Y23 Goodie Bag Under Speculation

     Reporting live from the field it's Baron von Murin, Neopian Times' premiere Eyrie journalist. Today marks the 23rd year of the Neopian calendar and that means the Neopets 22nd Birthday Goodie Bag is set to leave circulation in a matter of hours, if not minutes. It may already be retired as of the time of this publication. The previous year's goodie bag held the much sought-after Neopets 22nd Birthday Stamp which has retained its value going into the 23rd year. Alongside this collectable were a slew of Petpets coming in a very lively Birthday colour: the Gruslen, Snowickle, Schnelly, and Yooyu.

     "We really tried to follow the current trend of Petpets having a festive feel as well as introduce a new collectable after several years of not having one in the goodie bags," an anonymous Kacheek associated with the item planning process stated.

     Indeed, these four Petpets join a long line of other Petpets that received the Birthday colouring. We just need to look back on the history of goodie bags to see where the focus has been regarding the items you can obtain from the birthday goodie bags. For brevity, we will focus on the last three years, but it must be noted that since Y13, the goodie bags have contained at least 3-4 Birthday Petpets.

     Looking at the Neopets 21st Birthday Goodie Bag, it contained a Doglefox, Erisim, Grackle, Harris, Kazeriu, and Kookith all Birthday coloured. It also contained a Cupcake Plushie, a Kaleidoscope Jar, and Rainbow Rock Candy. The current estimated value out of this bag sits at 985,000 NPS as of this story.

     Taking a peak even further back to the 20th birthday of Neopets, that goodie bag contained a Birthday Slorg, Flower, Feloreena and Icklesaur. The item distribution was more spread out, containing multiple different toy items, two different plushies, and a baked good. However, it did not disappoint in maintaining roughly four different Petpets. The bag contained the listed Petpets as well as the following: Birthday Box, Birthday Celebration Bruce, Birthday Celebration Usul, Giant Castle Cake, and Jar of Sunshine. With the addition of being the 20th birthday bag, the value of this bag has gone up since its release, sitting on the market for roughly two million NPS.

     Where wearables used to be prevalent, and larger pools of lesser rarity items were common, now the item pool has been reduced but more specialized and collectable. Not only has a line of Petpet colours been introduced almost exclusively through the birthday goodie bags, but they are reasonably obtainable, and the possibility of getting a popular toy or food item increases when there are not multiple different items that drop from the bag.

     It should not be understated just how obtainable the bags are.

     "We made sure that the rarity is common enough that it can be sold in the Toy Shop often, but we also are fully aware of how the Wishing Well is a hotbed of activity," a Shoyru associated with the goodie bag sales team said. "keeping the rarity down ensures that everyone has a reasonable chance of obtaining at least one, especially if they visit the Wishing Well often and offer up their 14 wishes every day."

     Going into the 23rd year of Neopets, speculation has risen around the possible contents of this year's bag.

     "I really want a Birthday Snowbunny, because wouldn't it be even cuter with whipped cream and sprinkles on its head1?" responded a young Neopian after being asked about their thoughts on the goodie bag.

     "They'll definitely throw in more Petpets but I'm really hoping for a neat foreground or background again," another Neopian stated. "My celebratory wardrobe is getting outdated!"

     We reached out to the previous two members of the item planning committee however they could not comment on any unreleased items at this time.

     "What I can say is that the contents are going to make you feel like you're truly having a celebration, and that you'll want to grab another, and another! the Kacheek from the committee said.

     Through multiple dead-end leads, one proved promising and it led to an unmarked building on the outskirts of Neopia Central. The building houses several empty floors for storage of goods and raw materials. Records obtained by Neopian Times show that it was previously owned by BOOM! Boom Boxes! The now-defunct retail business that sprung to life in Year 3, selling devices with lots of buttons to make things go BOOM.

     Multiple persons of interest have been spotted leaving and entering the building over the course of March to October. This includes the renowned Toy Shop owner, Tasha. Preliminary reports could not pinpoint what exactly was being stored in the building, and upon visiting the location on the 14th day of Storing, there appeared to be nothing housed within the premises.

     It is believed all items, presumably the goodie bags for Y23 and its contents, have been moved to another location where they will begin distribution upon the start of the birthday celebrations. Attempts have been made to get comments from Tasha and other Neopets that were spotted at the said location but none have responded.

     Intrepid Neopets will surely be gathering bags in droves, waiting at the doors of the Toy Shop, eager to be one of the first to take a peak inside these goodie bags. We will likely see data regarding items begin to circulate in the coming weeks as Neopians begin opening and collecting data as they have always done to determine all possible items.

     The Neopets birthday goodie bag has been a tradition since the beginning of its creation, now going 23 years strong. We here at Neopian Times look forward to seeing what new and exciting items await Neopians this year. Any new developments will be reported as they reach us. This has been Baron von Murin, signing off.