travels, ultimate frisbee, wanna try more sculpting

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? FFXIV, HSR, picross, zelda, smash bros sbeen a long time but shhh, stardew valley

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: ghost, haunter

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! only ever broke one bone (knocks on wood), it was my collarbone from being cross-checked into the boards in ice hockey. have "completed" two novels, no they won't see the light of day. have, over the years, drawn a cumulative 500+ comic pages' worth. i miss it

How did you get into Fire Emblem? fe7, shared a cartridge with my brother i think. just seemed in our wheelhouse w nintendo being what we had at hand

What Fire Emblem games have you played? 6 & up... i think? no spinoffs other than i guess?? feh? up to like. book 4 or smth

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: fe7 and fe7. nostalgia bias strong

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! matthew, henry, azama, louis, and. hector ig? idk

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! matthew. perky lil thief with a side of heartache… 

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 past key thought claude was p handsome i suppose

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: henry (100% still henry) - Fates: conquest- niles, birthright- azama, revelations- kaze. prob wouldnt change. - Three Houses: claude (prob felix in whatever next run i do) - Engage: louis/lapis (saved, finished one, went back for the other hahaha. maybe miss goldmary if i ever run again)

Favorite Fire Emblem class? thief or mage

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? maybe an archer? with p average stats. like i'd Wanna be a cool mage but idt it suits me hahaha

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Deer for sure

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? boon bow, maybe lance bane flying, faith budding talent in heavy armour, auth

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? Brodia? idk

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔 Tee Oh Ay

Current TOA muses: Hector, Azama

Past TOA muses? Ewan, Matthew, Henry, Florina, Goldmary

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Ewan, and nah. he was a delightful lil ball of sunshine but I don't feel I need that anymore

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? somewhat prickly, probably. also three of the guys i've written have canonically gone "Oho!" and another three i like w some overlap in there are the 'closed eyes' type so... whatever that means. In general tho: I like muses with whom I can explore aspects of human personality I wouldn't necessarily venture into on my own. (certain brands of conflict, responsibility, etc)

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could?  idk i think if i really wanted to write a kind of char i probably. would. but i guess the 'much more like Actually Super Intelligent than i can realistically pretend at' would be it i suppose

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? When you get to write characters with a shared history you've built together over time/across threads. When you can refer to past shared experiences, positive or negative... sobs. chefs kiss

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? A Hector near the end of his schooling arc might be neat (he's learned what he's came here for, he's ready to return to Ostia and do Uther and his people proud, and more competently than many mightve imagined at that) but. When that day comes he might really be actually going home soon lol.

Favorite TOA-related memories? lock and key jailbreak. bunker dead by daylight. unscripted both as a mod and as a player like. all of it. the first toa zine. the memes in all the discord pins (aka the laughs). really there's so much

Present or past tense? whichever my partner prefers idc that said have def written many more years in past tense than present despite toa's lean toward the latter

Normal size text, small text, no preference? normal but again idc i am perpetually zoomed in on any given window anyhow

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 sometimes matthew pokes his head up but he'd have to kill sampo so :shrug: living blissfully in my lane. sometimes think a genuine villain might be fun to try tho

[kinformative]

🚀 mod dave's intro

heya, i'm 🚀 mod dave. i use he/she pronouns, bisexual boygirl. alterhuman/fictkin who takes it pretty seriously. also autistic w/ a side of adhd. i'm an adult. IRL of dave algebra class from devius ex machina/dnb amongst many others, doubles are welcome to still send in requests y'all are cool as shit. (previously mod prime) below are my tags, and what fandoms i take reqs for as well as what type of requests i personally fulfill.

tagging system:

