Techo Color Popularity Poll Results

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On June 13th, 2023, I opened up a poll that featured every color that could be painted onto a Techo. Over the span of the next week, 170 people casted their ballots, with a total of 760 votes to give their opinions on what Techos they considered to be their favorites overall. The main goal of this post was to figure out: what is the most popular Techo color? The answer may surprise you.

Disclaimers and Foreword

In the survey, I did not opt to ask for identifying info such as names or collect any sort of email data, but I did make it so only one response could be collected by one person, which requires being signed into a Google account. Therefore, I am mostly unaware of who is who. The data on the survey will reflect that.

Secondly, there is going to be some bias among the data collection. I did share this survey among friends of mine who are overall unfamiliar with Neopets and/or Techos. Those who chose to participate in the survey are also likely to have positive feelings towards Techos, which may serve as being rather dissonant with the general fan concensus of Techos being among the least popular species of Neopet, among the likes of Buzzes, Moehogs, and Kikos. There was a way to indicate a concensus in general, but that will come into play later.

Lastly, this does not represent a correct concensus of what Techo colors are popular or unpopular. This survey only included the option to vote for Techos that the participant considered to be their favorites personally. There was no rating them on a scale or casting dislike votes. There are likely some colors, such as Pirate, that may have more detractors than fans due to circumstance (in this case, being a freebie for a daily activity and being a common sight in the Pound), and therefore we can't weigh what colors are passionately hated versus colors that are simply less liked. If we were to have a better poll with more data, this would have to be hosted or promoted on the actual Neopets website or a fansite like Jellyneo or Sunnyneo, which is simply unfeasible for me.

Now onto the foreword: I am surprised with the turnout and overall responses. As mentioned earlier, I got 170 responses containing 760 votes total. I expected a little bit under 100 responses and about 300 votes total, but I'd be damned. While I know that I could have absolutely gained a better response pool, I'm quite happy with what I got. In 2022, I tried starting a similar poll and it recieved considerably less responses. If you were among 170 people to have participated, thank you!

Formatting

I am going to present the Techos featured in the tierlist and their rankings in a tier list format. How does this work, exactly? Depending on the amount of responses they recieved considering the Techo a personal favorite, the higher they will rank. The criteria for the amount of votes to be present in each tier is as follows:

  • F Tier: 0 - 2 Votes
  • D Tier: 3 - 5 Votes
  • C Tier: 6 - 9 Votes
  • B Tier: 10 - 17 Votes
  • A Tier: 16 - 25 Votes
  • S Tier: 25+ Votes

There will also be numbers listed. While many Techos are tied, they will be ordered in a ranking system. For the Techos that are tied, I will be taking outside factors into account for popularity. To determine this, I looked up every mention of "(colorname) Techo" on the r/neopets Discord Server, and put them in a list ordered by how many times they were mentioned. The list can be found here Most_Mentioned_Techos.jpg. This method is absoultely not perfect, but it is something over nothing at the very least.

With this context in mind, let us begin the list.

F Tier

These Techos are very much ignored with little in the way of a wide appeal. The fans of these Techos do exist, but they are among a minority, and a very small one at that. If you are a fan of these colors, that's honestly great! I'd love to see you defend them and show that they are in fact, an underrated and valuable members of the ecosystem of Techo. I'm serious, leave a comment if one of these just so happens to be your absolute favorite or up there. I'll upvote it.

0 Votes

There are in fact two Techos that absolutely nobody considered to be a favorite. Among the 69 existing Techo colors, the other 67 just stood out more to people. Just what are these colors? Well, let's find out.

69. Gold Techo

And the award for the "worst" Techo goes to... Gold Techo! How ironic is it that gold, the material associated with winning and prosperity is the loser in the Techo popularity contest?

I am not surprised with the lack of enthusiasm regarding Gold Techo. Gold is already not a very popular color on Neopets. It's just yellow and shiny with no real interesting or distinguishing features. It blends in among the less interesting colors. You don't exactly see people begging for Neopets to add other metal-based colors, such as Bronze, Copper, or Pewter; for instance.

As Gold Techo was introduced during Neopets overall slump of popularity in 2013 where the only people playing it were the people who grew up with it, there are less people to have any sort of sentimental or nostalgic appeal to having once owned a Gold Techo. Maybe there are such people who exist, but I'm not holding my breath for it to be true. Regardless, let's give the Wooden Spoon award to Gold Techo, our unfortunate loser of this poll.

I try to think of one interesting fact about each Techo color to include in each entry, but I genuinely could not think of one for Gold Techo. That's how dull they are, pun intended. Regardless, keep an eye out for said facts in the upcoming rankings!

68. Yellow Techo

Poor, poor Yellow Techo. Despite being there from the start of the Techo's life (that's June 7th, 2000!), being many people's first ever Neopet when they made an account, and being the color that the ever known Dr_Death of the Neopian Pound is; not a single person indicated that Yellow Techo was among their favorites. Even the artists of Neopets seem to find this their least favored of the 4 basic colors for Techos, appearing in less on-site artwork and images than the three other basic Techos (for context, Blue is 3rd, Red is 2nd, and Green is 1st).

I am honestly surprised with the lack of enthusiasm with Yellow Techo. I did expect the basic colors to get less votes, but at least some votes nonetheless as there are people out there who again, had a Techo as their first Neopet and have a fondness that never died out. As I mentioned earlier, they had to at least be someone's first Neopet and therefore have some sort of nostalgic or sentimental attachment towards Yellow Techo. Perhaps Yellow Techo is that repulsive and unappealing that said person does not exist, or they never voted in my poll, which is probably more likely than the former. Oh well... At least Yellow Techo can still be content with the fact that they were in fact, one of the first.

1 Vote

One. Only one vote. One person out of 169 others thought that they were good enough to be among their favorites. Unlike Gold and Yellow Techos, we can at the very least give some credit to these Techos for mustering a vote, but not too much.

67. Silver Techo

Like Gold Techo, I am unfazed and unsurprised by Silver Techo's low rank. Silver Techo is a somewhat late addition to the Techo crew, being introduced in 2011. Like Gold Techo, I think that a lack of both nostalgic and sentimental appeal will in the long run hurt the performance of Silver Techo. However, I lied about something I said 2 sentences ago. Silver Techo actually did not make their first appearance in 2011, they just became a paintable color that year. Silver Techo first appeared as a Plushie item released in January 2001 1845.gif, and even had the artwork updated before the real Silver Techo released toy_silvertecho.gif. How mysterious! This phenomenon of Techos appearing before they were properly introduced is not an uncommon occurence, and we'll see more of this nonsense as we go along.

66. Orange Techo

Orange Techo is rather plain and was also introduced in the converted era, which already limits some of their appeal. There are several pets out there who have very basic and otherwise easy to do colors that are missing, and Orange would be among the last of those colors for the Techo species, releasing in 2007; and the problem would ultimately be resolved by 2008 with the introduction of Pink Techo. As mentioned earlier, Silver Techo made an interesting early appearance, and Orange Techo did as well. In the Lost Desert Plot which happened during 2005, Orange Techo made an appearance as a color on the many background characters in the comics Orange_Techo_debut.jpg. Twice Orange_Techo_2nd_appearance.jpg. And somehow managed to be immortalized in merchandise on the Bazzar of Wonders card in the TCG 0049_UL05.gif.

65. Glowing Techo

Glowing Techo only had a single vote of adoration. Do you think that there is a soul brave enough to wear a Glowing Techo t-shirt in public https://www.zazzle.com/techo_glowing_t_shirt-235869541219387488? I don't think there is, honestly. Glowing Techo has always been a rather unloved color in general, but did you know that in 2004, a Sponge Techo was drawn an uploaded to Neopets' image servers presumably intended to release for Techo Day 2004? Notably, Glowing Techo was the only Techo to be added in Techo Day 2004, skipping Sponge Techo entirely.

Glowing Techo is also the final Techo to have been drawn in the original Techo design from 2000, and because the Techo art was updated to appear much more in-line with newer and higher quality site artwork one month later, the time for fans to archive it was very brief, and sadly the original images of Glowing Techo are lost media... Kind of. The original Glowing Techo design does make an appearance on the Glowing Techo Puzzle item toy_glowing_techopuzzle.gif, released in 2006. But the actual original artwork images are still missing today.

64. Brown Techo

Like Orange Techo, there is really not all that much to say about Brown Techo's placement that wouldn't already be inherently obvious. Uninteresting color, but Brown Techo did release in 2005 which I would argue was the peak of Neopets in terms of relevance and popularity. Brown Techo was also the first Techo to be added after the late 2004 Techo redesign, and the beaten up image is... Interesting techo_brown_baby.gif, if inspected closely. One may notice that Brown Techo has red spots where the bruises are supposed to be.

