The Bizarre Lore of Animal Jam

Animal Jam is a popular online game played by millions of people for over a decade! In that time, there seems to have been a storyline that is only kind of important. Join me as I talk about what made this game stand out and where it went wrong!
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⭐️Music Used (In Order)
~I should really start naming my mp3 files but this is from Club Penguin
~Yoshi's Island (Partners in Time)
~Pause Theme (Mario Strikers Charged)
~Cove Area (Pokepark 2)
~To Battle! (Club Penguin)
~Secret Level (Octodad)
~5pm (New Horizons)
~Yoga (Wii Fit)
~World 5 Map (NSMBWii)
~Bonus Room Blitz (Donkey Kong Country)
~Pizzatron 3000 (Club Penguin)
~Lost Impact (Shadow The Hedgehog)
~Chanson d' Automne (Risk of Rain)
~Ice Fishing (Club Penguin)
(Outro) Battle Against a Mobile Opponent
The Bizarre Lore of Animal Jam

[@calamaria9221]

It's crazy how they went from collabing with National Geographic to helping ruin the planet with NFTs.

[@dominichowell961]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here lol. Nat Geo is a massive corporation. They do a lot worse for the environment than NFTs, which are really no less harmful than anything computerized

[@BlueCollaredK9]

​@@dominichowell961 yeah regardless nfts suck ass so do megacorps

[@shupasopni]

@@dominichowell961 w/e NFT bro

[@limebloodedleviathan]

​@@SpeedyTime cinder is litterally completely based on nfts

[@Ryle3e]

Cinder is failed. It’s probably gonna shut down

[@may0nade]

i will say, one of the most important things you missed in this vid was how they literally had to get rid of ALL bed items because people were rping sex on them. the slight nod to the pillow room was frfr though and the horrors that still go on in there are awful

[@rats703]

Wait what

[@a.c.1515]

oh naw not the pillow room i can still see the people typing abc and asking to be adopted

[@ninjaempress5183]

And the word “bed” is completely banned to say

[@Azurethewolf168]

Wait wtf

[@Azurethewolf168]

@@ninjaempress5183 I think this and the hackers is what made animal jam known to me and many others, for a few months that’s all that happened there

[@BigDrippa06]

I was very concerned there wasn’t going to be a crocodile village. Thanks Choopo for reassuring that there was in fact a crocodile village.

[@anglecringe6917]

I love they left out Tavie in the alpha headquarters the only one whos an amputee lmao

[@iulianatesu3316]

I will never forget Wildworks for killing Feral. The game had so much potential and such a cool story but it was shut down.. for a NFT game!

[@yaoimessiah]

Crazy that we were testing for Cinder and we ain't never knew till it was announced 👽 all for jack shit too cus even the nft bros didn't like it LMFAO. Should've just kept feral idk what Clark was thinking

[@testerwulf3357]

@@yaoimessiah Fr the NFT game failed hardcore..should've kept with feral

[@konpeitojellie]

Did you know they planned on adding evolution? :(

[@ech0_0nslaught]

i only played feral a few times but it was literally so fun ☹️ dunno why they ruined it all

[@chkingvictim]

i miss it so much 😭😭 didn’t know how good i had it…

[@boxylemons7961]

Animal Jam devs: hey kids, we gotta save the planet and protect nature also the Animal Jam devs: *makes an NFT game*

[@AwesomeYena]

"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain" - Harvey Dent, "The Dark Knight"

[@genericname2747]

Money

[@BudDinktrap]

I feel like Nat Geo was the one thing keeping these devs under control earlier on... it's a shame they quit involvement with the game

[@torterra1826]

I hope there's an itch under your skin that keeps moving

[@25VolarSleet]

why tho@@torterra1826

[@nebula_ash819]

if you read the fman122 creepypasta as a kid and were terrified that your account was going to be hacked, you are legally entitled to a veteran’s discount.

[@wolfkitty42]

N- No, you’re not. Maybe in a few decades...?

[@nebula_ash819]

@mel woif it’s… a joke…?

[@alexiawilliams4619]

@@wolfkitty42 why the hell are u stuttering in ur comment 💀💀

[@wolfkitty42]

@@alexiawilliams4619 to express my sheer shock and confusion

[@Rapiers-and-flowers]

@mel wolf r/whoosh

[@TheMarketableJackFrost]

The fact that there’s so much overly complicated lore and history for these MMOs for children is astonishing

[@thewolfleader500]

Living through it, I just didn't bother to read most of it. I appreciate the effort that must've gone into it though.

[@AwesomeYena]

@@thewolfleader500 I loved it and read anything I had access too :D-)

[@thewolfleader500]

@@AwesomeYena im glad :3 i was like one of the 5% who didnt care for sm reason

[@yaoimessiah]

@thewolfleader500 Speak for urself dawg I remember ppl always going nuts over a new story quest or whatever the hell they were called and piecing together the lore. It was fun asf.

