Wherefore Art Thou Punchbag Sid?

I'm sure most of you will be familiar with the Battledome, where pets of all shapes and sizes wield mighty weapons and deal damage to those evil characters in Neopia!

Well, one such character is Punchbag Bob - I think, however, that Bob's place in the Battledome is not truly justified. I mean, the poor fellow is a sack :( and he has no offensive capabilities. He is merely there for us to 'test' our weapons on, which means he gets pummeled. A lot. Poor Bob.

'But where does Sid fit in?' I hear you cry. He is only Punchbag Bob's evil twin. That's right - EVIL!! (Note: this can be concluded by the fact Sid wears an eyepatch. Eyepatch = pirate = evil.)

At certain times Sid will replace Bob as an opponent in the Battledome. There could be many reasons for this and here is my attempt to try and suss out why he fights.

1) He is in fact not evil at all and simply can't bear the thought that poor Bob is beaten up, so he takes his place to let Bob rest a while. *cough, splutter, cough*

2) He is evil and is slightly bitter that he is not a regular challenger! I tried to get an interview to maybe confirm this, but searching for Sid at the Battledome seemed a bit pointless. He was last seen months ago and I'm not one to go wandering into a hostile environment. Especially when the likes of the Giant Hungry Malevolent Chomby and Mr. Chuckles are lurking. (Yes, I have clown fear.) :)

3) The most obvious reason is that Sid wishes to become more famous. He realizes that most people know Bob but when asked who Sid is, the replies are a little less confident or merely all about the avatar:

All I know is that I wish he was around more often so I could get the avatar! lol - y2kpixie

Well, he's never out much; obviously it's random... or so we think? - nicole618555

That's easy, he goes to Ultimate Bullseye so I can shoot at the apples on his head. - armorandonomon

Who is Sid? - maraquan_aisha466

4) He fights because he is made to because of some unseen force or powers. He actually has little need to fight because he is stronger than most people know. Also it is known that he owns some of the strongest weapons out there.

Kurls: So from your experience fighting the elusive Sid, what can you tell us?

neo_dream_warrior: He wields Grand Lightning Beam, H4000 Helmet, Jade Scorchstone, Jhudora The Dark Faerie Doll, Sword Of Skardsen, and Ultra Attack Chive Of Death. And no, I never fought him. One of my friends got to, though. He told me the weapons. He lost. :(

Kurls: Wow! He has acquired an amazing arsenal of weaponry! It's a shame that your friend lost, though...

This lead me to my next question. Had anyone ever beaten Sid? The most obvious place to go seemed to be the Battledome chat.

After a slow start I managed to get a few responses:

How do you expect to win against him? Unless your pet is like 2000+ hp and huge strength boosts. - kraken249113

I lost. And I think you'd have to have a 500 boost pet at least to win. - rockfansam_2

You can't beat him if you don't have like, 4k hitpoints at least. - kasinot

I've lived past one turn, and on the second turn I believe he returned to being Bob. - lugsy

So the resounding answer seemed to be no! (with exception of the mightiest Battledomers). This is actually quite a worry particularly if there happens to be another war. I think so far Sid has never taken sides but if he was persuaded to join evil's side then it could spell disaster!!

Luckily because he is rarely around, Neopians can for the time being rest in peace. The only people who probably want to really see him are the avatar collectors. :)

Lastly the question we all want to know - WHERE IS HE?!?!?!?

1) Theory one - simply is that he is on an extended vacation. Evil needs to kick back too people!

2) Theory two - he is on the other side of Neopia, recruiting an army of pitmees (those are meepits' evil twins). Note ~ there is a chance I made that up but it's conceivable. ;)

3) Theory three - he has given up being evil and is currently recruiting for his new band - and writing the debut song, 'Punchbags have feelings too.'

4) Theory four - he accidentally got zapped by a lab ray whilst trying to get his hands on new weapons and now goes by the name of Sidnea and prefers to tend his pretty Neogarden.

5) Theory five - He actually likes heights and has been spotted jumping cloud to cloud in Faerieland on various occasions - maybe he got a little to close to that shiny new portal to Altador...

6) Theory six - Sid collects dubloons (pirate, remember?) and this can lead to being away at sea for ages in search of new lands to pillage and plunder.

7) Theory seven - Being plushie has its downside and due to a beating from the aforementioned mighty Battledomers, he is replacing some stuffing. The factory in question however mixed up the vats of stuffing with jelly (don't ask) and this caused Sid a few problems. Hehe.

8) Theory eight - Punchbag Bob/Sid actually coexist in the same body. Sid is a being from another dimension whose mystical energy force somehow got entwined with Bob in a freak alignment of the planets. Now when the stars realign, Sid is released for short periods of time, only to expend his powers and retreat back into his Punchbag shell.

9) Theory nine - Fyora became increasingly concerned at Sid's power and decided to somehow confine it. It's possible he is imprisoned or being kept occupied with something.

10) Theory ten - Lastly, and I admit I was finding it hard to find a number ten. So I give you this gem from behemoth_

He doesn't want people to get his soul because every time someone gets his avatar he loses a piece. - behemoth_

Well, I hope this has helped to at least bring up some important issues concerning Neopia's most elusive opponent.

Comments always welcomed, so neomail me as you wish. :*