Comic-Con Coverage

2019

Neopets once again returned to Comic-Con in San Diego, California for the 2019 event! They had both a booth set up in the exhibit hall (Booth #5566) and hosted an after party at the Horton Grand Hotel in San Diego's Gaslamp District.

At this year's event, we had Perry, Herdy, and Ummy on the ground to give you a recap of the After Party. Many thanks also goes to meblackittymage13 and Cassie for a few additional photographs and write up on their experiences!

The After Party

This year's after party was even bigger and better than 2018's! With the strong demand seen from Neopians wanting to attend last year's event, TNT rented out a larger space for this year's party and upped their game by creating a Deserted Fairgrounds decorated event space.

Getting Into the Party

This year, a ticket sign up form was created in advance to give out tickets to Neopians who wished to attend the party. Like last year, there was plenty of demand for tickets. Luckily, tickets were only required for guaranteed entry at 7:00 PM when the doors opened. A standby line was available to non-ticket holders starting a little later, around 7:30 PM. From our staffers on the ground, it looked like there were roughly 200 to 250 people in attendance!

Although the location was the same as last year, TNT utilized additional space, including a prize room where a buffet and drinks were available, a quieter back room with another bar station and plenty of seating, and an interior courtyard designed to recreate the Deserted Fairgrounds.

Decor

The interior courtyard's real trees were wrapped in small white lights and swathed in cobwebs to create an eerie effect and genuinely made you feel like you were walking into part of the Haunted Woods. A large photo backdrop greeted the attendees and served for group photos. Human-sized cutouts of Bruno, Fyora, Sophie, Sidney, and the Style Showdown host were placed around the room, and a cutout of Sloth leered evilly down from a balcony above.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of Ummy.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.



Photo courtesy of Ummy.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Ummy.

An eclectic soundtrack of music complemented the visual effects. Some of the music was obviously chosen to match the Halloween theme, like music from The Nightmare Before Christmas, and other music consisted of what you might find on the radio today. It turned out that TNT staff members had been asked for music suggestions, so the soundtrack was a combination of several people's interpretations of "music for the Deserted Fairground."

The Bar

At the bar, special Neopian-themed mixed drinks were on the menu, including Hubrid Nox's Mystical Concoction, Mr. Chuckles' Carnival Cocktail, and The Brain Tree Brew. You could partake in these libations if you had a free drink ticket (winnable after playing some games), or by purchasing them.



Photo courtesy of Perry.

Games

The Deserted Fairgrounds theme continued with three functioning real-world attractions for the attendees to play: a Coconut Shy where only underhanded throws were allowed...



Photo courtesy of meblackittymage13.

... a Bagatelle whose poker chip danced erratically down the pegs...



Photo courtesy of Ummy.

... and a spinning Wheel of Misfortune.



Photo courtesy of Ummy.

Each attendee received five game tickets, giving everyone a chance to play each game at least once. The Wheel of Misfortune had the widest range of prizes, where you might win no tickets, or your choice of a few sticker designs, to any number of prize tickets up to fifteen.

The Bagatelle was truly randomized, with a guaranteed prize of at least three prize tickets. The Coconut Shy was the only attraction requiring genuine skill, with players trying to use their three balls to knock down three "coconuts," and regaling others with tales of having knocked down two coconuts with one throw. (No reports of exploding coconuts, luckily—or, unfortunately, depending on your perspective.)

Prizes

The prize tickets you received from playing the games could be redeemed for three tiers of prizes:

Tier 1: A large plushie

Tier 2: A medium plushie

Tier 3: A smaller, Petpet plushie or keychain



Photo courtesy of Ummy.



Photo courtesy of Ummy.

You could also trade 40 tickets for one of the black Neopets 20th anniversary t-shirts that were otherwise only available for purchase at the Comic-Con booth in the exhibitor hall. Three prize tickets could buy you a chance at one of several raffles that were held several times through the evening for Neopets merch, including a 20th anniversary t-shirt, Neopets socks, and a Neopets plushie.

In addition, all attendees received cards with Rare Item Codes printed on them.



Photo courtesy of Ummy.

Redeeming these RICs at Grundo's Warehouse awarded you with the following exclusive item:

Rare Item Code Prize

Comic Con 2019 Mystery Capsule

And then opening the capsule awarded the following items and avatar:

20 Year Celebration avatar This avatar was awarded for opening up the Comic Con 2019 Mystery Capsule (only available by obtaining a Rare Item Code from Comic Con San Diego in July 2019).

This avatar was also awarded on November 15, 2019 for finding all 20 time capsules in the anniversary event.

This avatar initially did not increase the avatar count on your user lookup or count for the avatar collector high score table, but it was changed to count as a +1 in the afternoon of November 15, 2019. Released: July 19, 2019

And if you were lucky, you also received the following bonus item:



Group shot! Photo courtesy of Ummy.

Demo: Neopets X

At last year's Comic-Con after party, a new "world-building app" was announced to be in production. And at this year's party, a demo of the new app was on hand to play around with!

"Neopets X" is just the codename for the project right now. It is a mobile app featuring a new land named Dacardia, which was ravaged under suspicious circumstances. Your goal is to rebuild the island and get it back to its former glory.

For a full rundown of the new Neopets X project, including video, see our preview guide:

Neopets X Preview »

Demo: Neopets Mobile

Neopets.com is going mobile! The classic website will be getting a new companion site that is intended to be mobile friendly. Once the redesign launches, you will be able to pull up your Neopets account on your smartphone or tablet device without any awkward zooming and pinching!

There are currently no immediate plans for a downloadable Neopets.com app—this is simply a refresh of the original website's look and feel.

For a full rundown of the new Neopets Mobile project, including video, see our preview guide:

Neopets Mobile Preview »

The Booth

Like last year, Neopets had a booth set up in the main exhibitor hall of Comic-Con. To visit the booth, you needed to buy tickets to get into the Comic-Con event itself (unlike the after party, which was open to all outside of Comic-Con gates).



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.

New this year, TNT had some special merchandise produced to sell at the booth. Included were shirts, pins, popsockets, socks, and lanyards. You could also win some stickers by spinning a special wheel.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Cassie.



Photo courtesy of Ummy.



Photo courtesy of Ummy.

This tote bag was given out for free with any merchandise purchase you made at the booth:



Photo courtesy of Cassie.

In addition, Rare Item Codes were available at the booth which, like at the after party, awarded the Comic Con 2019 Mystery Capsule. The codes were available at the booth all day Saturday and Sunday, and for about an hour on Friday before the after party. Each person was allowed to take only one code, and in order to do so, they had to have their Comic-Con badge scanned.

And that wraps our coverage of Comic-Con 2019! We can't wait to see what 2020's event brings!

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This article was written by: JN Staff