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Post by June Scarlet on Nov 21, 2023 21:49:34 GMT -5
Guess what time it is! Winter? April Fools... NT planning time! Yes, already. Let's get a jump on next year's Neopian Times theme!
This year's edition will be on April 5 2024.
Timetable (will be adjusted as needed):
Discussion: 11/21/23 - 12/14/23
Voting: 12/15/23 - 12/22/23
Work on Submissions: 12/23/23 - 3/22/24
Submit: 3/23/24 - 3/31/24
Publication: 4/5/24
We usually keep our April Fool themes to this forum and a single thread on the Writers Neoboard. The goal is to surprise and maybe even trick the general Neopets population. So let's have fun coming up with something for this time!
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Post by June Scarlet on Nov 22, 2023 9:06:35 GMT -5
Bookkeeping post!
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Nov 23, 2023 1:54:58 GMT -5
* THEME: Games Master Altador Cup (GMAC)
* IDEA: With the return of the Games Room and the Altador Cup wanting to shake things up, a bold decision has been made: Games Master Challenge & the Altador Cup were to be combined into a new event: Games Master Altador Cup. AAA has been elected as Chairman and has brought with him plenty of ideas.
I'll leave it at that as I feel the theme alone can conjure up plenty of ideas.
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Post by Stephanie (swordlilly) on Nov 23, 2023 17:03:34 GMT -5
* THEME: Games Master Altador Cup (GMAC) * IDEA: With the return of the Games Room and the Altador Cup wanting to shake things up, a bold decision has been made: Games Master Challenge & the Altador Cup were to be combined into a new event: Games Master Altador Cup. AAA has been elected as Chairman and has brought with him plenty of ideas. I'll leave it at that as I feel the theme alone can conjure up plenty of ideas. I like this idea a lot and feel that the timing is right, since a lot of people have recently returned to Neopets and will remember (and want!!) the old Games Master Challenge events. There's still lingering dissatisfaction over the way that TNT handled the past two Altador Cups, too, so... a Games Master Altador Cup to replace the broken Altador Cup actually does make perfect sense. xD |
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Post by Liou on Nov 23, 2023 18:02:42 GMT -5
All right, mashing some events together!
Tell me more - I'm not seeing the prank about this? I'm not part of the big gamer audience. If I went on the site and saw "Games Master Altador Cup" as a headline, I would not bat an eye. I would think, Yup. Sure. Games Master Challenge with Altador Cup Theme. Games Master Challenger with Altador Cup themed prizes and NC tie-in. Sure. Some kind of event with games with scores and prizes. Okay yup sure. Completely normal to me.
What are some stories you might write on that theme? How would characters be affected? Any prompts? I'm curious how it could be shown in comic form too!
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Post by Stephanie (swordlilly) on Nov 23, 2023 18:26:57 GMT -5
All right, mashing some events together! Tell me more - I'm not seeing the prank about this? I'm not part of the big gamer audience. If I went on the site and saw "Games Master Altador Cup" as a headline, I would not bat an eye. I would think, Yup. Sure. Games Master Challenge with Altador Cup Theme. Games Master Challenger with Altador Cup themed prizes and NC tie-in. Sure. Some kind of event with games with scores and prizes. Okay yup sure. Completely normal to me. What are some stories you might write on that theme? How would characters be affected? Any prompts? I'm curious how it could be shown in comic form too! A lot of the casual Neo-audience were initially drawn to the site because of the Flash games. Some of my earliest memories of Neopets involve playing Meerca Chase and Hasee Bounce in the school computer lab with other elementary school friends. ^^; Neopets lost a lot of players when Flash went down. Only a tiny handful of games were converted to HTML5. The Altador Cup with its pitiful 4 games was like... the saddest excuse for a site event compared to the Games Master Challenges in the past. I remember being all excited after school to log on and try to beat AAA's score. Now, Ruffle integration is a thing and more and more games are working, and the new management team is also doing this big marketing push being like, "NEOPETS IS BACK." So I could see returning players asking, "Oh hey did they get the games working again? Is the GMC still a thing?" And the prank response being: "YES. The GMC is making an epic return! And do you remember that super boring grindy event they called the Altador Cup? They're scrapping it and replacing it with the GMC. It's going to be SO MUCH FUN" ... and of course that's not what actually happens in reality. >_> But anyway, the kinds of prank content I could see include game guides along the lines of "How to Beat AAA in (Insert Game Title Here)" (like this one that I wrote in all seriousness way back in the day xD). Comics about failing to beat AAA by literally 1 point. Stories exploring AAA as a character and his relationship with his sister Abigail, etc. Maybe they've grown up now? Maybe AAA is a professional streamer and Abigail is his video editor / marketing assistant? Lots of potential there :3 |