[@pillbugm8914]

@@AwesomeYena Same I loved the story more than the social aspect

[@Krampy2]

Animal Jam was my childhood and the game has changed so much. But I must say your explanation of the caste system in Animal Jam was spot on.

[@thewolfleader500]

Animal Jam was merely an introduction to the modern economic class system Ya know.. for kids!

[@AwesomeYena]

The game hasn't changed much, but the players sure have.

[@thefloppdontstop4405]

Cattails fan ?

[@Krampy2]

@@thefloppdontstop4405 Yes!!! Very excited for the full Wildwood release

[@user-bk6xu6kb7n]

webkinz was mine

[@Emperor-Quill]

Animal Jam (the Classic version) was my favorite thing to play as a kid. The tutorial screen I remember was being on a boat with Liza. Also the music slapped unecessarily hard for a kid's game.

[@leroiloup01aj58]

Uh... on a boat ? With Liza ????? What do you mean ? The tutorial was always with Peck.. on land..

[@PuertoRicanGlow2010]

@@leroiloup01aj58Yeah, if you joined in 2016 and beyond that is

[@AwesomeYena]

@@leroiloup01aj58 Then what are these? kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJ-Tk6eaeslgibs kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3uXpIOPgLJll7s kzbin.info/www/bejne/lXWXn6KXoLpkgrc

[@fallencyano9015]

​​​@@leroiloup01aj58 there was one with liza on a boat in 2014 and even a different tutorial before then! (also with liza.) in the super old one i think you just spawned near mira statue and she just showed you stuff if you ever want to see them, you can look up 'old animal jam tutorial' for the boat one, and 'how to create animal jam account 2012' for the older one, look for the video made 10 years ago, its a bit harder to find

[@avabackupaccount]

@@PuertoRicanGlow2010I first joined in 2016 lol

[@Beeverssss]

I'll never forget being an outcast and getting kicked out of places for being too broke when my parents wouldn't let me get a membership. Another great video, brought back a lot of memories!

[@Azurethewolf168]

Club penguin memories 😢

[@thewolfleader500]

literally every childrens mmo would have some form of bullying nons

[@pillbugm8914]

I remember there being some bullying in retrospect but I was so socially unaware at that age that I didn't know I was being ostracized for not shelling out for that membership.

[@ebbam4524]

I haven't played Animal Jam in years but I would occasionally get the membership when my parents let me. I actually still have an unused 3 month membership card from back then.

[@-AccountVisible]

@@alleee8322 holy shiz samee I remember being so envious about their stuff and dens lmao

[@roachmilk385]

Hello! I’ve been playing AJ for 10 years (I don’t play much anymore but I do on occasion) and there actually a few lore drops you missed! There actually is an ending to the lore, which began with the release of the platform-style adventures, including finding Mira’s feather, and releasing the temple of zios which is a visitable room in game. You also get to meet zios in the adventure “the trials of zios”. The conclusion of the game plot is basically that the phantom fortress (where all the phantoms are manufactured) is destroyed fully and it explodes and whatnot. This is where I lost most of my interest in Animal Jam because my favorite parts were always with the lore, and when it all got wrapped up it felt underwhelming. But overall AJ will always be an incredibly nostalgic and fuzzy-feeling game to me, and I really wish Wild Works would turn at least a little attention back to AJ as opposed to AJPW.

[@barumph]

i would've definitely expected the series to end with the alphas convincing the phantoms that they should be friends and then have them as like a new alpha-in-training or something like they could've had an event, adventure, and everything?

[@roachmilk385]

@@barumph right?! Like they could have made it so much more exciting but the last adventure is literally just bringing a heart stone back to jamaa. It felt so disappointing, especially since there had been a consistent amount of lore drops leading up to it (especially starting with the release of sheep) that hadn’t been seen in years and to end it so quickly was super sad because to me, when I was little, the adventures were my favorite part of AJ. I just think it could have gone so much better and been more satisfying, especially for the lore ending of an almost 13 yr old game.

[@LavenderCorpses]

@@roachmilk385 That totally sucked! I never thought that was the intended ending to the adventures considering the fact that there's still 2 crystals missing from the Alpha Headquarters (which suggests they intended to make more adventures with new mechanics), but at this point, I doubt they'll ever be filled... I've been waiting for years LOL. Did anything even happen after the introduction of Juno and Balloosh? I feel like that's where things just never concluded. It was the biggest lore drop since the Phantom Fortress imo and I suspect that the lack of uproar (due to the slowly dwindling community) made them focus more on other lower effort aspects.

[@brokenpayphone]

Hey! I'm a fanfiction writer for AJ! I'm impressed you've lasted that long on that site (lol)... The lore isn't too fleshed out, which is why I tried to build up over that, but I'd love to know what else happens in the platformers since I was actually kind of terrible at those!

[@katemclain5617]

@@brokenpayphone Honestly interested in these fanfics, would you mind sharing a couple?

[@benjaminwho4265]

Bro sounded like he had never experienced the thrill of going to the computer lab once every couple of days in elementary school and going hog-wild on this game for 40 minutes straight. Just seeing those minigames and areas in-game was like pure nostalgic bliss. What a shame the company did with it. Animal Jam 9 years ago was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my childhood. Thanks for reminding me why I loved it so. Cheers!

