Neopian Chronicles: 25 Years of Unforgettable Events

      Y1 - Welcome, Neopets!

      Of course, we have to start at the very beginning! Although work on the site began back in 1997, Neopets finally went live on November 15th, 1999. It’s hard to pinpoint any significant “event” from this year as we didn’t start hearing about new features and updates until the following year. Pets like the Aisha, Kyrii, and Quiggle in various forms all-predate site updates, along with nineteen other species, so plenty of them were available either at launch or very soon after. However, a lot of these early pets went through some big changes. For example, did you know that the Eyrie started as a bigger, more dinosaur-like creature called the Cerpull? It then changed forms and became a “Tatsu”, not becoming the Eyrie we know and love until further down the line. And don’t even get me started on the Bruce! I could easily fill a whole article with the fascinating history of how some of our favourite pets came to be, but we still have many more years to go!

      Y2 - Dr. Sloth!

      Now that the “new features” updates have begun, we can finally see where some of our favourite parts of the site started! Things like the Soup Kitchen, Caption Contest, and even the very humble Neopian Times were added to the site in Y2. But my favourite thing introduced to Neopia in that era was our very first plot, known as The Virtupets Plot! This was our first time meeting the glorious Dr. Sloth, as well as the Grundos. Neopia was finally beginning to find its footing with lore. But unfortunately, the Space Faerie defeated my incredible leader, casting him out until his next big plot. There was one other Battledome mini-plot, but the Virtupets Plot left an effect on the site that we’ve felt with every plot following.

      Y3 - Tyrannia!

      2001 saw some new features for Faerieland, the Ski Lodge Murder Mystery, and the revamping of pets like Acaras, Flotsams, and Myncis. But one day, a huge earthquake struck Neopia, and we got our first glimpse of a new land: Tyrannia! It started small with new additions like the Giant Omelette (yay, free food!) and Wheel of Mediocrity, but soon we saw a full-blown invasion of the new land! There were onslaughts of Korbats, Skeiths, and even the great Monoceraptor! But one brave user and their Lupe defeated the evil beast, and Tyrannia finally saw peace.

      Y4 - Plushie Mania!

      Imagine this: you’re walking through your local mall on a dreary November day, just trying to get through your holiday shopping. You pass by Limited Too and are ready to walk on without a second thought, but out of the corner of your eyes, you spot it: a giant white Kougra! That’s right, in 2002, this could’ve happened to you! Neopets plushies began making their way to Limited Too stores all across the country, giving many Neopians the opportunity they’d always hoped for: the ability to hug their favourite Neopets in real life! There were plenty of notable onsite updates too - the introduction of the Baby and Pirate paint brushes, the appearance of the Defenders of Neopia, and a huge war between the newly introduced Meridell and Darigan Citadel! But a fondness for plushies is leading me to pick that as my favourite event for Y4. You can even find some of those old plushies online if you look hard enough!

      Y5 - Jelly Wo - I mean, the fall of Lord Darigan!

      Stories have been passed down about a legendary pet that defeated Lord Darigan and finally saved Meridell. That very pet was Majal_Kita, who many still swear they see around Neopia today! If you were into plots, 2003 gave you your fill with the Champions of Meridell plot finally coming to an end, along with some curious events surrounding a volcano on Mystery Island. And none of these things had anything to do with a world of jelly. Nope. Not at all. And if such a world exists, no one would be, say, threatening an innocent Neopian Times reporter into not reporting on it. Not at all! Oh, and MSP Poogles started to come out of the lab ray. That was pretty cool too.

      Y6 - “Lack of Interest”?

      In March of 2004, we saw the very first March 3rd that was cancelled due to “lack of interest.” This has since become a bizarre, annual event that no one seems to understand but draws amusement from many a Neopian, myself included. And you certainly would not be able to say that Y6 had a lack of interesting things going on. Far from it! A few personal favourites include Illusen and Jhudora both seeing their respective days for the first time, the Yurble being introduced to Neopia, and a new plot involving the brave adventurer Hannah and her new friend Armin!

