UC release rumors

[Charizard]

Despite all these rumors being nothing more than fake news... Have you seen the latest released items?

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They're making us notice the Unconverted situation.
I can't figure up their intentions for doing this, but I can't either blame people who want to believe for hanging in every little piece of hope TNT gives to them :/
Perhaps I'm naive enough to think they (OP) didn't have second intentions, not that I actually care tbh xD

Tbh I think it's a situation where when they 'Went back to the drawing board' UC's were discussed as a popular part of the site. So selling merchandise related to them is a lucrative move.
It's us that take it so far because we are truly passionate about UC neopets in general so any small inkling of info has everyone in a frenzy.
Like a bunch of piranha quite frankly XD

[Ice]

But I don't see how they could allow NC UC if it was a rights issue?
^ Whoops I had meant to say 'replicas' here not NC UC
The old art is the sole anchor to me sticking around neo.

I think re:replicas vs NC UC is that they're not charging for replicas, but NC UCs would be direct monetization of them and if the rights did happen to belong to someone else then that would be an issue as opposed to usage that originally fell within whatever agreement there might have been with the artist (i.e. use on site but not sold directly for $)

Despite all these rumors being nothing more than fake news... Have you seen the latest released items?

(you need an account to see links)
(you need an account to see links)

(you need an account to see links)


They're making us notice the Unconverted situation.
I can't figure up their intentions for doing this, but I can't either blame people who want to believe for hanging in every little piece of hope TNT gives to them :/
Perhaps I'm naive enough to think they (OP) didn't have second intentions, not that I actually care tbh xD

I mean this isn't the first time they've released "UC" themed wearables with their merch tie-ins and I don't think it's any kind of underhanded "we know what you want but aren't giving it to you in the WAY you want" kick in the face or anything. They're probably just trying to capitalize on people's love of the UC pets since they know we are vying for them without being able to fully release NC UCs yet... I guess a bit of a handout to tide us over but I don't think they're doing it to be mean about the whole situation haha

[BlueFox]

I've been thinking about the UC stuff a lot recently, like as in how they will release it.

I'm hoping they don't think the public wants "modernized" UCs with better and more "appealing" shading styles and anatomy/stylization. The public wants the old charm of UCs.

Also been wondering how they're going to appeal to both camps - those who don't have UCs and those who do. People will be up in arms if the new UCs aren't different from the original UCs in some way, so I honestly just wish they'd go ahead and tell us what they're gonna do so that those folks can have their meltdown and we can begin to heal lol.

[kittyray]

Yeah, I've had really mixed feelings of the naming of new items to be "UC xyz" because it's not like anything other than user's pets follow those same models, for all intents and purposes, a lot of this stuff should just be neopets. I don't know if that makes any sense but I don't know how to word it.

I also really hope that they don't update the UC artwork, I love UCs for the nostalgia and old school styles.

[Styx]

Honestly, at this point, I think TNT enjoys teasing UCs because it lures people back to the site, and then people continue to play in the hopes that one day, just one day, the "what if"s will cease to be. It's easier than actually coming up with something that'd work and doesn't risk pissing off a bunch of people for whatever reason.

[Corliss]

I honestly think that the *only* reason UCs will never come back to the site, *if* that is their fate, is because the people running Neopets don't want to do it.

I really think that.

I think they want some kind of all-encompassing solution and no half-measures (as people have said, lots of pets don't have UC art), but if they can't figure out their perfect solution, they won't do it.

To be fair, I think even if UCs came out as with the replica maker, people would complain about values dropping, etc. etc. so I think they have reasons to want to do this as well as they can. Conversion itself was a mess for not being an all-encompassing solution, so they don't want to make that mistake again.

But the chances are that they just *won't* release UCs unless they can find that perfect solution and implement it. I hope they will, but it just depends on how much they want it. I don't believe there are real legal issues getting in the way, nor do I think there are unsolveable technical problems either.

[Synth Salazzle]

I just want a UC christmas zafara TNT make it happen.

[Fiore]

It would be cruel to tease us with all this new UC theme merch like the pins and stuff to build up hype for them to just like, not actually intend to release them on the site. I'd rather them do all the fine-tuning they need and take their time so everything works perfectly!

And by fine-tuning they mentioned working on positioning (some UCs "float" on some backgrounds) and fixing some shaky lineart. They even seem to be interested in making UC art of pets that don't have any. Can you imagine having a UC Plushie Xwee? Or UC Vandagyres?

[11milestereo]

I've seen & thought of a couple of hypotheses on how they might do it.

Option 1 - UC "paint brush" or item (NP or NC)
Option 2 - Some kind of once-per-account type thing like a magma pool dip or FFQ. Maybe a premium perk?
Option 3 - NC Mall UC "wearable" that gives the impression of a UC pet
Option 4 - Create a "new" UC option. Like buying a new pet slot + combined with their method of creating replicas. No idea how this would work in practice though.
[EDIT]: Any of these options plus the stipulation that the newly created UCs are no-trade.

I'll edit this if I see any other ideas crop up or if anyone wants to add on.

Option 3 feels like it would be the least likely to tank the PC. I wonder how *actually bad* it would be, though, to kinda level the playing field there. For as long as I can remember, there have been pretty much distinct markets for UCs and converteds. Whatever TNT chooses to do, if they choose to do it, it would need to be "rare" enough not to piss off the people who worked their asses off for YEARS trading up to like a VBN mutant or something.

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[kittyray]

tbh I've spent hundreds on UCs and I would have zero issue if they were available for much less in the NC Mall. I'd feel bad for all my friends who potentially lose their side-hustle, but I wouldn't be pissed for myself.