Boochi the Bad Baby Bruce

Also by knight_blade

If you haven't heard of Boochi yet, hide behind the sofa before you start reading this article, just in case! Thousands of Neopians are living in fear, too terrified to put their favourite pets active, all because of this misleadingly cute baby Bruce - and with very good reason: This "sweet" little baby appears out of nowhere, completely at random and utterly indiscriminately, using his powerful ray gun to randomly zap other Neopets into babies with a "Bwahahaaa" that is both evil and adorable. Rumour has it this Bruce is 17, and was scared of growing up, so the Faerie Queen granted him the power to stay young forever - and to pass on this ability. Whether this is a gift or not is something to be debated...

Don't get me wrong, if you're saving up for a Baby Paintbrush, this is great: it will save you millions and Boochi's not the only unpredictable colour-changing random event. "A torrent of multi-coloured water falls from the sky and drenches your pet!" chooses a totally random colour, or there's one that turns your pet completely invisible. These events are a very good way of keeping inflation down by making people re-buy their colours, though it does have the negative effect of pushing up the price of existing paint brushes.

I got very lucky, as I'm not keen on Baby pets: Boochi tried to shoot my Shadow Aisha, tayene, and missed - but some people aren't so lucky, like my friend Knight_Blade.

Knight_Blade's story:

"It happened so long ago that I can't really remember. However, it must have been in the midst of my daily shop restocking, given that's where I spent most of my hours in Neopia. My initial reaction was that of ignorance upon receiving the notification, then disbelief when I re-read it and, finally, utter frustration after I had confirmed it. My mind ran a mile a minute - I had just recently saved up over one point eight MILLION Neopoints just to paint my beloved pet with a Plushie Brush and I couldn't fathom that such dangers lurked out there, that after so much hard work that something as simple as a random event could change my view of the Neopian world. Of course, if my pet was a default colour I would have been overjoyed that something wonderful would have changed its mundane look. However, this was not the case; and it led to myself thinking whether anything was worth trying for in this world when it could be so easily taken away from you.

However, all was not lost. After many, many moments later, I came to realise that this was just a virtual world, a world outside reality, I had a life to live. Even though I may have lost something I strived hard for, I also had to accept it, that life was not always going to be fair (virtual or not) and in many ways it has changed the way I play Neopets, from now until forever. If I could do or say anything to him, it would be... nothing. It has already happened to me and I took it in and eventually accepted my new look pet - I intend on keeping it that way. Fortunately, lightning doesn't always strike twice in the same place, so hopefully Boochi has moved on towards zapping pets who are in need of a new change of face, hopefully to the benefit of their owners!"

Fire_Puppe was very lucky to have such a kind owner - there are many cases of pets being abandoned or given away because they were so shocked and didn't like the result (names withheld for privacy): "They zapped my Lupe which I now no longer have. I had to put it UFA (up for adoption). :'( " "My beautiful Desert Elephante. Gone. So sad..." "I worked hard to get my Eyrie painted with a Fire, Fire, Pants on Fire Paint Brush and I lost it just one day after!" - or worse, there are stories of owners walking away entirely, as in the case of poor young tiffan_1. She was proud of her collection of each of her favourite pets, one each in their classic colours - until Boochi zapped her blue Uni into a "disgusting pink baby one!" She'd only been on that account a few weeks and hadn't saved up enough money yet to be able to correct it. Sadly, it upset her so badly so early on in the game that she left all four pets behind and made a side account her main.

It's bad enough that Boochi can destroy millions of points worth of paintbrushes, be it Royal or Blue, but I recently discovered he CHEATS as well! You go to get your revenge on him in the Battledome (not that it will fix your poor pet, but you'll feel a bit better about it) and you have a brainwave! You go to steal his ray gun with your purple sticky hand so that no other pet will ever get hit again - and discover the nasty little brat has managed to sneak a glass bottle into the Arena: Pea and Ham Baby Food. It's not a real weapon and can't be equipped by anyone else - he's not playing fair, he's using it to stop you from saving the world!

Worse luck to those who have spent real money in the Mall, buying clothes and accessories as there's not many items that can be customised to babies! On the other hand, though, if you're a grand fighter in the Battledome, your opponents aren't going to expect defeat handed to them by a cute widdle petty-wet!

Anyone can be affected by a random event; these cannot be effectively safeguarded against. It doesn't matter if you're a fabulous Faerie, a mucky Mutant, a Maraquan Peophin in all your spectacular seahorse splendour, whether you are newly painted or done since the dawn of time - nothing stops him - and for this reason, I don't like him.

You can find some handy tips to try and avoid Boochi: HERE or you can even try to attract him if you like the saccharine look with these suggestions:THERE!

Whilst Sloth is a great menace, at least he doesn't usually pretend to be adorable! Remember: always beware the cute ones. *winks*