[@BozeDoesGodsWork]

YESSSSS! THIS RIGHT HERE!

[@-AccountVisible]

Ah I remember playing on my old laptop logging in to animal jam and getting to interact with everything playing in the mud , going to the beach , getting ice cream etc so nostalgic

[@kentucky_fc]

And getting adopted by someone with a membership lol

[@autumnuncle]

playing animal jam at a young age introduced me to a overwhelming understanding of the economy and learning business scams

[@CloverIess]

Real for this. I feel like I have real world common sense from all the dumb scams I fell for back in the day.

[@user-cupidscorner]

To this day, I firmly believe they only made up those “phantom lines” that destroyed club geoz simply to get rid of that building because club geoz was a popular spot for kids to online date and it was getting ridiculous. I say this because after that building was destroyed by these mysterious lines we never heard anything else about them. They just took Club geoz and dipped.

[@3mbps]

i think it had more to do with them ending their partnership with national geographic

[@starfruitique]

Club Geoz was removed from the game because it's namesake comes from National Geographic, who Wildworks ended their partnership with. The Power Lines actually first showed up in 2015 in the Greely's Hideout den but were fully introduced in the Forgotten Archive prior to the Eclipse.

[@Veiraviss]

Hi, I'm from the future. The Lines of Power are back. On classic. Knowing WildWorks, it could be either a very good sign, or a very bad sign...

[@iamfish4349]

From the future three weeks after the last comment. Not only is the lines of power back, but club geoz returned. They put club geoz where the pillow room was and moved the pillow room to up near the furniture store and blamed it on the phantoms

[@tabitharust304]

​@@iamfish4349wait what that is so random why would they bring it back lol???? I thought they took it away because they weren't partnering with nat geo anymore(rip Brady barrs adventure thing, you will always be remembered and I will never forgive AJ for taking you away from the game).

[@bramblestar334]

Greely is important purely because of the amount of edgy fanart I'm sure he has and how many people made overpowered Animal Jam ocs who were "Greely's kids" and stuff. I'm saying this as one of those people. He's still my favorite alpha.

[@LavenderCorpses]

This made me laugh remembering when I tried so hard to one-up the other edgy Greely kid jammers, and I ended up saying that my character was the child of the Phantom King himself and I made it my whole personality for like a month.

[@cyncir]

Does anyone remember WisteriaMoon 😅

[@LavenderCorpses]

That's so sad!! :(( I hope they're doing okay.@FlametheArcheopteryx

[@rabiddonkeyy]

OH MY GOD YOU GET IT i looooved him when i was a kid

[@SW-xs8df]

I literally ripped off the scene from httyd 2 where hiccup's mom was revealed but instead of mom it was. Greelys kid. Also they got chased off a cliff by phantoms

[@hayleeh18]

Having experienced AJ in its prime and playing for a loooong time, there was a LOT that happened in that game that we should never tell parents about ever 😂

[@abreakfastfaceproduction2598]

I wasnt there and so im deadly curious 🐍

[@via_.mariah]

@@abreakfastfaceproduction2598 lots of sexual role play lmfao

[@jiren29]

I played animal jam as a kid back in 2014, and it's pretty disappointing that even now, they haven't bothered to add any new content

[@AwesomeYena]

They physically can't due to the programming of the game. It would take a long time to reprogram it too.

[@yaoimessiah]

That's what happens when you make a game on a now defunct engine unfortunately

[@pillbugm8914]

It's because WildWorks is wack af now.

[@fallencyano9015]

they havent really even put adventures (that actually feel like adventures) in the new version

[@viiperbiite]

@@AwesomeYenaThen they need to update their systems, hire competent programmers and better story writers

[@salmonsalem6159]

4:33 I played as a Seal on animal jam for most of middle school. I always thought it was the most convenient as you kept the same animal from land to water. And I had a keychain seal so it all worked out. But hardly anyone ever played as a seal. It took me till now to realize that it was because there was no seal alpha. Thanks man, great video as always

[@BudDinktrap]

Fellow seal enjoyer

[@swirlshine]

One of my first 2 animals ever was a seal too! I wish they got more love... it IS a bit odd (and misleading) how their flippers got replaced with paws, but they were so cute! Also, I think there is a technical seal Alpha (Harper), they just aren't in the game and only exist as those Alpha statue-heads.

[@cyborgmonday4817]

When I started playing, I wanted to play as a horse. I then learned that horses were for members only, so I played a seal and named it Empress Frozenhorse. It was blue and covered in lightning bolts.

[@brokenpayphone]

There is Harper! There isn't any active seal alpha- most of the alphas aren't active- but there are alphas from before the current time in the lore!