Is Brown Techo bleeding in this image? Did a disgruntled artist sneak in this rather kid unfriendly detail? As funny as that would be if it were true, it's not. It's an oversight, as it is evident that Red Techo's artwork was used as a base for Brown Techo's art, simply being recolored... Except some spots were missed. Notably, the bruises on the original beaten Red Techo art techo_red_baby.gif are colored dark red, and are the same color on the Brown Techo artwork, meaning that they simply forgot to update it. Regardless, it's kind of funny nonetheless.

63. Checkered Techo

Rounding out the Techos with one vote is Checkered Techo. Checkered as a color has some fans, but not a lot of them. Checkered Techo doesn't seem to have been fondly considered or cared about by the artists of Neopets, as Checkered Techo is the only Techo introduced in the unconverted era to not be featured in any additional site artwork, like Caption Competitions, appearances in Flash games, et cetera. (not counting Invisible Techo as they do not have an appearance) How disappointing, what did Checkered Techo do wrong?

2 Votes

These Techos managed to muster up not one, but two votes of people considering them to be among their favorite Techos. Sadly, it is still not a lot of votes, period.

62. White Techo

White Techo is yet another rather simplistic color with little fanfare. I would assume that the two people who voted for White Techo may have done so because "Wizard" Windelle is a notable Techo NPC is a White Techo, and is also the team captain of Meridell's Yooyuball team in the Altador Cup and has been for the past 15 years. Like some others mentioned earlier, White Techo appeared earlier than their proper debut, as a White Techo Plushie 1729.gif would be released in January 2001, while the real White Techo first released in January 2003. That in itself is nothing unique, but what is interesting is the belly color. In the original Plushie item, the belly is colored yellowish. When the real White Techo debuted, the belly was colored grey 2_white.gif.

That's a bit of a weird difference, but it gets weirder. In 2004, Neopets did a well known tie in with McDonald's to release plushies of the Neopets, and Techos were among the species chosen to have plushes. The plushies of the Neopets chosen all came in basic colors, with some bonus colors such as Pink, Purple, Speckled, Spotted, and Starry. Techos had Cloud, Shadow, and White as the bonus colors. However, the White Techo plush is in fact, inaccurate to how it appeared on the website, as the plush had a yellow belly and no forehead spots download.jpeg.jpg, which makes the White Techo plush more accurate to the item plushie than the pet it represents. That's kinda wild.

61. Spotted Techo

Spotted Techo didn't perform well either, which doesn't surprise me. There are a few Spotted pets that notably have alternate designs that resemble real world animals and that has made Spotted as a color somewhat more popular, but not by much. I've witnessed some people out there that find the Spotted Techo design to be "lazy" because it doesn't resemble a Leopard Gecko, a popular pet lizard. The truth is that the circumstances at the time Spotted Techo was introduced, which was in Fall 2000, they just followed a template. In fact, Spotted Techo is one of the first ever colors that Techos were introduced in their year of introduction (along with Sketch, Striped, Starry, Halloween, and Invisible) during when the Techo artwork prominently featured the infamous gradients. However, there is something pecular about Spotted Techo's first ever artwork scrapped-pets_spotted-techo.gif. If you haven't caught onto it, the very first Spotted Techo artwork was literally just a modified version of Red Techo's artwork, with black spots added 1_red.gif. This didn't last long, because in 2001 they updated it 2_spotted.gif to the much more well known tan version.

60. Red Techo

Red Techo is another one that surprised me with the low rank, as it's a starting color that persumably many people may have had as their first Neopet, but I already spoke in length about that when I revealed Yellow Techo's ranking, so I'll keep it brief in that regard.

Red Techo is a weird case because at one point in time, they were considered the "mascot" of the Techo species very early on. What do I mean by a "mascot" color? I'm referring to a color for a specific species of Neopet that is overall more prominently featured in promotional material and merchandise, such as Yellow for Chias, Red for Grarrls, and Blue for Lupes. I'm sure there's people that have probably noticed trends like that, but I don't think anyone was willing to discuss it or coin a term for it. Red Techo was featured in New Features introducing the species https://www.neopets.com/newfeatures/june2000.phtml, in the pet species biography flash animation https://images.neopets.com/pets/fullsize/animated_techo_v2_we.swf?lang=en that every other Neopet species usually has, among other instances 2001_Techo_Bio.png. However, as time went on, more and more artwork began to prominently feature Green Techo in general. Around 2001 or 2002, artwork prominelty featuring Red Techo as a representative of the Techo species would decline and Green Techo would officially take over the role of the "mascot color" by 2004.

D Tier

While there may be some fans of these Techo colors, they are not topping the charts of popularity and tend to not be discussed or romanticized among fans. They exist.

3 Votes

3 Votes is more than 2, but that's still only a few votes. Regardless, if you were to vote among these Techos, that's still a rather small minority, and you should be a little proud of yourself for sticking with them. This is also the most populous vote category with 9 Techos occupying this range.

59. Relic Techo

Relic Techo ranking low is you guessed it, not a shock to me. I don't really expect much from Relic, especially since Relic Techo was among the earlier Relic Pets, where things like moss and crystals weren't in the picture yet. It's just a new version of Stone. Did you also know that Relic Techo is the most recent Techo introduced to be featured in any additional artwork? Specifically, in this Caption Competition caption_1342.gif. Also, they don't have a base to stand on, but neither do most of the other Relic pets that are portrayed as characters. Figures.

Regardless, Relic Techo is the first Techo listed to have been considered someone's all time favorite! Here's what that person had to say about Relic Techo:

Relic — i like rocks

58. Zombie Techo

Zombie is a color with some fans, but the overlap between fans of Techos and the fans of Zombie doesn't appear to be a strong one. Zombie Techo also breaks the rules of Neopets. As a painted pet with wearables, the Zombie Techo wears something that occupies the Trousers, but the item itself is called "Techo Zombie Pants". This name is the offender, and breaks two rules: The species and color name are swapped, and trousers are referred to as "pants". This should be a relatively simple fix, but it has not been modified in any way for the past 6 years it's been around.

57. Eventide Techo

For the first time, this is a ranking that shocked me, with me having Eventide Techo to have placed higher. Eventide is a generally well liked color among the fandom, but I was surprised to see Eventide rank so low. Have opinions on it soured over time? It seems as if there were people that wanted Eventide Techo be a thing, because I found fanart of Eventide Techo from 2015 https://www.deviantart.com/shoyrcloud/art/eventide-techo-558666804, 4 years before Eventide Techo would officially join the Techo crew. That's a bit of fun trivia, though not exclusive to Eventide Techo, as I have seen speculative designs for Faerie and Robot Techos from the early 2000's before either were officially introduced in Beauty Contests and Art Galleries.

It also seems as if Neopets own artists were tired of Eventide pets, because there was a drought of new Eventide pets that started with the release of the Eventide Tuskaninny on July 12th, 2017, and ended with the release of Eventide Techo on September 13th, 2019. That's two whole years of no Eventide pets! But right now, we're in an even longer drought of Eventide pets, as the last one released was the Eventide Gnorbu on January 6th, 2020. It has now been 3 years since the last Eventide pet, with the Nimmo, Ruki, Chia, and Vandagyre yet to have options to be painted Eventide. Could we perhaps have a complete collection in the near future...?

On a more positive note, 2 out of the 3 people who voted for Eventide Techo considered them their favorite! Here's what they had to say:

Eventide, I like the gradient

Eventide, but I'm a certified Eventide lover.

56. Biscuit Techo

Biscuit is you guessed it, another unpopular color. There are not a lot of people out there that would actively seek out a Biscuit pet, and the overlap between people who want a Techo and a Biscuit pet is not very much, evidently. I bet that if Neopets switched to American English, they would have been renamed to "Cookie Techo". There, that's the fact. No wait, Bisucit Techo and Maractite Techo were the first Techos to have been released during the Jumpstart Era. That's something, at least. I couldn't find anything else interesting about Biscuit Techo, which will probably be a trend for some of conversion era Techos, sadly; there simply isn't much to discuss.

55. Pink Techo

As mentioned when discussing the placement of Orange Techo, Pink Techo can be considered the final "plain" color added for Techos, having done so on September 13th, 2008. Pink Techo also made an appearance neopet_techo25.png in the video game Neopets: Puzzle Advemture for the Nintendo DS, Wii, and PC; which was released 2 months after Pink Techo debuted on November 25th, 2008; which is a fast turnaround if I've ever seen one myself. Considering that game development took months back then, it's very possible that Pink Techo existed much earlier into development. Also, for some reason, the DS version of Puzzle Adventure depicts the female Techos with lipstick Screenshot_20230621-175652_DraStic.png.

Additionally, two out of three people who voted for Pink Techo stated that their favorite Techo is Pink Techo, and they said:

Pink, because I like the contrast between the pink body and yellow eyes."

