May 12
wow! candy techo is so cute! 💕
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wow! candy techo is so cute! 💕
The cat's officially out of the bag: I was contacted to design the next Techo color on Neopets! I'm very glad to see that the very first custom Techo design I made way back in March 2019 be adopted into Neopets officially. Hopefully you all like it too.
This was the design I sent to be canonized...
And here are the past times I drew them! She's 6 years old.
Candy Techo
Adopt
Abandon
It would be criminal if I didn't draw my Canon-dy Techo, so here's Candy Techo in what I can only assume is a candy wonderland.
Did you also know that I originally pitched my own idea for an Elderly Techo first before Candy Techo? Here's some insight into bringing Candy Techo to life.
For some backstory, I was first contacted with this opportunity by a member of TNT at the tail-end of July, before the September Pet Day Suggestions board for this year was even up and I was asked if I wanted to "collaborate" for the upcoming Techo Day. My intermittent waking periods at night lead me to read this at 3AM, but the adrenaline from the opportunity was enough to fuel me for my day. I'm choosing not to name this member of TNT as she's neither public facing to the Neopets community nor do I want her to receive a bombardment of unsolicited fan designs; but she did know me previously as they commented on my past Techo artwork, specifically of Alebrije Techo from Tales of Dacardia near the end of last year.
Believe it or not, Candy Techo wasn't the first idea I had if I were to create a brand new Techo color, I originally pitched adding Elderly Techos as my Techos for a few reasons, such as their dull color schemes making them versatile for referencing real life lizards, the shed skin from the Elderly Hissis being reusable as a concept here as Techos are reptilian and would shed skin, and I could stop humanoid hair from becoming part of the kit, because converted Techos and wearable wigs are often not a great match in my opinion.
My first idea was to make the Elderly Techos a vacationing couple to Mystery Island, having accessories like a handheld instant camera, binoculars, and sun visors. I never drew anything for this, it was only an idea. I then discovered that Elderly Usuls with this same exact archetype were added last for last year's Usul Day. Ouch. Running back to the drawing board, I then had the idea of a retired athlete and their partner/coach. But what sport would they be involved in? I quickly ruled out American football and basketball since they don't have much of any canon representation, as well as soccer (football) for being too similar to the in-universe sport of Yooyuball. And I didn't want to do that either because I didn't want to invent a new non-specific Yooyuball player, that'd be can of worms for the site lore. That left me with baseball and boxing as my options, and I quickly settled on boxing because we have two vintage turn of the century boxing wearable outfits for the Draik and Zafara.
I was in a hurry to show my idea so I made a rough concept sketch for the Elderlyboy Techo over a converted Techo base, being based on a tropical house gecko, being the retired athlete themselves. However, working on the drawing made me realise how uninterested I was with my idea as I had only chosen Elderly for superficial reasons like wanting to tie it in with a real lizard, shed skin, etc. more than genuine inspiration, so I stopped at my Elderlyboy sketch and never made anything tangible for the Elderlygirl Techo. Despite the TNT member liking the idea, she liked my other idea way more: my cotton candy Candy Techo design, which I did showcase before as an example of fake Techo designs I made. If I were to ever revisit the Elderly Techos again, I'd probably drop the sports theme and I'd make them themed after the various lizardmen warrior from fantasy series like Dungeons and Dragons, Elder Scrolls, Magic the Gathering, et cetera.
My Candy Techo has a bit of a history. I first drew it back in March of 2019 while I was waiting at the DMV for my brother to pass his road test. Candy Techo's design at this point was instead for a hypothetical Cotton Candy Paint Brush, as Candy pets were only candy canes and sugary gummies at the time. The basic idea was there: a pink and blue fluffy cotton candy pet with a paper cone tail. But I drew it with organic Techo eyes with yellow sclera, so I later redrew it that September to make the eyes not organic. I revisited the idea in 2021 to make the colors more pastel, and it sat in the back burner as I went on to make many, many more fake Techo designs. Since it was decided to pursue Candy Techo, I wanted to come up with a better concept, so I remade it in early August in preparation, making it less similar to Split Techo in appearance by swirling the colors, and adding sprinkles to represent the forehead spots.
