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Despite still enforcing the “no explicit romance on neopets” rule at the time, the Faerie’s Ruin prize shop releases a plushie of protagonists Hanso and Brynn, going so far as to be named after the shipping portmanteau used by fans (January 26 2011)
Originally an edited photo of British tv personality Bruce Forsyth (complete with using his full name), the Bruce species then evolved to a cartoon caricature, dropping the last name, then a cartoon penguin, before finally settling on its well-known cuddly current design.
Much of the userbase would go on to bemoan the loss of “character” in converted neopets, and the demand for UCs would lead to a massive trading scene that sometimes involved real world money, as well as some other crazy moments we’ll touch on in future posts.
To make way for new customization features (including clothes and accessories bought with real world currency), all future pets are locked to a species-specific pose and set of expressions, regardless of paint color, making unconverted pets a sought after rarity (April 2007)