Issue 954 Discussion Thread (Valentine's Day)

[Twillie]

Issue 954 – Valentine's Day!

"Courage can look like a lot of different things. It can look like a little girl finally standing up to the playground bully – and getting her glasses snapped in the process. It can also look like that same girl, sitting alone in a darkened room, holding her breath in front of the computer’s glow, mustering up the bravery to enter the Haunted Woods for the first time. Heroism and courage and friendship and love are learned as a person grows. And those old Neopets that exist still today, the relics from 18 years past, witnessed it all."

—appleseet

Articles
Favourites from Y23: Colours and Outfits by aleu1986
14 NP Valentine's Gifts for That Special Someone! by freehanded and blumaroocrazy21
A Creative Valentine's Day by Carolyn and 4mandy4
Show Them You -Really- Care On Valentine’s Day by dudeiloled
Bearing Witness by appleseet

Short Stories
The Paintbrush Society - A Spooky Introduction by ocxinthebreather
Roesellah's by rkbear
Adventures in Meridell by dunefurandlilypelt
It's Basic Logic by i_lovee_icecream

Comics
Slotted by Huntress
New year, new me? by 49_g_a_b_r_i_e_l_49, juan_victor, and sppyder2
Beginner to recycling by ziemelbriedis
Muffin will be better than this by verna_, myncithemonkey, and timothy1692
Clean Sweep by kazoo444
N°1 UNFO: Unidentified Neofly Object by guga_dodi
A Grave Mistake on Valentine's Day by _brainchild_
Neoquest II Crossword by dollsuki, dendeus_271, and aninha_morango
Album of the Week: Shoyru and Grarrlfunkel by victoriathegr8one
The Year of the...Kougra? by sunbathr , rawbeee, and ghatna
Gnorbu Juice by tangamandapiano, gamador, and hasse_li_37
A new friend! by keruza and thebeanies
Who's Your Petpet Valentine? by mousebroker
Neordle 1 by darkroast
Ghrok Finds Love! by evelynlupin
Valentines Egg-spectations! by andypopo
Won't Chia Be My Valentine? by t0tor0
Chocolate Gift by squin, fullinventory, and crazy_allstar
Love is for everyone by black_kisa and flaiyper

Continued Series
Rosalina and the Way-Weird Beast by downrightdude
The Gnorbu and the Crystal Woods by josephinefarine
The Tidal Cave by CrimsonShroud
The Swashbuckling Ballad of a Vandagyre by Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff)
Another Hero's Journey...to Krawk Island by Kat
The Ninja and the Pirate King by crazyboutcute
The Blooms of Shenkuu: Legacies by exanomaly

And don't forget The Editorial.

All reviews of all pieces are welcome! However, if you would really like your piece to be reviewed, post and let others know!

[Twillie]

Looks like the comics are broken right now, but I believe Aesop's new helper, Mx. Macabre, is aware of this and it'll likely be fixed soon!

[downrightdude]

Can't believe my never-ending series has finally come to an end!

Where did all the time go? (Seriously, where'd it go and how can I get it back?)

[Huntress]

Ha, new year, new comic.

Weird story with this one. I drew and sent this particular comic in at the end of last year when pet slots finally became A Thing. Got held over and all.

Then I also drew and sent in a Valentine's Day comic on the 1st (because my NT activity comes in bursts and it's high time that I finally pushed to 200 trophies). Never heard back from that one and Aesop didn't respond to my specifying neomail at the time. So either my actual Valentine's comic will die in limbo and I can redraw it for a regular issue (it was only barely topical anyway) or it'll show up in some upcoming issue being, well, pinker than usual, meaning they both get to look out of place.

[Kat]

I was about to say that my series has absolutely nothing to do with Valentine's Day then I remembered it's essentially a story of how Reuben tries to propose to Andrea. It's a romance story in the guise of another NQII fanfic and wrapped in layers of action and adventure.

And perfect timing, the part published for this issue has this quote that managed to pass under the radar:

SPOILER: Click to show

The red Kyrii combed her mane with her fingers and blushed slightly. “Oh, er, Reuben is my…”

“Love ‘er!” Lou interrupted, glancing about at the cabin, which was homey and well-furnished for a simple mess hall and study. “Love what you did with the ol’ Snarhook, Cap’n! No wonder we didn’t recognize ‘er!”

It's been x number of years but I still got it, but wait till the final part where Reuben finally gets to propose.

[Twillie]

Feb 19, 2022 4:55:53 GMT -5 Huntress said:

Ha, new year, new comic.

Weird story with this one. I drew and sent this particular comic in at the end of last year when pet slots finally became A Thing. Got held over and all.

Then I also drew and sent in a Valentine's Day comic on the 1st (because my NT activity comes in bursts and it's high time that I finally pushed to 200 trophies). Never heard back from that one and Aesop didn't respond to my specifying neomail at the time. So either my actual Valentine's comic will die in limbo and I can redraw it for a regular issue (it was only barely topical anyway) or it'll show up in some upcoming issue being, well, pinker than usual, meaning they both get to look out of place.

Yesterday Mac was chatting on the r/Neopets Discord server (there are a few TNT members on there), and among other things they mentioned this:

So that may explain your comic being in limbo for now. I'm not sure how work for the NT is divided between Aesop and Mac right now, but it seems the latter has been taking on more of its responsibilities lately which has caused some transitional weirdness like this haha

(Mac also mentioned staying active on the Neoboards so that it wasn't just Discord users that got info like this, so hopefully they may further explain this on the site sometime after the weekend.)

[June Scarlet]

I read Appleseet's "Bearing Witness," it was a good, short and sweet article, read like a piece of creative nonfiction, brought me back to my creative nonficiton class. It talks about their experience in the past and connects it to their present, and how life changes, and Neopets stays the same, but yet it changes too, and such. Very good, I sent a neomail to them.