Awesome New Game + Rare Item Weekend

Hey Jammers! Today is the biweekly update, bringing us a plethora of cool new stuff. My personal favorite is the big new game, but I'll get to that later! ;D

Without further ado, here is the Jamaa Journal:

WILD WEEKEND!!!1! RIDICULOUS RARES!!!!!!!!

I can imagine a sports announcer saying that in an overly dramatic voice. XD

I can also imagine some certain Animal Jam YouTubers using that as a clickbait title, which they probably already have. *cough* They're always using words like "ridiculous" or "insane" to describe things that are neither ridiculous nor insane. But that's none of my business... (⊙3⊙)

It's interesting to watch the arc of the Jamaa Journal cover over five years. Just a couple years earlier, the new game would be the headline, now it's not even on the front cover! Now AJHQ is learning just how obsessed with items Jammers can get, and are assuming it's all they care about. A little sad, but AJHQ is just doing their job.

So, throughout today, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, a total of eight RiDoNkUlOuS rare items will be released in shops for a day only each. Two per day, I think.

Here are today's items:

Neither of these items have been released before, so if someone tries to tell you they're from beta, they're wrong.

Interesting how both of these items are ugly. AJHQ may be trying to replicate that "glitched mistake item" look that some highly sought-after items have. 

I hope everyday has at least one nonmember item!

Speaking of nonmember items, here are some weird ones from Jam Mart Furniture:

Very generic. All named with single words, like "chair" and "lamp". All 50 gems. You can't change the colors. A little odd. 

I think this is an attempt to rebuild the amount of "building block" items after putting a whole lot on clearance, like the Seasonal Tree.

Next page...

The same Liza den advertised in the update sneak peak is here! Very pretty, very big.

I always thought Liza lived in that hidden hut in Jamaa Township, though:

Liza protects Jamaa while other Alphas are away. There's bamboo here for her to eat. This is her den! No one can make me believe otherwise. XD

Next page...

1,000 buddies for members! Buddy everyone you see, and still have room to spare!

Cheetahs have left and returned. Once again, a reminder to y'all: there is a strong chance that a new land will come when goats return. 

Pretty annoying how Fast Foodies is such a cool new game and it only gets a small HALF-PAGE in the Jamaa Journal. Buckle up, kiddos, because I'm gonna tell you all about it!

What's odd about this game is that I can't seem to find the physical game icon anywhere in Jamaa. It's only accessible through the game menu, which I never use. Hopefully it'll show up one day in Sol Arcade, the Juice Hut or Sarepia Theater!

This game is ridiculously fun. It's a whole lot different from other AJ games, in the sense that it's more interactive! 

Each level adds another food option and another element of challenge, so you're never bored. I can't wait to unlock Sarepia Theater! :D

Go play this game now. It deserves the front page of the Jamaa Journal.

Next page...

Two seasonal April things: the Spring Festival adventure, and the April Fools party. Personally, I'm more excited for the latter. 

Here's a mini-tour of this years April Fools Party!

This year's party castle has the same basic layout as it normally does, but with some topsy-turvy underwater stuff that makes me wanna recycle my wolf and get an ocean animal. 

And what's that I see? An unreleased dolphin plushie?

Yep! A pink pirate version of the dolphin plushie annually sold as a prize in the Summer Carnival. I wonder if more stylized underwater plushies will come out in the future... Hmmm...

Here are the items in the clothing and den shops:

Den

Clothing

Clothing

So glad to see the shark hat again. It's too cute! :D

Go check out the party for yourself, it's wicked cool this year.

Now, the Spring Festival. I put up a new poll on the right sidebar about the Spring Festival vs. the 2011-2014 Spring Egg Hunt. 

I personally think there's no reason not to do both together, seeing as the Spring Egg Hunt is small but doesn't steal the spotlight from the Spring Festival.

I don't really know how to tell AJHQ about this idea, even though I think it could make April a lot of fun on AJ. Email is more for personal complaints rather than suggestions, and you can't do much through the purple suggestion bubbles in Jamaa. Because my username was put into the chat dictionary, I'm just hoping AJHQ reads my blog. At least once in a blue moon. :T

Next page...

There's a new exhibit in the Museum! Animals are so cool, it's a shame the Conservation Museum is always so empty. Go and check out Speed in Nature, will ya? Tell them DoomyPanda sent you.

Snow Leopards are coming soon, but no sign of goats. AJHQ is hard at work making some kinda new land or adventure. Whatever it is, the goats will bring it with them.

Spring is in full bloom in the beautiful land of Jamaa. Flowers are blossoming... birds are chirping... and the most iconic sign of Spring– floating grape juice –is blooming on the vine. 

Where I am, Spring is being pretty shy. Even though I saw a few crocuses on my way home from school, the snow hasn't stopped yet. There's some expected this weekend! Oh boy. -_-

That's all I have for now, Jammers! Remember to enter in the Masterpiece contest– only one person has entered so far!

