Welcome back to another round of Quick Questions! For this interview we will be starting out with the player who currently holds the record for the oldest contender in the Altador Cup! Please welcome Team Meridell’s left forward, Ethel Boortz!

Ethel:Okay deary, like I said, I can only talk until I’m done knitting this scarf.

Interviewer: Excellent! Then we should have plenty of time!

Ethel: Ha, that’s what you think. Okay, go on—no time to waste.

Interviewer: Right! So Ethel, tell us, how did you get to be your age and still be able to compete in such a physically demanding sport?

Ethel:What a good question. Let me think…
[She pauses for a moment while focusing on a row in her scarf]
Well, I was never one to take life too seriously, you know. Throughout the years, I’ve mainly done whatever felt right in the moment. I listened to my body when I pushed it too far or needed nutrients, but overall, I did nothing too special. So I guess my answer to your question is, I don’t know.

Interviewer: Oh, well, how did you start playing Yooyuball? You must be one of the longest-running players!

Ethel: Oh no, dear, I most certainly am not one of the players who has been playing the longest. In fact, I only joined a little while after my good friend Dasher retired.

Interviewer: Wait, Dasher as in “Dasher” Solely? You know him?

Ethel: Of course, we go way back. We’ve always had a bit of a playful competition between us. When I saw how much he loved Yooyuball, I decided to give it a go. Whenever we meet up for tea and knitting, I do so enjoy giving him a hard time about how I am now in the Cup. But it’s all in good fun. I can tell he’s quite happy in his retirement.

Interviewer: Wow! We have been trying to get an interview with him for some time now. Would you mind if I ask you some questions on -

Ethel: All done! Here is your scarf, deary!
[She softly wraps the scarf around the interviewer]

Interviewer: This is for me? Th-thank you, it is lovely. Could I just ask-

Ethel: Tsk, tsk. I told you I could only talk while I knitted that scarf. Now off you go. I’ve got a blanket to get started on.

One of our most talked about interviews last year was with Shenkuu’s captain, Mirsha Grelinek, but when asked for another interview this year, she declined. Saying she would much rather the spotlight go to one of her amazing teammates and recommended the team's Left Defender, Antola Maeir! So without further ado, here are our Quick Questions with Maeir.

Interviewer: “So we heard your team recently lost your coach to another team. Would you be willing to tell us more about that?”

Antola: “Oh yeah, there’s not much to say there. We left on good terms overall. Coach was a great teacher and an even better guy, but he’d been getting offers from other teams for a while, and we understood his decision. Besides, I think the only reason he stuck around as long as he did was for his daughter, Ginia, who has now taken over as our head coach, so it’s almost like nothing has changed! She learned all he had to offer and more, so we were honestly pretty happy. Not to say we don’t miss ya Coach, we hope you’re doing well!”
[He then finger guns towards a non-existent camera]

Interviewer: “That is great to hear that it all worked out for the best! So you said Coach Ginia has taken over and is doing well? With her and your Captain dating, I’ve heard some fans are worried about that being too big of a distraction.”

Antola: “Nah. Captain and her are sups professional when it comes to training. Coach Ginia has also helped grow our team like never before. She knows the sport and knows our fans and has been able to combine those into our training which has really raised our morale and overall performance! We totes understand people’s concerns from an outside perspective, but if you knew the Captain like the team and I know her, you’d know nothing will stop her from making this team the best there is! They’re just an amazing pair; we’re lucky to have them both!”

Interviewer:“Wow, that’s some high praise for your Captain!”

Antola: “Well, of course! She’s been so supportive of me from the very beginning! She was the first one I told about how I planned on transitioning. I knew it might affect the team dynamic and wanted to explain myself, but she didn’t even miss a beat. She accepted me without an explanation and stood up for me when critiques came out about me taking a Strange Potion.”

Interviewer: “I wasn’t aware of the critiques made towards you. That was before my time as a reporter. Would you be willing to speak more on that?”

Antola: “Well, to be honest, normally I wouldn’t really talk about this. I am me, and that’s all that matters, but I know there has been some confusion about Strange Potions in the Altador Cup lately, so I’ll leave it at this. Altador Cup has always been a co-ed sport, but even if it wasn’t, Strange Potion is not an “enhancing” potion. The Committee checks out anyone who may take it and wants to compete to ensure there is no drastic change in performance. The only thing that has changed is that I am happier, and if anyone else is struggling with similar things, just know that you’ll always have Team Shenkuu in your corner!”

Thanks for joining us at the Neopian Times for this Altador Cup! Be sure to keep an eye out for more Quick Questions coming throughout the year as our reporters will be extending this segment outside the bounds of just Altador Cup athletes. Please let us know if there is a Neopian you would like us to interview, and perhaps we can sit them down for another round of Quick Questions!

