Flotsams of Neopia

I’m Kal and I thought that I would introduce you to one of the most interesting species that live in Neopia - the Flotsams. Some are competitive, some are talented, and some are quite scary. Helping me in this will be my Ruki, Isgott, whose organization is much better than mine. He’ll also be offering some extra (and in my opinion boring) information throughout the article.

Oi! It’s not boring, it’s informative, now get on with the article, will you. I have a lab to get back to.

Yeesh! Seems he's a bit tetchy today; let's distract him by introducing you to some of the most athletic Flotsams out there - the Altador Cup players!

Filo Desenz

Filo was a past player for the Maraquan squad where he played as a Left Defender. However, he has since been replaced by Dorina Hals, who was thought to be a better teammate to Captain Elon Hughlis (aka ‘The Black Hole’).

Despite Filo’s intense dislike of Elon and his annoying habit of demanding to score all the goals himself, Filo always played each game to the best of his abilities and was a valuable member of the team during his short lived career.

Filo is a Green Flotsam and played in the Altador Cup from 2006 (Y8) to 2007 (Y9).

Lor Benneveldt

Another Yooyuball player, Lor is the current goal keeper for the Mystery Island team, captained by the formidable Volgoth. Lor is a great strength to the team, with his lightning reflexes, uncanny instincts and a flair for passing making up for the team’s somewhat lacking defense. Although he still lacks consistency and tires quite easily, his place on the team is still preferable to Yaniq Avaan, the old injury prone goal keeper who spent almost the entirety of 2005 (Y7) out of training because of various accidents.

Lor has played in the Altador Cup from 2008 (Y10) to the present day and is an Island Flotsam.

Flotsam Raider and Liandra

These two Flotsams seem to share a hobby. After the destruction of Old Maraqua, many mourned the loss of the multitude of treasures that had been contained with the city. However, some treasures still remained, if only they knew where to look for them. Liandra and the Flotsam Raider are two such people; they regularly dive down and search the ruins, looking for anything that may still be there. However, while Liandra collects these treasures to sell on Mystery Island, it is unclear what the Flotsam Raider does with the spoils that he obtains.

While Liandra is a Purple Flotsam, it is unclear what color the Flotsam Raider is, as there are subtle differences between him and a normal Red Flotsam. Both of these Flotsams have cards named after them and there is also a book entitled The Flotsam Raiders which may be related to our Reddish treasure hunting friend.

Flotsam Hunter

This rather angry looking Flotsam is personally responsible for chasing and capturing ocean-going petpets to be sold in the Rock Pool on Mystery Island. This does not look like someone who you would want to meet in a bad mood, especially with all those weapons he carries. This Flotsam often goes to great lengths to capture his prey and it is rare that any petpet manages to escape him once discovered.

I’m not so fond of this Flotsam; thankfully the only place he is featured is in the card entitled Flotsam Hunter, released on 25 February 2005 (Y7). Once again he would at first sight seem to be Green, but again, there are subtle differences.

Fingholl

Fingholl and his fellow explorer Bayner were responsible for diving down to assess the damage suffered by the city of Old Maraqua after the Giant Maelstrom in 2001 (Y3). For this task he and Bayner had to be carefully lowered down through the center of the maelstrom, a very dangerous task; however, thanks to their expertly trained team of six Pteris handling the ropes, they managed to reach the city relatively unscathed.

Fingholl is another Green Flotsam and gave his report on the destruction of Old Maraqua on the 23rd August 2001 (Y3).

Underwater Chef and Monsieur Lefroofroo

Quite a well known character in Neopia is the (albeit nameless) Underwater Chef of Mystery Island. His current job (unfortunately for him) is to provide the ever hungry Mumbo Pango of the island with food, a task for which he often enlists your help. However, this was not always his job; he used to cook for the Royal family of Old Maraqua before it was struck by a deadly maelstrom and destroyed, an event rumored to be the result of a pirate’s curse.

The Underwater Chef is also featured in a game called Island Chef Academy, where he seems to have gotten a side job cooking for the other residents of Mystery Island. Of course he is once again in need of your help to keep up with his customers and gives you the task of the final preparation of the various meals the customers order, a task which I have yet to master.

Joining him in the cooking profession is the famous (and yet strangely unheard of) Monsieur Lefroofroo, the author of the book Flotsam Food, which contains 1001 of his best recipes for you to make. However, not much else is known about this elusive (but clearly brilliant) Flotsam; perhaps he is waiting for the right moment to appear before the general population, or maybe he is simply shy?

The Underwater Chef doesn’t seem to be an official Neopets color; however, he does have three items related to him (namely Mystery Island Chef Stamp, Kitchen Quest Plushie and the card Underwater Chef) and has his own article in the Neopedia.

I think we can safely assume that Monsieur Lefroofroo is a Red Flotsam because of the picture on his book; however, this has never being confirmed. Also, his book was published on the 27th of July 2001 (Y3) so he is certainly over 9 years old.

Plesio

Last, but certainly not least we have who is possibly the most well known Flotsam in Neopia - Plesio. He is known by most to be the official keeper of the Wheel of Mediocrity, a job which, on the surface, would appear to be a fun occupation (I mean come on, you get to spin this great wheel and laugh at the people like me who get bad results!) However, this seems to bore him for some reason.

Perhaps he misses the old days where he personally led the Sea Division of the Tyrannian troops in the fight against the Monoceraptor in 2001 (Y3). Plesio’s excellent wits and swimming skills made him the ideal leader in this fight and with them the Neopian people were able to successfully defeat the Monoceraptor for good.

In his spare time Plesio likes to play Go! Go! Go! A game of wits and cunning that was introduced to him by Myncha. Soon after realizing that he actually liked this game (and that it didn’t bore him to tears), Plesio agreed to join the official games and now plays with the citizens of Neopia willing to challenge him and his fellow players. For those who have not participated in this game Plesio appears in the second tournament round and leaves in the fifth, where Sabre-X joins the game.

All in all I would say Plesio is one talented Flotsam and a very interesting character indeed, even if he does seem to be bored out of his skull half the time!

Plesio is featured in several places, Kal has already mentioned the fight against the Monoceraptor and the game Go! Go! Go! He is also available as a keeper for your Shop (one more thing for him to take care of) and he has two items that feature him: the Plesio Plushie and the card called (ironically) Plesio.

Well, that seems to be all I have for you; aren’t Flotsams interesting if you look around? I’d like to thank the Neopians who answered the few questions I had while writing this; unfortunately I forgot your names, but you know who you are!

Oh, and I suppose Isgott deserves some credit for all the organization he helped me with, and the (slightly boring) information he shared.

Oh, thanks a bunch, Kal, I actually have some more “slightly boring” information to add: Flotsams are currently available in a staggering 46 different colors, the latest colors being Jelly and Chocolate. They also have five outfits specifically designed for them, nearly 200 items with their species name in and there are a whopping 4,391,661 Flotsams currently wandering around Neopia (as of this time of writing and not including morphed or zapped Flotsams).

There are that many? Wow, that’s a lot.

Anyway, thanks for reading my article, I really hope you’ve enjoyed it and that you learned a thing or two about this wonderful species.

See you around!