[@viiperbiite]

tf is a keychain seal

[@lakewaltz]

I forgot ALL about the whole Greely faking his death stuff and Fman hacking scares. Man this video brought back memories omg

[@lakewaltz]

Also Aparri, Wisteriamoon, and bepper. Mannnnn

[@LightRainbows]

@@lakewaltzI remember all three of them, they were fun to watch

[@Jacox98]

Im never prepared going into these videos- I'll assume it's just about a silly kids game then you immediately start discussing ancient histories of complex battles spun from religious influenced conflicts. This is why you're the best at this

[@comicalace]

I was such an animal jam kid when i was in middle school and i solely played it for the community and the trading economy lmao... i always thought it was so crazy that millions of children somehow were able to create an entire economy within a game. literally there were like tiers of rarity, like headdresses were worth like 8 black spikes and black spikes were worth 2 blue collars. the spike color itself had its own worth too, like all i remember is that black is the rarest, then blue, then yellow, then green, then orange. kids were crazy on that game man

[@deerlyqueery]

Memories of begging my parents or grandparents for an AJ membership, and never playing after I lost it because I couldn't be a badass Arctic Wolf anymore

[@EternalTheMandarinGoddess]

Damn, Choopo really is the second coming of Sam o' Nella. Except he talks about videogames and such instead of real life events, which hey. I'm not complaining.

[@toad786]

Both use MS Paint

[@GamerTim3]

they sound similar too

[@drago_melon]

thanks for covering the whole animal jam downfall and even adding a feral segment. i beta tested for feral, and i admit it was incredibly confusing and buggy, but i had such high hopes. wild works is rly disappointing and i hope at some point they will realize how little people care about cinder or play wild, and need to adjust to their current and past demographic

[@Bonniethebunny]

Cinder shut down too. Really quickly. I also was a closed tester for feral. One of the last couple waves, but yes. Also, i am not defending wildworks at all here, but if they keep trying to appeal to their older demographic, they will eventually all grow out of the game. Gotta find ways to breathe new life into it too. They still make poor decisions tho. So many poor decisions. So many to the point they had to fuse with another company just to stay afloat. So yea, one day WildWorks will officially be gone.

[@dataexpunged93N15]

I don't think Play Wild is bad, honestly both the og and PW are still fun and nostalgic for me, and I still play it off and on. Like the nocturnal animals, pack runs, phantom potions, and pet expeditions are all things I think should be in the OG as well, but are only in PW, and PW needs some stuff the OG has as well, like the adventures. (I would admittedly be playing classic more if I had a computer tho.)

[@starrythekitsune3900]

Feral was like animal jam but for older kids and the customization for it was peak, i made a starry night themed kitsune and i loved it, sad that it left

[@wormhol3]

im an aj veteran, never was a member and now at 19 i only play pw bc it's way more forgiving and gives you more opportunities. while classic for nonmembers was just 5% of the game basically and you couldn't get diamonds easily. so pls don't diss pw it's wild works' redemption 🙏

[@woofnuggiez]

@@Bonniethebunny I hope not. As playing animal jam is the one way i can feel comforted and go back to the good days when my mom wasnt terminally ill. It gives me a comfort no other game can, to see it all disappear would really F me up, ngl. I hate to see so much greed from people and companies these days, instead of caring more about their players and people who love and support the games. I agree though..I hope they figure it out. :(

[@wolfofdawn4053]

I played 'clasic' from its early days. I remember absoluteley adoring it, I spent an insane ammount of time in it and did everything you could do. It also did make me more interested in nature which was most likeley one of the many things that lead me to studying ecology. I say all this but the gamewas also weird for sure, mind you I was mostly in it for the minigames and general vibe of feeling surounded by others without the need to acutaly talk to anyone.

[@ghoultooth]

One of Animal Jam’s biggest selling points to me was just how FULL servers could be. It didn’t feel lonely or empty and there were always people ready to roleplay or chat

[@JinxMCX0C]

Those were the days….

[@MajorCloog]

I knew you made videos about bizzare obscure shit but I would never think you’d even touch this, truly a blessing!

[@arsonlord4628]

Lmao yeah, wouldn't ever have thought he'd make one about this

[@-shadelight-]

omg two creators i like cloog and choopo

[@thewolfleader500]

reminder that cloog used aj for a time

[@sugarpixiess]

@@thewolfleader500 and also drew tons of gore of furries being killed and murdered along with ppl from aj

[@thewolfleader500]

@@sugarpixiess everyone's gotta turn 9 at some point

[@ursfan]

Club Geoz was not destroyed by the phantoms, but by the convergence of "the lines of power" soon after the 2017 Eclipse event. The lines of power were a lore thing that was teased all the way back in 2015 with the Greely's Hideout den and then expanded upon within The Forgotten Archive, but ultimately AJHQ... didn't bother sticking with their own lore long enough to explain any further than that.

[@wolfkitty42]

I mean... The new updates are working with the lines of power again.

[@ursfan]

@@wolfkitty42 I've heard!!! Very exciting :]

[@This.Is.Weird.]

@@wolfkitty42 new updates? I feel like I missed something now, can you tell me about it?

