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Post by June Scarlet on Sept 19, 2017 11:22:21 GMT -5
A brand new Neopedia Article? That's quite interesting.
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Post by Coaster on Sept 19, 2017 13:01:01 GMT -5
And I guess that's proof for the speculation that Kaia is from Shenkuu and has cherry blossom-like wings (well... kinda lotus-y from what I can tell, but still, pink flowers with heavy cultural connotations). And apparently she's goinog to be running some kind of game?... |
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Post by Breakingchains on Sept 19, 2017 13:36:11 GMT -5
Kaia is pretty unusual for a new faerie character, for several reasons: she's like Fyora in that she's not obviously with any one elemental alignment; most faeries all look about the same age whereas Kaia seems to be whatever the faerie equivalent is of a kid or teenager (it's ambiguous but neopedia article says "younger than most of her kind"); and she actually looks Japanese, not just like she grew up in Shenkuu.
I'm all for seeing these deviations in the faerie formula--the faeries have always felt pretty static to me--so we'll see where this goes. |
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Sept 19, 2017 13:38:34 GMT -5
I think JS's lack of Neopian lore just created some interesting lore. Before this, ALL Faeries came from Faerieland. Kaia is so far the only known non-Faerieland Faerie we know, which brings up questions about how Faeries are created. I always thought it was some kind of ritual where participating Faeries would combine all their magic together and from the mass of magic new Faeries would be born. This either happened in Faerieland or someplace only the Faeries know about and then take the new Faeries to the Faerieland Academy to raise and teach them (note, I also imagine the youngest Faerie could be is a kindergarten age; I don't think there's a nursery of baby Faeries). Well, now this throws a wrench in that thinking, or at least partially. So, unless Kaia was brought from Faerieland at a very young age (though that wouldn't work with my theory and I don't think that's JS intent), whatever way a Faerie is created can be done outside the limits of Faerieland resulting in non-Faerieland Faeries. So, now the question is how do non-Faerieland Faeries differ from Faerieland Faeries. Was Kaia created looking like that? If so, was it an effect of the environment she was created in or were their other factors? If it's due to where she's created, would all Shenkuu Faeries look like? If no would they have the same element structure of Faerieland or are they different (like are Shenkuu Faeries the five elements of Water, Fire, Air, Wood, & Metal?). Who created and raised her? Who taught her how to control her magic before going to the Faerieland Academy? And finally, are there any more non-Faerieland Faeries Now I would like to address this is a complete accident. As interesting as this new lore is, JS did not intentionally do it. Read Kaia's story again but replace Faerie with Human, Shenkuu with China/Japan/Korea, Faerieland Academy with a prestigious place (let's go with NASA), and Magic with Science or something. It pretty much now reads as an immigrant story who's following a dream. Now it's not a bad thing, but my issue here is that JS may have related Faerie culture too much with human culture. Faereis and humans are not the same, in Neopia pretty much the Neopets are suppose to be the human analogues. Faeries would honestly be an alien concept to an average human, there's nothing in real life that it can be acquainted too. In this instance it came out fine, creating some fun new lore to think about, but I highly encourage JS to learn about Faeries and really think how their culture would be constructed. And if any JS members are reading this, if you have questions don't be afraid to ask the players for help. Like if you want to be subtle about it create a survey asking what Neopian think Faeries are, what would they like see done with the Faeries, and any other thing you want to poke players minds for. Anyway, how about we actually focus on Kaia:   D'aww, she's so cute. Also, cherry blossom petal wings, CALLED IT. Looking at the high detail of her clothing, I think I can safely say that her clothes are probably going to be available as a wearable at some time during this event.  