      Y7 - Maraqua and the Lost Desert!

      With two great plots in Y7, how could I possibly pick between them? One was the Curse of Maraqua, where you could take sides between the Maraquan forces and the pirates led by Captain Scarblade. We even saw the first instance of a plot prize shop! The other plot led us to Qasala for the first time, solving puzzles to help lift the curse that had been placed on this new land. Other notable additions include seeing Hissis, Xweetoks, and Ogrins for the first time, the creation of galleries, and even a real-life video game!

      Y8 - Toolbars, the Altador Cup, and one angry Yurble!

      The introduction of Altador in 2006 brought some new and still-loved features to the site. The Altador plot, which you can still complete on your own time to this day, broke a spell that freed everyone in this new city - which left them plenty of time to gear up for Neopia’s greatest sporting event! The Altador Cup! For the first time, everyone could pick their favourite Neopian land and battle it out in Yooyuball for fame and glory. Haunted Woods took the cup home for the first year, but from then on, the Cup has been fiercely challenged once a year! And one other little nifty thing was the Neopets Toolbar. Did you ever use it? Well, if you’ve picked up a treasure from Tarla anytime recently, then you’re still seeing the leftovers from the toolbar!

      Y9 - Hey wait, why is my pet different?

      Love it or hate it, 2007 was the year that Neopets radically changed. On April 26th, we were warned by a giant Meepit of some major changes approaching. And on April 27th, those changes smacked us right in the face. Customisation was now upon us! If you always wanted to dress up your pets, this was easily the most exciting thing ever! But for people who have strong opinions about converted or unconverted pets, this is where things got controversial. While most pets were converted automatically, a few lucky painted pets remained “unconverted.” Thus began the age of “UC” pets being extremely valuable amongst pet traders. Maybe you even own or traded for one yourself! Regardless, customisation is here to stay!

      Y10 - We still cry over Key Quest! (And I still cry over Sloth)

      When you ask virtually any Neopian what feature they wish they could add to the site today, an overwhelming amount of them would shout about a little thing called Key Quest! Can you win some of the fabulous prizes by collecting tokens and strategically moving around the board? Well, unfortunately, we can’t anymore. But it was fun while it lasted! However, my affinity lies with the Return of Dr. Sloth plot! He finally made a triumphant return, ready to conquer Neopia again, but unfortunately met another defeat. I had high hopes for him, so I was crushed. But I’ll never give up on looking for that coin floating in space…

      Y11 - Petpet Park!

      Do you love your Petpets more than your actual pets? (It’s okay, I won’t tell.) Then the Petpet Park is the place to be! We got six new park-exclusive Petpets we could play as, some cute clothing to dress them up in, and plenty of places to explore! We also saw a fun Negg celebration in April, the Faerie Festival event, and the Atlas of the Ancients plot that introduced us to a new land: Moltara! Plus, it was a milestone year with Neopets celebrating its tenth birthday! It seems like just yesterday that the site launched…

      Y12 - So much to do, so much to see!

      2010 was chock full of events for Neopians to participate in! The Neopies Awards! The Festival of Neggs! Daily Dare! The Altador Cup! And every single last wheel in Neopia seeing a nice revamp! And wait a second.. hey! What’s happening to Faerieland! Oh no! Our favourite cloud city in the sky came crashing to the ground as a part of the Faeries’ Ruin plot! If you weren’t around before 2010, you probably only remember Faerieland as being bound by land. But some of us, myself included, quite miss Faerieland being in the sky… maybe someday a plot could take them back up? Who knows!

      Y13 - The Habitarium!

      So we’ve got plenty of things for your pets to do, and plenty of things for your Petpets to do. But what about those little Petpetpets? Well, with Professor Milton Clodbottle's Astounding Habitarium (quite a lengthy name), you could put your Petpetpets to work and make them a nice little place to come home to! Along with Key Quest, this is a site feature that many Neopians miss. But Petpets weren’t ignored in the meantime! Users got to vote on a new one to add to the site, and we were introduced to the Belonthiss! And hey, what about those cool new 8-bit pets? What a fun way to look back on the beginnings of some of our favourite video games! But only if you have access to the very secret laboratory… at least until next year!