Pink Techo, because pink is my favorite color.

54. Strawberry Techo

Strawberry as a color has some fans. However, there is very little buzz surrounding Strawberry Techo, and I can only assume that it is because they do not have any leaves on them or any other extravagant features present, unlike some of the other Strawberry pets. But for some reason, Strawberry Techo did in fact make an appearance in Neopets: Island Builders with a redesign. In this game, Strawberry Techo has a green belly and bright yellow seeds Screenshot_20210709-211622_Neopets_Island_Builders.jpg, alongside the other Strawberry Pets. I am personally not fond of the look, but I digress.

53. Snow Techo

Snow is another color with a rather appropriate placement; a color that is overall not discussed and has little fanfare as a result. Snow Techo was also the final Techo color to be released in 2003, in December of that year. Snow Techo also has pupils made of coal, and according to this Caption Competition image caption_765.gif, this coal pupil can in fact, shrink and grow in size in tune to emotion and circumstance. That's kind of creepy.

52. Purple Techo

Purple Techo is among some of the earlier Techos to be introduced, but not the earliest. Purple Techo was also introduced alongside Cloud Techo on the first celebrated Techo Day in 2001. ...Just 2 days after the 9/11 attacks. Regardless of the bad timing of their debut, Purple Techo, alongside every other Purple pet, was featured with orange spots, though Purple Techo would debut with only an orange belly 2_purple.gif. In 2004, Purple Techo was redesigned alongside most other Techos, and gained orange spots on the cheeks 3_purple.gif, resembling freckles. This design was carried over when the conversion update happened Purpel.png in 2007. As a part of the onging Return of Dr. Sloth plot, the orange spots on the Purple pets were removed 7.png, and Purple Techo would lose their "freckles" and forehead spots, gain a lilac belly, and was subtly desatyrated in color.

51. Jelly Techo

Jelly Techo is real. You cannot ignore them any longer. In fact, it's somewhat hard to ignore that this specific pet and color combo is a piece of lost media. How? In 2006 and 2007, the Practice Team in the Altador Cup was different, being comprised of unique team members instead of 5 identical Chias. Among this team were all Jelly colored pets and consisted of a Kougra, a Kau, a Blumaroo, an Usul, and a Techo. The Kougra, Kau, and Blumaroo's images have been saved and archived, but the Usul and Techo images are far from lucky and are currently lost media. Did you, the viewer, perhaps play Yooyuball and lose against the Practice Team in 2006 or 2007? If so, the data could potentially be cached https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Recovering_Files_from_Browser_Cache on that old Windows XP desktop rotting in your attic, meaning it could be saved. It's worth a shot!

Additionally, one person stated that Jelly Techo was their favorite Techo, and this is what they had to say on the manner:

Jelly: I love anything Jelly colored

4 Votes

4 votes for a favorite Techos is by no means, many. However, the people who like them shluld also not be ignored in the slightest.

50. Electric Techo

Electric was once seen as a cool and more liked color early on in Neopets' lifespan, but as tine marched on, colors such as Baby, Mutant, and Faerie would steal the spotlight. Nowadays, Electric is relatively forgotten about in terms of color discussion. Electric Techo has a cool design and a cool concept, but as an Electric Pet released in 2009, it was too little too late. Since we were in the converted era by this time owners of Electric Techos won't even get to see the angry pets have electricity coming from them jubjub_electric_baby.gif. It's a shame, but Electric Techo did touch the bearts of at least four different people; which is heartwatming nonetheless.

49. Ice Techo

Ice as a color tends to be more popular than their flaky and soft relative, Snow. However, the appeal of Ice is still limited. Ice Techo being released in 2018 when there were already a large variety of more bombastic and extravagant colors were already here, and therefore Ice Techo never really stood out in the long run. Ice Techo however, has a very nice looking, crystalline in appearance tail. That's a fun feature that otherwise doesn't have much attention drawn to it. Also, this is what Ice Techo looks like without any shading layers Unshiny_Ice_Techo.png. Cursed.

48. Fire Techo

Fire Techo was never too popular to begin with, but fans and defenders of Fire Techo exist. However, there's a small detail added to Fire Techo that only exists in the converted artwork. In it, Fire Techo's tail's tip is lit on fire 7.png. This bears somewhat of a resemblance to Charmander from Pokemon, who also had a tail flame in the design. Additionally, there is shopkeeper artwork of Fire Techo that depicts the fire markings on the Techo as real fire 1416.gif, and it does look gorgeous. If only the canon Fire Techo could be as cool as that.

47. Grey Techo

The lowest ranked Techo color that also has a Uunconverted (or UC) version is Grey Techo. Unfrtuantely, it doesn't look like that there's enough people out there who want to cheer up Grey Techo, per se. Grey Techo at one point had to force a smile 7.png to make the days go by, but eventually gave up 7.png. Also, Grey Techo was one of a few Techos to have MSN Icons made of them, and you can see it here msn_techo_grey.gif. I wonder why Grey Techo is nervously touching their index fingers together, though...

46. Blue Techo

Blue Techo is also one of the first four Techos introduced at the beginning, and has always been a more omnipresent compared to the other Techo colors, from beginning birthdaypage_presents.gif to end caption_1450.gif. Compared to Yellow Techo as a color only sometimes appearing with only a handful of NPCs that are Yellow Techos, such as Dr_Death; Blue Techos have more or less always been around. One of the first two NPCs that were Techos added to Neopets were the Techo Master and the Tropical Food Shopkeeper. One is Green, and the other Blue. Soon after, we would meet Harry the Explorer, Kelland the Thief, the Techo Fanatic, who are all Blue Techos. It got around!

5 Votes

5 votes, as demonstrated with these past few votes, is nothing to sneeze at. However, it's also not a large number in general.

45. Speckled Techo

Speckled surprisingly had more enthusiasm and support than Spotted Techo did, despite being older and therefore potentially more recognized overall. Speckled Techo was also among the last Techos to be drawn in the old 2000 - 2004 art style. This design only lasted a year, but when Neopets decided to update most of the Techo artwork in October 2004, they missed a single image. A small, happy Speckled Techo techo_speckled_happy.gif. I don't know where else to bring up them, but there is also a Speckled Techo paramedic that is only in one image kiko_lake_found.gif and appears nowhere else. I just think they're neat.

Additionally, one person considered Speckled Techo to be their favorite Techo and had this to say:

Speckled techo looks so cool. Fan of polka dot characters.

44. Starry Techo

Starry Techo is one of the oldest Techo colors on Neopets. In fact, they're also one of the first Starry pets scrapped-pets_starry-techo.gif! But this artwork is weird. The colors used are solid, but the eyes are gradients. Not to mention, there appears to be an error with how the right arm (left from viewer's perspective) appears to mesh with the body. For reference, this is what it should look like 2_starry.gif. But this issue is not exclusive to Starry Techo! Pirate Techo has this issue too 2_pirate.gif, but only for the happy pose, as it's otherwise fixed 2_pirate_angry.gif for the other poses.

Additionally, there were two people out of five that considered Starry to be their favorite Techo color! Here's what they had to say:

Starry Techo's pattern and color scheme is one that I always love to see. Honorable mentions to Dimensional and Sketch.

Starry is the most nostalgic to me for reasons I can't quite figure out. I never had one or anything, maybe it's just the starry color as a whole

43. Swamp Gas Techo

Swamp Gas Techo is a very weird Techo. Because despite being introduced rather late into the Techo crew, they were actually rather pushed by Viacom era Neopets! Possibly because they were one of the first ever Swamp Gas pets introduced. A Swamp Gas Techo wearing underwear was featured in the Y13 Advent Calendar https://youtu.be/DX0hGCr_2Fw, in a Caption Competition, a Swamp Gas Techo was dressed in Michael Jackson's white suit caption_1274.gif from the music video of Smooth Criminal. A Swamp Gas Techo also appears in a random event where one just walks by and the notice itself comments "Ewwww!". How rude. Also, this is what Swamp Gas Techo looks like clean Clean_Swamp_Gas_Techo.png.

Two people also considered Swamp Gas Techo to be their favorite Techo overall, and commented the following:

Swamp gas because he looks like a stinky baby

SWAMP GAS!

C Tier

The Techos that appear in these tiers can be considered to be just okay by the masses. They do not particularly excel as a whole, but there are notably more fans of them as opposed to the lower tiers. They are not bad, but they also aren't great, or even good. They're decent. They will continue to appear and become anew in an account's arrange of Neopets owned, and people probably won't have any perplexion or questions as to why they are there. Very much complacent in the eyes of the masses.

6 Votes

6 votes is a decent number, as that's a fair amount of people. Compared to the others, still relatively small though.

