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Avatar Collecting

On August 5, 2003, TNT introduced an overhaul to their message system, known today as the Neoboards. Included in this update was a new feature: 50x50 pixel pictures, known as avatars, that accompany your posts. Since then, collecting avatars has become one of the most popular activities on Neopets!

That's one way to collect them, I guess...

Avatar Collecting

The foundation of your avatar collection is your Neoboard Preferences page, the top of which includes a dropdown with all the default avatars plus any secret avatars you have unlocked. Every user lookup also includes a space that publicly shows your current avatar just above the total number of secret avatars the user has unlocked.

An example of a user's avatar count on their user lookup

Secret Avatars

Secret avatars are those that do not come standard with any Neopets account. Some action must be taken by the user in order to unlock them, and thus form the basis of avatar collecting. The required action varies widely for each avatar and are discussed in the below sections.

For most (but not all!) secret avatars, you will be informed when you have unlocked an avatar either in a pop-up or somewhere on the page, always in the same format as the example below.

Clickables

The easiest type of avatar to unlock, Clickable avatars can be unlocked simply by visiting a specific page on the site. The most straightforward have no further conditions beyond visiting the page. Others will have some extra requirement, such as viewing the lookup of a specific type of pet.

Acara - Roberta of Brightvale

Visit The Scrollery shop in Brightvale.

This avatar was also obtainable from the 2019 Charity Corner perk, In a New Avatar.

Released: June 27, 2006

Flotsam - Tough

Visit the pet lookup of a Flotsam with strength of 55 points or more.

This avatar was also obtainable from the 2019 Charity Corner perk, In a New Avatar.

Released: June 30, 2006

Pets/Petpets

Avatars in the Pets/Petpets category require you to meet some condition with your own pets or their petpets.

Blumaroo - Fire! / Guide

Own a Fire Blumaroo with a 30+ days old petpet that includes the word "fire", and then view its lookup.

Released: August 8, 2005

Jetsam Chomp! / Guide

Feed your Jetsam an Aquatic Petpet.

Released: October 16, 2003

Expensive/Items

Expensive/Items avatars require you to do something specific with one of the many items on Neopets.

Mad About Orange / Guide

Have 8 different items with the word "orange" in its name in your inventory and refresh.

Released: September 24, 2003

Queen Fyora / Guide

Play with a Faerie Queen Doll.

Released: June 2, 2004

Perhaps the most coveted and certainly the most expensive subcategory of these are the Stamp Collector avatars, which require you to fill all 25 spots in specific pages of your Stamp Album.

Stamp Collector - Mystery Island / Guide

Complete this page of your Stamp Album.

Released: November 4, 2003

Stamp Collector - NeoQuest / Guide

Complete this page of your Stamp Album.

Released: June 19, 2018

Games

The Games avatars involve achieving some kind of feat with one of the Neopets games, such as achieving a certain score, earning a certain spot on the high scores table, or advancing to a certain point in the game.

Gadsgadsgame / Guide

Send a score of 1,000+ points in Gadgadsgame.

When activated, the 2019 Charity Corner perk, More for Less, decreased the score needed to 800+ points.

Released: January 27, 2004

Freaked Korbat / Guide

Awarded if you are in the top 50 on the high score table for Korbat's Lab when trophies are awarded daily.

Released: October 24, 2003

Neoquest II - Devilpuss / Guide

Defeat the boss Devilpuss in Chapter 5 of NeoQuest II.

Released: February 19, 2004

If you get the score needed for an avatar with a score requirement, you will be informed you are awarded the avatar via a pop-up after submitting your score. If your score is sent for review, the avatar will be awarded if/when your score is accepted. There is no notification for avatars awarded through a high score table.

Battledome

The Battledome avatars require you to complete a specific action in the Battledome.

Black Pteri / Guide

Defeat the Black Pteri in the Battledome.

Released: November 7, 2003

Battleground: Awakened / Guide

Participate in the Battleground of the Obelisk and be a member of the Awakened when they win, then head back to the Battleground page in the week following the win.

Released: June 17, 2013

Other

Several other avatars have unique requirements that don't fit into any of the above categories.

Yes Boy Ice-Cream / Guide

See a Yes Boy Ice-Cream concert in the Tyrannian Concert Hall. Visit the Ticket Booth in Tyrannia to buy a ticket. You can also buy tickets from other users.

This avatar was also obtainable from the 2019 Charity Corner perk, In a New Avatar.

Released: April 3, 2006

Nimmo - Emote

Make a topic or post in the Avatar/Neosignatures board with :)*angry*:( as your only message. Your signature and neoHTML might also need to be clear if you cannot get it.

This avatar was also obtainable from the 2019 Charity Corner perk, In a New Avatar.

Released: June 15, 2006

Annual

Some avatars have requirements that would fit in to one of the above categories, but are only available annually by doing the action on a specific day.

Valentine Chia

Send this Neogreeting on February 13th or February 14th.

This avatar was also obtainable from the 2019 Charity Corner perk, In a New Avatar.

Released: February 13, 2004

Altador Cup Player / Guide

Achieve rank one in the yearly Altador Cup, and then visit one of the four game play pages (Yooyuball, Slushie Slinger, Make Some Noise, or Shootout Showdown) to receive the avatar.

Released: June 17, 2008

Retired

Unfortunately for newer collectors, Retired avatars are no longer obtainable. Usually are from participation in a one-time sitewide plot or event or from a discontinued site feature.

Volcano Faerie

Awarded to the first 100 users to solve the Volcano Mystery.

