25 New Avatar Ideas for the Avatar Obsessed

     Avatars are one of the single most collectible rewards on the Neopets site and oftentimes the “status” of ones account is judged on how many avatars they have earned. Avatars were achievements before such a thing was mainstream. Lately however we haven’t had a large number of avatars for completing general site activities in some time. I therefore decided to brainstorm a list of avatars that TNT could make. Included with my ideas are suggested detailed methods for unlocking, as well as some rough ideas for what they could visually look like. I have listed 25 for now, but there are so many ideas, it is hard to capture them all! Hopefully some of these are already in the works!

      1) Tiki Tack Man

     The Tiki Tack Man is a staple of Mystery Island and his daily tombola spins keep tourists flocking in. Despite this, we still have yet to see an avatar of this fine fellow. It could easily be awarded as a random event when earning a winning ticket in the tombola. Visually I would recommend a close-up of his mystical mask, perhaps with the word “TIKI” in large letters.

     2) Neocola Machine

     The Neocola machine is the bane of many Neopians who invest in large caches of Neocola tokens, only to get a pile of junk. The tokens have recently been very cheap due to the low probability of getting anything worthwhile. A perfect way to raise the stakes and re-inject some excitement would be to release an avatar that is rarely awarded when taking a chance. The avatar itself could be sloth related, or even feature my personal favourite: the dancing Neocola can!

     3) Book Club

     Reading books to one’s pet is always fun, and there is the book club award to motivate users to read as many books as possible. This large portion of the site has yet to receive an avatar incentive however. Wouldn’t it be cool if there was an avatar after reaching a large landmark, such as 500 or 1000 books read? This would also encourage the steady use of books, leading to that economy flowing nicely! A happy book shop Nimmo could adorn the stamp along with the words “Well Read”

     4) Booktastic Books

     On the same vein as above, it only makes sense that a booktastic books avatar exist as well. While there are way fewer booktastic books, and therefore the number would have to be lower, the idea would be the same. The avatar could either feature the Grundo book keeper, or one of the coveted r100 booktastic books.

     5) Gourmet Foods

     Another popular area of the site that has so far not been awarded an avatar is the gourmet foods competition. There are many users who enjoy feeding their pets rare food items, but the actual trophies for these can be very lofty goals. A good compromise would be to have an avatar after a certain number of points, much like the suggested book avatars. There is no question that the avatar would have to feature the snooty gourmet foods Quiggle, perhaps with the words “Gourmet Appetite”.

     6) The Money Tree

     A wonderful way to give back to Neopians in need is to donate to the Money Tree. Much like how there is an avatar for discarding items, there could also be one for donating items as well. The easiest method to ensure that the tree is not clogged with junk is to have to avatar for either donating a R90+ item or for donating a certain number of Neopoints. The avatar itself should be of the aforementioned tree with the word “Generous”.

     7) Fruit Machine

     One of the classic Neopets dailies, the fruit machine has been around for a while. An easy way to add to the excitement of spinning every day would be the chance for a rare avatar only awarded when you get a three of a kind match! If the avatar was to be rarer it could be made to only be awarded for three Puntec fruits – the jackpot. The avatar could easily feature the three spinning fruits, perhaps occasionally stopping at a match, before resuming spinning.

     8) Giant Omelette

      What says Neopia more than the Giant Omelette? While recently with Charity Corner, various omelettes saw their ideal usage, there is rarely much motivation to do this daily due to the relative lack of any good rewards. A nice shiny avatar featuring the omelette on the plateau could change that, especially if awarded scarcely. A similar avatar could be rewarded at a giant-sized jelly, if there was such a thing…but that would just be ridiculous!

     9) Krawk Island Food Club

     In recent years, the Krawk Island Food Club has been a great source of income for accounts older than 5 years, with bets proving very lucrative if your picks pan out. Because this feature is so popular, it makes sense to award an avatar for particularly good Neopoint hauls. The avatar may be awarded for hitting the maximum Neopoint reward of 1 million Neopoints and could feature the sketchy Kacheek that takes your bets.

     10) Kitchen Quests

     Almost all of the daily quests have an avatar or extra reward of some sort. The kitchen quests on Mystery Island however, do not. The poor Flotsam is continuously making meals for the great Mumbo Pango and an avatar reward would no doubt motivate more people to help him out. It could either feature the chef himself, or even the coconut god he serves. It could be easy to earn, like the snow faerie avatar, by being rewarded for merely completing a quest, or more difficult requiring a certain recipe to be made.

     11) Employment Agency

     The employment Agency in Faerieland provides quests for item in exchange for Neopoints. While some quests are free, the majority require the use of job coupons. While some of the quests can be lucrative, they also award your pet with a point for completion which in turn adds to their rank. Currently these points have no usage. Wouldn’t it be cool if you get awarded an avatar for reaching the highest rank in the employment agency? This avatar could feature one of the job coupons with the word “workaholic”

     12) Trophy Collector

     There exist many games in Neopia and nearly every game has an associated trophy. In order to reward the Neopians who are truly Games Masters it would make sense to release an avatar only available to those users who have a high number of game trophies. The number would have to be high in order to truly be special, maybe around 40? The avatar could feature a shining trophy cabinet along with the words “Trophy Collector”.

     13) Art Gallery

     While I myself am not exactly a Neopian of artistic abilities, I find myself captivated every time the Art Gallery updates with beautiful works of art made by people to honor Neopets. This is one of the most popular user-submission contests on the site and so it seems a shame that there has yet to be an avatar for having your work chosen. I would suggest an image of a Neopet deep in thought at a canvas, while the word “Artsy” flashes overhead.