42. Magma Techo

Magma Techo is one of the few Techo colors to have been released outside of Techo Day during the conversion era, with the other two being Stealthy Techo and Wraith Techo, being brought into Neopia in December 2009, not too long after the introduction of Moltara. Magma Techo's teeth also look like this Screenshot_20230623-002221_YouTube.png. It's definetly fitting, but I can't help but feel just a tad unnerved by it.

Magma Techo also had a few people mention that they were their favorite Techo color, and the statements were as follows:

Magma. Because.

I like the magma one more because of the vibrant orange and the designs on his belly

41. Tyrannian Techo

Tyrannian Techo is the second lowest ranking Techo in this list to also have a UC variant techo_tyrannian_baby.gif, where it has a slightly more dinosaur-like build and appears to be hunched over. The converted pose in my opinion, isn't bad at all and is probably the most faithful to the original design outside of Grey. Tyrannian Techo also has a forked tongue techo_tyrannian_left.gif and is one of two Techo colors to have this feature, which may surprise some.

40. Ghost Techo

Ghost Techo is a spectral apparition with some appreciation, clearly. Ghost Techo originally appeared frowning with a darker belly color 2_ghost.gif, and was redesigned one year later to have forehead spots and a lighter belly techo_ghost_baby.gif and seems to have cheered up. When the conversion update happened, Ghost Techo's pupils shrunk, and gained bags under their eyes 7.png. Additionally, Ghost Techo just recently was featured in merchandise for the first time ever, as a .png of Ghost Techo was slapped in the corner of a page in the Neopets Cookbook 20230617_114911.jpg released in June 2023. That's a nice way to be immortalized.

39. Green Techo

The final of the original four Techo colors, Green Techo unsurprisingly has the most votes out of the four. There are some factors that play into this, but it is primarily the stereotypical depictions of lizards in media usually portraying them as green in color. Consequently, Green Techo began to appear frequently and as mentioned earlier, overtook Red Techo's status as the "mascot color" of the Techo species. No doubt that many people also made their first Techo a Green Techo because of this. In Neopets: Island Builders, the Techo you earn after logging in for 15 days is Green by default techo.png! A Green Techo also ran what appears to be an "Insult Booth insult_booth.gif", which appears to be some sort of cancelled or removed feature, as confirmed by Adam Powell in a Reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/neopets/comments/3t035q/hey_adam_here_again_sorry_about_the_reddit_fail/.

38. Pirate Techo

Realistically, Pirate Techo probably should not rank this high. However, based on my method of ranking Techos outside of how many votes they got being how many times they were mentioned, Pirate was first on that list. I'm not even sure if the Pirate Techo Morphing Potion increased or decreased the popularity of Pirate Techo, because the value of the Morphing Potion is among one of the lowest, as nobody wants it. However, Pirate Techo does have more to them than meets the eye.

When Pirate Techo first appeared in June 2002, they had a peg leg 2_pirate_angry.gif. When Pirate Techo was redrawn in 2004, it became a peg foot 3_pirate.gif. When the conbersion update happened in 2007, Pirate Techo had regrown their foot 7.png. I know why they changed this, but I do wish we would have been able to keep Pirate Techo an amputee, perhaps a new unconverted option could be made? Also, the 2004 Pirate Techo hat emotes alongside Pirate Techo techo_pirate_baby.gif.

7 Votes

7 Votes is a decent amount! Of course there are more that outrank this, but there are still many other Techos that weren't as lucky to be quite as beloved.

37. Sketch Techo

Sketch Techo is currently the earliest known extra color for a Techo to have been released, having been released on September 1st, 2000. There is a possibility that Striped Techo could have released earlier, but there is no real reckoned release date known currently, other than that they were released sometime around Fall of 2000. Sketch Techo has also been immortalized on pieces of easily destroyed plastic bags, as they were featured on McDonald's toy bags in 2004 s-l225.jpg, and had small cameos on the bags for Grundo s-l400-2.jpg, Uni s-l400-1.jpg and Blumaroo s-l400-3.jpg plush bags as well. Random merchandise cameos are cool, right?

36. Cloud Techo

Cloud Techo has surprisingly stayed consistent in terms of design in all three major designs of Techos. From 2001 2_cloud.gif, 2004 3_cloud.gif, to 2007 7.png, the basic design has remained rather unscathed across the years. As mentioned earlier, Cloud Techo was fortunate enough to be made into a plushie from McDonald's https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/569235314086772748/1121675748089024522/s-l960.webp, but the body and belly color is only slightly different for some reason. Weirdly enough, promotional artwork featured for McDonald's features Cloud Techo with an even darker belly color D4AeGkgU8AAdpuQ.jpg, and it's not just the lighting of that photo tray_2004_Neopets-size920.jpg. If it isn't obvious, the forehead spot color was also used for the belly in that artwork. And here's some on-site artwork where the inverse is true caption_921.gif. There's only so many ways I can say something is weird, strange, or unusual.

35. Shadow Techo

If you don't count Pastel as a "plain color", then Shadow is the highest ranking plain color for Techos. Shadow Techo was featured as the representative color for Enterplay's Neopets Trading Card Fun Paks from 2008, but while the rest of the Neopets featured used their converted artwork, Shadow Techo didn't. Not even the 2004 redraw. Instead, they used the original 2002 artwork tc_21_techo_shadow.jpg with all of the shading removed. Here is the unmodified 2002 art for comparison 2_shadow.gif This is bizarre and I'm wondering how this happened, because they had to have had access to the original SWFs/FLAs of the old disused Shadow Techo design and then remove or disable the shading layers; especially when the newer artwork was already present. Also, the back of the card looks like this Screenshot_20230623-015144_eBay.png for the curious.

I don't know where else this fits, but the aformentioned McDonald's Cloud Techo artwork was also recolored into Shadow Techo unnamed.jpg. Yeah.

8 Votes

Here we go! There are several Techos that got 8 votes to be among people's favorites, with six Techos having recieved that number of votes, which makes this a decently sized group.

34. Skunk Techo

Skunk Techo is another more recent color, and one that I'm surprised did as well as it did. Being a rather simple color and a late addition, being added in 2013, there was a lot goimg against Skunk Techo, but they prevailed! I'm very pleasantly surprised. Skunk Techo also appears in Neopets: Island Builders and looked like this Screenshot_20210709-211558_Neopets_Island_Builders.jpg. Notably, it appears that Skunk Techo has... Fur? That's odd, Techos are supposed to have scales. Also at some point, they updated all of the Skunk pets to look like this Screenshot_20230623-021855_Neopets_Island_Builders.png, getting a new shader to make them appear darker and less toy-like.

33. Dimensional Techo

My same bewilderment to Skunk Techo's performance can also be said about Dimensional Techo, but to a lesser extent. I don't exactly see many people wanting a Dimensional Techo nor drawing fanart of them. However, I do think that Dimensional as a color is more popular than Skunk, so I can at least understand the better performance here. There are also random offscreen blotches of purple in the Dimensional Techo body .swf 2.png. Hey, not every fact is gonna be "fun", they're just boring.

One person also indicated that Dimensional Techo was their favorite Techo color, and this is what they had to say about that:

Dimensional! I love that purple color on Techos.

32. Striped Techo

Striped Techo also did pretty decently despite an initial slow start in the poll. I actually like Striped a lot, it's just a very eye pleasing color to look at with the blue and pink contrast. However, Striped Techo didn't always look so eye pleasing. When Striped Techo debuted, they were white with black horizontal striped and forehead spots scrapped-pets_striped-techo.gif. Sometime later in 2000, Striped Techo was updated to appear white with a powder blue stripy belly and purple stripes scrapped-pets_striped-techo2.gif. Lastly in late 2001, Striped Techo became light blue with pink stripes 2_striped.gif. I honestly really like the second design. Bizarrely, the original design for the Striped Techo Plushie isn't accurate to any of these designs. Instead, the Striped Techo Plushie is for some reason, green with orange stripes 1731.gif.

31. Invisible Techo

This one I'm going to put my foot down on. I do not think that Invisible Techo should rank this high, because there were very clearly some people who voted for Invisible Techo either as a joke, or they simply hate Techos. In the data, one person only voted for Invisible Techo and never stated a favorite or their opinions on Techos as a whole. This is very likely a troll response, but I still have to count it. There was another response that also only voted for Invisible Techo, but they did write their favorite Techo and state their opinions on Techos as a whole. What did they have to say?

Invisible so that i don't have to see it. Easily in the top five of my least favourite neopets (sorry)

This person also unsurpsingly, indicated that they strongly disliked Techos. There's nothing wrong with that, but I do have to wonder why they went through the effort of checking the poll, specifically check off Invisible Techo, then write that they don't like Techos. Surely they could have at least picked a few designs that if they strongly dislike them, at least tolerate? I'm not going to invalidate this response, but I'm personally baffled.

