Alphas and Shamans

Hey Jammers! I know yesterday's post was a bit more serious than what you might normally be used to with this blog, but I think it's important to take a step back from your virtual fantasy world and understand what's going on. 

Animal Jam is an online fantasy interpretation of the real natural world– wouldn't it be sad if one day all we had left of the world's plants and animals was just an online fantasy?

That being said, the fantasy elements of Animal Jam are still enjoyable, and this post is all about them! Yup, today we talk about AJ lore... and how it's changed over the years.

Introducing the Alphas... or should I say... Shamans!

This is Liza's original appearance. Some people say she looked weird during beta testing... all I can say is that I was very disappointed when the new design made her skinny. I get that Liza by definition is unrealistic because she walks on two legs, but a skinny panda makes no sense lol

And if you haven't guessed already, Alphas were originally called Shamans!

[Insert image that I've been searching for for 30 minutes but can't find. It's a screenshot of the Jamaa Journal or something that says "The Shamans now wish to be known as the Alphas, so we will respect that"]

...because I can't find that image, here is a related one:

This was in the Jamaa Journal in mid-August of 2012. Prior to this, there had been no mention of the Alphas for at least a year. This was a big deal!

So the Alphas began "arriving" in the form of Daily Explorer articles linked in the Jamaa Journal. These articles were rewrites of the Alphas' original backstories– yes, the Alphas you know today are not quite the same as they always were!

Here's Liza's original story:

(Click to enlarge)

Here's the current story:

The second one is alright, but a little generic...

I could go through all the differences between the beta and current Alphas, but it's late and I'm sleepy XD

The most dramatic difference is with Cosmo, who aged backwards from an old man into "one of the youngest Alphas". I actually talked about that before in this post.

Now that I think of it, I have made this exact post multiple times throughout the history of my blog, mostly to accommodate the newer Jammers who keep joining every day who might not be as familiar with the lore.

The post I linked above actually has way more information than this one... ^_^;

Here is that same exact link, except bigger:

> LONGER LORE POST HERE <

I'm just gonna quietly back out of here right now, cuz I have school tomorrow and it's late.

More posts coming soon!