Jellyneo Convention - 2012
Once again, the Jellyneo Staff held their (now) annual jnCon adventure in sunny Los Angeles, California! This year's attendees were the infamous Dave, the venerable Nynex, the techy Kataklysmos, the more-artistic-than-you Rosie, the two Brits Dream and Herdy, and a pair of Canadians—Max, and his plus one, Alex.
This year's jnCon included a day at Six Flags Magic Mountain, sight seeing in North Hollywood (known as NoHo by the locals), dinner inside of a castle, and the reason we all came: a tour of Neopets HQ! Read on for photos and summary of this year's exciting tour. (We'll also take this time to mention the fact that you, yes you, are invited to next year's jnCon! Only one catch: you need to join us!)
Our Day in Neopia
Just like last year, we were hosted by the gracious Snarkie, Dragona, Comastar, and Viola who all acted as our tour guides for the day. We were greeted with a lovely banner, welcoming the team to HQ.
TNT prepared well in advance for our visit...
So much so, that to go on the tour, we had to play Chia Bingo and mark off the various sights and objects we saw along the way!
And the tour begins! Action shot as we walk down a hallway to the inner Neopian sanctum.
We make a stop in Tiger Catcher's office to see what he's working on. See all that blurry artwork? It's some new fancy artistic style that they're calling can't-show-people-without-NDAs. Very edgy.
Free buttons! Courtesy of Marketing Maggie. (She always seems to have cool freebies when we see her.)
When you won a game of Chia Bingo, you got to shout "BINGOOOOOO", or you could just go up to Snarkie and be like "Hey, I won... GIMME MAH FREE NC CARD!" Below, Rosie was crowned a winner.
Here's Alex basking in her winning glory.
There must be something really interesting on that wall there.
DJ Skellington took a break to talk with us... and to assault poor Dragona with a Nerf gun! Here he's plotting on when to make his move.
We pass by the old Neopets, Inc sign. Ah, memories.
Mr. Insane doles out the autographs! Dream says, "Make this one out to Dream." To which Mr. Insane interpreted in his own unique way.
Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Dragona broke out a sharpie and started signing headshots, too!
Here's some cool artwork depicting how each TNT staffer looks like for their Daily Dare shot!
And here's some artwork showing relative species sizing for reference. (We think the folks over at Neocolours would disagree.)
Continuing on the artwork theme, this is a closeup of a map of Neopia. Oooohhhh, what are all those blurry location names??
Here, we stop by an artist's desk to see what they're drawing up. Oh hey, looks like an unreleased wearable item!
At this point, Snarkie had something cool to show us, so we all crammed into her office to take a sneak peek at her monitor. What did we behold? Fan sites! We were really, really excited.
Oh, but this was the part where she told us the legal requirements. Dave and Rosie look quite bored, which is understandable since legalese is not very exciting.
At some point during the tour, Rosie mysteriously disappeared... kidnapped by Lawyerbot! It's now annual tradition for Lawyerbot to kidnap Rosie. Except this year, Rosie brought a peace offering in the form of a statuette!
And the drawing begins!
Just like last year, TNT treated us to some custom artwork, courtesy of the fabulous Birdie and Divin'! Now, you probably don't know these two artists (who sketched some really, really awesome things for us). But that's okay! We didn't know them either. Apparently they made their names up that morning.
A mutant Scorchio for Max...
Two Hubrid Noxes for Herdy! (Artist mixup.)
Dragona took to her own pen and sketched up some original artwork herself! She calls this one "Transparent Grundo with Flaming Marshmallow Hat". A masterpiece.
A brave looking Jeran for Kataklymos...
A mutant Grundo for Dave!
Oh hey, it's Cog, from Cog's Togs! Just for Dream...
The down to Earth (get it? :D) Illusen, made especially for Nynex...
Rosie decided to get into the game and drew her very own Dr. Sloth! And then requested the Snowager from the artists...
Last but not least, an elegant Fyora drawn for Alex, with Dragona hiding in the shadows...
Feedback Time
We also spent a healthy amount of time asking questions, giving feedback, and telling TNT how they should really run the site.
Then, we had a break out brainstorming session! We talked about everything from what characters we'd like to see more from, to new pet day paint brush options, and plot ideas!
Sadly, Atlas of the Ancients 2 got shot down.
We think "Tyrannia... just for the map update" has a good chance, though.
Afterward, we got really hungry. So we all piled into the elevator and went out for lunch!
On the way, we happened upon a wild horse. Naturally, Dragona decided to hop on.
We also made this awesome mosaic, just for TNT! Check it out! You better like it, too, cause it took hours to glue all those darn pieces of construction paper on. Our fingertips were covered in glue for a good portion of the trip.
After a long day, we headed out, to brave a long trip home. We had a great time, and send our sincerest thanks to TNT for hosting for a second year in a row!
From left to right: Rosie, Snarkie, Nynex, Dragona, Kata, Max, Dave, Comastar, Dream, Alex, and Herdy.
Looking forward to jnCon '13! :)
Here's this year's limited edition print, made specially for jnCon!