      Y14 - MOAR PETS!

      It’s hard to limit yourself to just four pets, isn’t it? Well, if you’re a Premium user, for the first time ever you could have five pets! That’s one new pet to give a nice, loving home to! The Battledome also saw some huge changes this year. We said goodbye to the old Battledome (we miss you!) and began testing out a new way to fight! And if you were looking for inspiration for that new fifth pet of yours, why not try some of the new paintbrushes that were introduced this year? Eventide, Dimensional, Elderly, and Stealthy were all introduced to Neopia for the first time in 2012, just in time for you to wish that maybe you could have a sixth pet someday ;) Soon, my friend, soon…

      Y15 - War, what is it good for?

      From a big earthquake in Tyrannia came the War for the Obelisk! With that brand new Battledome, don’t you want someone to fight? Well, you’ve got lots of fighting to do in this new plot, and even once the war ceases, we get a new regular event out of it where you can fight even more to get some sweet boons! And hey, what about the controversy behind the Spooky Food Eating Contest? I heard that the winner was a filthy cheater! Don’t worry, a real winner was finally crowned and we got some sweet prizes out of it. Phew!

      Y16 - Ch-ch-ch-changes!

      We saw a lot of big changes in 2014, some we liked and some we didn’t. This year we said goodbye to Petpet Park and Habitarium, but we said hello to Neopia’s most recent new species: the Vandagyre! Our Neopet alphabet is complete! But one of the biggest things to happen was what we now know as the Neopocalypse. With all the big changes, the site needed some downtime to recover. But we weathered the storm and even came out the other side with a shiny new avatar! And finally, we saw the first year of the Charity Corner! What a beautiful way to give and receive! Can you believe this site is just about old enough to drive?

      Y17 - Who you gonna call?

      GHOUL CATCHERS! Neopets released its second-ever mobile game, a fun puzzle game where you could earn Neopoints and exclusive items by vanquishing the ghouls trying to take over Neopia! And if you love earning Neopoints, then you definitely loved the introduction of Trudy’s Surprise in 2015! One little spin every day could earn you up to 100k! Finally, we got to see all of our favourite events continue: the Festival of Neggs, the Altador Cup (so if Kiko Lake won, why do they need to keep stealing our items?), Charity Corner, and the Games Master Challenge!

      Y18 - Spring has sprung!

      Don’t those Spring petpets look so cute? A new Petpet exclusive colour was released in 2016, which is still loved by many to this day. Do you think we could ever get that colour for our pets? All of our favorite fun events continued, including Mystery Island taking home the Altador Cup, and a brand new game: AAA’s Revenge!

      Y19 - I want candy!

      In 2017, we got a poll between three pet colours to see which two would get chosen: Candy, Marble, and Floral. Although Candy and Marble were ultimately the ones chosen, I hope that maybe we’ll get to see Floral again someday. Oh, and remember when I mentioned that we wanted more pet slots? Finally, everyone got that sweet, sweet new additional pet slot to expand their family with! Regular users could now have 5 pets, and Premium users were bumped up to 6 slots. And hey, there seems to be something spooky going on with the Faerie Festival this year… it’s the new Wraith Resurgence plot!

      Y20 - Even more color!

      More new Paint Brushes? Yes, please! A poll was held to decide between Steampunk, Toy, Origami, and Burlap. Steampunk and Toy were the first two to get released, but those other colours weren’t lost to the void at all. Origami came about a month later, and Burlap joined the fun later down the line. As the Wraith Resurgence plot ended, we cleaned up Neopia with a much earlier Charity Corner. And Premium users got to see a pretty sweet perk: the ability to change a pet’s species once a year!

      Y21 - Legends and Letters and Lots of fun!