Her story is alright, though just looking at those images full of stock art makes me cringe. Seriously JS artists, just try, JUST TRY! Okay, you messed up on one of the recent Caption Contests, that doesn't mean you should revert back to stock art, it means you should learn and improve. IMPROVE! And I say this because the stock art REALLY takes away from the story, especially since Kaia is in the same pose for every single one! First Image: Fine, it's just an image to show what she looks like, but why isn't she smiling? Also for that image I'd rather have no background and it be a full body shot of her in a large enough image (not 150x150, maybe in a 200x300). Second Image: They should be in the hallway of a Faerieland-looking academy, Kaia is walking away with a sad expression carrying books while a few feet behind her we see another group of younger Faeries, one or more being Dark Faeries, teasing her (I imagine one pointing at her, one whispering to another who's chuckling, and all giving a gleeful teasing expression). Third Image: This one should be Fyora giving Kaia the special book, Kaia and the her classmates having a shocked expression while Fyora is giving a warm smile. But all these images just remind me how LAZY JS artists are and how they laid off all the TNT artists who actually put work in their drawings, drawings which now the JS artists keep copy & pasting. Sorry, got a bit ranty, this is suppose to be about Kaia who, to be fair, looks great and I'm hoping even after the event they do other stuff with her. A brand new Neopedia Article? That's quite interesting. Oh, yeah, going into my rant I forgot to mention I did like they gave her a Neopedia article. The Neopedia is a great tool to help introduce new characters, locations, and other things and always thought it was under utilized.  Kaia is pretty unusual for a new faerie character, for several reasons: she's like Fyora in that she's not obviously with any one elemental alignment; most faeries all look about the same age whereas Kaia seems to be whatever the faerie equivalent is of a kid or teenager (it's ambiguous but neopedia article says "younger than most of her kind"); and she actually looks Japanese, not just like she grew up in Shenkuu.
I'm all for seeing these deviations in the faerie formula--the faeries have always felt pretty static to me--so we'll see where this goes. Why using spoilers?
We have a bunch of unique Faeries with no direct element alignment, the most relation she has with Fyora is they're both colored pink. Also we've seen younger Faeries before: Casandia, Zaira, Nomi and the Faerie students in her book.
But you're right that her having an Asian appearance is unique to her. Once again, is it because she's a Shenkuu created Faerie? Then again other Faerieland Faerie's appearance look to have adjusted to the land they make a home in so would Kaia's too in some place that isn't Shenkuu or Faerieland? If so, would she keep certain appearance traits? |
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Post by Breakingchains on Sept 19, 2017 14:56:16 GMT -5
Honestly, I was mainly using spoilers because everyone else was so I figured we were still within the statute of limitations. Although it does seem kind of unlikely that somebody who doesn't want spoilers would come through this thread before going to check the new developments. What faeries are you thinking of that have unclear elemental alignments? I can only find the following: Fyora, Taelia, the Library & Tooth Faeries, Mira, the Battle Faerie, and Jhuidah--and some of those are debatable. (The Negg faerie just looks like an Earth faerie with a weird hobby to me, the grey faerie doesn't align but only because she had her magic taken away, and there's potentially a few Neoquest II examples but they are probably not canon.) Sure, that's seven examples, but out of 96 named faerie characters plus however many background characters we've seen, I thought it was established as being an uncommon thing. It does raise questions why a faerie born in Shenkuu would just happen to look Japanese, but then we have to start asking why Psellia looks white, or why any of these people look human at all. TBH I think I'm just gonna go with it. xD; Re: the bad art: I think if JS even has dedicated artists on Neopets (and they're not just commissioning somebody on a piece-by-piece basis) they're probably only focusing on places where they absolutely need new art (e.g. Kaia's design), and everything else is getting photoshopped together by someone else. It continues to make me concerned that we don't really know the size of the JS content team right now, or anyone on it except Scrappy. |
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Sept 19, 2017 15:23:57 GMT -5
