Neopian Times
The Neopian Times is the weekly Neopets newspaper, first released on January 25, 2000. Originally featured only some articles, but has become a large weekly project filled with comics, short stories, and continued or new series. It also features an editorial written by site administrator and Neopets co-creator Donna Williams. It is an extremely popular feature on the site. Dubbed "fan fiction", as none of the stories/comics take place in actual Neopets History.
How it began
First look
The Neopian Times started out not as pretty as it is now, but people could still send in stuff. The first issues were short stories, series that were pretty short and articles. The comics were NOT in the Neopian Times. It was only later on did they appear.
The first look of the Neopian Times had a banner of a man and a woman in 80's style with the text "For an easier life". This page still exists, but the links to the stories and comics don't work anymore.
Second look
The second was made out of tables and most of them still had no comics. You can find it here: Old Neopian Times. On issue 57 the comics page started. This newspaper had an Guild Spotlight, showing and telling about one of the guilds in Neopia. The Neopian Times stopped doing this though. The banner was replaced by a Jubjub reading the Neopian Times.
Third Look
The third look was a bigger version of the second look. Changes that came with this look is the Quote of The Week (quoting something out of a story etc.), on the right there is something called More Stories, in which you can click one without having to go to the Story page and the big buttons that you used to navigate with have been turned into small buttons.
The banner with the Jubjub was now changed to how many Neopians had read the Neopian Times instead of just saying 12,500,000.
Note that the link is to the last issue of the Third look. Use the Weeks thing to go back and few older issues.
Fourth look
The most recent one, and the one that most people know. It is a little bit like the third look, but it is easier to navigate in. It is not just a pile of text. The featured stories on the front page are in a blue table for example. The buttons with comics, articles and stuff have been replaced with text and a random caption is posted on the left, under the banner. The banner is now The Neopian Times with 1 blue quill on each side.
Editors
Mr. Shankly
"Quite Frankly, Mr Shankly"
The former Editor was Josh or better known as Mr. Shankly, but he left in issue 75. His trademark was his love of dung and most of the submissions in his last issue as editor as a farewell gift reflected his love of dung e.g Hippiesoul's The Dung Hero.
Snowflake
The Editor who replaced him was Felicia or lovingly known as Ms Snowflake. She worked at Neopets in various roles (such as Email Support) and rose the ranks to become the Neopian Times Editor until issue 195.
She has now left Neopets to become an accountant.
Droplet
Droplet then continued on and took the job of Editor. She was Snowflake's assistant.
Neopian Times Inside Jokes
White Weewoo
The White Weewoo is a petpet on Neopets. The author Laurensama, also known as Linny, wanted an White Weewoo to resemble Hedwig from Harry Potter so much, that fellow authors hid White Weewoo references in their stories, comics and articles.
The White Weewoo has become one of the symbols for the NTWF and was found on 23 October 2003. Snowflake gave the authors who were published in the week that the White Weewoo was released a White Petpet Paintbrush. October 28th could be seen as an Neopets holiday for writers, as the White Weewoo was officially released that day.
The first official drawing of an Weewoo in the Neopian Times was for this story: The Weewoo of White
Chet Flash
Chet Flash is a fictional non-existant character in the Neopian Times. He is pretty much everywhere in the Times. Comics, articles, and sometimes even stories.
The exact date of Chet Flash first appearance in the Times is currently unknown but here is the thread that started it all:
About the Articles, Stories and more!
With the Neopian Times, there are 4 categories of submissions: Articles, Short Stories, Series, and Comics. Each is unique in their own way.
Articles
Articles usually do not tell a story. Articles are informative, and the subject of one can range from an Interview With Sloth's Mom to a list of Tips For Creating Neopet Names. Articles inform or teach people how to do, play, or win something. Not all the articles have to be informative. There can be fun articles, like lists of Are you addicted too... and 100 things to do with....
Short Stories
Short Stories are very different from Articles. Short Stories have a beginning, middle, and end all in 1200 to 4000 words. They are not separated into any parts. Short Stories can be a comedy, an adventure or horror. You can write a story dedicated to someone you know, although it has to be in Neopia, or you can write about a book item on Neopets. Like, the Magic Paw, you can write the story of the Magic Paw how you think it goes.