Released: October 18, 2003

Festival of Neggs Y13 - Builder / Guide

Awarded to users who completed all 4 quests (each quest completed before the next was released) in the 2011 Festival of Neggs.

Released: April 18, 2011

Site Spotlight / Guide

Win the Site Spotlight. This spotlight has not been running since early 2015.

Released: November 12, 2014

Uncounted Avatars

There are five secret avatars that do not count towards your secret avatar total.

Goggles

Try clothing on in the NC Mall. You do NOT get a random event and you do NOT need to pay for the avatar.

This avatar has not worked for quite some time, and it's assumed that it broke when the NC Mall wearables preview was converted to HTML5 in 2021.

This avatar does not increase the avatar count on your user lookup or count for the Avatar Collector high score table.

Released: July 16, 2007

Comic Con 2018 / Guide

This avatar was awarded for opening up the Comic Con 2018 Mystery Capsule, only available by obtaining a Rare Item Code from Comic-Con in 2018 or winning NeoCreation Week in August 2018.

This avatar does not increase the avatar count on your user lookup or count for the Avatar Collector high score table.

Released: July 19, 2018

L&L - Bravo, Aurrick! / Guide

Complete at least one challenge during Crossover Week in the Legends and Letters mobile app. The Challenge of Challenges is available weekly in the app, but the Neopets.com awards (including this avatar) are only available one week per month.

This avatar does not increase the avatar count on your user lookup or count for the Avatar Collector high score table.

Legends and Letters was removed from app stores on July 22, 2020, and officially shut down on December 31, 2020. The last Crossover Week was hosted from June 28th through July 5th, with this avatar effectively retiring at that time.

Released: October 29, 2019

Dacardia Yooyuball Avatar / Guide

In version 1.4.1 of Island Builders, talk to Ariel the Ruki to finish the Altador Cup tie-in event. After completing all of Ariel's event-related dialogue, you will receive a neomail rewarding the avatar (provided your Neopets account is linked in the app). There may be a delay of a few minutes or longer in receiving the avatar.

This avatar does not increase the avatar count on your user lookup or count for the Avatar Collector high score table.

Due to various glitches, some users unlocked the avatar as early as June 22, 2022.

Released: July 6, 2022

unknown

Unconfirmed

This avatar does not increase the avatar count on your user lookup or count for the Avatar Collector high score table.

Released: April 9, 2025

Default Avatars

Every account starts with their avatar set to one literally known as "Default" which includes just a Neopets-brand star with a yellow background.

   
The original (left) and current (right) Default avatar

In addition to this, every account starts with immediate access to 59 other avatars without having to do anything at all. These include:

• 53 species specific avatars, one for each species except Ruki, Vandagyre, and Varwolf.
• 6 elemental faerie avatars, one for each elemental faerie.
• 1 Christmas Rock avatar, first distributed on Christmas Eve 2004.

         
A sampling of the many default avatars available

In addition to these, all Premium accounts have access to a Premium Space Faerie avatar for as long as their membership is active.

The Premium avatar

None of the default avatars count towards your avatar total or your score on the high score table.

Tracking Your Collection

Jellyneo offers a checklist tool to check which avatars you are missing. It even includes the ability to filter out retired avatars and/or avatars that are difficult for new accounts to achieve. It can also produce petpage-friendly code to display which avatars you still need.

We also provide an Avatar Collector counter that you can display anywhere, such as your user lookup, shop description, or pet page! There are also several counters for goals related to unlocking specific avatars.

Changing Your Avatar

To change which of your prized avatar achievements you are showing off, simply visit your Neoboard Preferences page and click the "Change Avatar" button. (This is linked in the sidebar under "Settings" on all mobile-friendly layout pages.) All of your unlocked avatars will appear here in chronological order of when you unlocked them.

High Scores

The Avatar Collector high score table is based simply on the number of secret avatars you have unlocked.

Like all high score tables, it is reset at the start of every month. However, unlike most other high score tables, progress is never lost. To reenter the table each month, a user simply needs to unlock a new avatar during that month. If your avatar collection is large enough that unlocking a new avatar is very difficult, there is a workaround: simply lose and then re-unlock the Emo Usuki avatar.

Emo Usuki

Change your shopkeeper to Usul - Gothic, and then view your shop front. If you change your shopkeeper and look at your shop again, you will lose the avatar.

This avatar was also obtainable from the 2019 Charity Corner perk, In a New Avatar.

Released: August 20, 2004

Because of this requirement to go out of your way to reenter the table each month, you don't necessarily have to be in the true top 17 of avatar collectors on the site to get a trophy - you just need to be in the top 17 that have checked in so far that month. If one of the top collectors doesn't check in during the first few days of the month, that opens up a temporary spot for somebody else!

The Avatar Collector high scores table offers its own avatar as well. How meta!

Avatar Collector

Be ranked in the Top 50 for avatar collectors at the time that trophies are given out daily. (The exact trophy time can vary over time, but is at least once daily.)

This is usually easiest on the first day of the month before the top collectors reset their avatar count. You can reset your avatar count by gaining a new avatar; it is easiest to do this by losing and then regaining the Emo Usuki avatar.

Released: October 29, 2003

Avatar Collector 2020 Trophy Cutoffs

We have tabulated the average trophy cutoff scores on the 1st, 15th, and 28th day of the month for most of 2020. The scores below represent the number of avatars you must have unlocked to receive a specific trophy on these days. Notice how the scores tend to be slightly lower earlier in the month by a few avatars. Indeed, the cutoff scores are not even necessarily strictly increasing from month to month.

This page was written by Kenny and last updated on April 20, 2025.