      We got another new mobile app in 2019: Legends and Letters! And even more colour polls! This time, we got the gorgeous Oil Paint, but last year’s Burlap and the new Mosaic were introduced in Y21 as well, with the latter two being lab ray exclusive colours. And was 5 or 6 pet slots still not enough to contain your family of pets? Good news! We were bumped up by one again, meaning 6 pet slots total for everyone and 7 total if you have Premium. If you’re a plot and event fan, we also saw the likes of the ending of Lyra and the Lost Heirloom (which started last year) and the new Hannah and the Lost Time Capsules. Not bad for the 20th anniversary of Neopets!

      Y22 - No shutdown for Neopia!

      Unfortunate events in the real world left many people stuck at home, but Neopia was still open for business if you needed a place to escape! Neopets: Island Builders was introduced in 2020, and we got a brand new look for the site that was much more friendly for our mobile players. Many of our favourite annual events continued to run, so if you were itching for something fun to do while you were staying safe indoors, why not make some donations to the Charity Corner or battle in the Altador Cup again?

      Y23 - Well… it happened.

      I can’t pretend like Y23 was all fun and games for everyone. There were a lot of big changes in Neopia that we had to weather through. I’ll leave one for everyone to determine their own opinion on, but one major change that affected everyone was the retirement of Adobe Flash. It’s been taking a lot of time to rebuild some of the things we lost from that, but gradually, some of our favourite games and site features have been able to make a comeback. TNT is still working hard to this day to bring back some of the life we lost with this big change. Oh, and one more big thing… EVEN MORE PET SLOTS! 5 wasn’t enough? 6 wasn’t enough? How about 7? Oh, you still want more? How about 10!!! If your Neo-family is growing faster than you can handle, the NC Mall can help you get 10 new pet slots to accommodate! And if you’re premium, bump that number up to being able to have a total of 20 pets on your account! Isn’t it nice to have so many pets? Just make sure you keep everyone fed!

      Y24 - Faerie’s Hope!

      If having the whole Neopets site in your pocket isn’t enough, then you’re in luck! Faerie’s Hope hit the app store for everyone to enjoy! And if you’re *still* hungry for more, TNT gave us a lovely roadmap to see where the site would be heading in the next year. Have you been waiting for your favourite pages and games to make a comeback? It’s in the works! Itching to have a UC of your very own? It’s a work in progress, but things are looking up! Although there were not as many events and more time spent rebuilding, we’ve still got a lot to look forward to.

      Y25 - I can’t pea-lieve it!

      Neopets is finally free and independent again! With TNT itself fully back at the wheel, they were free to bring lots of life to the site again. One of the best new additions was the introduction of Community Ambassadors. Have an issue and want to grab staff’s ear? Reach out to one of those friendly faces and they can bring it up to TNT! Some of our favourite flash games came back with the help of Ruffle, and the Faerie Festival saw a fun little plot between Illusen and Jhudora. TNT also hit the road and visited a lot of cons to talk about what was coming next for the site. Oh yeah, and I think there was something going on with a pea wearing a hat? Eh, it probably wasn’t very important.

      Y26 - Let’s party!

      And now, we’ve finally made it. This November, we’ll be celebrating the big 2-5. This year has just begun, but already we’ve got a lot to look forward to. TNT has made a lot of big promises, and I can’t wait to see how it’s all going to turn out! From UCs to a Monopoly game to cute hats to a mysterious new plot that has been hinted at, we’re seeing a brand new era of Neopets. What am I hoping to see in 2024? Well, I’m pretty excited to see how we’re getting a new fan-artist program, and I’m definitely looking forward to whatever this plot is going to be. I’d better finish writing and get back to training my Battledome pet!

      What’s been your favourite Neopian event throughout the years? What do you want to see come back? What new things are you hoping TNT will bring us? They’re listening to us more than ever, so if you’ve got a question or suggestion you want to share, shout it out on the boards, ask our lovely NT editors, or neomail one of your Community Ambassadors! Thank you for joining me on this little trip down memory lane. I hope you liked reminiscing on your old favourite plot or learning something new about an event you weren’t around for. I’ll see you around in Neopia!