There is nothing to Invisible Techo, therefore there are no interesting facts about Invisible Techo. Let's move on.

30. Chocolate Techo

Chocolate Techo is yet another more recent addition to the Techo crew, but Chocolate is also fairly popular, making this placement more appropriate. I always liked Chocolate Techo myself, it feels relatively restrained for a relatively modern conversion era pet and therefore I can imagine seeing Chocolate Techo being pulled from the unconverted era. Also, this is what Chocolate Techo's cream topping looks like in full chocolate_cream.png.

29. Darigan Techo

Of the five Techos to have UC forms, Darigan Techo placed smack dab in the middle. Darigan Techo's UC is quite different to the normal Techo design and appears to be quite scary 7.png in comparsion to the new design. In context of the actual Neopian lore, the coverted design 7.png is terrible, pretty much altering the entire build of the Techo. While I do think the new Darigan Techo design is a downgrade, I don't think I'd say I hate it, or even dislike it, and I'll emphasise on it soon. I'm actually shocked that Darigan Techo placed rather low, because if you look in places like Beauty Contests and Art Galleries, it won't be too uncommon to see fanart of Darigan Techo around. Darigan Techo also made an early appearance before becoming an actual color in the Champions of Meridell in 2002, where they looked like this Orange_Darigan_Techo.png. At a glance, it looks nearly identical to the unconverted Darigan Techo 7.png, but is instead orange. But there are some more subtle details with the extra poses that were drawn at the time.

One of the attacking poses Darigan_Attack0001.png resembles the close attack artwork for Techos at the time techo_stars_left.gif, consequently and inadvertedly giving this prototype Darigan Techo mostly normal Techo proportions, which would ironically be the fate of Darigan Techo anyways, as that is how the converted Darigan Techo 7.png appears, which is why I'm actually not that bothered by the converted design if the original intent was to just be a Techo with bells and whistles. A defeated pose Orange_Darigan_defeat.png is also shown, once again based off of it's time Techo poses techo_stars_left.gif. Interestingly, this was sort of redrawn techo_darigan_left.gif for the actual Darigan Techo release in May of 2003, gaining a forked tongue, straight teeth, shorter claws, among smaller details. There's also this pose Untitled4208_20230621210559.png, but I don't have anything to say about other than it exists. You're welcome.

Also, Darigan Techo was almost someone's favorite, but the converted design ruined that staus of favorite for them. Here's what they had to say:

If we counted unconverted, Darigan was always my favorite for that sinister grin. However, as they currently are I really like the Robot's cool armor.

9 Votes

9 is the highest value single digit number. That's all I really have to say to encapsulate my feelings towards the performance of these Techo colors on the poll.

28. Split Techo

I originally did the r/neopets Discord Techo color combo mentions before I started this poll, and Split Techo was second to last on that list. (the actual last placer is Mosaic Techo but they're also the newest member of the bunch) I was honestly surprised to see Split Techo do as well as they did! Split Techo isn't even featured in on-site artwork all that often either, with the only examples I could find being this caption_954.gif and this caption_959.jpg. Actually, those two Caption Contest appearamces are only 5 contests apart, maybe the artist who did them just wanted to give some love to Split Techo. That's valid. Also I've broight up the very old and drastically different designs for most of the very early Techos up, so here is an obligatory mention of the first Split Techo design scrapped-pets_split-techo.gif. Ew.

27. Maractite Techo

Maractite Techo is another one that I'm only a little surprised did as well as it did. Maybe I'm a subconscious hater or something, but I generally don't see much buzz around Maractite pets in general, so that would be a surprise for sure knowing that Maractite Techo is rounding off the Techo colors around the 30s ranking wise. Sadly, I struggle to find anything interesting about Maractite Techo. Even the .swf files for Maractite Techo are relatively tame and nothing to write home about.

26. Transparent Techo

Transparent pets are usually fairly popular, so I expected Transparent Techo to place a little higher. Me? I personally don't understand the appeal. Do people want to see the anatomy of thekr favorite Neopets, or do people simply want skeletal versions of Neopets to customize? I just find the execution of the color to be odd and I really don't know who it's supposed to appeal to, but it does in fact resonate with people. That's cool, I guess. I just don't want to be constantly reminded of the fact that Techo organs look like this transparent_organs.png. Maybe it'd help if some people could try to explain why they like Transparent so much.

As a matter of fact, the very first response to this poll indicated that Transparent Techo was their favorite Techo color, and they had this to say:

I like Transparent, it looks cool

25. Desert Techo

Desert Techo is a pretty neat design for a Desert pet if I do say so myself. Desert Techo as a... Character? Species? Well, something; appeared as a Hero in Neopets: Legends and Letters, where they were given some lore that read:

These wily Techos are suberb dancers in the Qasalan marketplace and can perform incredible acrobatics without losing their hat.

I guess that confirms that they are from Qasala? Neat, I suppose. Also, the item that Desert Techo wears occupying the trousers is called the "Lost Desert Techo Wrap", but the file name calls it "clo_techo_desertskirt.gif". I'm sure there was some memo from a Desert Techo insisting that his skirr was in fact, not a skirt.

I apologize for this awful joke.

B Tier

These Techo colors are firmly good, and have a great number of fans. They will stand above some of the others, but still have a shadow cast over them by the more popular Techo colors, but that doesn't stop them from being appreciated by others.

From this point onward, there will no longer be subcategories of the Techos that got the same number of votes, as most of the Techos after 12 recieved a unique number of votes. There are some exceptions, but they will be noted as such.

24. Royalboy Techo (10 votes)

In the realm of the Royal Techos, it appears that the Royalboy Techo is the less prefered of the two. I wonder why myself. It's a nice design, I particularly like the pendant and the trousers that are a mix between a more conventional skirt, a grass skirt, and a loincloth. I also don't think anyone has brought any attention or speculation towards the symbol that is seen patterned on the Royalboy and Royalgirl Techos' clothing, which looks like this Royal_Symbol.png. I'd love to write some lore surrounding it.

Additionally, there were two people that stated that Royalboy was their favorite Techo color, and had commented:

Royalboy- I like how unique it is compared to a lot of other pets Royalboy has a really nice base color


23. 8-Bit Techo (10 votes)

Another placement I am pleasantly surprised with. I found a lot of posts back when 8-Bit Techo was released, and the initial reactions to 8-Bit Techo were typically not positive. Perhaps time has been kind to 8-Bit Techo and now people see them as an underrated classic? For me, I've always liked 8-Bit Techo. However, one very annoying thing about 8-Bit Techo that keeps me from wanting to own one is that you cannot remove the clothes from the 8-Bit Techo, meaning you can't have it just be a normal Blue Techo but pixel art. However, the artist of 8-Bit Techo did in fact detail 8-Bit without clothes, and it looks like this Untitled4207_20230621205731.png. If you wanted your 8-Bit Techo to only wear a shirt, it'd look like Untitled4207_20230621205736.png this, and if you wanted your 8-Bit Techo to only wear pants, it'd look like that Untitled4207_20230621205747.png. C'mon TNT, most of the work was already done; you can fix it!

Like Royalboy Techo from before, two people also mentioned that they had considered 8-Bit Techo to be their favorite Techo color overall, stating:

It’s a tie between 8 bit and robot! 8 bit looks cursed in the best way, Robot just looks super cool & I love the almost all white casing. Makes me think of some futuristic lizard man.

8-bit, because he's just a funky guy

22. Camouflage Techo (10 votes)

Camouflage Techo is another sleeper hit, apparently! As Camouflage tends to be hit or miss wothin the Neopets community, with some patterns being prefered over others, I'm pleasantly surprised to see a decent amount of support for Camouflage Techo out there. There's also some cute on-site artwork of Camouflage Techo on Neopets that I think deserves some appreciation, so I'm going to draw attention towards it; like this Caption Competition image caption_860.gif where we can see a Camouflage Techo climbing a tree like an actual gecko. It's been stated beforehand that Techos can in fact climb walls like a real Gecko s-l1200.jpg, but it is rarely ever shown. Here's a Camouflage Techo playing the piano 322_techo_piano.gif. Look at 'em go! And the creative talent doesn't end there, because here's one who likes to paint 341_techo_painter.gif. I'd commission them if I could.

...What? That's an opinion and not a fact? La la la I'm not listening! And if I listened I don-t care~!