Honestly, I was mainly using spoilers because everyone else was so I figured we were still within the statute of limitations. Although it does seem kind of unlikely that somebody who doesn't want spoilers would come through this thread before going to check the new developments. What faeries are you thinking of that have unclear elemental alignments? I can only find the following: Fyora, Taelia, the Library & Tooth Faeries, Mira, the Battle Faerie, and Jhuidah--and some of those are debatable. (The Negg faerie just looks like an Earth faerie with a weird hobby to me, the grey faerie doesn't align but only because she had her magic taken away, and there's potentially a few Neoquest II examples but they are probably not canon.) Sure, that's seven examples, but out of 96 named faerie characters plus however many background characters we've seen, I thought it was established as being an uncommon thing. It does raise questions why a faerie born in Shenkuu would just happen to look Japanese, but then we have to start asking why Psellia looks white, or why any of these people look human at all. TBH I think I'm just gonna go with it. xD; Re: the bad art: I think if JS even has dedicated artists on Neopets (and they're not just commissioning somebody on a piece-by-piece basis) they're probably only focusing on places where they absolutely need new art (e.g. Kaia's design), and everything else is getting photoshopped together by someone else. It continues to make me concerned that we don't really know the size of the JS content team right now, or anyone on it except Scrappy. Ah, I can see that. I remember on multiple occasions during Pokemon Sun & Moon's release finding out about new stuff from forums first. Not that I minded, I usually rushed to Serebii or Pokemon official site/Youtube to get the full info, but I know there are those who want to be surprised. I usually go by the way other commenters have responded, if they're using spoiler tags I'll us spoiler tags, but if not than fair game. Those are pretty much it. Granted there aren't that many, but still there are other special Faeries. Actually considering both their wings are flowers I'd say Kaia has more in common with Jhuidah, lol. On JN's comments there was a point of maybe some other known Faeries not being Faerieland native. I compiled a list of Jhuidah (Mystery Island Faerie), Ilere (Haunted Woods), Nuria (Lost Desert), Kari (though probably not Terror Mountain), and Tooth Faerie (no idea). Maybe Mira too, though I don't think from Kreludor or is like an alien Faerie (plus she's authorized to give out quests). From what it sounds like, Scrappy (and soon her new assistant) IS/ARE the Content "Team". Though that said, there has to be other people deciding on things so I think the issue here is more how does JS departmentalize roles? |
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Post by Jae on Sept 19, 2017 15:40:04 GMT -5
Regarding Kaia's element, she may be a Shenkuuvian earth faerie. Her wings are cherry blossom petals and she has a cherry blossom in her hair. Just like Kari and Zaira are attuned to Neggs, perhaps Kaia is attuned to cherry blossoms? I agree with Breakingchains that I'm not going to make a big fuss over Kaia looking Japanese - no one ever makes a big fuss over why most of the other faeries look like white people with wings. Duke Pikachu I think you're reading a bit too much into the real world connections. The main character going somewhere new (usually to allow the audience to experience the world for the first time through them) is a common storytelling trope. So is the main character getting bullied (plays on pre-teen and teenage insecurities that they are convinced everyone else notices). And so is getting taken under the wing of a wise, respected mentor (establishes the character as someone worth paying attention to). These are all very common in middle-grade works, which is likely the writing level that JS's writer(s) were instructed to adhere to. Honestly, my first thought with the story was Harry Potter, with Harry going to the magical world for the first time, only to get bullied by the Slytherins, but it's okay because Dumbledore is his mentor. |
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Post by Breakingchains on Sept 19, 2017 17:13:54 GMT -5
Of all things my first thought was Twilight Sparkle. xD The whole "friendless newbie apprenticing under the queen" thing.
Actually, I'm kind of wondering why the other faeries were unkind to her. It's not really made clear in the article.
