Neopets
I think probably like a lot of people my age who came up as a kid online, I learned HTML from Neopets. It kicked off a lifetime interest in having fun online, customising things, finding little secrets in webpages, and weird little animals.
My account was created in the fourth grade with a friend of mine; initially the account had 4 pets, two for each of us. In middle school, I took the account over just for me as he lost interest - and I still have access to it. Unfortunately I made the mistake of transferring one of my friend's two original pets to a side account that I then lost access to. I still have his name and the account name, and maybe someday I'll be able to get him back. :( But 3 / 5 of my original pets remain on the account, plus two new ones I created as an adult. I like that my account is a fun mix of things I made as a child and kept, and things I added later. It is a fun way to see my interests throughout my life, all in one place - so Neopets still means a lot to me, from a nostalgic angle, and also as a little place that accidentally picked up a lot of fragments from different eras of me being alive and online. Crazy! It's fun for me to see the ways those preferences and choices have (and in some ways haven't???) changed.
I still have my Neopets account and have access to it, and I am still so happy with the things I was able to collect there as both a kid and an adult - and was playing regularly even as an adult for many years. I stopped playing during the NFT nonsense, leaving the site in protest - and I'm not sure I know enough about the direction the site's leadership has gone since then to feel comfortable returning to playing. In the meantime, I thought I'd set up this little shrine to my pets and some of the things I collected on the site, so that I can remember my time on the site fondly.
Neopets was an enormous part of my childhood, and still a huge inspiration for me. I owe an enormous part of my daily activities and interests to skills and curiosities that Neopets fostered in me. I love feeling online like I'm exploring something fun that someone created or customised, discovering secret little sites, playing small games. I still love my weird little guys! They will always have a special place in my heart.
Click a pet to see more about them.
Cleopatra (Cleo for short) was my very first Neopet I created! As a kid I envisioned her as a booksmart tomboy - the kind of cool girl I'd read adventure books about and wanted to be myself. She stood up for her friends (especially my shyer pets) and loved learning about the world. I dreamt as a kid of making her a Desert Aisha, to fit with the Lost Desert theme I liked for her. Even when I was playing "seriously" as an adult... those morphing potions were pricey, what can I say.
The design she has now was one I made for her as an adult. I think it still captures what I envisioned for her as a kid!
The design she has now was one I made for her as an adult. I think it still captures what I envisioned for her as a kid!
Ginko was a pet I made as an adult, when my account was granted a new pet slot; he was the last pet I created. I didn't really know what I wanted to make, so I hunted around for cool pet designs, and found the woodland Korbat and thought: yes. This is the guy for me.
One of my favourite things with a forest aesthetic that I thought might match to build a guy around is Mushishi, so I named him Ginkomori. Ginko is the name of the guy from Mushishi, and in Japanese, koumori is bat, and mori is forest. I don't actually know if this pun is very successful in Japanese, as I am still a beginner student of the language. But the name was not taken, and on Neopets, a pet name with no numbers is prime real estate - so I took it on the whim. I guess I'll hope for the best.
Anyway he's a cute little bat, and I guess I don't really have a character concept for him, mostly because I made him later in life when that was less of a focus than when I was a kid. He was mostly a nice excuse to collect forest and mysterious garden themed items. I really like his design (the hair was the closest I could get to Ginko from Mushishi and was very expensive, do not talk to me about how expensive it was)!
One of my favourite things with a forest aesthetic that I thought might match to build a guy around is Mushishi, so I named him Ginkomori. Ginko is the name of the guy from Mushishi, and in Japanese, koumori is bat, and mori is forest. I don't actually know if this pun is very successful in Japanese, as I am still a beginner student of the language. But the name was not taken, and on Neopets, a pet name with no numbers is prime real estate - so I took it on the whim. I guess I'll hope for the best.
Anyway he's a cute little bat, and I guess I don't really have a character concept for him, mostly because I made him later in life when that was less of a focus than when I was a kid. He was mostly a nice excuse to collect forest and mysterious garden themed items. I really like his design (the hair was the closest I could get to Ginko from Mushishi and was very expensive, do not talk to me about how expensive it was)!
Griffey was one of my friend's two original pets - so when I took the account over, I had much less feelings about him than my two (sorry Griffey). I had to decide over time what kind of character he was and what I wanted to do with him. For a while, I didn't do much, but I liked the idea that he was from Tyrannia, but spent a lot of time in Faerieland because he could fly. I loved the Faerie Pteri design, so I painted him that first chance.
Eventually, I started using him for Gourmet Club - and something about his colourful look and having eaten lots of rare foods sort of turned him into a cool vacation dad in my mind. He's out flying around trying delicacies, and hanging out in loud shirts. What more could you ask for I guess!
While not one of my original personal pets, he means a lot to me as one of the original pets of the account - and I am so sad his brother Flarey (a red Shoyru, though briefly my lab rat) is not on the account anymore! Again, one day maybe I will be able to relocate him back!
Eventually, I started using him for Gourmet Club - and something about his colourful look and having eaten lots of rare foods sort of turned him into a cool vacation dad in my mind. He's out flying around trying delicacies, and hanging out in loud shirts. What more could you ask for I guess!
While not one of my original personal pets, he means a lot to me as one of the original pets of the account - and I am so sad his brother Flarey (a red Shoyru, though briefly my lab rat) is not on the account anymore! Again, one day maybe I will be able to relocate him back!
Iris is the pet I had the least "design intent" for - she was created when I was in college for a "plot" I was running for my guild at the time, and originally was located on my alt account. I swapped her in and swapped out Flarey (the missing original pet), though I forget why now. Anyway, I love the black/blue/white look of the Faerie Meerca, so she's this for now. She has been a lot of other things, and I've thought about making her something totally different over the years.
Shorio... my sweet boy. The second of my two original pets I created for the account, I always envisioned Shorio as a shy and sweet explorer. He spent a lot of time in Faerieland, and then later in Merridell, Altador, and Brightvale once those arrived on the scene. I think he is a Brightvale boy now. In my mind as a kid he was very shy socially and quick to tears, but loved solitary journeying across the lands of Neopia. I think it is cute that my two characters as a kid were an extroverted bookworm and an introverted explorer - silly little Chel! In my mind they had a siblings relationship and cared for each other very much, with Cleo taking care of him.
As an adult, I loved dressing him up like the little gentleman he is, and I guess using him as the mascot for my whole profile. I had a whole plushie Shoyru layout going on for a while in my shop. An angel to this day.
As an adult, I loved dressing him up like the little gentleman he is, and I guess using him as the mascot for my whole profile. I had a whole plushie Shoyru layout going on for a while in my shop. An angel to this day.
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