A couple of people indicated that Camouflage Techo was their favorite Techo color over the others, and this is what they had to say when explaining why:

Camouflage cause it has some really nice greens Camouflage well because i have one already lol but baby is right up there for my next

21. Christmas Techo (11 votes)

Christmas Techo was among the last Techos to have been introduced in the unconverted era, and to be honest I sometimes feel taken aback when I see the unconverted artwork of Christmas Techo when it pops up. Sure, Camouflage and Faerie Techos are the last, but there were always ethereal vibes about Christmas Techo in particular, for the lack of a better term. There is a Christmas Techo that appears in Geekify's physical Neopets Advent Calendar, and the slot for the 24th day is on the Christmas Techo's face Neopets-Advent-Calendar-2022-2-1280-1024x768.jpg. This Christmas Techo appears to be wearing a lime green hoodie, and honestly it looks pretty cute. Now with this knowledge in mind, Christmas Techo has been immortalized in merchandise! How neat.

20. Island Techo (11 votes)

Island Techo, kind of like Blue Techo, was always more of an omnipresent color on Neopets. There's a number of NPCs who are Island Techos, like the Hikalaka Drummer (who out of all Techo NPCs, was somehow chosen to be immortalized in the Tarot Deck 20230623_115846.jpg over more notable Techos such as Tekkitu the Witch Doctor and Tekeli-Li), Maital Koric, and Masa; better known as the Buzzer Game Techo to many. For a non-basic color, this is not bad at all! Island Techo originally appeared with a quite long grass skirt 2_island.gif in 2003, and it was subtly shortened in length 3_island.gif, notable around the waist when Island Techo was redrawn in 2004. When the conversion update rolled out in 2007, Island Techo's skirt became noticably shorter 5.png. Island Techo was also immortalized in merchandise, being a bracelet charm charms_techo_island.jpg. I can't imagine that many of these are out there, as it was manufactured on demand and Island Techo was very likely not a popular choice to order. If you have this, you are:

  1. Based as hell,
  2. Incredibly lucky,
  3. Awesome, and I envy your financial decsions from 2003 to 2004.

There were a few people that considered Island Techo to be their favorite Techo, and said the following:

Island

Island. Also I have never seen the Royal technos before but they look super good

There's something bout the island techo that just looks so "correct".

19. Water Techo (12 votes)

While most Pet Day updates are generally released the day of or after a weekend, Water Techo and Pastel Techo, who were intended to release for Techo Day 2015, were pushed all the way back to October 2nd of that year, a 19 day delay. There appears to be a reason for this, though I'll go into detail into what appears to be the specifics when I cover the other Techo released on October 2nd, 2015, Pastel Techo. What you need to know right here, right now about Water Techo is that this is what Water Techo looks without any shading or highlights Undetailed_Water_Techo.png It feels so naked and bizarre that I kinda hate it.

One person also considered Water Techo to be their favorite Techo color overall, and said the following:

water, the other styles are childish

18. Marble Techo (13 votes)

Marble Techo is yet another more recent addition, being released alongside Chocolate Techo in 2017. Both of them are the first Techos to have been released during the Netdragon era of Neopets. Marble Techo is also an absolute nightmare to draw, there is a lot detail to get right and I completely understand why I haven't been able to find any fanart of Marble Techo that isn't my own. Did you know that if you get rid of all detail of Marble Techo such as shading and highlights, it'd look like this Undetailed_Marble_Techo.png? It's honestly not a bad base color. I unofficially dub it as "Jade Techo" myself, and I don't know if anyone else will do that. I hate to repeat myself, but I just think they're neat.

17. Rainbow Techo

Rainbow Techo was released alongside Shadow Techo and Baby Techo for Techo Day 2002, which is the most packed Techo Day in history, with 3 colors released! However, Rainbow Techo is also a member of the club of Techos who appeared earlier before their actual release, also as a plushie item released in January 2001 1709.gif. When Rainbow Techo was updated in 2004 alongside most other Techos, the plushie was as well to be more on model. However, the new plushie artwork incorrectly depicts Rainbow Techo having a cyan segment on their belly, which isn't a feature of the actual Rainbow Techo techo_rainbow_baby.gif. In fact, one of Rainbow Techo's own poses has two errors, that being the angry pose having the bottom belly segment colored red instead of mint green, and the right leg (left for viewers) lacking shading techo_rainbow_baby.gif. There's also this image that has purple on Rainbow Techo's head rainbow_day_2006.gif, which was also never a feature of Rainbow Techo.

16. Disco Techo (16 votes)

Disco Techo? Techno Disco? Perhaps every Autocrorrect software would get a kick out of Disco Techo's name. Canonically, it seems as if Techos don't really care for techno techo_day_2009.jpg according to this image. How ironic. Also, if you have been reading this in order, you would have noted that Orange Techo made an early appearance in the Lost Desert plot before becoming an actual color, then that would make Disco Techo the very first Techo color to have been introduced in the conversion era, as while Orange Techo was released alongside Disco Techo, Orange Techo wasn't exactly "new". (Also, for those wondering who the first Techo in general was introduced in the converted era, it's Bowe from Shenkuu River Rush)

Also, there were two people that considered Disco Techo to be their favorite Techo, and said the following:

Disco is a vibe

Disco because I like his vibe

15. Pastel Techo (17 votes)

Pastel Techo originally did not have any votes for some time, but eventually seemed to have won favor with newer voters and finished with 17 people considering Pastel Techo to be among their favorite Techo colors! That's a nice turnaround if I've seen one.

As mentioned earlier, Pastel Techo was supposed to release for Techo Day 2015, but was delayed by almost 3 weeks along with Water Techo. Why were they delayed, exactly? While we don't have a confirmed answer, I do have a theory. Some may notice that the .swfs for both Pastel Techo and Water Techo's assets are unusually large in size, and that's because they appear to use a sort of internal base and forgot to remove the reference assets. All of the conversion era Techo accessories, such as the Christmas Techo Scarf, Pirate Techo Hat, and Halloween Techo Wraps are present as well. My guess is that after the layoffs of TNT happened with the buyout of Neopets by Jumpstart, they hired a newer, more inexperienced artist to make the new Techo colors for Techo Day 2015. It also appears that Pastel Techo was made first as a sort of test, as there is a graphic of a work in progress prototype of Pastel Techo beta_pastel.png present that appears to be Blue Techo, but with green eyes and pink forehead spots.

If you want to peruse the decompiled contents of the Pastel Techo .swfs, I decompiled them and put them in a .zip folder on Google Drive, so you can download them here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NLhtgLCcHdUeijvPC9ljcyeQ58uIB36j/view?usp=drivesdk) and don't have to go through the effort of converting them to .fla files and opening them in Adobe Animate.

A Tier

These Techos are elite among the Neopets community. They stand tall and have their presence known when they appear. There may technically be more Techos that are well known and adored, but it would be a stretch to say that these Techos aren't loved. Most of the Techos in this tier have people indicate that they considered them their favorite overall.

14. Wraith Techo (18 votes)

Wraith Techo performed well! Since Wraith Techo is essentially an angry wispy demon lizard that is black with a purple glow, that's very appealing to many. There is also a Wraith Techo Plushie item that makes it look very neutral and polite plu_techo_wraith.gif, which is funny to me because it is otherwise very angry looking. Wraith Techo is the last ever Techo color to not be released on a Techo Day, having been released on December 8th, 2012. After this,

There were three people that considered Wraith Techo to be among their favorites, and they had said the following on the matter:

Wraith

Wraith, completely different facial expression than others (most of them have a :| facial expression)

wraith techo, idk why but it looks neat :)

13. Steampunk Techo (18 votes)

I can't keep my bias hidden, I love Steampunk Techo. Steampunk Techo may even be my favorite Techo color overall, but for nostalgic reasons; Island Techo is my favorite Techo color. However, there are a few annoying things that keep me from saying Steampunk Techo is my favorite Techo. For one, this is what Steampunk Techo looks like without clothing 7.png. It's unfinished. I would love to have a customizable Techo with a nice looking ivory color and a cool metal plated belly, but it's evident that Steampunk Techo was only meant to be seen with the Paintbrush clothes, making customization more limited unless you like the unfinished look (and I know some do, good for you).

Speaking of the clothes, they're all mostly one piece despite the fact that they could easily be separated. If you fiddle with the .swf files for just a bit, you can get individual assets of the hat steampunk-hat.png, goggles steampunk-goggles.png, tail steampunk-tail.png, and the main body clothes steampunk-gear.png. I love the actual Steampunk Techo design, but I wish that more could be done with it in terms of customization, because it may as well not exist.

Steampunk Techo was fairly popular upon reveal, and I've seen some people praise Steampunk Techo for looking "actually steampunk". There were several people that said Steampunk Techo was their favorite Techo color, and this is what they had to say:

Steampunk, because of the clothes.

Steampunk, the outfit is rocking and the base color is perfect. I love that the gradient is a smoother and subtle variety that some of the other species. I also am glad the clothing doesnt have the weird eye gap that so much clothing for techos have unfortunately.

Steampunk. I like the colour under all the clothes.