#🚀 | ⤷ mod dave - requests/asks answered by me/posts made by me #🚀 | ⤷ in wine there is truth. - completed requests/asks #🚀 | ⤷ i can't let them find out. - denied requests/asks

fandoms i do requests for: rick & morty, fnf (+ most mods, mostly dave and bambi), hermitcraft/trafficsmp, homestuck, problem sleuth, garten of banban, other mascot horrors, minecraft/mcsm, roblox (any games are ok), baldi's basics (+ any mods/spinoffs), fnaf, dsaf, fortnite, pizza tower, nintendo games (primarily super mario, splatoon, pokemon, and the mother series), sega games, undertale, creepypasta, sonic.exe, backrooms, hfjone, animatic battle, lethal company, d:bh, everhood, sly cooper, club penguin, neopets, everhood, steven universe, rayman, cookie run, hylics, atla, toontown/ttcc, tf2, bugbo, sanders sides, madness combat, smg4, SML, my little pony, scp, petscop, kinitopet, pico's school, danganronpa, henry stickmin, gravity falls, spongebob, ockin, songkin, otherkin, and any other type of alterhuman/othertypes that don't fit into a fandom or any sort of media.

request types i accept: xenogender/kingender flags, name/pronoun suggestions, pokemon teams, icons, coin flips, shufflemancies, positivity messages, advice, userboxes, canon calls, art/doodles, sprite edits, stamps, blinkies, kin mem help, kinfessions, moodboards

specifics that i don't accept. these aren't on the main blacklist: - undertale AUs (no issue with them, i simply do not know enough about them to do reqs for em. sorry.) - skyverse characters of any type - henry miller from dsaf (i personally will not fulfill these if they are sent in, mod dirk can handle those, it is a personal reason sorry yall) - dandy's world

[switch]

i will say despite my apprehension about one of the former metaverse leads being in charge neopets being independent again for the first time since viacom really is mental, and re-using the pure assets of the metaverse game is a good move, although i'm not sure about the actual spinoff game they're being used for. i'm not sure this new management can break neopets' curse of doomed mobile games. i'm also not pleased about them acknowledging keyquest without an official statement about what actually happened to the original code. still, even if they fail, i don't think it can get worse than it would have under netdragon. i'm more worried about the investors.

[vapormage]

they should do what petpet park did to neopets again, except not to neopets. lets make a spinoff dedicated to something small and insignificant

[leggyre]

You know, the tabletop picture would be a nice chance to tell us your neopets' names all over again (and maybe some info about 'em? If you feel like it? )

okay so heres the issue

(whoopsies havent logged into that account in a while so theyre all miserable)

a lot of these arent rly characters i just think theyre neat and add to my creature hoard (its kiemei, toekio, vloci, esienn, visereal, cerowl and jollypip)

but my MAIN crew is meepolin, feepolin, oki_dokii, serenychane, cydunnyehr(baby me desperate to get bnnuy in the short time window kept adding letters lmao thats dunny) and ketchupmonsterface(who i got from the pound and just couldnt let go, lovingly named kimon). only kimon is missing from the doodle because it was late & i had to go to bed zzzz hes a nice ol grampa tho he'd be bakin cookies in the back :]

everyone else is secondary to their plotline except alteken and gigakules who are like a sitcom spinoff

also these are the "'should be in the main account but i dont have slots to transfer back and all their items are back there so theyre NAKED alice please answer my support e-mail'" duo. both also in the "i just think theyre neat" category

[nickmaghighlights]

Nick Mag Highlights - #118 February 2006

Welcome back to Nick Mag Highlights! Would you believe it: Two of the greatest Nickelodeon shows crossing over in one half-hour special? For the second time? It’s a kid’s dream come true! Again! So let’s read all about it.

So yeah, sorry for the wait on this one. A couple of IRL setbacks plus taking on a volley of different big personal projects at once resulted in quite a hit towards my motivation. But hey, we’re here now, and I’m happy to get back into it.

Little sneak preview while I’m here: One of the things I’ve been working on is a new NMH Side Issue post! One that’s covering a mag that’s ostensibly part of Nickelodeon history thanks to its connection to a very prolific creative figure at the studio. Very wordy book though, so naturally both reading it and my analysis of it is gonna take longer than normal. And then I gotta do the research and fact-checking and yadda yadda, it’ll be ready when it's ready. In the meantime I’ve always got Nickelodeon Magazine to come back to.

Read along if you’d like, I think it’s the cool thing to do!

Neopets was still Viacom (parent company of Nickelodeon)’s latest big purchase at the time of this mag’s release, with them having bought it eight months earlier back in June of 2005, so it’s not surprising seeing the new blockbuster Neopets thing getting a big ‘ole two page spread right at the beginning of the magazine.