Comics
Comics are different then the other two. The comic is made out of pictures (drawn by yourself) and need to have a joke. A serious comic series can also be made and submitted, although you do need to send atleast 2 comic parts at a time. Comics need decent art and a good, understandable joke.
Series
Series are long stories that have around the 1500 words for each part. The longest a series can be is 12 parts. These are stories with a plot that is too long for a short story. For example, it turns out to be 4600 words, it's 600 higher than the maximum limit for short stories. You can then divide it in 2 parts for a 2 part series.
Editorial
If you are lucky, you can submit a question and get it answered in The Neopian Times. These are on the 'editorial' page in the Neopian Times, and they go from gameplay questions, to suggestions to questions about the merchandise.
Neopian Times List of Do's and Don'ts'
No-No's
- hybrids (Neopets or humans mixed with different species)
- anything too bloody
- dating, kissing
- referring to time periods that occurred on Earth and not Neopia, stories that take place on Earth, Neopets discovering our solar system and Earth, or anything specifically from Earth
- explaining human's origins in Neopia
- articles discussing the new NT rules
- hybrid pets (two Neopets species combined into one)
- cults (but 'leagues' and 'clans' are okay!)
- buses/trains/ferries
- How fat peoples mothers are
- sponsor stuff
- two story series by the same author going on at same time
- Neopets drinking from the toilet
- the phrase "Shut up"
- Neopets eating out of dog bowls and acting like Earth pets
- faeries of a type not mentioned on the site
- killing off most of the characters
- a made up, non-human, non-Faerie, non-neopet monster that was never mentioned on Neopets before
- seances
- Neopolice (Instead, we have superheroes in spandex.)
- writing about a pet painted a colour that doesn't exist yet (ie: a Mutant Gelert)
- two parents in a custody battle over a child
- uniquely coloured pets (ie: Fire pet with green flames)
Allowed
- Exploring a totally new made up world either in Neopia or on a different planet
- Alternate realities (depends)
- character crushes and infatuations
- telegrams, newspapers, messengers
- humans, as long as they are owners or characters on the site that are human-like
- anthropormorphic animals
- anthro Neopets
- magic
- high-tech security systems (because it's in NeoHomes)
- technology that came specifically from the Space Station
- time travel
- speakers
- homosexuality
- security guards
- pets in the hospital
- journal style stories
- pets moving from their Neohome
- the phrase "I love you" only if its a fraternal/friendly relationship
- inventing new creatures, just as long as they aren't the main characters
- owners transforming into pets
- dedicating your story to someone
- cameras
- talking to ghosts
- rare diseases that don't exist anywhere else
- pets with disabilities
- mind control
- pets dying
- LCD screens, ray guns, space ships, radar, and other things sold in the Space Station
- marriages
- families of Neopets (as long as you don't mention where the babies came from.)
- non-helpful or parody articles
- characters being consumed by dark magic
- holographic pets
- comic series
- non comical comics
- wagons
- slide projectors, as long as they're antiquated
- series of unrelated short stories featuring the same characters
- petpets can die, but only if they're eaten by Turmaculus, or a Skeith or Grarrl
- stoves (as long as it's not mentioned that they're powered by electricity or gas)
- kidnapping
- bribery
- birthmarks, scars, clothing, hair, accessories, tattoos
- dyed fur
- extreme weather (ie: tornadoes, waterspouts, earthquakes)
- pets wearing glasses
- overweight pets
- insane pets
- hybrid pets that The Neopets Team has created (ie: Geirrod Sternhoof)
Debatable
The following are items that are debatable in if they will be accepted in the Times or not, as data within the Neopets website shows it's okay to talk about.
- cars
- computers
- jail/prisons
- Jelly World (Unless you're saying something like "It doesn't exist.")
- male faeries (Debatable, as Jacob wrote 4 stories with such a character)
- permanent injuries, amputations, etc.
- phones
- planes
- radios
- the phrase "DIE!" or "Prepare to die!"
- TVs
- two/three headed Neopets unless they're already on the site
- videogames
Trivia
- The issue count (week 1, week 2, etc) was reset in the third version of the Neopian Times.
External Links
- Latest Articles: The Neopian Times