Las Vegas Licensing Expo 2024
Neopets attended Las Vegas Licensing Expo, which ran from May 21-23 in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. This was Neopets's very first appearance at Las Vegas Licensing Expo and their second licensing show attended in 2024. Las Vegas Licensing Expo is an industry trade show for companies, big and small alike, to showcase their brands and seek potential licensing deals.
Beeg Aisha greeting passersby.
Neopets was specifically looking for licensing deals in the following categories:
- Fashion & Apparel
- Food & Beverage
- Health & Beauty
- Footwear
- Toys & Games
- Location-Based Entertainment / Attractions / Live Events
- TV / Video / Film / DVD / Streaming Media
In other words, Neopets wanted to partner with companies to produce merchandise, create pop-up events, or even make a TV show. They were able to meet with companies in many of the above industries, especially lots of small boutiques eager to work with Neopets.
Throughout the three days, Neopets was in significant demand. The booth was constantly busy with TNT members in meeting after meeting. On the last day, while most exhibitors had long finished up their meetings and packed up their booths, people were still posing for selfies with the Beeg Aisha and TNT had their hands full with meetings down until the final hour.
The pictures below are the Neopets booth on the last day of Licensing Expo. It was so busy on the first 2 days that it was a challenge to snap pictures of the booth not surrounded by people!
Side views of the booth.
Giveaways
Although this event was industry-exclusive, it didn't stop fans from attending just to see Neopets. Plenty of fans stopped by the Neopets booth to show their support and receive some free swag.
Multicoloured pens. Should these pens get reproduced, they will be in a different colour.
Close-up of the six-colour pen. The design contains the anniversary Acara, Aisha, JubJub, Kacheek, Kougra, and Shoyru.
These cute phone grips were wiped out in mere hours on the first day of the convention. There are 12 different designs. These will likely be available at San Diego Comic-Con in July.
The 25th anniversary postcard.
This folder was offered to potential licensors. The back of the folder has a slot for Neopets' business cards.
Inside the folder was a handout with some impressive metrics and a listing of some of the notable brands that have partnered with Neopets. This advertisement was also printed in the issue of The Pop Insider licensing magazine that was available for free at the convention. The magazine also contains an ad for the Neopets: The Official Tarot Deck, Faerie Edition in a "Must-Have Merch" article.
The back of the advertisement.
The first section of the advertisement explains basic information about the brand, while the second section shows some products. The shirt, lipsticks, skateboard, notebook and backpack, skateboard, and Kacheek cap are not yet real merchandise; they appear to either be mockups of the types of products they'd like to produce, or products in development.
Some lucky visitors also received a 25th anniversary tote bag.
Plushies
In the days leading up to the Licensing Expo, Neopets announced in a press release that they've signed a "non-exclusive master toy deal" with PhatMojo. They will be producing plushies, figures, and other collectibles. PhatMojo is known for their figures of Pet Simulator, Piggy, Doors, Garten of Banban, and Rainbow Friends.
All anniversary plushies (as well as the mugs, shoes, and masks) in the following pictures are works in progress! The final products may end up looking much different.
The anniversary Aisha plushie is available in two sizes; above is the the regular size. Notice that instead of the Neopets logo being embroidered on the body as with older plushies, only the three stars in the Neopets logo are used.
Beeg Aisha cradling their child.
The big Aisha plushie is shown below. It's BIG, but not BEEG Aisha big.
One of the display shelves showed 3 anniversary prototype plushies, the Rainbow Slorg and Royal Meepit plushie clips, and a row of five pins (Rainbow Kau, the Shop Wizard, Valentine Noil, Soup Faerie, and Illusen).
The Doglefox plushie is similar to a regular Doglefox, but with a few stars and a yellow bow tie.
Prototypes of anniversary Faellie and Shoyru plushies.
The Aisha and Shoyru plushies appear to have been manufactured by Animal Magic, who produced the previous wave of plushies from 2021. Going forward, the anniversary plushies will be made by PhatMojo.
Back of the Faellie plushie, revealing some nice gold wings.
Drinkware
A display shelf showcased Neopets: The Official Cookbook, the 2023 G Fuel tubs, and the brand new G Fuel Golden Slushie Cup, coming soon! According to the box, it will come with a virtual prize code.
This is a gold version of last year's Slushie Cup, complete with stars and the 25th Anniversary logo.
Back of the slushie box.
Side of the slushie box.
Two Prototype Baby Neopets mugs, with some anniversary phone grips in the background.
The Baby Kacheek mug features a tail for the handle!
Battledome Trading Card Game
Also on display were cases of Battledome Trading Card Game starter decks and 24 booster packs. The mat, dice, and cards are from the Fire Uni Starter Deck.
Click to enlarge.
Watch our unboxing video of the Fire Uni Starter Deck here:
Note that due to a production error, the secret avatar code card was missing from this particular starter deck. Fortunately, the wider release on June 26th should contain the codes.
Click to enlarge.
The "rulebook" mentioned on the packaging are the TCG rules on the back of the playmat.
Close-up of the Defenders of Neopia Booster pack, featuring Judge Hog. Unfortunately, they used an outdated image of Neopia, as it still shows Faerieland in the clouds.
The text on the pack reads:
This pack contains a random assortment of 448 Neopets Battledome - Trading Card Game cards. Each pack contains 8 cards (3 Common, 1 Common/Rare/Codestone Foil, 1 Super Rare or Higher, 2 Rare, 1 Codestone). Set content subject to change. No exact card ratio is guaranteed to exist within an individual box or pack.
These were the 8 cards from the TCG pack, including a Super Rare holographic Marina holographic and Rare holographic Barry.
Clothing & Accessories
The booth included a prototype of some Aisha sneakers. It features a print of converted Aisha poses of the following colours: Yellow, Pink, Blue, Plushie, Cloud, Maraquan, Faerie, and Darigan. If you look closely behind the laces, you can see an Aisha Collar on the tongue of the shoe!
A pair of of fluffy Cybunny and Grundo sleeping mask prototypes. In the back is the Faerie Edition Tarot Deck.
A display case shelf featured the recently released Faeries and Neopets Outline Hot Topic shirts, and three anniversary pins of Gelert, Shoyru, and Grundo. The bottom shelf displays the Cakeworthy hoodie and the Plushie Snowbunny and Island Kadoatie plushie clips.
The Acara, Kacheek, and Aisha NeoHoods that were released last year were also on full display. These were produced in-house and are in need of a company to help them take over the world.
Character Walk
As a Licensing Expo tradition, brand mascots parade through part of the convention floor in an event called the Character Walk. This year, the Beeg Aisha was a participant, walking alongside iconic mascots such as Teletubbies, Care Bears, and Squishmallows.
Beeg Aisha lining up for the Character Walk.
Check out our video of the Character Walk below:
The Neopets Team
As Licensing Expo wrapped up, Rizzard, Zeke, Beeg Aisha (in rare human form), Celeste, Dom, and the remainder of the licensing and marketing team posed for a group photo.
After the convention, some Neopets were spotted doing their dailies at "Coltzan's Shrine."
This page was written by Ummy and last updated on August 4, 2024.