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Post by downrightdude on Nov 24, 2023 0:54:37 GMT -5
Time for my random ideas: Evil Fyora - Imagine if the Queen of Faeries became evil? How will Faerieland survive? Sunny Terror Mountain - Try to imagine Terror Mountain as a sunny, tropical paradise! *** That's all for now. But I think I have more.  |
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Nov 24, 2023 17:50:40 GMT -5
All right, mashing some events together! Tell me more - I'm not seeing the prank about this? I'm not part of the big gamer audience. If I went on the site and saw "Games Master Altador Cup" as a headline, I would not bat an eye. I would think, Yup. Sure. Games Master Challenge with Altador Cup Theme. Games Master Challenger with Altador Cup themed prizes and NC tie-in. Sure. Some kind of event with games with scores and prizes. Okay yup sure. Completely normal to me. What are some stories you might write on that theme? How would characters be affected? Any prompts? I'm curious how it could be shown in comic form too! Well let's remember that not all pranks are meant to be obvious eye-catchers. Some in the past were sorta "what ifs", though usually leaning on the silly side. It's those pranks that for a split second could sound plausible, though when you do a double-take and think about it (and check or are aware its April First) that its obviously a joke. I don't think you need to be part of the gaming audience to get it. Like unless you REALLY don't care (or are new that you never participated in a GMC), you probably at least witnessed and even participated a little bit in both or at least one event. They are both very different events (Heck, many could likely throw in some elements of Daily Dare, the other Game event which AAA hosts): * GMC is a week long event where players pick one of two teams and complete daily tasks to earn points for their team (and at the end you get prizes depending on number of tasks completed & done on "day of release"). * The Altador Cup is a month long event where players pick one of eighteen teams and play four games to earn points for their teams (and themselves to use in a prize shop). * Daily Dare is a 3 week long event that has you playing a different game everyday trying to beat a certain High Score. So now, people have to combine them together. "Okay, maybe for Articles and some Comics they can get an idea from this, but what about Story writers?" Well, that's where AAA being made chairman comes in (and where you have to think in-world how the rule & gameplay changes would affect the AC players). It's certainly not a lot of story, but being this is a what-if there is no "hard rules" thus if what any writes doesn't gel with someone else, doesn't matter, it just adds to the joke how a silly of an idea this is. But you want prompts, fine, here's some prompts: 1. Before this, AAA was not a big AC fan. Then the Games Room shut down, and now AAA was left nothing to do and became bummed out. Through some nudging, Abigail is able to get AAA to at least watch some AC. What happens next I'll leave up to the writer, but an "origins" story would be a good way to explore what's been going on with AAA with the Games Room being down and how he became the Chairman of the AC? 1b. A flipside of this, how did the AC come to decide to make AAA new chairman? Were the AC players complaining? Viewership down? And aside from the reason how did they come to the "conclusion" that it was AAA who was the one to put in charge and make changes? 2. Obviously before any "rule" changes are made, AAA had to have a meeting with the Altador Cup Committee and go over his radical ideas how to "improve the AC". So, how did this meeting go? How did AAA present himself and his ideas? Was the AC Committee with his ideas or concerned? This writer would also get a chance to make up some of the new rules and how said rule would be received and discussion about it go. 2b. Another flipside, after the new rules are made they would have to send them to the players. What are the players take on these new rules? Are the teams required to do any pre-cup preparations aside from practicing AC (like creating a list of Games which they feel best represent their land). 