See you in Jamaa!

1,000 Buddies and Liza Den COMING SOON!

Hey Jammers! I have a quick, cool little update for y'all tonight/today, information courtesy of AJHQ.

As you all probably know already, tomorrow is the Thursday biweekly update. Here's what to expect:

1. Members will now go from an 100-buddy limit, to...

1,000...? 
1,000 buddies!?!?? It's psychologically impossible to maintain relationships with that many people at once! Fun fact: the human brain can only maintain a maximum of 101 relationships at a time. 

So who the heck are you gonna buddy? Are you just gonna buddy everyone in your server at a time, and then a few bots thrown in? I wonder what will be the advantage of all that.

I have a hunch that AJHQ gave themselves that 1,000 buddy limit at first, then decided to give that ability out. AJHQ is accepting buddy requests left and right!

Screenshot credit to Talloose

2. Next up, here is a screenshot of AJHQ giving a tour of the upcoming Liza-themed den:

It seems really pretty! Pretty big, too, but all these new dens are massive, so it makes sense. How the heck do you decorate a den so big? This is just an open question to you members who have huge dens. What's up with that? :O

Now y'all know what is definitely coming on Thursday. But something seems missing...

Tomorrow is March 30th, pretty close to April. AJ is always quickly moving along the holidays, so it's a little odd that the Spring Festival wasn't mentioned. Maybe it's coming late next month. Maybe it's coming tomorrow, but AJHQ understands that it isn't as important to include in a sneak peak. Most likely the latter.

Now that the update is covered, the commenter Lostfairy tagged me in a question tag. I'm gonna answer some questions!

1. I have literally no idea! I haven't buddied anyone in a long time.

2. Hmm... I don't believe in "famous jammers". And even if I did, I don't think I have any on my buddy list. Oh wait a minute, I think I have Proven on my buddy list! She's Snowyclaw's sister. 

3. I like when I get Jam-a-grams from my buddies, especially the ones I haven't seen in a while. :)

4. The last buddy I talked to was... I don't remember. Not a lot of my buddies are online when I am. :T

5. I do not have an AJ best friend. 

6. Hmm... five. But I'm friends with only two of those five. XD

I don't know who to tag. Maybe... you! I tag you! Wherever you are, you. Feel free to answer these questions on an AJ blog. 

See you in Jamaa!

How We Feel About the Diamond Shop

Hey Jammers! I hope you remember to enter in the weekly Masterpiece contest, which is now becoming the biweekly masterpiece contest because only one or two people have entered this week's round. 

If you want to have your artwork admired by over two hundred different jammers every day for two weeks, here's how to enter: Display a Masterpiece in an unlocked den or Jammer Wall, then comment your username on any post on AJ Stream. I really wanna see some artwork! :O

It's Monday today, and the Rare Item Monday is a members-only purple phantom T-shirt. I'd put a picture of it here, but you've probably already seen it and bought it by now because I'm writing this post at night. Besides, I have other things I wanna talk about.

Things like my extremely high amount of gems:

Or the most exclusive club in all of AJ:

It's so exclusive, only I'm allowed in. Club meetings consist of me, sitting in a dark corner eating candy.

Or the rampant lack of self-esteem in Jamaa Township:

The area around Princess Arcticwolf was dimmed by a cloud of pure sadness.

But I'd like to once again start this post as I start far too many others: to apologize for my continuous lack in updates and tell you the reason why.

I was really sick this weekend and I'm only starting to recover now. I was also out of school for today and Friday, so I can only imagine the mountain of homework that will greet me when I get to school tomorrow...

But for today, I'm on AJ. And this blog.

Here are the results of my recently-closed poll about the Diamond Shop:

That's really hard to read, so here are the results in my words: 
17 people simply think the Diamond Shop is a pretty room. 
11 people like the way the Diamond Shop is now, and think that the Diamond Shop should keep being the place where Diamond items are. 
This is a close tie with the 10 people who think the Diamond Shop should be removed altogether with the Diamond items moving elsewhere, like Epic Wonders. 
9 people believe Diamonds aren't as cool as they're made out to be.
7 people miss how Jamaa Township looked before the Diamond Shop crowded it up.
5 people simply believe the Diamond Shop should go.
4 people have no opinion.
3 people have different opinions, but none of them commented so I have no way to verify that. I want to know what you think about the Diamond Shop! Just comment on any post!

I made that poll after writing >this post< about a big idea I had about the future of the Diamond Shop. You can read it if you like, but it's long so here's my overall simplified idea:

The Diamond Shop could be removed from Jamaa Township, and the Diamond items could be transferred to Epic Wonders.

In the post I wrote, I discuss the many benefits as well as the evidence that shows it could work. If ya wanna read it, click the link above! 

