Monthly Neopets AMAs with TNT (2024)

May 29, 2024

The May 2024 AMA took place at 5pm NST on May 29, 2024.

The AMA was first announced on May 21, about eight days in advance.

This AMA was dubbed "Royal Edition" and featured Neopets CEO Dom Law as usual. It also included discussion on the newest pet styles. It was moderated by TNT Luna, who has previously attended live AMA's as a guest! Host of the March 2024 AMA, Neopets YouTuber Amanda from theamandafiles, participated this time as a guest. TNT Fallie also returned for the first time since the January 2024 AMA.

Questions could be submitted in advance through a StrawPoll shared on Neopets social media. You could vote to support as many questions as you like, and even had the ability to update your votes later!

How to Watch

The AMA was simulcasted on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter/X. It remains available for viewing on all of these platforms:

Rare Item Code

TNT announced in advance that "ALL viewers who join live will receive a [code for a] friendly companion as a LIVE EXCLUSIVE prize. 🐜", redeemable at Grundo Warehouse. The code was revealed as MAYMAYLIVE near the end of the livestream, redeemable at Grundo Warehouse until May 31st at 5pm NST.

Recap

Questions for TNT Fallie

Luna started by bringing in TNT Fallie.

Introduction?

• Australian. She/Her.
• On the marketing team, creating content for Neopets social media.
• Joined Neopets within a month of Luna.

Something in Neopets or TNT history you wish you could've been part of?

• Wishes she could be on TNT at the peak of the McDonalds plushies promotion!

Favorite Royal pet style?

• Royalgirl Zafara!
• Luna's is Royalboy Acara! "He wants to speak to your manager and I'm here for it."

View all Royalboy Pet Styles »View all Royalgirl Pet Styles »

Will nostalgic pet styles ever get additional poses? [For example, Battledome poses or other emotions.]

• Really want to, but "programming isn't quite there yet."
• "Something we're definitely working on."
• "Something we're definitely working on."

Will pets that never got a UC version ever get nostalgic styles?

• Yes! There are 18 currently in the works for pets that never had UC versions.
• Fallie mentions Vandagyre, Lutari, and Ruki.
• Fallie shared this sneak peak:



• Luna adds that they chose the term "nostalgic" specifically to represent a style rather than referencing previous UCs.
• Luna also shared that MissRainbow is planning some new petpet companion wearables, including one featuring a Faerie Slorg.

What happened to the Nostalgic Sponge Techo that people found item artwork for?

• Sponge Techo doesn't even have a converted version released yet!
• TNT did not want to effectively paywall any species/colour combos.

The image has since been removed from the Neopets servers, but we have saved this copy!

Luna and Fallie then led a giveaway. Viewers could comment a Neopets pun in the chat. Random punsters were given a prize. The winning puns were:

• "okadoatie" (a pun on "okie-dokie" and "Kadoatie") by leemineon on YouTube
• "You're the Aisha of my eye" (a pun on "you're the apple of my eye") by Rachel Helen E on Facebook
• "Poogle it" (a pun on "Google it") by Rui Quintas on Facebook

Questions for Amanda

Luna and Fallie then brought out Neopets YouTuber Amanda from theamandafiles.

Introduction?

• She/Her.
• YouTuber.
• Went to school for wildlife biology.

What are your thoughts on the anatomical accuracy of Maraquan Neopets?

• "You guys have some really fun ones there that are species in real life." Calls out the Maraquan Gnorbu as an example.

Favorite bit of Neopets lore?

• Big fan of Lord Kass. "I consider him a hero, honestly."
• Still "shellshocked" by Faerieland falling in The Faeries' Ruin. Likes that TNT made such a dramatic change to an iconic land.

Puzzle Hunters Club Discussion

Luna then led a discussion on the recent social media promotion about the Puzzle Hunters Club.

About the puzzle?

• Fallie wanted to do something fun on socials, and enjoyed using it to introduce a new avatar, designed by Community Ambassador Sosu.
• Amanda was part of the group that came up with the clues and was worried it would be too difficult, and was amazed that people were able to figure it out so quickly!
• Luna accidentally released a screenshot of Grundo Warehouse. There was supposed to be a clue for it in one of Amanda's videos!

Fallie, talk about the character design?

• Fallie shared some early concept art of Maeve Slade.
• Wanted each of the characters to have traits that some Neopians could relate to.

Amanda, talk about being part of the solving community?

• It was fun to have information that others didn't (yet)!
• Enjoyed seeing how different peoples' "brains work" in their approaches to the clues.
• People scrutinized every detail of Amanda's videos, such as how many books were on her shelf.