3. Sticking with the AC players, no doubt part of the new rules would incorporate Games Room games (likely ones which represent the team). Thus, the AC players in-world would have to play these games, maybe take time to practice them. Would any player or team struggle with this new addition? Would some accel? Agree this is a logical addition? Disagree with it as it goes against what the AC is about? A lot of point of views and potential story arcs. 4+. And that's not going into side characters: What is Abigail & Lulu doing while AAA is organizing all of this (did AAA include them in his plans or did he rush ahead with his plans without thinking about them)? Could Chadley possibly make a return, he seems like he would be a big AC fan. King Roo just got the Games Room fixed (which could be a story all of its own) and now AAA is roping him into this big event. Do the AC Announcers, Hovri Sweet and Tobias Sigmir, know anything about Games which aren't the AC? Playing Games and watching Yooyuball are to different things, how is the Techo Fanatic Guy fairing? This is surely gonna drum up a lot of business for Cheryl Shelly's slushie slinging stand, how is she gonna adapt? This is also a new frontier for Coach Riki, he may need help with NC equipment, maybe teaming up with Lulu? There's a lot of angles to take this, just remember nothing is set in stone. If you're still having problems thinking of something, maybe work off that: what is the problem you're having? Could there be a way to turn that into a story or comic? Or, if that doesn't work for you, let your mind wander about this and see if you don't stumble onto a thought you can expand. Time for my random ideas: Evil Fyora - Imagine if the Queen of Faeries became evil? How will Faerieland survive? Sunny Terror Mountain - Try to imagine Terror Mountain as a sunny, tropical paradise! *** That's all for now. But I think I have more. Hm, I like the idea of something something odd with Faeries, but I feel this is a bit too straight forward. Like, for one thing we already did the Abdication of Fyora, if we were going to do another Faerie-based prank would like it to include more of the Faeries. How about this: Faerie Element Reversal. Something has happened and now every Faerie has swapped to their opposite element! For most Faeries Fire are now Water (& vice versa), Air are now Earth (& vice versa), and Light is now Dark (& vice versa). Though there are some special exceptions: Illusen is a Dark Faerie and Jhudora an Earth Faerie. The Special Faeries also had their elements reversed: Aethia/Battle Faerie is now the Puzzle Faerie, Mira/Space Faerie is now the Time Faerie, Taelia/Snow Faerie is now the Lava Faerie, Jhuidah/(Mystery) Island Faerie is now the (Kiko) Lake Faerie, etc.. And the biggest change/swap of them all: Fyora becomes a Gray Faerie as Baelia gains the power of the Faerie Queen! Sunny Terror Mountain: Or, instead of Faeries, maybe we can apply this "reversing" to the Neopian Lands! Terror Mountain becomes a sunny tropical paradise, Mystery Island becomes an artic tundra, Meridell becomes corrupted while Darigan Citadel returns back to their golden age, Krawk Island sinks beaneth the waves as Maraqua rises above the ocean surface, Faerieland turns gothic and Haunted Woods turns into a rainbow fantasy land, etc. (like I can come up with an idea for all lands if you like, these are just the ones which jump out to me without looking at the Neopian map). BTW, it would also be implied all the citizens of the land are instantly transformed to match their land's new aesthetic (so no mass deaths, everyone would already be adapted), as if their own history was changed yet not their memories. |
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Post by downrightdude on Nov 24, 2023 18:56:03 GMT -5
The "weather shake up" thing was another idea of mine.  Other stuff: Neopian Makeovers! ~ Reimagine your favorite Neopian characters got a super cool makeover! What colour will they be? What kind of hairstyle will they rock? Can Kandrick work as a bo-ho Disco Lupe? Usukis vs Quigukis ~ Neopia's top two doll lines are pitted against each other in the ultimate doll-to-doll battle! |
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Post by Lex on Nov 25, 2023 10:38:20 GMT -5