Even though the poll is closed, I'd like to hear your comments on the idea. How do you feel about the Diamond Shop? Is it annoying, or fine the way it is?

See you in Jamaa! :D

AJ and Merchandise

Hey Jammers! As usual, school has tired me out too much for me to have the energy to post at a reasonable time. I've made it a goal to go to bed early on school days so I can update this blog in the morning. So far, I have been unsuccessful, but things WILL change. I swear it.

RIP February break... that wonderful week where I updated this blog 9 days in a row... you will be missed. </3

Before I begin this post properly, here is a fun fact: 

Many frogs can leap 20 times their body length.

If you could leap like a frog... it would only take a hop, skip, and a jump to scale a whole parking lot in a few seconds.

This fact is courtesy of the frog poster taped to the wall next to me. If you have any comments, concerns, or compliments, talk to the poster.

Over in the wonderful, digital world of Jamaa, a strange and supposedly unreleased item has surfaced: the Masterpiece Token.

Not a very glamorous picture, but its utter mistake-level basic-ness is what's making Jammers sacrifice their friends and family in order to get their grabby little paws on it. It looks like a glitch.

However, this item caught the attention of many Jammers because it looks an awful lot like an actual unreleased item that came out– and then left –around the first few weeks of The Forgotten Desert:

The Animal Coin. 

These are also referred to as "Horse Coins" because the first ones given out in The Forgotten Desert were only horses:

These were released as an actual glitchy mistake and then quickly removed. It was ominous, the way they floated in midair.

However, if you believe that the Masterpiece Token is equally mysterious, think again. It was released purposely by AJHQ as a promo code in this new piece of merchandise:

Sigh... It's just all about the merchandise, is it? I sincerely hope that Animal Jam stops pumping out new products some point soon. We already have the dreaded Animal Jam Pillow Pet to fear.

Worst case scenario is that AJHQ breaks off all community contact and completely devotes themselves to mass-producing toys. 

Still, even though I'm pretty sure Jammers will tire of the Masterpiece Token fast, I think its release suggests the opposite of that worst case scenario. They released it because they understood that the community was obsessed with Animal Coins a couple years ago, so this further enforces that connection with the community. I guess.

What I'm trying to say is kinda like this: Club Penguin didn't thrive once it was bought by Disney because there was no feedback connection between users and that big faceless corporation. Community is where AJ succeeded where other games failed, and is truly what keeps players coming back to a game. Community is important to keep, and losing it would mean the end of AJ.

Now I'm thinking about it, AJHQ probably knows that. They're probably using the frilly pink plastic materialistic toys to lure in kids who wouldn't immediately be hooked by the natural aspect of Jamaa, which is what the game is actually about. 

That's probably why they changed the homepage, too! The steady homepage picturing the Alphas was excellent and they knew it, but it didn't match the merchandise so they changed it. They probably didn't wanna make it seem like they led kids on by the bright plastic merchandise.

All in all, if you have a Masterpiece Token, I hope you enjoy staring at it spookily float in your den.

See you in Jamaa!

Weekly Featured Masterpiece – Winner #6!

Hey Jammers! Here I am, back again with this week's winning Masterpiece.

If you're just arriving or need to refresh your memory, here's what this is: every week, a winning artist is chosen to have their artwork appreciated and displayed at the top of this blog for over a hundred Jammers to admire throughout the week. 

Anyone can enter, as many times as it takes to win! Even past winners can enter again, as long as they enter a different Masterpiece than the one/s that already won.

Here's how:

Step 1: Display a Masterpiece you made in an unlocked den or an unlocked Jammer Wall

Step 2: Comment your username on any post on this blog. I will see it, go check out your art, and you will be automatically entered in the contest!

Round #7 starts with this post, but first I'd like to thank Lostfairy and Talloose for entering round #6. Who will win?

I'll tell ya who...

the one...

the only...

...

Talloose!

Talloose's artwork combines a variety of vibrant colors to paint a realistic portrait of a special friend, Percy Puffy Cheeks. 

Here's a photo of Percy from Talloose's AJ blog:

He's so adorable, and beautiful, too! His feathers are so colorful they look like they're glowing. :D

The artwork itself captures a parakeet with a personality as colorful as his feathers. I love how the artist created a realistic shine in Percy's eyes, and used multiple shades of sky blue to beautifully shape the area above his beak. The texture Talloose created along the sides of the face really help to add a sense of depth, too.

This is a beautiful portrait of an amazing friend. Thank you for sharing your wonderful artwork, Talloose! ^-^

Anyone who provides warm feedback in the comments will receive a digital cookie.

Here is a mini gallery of all the past winners:

Winner #1

Winner #2

Winner #3

Winner #4

Winner #5

You may now enter Week #7! I can't wait to see your artwork! :D