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Post by Ted (the zombie Dalek) on Sept 19, 2017 17:27:08 GMT -5
Of all things my first thought was Twilight Sparkle. xD The whole "friendless newbie apprenticing under the queen" thing. Actually, I'm kind of wondering why the other faeries were unkind to her. It's not really made clear in the article. I mean I've speculated in the past that faeries have a very looks-based society, and that's why atypical faeries tend to be hermits (think of Taelia or Ilere), but I could well be wrong. It's probably no more superficial than human society, when you get right down to it. Seeing as Kaia is very different to our usual sort, and such uniqueness is generally rare, I can see how there would be a lot of if not outright meanness then definite mistrust or lack of interaction. |
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Sept 19, 2017 19:29:31 GMT -5
Duke Pikachu I think you're reading a bit too much into the real world connections. The main character going somewhere new (usually to allow the audience to experience the world for the first time through them) is a common storytelling trope. So is the main character getting bullied (plays on pre-teen and teenage insecurities that they are convinced everyone else notices). And so is getting taken under the wing of a wise, respected mentor (establishes the character as someone worth paying attention to). These are all very common in middle-grade works, which is likely the writing level that JS's writer(s) were instructed to adhere to. Honestly, my first thought with the story was Harry Potter, with Harry going to the magical world for the first time, only to get bullied by the Slytherins, but it's okay because Dumbledore is his mentor. Not saying it's not an uncommon story type, but before this all Faeries came from Faerieland. JS didn't know this, but what they did know was that other lands had local Faeries living there. So they have assumed that the Faeries must have been created there as well, thus they did a immigrant/exchange student story with a Faerie going to her species homeland even though, previously, all Faeries had come from Faerieland and trained in the Faerieland Academy (another aspect I wonder if JS understands, all young Faerieland Faeries must attend the Faerieland Academy. Though this brings up the question who trained Kaia initially?). Actually, I'm kind of wondering why the other faeries were unkind to her. It's not really made clear in the article. I think what JS meant was the young Faeries attending Faerieland Academy were teasing her, though it's confusing as they used the adult Faeries in the picture referencing this. Maybe this could link back to her magic training, while the other young Faeries have been training in Faerieland Academy since they were young, Kaia is a foreign Faerie trained in Shenkuu magic. Would it be surprising if young Faerieland Faeries considered themselves better than foreign created Faeries since they're training in the Faerie homeland? Using Jae example, it's like Slytherins being racist against the muggle born wizards in Harry Potter. |
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Post by Jae on Sept 19, 2017 23:43:02 GMT -5
Duke PikachuOkay I'm not saying this to be accusatory, moreso that I genuinely don't keep track of a lot of really deep Neopets lore, especially stuff that would have been established before the Viacom years. Was the "every Faerie is created from excess magic around Faerieland" thing ever officially established, or is it the type of fanon I see in a lot of places as a result of how infrequently we get plots/actual canon updates? Because I honestly don't have an issue with this development that faeries can have regional differences in both their appearances and specific magical powers. It's COOL to get faeries that aren't just the generic elemental Faerieland-stock faeries that look and act the same. How many people whine and moan that the water faerie and the fountain faerie (a ~special~ water faerie) look too much alike when they get quests? I can understand young faeries needing to study at the Faerieland Academy because in addition to learning magic, there are also plenty of faerie duties (both known and unknown to the Neopets) they need to be aware of. However, I assume faeries don't go to the Academy with absolutely no control of their powers, they probably do learn some basics at least. JS do seem to like their characters (Topsi all but stole the FoN from Kari), so I imagine we'll learn more about Kaia's backstory as we go - we're having this discussion about a character who's barely been introduced, about an event that won't even start until tomorrow, after all.
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Sept 20, 2017 0:45:59 GMT -5
Duke Pikachu Okay I'm not saying this to be accusatory, moreso that I genuinely don't keep track of a lot of really deep Neopets lore, especially stuff that would have been established before the Viacom years. Was the "every Faerie is created from excess magic around Faerieland" thing ever officially established, or is it the type of fanon I see in a lot of places as a result of how infrequently we get plots/actual canon updates? Because I honestly don't have an issue with this development that faeries can have regional differences in both their appearances and specific magical powers. It's COOL to get faeries that aren't just the generic elemental Faerieland-stock faeries that look and act the same. How many people whine and moan that the water faerie and the fountain faerie (a ~special~ water faerie) look too much alike when they get quests? I can understand young faeries needing to study at the Faerieland Academy because in addition to learning magic, there are also plenty of faerie duties (both known and unknown to the Neopets) they need to be aware of. However, I assume faeries don't go to the Academy with absolutely no control of their powers, they