Sunny Terror Mountain: Or, instead of Faeries, maybe we can apply this "reversing" to the Neopian Lands! Terror Mountain becomes a sunny tropical paradise, Mystery Island becomes an artic tundra, Meridell becomes corrupted while Darigan Citadel returns back to their golden age, Krawk Island sinks beaneth the waves as Maraqua rises above the ocean surface, Faerieland turns gothic and Haunted Woods turns into a rainbow fantasy land, etc. (like I can come up with an idea for all lands if you like, these are just the ones which jump out to me without looking at the Neopian map). BTW, it would also be implied all the citizens of the land are instantly transformed to match their land's new aesthetic (so no mass deaths, everyone would already be adapted), as if their own history was changed yet not their memories. I really like this idea ("reversing" all the lands). Personally I see myself having a lot of fun with the concept. |
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Post by Liou on Nov 25, 2023 11:11:07 GMT -5
Duke Pikachu (Zero problem for me, I just wanted to prompt you to expand the pitch, which you did byootifully~) Evil Fyora - Imagine if the Queen of Faeries became evil? How will Faerieland survive? Sunny Terror Mountain - Try to imagine Terror Mountain as a sunny, tropical paradise! Neopian Lands getting reversyflippitied: oh boy super fun havoc everywhere just the way I like it!! BUT HOLD IT HOLD YER HORSES WOAH HOLD IT please remember to be mindful of climate change and environmental anxiety >u>;; I'd find it safer to switch the "Terror" in Terror Mountain to something like Ennui Emo Mountain or Cutesy Sweet Mountain, instead of changing anything about the cold, since it's unfortunately not just An Mountain of Neopia, but somehow acts as the North Pole with all its associated implications. Fyora gone bad - we just did an "oh no Fyora" a couple years ago, too soon, and even if it was longer ago, it's still best to avoid being too close to older themes. But this could connect to another idea I've had floating around: "Heroes Gone Bad" in general. Could be the opposite of the "Villains Did Nothing Wrong / Apology" theme. Or two halves of the same theme. Neopian Makeovers! ~ Reimagine your favorite Neopian characters got a super cool makeover! What colour will they be? What kind of hairstyle will they rock? Can Kandrick work as a bo-ho Disco Lupe? Usukis vs Quigukis ~ Neopia's top two doll lines are pitted against each other in the ultimate doll-to-doll battle! Makeovers seems like it'd be too hard to pull off in non-visual entries (sorry makeovers, you're in my favourite tropes ;A; ) but Usukis VS Quigukis is the most prank-like theme I've seen so far! Take one little thing from the site that gets little attention and just blow it up for no reason. To me it brings the silliness that we need for pranks, so far the themes we have sound like alternative universe exploration that could be genuinely good concepts and taken seriously if developed and I'd almost feel bad using them for a prank issue ;u; (Possible expansion: Usuki versus Sloth or Malkus Vile or the Moltara corporation, you know, to get that Neopian Barbenheimer xD) Theme suggestions I've scraped off the Discord backlog: - Neopia VS robot uprising inspired by the bots in all the shops 😔 - find the impostor some Neopians are... impostors =O you might even say they are amongst you - AI generated content parodied by human writers - Heroes Gone Bad mentioned above added to list for the list shape And I'll try to come up with some random original weird things too hmmm |
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Nov 26, 2023 2:22:08 GMT -5
The "weather shake up" thing was another idea of mine. Other stuff: Neopian Makeovers! ~ Reimagine your favorite Neopian characters got a super cool makeover! What colour will they be? What kind of hairstyle will they rock? Can Kandrick work as a bo-ho Disco Lupe? Usukis vs Quigukis ~ Neopia's top two doll lines are pitted against each other in the ultimate doll-to-doll battle! By Kandrick I guess you mean Kanrik? He would certainly stand out a bit more as a Disco Lupe. Though, then again, he would also look less like a threat, possibly making it easier for him to take out a target who let their guard down. Anyhoo, I think a topic like this needs to be a bit more specific. Also, it doesn't sound like an April Fools prank unless we're trying to sell that these Makeovers are going to happen and everyone should be ready for the new version of their favorite characters. Which, if that's the case, that could be a direction to take the Makeovers: Making the characters more hash#tag X-TREEM TM (and marketable)! Jeran isn't just a medieval knight, he's a Robo Knight with a laser sword that shoots lasers! Hannah isn't just a treasure hunter, she's