The final design does see a number of deviations from the original drawing, with pretty much all of them for the better in my opinion. The idea to have the tail as a wearable was dropped in favor of having the sprinkles as a wearable for more versatility, with many people seeing it as crosspaint potential so it paid off in the long run. The elbow/knee swirls were represented with peppermint candies, and the colors of the body were diversified to be primarily pink, but include blue as well as yellow. For contrast reasons, this is a fine change. The tail is also partially cotton candy and the paper cone itself resembles a Snowickle, but this is a coincidence and it was never the intent to resemble one, the shading was toned down deliberately so as to not resemble one. It’s also visibly fluffy, I can get behind this! My earlier drawings did make Candy Techo quite puffy at times.
If you've been lurking the suggestions boards for Gadgadgsbogen and Techo Day, you might recognize me for also desiring a Tropical Food Shopkeeper Plushie. That also came to reality, but it was more coincidental than anything. The TNT member working with me also wanted to make a Tropical Food Shopkeeper Plushie as she was also a fan of the character, and numerous people on the suggestions board also parroted my idea because I've been wanting it for the past 4 or 5 years. I didn't have a say on the other ideas such as the Rango-inspired Pet Day Capsule (I really need to rewatch that, I haven't seen it since 2012 and I remember really liking it) or Tea Master Outfit (I don't remember who requested that but I hope you're glad your idea came to fruition!). Now that I've basically rattled off my own experience, I'll leave some takeaways from this process for future Pet Day endeavours:
1. Fruit-colored pets are on the menu: With the absence of new colors being added to the website and the last one not locked behind some sort of external promotion or event being Valentine in 2023, the well is running dry and the creative team is absolutely not opposed to adding the likes of Ummagine Pteri, Coconut Jetsam, or Banana Lupe. They will very likely have a Magical Plushie item to obtain them.
2: Popularity doesn't always translate to guaranteeing it will exist: I've seen many fan designs that I adore with pages of support that don't get picked up. The current state is that fan-made designs are considered a "hot" topic and the creative team really has to like an idea and fit it within their schedule/constraints. So far, I'm the fifth person to have their fan color be adopted this year, that's less than a month on average. If you wanna be seen, by all means make posts advertising your designs on the Suggestions or Site Event boards to increase chances of others seeing your design and parroting on the suggestion boards that they'd like to see your design adopted.
3: You can absolutely draw ideas for items and outfits to be adopted: Colors are the most popular option, but if you have an idea for an outfit or item, by all means draw and share it. You could potentially be credited for the idea forever in the item description and the New Features bulletins. This goes for the NP and NC outfits as well. NC outfits are also allowed to break more rules such as abiding by body constraints.
4: You do not need to be an excellent artist to have your idea accepted: My old Candy Techo art was from 2021, and I've grown as an artist and find it hard to look at my old art, including that very design. Nevertheless, the TNT artist working with me loved the design anyways and greenlit it. I know the person who suggested Woodland Techo to be based on a satanic leaf tailed gecko and that led to one of the most beloved Techo colors and Woodland pets in general, but the fact Neopets user parody_ham suggested this beloved design and it's not even secondhand credited on fan sites like Jellyneo. It doesn't matter if it's a MS Paint traceover, just make it exist.
5: Contentious ideas will probably be rejected: While TNT is arguably more liberal than they ever were in the past with new item additions more obviously referencing pop culture and breaking previous rules such as fruit colors being Chia exclusive typically, there are still some limits. Early on I suggested my own ideas for a potential Techo Day Capsule, and tossed that copyrighted characters could be an option to adapt, specifically Gex the Gecko, but that was misinterpreted as a color suggestion and it was met with apprehension, but thought it could be adaptable as another Magical Plushie.
I think I've said everything I felt necessary. If you have any other questions about the process, I'll answer them as much as I reasonably can. Thanks for reading, and I hope this inspires others to keep sharing their fan designs until they're adopted.
I have reopened the Techo Popularity Poll for 2025! Will adored newcomers Candy and Void Techo reach the heights of popularoty that Woodland and Faerie are treated with, or will they flounder?
This is a follow up poll to last year's Techo Popularity Poll. Neopets has decided to drop an additional 6 Techo colors in the year, so why
Candy Techo was nominated for the Neopies as the best Neopet color introduced in 2025!
I'm so proud of my baby even if she's realisitcally not gonna win the category