     14) Poetry Competition

     Poetry is a unique and often lovely form of communication and Neopets hosts one that updates very frequently, and usually on every pet day. Like the Art Gallery, it has yet to receive an avatar to reward those Neopians who are skilled with their words. I would suggest, like in the case of the art gallery, that every successful submission wins the avatar, however if TNT wanted to reward it only for certain time periods, that would be better than nothing! This avatar could even feature the very eloquent Poogle seen in the Neopia Central Caverns (Alstaf Poogle) or the dapper Chia featured in the poetry trophy.

     15) Storytelling Competition

     A final in the trio of creative contests without avatars, the storytelling competition has users put their heads together and add to an ongoing story throughout the week. It is a fun exercise of not only creative writing, but also on improvisation, as the stories can sometimes take an unexpected turn!The avatar could feature “The Storyteller”, the character featured on the special storytelling competition Neocard.

     16) Lost Desert Scratch Card

     Both the Terror Mountain and Haunted Woods scratch cards have avatars to be won, but the desert scratch card is left lacking. It would be nice to change up how the avatar works when compared to the other two, so maybe it could be rewarded when receiving one of the rare scratch cards, instead of as a prize from actually scratching. It could feature a variety of desert themed images, but might I suggest a scene of desert Petpets dancing as Neopoints rained?

     17) Gallery Addict

     Many Neopians choose to collect items of a certain theme or variety and place them in their gallery so other Neopians can drool over their valuables. It would be difficult to have a Gallery avatar because so many different types of galleries exist. There are multiple ways this could be executed. It could be simply given out as reward for the Gallery Spotlight, a competition that choses and showcases a gallery of note. It could also be awarded for having a gallery of a certain size, or having a certain number of items in one’s gallery. If TNT wanted to surprise, we could even have an avatar for both of these milestones!

     18) Test Your Strength

     In the Deserted Fairegrounde there exists a machine that claims to test the strength of anyone who uses it. Regardless of your Neopet’s strength however, it is very rare that anyone can get the meter to raise more than a few bars! Accusations of rigging aside, it would make the event of a high score much more exciting if there was an avatar reward. A 100% score is extremely rare, so perhaps instead the avatar could be awarded past a certain level, say 80. This avatar could feature the crooked fairegrounds worker Arnold cackling with the level clearly visible in the background.

     19) Bagatelle

     Another… difficult game in the faire is the Bagatelle stall. Due to the nasty Lupe’s dirty trick, the table is at a slope, making a high score very unlikely. This is therefore the perfect activity to assign an avatar to. Perhaps this is also the opportunity for an animated avatar, one of the Lupe throwing the Mootix ball, and the ball bouncing along the pegs as it reaches its destination. Either way, an avatar of this type would be frustrating, but also take many Neopoints out of the economy.

     20) Guess the Marrow

     In Meridell Acres there rests a field in which a Giant Marrow grows every day. This marrow can range from 200-800 pounds, and it is up to Neopians to guess how large it is. The winner receives a cool, limited edition, marrow themed item and I would suggest an avatar as well. It is notoriously difficult to guess (With roughly 1 in 600 odds) so it makes sense to give an extra reward to those who manage. I would create the avatar with an image of the giant marrow along with the words “Marrow Fanatic”.

     21) The Rubbish Dump / Dung Faerie

     Another “attraction” in Meridell is the rubbish dump, where Neopets dump all their absolutely worthless items. There also exists a very smelly faerie who often dumps piles of dung into the dump. Perhaps an avatar for acquiring an item at the dump is in order. It would be extra special if it featured none other than the dung faerie herself, a character so far only whispered about by Neopians.

     22) Potato Counter

      I am aware that there is an avatar already existing for the game “Extreme Potato Counter” but the original version in Meridell is left without one. This is especially distressing to the poo Potato farmer who runs the game. The game itself is extremely simple, so an avatar would have a simple solution: Correctly guess the number of potatoes in a specific short amount of time (example: 15 seconds). This avatar would be most enjoyable if it featured the clueless Kacheek farmer who runs the game.

     23) Battledome Champion

     This avatar should be one that is rewarded only to serious battledomers and can be seen as a sign of earned respect. Not a battledomer myself, it is hard to say what the most effective method of awarding this avatar would be. There are multiple ideas, all of which could be avatars in their own right. One suggestion is to reward an avatar for gaining a high number (1000?) of skill points in every Battledome statistic. Another is to award an avatar to high scorers if a HP increase Battledome mode ever returns. Finally, one could be rewarded after having a certain number of wins in your high score table. The latter is in itself the easiest however, as theoretically one could spam beating up Chia Clown.

     24) Ninja Training School

     It is a proud moment for a Neopian when their pet graduates the regular Mystery Island Training School and now can only be levelled further with the Ninja Training School. I therefore suggest an avatar that is randomly rewarded when successfully finishing a Ninja Training School Course. This in itself would be a sign of a Battledome pet and serve as a status symbol. It could feature the ninja Aisha or the mysterious ninja statue along with the words “Ninja”

     25) Neolodge

     The Neolodge exists to give your pet a break and to keep them well fed and rested while the owner takes a break. There exist varying levels of rooms along with many different special add-ons the owner can purchase. In order to make the avatar interesting, perhaps the avatar coul'd be rewarded for a certain combo of room and add-ons requiring users to work together to figure it out? The last avatar mystery was the Wishing Well avatar, so it seems like it is about time to release another!

      That’s 25 of my avatar ideas. I had to stop at some point, but you can bet there are many more ideas where these came from. Hopefully TNT starts producing loads of new avatars to give Neopians more goals to work toward! After all, the past has proven that nothing motivates site users quite as much as a shiny avatar!