In order to reintroduce them as a purchasable option, our intention is to periodically offer UC Paintbrushes in the store, maintaining their exclusivity. For instance, we might unveil the UC Faerie Paintbrush during the Faerie Festival. It’s important to note that the UC Faerie Paintbrush will only work on Neopets with existing UC art, thus excluding some species. You won’t be purchasing a specific Faerie Kougra UC Paintbrush; instead, you’ll acquire a universal UC Faerie Paintbrush that can be used on any species with corresponding UC art. When obtaining them from the NC Mall, you’ll receive a warning if the UC Paintbrush doesn’t apply to any of the species on your account. However, you’re still able to proceed with the purchase, in case you wish to gift it to a Neofriend!

The above is what the Neopets team had to say on the upcoming UC Paint Brush they have been teasing us about!

Are People Willing to pay for a UC PB?

The potential acquisition of UCs hinges on the price point. There’s a substantial number of UCs I desire, but I’m not inclined to shell out an exorbitant sum to revert a few pixels to their original state.

Neopets is fundamentally a game, and games should prioritize enjoyment. If players had sought UC pixels, Neopets could have accommodated this years ago, a fact highlighted by the UC scandal. I’m opposed to games withholding content only to later offer it for sale to players. In Neopets’ case, it entailed withholding content to encourage the purchase of NC clothing and now reselling the UCs we originally desired.

That said, I’m genuinely interested in obtaining UCs, and it seems like Neopets could benefit from a boost at the moment.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that we’re essentially altering pixels to resemble other pixels. UCs don’t introduce new gameplay elements. As one commenter mentioned, pricing an UC at $50 or the equivalent of a 10-pet pack is excessive. The latter unlocks a wealth of additional gameplay within Neopets, and $50 can buy an entirely different game. Changing a few pixels to mimic others shouldn’t be priced comparably to these alternatives.

If an UC paintbrush is reasonably priced at under $20, I’d consider purchasing one for my Plushie Zafara dream pet. Perhaps one or two more, but that would be my limit. If they were priced under $10, I’d be inclined to buy a significant number, given I have 12 pets I’d like to convert. At such a reasonable price, I might even invest in additional pet slots to UC more pets over time. This would likely lead to purchasing Neocash for attractive backgrounds and trinkets, ultimately contributing a substantial sum to Neopets. I’d feel that I’m getting good value for my money.

In my view, Neopets should carefully consider this balance. Slapping a hefty price tag on UCs solely because of our emotional attachment to certain pixels would seem rather off-putting. Moreover, considering the increasing cost of living, it makes more sense to set prices on the lower side. This way, purchases that provide small boosts of happiness to players become more justifiable. While this approach may not apply to everyone, as I’ve shown, pricing items lower can, in the long run, yield more revenue from players like me.

Why are Neopets Unconverted Paint Brushes taking so long to release?

When asked why UC pets don’t function in our current system, I clarified that this issue doesn’t revolve around making them customizable. Even if these pets were to work within our system, they wouldn’t be customizable due to their distinct poses. The references to clothing pertain to the actual paint brush colors for pets, including full Royal ensembles and Aisha collars. We would need to ensure these aspects work as well. It’s absolutely accurate to say they don’t function within our system. Trust me, I frequently navigate this system to set up paint brush colors. As I mentioned earlier, we must manually instruct the system to disregard its usual procedures and display the static image instead for that specific pet. It’s not a matter of simply releasing a paint brush for it and allowing users to make it work; it doesn’t operate in that manner.

As for why we won’t make it function within the system, even if it were possible, it would demand a significant amount of time and resources. This is for something we no longer actively support. This decision was made quite some time ago and remains unchanged. Officially, UC pets are considered retired. The ones that currently exist will remain in their UC state until they are converted, but new or previously converted pets will stay that way. I understand that many of you are eager to see them return, but I regret to inform you that our stance on this matter has not shifted. My intention with the previous response was to provide more insight into a specific aspect of how these pets function.