[@lifesaverjacket5151]

I'm pretty sure that the developers took some MAJOR inspiration from Japanese mythology! Zios and Mira reminds me of Izanagi and Izanami (Yes, they were siblings so I guess its a bit odd for Zios to fall in love with Mira..). After Izanagi visited the Yomi (Kind of like hell,he went there to see Izanami again but got really enraged after seeing her dead body) he purified himself by bathing in river of Tachibana in Himuka, and from his tears and snot (yes snot) the three major gods were born which were the sun goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami, the moon deity Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, and the storm god Susanoo-no-Mikoto. (Susanoo was kind of a bitch so I guess thats kinda inspiration behind the phantom goons.)

[@compaj5381]

I grew up playing this (est 2011) and let me tell you, the history goes so much deeper than this. Especially when it comes to player history.

[@dullsunrise8820]

I used to play AJ a ton and I remember when the Adventures thing came out. Never seen a bunch of kids theorize the plot of an MMO before and the fact that there was still more added even after I stopped playing amazes me.

[@thepowersaw6245]

The Animal Jam lore is cool and all, but it pales in comparison to the lore my best friend from like 7 years ago made the fuck up. According to this friend, the Phantoms in Animal Jam were not the little bad guy creatures, but a mysterious secret hacker group that was plotting to destroy Animal Jam, and the only way tocombat them was to discern the secrets hidden in the zerg rush Google easter egg game, which would reveal the hidden weakness of the Phantoms. (I was very gullible as a kid. Shit was wild)

[@Cheeriowenq]

This the first game I ever played. Thank you for bringing back my life as a child. I would spend all of my like 30 minutes of “screen time” in animal jam. This was THE game of my childhood and among my friends. Animal jam was a true diamond in the rough and I think it got too much hate for what it was. It was a children’s game where you play as a animal things and fight blob things. Anyways, thanks for bring this to the spotlight, I have uncovered my past.

[@m0tiivatii0n]

YES. I was such a lore freak back then, when they changed the OG lore I was like.. OK What the hell happened?? Everything was just tossed/mixed up and I was so confused.. and still made about it after over 10 years loool.

[@VinRocks]

I too, after being informed of this injustice, hate how the ladybug was replaced by the butterfly.

[@Evelyn_onfire]

as someone who was raised on Animal Jam, this video was very fun to watch.

[@galaxystarrs5432]

I played animal jam so much as a kid. I'm never paid any attention to lore but I'm kind of glad there is some lore.

[@wolftail2558]

DUUUUUUUUUDE I've played Animal Jam since I was like seven and my favorite thing about it was the lore and the roleplay. I'm still upset the story behind this game was set aside (And also, they made really bad choices after Greely's 'death' arc besides the bottle mistery thingy) And now I'm disappointed the prolog was changed- What I mean is, the story looked a lot more magical back then. The adventures made everything so misterious and seven year old me was itching to know more about that story. There is too much I could talk about Animal Jam but nah. I can only say my times in this game were amazing while it lasted; I truly felt like I belonged to that world as a kid. Times like those won't ever come back hahaha

[@mylamewman2329]

I never thought that Choppo would cover my childhood

[@_Coopernicus_]

Watching this video actually reminded me of a game called prodigy. You should do a video about it

[@wolfkitty42]

Spamton spotted

[@swirlshine]

As someone who was a huge Animal Jam fan while it was in its prime, and who also used to love Dash Tag... I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT TAG WITH RYAN??!!! WILDWORKS FELL OF SO BADLY OH GEEZ

[@kaijuteeth]

this made me so sad because i fell for a "free diamonds" scam and lost my account and i remember spending HOURS for rare things like an orange beard or rare spike collars and i played play wild just a few seconds ago and it just... wasnt the same 😭😭😭

[@Twinklethefox9022]

Same but I didn't loose my account, I just gave my laptop a virus. I did loose my account because of that wide spread hack and then I think I either deleted the email tied to it or I forgot what the email was. Either way I tried to get back into it and I think I miss the memories rather than the game itself.

[@nicolecatlin]

I just turned 22 and I still play AJ regularly 😭 I cannot escape it and most people on AJ Classic are older because we all grew up with it. The lore makes me nerd out so hard, I love it sm, and PW RUINED IIIIIIT I hate PW but I mainly play it now because of how laggy classic is 💔💔

[@katemclain5617]

I have a big gaming rig and it still struggles to run classic, I feel like they abandoned ship over there :( I also play PW now, but that's mostly bc I found there are less member paywalls

[@viiperbiite]

lmao I have a full macbook and it runs just fine 99% of the time

[@Azurethewolf168]

I never knew so many childhood games had such complex lore 😂

[@makashiyo]

The OG Animal Jan used to be my life. Every Christmas I would get a bunch of membership cards so I would never run out of membership. I had almost all the animals and all the dens and had a fair amount of spikes too. I fell off around 2018 when I discovered roblox tho 💀

[@KD_Razzii]

I grew up with animal jam and knowing the lore is great

[@_a_nomaly]

Animal Jam, Tanki, Wizard101, Miceforce, and the math game Prodigy summed up my childhood. These games helped me cope with my rough family life and gave me a type of joy I have trouble experiencing now because of life burnout. So sad that all these games fell off the face of the planet because of a lack of updates or updates that ruined the games.