While Neopets is famous for originally being financially supported by scientology, it was Viacom's stint with the brand that actually got me to give the site a try for a short time (thanks to a Burger King promotion of all things, if memory serves me correctly). If they don't delete old, inactive accounts then I hope my T-Rex Neopet has been doing well for itself. They can’t die, right?

I love this ad. I’m not sure what kind of vibe they were going for here but it almost feels kind of dystopian with the polluted-looking air and all the TV screens weirdly protruding out every which way. Adding to that feeling for me was that I initially thought all that shrubbery down below was a huge audience of adoring viewers. Feels like something out of The Running Man. Super cool.

Always important to check out what Nickelodeon itself was doing around the time. I remember being really excited for Drake & Josh Go Hollywood, and seeing how it went on to gross more than 5 million viewers, I guess I wasn’t alone. Really bothers me to find out it’s just called Go Hollywood and not Go To Hollywood like I thought it was all these years, but I guess I’ll live.

And speaking of millions of viewers, this section also mentions the then-upcoming SpongeBob SquarePants special “Dunces & Dragons” (oddly not actually referred to here with an actual title), which grossed more than 8 million viewers.

Oh, and it’s Black History Month. Y’know just kind of a footnote slotted in the middle there. You'd think that'd get an article or interview, I don’t know. I’m sure Kyra appreciates the shoutout at least.

Woah. Imagine living in a pre-High School Musical world. Nowadays High School Musical is the made-for-TV-movie that baby made-for-TV-movies want to grow up to be. Now we’ve got two sequels, a TV spinoff (a TV spinoff that won five Kids’ Choice Awards apparently, funnily enough), and a mountain of films that tried to cash in on that success. Mostly from Disney Channel themselves. Camp Rock, anyone?

Funny to see the not-Jumanji family classic Zathura listed as Josh Hutcherson’s big recognizable role when he’d end up co-starring in the critically lauded cultural touchstone The Hunger Games just a few years later. And now he’s starring in that Five Nights at Freddy’s movie coming out this year. What a career.

There’s gotta be some irony to me sitting here and enjoying what I probably called the “boring parts” of the magazine back when I was a kid. C’mon though, this is pretty neat! I’ll run through all the topics real quick if you’d like to learn more.

Notes From Underground - The Great Stalacpipe Organ

Still standing to this day, the instrument has been refurbished a couple times since it was featured in this magazine. In 2012 a band by the name of Pepe Deluxé composed and played the first ever song exclusively for the Stalacpipe Organ, called “In The Cave” and featured it in their album Queen of the Wave. Give it a listen, it’s a creepy kind of beautiful. Must’ve been hard to record, too!

Playing With Their Food - The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra

The orchestra is still active and has even done a couple of performances this year! I doubt they still make soup from their instruments though. But to be honest even without having to worry about viral diseases I’m not too interested in soup made exclusively of vegetables that have been blown into for several hours.

Talk About Slow Jamz! - Organ²/ASLSP

Miraculously the performance is still on track. They didn’t play a note this year but the next one is scheduled for February 5th. The second slowest performance of the piece lasted 16 hours and took place last year.

World’s Hottest Tunes - Fire Organs

I can’t really find much about this one online, but I guess it speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

Take a look at a performance and try not to think about how hot it must be in that auditorium whenever he plays that thing.

Alright, it’s time for a confession. You ready to hear the horrible truth? …Okay, here goes:

I don’t know very much about music.

I guess it was probably a bad choice for me to write about a magazine themed around music. I got pretty far without having to disclose my lack of knowledge though, right? And in my defense, Nickelodeon lured me in with that Jimmy Timmy Power Hour cover. 

And I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like music. I love a bit of jazz now and then*. But still, none of the names here really ring a bell, so I don't know if any of these answers are ironic or out-of-character or so in-character it’s adorable or whatever. At least I can appreciate they spared no expense, they never usually have this many interviews. There’s even a third page with even more of them if you want to check it out. 

*My top jazz favorites are Kim Scott (Spotify) and Pieces Of A Dream (Spotify). If you were curious.

It’s really cool to see something encouraging kids to make their own mix CDs. I do kinda wish there was more than one cover though. Not everybody wants to chill.

