Sloth Appreciation Day (SAD)

Over the years, Dr. Frank Sloth has been one of the greatest super villains of all time. So this is a day we must come together to celebrate, in recognition of Dr. Sloth and his awesome encounters around the site in the past twelve years. One might ask, "Without Dr. Sloth, where would we be?" There would be no evil villain to keep us on the edge of our seats, no Slothy fun games, no goodie bags with his dashing face on them, no elusive avatars with Sloth-filled happiness in them. A huge part of the site would be empty and missing. Here are some ways Sloth has helped bring Neopets together--for better, or for worse.

Dr. Frank Sloth landed in Neopia many hundreds of years ago, accidentally creating the first life-forms in Neopia other than himself, and he is also the proud creator and leader of the oh-so-famous Virtupets Space Station. After life was found on Neopia, Dr. Sloth made a plan that he would take over the planet ("Neopia. What a lovely planet. I think I'll take it."), though up until this day Sloth has been unsuccessful in his attempts.

Sloth has made it his duty over the years to be well known on Neopets, appearing in many places all over the site. Frank's first appearance was in April of 2000, in the first plot ever created on Neopets--The Virtupets Plot. From here on, he only got worse.

Making another appearance towards the end of the year, Dr. Sloth created a giant robot to help him take over the battledome, naming it 'MechaChiazilla', but it was thwarted by the real Chiazilla, and Sloth was unable to take over the Battledome. Sloth has been in almost all of the Neopets plots, from being the murderer in the 'Ski Lodge Murder Mystery', to zapping Hannah into a mutant Cybunny years later and even having a plot named especially after himself: "The Return of Dr. Sloth". Of course, though, you can't have an awesome plot without the best super villain featured in it, can you?

Without Dr. Sloth, we wouldn't have a complete set of stamps needed for the Virtupets Stamp collection, and without a full set of stamps, no-one would have ever completed the Virtupets Stamp page and received the elusive avatar from it. Now, wouldn't that be tragic? And for all of those trophy collectors out there, just think; if Sloth wasn't around, you wouldn't be able to go for any of the awesome Sloth-related trophies such as 'The Return of the Return of Dr. Sloth' or 'Splat-a-Sloth'. And to those in the Avatar Chat, what would you do if Sloth hadn't ever come to deem you worthy of his avatar? Would you just be hiding and sulking in the corner? Thank Sloth for his worthiness!

Have you ever been wandering around Neopia or maybe the Virtupets Space Station, and found yourself a gift bag with a really handsome looking Sloth on it? You must have found one of Dr. Sloth's elusive surprises. He has created this bag with his space-age, indestructible materials that no one has yet figured out how to open. However, I wouldn't necessarily attempt to open it; he may have it rigged with explosives. If one were to eventually pry it open, we can only guess at what may lie inside. The 'Sloth Valentine Gift Bag' may contain: Dr. Sloth Heart Plushie, Dr. Sloth Flower Bouquet, I Love Sloth T-shirt, Sloth Valentine Air Freshener, or maybe Sloth Valentine Hand Soap. Sloth also has a nice *cough* annoying *cough* habit of appearing while you are browsing Neopets to turn an item from your inventory into a mound of sludge, by a random event. Just make sure you don't have any really expensive items in your inventory; you'll be sorry once he zaps it.

Sloth has a habit of taking away people's happiness. The "I ♥ happiness" suggests that Dr. Sloth loves happiness, or maybe he just likes to take poor defenceless Neopians' happiness away and make the Neopets suffer. One of Frank's sayings is "Pitiful Neopets, you will all soon be my slaves."

Dr. Sloth also loves to roam Neopia to target random Neopians with Sloth Tax. This is a random event where Sloth comes along to take 20% of your cash on hand, in order to "support his next Neopian invasion effort". Be careful not to carry too many neopoints around; tuck them away safely in your bank account. You never know when Sloth's random event will come. Just think; if you have 2,000,000 NP out, Dr. Sloth will be taking 400,000 NP away from you. You could have bought 26,000 Sloth Paddleball Games with all of those neopoints! Then again, if you DO have a lot of neopoints on hand when Sloth attacks, you may be awarded the Sloth Tax trophy!

Where Sloth can turn your items into sludge or have fun stealing your money to support his invasions, he can also be very handy in some Random Events. Occasionally (if you're lucky), Sloth will decide to hand you a transmogrification potion. These potions are worth quite a nice penny if you want to sell them, or you can use them to morph your pet into a lovely mutant pet... Come on, you know you want to. *wink*

Now to say a hearty thank you to Frank himself, for being such a wonderful addition to Neopets, we thank you Sloth for your kindness that you have given out across the site. Just know that we now know your secrets, Dr. Frank Sloth! (Everyone, quickly! Go read Secrets of Dr. Sloth to your pet if you haven't already.) Good luck planning your next capturing of the planet. I wish you adieu and a wonderful birthday. Happy S.A.D (Day), everyone! See you next year on the 14th of January for Sloth's next spectacular set of appreciations.