Don't Eat My Chia: The Scoop on Fruit Chia Ownership

Now I know what you might be thinking, a fruit pet? You could have a mystical Draik flying around, or maybe a cute Cybunny painted Plushie to hug and squeeze? What can you possibly see in a piece of fruit apart from a healthy snack? (NOTE: I do not condone the eating of any fruit Chia, as this is just wrong! That means you, the Lupes of Neopia). I understand that most fruit Chias are seen as kind of cheesy, and know that apart from a rare FFQ or lucky zap from the Lab Ray, the cheapest fruit Chia is a Chokato (currently at around 2 million NP!)

The best way I can describe to you my reasoning for loving these little adorable Chias would be to list all the pros of owning one. But I cannot be totally unbiased to you, the reader, if I only listed what I like about them, you might have an aspect of Neopet ownership which is restricted by owning one. So below, I have tried to be honest and right down the middle.

Pros

Aesthetics: Not much I can really say here but LOOK AT THEM! All cute and huggable (mind you, hugging for example, a Thornberry is not advised). Some of my personal favourites are: Asparagus with its hair like tips or Grape with its adorable tiny body with big smile. Made you would like to shine up and present to everyone your own Apple Chia? They all have a charm about them aesthetically, its up to you which is your favourite.

That one avatar everyone wants: Now I know usually people flock to friends who own a Pea Chia and say "Could you lend me yours while I aim to get lent a SuAP (Super Attack Pea) for the SuAP avatar?". This leads to the constant rehoming of these little beauties, and I for one am against the constant transferring of pets. Luckily I own my own Pea who has a vacation home with a friend, but he isn't going to be passed around unless I know he is being treated like the king he is. I mean, he is going to get you a shiny new avatar, and a popular one at that, so why not take extra special care of him.

Uniqueness: Granted there are different types of Jelly pet you can get if the Lab Ray is kind to you, but you will not see any Apple Draiks, Pea Gnorbus or Avocado Shoyrus anytime soon. Owning a fruit Chia makes you stand out. Owning a fruit Chia says, I will not conform to the regular cutesy pet or a fierce looking pet. I love my little fruit and that's that!

Cons

Customisation: In my opinion, the biggest dilemma when owning a fruit Chia. If customising your pet with lots of wigs, dresses and other clothing and accessories is up your alley, owning a fruit Chia is NOT for you. It seems that wearables in the sense of clothing are not applicable for fruit Chias. Yes, they can have foregrounds, backgrounds trinkets etc.. but if wearing a pretty wig and dress combo is what you want, I suggest avoiding fruit Chias, maybe get a Kacheek? (Not a big customisation fan myself so this isn't an issue for me, but I do hear Kacheeks have the best look wearing most clothing.)

Price: If you are terrified by the speed of the Pound Chat and feel that you want to make your own fruit Chia, let me warn you now, it isn't cheap. Also, relying on the Lab Ray or FFQ is like winning the lottery. You could lose a Chia you are zapping to a species change and have to fork out for a Morphing Potion, or maybe that FFQ you get is needed for the Buzzin avatar. Either way the most certain way to get your own fruit is to morph an existing Chia with a Magical Chia Pop. This is where the real cost comes in. ALL Magical Chia Pops are r99, which sets the price tag up a little more already. As stated above the cheapest Magical Chia Pop is Chokato, costing around the 2 million mark. If you are looking to get that Pea Chia using its respective Chia Pop, look to pay 20 million PLUS. This one is rare and if someone has promised a user a SuAP lend, can get competitive when buying. Again personally, I thought of this before I started collecting so it something I will have to deal with, but I have also had great friends who have gifted a couple to me when they got lucky with the Lab Ray.

...Lupes: Not exactly a real problem, but those nasty Lupes seem to have a taste for the Chia population, so not the best idea to give them more reasons to eat them, like a brand new fruity taste which is also healthy. *sprays Lupe repellent all over my account*

One thing I haven't mentioned in the Cons section is Random Events: This is when your pet is made invisible or Boochi gets trigger happy and makes your pet into a baby. This is easily stopped by having a Lab Rat as your active pet, one you don't mind getting hit, or if you are lucky, any UC pet (Unconverted). If you do this, losing your fruit Chia to a Random Event is not an issue...

Summary

There are many other reasons to/not to own a fruit Chia I may not have covered, but above are what I feel are deciding factors. If you look upon my words and decide to invest in getting your own fruit Chia, I commend you on very good taste and hope you are satisfied at the end result. Any questions in regards to fruit Chias, ways to get them or anything else Chia based can be neomailed to me. I thank you for taking the time to read this and hope you can, like myself, see why fruit Chias are the way forward for a healthier and happy Neopia.