Aw man, come to think of it, is Gen-Z the last generation to do personal mixtapes and CDs? Or is that still a thing? Regardless I kind of wish I had gotten into doing that when I was younger, it seems like a fun thing to do between friends. Plus my knowledge of music would probably be way stronger than it is now. What do kids do nowadays, send each other Spotify playlists? I guess that's a bit more convenient.

I think I've talked about these Pop-Tart ads before. They were in these magazines all the time so they must’ve come up already. I think I even gave them some credit. But as attention grabbing as they were I really still don't understand the intention. What's so appetizing about seeing these little guys just get absolutely destroyed all the time? Are kids supposed to think about how they’re snuffing the life out of their morning Pop-Tarts?

A very awesome and adorable cover we have here, courtesy of Vera Brosgol (author and illustrator of the award-winning Anya’s Ghost, plus Head of Story on Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio). You can check out her website to see more of her work here.

Nice little comic by Greg Cook. And wouldn’t you know that guy’s Wikipedia article has Nickelodeon Magazine mentioned in its first sentence? That’s cool. Also I feel like the man himself might’ve written his own Wikipedia article. The lack of citations and the way it’s written like the “About Me” page for a blog gives me that kind of vibe. If so, thanks for remembering us, Greg!

Now here’s some of that Jimmy-Timmy content I was promised! I was starting to get worried.

I find it interesting how well Jimmy and Timmy bounce off of each other, but I guess now that I think about it their shows weren’t that different really, at least in terms of subject matter, were they? In broad strokes they’re both kids with big egos whose imaginations tend to get them into trouble. And seeing those big egos clash is naturally gonna lend itself to some good comedy.

In regards to the art, I love the warm colors utilized here, it’s very cozy. The art throws me off just a smidge though. Absolutely no disrespect to Scott Roberts of course, writer and penciler behind this comic (and also creator of Patty Cake, a recurring comic for Nickelodeon Magazine that we… haven’t actually encountered yet on this blog unfortunately), he’s got some great work under his belt, and Timmy and his fairies look as to be expected here. But I do think it was a weird choice making Jimmy look like a Rugrat though. That’s not just me, right? The second page in particular has him pulling off some serious Rugrats-faces. Maybe Roberts was just doing what he knows, because he actually did tons of work on a Rugrats newspaper comic strip just a couple years before this.

Aside from that, Jimmy’s lab is a bit weird. It’s not the usual cave, instead being a regular room with windows and a checkerboard floor? And the exterior shows it to be a wooden cabin? Maybe it’s supposed to be the shack that’s built above the lab Jimmy uses as a secret entrance. Doesn’t really matter, I certainly didn’t notice as a kid, but it does make me wonder if the artist wasn’t provided that much reference material.

I love that snail comic so much like you wouldn’t believe.

Throughout the years I always managed to miss out on LEGO’s constant edgier reinventions of itself, y’know like Bionicle or that one about the ninjas. I guess it helps that I was never really into the toy itself. Unlike those previous examples though, Exo-Force here isn’t ringing any bells for me, but I do find it noteworthy how they were trying to go for a more anime/gundam vibe with this one, what with the Japanese affixed to the bottom of the logo and the faux-anime designs of all the main characters. Surprised to see this one didn’t even warrant its own cartoon, instead having its epic storyline played out through a series of commercials. And while I may like an overarching commercial narrative as much as the next guy (anyone remember those Goldfish Cracker commercials that did the same thing?), I bet you any fans of this line were sore it never got the whole TV show package like Bionicle did.

Oh right, Valentine’s Day is in February, isn’t that right? How many more years do you think that holiday has, you reckon? Nobody likes it. It’s just a reason to buy more greeting cards and do nice things for people that you probably should just be doing anyway and not need a holiday to tell you to do. Eh, still though I guess if you were in a small class at school this would be a pretty useful sheet of cards.

Skyland, huh? Can’t say it rings a bell, but it certainly looks cool. How did this slip by me? I even had this issue as a kid and watched Nicktoons, so I must have just completely tuned it out. I wonder why?

Oh, that’s interesting, it seems like it's all done with motion captured 3D animation. That’s fine, I guess, but that illustration in the magazine had me thinking it’d look a bit more like The Last Airbender. I’m impressed that they spared no expense on the story at least. This intro here can barely keep down its exposition to forty seconds!