Hey TNT! I think a great way to have users explore parts of the site would be a daily check-list of three random tasks they need to complete to earn neopoints! (Maybe called "Travels in Neopia" in honor of the old TCG set) Ex: -Submit a score for "Rink Runner" -Buy something from "Kauvara's Magic Shop" -Watch a Concert at the Concert Hall OR -Spin the "Wheel of Knowledge" -Scratch off a scratchcard in Terror Mountain -Visit "Brightvale Coloring" Reward: 10,000 NPs ~puter809
Oh no! Did the Stealthy Meepits reveal what we’ve been working on!? I guess the Kadoatie is out of the bag…Excited to share that the team is hard at work on working on a daily quests feature similar to this! Love these ideas, will share this with the team as we continue to work on this feature. ~~Sunpotato

It's been a while since Punchbag Sid has been seen- is he still up to mischief, or is he a changed, er...bag? ~ih8sk8
While Punchbag Sid still has his “take no stuffing” attitude about him, he has mostly put his rough-and-tumble life behind him. He is now the proud father to two young Punchbag kids whom he raises alongside his loving Punchbag partner. However, now and then, he can’t help but get up to his old ways at the Battledome! /hj ~~Stone

Hi TNT! I've always loved the NC item Flower Hair Bow. It matches so well with the Flower Belt which is currently sold in the Elite Boutique. At least they used to match. Now the flower on the Flower Belt seems to have disappeared! Can you please work your magic and find it, and put it back on the belt ? Thank you so very much! ~catmagic28
Hi! We’ve worked our magic and the flower on the Flower Belt is back! You can now have your pets match better with the Flower Hair Bow! Thanks for bringing this to our attention! ~~Goldfish in Bowl

Hello! I recently got a copy of the official cookbook, & it looks absolutely fantastic; I can tell it was made with such love. The pictures (both real & cartoon), easy-to-understand/follow recipes, & cute quips make it one amazing book. Is it too early to ask when a second one will come out??? ~brynchilla
We’re so glad that you’re enjoying the new cookbook! It was definitely a long time coming and a huge labour of love! We have the perfect answer for this; make sure you check out Episode 6 of Nosy Neopians, which will go up on July 1st, for an interview with Erinn Pascal, co-author and editor of Neopets: The Official Cookbook, that covers just that question! ;) ~~Willow

Also, although they aren’t more cookbooks in production (yet), I do want to mention that we do have a few other exciting Neopets books already in the works that I am thrilled for all of Neopia to see! ~~Aesop

Hi all! The recently released Yooyuball Cereal item from the AC Gram shares a name with a prize released back at ACVI. Can you please update the name of this new breakfast treat to something unique? Thanks! ~quailbat
Thank you so much for bringing these to our attention! We’ve gone ahead and updated the names of the items. The original Illusen Frosted Cupcake will remain “Illusen Frosted Cupcake”, and the new NC wearable will become “Fresh Illusen Frosted Cupcake!” The original Yooyuball Cereal will now be “Bowl of Yooyuball Cereal” and the new NC wearable will become “Yooyuball Cereal Box!” ~~Willow

Hi Stone! In the last editorial, you mentioned, "Usually, someone cannot be picked for the STC twice in one story." However, at least for the past several hundred contests, the win limit was set at 2 per user per contest. Under Mac, who made the contests multi-week, the win limit was set at once per week (again, 2 per contest). Could the win limit be revised back to twice per contest / once per week? Thanks. :) ~rielcz
Hi, sorry for any confusion. The win can still be 2 per contest. We have been getting many more entries recently, so that will most likely affect things. If you have won once already in the contest, you can still have another chance at winning later on. And then, once the contest starts over, it is fair game for all entries again. /gen ~~Stone

Hi TNT! I've been very into Noda's cookies lately, but noticed that the Training Cookies stock much less frequently than the other cookies, and barely ever over the weekend. Could the stock-rate of these cookies be increased? My pet is hard at work to level-up and would appreciate it. Thank you! ~tingtingwu
Hello! Thanks for flagging this issue, we definitely want to be sure there are enough cookies for everyone : ). We gave some little aprons to a handful of Meepits and assigned them the task to help bake more cookies. You should notice more in the mall from now on. Thanks! ~~Miss Rainbow

Could you please fix the Eventide Korbat's tail zoning? It can't be removed with Hind Be-Gone! and goes over every Korbat tail cover item :( ~thatyouknow
Hello! This has been fixed now, so Hind Be-Gone! should work for Eventide Korbat now! Thanks for bringing this to our attention! ~~Goldfish in Bowl

Uni Neon Hoofs - should be Hooves for consistency (Peophin, Kau) Water Surrounding JubJub has two spaces between Surrounding and JubJub Indigo wig should have a capital w please don't publish my name ~Anonymous
Thank you so much for bringing all of these issues to our attention so we can keep our items consistent across the site and easy to find in the trading post. We just went in and fixed all three of those errors, but please let us know if you spot anymore! ~~Aesop

Where do baby paint brushes come from? ~brucey530
When two grown Paint Brushes decide they are ready for a Baby Paint Brush, they write to the Magical Lenny Morphing Potion, who then flies down from the sky with a beautiful, new Baby Paint Brush all swaddled up in a cloth and hands it over to the now parent Paint Brushes. Then they all live happily ever after! /lh ~~Stone

Hi TNT! The new Shenanigifts party is so dark and exciting! Unfortunately the image for the Dead Roses Bouquet item doesn't have the hanger icon so it's a bit confusing that it's a wearable - can this be updated to include that? Also the Skulls and Candles Décor Foreground includes an accent which isn't supposed to be used (appears as Décor sometimes) - if that can please have the bad letter swapped with just a normal "e". Thanks guys! ~quailbat
Hi! Thanks for bringing these all to our attention! All the fixes have been made accordingly! We are glad to hear Shenanigifts has been so dark and exciting! ~~Goldfish in Bowl

hi guysies, I think "Band-Aid" is trademarked...maybe it should be "Cute Face Bandage" instead :) ~implodingnow
Hello : ) Great catch! The change to the name has been made, thanks! ~~Miss Rainbow

Hi guys, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for the new pet clothes released the last few months. They are so creative and beautiful. We appreciate it very much. ~manicmaggie

Just wanted to say that pet days have been soooo good! Reminds me of the old days! The multiple outfits have been awesome! ~_sissiy_sis_369

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