[@chadgorosaurus4898]

I like how that whale eats all the fish throughout the video's runtime before Bobo eats it.

[@A.falling_Leaf]

Hi, I'm heavily involved in the games industry and live near SLC (where WildWorks is). WildWorks is rather infamous rn. They used to be a decent company, nothing too special but safe, to SUPER unreliable. There's constant change of leadership (which means change is direction (which means projects don't get finished/time they need)), consistent layoffs (because of poor project performance), and little-to-no room for growth (which means people leave). They've become flakey and seemingly change on a dime which, when working on a game, is v bad. There's still people there full of passion, but the company is quickly stagnating as they can't attract/keep employees. It's really heartbreaking tbh I used to want to work there so bad but now it just isn't a smart idea to, and no fresh blood means no fresh games/ideas😞

[@Kek_AJ]

I'm glad you made this video, when people make retrospectives on old flash games in this video format Animal Jam always seems to be left out of the conversation. Great video!

[@Ivy-hm3ip]

Feral was such a lovely game, I miss it dearly. I remember when they announced its retirement in place of the nft game and it just destroyed the niche community of older players who grew up with Animal Jam. It had so much potential and was cut off before its time

[@CheesyLizzy]

I remember how my bsst friend in 5th grade used her email address to help me make an Animal Jam account, and then she moved away a year later, and I was never able to buy a membership because I didn't know what her email was The game was fun to run around in when i played it though ^^

[@LeamonPuppy]

This was a great video, covers most of WildWorks shenanigans and the confusing lore on animal jam.

[@_sludge_]

Finally. The prophecies foretold this moment.

[@didntknowyoucouldchangethi]

Man, Animal Jam was my childhood. Everything about it is so nostalgic for me. I still come back to it every now and then, but its not the same anymore. Well, I guess everybody's gotta grow up at some point...

[@netba_art]

i remember getting into AJ after seeing their ad and how they collaborated with national geographic. I loved learning about the environment and the planet so those fun facts and jamaa journal stuff absolutely got me into the game... until years later i realized nothing much in the updates have been happening. And I still remember being shocked reading when the AJHQ replied to me that they weren't associated with National Geographic at all... until eventually I realized the game's system and it slowly drove me off it. It was fun while it lasted, and ngl the game still had a massive influence to my love of art, i think the game has a lovely art style

[@wesleycook278]

Literally like just last month I was trying to search through KZbin to see if anyone had made an Animal Jam lore video but I could only find ones from like 5+ years ago 💀 thank you so much for making this

[@SparkleWolf404]

Small correction, that screenshot you had at 16:29 that wasn't a real cinder screenshot. That was a parody video I made mocking cinder. Cinder's UI is actually orange and doesn't use the frostfete version of shattered bay. there is also no astral shop and season pass.

[@benpasterski5106]

I missed playing Animal Jam. I remember that me and a friend had our hut pimped out and were living like kings. We played during the early 2000s.

[@lullabird4171]

Animal Jam released in 2010 though?

[@lllemonify]

I don't like when people say feather head dresses are cultural appropriation and say it's bad cause a lot of my family and even me are native American and we all think it's cool and fun to see head dresses in media

[@yaoimessiah]

Having headdresses in the game in and of itself isn't cultural appropriation, it's just the way they were used. Headdresses aren't a fashion piece to be worn however, they hold important significance within tribes. They don't teach you about its history in game, which would've been nice, but instead they were seen and used as a commodity which is disrespectful. It's like those stereotypical native costumes you see being sold at Spirit Halloween.

[@testerwulf3357]

@@yaoimessiah People misusing them wasn't the most appropriate (though tbf most were children), but them being in the game wasn't a bad thing; the game focused more on wildlife and preserving the earth than culture so that's likely why they never talked about it

[@oof5740]

​@@testerwulf3357but native american culture IS important to preserve wildlife.

[@FrilledMayfly_AmberlyFerrule]

I played so much Animal Jam as a kid. I remember trading something valuable in the jungle temple place to learn a glitch that lets ya go onto the scenery, easily worth it. It was my ticket to being cool despite being a non member, same with the "black hole glitch", placing enough items in the same spot would create a black box. Managed to get a membership for a while and I remember that summer being amazing with the carnaval event. Animal Jam was fun, but oh boy... the pillow room gives me war flashbacks

[@stevetuck6599]

I love seeing you explain the lore of games that were instrumental to my childhood and many others. Would love to see a video on toontown, and all of its ports and remakes. Toontown is one of the most interesting ones from a lore perspective and has different timelines depending on where you look. It’s absolutely insane and may require a longer video, but I would love to see you tackle that game.

[@madsjaster]

Animal jam allowed me to be a mob boss made of a huge gang of middle schoolers. It will always have a special place in my heart.