a Super Secret Agent with a wristwatch that's like a utility belt! Fyora isn't just a Faerie Queen, the Faerie are actually an alien race part of a galactic wide empire and she's the Supreme Empress of the Fey-Ray Dominion. Usuki VS Quiguki: That all said, I do agree with Liou that this is a pretty strong contender. So here's my thinking: In a groundbreaking decision that has sent shockwaves through the toy business and doll collecting community, Quiguki have not only been cleared of any accusation of plagiarism, but it's Usuki which are identified as the true rip offs (turns out Quiguki potentially had released an early version of their dolls a year before Usuki came onto market, no one noticed because a printing mistake labelled the toy as Guiquki)! The brand owners of Quiguki, Quig Co., have taken the opportunity to rush production of new Quiguki dolls and demanding their dolls take the place of Usuki on store shelves. Meanwhile the brand owners of Usuki, USUKI INC., have filed an appeal challenging the judgement and are now rushing ahead their next line of Usuki so that they don't lost shelf space to Quiguki. Meanwhile the doll collecting community are in an uproar, both Usuki Loyalists and Quiguki Defenders argue with one another the legitimacy and value of their collection. It's pure utter chaos, a pan-doll-monium! Duke Pikachu (Zero problem for me, I just wanted to prompt you to expand the pitch, which you did byootifully~) Thank you! I wouldn't worry too much about triggering Climate Change anxiety. We're not saying Terror Mountain became a tropical paradise due to a change of (normal) weather, but rather some bizarre power has reversed the environment and this is more implied a beginning of a mystery than a permanent change. Though if you are that concerned, maybe instead of a tropical paradise, it changes from an icy mountain into one giant crystal structure. That's not snow falling but rather the reflection of the crystal creates floating particles of glimmering light. The crystals are cold to the touch, but unlike snow & ice which melts when heat is applied, more crystals grow instead! If anything, the cold environment is keeping the crystals from growing out of control! Heroes Gone Bad: Interesting idea, I can sort of see us writing articles & stories like those "Celebrity Exposed" gossip tabloids (think TMZ). How scandalous! Throwing in an Oppenheimer reference depends what way we take this concept. Like if we go with my idea, I don't feel there would be any room for one that wouldn't be distracting. If we go in a more "two sides drawing lines & gathering allies" sort of idea, I could see slipping in a reference, like the Usuki side makes an odd allegiance with the Virtupets Space Station that some joking call "Usukipets V2". Robot Uprising: So are we basing it off the bots? Like a group aboard the Virtupets Space Station are sending down "Neobots" which, while at first there was only a few who were outperforming normal Neopet citizens and they were easily caught and banned, have now flooded every corner of Neopian life where its impossible to know who's a bot and who isn't even though they have taken over any sort of work & hobby resulting in economic distress (hard time making NP while there also being supply shortages). Pretender Nearby: This might involve some clarification. Like, are we just going to act paranoid that there are people pretending to be someone who they aren't, sorta like how we went "crazy" for the "NT Goes Bananas" collab? NeoboardDUM: Short for "Neoboard Datamining Umpteen Memes", struggling to find the right thing to say? Can't think of an eyecatching title? Aren't good with an opening paragraph to bring in responses? Need a witty comeback but lacking the wit? Let NeoboardDUM write it for you! After years of scanning Neoboard messages NeoboardDUM can write interesting texts that will certainly grab people's attention. The Neopian Times have agreed to print a special issue which shows off exactly the kind of content you can expect from NeoboardDUM... |
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Post by June Scarlet on Nov 27, 2023 13:25:05 GMT -5
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Post by Breakingchains on Nov 27, 2023 18:10:42 GMT -5
Oh I've gotta put in a vote for Evil Fyora. Usuki vs Quiguki sounds like a lot of fun too!
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Post by Liou on Nov 27, 2023 18:23:23 GMT -5
My issue with Usuki VS Quiguki is that Quiguki were originally introduced as a site April Fool.
So we'd be reusing a past canon site prank. I think we can do better than that.
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