So, does anyone remember this one? Apparently it was a French production that was licensed to different channels across the world, airing on Teletoon in Canada and CITV in the UK. I’d love to know if it was any good!

Pretty good smorgasbord of facts in this month’s calendar. And I guess a blanket theme is good as any other theme. Ooh, National Pancake Day! What a great month.

The Jimmy-Timmy quiz is fun, but I wish we could’ve gotten an interview with someone a part of the production of the episode or something. Obviously they’re not going to just interview some random part of the staff (although I’d find that interesting personally), but a voice actor would’ve been cool. I like how Jimmy’s answer considers Sheen a responsibility. Maybe all of Jimmy’s town-threatening inventions were just to distract Sheen from causing any real damage. We all know what kind of terror he’s capable of.

Wow, Bill Clinton! BC himself! Pretty impressive guest for an issue of Nickelodeon Magazine, I must say. ‘Course they got him talking about eating vegetables and exercising instead of something cool, though. It is good to know that being on the receiving end of the most widely-reported-on gobbling in the United States wasn’t enough to get you disqualified from having a spot in Nick Mag.

Another neato guest in theory, Tommy Tallarico is a pretty big name in the video game music space. He’s known for having a hand in loads of different soundtracks over the years and also allegedly being a pathological liar and taking credits for lots of other peoples’ work, which isn’t as nice as the former thing I listed. If you’re interested you can check out more info on the topic in this video here by hbomberguy, which basically runs through a lot of the lies Tallarico has told throughout the years, made as a response to him using legal pressure to get a sound effect he claims to have made removed from the online game Roblox. Oof.

But yeah, to give him some credit, this interview is better than ‘ole Clint’s was. At least Tallarico’s talking about the thing he gets paid for instead of vegetables and dieting. And that “What’s on Mario’s iPod” section is pretty good, but considering Tallirco’s track record it makes me question the legitimacy of his answers… I always thought Crash Bandicoot was more of a Dead Or Alive fan.

Oh god, not QZ again. I did not miss seeing this freak, I’ll tell you that. Why was anyone encouraging this guy with any more questions? He was getting kids names and addresses and we all sat idly by! I like how he sidesteps half the questions too, only giving a direct answer when it concerns protecting a kid from bullies. Maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all…

…Nah. Screw him.

If you remember these guys, you qualify for an Apple Jack’s discount!

I’m willing to admit as a kid I was more than willing to buy into whatever brands wound up on my TV as long as they had a funky mascot and even funkier commercials (and having a website that sported a suite of Flash games and cartoons certainly helped), but the hijinx of this Rastafarian cinnamon stick and goblin-looking apple particularly stick out to me as some rather memorable marketing. I’d say chalk it up to the distinct claymation style the commercials sported (which I’m pretty sure got replaced with 3D animation at some point, which kinda stinks). I found it funny how the character known as “Bad Apple” here eventually got redeemed and just became a friendly competitor that races Cinnamon to the bowl as opposed to the villain he’s presented as here. Did the marketing team really not see from the get-go that people might have a problem with a commercial depicting cinnamon and sugar as the good guy and apples as, well, “bad”?

Still, as much as I loved the commercials, I never actually had a single bowl of Apple Jacks as a kid. Shocking, I know, but my friends told me they sucked and I remember reading one particularly nasty long-winded online review that basically said the cereal is garbage, so I stayed away. I eventually did have a bowl or two of the stuff many years later, and… they’re alright. I will agree with this comic on one thing, Apple Jacks definitely do not “taste like apples”. In fact, they don’t really taste like anything.

And that’ll do it for this edition of Nick Mag HIghlights! Thanks for sticking around, and I hope you had a fun time going through this issue with me. It had tons of fun stuff (that article on the strange and interesting instruments and that Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour comic were my personal highlights) and hopefully some of you can get more entertainment out of all those musical interviews than I did. We even got a Billy C cameo! It doesn’t get more engaging than an old president, does it?

As well, I’d like to reiterate my apology for the time it took to bring this to you all, and I’m hopeful I can pick the pace back up and rebuild my motivation now that I’ve gotten this finished. I’m looking forward to finalizing my aforementioned new Nick Mag Side Issues post, I think that’ll be pretty interesting and add a little spice of variety to the page. Guess we’ll see!