[@felsiccanis]

After playing this game since I was like 6, I am only just now noticing the very obvious frozen plesiosaur in the area I often went to.

[@azuredusk991]

I have so many memories from animal jam back when I first started back in 4th grade and I still play it to this day. Thank you for making this it’s now my favorite video from this channel

[@noahkendrick]

Did anyone else notice how the fish slowly disappeared from the background?

[@toad786]

It is noticed at the end

[@maccamachine]

I loved any mmo/virtual world as a kid back then they were huge so there was no shortage. I played this one a little bit but not as much as some I did play the Kung fu panda world though it’s similar to this you should take a look at that one!

[@hibiscuspetals02]

I remember being obsessed with this game and finally getting a spiked collar after months of grinding, then I got hacked not long after. I was inconsolable for weeks and could never go back to playing after that 😔 I honestly thought this game was gone just like club penguin until this video

[@Candy_the_Cotton_Candy_Fox]

I used to play this since when i was younger. This also was the reason why I turned into a furry without knowing it.

[@leaftiger12]

I still love Animal Jam because that game gave me some of my best memories. But their fall from grace deeply upsets me. I didn’t even know that they just slapped poorly made skins on Dash Tag. I wish to make a game similar to Animal Jam with a better outlook. A game mainly to improve and create a good community rather than business opportunities. Unfortunately that would be very expensive and I know nothing about coding or programming. So :/

[@dewmilk7266]

I absolutely LOVED animal jam as a kid, which is where my current username comes from

[@undyne1]

I have so much to say about AJ (classic) since it was my childhood. I've played it since middle school and stopped somewhere around 7th grade-ish (I'm not entirely sure but it's somewhere before 8th grade). I used to beg my parents to buy me a membership but they'd always refuse (probably for the better). My mom knew AJ as the game where you play a wolf and dance to obtain diamonds lmfao. Yes, I was one of those gullible kids that believed in the diamond shop myth, but somehow I didn't believe in the mountain bridge myth. The game was so popular at my school, that the computer room teacher had to schedule like 20-30 minutes at the end of class just to let everyone play AJ. Kids would go cross the classroom asking for each others usernames/locations or to meet at their dens. Fun times. The pillow room was a place I'd rarely visit/avoid because it was full of cringy and predatory roleplaying, and it was also used for adoptions (players roleplaying as either kids or pets). I did "roleplay" as someone's child along with an old friend from middle school I used to be close with, since my friend invited me to do it and I agreed. Man, I miss my artic wolf mom and bunny sister. I wonder what both are up to. When I tried going back to AJ (somewhere around 2016) just to see what changed or if the game was still alive, I couldn't log in to my main account because it was locked and I had forgotten the password for the parent portal, and the email I used for the main account was my mom's yahoo email (is yahoo still a thing???). So I sent a support ticket to HQ using my own email and gave the account details to recover it, but they said they "deleted" the account's data and couldn't recover it, so I was screwed. Idk how that works or if they lied to me because I was still able to see my account and visit my own den using one of the 10 alt accounts I had that was friends with my main account. Rip to all my rares and beta items I guess. I did try Play Wild (the 3D mobile version) briefly, but I got bored of it quick and uninstalled it. It's pretty sad knowing where it is now but I'm glad I wasn't around for it and left when it was still great. I'd play AJ a lot along with MSP (Movie Star Planet) pretty much at the same time in middle school.

[@glockenspiel266]

i always hated how the alphas and lore had so much storytelling potential and they just... willingly not did anything with most of it. also, there are alphas for each animal, but you can only find them from the statues you can only buy in a certain shop. they're not brought up in the lore at all and were probably only made for the sake of clarifying there are indeed alphas for each species

[@ChubuPeng]

i remember just farming the shit out of lucky clovers and the forgotten desert for spiked collars lol (and honestly when aj did that free membership for a week code thingy a year back or so, yea i spent every minute on the game lol. even made 2 more accounts to farm more items)

[@spacegoldfish9481]

I just like being able to say “phantoms” in response to anything bad happening. I just find it inexplicably funny for no reason at akl

[@QuotedRut]

My childhood. Thank you for exploring the lore choopo.

[@arcticlaw9198]

I have a lot of fond memories of Animal Jam. It's what got me first interested in ecology and now I'm going to study environmental biology in university. I stopped playing after I maxed out the amount of den items a non member can have. It's really depressing to how things have fallen since .

[@bennyclover]

really hope there's a crocodile village in this game's lore EDIT: oh thank god

[@Thulumari]

This game was such a big part of my childhood, so glad you’re talking about it.