probably do learn some basics at least. JS do seem to like their characters (Topsi all but stole the FoN from Kari), so I imagine we'll learn more about Kaia's backstory as we go - we're having this discussion about a character who's barely been introduced, about an event that won't even start until tomorrow, after all. We know nothing about how Faeries are created, I just gave my theory but after that point I was careful with my wording trying not to mix my headcanon into things. Now there's that book, Neopets: The Grey Faerie Chronicles: Nomi's Quest, which may have some information but I've never read it. But as I said, I also do like this idea of a non-Faerieland created Faerie as it widens the lore and its a neat idea. How would that Faerie's upraising make her different from Faeries we usually know? And why would the other Faerieland Faeries treat her differently, some teasingly, because of this? However, this was a happy accident. It came from JS not knowing Neopets lore. Next time it may not be. For example, imagine if they do something with Darigan Citadel and had revealed Lord Darigan secretly was planning on taking over Neopia? If you don't know much about the lore concerning Lord Darigan you could mistake him for an evil character. Heck, for the Advent Calendar I question whether JS knows that in canon MAGAX and Nox are suppose to be mortal enemies, they only saw a few joke animations TNT made about them and that's all they really know. Or how about that recent guest Editorial where Fyora and Xarthab both felt done out of character? So I bring the point up as an encouragement for JS to learn the lore. They can make changes to it if they still want to and they feel is the best, but hopefully if they know the lore (and reason behind it too) than they can keep from making negative impacting changes. That's my concern. Actually Topsi was still TNT's creation, probably the last character they created which is kind of sad to think about. And the reason he stole Negg Festival from Kari is because JS just don't want to change anything. Who knows if TNT wanted Topsi to remain or maybe swap around Negg Festival characters. I look forward to learning about Kaia, I have no problem with her, I was just voicing my concerns. |
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Post by Patjade on Sept 20, 2017 4:16:47 GMT -5
I have some interesting observations: Kaia may be someone to appease the new Chinese owners of JS and Neopets. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a hand in the creations.
Also, who (or what) is Reizo (aside from a Green Poogle on an abandoned account)? A Neopet? Another Faerie in training (can't be since they say Kaia is the only one they know of). I can't seem to find a reference.
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Post by patriciagwen on Sept 20, 2017 9:48:43 GMT -5
I love Kaia!! She's my new favourite Neopian stock character next to Clara Chatham It's not easy being a foreigner living in a foreign country, and Queen Fyora has been so kind as to mentor her. I love it! I love it!! |
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Sept 20, 2017 10:13:35 GMT -5
I have some interesting observations: Kaia may be someone to appease the new Chinese owners of JS and Neopets. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a hand in the creations.
Also, who (or what) is Reizo (aside from a Green Poogle on an abandoned account)? A Neopet? Another Faerie in training (can't be since they say Kaia is the only one they know of). I can't seem to find a reference.
That thought did cross my mind, though for now I'm going to wait and see. And the Faerie Festival is open!... it' meh. Here's the activities they have: Wheel of Excitement: Just a link to it. Didn't even decrease the cost to spin it. Wing It: Kaia's "stall". It's a minigame where she moves around a wooden Faerie statue and you have to place the wings on it. However you're "blindfolded" (aka the screen darkens). I'm not sure what you have to do as once the screen darkened I clicked where I thought the statue would be but then saw the wings off to the side, I think you might first have to click on the wings and drag it to where you think the statue is. Eitherway its once per day activity. Faerie Quest: Just links to the requestable Faerie Quests: Illusen, Jhudora, & Taelia... and also Jhuidah for some reason. Free Soup: Link to the Soup Kitchen and they actually remembered to waive the limit restriction. Free The Faeries: The NC Accompaniment. You buy Slingshots to shoot at glass bottles to free Faeries that Balthazar has captured. Though when you go to the page there's only an image of the bottles and the buttons to purchase the slingshots. I looked through the source page and there is a background that's not loading. It's an odd background as well, I was expecting us to be looking through a window of Balthazar's hut and the jars being on the shelves. But nope, instead they're on display by the NC Mall Faerie (who JS gave a name too: Evella)... why can't we just open up like we usually do? Like if this a new kind of bottle Balthazar made that's unopenable you have to break them? Also, why is this a NC Accompaniment, Evella, don't you care about your sisters? This isn't a bad idea, they just needed to improve it. Say the bottles are a new kind which can't be opened (making them also look different, maybe more cage/lantern-like with no cork) and instead of Evella have it be Delina who says she made a slingshot that can break the bottles but the materials to make it requires NC. Also have the backgrounds be Balthazar's hut and we're peaking through the window. BTW the Healing Springs will fully heal your Neopets also. Not sure what else has been done, but maybe the News update will tell us. ... I'm going to reserve my thoughts until after the Faerie Festival, for all we know (and are hoping for) there's an additional thing. |
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