Fallie, talk about the avatar design?

• Shouts out Sosu for the art.
• Wanted to go to the community for voting on shape, art, and text.
• Sosu figured out a way to bring the disparate winning elements together into a cohesive design.

Will the avatar retire?

• Yes! It retires on June 15th.

The trio then led a second giveaway. This time, viewers were encouraged to comment the name of a real-life royal. The winners were:

• "Britney Spears" by Brittany Cheshire on YouTube
• "Lady Gaga Queen of the Gays" by Pound Chat Tea Co. on Twitter/X
• "Mia Thermopolis" by Chloe Westergard on YouTube

Questions for TNT Dom

Luna and Fallie then brought out Neopets CEO TNT Dom, who called in from Toronto, Canada, visiting family and checking out the new Upper Deck TCG cards!

What fixes are being made to the Battledome [to prep for the new plot]?

• New plot will be coming June 17th.
• Battledome fixes will come alongside it, coming to the converted page format.

JN's "The Void Within" Plot Coverage »

What is the point of the AMA if you haven't done what you've promised?

• There are hundreds of things that TNT wants to work on.
• A new plot has been a huge effort; the first new plot in almost 10 years.
• Have been making lots of security updates, which aren't always obviously visible.
• Altador Cup has been postponed to July to help give room to the plot launch and also implement a new captcha system.
• TNT realizes that the community is what has kept Neopets alive through times where the game and franchise was more neglected. Want to keep up these AMAs to connect with and update the community.

Can we please get another Charity Corner event with some perks?

• The product team has been looking into it.
• Included a component of it in Faerie Festival 2023, and hope to bring that aspect back again in 2024.
• Open to ideas and feedback on how it can be improved in the upcoming Faerie Festival.

When is Altador Cup 2024 happening?

• "Early July...probably the first week of July." Dom was not sure of exact dates.
• Delays were in part because it is connected to the plot.

How is Altador Cup this year going to be improved?

• "Rebalance the rankings."
• Adding a new team. (Although he does not say it, we expect it will be Dacardia!)

Why should we spend time collecting when items are just going to be added to the Quest Log?

• TNT have been using Quest Log prizes to help fight inflation issues.
• Waited too long for the first rotation, then tried to do the second one too soon. Have now settled on switching prizes every two months.
• Want certain items to be "accessible" to general players.
• Dom acknowledges that this can take away from the accomplishment of collectors. He thinks they can assuage this by also releasing new items to collect.

Bring back Defenders of Neopia!

• "That's a tough one."
• Very much tied to the setup of the old Battledome, which is challenging.
• Not a high priority for TNT.
• The new TCG is themed to Defenders of Neopia.

JN's "Defenders of Neopia" Archive »

Are there any plans to raise the trading post and auction neopoint limit?

• "On our to do list" but haven't had time to look into it.
• Team has been "all hands on deck" focused on launching the new plot.

Trading Post Guide »Auctions Guide »

What's next for NeoPass? Are there plans for accounts on a NeoPass share SDB, Closet, etc.?

• The current release of NeoPass is just "step one."
• There are many planned features, such as earning Neopoints through other Neopets apps.
• NeoPass is viewed by TNT as the first infrastructure layer to a broad Neopets ecosystem, bringing in new and returning players.

Please introduce a way to change username and pet names. [Perhaps as an NC item?]

• Part of a much bigger project for TNT.
• Would want such an item to go hand-in-hand with a purge.
• The blocker is related to database design of Neopets. Names are used as a unique identifier across the database tables, so cannot be easily modified. However, TNT is "studying" what they could do about this.

Where is our Brand Ambassador John Legend?

• TNT is in touch with his team!
• Neopets's relationship with John Legend actually pre-dates the current team, and Dom wants to assure the community that his ambassadorship does not take away any resources from any part of the site.
• The hope is he would help generate attention and brand uplift for Neopets.

View John Legend's Neopets Shoutout »

We need more pet slots, especially with the release of new pet styles!

• "The team is actively looking into this."
• Adding new pet slots with the unoptimized database setup is a bigger burden than TNT initially realized. For example, some pages may need to make extra server calls for the extra pets, that in aggregate would degrade server performance.

When are ambassadors rotating?

• Ambassadors are an "integral part" of how TNT gathers feedback on the wisdom of their decisions.
• Expect changes closer to the one year mark of the program. (This would be approximately November 2024.)

This article was written by: Kenny

This page was last updated on May 29, 2024.