Colours These Days

That was the bleatings of one such Elderly Ogrin, who had, incidently, shouted get off my lawn when I approached his front door. Walking stereotype. But anyway...

As you've probably noticed, over the last few months there have been umpteen new colours - some well received but some not. Eventide and Water kicked off the start of the new wave of colours, and both were liked - at first. Water is still relatively popular, but Eventide has slowly gone downhill. The first pet eligible to be painted Eventide was the Aisha. Rave reviews of this lovely pet led to it being incredibly popular - even trading for Draiks in the PC. But there was a slight problem. Customisation. The pet's lovely colour was too pretty not to be shown off, so covering it in the various dresses, coats, wigs, trousers etc wasn't really an option. So the popularity slid down, as did the trading. The release of more pets in quick succession helped slightly, but it remains one of the 'middle' colours.

"Good riddance! Nothing will come of it. Now where's my cup of tea!"

8-bit wasn't well received either. It...

"8-bit! The only 8-bit in my childhood was the amount of pieces a Spyder was in after you squished it!"

It...

"8-bit! Uh!"

It was an odd colour, hard to customise and never very popular. Basically the same as Eventide, so on we go.

Woodland, however, was loved by most. Easily customised, nice colours within a colour. Very beautiful on the right pet.

"Woodland? That's a forest, not a colour!"

It's both. On we go to the final colour...

Elderly.

Or the charmingly named Get Off My Lawn paintbrush.

"Elderly? That's not new - you can see that from looking at me!"

Unfortunately for you, it's brand new, and very popular.

"Popular! Fiddlesticks. Who said you could come in anyway? I've just been sat here talking about paint, and you say I'm new! Get off my lawn!"

Just what we'd expect you to say. Now, what do you think of these colours?

Here's what some people think - young and old.

"Eventide is brilliant! It's like having your own personal sunset!"

"Woodland... meh. Why paint yourself Woodland when you could go to the forest and stick a branch to your head? It's the exact same effect."

"Water! It's like living in Maraqua! So pretty! Though you can't get too close to people - you'd drown them!"

"8-bit! The most shameful of colour ever released! It's so old fashioned. Good grief."

"Magma is wonderful, like you're a mythical, fire breathing dragon, or a serpent of old. Plus you'll never need a blanket in winter. But you can't go swimming or play Snow Wars, and you have to spend the majority of your time in Moltara. Though you can have a pet worm."

"Elderly is just... eew. Who would want to be old, and have to sit and knit, or read the papers all the time? I wouldn't."

What does everyone think of the old colours then?

Invisible, Purple and Split (then half and half) were the first (except the basic four, of course) colours you could paint your pet. Invisible Unis and Half and Half Fuzios (now Split JubJubs) were released on the 9th May 2000, and Invisible and Split were released on the 15th May.

"Ah, the good old days! When pets were pets, and there were only 7 colours! You wouldn't dream of that nowadays. Huh."

Robot isn't as new as you'd think. It was released on the 18th December 2000, and was very popular.

"Robot! That was the technology of Neopia! So futuristic, beguiling even! Those were the days..."

Speckled and Starry. The two lovely, refreshingly simple colours, both released on the 22nd September 2000. The day before, the Black and White Paintbrush was renamed the Skunk Paintbrush we all know and love.

Christmas. Festive, with a nice furry coat for most pets to act like Father Christmas with.

So those were the early colours. Simple, yet lovely. Some futuristic, some old fashioned.

What did you make of those?

"When Starry came out everyone coveted it. To be painted Starry was a dream many couldn't achieve."

"Skunk! The closest you could get to an animal. Just lovely."

"Christmas. Everyone wanted to be festive, and dress up. Brilliant."

"Speckled was... OK. The ping pong balls on grass was not the coolest of colours."

"Robot was amazing! That clothing, those helmets. Wow."

"Being painted Invisible was like being a ghost! You could eavesdrop, scare people... Fantastic!"

"Split was one of those colours that solved everything. You didn't have to pick between two colours - just go half and half!"

So only one negative comment, compared to several for the new colours. What does that prove?

"The good old days were fabulous!"

Yes, but that's your opinion.

"Well, if you don't like it... GET OFF MY LAWN!"

It could mean people nowadays are more critical of new things. Or, like a certain old timer said, the good old days were better for colours. Who knows?

Again, what do the Neopian public think?

"I think people take new colours for granted. They don't realise the work that's gone into the designing of them."

"Old is better than new. The old colours were complete classics."

"I'm on the fence with this one. Old was basic, but nice all the same. But new... There's something about those new colours that's so appealing..."

"Old was rubbish. Enough said."

"New is a bit over the top. But old was far too simple, so.. I don't really know.

"Old is the new... well new. Old is the new black."

"Old fashioned or sparkling new... I'd pick old any day."

"What does it matter? I've never been painted, or even looked at a paintbrush. I honestly don't worry about it."

But I reckon that Elderly Ogrin has made up his mind, whatever this lot say.

However, let's hope he doesn't look at his lawn. It got that trampled on, I've replaced it with Woodland Skeiths and JubJubs. Oh well.