Steampunk, the colors are softer and i like the clothes

Hard to say; perhaps steampunk? I like Techo colors that bring out the Techos' sense of personality and variety

12. Mutant Techo (19 votes)

Mutant Techo was the first Techo color released to "push the limits", so to speak. Being among the earlier Techo colors to release (debuting in February 2001), Mutant Techo looked as if they were equipped to kill, with flesh rending claws, sharp teeth, and a long tongue. Or stab evil Korbats with a sword deadby_adopt_please_.gif. But really, Mutant Techo is also cute enough to also have artwork being a good pet owner 990.gif, or wear a dress and stand with butterflies spring_shop_techo.png, or just be excited for Halloween he_really_loves_halloween.gif. Considering how several of the early Mutant designs were changed for being too grotesque, they really hit it of the park with Mutant Techo's design. It's creepy and cool, but also cute at the same time. Also, Mutant Techo may lg_mutant_day_2005.gif or may not techo_mutant_left.gif have spikes on their back.

Mutant Techo had two overall favorite mentions, and they are as follows:

Mutant because I have one

MUTANT! I love their blue and orange combo, and fun eyes, and little teethies!

11. Plushie Techo (19 votes)

Plushie Techo is the second to last Techo here to also have an unconverted version 7.png. And while I can understand or at least not be too bothered by most of the unconverted changes for Techos, I do think that the converted version 7.png is infinitely worse than the unconverted variant. Plushie Techo also has a piece of yarn as a tongue techo_plushie_left.gif in the unconverted artwork. That's pretty cute.

A number of people had also indicated that they considered Plushie Techo to be their favorite Techo altogether, and commented the following:

Plushie, cute

Woodland or plushie. Plushie because the eyes are cuter (the rotated pupil) and woodland because it’s so clever!

10. Origami Techo (20 votes)

Origami Techo is a very unique design compared to the other Techos, and stands out as a result. In 2020, Origami Techo was featured in the annual Neopies, being nominated for the best color. The description for Origami Techo for the Neopies read as follows:

Crafted from the finest red paper that Faerieland has to offer. No one's seen this much folding since Brucey B returned to the "Cheat!" Championships.

Unfortunately, Origami Techo placed last in the voting, losing to Mosaic Grarrl, Steampunk Blumaroo, and Oil Paint Peophin. Additionally, did you know that like Pastel Techo, Origami Techo also has a prototype variation? If you take the .swfs of Origami Techo and open them in a program like Adobe Animate, it is revealed that they were originally going to be teal Untitled1916_20211010000413.png instead of red. I personally prefer the teal color over the red color, we don't really have a teal Techo. per se.

One person stated that Origami Techo was their favorite Techo color overall, and stated the following:

Origami Techo because the design looks like the origami characters in Paper Mario The Origami King

9. Royalgirl Techo (22 votes)

Royalgirl Techo is a matriarch that is seemingly supposed to tie into Mystery Island, and is twice as popular than her patriarchal... Friend? Husband? Brother? Their relationship is unclear. Obviously there really can't be any sort of lore for the Royal pets because as pet colors, they are supposed to be blank canvases; but I do really like the Royal Techos. It seems as if they could have been the monarchy that led Geraptiku if Neopets wanted to do more with Geraptiku for whatever reason and wanted to use Royal pets in a plot. They're just begging to be used! Royalgirl Techo is probably more popular for her nice sea foam color and having a more detailed wardrobe compared to Royalboy Techo. I unfortunately couldn't find anything super interesting about Royalgirl Techo's design aside from the previously mentioned "royal symbols" that Royalboy Techo has as well, so here's an HD render of the lei that she wears Royalgirl_lei.png.

Royalgirl Techo was also considered a favorite among 2 voters, and they said the following:

I love the royal girl techo. Kind of a soft spot since my oldest neopet is one, but it’s also because I love the clothes and the subtle markings on the tail.

Royalgirl - upgrade on the Island techo with cool tail pattern

8. Halloween Techo (22 votes)

I think if I were to choose a Techo that I am the most astonished by their performance in the poll, this would be the one bar none. Halloween Techo is among some of the oldest Techo colors, even having visible gradients in the earliest art that wasn't updated until 2004 2_halloween.gif. I don't really see people draw Halloween Techo all that often. I always thought that in the eyes of the general Neopets fandom, Halloween Techo was seen as lame because it was just a Techo covered in toilet paper to look like a mummy. When Halloween Techo was redrawn in 2004 techo_halloween_baby.gif, we finally got to see the true color of Halloween Techo's skin. It's grey. What riveting information. I'd also like to give a shoutout to the most famous Halloween Techo, Wan Dirx of Team Haunted Woods 528.png, who is probably one of the coolest HWimage.jpg Neopians 5.gif there 20230624_120806.jpg ever hauntedwoods.gif was aicon_hauntedwoods.gif.

Someone said that they used to consider Halloween Techo to be their favorite overall Techo as a kid, and one person who still has Halloween as their favorite Techo color and they go like this:

I always liked halloween best (i was obsessed with mummies as a kid), but now I think woodland is the best! They look like real lizards

halloween, looks good.

7. Stealthy Techo (25 votes)

This ranking is not surprising in the slightest. Stealthy pets are popular to a tee and Stealthy Techo's morphing potion is one of, if not the most valuable Techo Morphing Potion available. Stealthy Techo, like Wraith Techo, was one of the last Techo colors to be introduced outside of a Techo Day, with Stealthy Techo releasing in November 2012. Dang, 2012 was a good year to be a Techo fan; especially when Techos gradually recieved less attention over the years as Neopets lost popularity and TNT began to only divide their attention to the more popular Neopet species, which would a trend that became more noticeable as the Jumpstart era progressed. Also, Stealthy Techo's main body color and the tail color are 2 different shades of dark blue 7.png Now you can't unnotice it. You're welcome.

Stealthy Techo also had a few people that considered them to be the best Techo color, and said the following:

Stealthy

Stealthy bc ninja and gecko go well together

S Tier

These Techos are placed on a pedestal and are considered the best that Neopia has to offer in terms of Techos. If you see fanart of a Techo, it's very likely that you will see at least one of these colors make an appearance. They are stereotypical favorites, especially to those who generally do not care for the Techo species, however. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is worth noting.

6. Maraquan Techo (26 votes)

Maraquan Techo is a fishy lizard under the sea! How cute! I'll take twenty of 'em! I honestly don't have too much to say about Maraquan Techo, everyone loves them and I do too. There were some Maraqua Guards that were Techos in the Curse of Maraqua plot, that's cool. Also, Maraquan Techo used to have three fingered webbed hands techo_maraquan_left.gif that were ditched when Maraquan Techo was converted. That's a bit of character that I wish wasn't lost, it was cute.

Despite Maraquan Techo placing in the top 10 Techos and reaching S Tier, nobody wrote in and said that they considered Maraquan Techo to be their favorite Techo color. How strange.

5. Mosaic Techo

Mosaic Techo placing high perplexes me in a few ways. First of all, it's a good design and I can see it being very appealing to a general audience, and I like it too. However, in the r/neopets Discord server mention list I've used to reference where to rank tied Techos, Mosaic Techo placed at the very bottom, with only 13 mentions at the time. There simply is not a whole lot of buzz around Mosaic Techo, yet somehow there are 28 more people that like Mosaic Techo than there are people who said Mosaic Techo's name. How odd. Secondly, I do think that recency bias plays a large role in Mosaic Techo's placement. Once Mosaic Techo is no longer the newest Techo (which will be true 3 months from now), I'm wondering how Mosaic Techo will do if I were to do a second round, for instance. I just think it's weird that nobody really goes around and says "I think Mosaic Techo looks cool", compared to say, Faerie, Steampunk, or Woodland Techos; yet is also somehow popular enough to place fifth. I also haven't seen anyone besides myself draw Mosaic Techo, though I can at least understand why: it's one of the worst and most frustrating Techo colors to draw because it's just that detailed.

Mosaic Techo is also likely based upon a real life lizard, though there has been some debate on which one it exactly is. The most commonly proposed candidates are the Rainbow Agama Agama.jpg, the Collared Lizard Common_Collared_Lizard.jpg, and the Neon Day Gecko neon_day_gecko_-_phelsuma_klemmeri_captive_bred_11__3-fcdaf68b.jpg. While the actual artist who drew Mosaic Techo will likely never be known as the near majority of Neopets artwork is uncredited or has no confirmed connection between artsits and therefore we will lilely not get a concrete answer, I think that Mosaic Techo resembles the Rainbow Agama the closest, though the Neon Day Gecko would make more sense as a basis, being a gecko and all.

