NeoPlants! ;)

[Rainbow Daydreamer]

So, just in case you've been wondering what TNT have been up to, it seems we're getting a sneak peek: NeoPlants, plants you can interact with as if they were Neopets! Apparently featuring their own land ("Plantopia") and customisable terracotta pots.



OK, OK. I'll admit two things: one, I want one of those; and two, it's TNT's annual April Fool. Many people are complaining about how low-key the prank is this year (though I suspect they'd be up in arms if a prank took over the whole site, too), but beside the Plantopia stuff, there also seem to be a few weird and unexplained effects in other parts of the site, which don't appear to have much connection to NeoPlants but do all have one thing in common-- money. The Bank Skeith appears to be sitting in a barrel; bank interest has dropped for a number of people; the Tombola is stuck in perpetual bankruptcy mode, and I'm told the Neodaq is completely immobile. I'm wondering if there were plans for a bank-related joke that got scrapped at the last minute due to predicted hysteria.

[mellaka]

It's cute, but my first thought:
"Customise your Neoplant with fun and trendy accessories! Earn sunshine points that you can put toward bonus items and avatars."

They should not tease us about avatars.

[Fjorab_Teke]

One noticeable thing that doesn't actually affect anything: the sidebar theme is stuck on basic green.

The Neodaq has been stuck since sometime last night (around 10 NST I noticed that when I was trying to find a 15 stock, and they weren't changing). And I saw that some people were a bit offput by reduced bank interest. I logged off just after the midnight NST rollover.

Several people are also reporting an increase in random events, and I concur.

[Seerow]

I'm enjoying the play on words used here. "The Pot Spotlight", "Stalk Market", etc. Rather amusing in my just-woke-up state of mind!
As far as this goes compared to other jokes, it's near the middle. The most I-forgot-it-was-April-Fool's-Day-and-Believe-This joke was by far the one where they were going to charge nps for pageviews.

[zebru]

I agree - I think they were going with recession hitting the neopets economy and decided to switch gears at the last moment. So Plantopia art looks a bit last minute copy/paste job. I think I'd find it more amusing if the art was more believably done.

There are plantopia RE going around too:

Something has happened!
Plantopia is the best! Sun, water, and soil: what more could a Neoplant ask for ?

Oh, and there are no jobs in faerieland as well.

[chocolatefairy13]

I've been wary of April Fool's Day for the past week, so the moment I turned my computer on I kept reminding myself what day it was and to not belive ANYTHING on any site, anywhere. LOL
I just can't wait to go to work and see what pranks people try to pull on me.
And I agree about more RE's.

The only April Fool's Day prank that I ever fell for on Neo was back in 2003.
I had only been on Neo for a few months and really believed that Neopetz with Nick Neopia was real!
So I spent all of my NP (twas a n00b) on a Tyrannian Petpet PB because I believed that NP were really going away and I had better use them up!
Haha!

[Iggy]

One noticeable thing that doesn't actually affect anything: the sidebar theme is stuck on basic green.

Sucks for people that have their birthday today, though. And, wanted for the sidebar. I have a friend that turns 30 today, and he's not quite amused of losing his B-Day sidebar...for the sidebar he uses daily anyways.

There is also a wearable barrel in the thrift store as well.

[mellaka]

There is also a wearable barrel in the thrift store as well.

Where is that? I checked the Second-Hand Shop and only saw dung. Do I have to just keep refreshing? Neo is very laggy for me today.

Edit: Thanks.

[Iggy]

Yes, it's the second-hand store.

I saw two-three at the bottom of the page when I posted that. But yeah, 90% of it is dung

[Jessi]

Oh my god, Seerow, I remember that - I was SO livid. I had no idea it was a joke at all - and felt really dumb later.

I, for one, think the plants are freaking adorable xD

[AngharadTy]

Is Neo trying to do some kind of subtle social commentary about the economy being torn to shreds and outsourcing to Plantopia? ;P

[PennyLane]

I liked the neocharge joke =D It was fun seeing how high I could get my bill by the end of the day.

[mellaka]

Yes, it's the second-hand store.

I saw two-three at the bottom of the page when I posted that. But yeah, 90% of it is dung

Actually, wow, there are all types of wearables in the Second-Hand Shop now. I'm assuming it's not usually like this.
http://www.neopets.com/thriftshoppe/index.phtml

[uberstav]

I think TNT is using April Fool's Day to cover up their master plan of releasing a plant pb...as that coincides with the wooden wocky we saw in the caption contest the other day...and this makes me SUPER excited because I've always wanted plant neopets! I can see it now....flowers instead of spikes....roots instead of feet...ahhhhh!!! *drools*

[Kantark]

The stockmarket is showing as being down 187 points for the day, which seems a lot. All of my stocks (which must be most of them) are either at zero or down. When I went to the bank the interest figure shown was lower than expected by about 400NP, but paid out the correct amount. It'd be a shame if they had chickened out of an economic-downturn themed April Fools. I think that could've worked well - but maybe they thought younger players wouldn't get the joke?

At least it would've only been for April Fools Day - remember last time the RL stock markets went down sharply and they actually bankrupted stocks?