Keep on reading, and maybe listen to your favorite song while you’re at it. I’ll catch you next time!

[badlibbing]

Being a dweeb, I am very into a lot of media, and incapable of shutting up about said media when reminded of them. So I'm going to briefly go through my top fandoms and why I'm in them!

Dreamworks Dragons: I think this was the first fandom I got into. I saw HTTYD as a wee child and an obsession was born. Such a diverse range of dragon species captured my awe from day one, and I am still in love with the franchise... most of it, anyway. The more recent spinoff series are not my cup of tea.

My Little Pony: I grew up on G3, but I wasn't really into ponies as a fandom until I discovered Friendship is Magic. It was my second fandom, and one I still enjoy the sheer depth of the lore. However, as I grew up, I found myself disliking certain parts of canon, so I'm not as into it as I once was. A few years ago, I got into G1 MLP, which I now have the entirety of on DVD. The first generation isn't perfect either, but still enjoyable.

Pokémon: In retrospect, this may have actually been my second fandom, but my memories of that time in my life are too obscure to be certain. Regardless, Pokémon has been a love of mine for a long time. I love playing the video games, though I'm not a fan of the anime. Still, I think it's a super fun franchise!

Lilo & Stitch: Now here's one I didn't get into until long after the heyday of its original media. I watched the first film in my early teens, and after finding out about the extended franchise, quickly fell into a fandom that has led to making more friends than any of those mentioned above. Aliens are cool, and fluffy mischievous mutant aliens are even better! As with MLP, though, I have several nitpicks with the tv series, to the point that I have a whole AU (alternate universe) project on the backburner. But at the end of the day, no matter how picky I am, I just love L&S for its heart.

Neopets: Most people just think of it as a pet-owning game, but if you like complex lore, it's surprisingly a goldmine. It's worth noting that canon has changed over the years; Neopets as a species started out as actual pets of humans (this element makes up the pet-owning aspect of the actual game of course), but modern canon has them as completely independent anthropomorphic beings and humans not existing at all. It's fascinating to see how the lore has evolved!

Flight Rising: An obscure but nonetheless wonderful fandom, Flight Rising is a game that operates a lot like Neopets. And just like that game, FR is rich in lore. Plus, it's about dragons, and dragons are great. All the different flights (elements) are cool, but personally I'm a Plague baby all the way!

I intend to post about all of these fandoms in the future, and I'll try to make plenty of fanart, too! Stay tuned!

[synthaphone]

other neopets television ideas:

defenders of neopia movies (not as a parallel to marvel cinematic universe tho, i want them to mostly be a cheesier, less mainstream thing, more like superhero movies in the 90s)

hannah the usul kids adventure cartoon (spinoff of the popular video game series)

baby show about onas

lenny conundrum quiz show

random contest gameshow? competition show?

soup faerie hosted cooking show

entire channel thats just alien aisha infomercial ‘shows’ like that ad for the baby bullet

[sonknuxadow]

thinking about the time someone on that neopets spinoff game on nickelodeon.com just kinda walked up to me and roleplayed beating me up

[queenofbaws]

✨

one of my great passions at this point in my life is not so much exploring weird internet phenomena so much as tumbling headfirst into them. idk what it is, but something about the like...permanence and pseudo-anonymity of the internet, and so many people’s willingness to do...bizarre shit on it, is just??? thrilling to me. i think a big part of it is that i’m a 90s baby, so i was just sort of sitting around playing neopets while some real buckwild shit was going down, so reading/listening to the bullshit that was happening while i was visiting the giant omelette intrigues me to no end.

literally just earlier today i was telling @malum--in--se about the great silent hill wiki circumcision meltdown of 2015, which is a perfect example of the weirdness i’m talking about...empress theresa is also super good.

i went into psychology for a reason, and that reason is i am ENDLESSLY interested and amazed in the weird shit human beings do. the internet lets us all see that weird shit in stunning hi-def, lol. if y’all are like me, you GOTTA check out the “down the rabbit hole” series by fredrik knudsen on youtube (AND the related/spinoff??? series “the warrens” with him and jabroni mike).