One person considered Mosaic Techo to be their favorite Techo color above all others, and said the following:

Mosaic, because it’s pretty

4. Robot Techo (35 votes)

Robot Techo is a very intricate design, and is one that took advantage of the conversion update. With the unconverted designs, they had to be more simple to keep the artists sane. I won't lie and say that I don't prefer the simpler designs though, but that's not to throw any shade onto Robot Techo. Robot Techo's complexities have also caused some rendering issues, where at one point the eyes would be mixed up and normal, organic Techo eyes would appear 600-1.png if Robot Techo felt any other emotion than happiness, instead of a unique design 600-2.png. At one point, they fixed this by replacing all of the Robot Techo eyes with normal ones, making Robot Techo an emotionless robot. How sad. I think there's some good story potential for a Robot pet that inexplixably has organic Neopet eyes.

Robot was a common pick for an all time favorite Techo with 7 mentions in the "favorite Techo color" field, but here are three highlights of comments:

Robot; I love the design, one of my favorite robot neopets

Robot. The design is so cool and it activates my impulse to like anything that's a robot.

Robot looks cool

3. Baby Techo (38 votes)

Baby Techo has always been popular. I'm honestly baffled as to why, is Baby Techo popular because it's a Baby Neopet, or are there people who actually think it's cute? I know that it's common for Baby Neopets to have large heads, some to an obscene degree. However while some of the uncanilly large headed Baby pets like the Draik and Korbat were fixed when they were converted, Baby Techo was not. Real life baby geckos most of the time just look like small adults tokay-gecko-family.jpg, so here's my proposition Baby_Techo_but_better.png: Baby Techo can still have an oversized head suspended by a mere stick of a neck, but it's less oversized and therefore is more comfortable and realistic to the animal it is based upon. If my bias hasn't already been clear, I don't like Baby Techo.

The Baby Techo fact is that none of the unconverted artwork for Baby Techo techo_baby_baby.gif gives it a belly color, but the converted artwork does 7.png.

Baby Techo has been written in as an overall favorite Techo color by 6 people. Here are three highlighted favorite responses:

Baby!!!! The giant head little body. Plus I have one!

Baby techo. He's just adorable

Baby! I love the pose and eyes. I will say that if the old art was included, my answers would change a little 👀

2. Faerie Techo (56 votes)

If the Techo who took the number 1 spot didn't exist, then I think Faerie Techo would have won the poll. Faerie Techo is the final Techo here to also have an unconverted 7.png variant, and it may as well define what Faerie Techo is because this design is extremely popular. I should stress that I never actually grew up with unconverted era Neopets and therefore I don't have any nostalgia for it. By the time it was gone, I had just turned 3 years old. I started playing Neopets when I was 4 and it was still rather early into the conversion era. However, I do think that Faerie Techo's unconverted design is great. I like the more expressive posing obviously, but I also like how the wings stretch all the way to the base of the tail, it makes it appear elegant. However, I wouldn't say the converted design 7.png is bad. It's pretty faithful to the original design and the only real changes are the wings and the antennae stem color turning from blue to orange. Even the converted Faerie Techo design got some extra artwork as a user shopkeeper 2193.gif and it doesn't look bad at all.

Faerie Techo is also infamous for having it's converted wing design being altered and repurposed for the Faerie Skeith 4.png, having some extra colors added and having colored outlines all around it. How bizarre.

Faerie Techo, being once the most popular Techo color ever, had six people say that they considered Faerie to be their favorite Techo color, and these are three highlighted comments by them:

faerie. the color scheme is nice and i just generally enjoy faerie pets

Faerie. Its UC is superior, but i still love the color pallete and its wings.

Faerie: I really love its shape and color scheme, mostly on its unconverted form!

1. Woodland Techo (79 votes)

Woodland Techo dethroning Faerie Techo as the most beloved Techo color was something that I had considered to be possible, but I thought the hype for Woodland Techo would have died off after a year. I was wrong, and here we are now. I'm not sure where I can start with Woodland Techo, other than the obvious: it's based off a uroplatus phantasticus, more commonly known as the satanic leaf-tailed gecko medium.jpeg.jpg. It was also based upon a user suggestion, though I can't remember who it was. If you're out there reading this, say hi!

Woodland Techo managed to rise above the otgers in a short amount of time. I saw love for Steampunk Techo and some relatively quick fanart as well, but I also saw the same for Woodland Techo to a greater degree. I'm very pleased to see that Woodland Techo is still alive and well in terms of relavancy, and I'm glad that we got what we did.

Unsurprisingly, most people have written in that they considered Woodland Techo to be their favorite Techo color overall, with a total of 35 people mentioning that they considered Woodland Techo to be their favorite Techo color. That's nearly half of the amount of people that voted Woodland Techo to be simply among their favorites. That must mean that the strong impression they give is a stong one indeed. Here are three highlighted comments about Woodland Techo:

Woodland- I love the reference to satanic leaf tailed geckos!

my favorite is the woodland techo!! i think it looks really interesting and i love the sort of forestcore vibe it has. also think it's based off of a real type of lizard (though i'm not sure) and i really love when colours do that!!

Woodland techo, its cute, creative, and well-executed.

The complete Tier List

File:Techo community tier list.png|right|thumb I also took the time to compile all of the data into an actual tier list image. Didn't take long anyways, and if helps to visualize my point, then it overall doesn't hurt. Regardless, here is the tier list of the tier list Techo_Tier_List.png.

Do you like Techos?

Lastly, I had one more question on the poll: What is your opinion on the Techo species as a whole?, which had five options as follows:

  • I strongly like them
  • I like them.
  • I am neutral towards them.
  • I dislike them.
  • I strongly dislike them.

Out of the 170 responses, 164 indicated their opinion on the Techo species as a whole. I wonder what those 3.53% of people who didn't vote on this question actually thought of Techos. As a binary checkbox option, I have no idea into the further cognition and rationale behind those who voted and those who did not vote's in depth opinion on Techos, but I'm not sure what I'd do with that data even if I had opted to collect it.

The most popular opinion on Techos is ambivelence and indifference, as 67 people, or 40.9% of voters indicated that they were neutral towards Techos. This is about the response I expected. Techos are not popular. The fact that we got new merch of Techos in 2023 as a glittery enamel pin is incredible, but I can also imagine that they didn't make very many of them, didn't sell well, or both (I bought two myself). While there are other species with more feverent and known haters such as Chias, Kikos, or Vandagyres, Techos generally slip under the radar and nobody would care about them either way.

The second most popular opinion was that they liked them, but didn't love them either. With 50 people, or 30.5% of voters saying that they simply like Techos. I was surprised that this number is as high as it is, because you usually don't see may Techo fans. However, my best guess is that these are just people who passively see them and think "oh, that's cool/cute/neat". Perhaps there is a silent majority of people who do in fact like Techos, and that the people who hate them are a vocal minority. Though based on all of the current data we have for Neopet popularity, such as various polls done by other users; I sadly don't think that this scenario is likely. Or maybe the voters were sparing my feelings.

In the middle is people that dislike Techos, front and square with no frills. Not hate per se, but simple disgust. 23 people, or 14% of voters said that they felt this way about them. If I was surprised that there were more people that said that they actually like Techos instead of disliking them, then the same apllies here, as I thought there would be more dilike votes. Early on into the poll, the like and dislike votes were nearly evenly matched, with dislike votes pulling ahead of like votes a few times.However, the like votes ultimately prevailed and there are now more than double people who said that they like Techos rather than dislike them. Happy ending, I suppose.

Second to last is people who love Techos, with 18 people, or 11% of responses saying that they loved Techos. Again, this is a number that I wish was higher, but I also know that it would have been impossible to even get it the third most voted option. I in fact expected it to be the least voted option. Again, I wonder if there were simply people who were voting that wished to spare my feelings or something, because even if this isn't a huge number, it feels... Off.

Naturally, the least amount of people who had an opinion on Techos was one of hatred, with only 6 people saying so, or 3.6%. There were a lot fewer of these than I expected, and I had anticipated seeing at least 15 hate votes in the poll. Perhaps people who hate Techos so much were just disgusted by the poll to the point that they didn't want to interact with it? I know very well that there are some avid Techo haters out there that are reading this, and you know who you are. I'll respect your opinion and at least you are honest with yourself.

Conclusion

This took way longer to write out than I had anticipated to do so. I wanted to get this out the day the poll closed (Tuesday), If you'd like to see a copy of the auto generated table of data that Google gives, then you can view it here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uS3XsI3RBlMv28RrqEUeonHXHWw6rwRlm0A4A4Oa0W0/edit?usp=drivesdk. I don't plan on doing a similar poll like this for any othe other Neopet species, but you are free to take my idea and execute it if you want to find out the same result for Yurbles, Bruces, Ogrins, etc.

I do plan on doing something similar in the future: a bracket tournament between various colors that were removed, scrapped, only for Petpets, and only in Petpet Park, and I'm hoping to have the first round opened up early next week. I hope all of you partcipate in it when it comes!

Thanks for reading, and see you later!

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