Vote for Your Favorite Shopkeeper!

Hey Jammers! I really want to thank y'all– I was actually amazed how quick so many of you were to comment alternative links to your drawings. It was a big help, and because of that, we can finally admire all these characters and begin the voting process!!

But first, another thank you to everyone who entered this contest, supported it in any way, or just put up with my longer-than-normal(?) posting gap as I've been adjusting to my new academic year. Whether or not you comment, I appreciate you all! <3

This post will go through each of the six entries submitted to this contest– six unique character personalities along with their corresponding drawings, in alphabetical order of character name. 

The poll is imbedded into the bottom of this post so you'll be able to vote for your favorite shopkeeper entry in a couple of clicks. Anyone can vote (including if you entered the contest) but I ask that everyone please only vote once to keep things fair!

If Animal Jam had NPC shopkeepers, which one of these would you most like to visit? 

Which one's personality calls out to you the most?  

With those questions in mind, let's meet some of the hidden shopkeepers of Jamaa! 

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Kelpinn

Character and art belong to © Rainbow000Pegasus

Kind of Animal: Octopus

Shopkeeper of: Flippers N' Fins

 

"Kelpinn - absolutely adept in taking care of the store! With a love and passion for styling people up, dressing up pets is their game! Fun, easy going and always eager to share tips on pet care and fashion, the only thing that would dissuade them from conversing to you is if you're rude or mistreating your pets!" 

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Mystic

Character and art belong to © Rivero

Kind of Animal: Fox

Shopkeeper of: ??? (The Basement of Secrets Shop)

"The shopkeeper's name is Mystic, and they use they/them. They're very silent, and formal. Their hobbies are archery, writing, and collecting old artifacts. They like quiet, damp places and don't like the larger ones like Jamaa Township."

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Reylyn

Character and art belong to © Wildflower75

Kind of Animal: Fox

Shopkeeper of: Ancient Armory (The Temple of the Ancients shop)

"Reylyn is a non-binary (they/them) fox. After being trapped by Juno's spell for so long, they've taken on some aspects of their environment. Their back legs are entirely covered in crystal, as well as their tail, though for some reason their tail is a little smoother...? Perhaps this is because of the mysterious ethereal magic swirling around it! They choose to wear a few vines to remind them of the beautiful land that lies outside their shop.

 

Reylyn is convinced that they need to catch up on life, since they were isolated for so long! They take every opportunity to perform the most reckless and unsafe tricks and go on the riskiest adventures. They are unafraid of taking risks and often, their little adventures end in disaster. Reylyn is unfortunately not the most responsible fox ever, but they try their best. It is almost impossible to dislike their bubbly, upbeat, curious, extroverted, adventurous, and fearless spirit!

Surprisingly, despite the fact that they are almost always off getting dirty in Balloosh's swamps and exploring, Reylyn is really good at playing the violin. They like gray, blue, and green, music, exploring, rain, thunder, sleeping, talking, and light. They dislike the darkness, out-of-tune instruments, sand, being interrupted, and arrogant jammers."

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The Statuekeeper

Character and art belong to © jrl4547

Kind of Animal: Turtle

Shopkeeper of: Marine Marvels (Statue shop in Deep Blue)

"name: the statuekeeper; pronouns: they/them and it/its. 

a old, grumpy turtle who resides in the depths of deep blue. not much for conversation (unless it's bickering with the shopkeeper of the den shop next to them). [note: yeah i developed a whole other character. not gonna submit him but i'll probably post about him on blog sometime]

it's widely known around the ocean lands that this turtle sells statues of the underwater alphas, but it's lesser known that they are the one to carve said statues. it's a bit of an open secret among those in the know that if you catch it at a good time, it may take commissions for other statues.

it's clear that they have a deep respect for the alphas. it often says that their reason for carving these statues is to pay homage to the underwater alphas, and to educate younger jamaasians on their very existence..... as these alphas haven't been seen in quite some time. 

the statuekeeper is quite content with its life in the dark, isolated land of deep blue. maybe at one time in the past, their younger self was an enthusiastic part of the bustling city life, but now they are just fine in their secluded cave, alone save for the occasional customer and that annoying octopus. [the aforementioned den shopkeeper]"

> Extra screenshot from jrl4547 of how The Statuekeeper would look in-game <

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Winter

Character and art belong to © Blackstanford3

Kind of Animal: Fox

Shopkeeper of: Claws n' Paws

"Winter (she/her) is a flirty but hardworking fox. She loves all her pets, but specifically her pet ferret Bubbles. She always smells like pet food, and she tries to cover it up with a rose perfume. She wears a letterman jacket, a Claws+Paws cap, and reindeer slippers to work. She loves playing with all the animals and helping them find their forever homes."

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Yuri

Character and art belong to © vaiana70 / coffee.berry (CS)

Kind of Animal: Seal

Shopkeeper of: The Shiveer Shoppe (in the Hot Cocoa Hut)

"Yuri is a Sprinkle Seal, and she's as sweet as candy! She loves helping jammers pick out their boots and winter clothing, as well as making hot cocoa. Yuri's hobbies are sewing and baking!

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I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm absolutely blown away by every single one of these entries. Looking over all of these shopkeepers has totally made my day– each of them is just so blessed. I'm so glad I hosted this contest, but most of all, I'm happy that so many people entered! Thank you all so much for sharing your imaginations! <3

To recap what you probably already know, the three characters who get the most votes will be the prize-winners, and you can review the different possible prizes in the original contest post linked here. 

Let me know if you run into any issues with the poll above! It looks alright on my end, but Blogger can sometimes be finicky with imbedded content. 

Fun fact: Even though I was just copy-and-pasting people's entries, this post literally took me over 5 hours to finish. It probably has something to do with me spending a million years trying to fix the spacing of everything, or maybe it's all the pacing-back-and-forth-instead-of-actually-writing, but whatever the case... I'm glad to be done. 

Today was a full day xD

Hmm...

Do I have anything else to write?

...

Oh right!

I'm planning on keeping the poll open until next Wednesday, but if there aren't a good amount of votes by that time, I can also extend that if needed. 

And that's it.

See you in Jamaa!

UPDATE 9/27/21: The winners will be announced this week for sure! I'm gonna shoot for Monday or Tuesday, but it might be a couple extra days depending on how many other things I have to do.