#and then it can look like an uc faerie kacheek?

[sexybritishllama]

strap in folks it's time for another neopets drama update

some background reading before we begin: back when neopets wanted to introduce customisation (i.e. dressing up your pet) in 2007, they decided to 'convert' all existing pet art to align with a rigid body structure, rather than all having unique poses. it was just not feasible to create new pieces of art for hundreds of different pet poses every single time they released a new clothing them

customisation had been highly requested up until this point. however, the conversion was NOT popular. in some cases, particularly for basic colours, the change wasn't huge, but in other cases.... uh....

you get the idea. the more expensive colours like plushie, faerie, grey, royal and darigan got the worst of it because they had the more unique poses pre-conversion, and therefore it was largely agreed that the change to the stiff 'samey', frankly kinda goofy converted look did not look great

most users did not get a choice in having their neopet converted and it was done automatically, but if you had one of these colours where the change was huge, you were given the choice of converting or retaining the old pose (but not having the option to customise your pet). those pets that retained the old, pre-conversion poses are therefore referred to as 'unconverted', or UC for short

once a pet is converted, there's no returning to UC. you also couldn't create UC pets anymore, making UCs a limited resource that would only increase in value with time, particularly as people abandon their pets, leave the site, get frozen, etc.

i could write an entire dissertation on the drama that UC pets have caused for the pet trading economy, the neopet account black market, and general retention of the userbase, but to sum it up, people REALLY want UC pets. they are the single most coveted status symbol on the site

we skip forward now to 2023

the neopets team are planning to introduce UC pets back to the site, so that people will be able to create their own UC pets again for the first time post-converstion (legally at least)

they drip feed bits of information over the year about what this will look like. the main points are

changing a pet to UC will be done via some kind of item bought with neocash, the premium currency on neopets that you need to spend real money to get

putting this item on your pet will give it the UC art style appearance

so. not much really known. but expected release is set for january 2024

yesterday, they hosted an AMA focusing on the new UC pet system and how this was going to work. noticeably absent is any explanation of how much this is actually going to cost and whether it is going to involve any kind of gatcha mechanic, so that's causing our first lot of concern

second lot of drama is that the new UCs aren't actually going to be COMPLETELY the same as the old art, as they're making some small changes for style consistency, see below (old on top, new below):

the biggest drama, however, comes from how they're dealing with the 'original' UC pets. ALL pets will be getting forcibly converted on the 23rd, with anyone who has a pet that is already an original UC immediately receiving the UC neocash item. there's mention of possibly some kind of trophy or badge recognition for particularly old pets, but it's vague, and generally seems like it won't be possible to distinguish between the original UCs and these new ones

the people who already have OCs are not happy about this

people are allegedly pounding their pets, cancelling their premium, and quitting the site in protest. the boards are flooded with people complaining about the changes and laughing at the downfall of the 'neo-elite' in equal measure

it's t-minus 5 days until the second great conversion goes live. let's all pray for our souls

[mutantkacheek]

musings on potential future pets Dont Mind Me....

okay so with 2 sides i get 8 more pets, plus with the space on my other accts thats an additional 3 (but idk if i want to use that space?? i like the families ive made...)

but even 8 more pets is a Lot so thats awesome. i want to reserve space for like. 2 uc pets? ill never get them bc ive got nothing to trade, but maybe maybe maaaayyyybe if someones putting one up for adoption i want some space. just in case.

so thats room for 6 pets that are actually semi-attainable. so heres what im thinkin:

faerie skeith im not anti-skeith, but im not usually partial to them either. but the faerie skeith? the faerie skeith????? oh. my. god. i love them so much. do i have a personality or backstory planned out? no. do i want one? desperately. (faerie wise other contenders are lennies, rukis, eyries, and hissis)

fruit chia (almost any kind) im also normally not a big chia person either, but fruit chias have wormed their way into my heart! so many fun options? you could switch between the cheaper ones twice a year or so with relative ease to Mix It Up, and itd be fun to have like a really stouch vegan carrot chia, or have a garlic chia and pair it with a vampire pet. if were just goin for cuteness thornberry is my personal fav tho

relic peophin relic pets in general are conceptually just Really Cool, but imo relic peophins add a whole nother level to this! the overgrown look is done really well on this one--you could absolutely frame this as a long abandoned statue in a mysterious forest. and i LOVE the decision to keep the forehead gem a bright red! it adds an air of mystery, or specialness, like This Aint No Ordinary Statue

mutant hissi two pets in one!! you get two independent personalities in one pet its awesome!!! they can be best buds or mortal enemies, two people who go through hardships with each other or because of each other.... i already love them and i dont even know them yet?? wow

mutant kacheek ive wanted a mutant kacheek since i was 9. Its Happenin Bench.

a maraquan pet okay obviously i havent picked a species yet, but its between chomby, ixi, jubjub, kacheek, krawk, mynci, shoyru, and uni..... i cant decide......... ixi is fun bc its p obviously based off selkies, so you could pair with a girlfriend for lesbian mermaid fun, but its not actually my fav design wise?? the uni is breathtakingly majestic, and this is just straight up one of the only good jubjubs (cloudy is also v cute). the mynci and shoyru and just crazy adorable! mynci looks like a mermaid like creature that kidnaps children and eats them, and i just really love sea turtles. kacheek isnt my favorite design-wise either, but i love the goldfish concept! very good pb color in general

and thats 6 pets!!! this was a really hard list to make...... there are lots of good pets i left out :( anything darigan or chocolate for example. but oh well, you only get so many i guess!!!!