[@lillianwise8105]

I used to play this all the time as a kid, as for the RP stuff, it was at the peak of its time when I played. I remember that pillow room was full of people RP as adoptive children, GF, run away kids ex. and that shit could get weird real quick if you weren’t careful. But I remember enjoying it very much lol

[@creator_coco]

seriously my childhood game.. gives me so much fun nostalgia

[@lilygamingtheories1410]

Man I grew up on this game, it was really fun but there was definitely some weird things going on with the phantoms and stuff… I noticed back then in one of the houses there was a secret room that looked like a torture chamber…

[@jay-arts]

good video! as one of the few people who Cares Immensely About The Animal Jam Lore, there definitely is a lot of stuff you missed, but you said as much in the video so *shrug* the biggest thing you missed is why the rebrand happened- the death of adobe flash. animal jam (classic) is a flash game, so with the discontinuation of flash, it no longer was a browser game (now it's only playable as an app on pc and mac, way less accessible than play wild). it's actually been confirmed in an interview that the reason why ajc hasn't gotten any lore updates (or feature updates... or new animals.... etc) is because the game still runs on flash. there has been talk of ajc getting converted off flash and back to a browser game, and if that happens (i hope so!) i'm sure then we will get updates to the ajc lore (ajpw has its own lore.... they have dinosaurs in that game now, it's wild) the rest of this comment is giving some notes on stuff you missed, not to "um actually" you, just to inform! the alphas vs phantoms as presented in canon is definitely a very straightforward, non nuanced good vs evil conflict, but it does fit with the environmentalism themes of the game. from the start, phantoms have always represented pollution- they build massive factories to pollute jamaa, they're a pretty unsubtle metaphor one thing that's interesting about the chapter books (which of course i have read. i am normal about animal jam lore) is that they actually portray various phantoms as actual characters who speak and have names and etc. nice to know that you are killing sentient creatures with the same amount of awareness as you in the adventures! (the first chapter book is the most lore important, being the story of how the alphas came to be. the other three are various adventures that show different parts of jamaa) there actually is linearity (and dare i say mystery and intrigue) in the adventure lore. the first 16 adventures are all the same arc- stopping and destroying the phantom fortress. but the next adventures actually set up a new storyline! this storyline is about finding the ruins of an old city, and trying to discover what was lost from this ancient civilization. the last adventure, the river's heart, sets up for much more, but because of the end of flash we never got any follow ups :/ (this ancient city is the one that was attacked by phantoms, and the city that juno turned themself to stone to protect. when this was discovered in game, a new land was released)

[@giddyspiderboy]

i like how you just completely avoided even mentioning baloosh besides one gag with juno that you can easily miss

[@Rusue]

Ah I remember animal jam. Unfortunately my account with some rare items was probably deleted since I haven't logged in for a while

[@streetgum_]

oh man, i loved playing animal jam! i started playing in 2016 _[the OG!! but the pw/mobile one is ok]_ i liked to roleplay A LOT, play adventures, & go over the lore, i even have some of their merch!! the animal facts & educational in-game videos were funnn. _[kingdom rps with the average sky kingdom den & children with their op hybrid characters fighting over who's supposed to sit on the throne lmao]_ sadly, the game went to its downfall, the og is kind of dead, no new updates just the usual seasonal event & item recolors. this video was entertaining, i kind of want to visit the game for a bit, thanks :D

[@toad786]

I remember comparing the phantoms to Dark Matter from Kirby

[@toad786]

as well as begging someone for a spike collar aggagagagaa

[@jellymcmichaels4240]

They remind me of the Negative Energy Slime from Ghostbusters 2...

[@CetrouzOfficial]

Animal Jam was my childhood, probably for all the wrong reasons seemingly because i was more devoted to trading than anything else. But with the release of Feral, I was really excited because there was a clear effort on the game and it was a fresh experience for me, the customization options and anything else were pretty good and wasn't really pay 2 win like many other games were. When they announced Cinder and that Feral was just a test for this NFT new game I just flipped. I still hope to see a new game like Animal Jam, Feral or Club Penguin just so I can relive what I had in my childhood, but also wish they're created by competent companies who listens to their community.

[@juice3287]

15:41 i now formally request a star stable online video. ok but fr as an aj player back in the day this was a blast to watch, great summary of what things were like lmao

[@connorbeith3232]

Considering the game's from National Geographic, which is now owned by Disney, I hope the game doesn't suffer the same fate Club Penguin did.

[@m4nc0o]

great thing it was only a partnership! nat geo left it in 2017? (this is why club geoz was destroyed). wildworks however, is now owned by an indian based company called nazara!

[@AngelVazquez-vs9xp]

National Geographic left its partnership with wildworks after it was bought by Disney in 2019 and Wildworks was just recently sold and now owned by an Indian company called Nazara

[@TG03]

3:19 I just notice that I can see a Cheep Cheep plus an image of Tropical Resort from sonic colors. I like the details in the background.

[@Twinklethefox9022]

I miss animal jam. I used to play it a ton until i lost my account due to something that happened to mostly everyone on classic. I tried to play the app before and it seams kinda strange how the app wouldn't load unless i gave them permission to my camera. And everything else seamed broken. I couldnt even conect them via emial because i was told the email didnt exist or i put it in wrong. And i didn't know about the new lore.

[@NAME-yg8sl]

I lost my account due to getting banned. I had to make a new one and everything. I'm still slightly confused what I did to deserve the ban--although I have a slight idea.

[@whatever9097]

Can’t wait for Choopo to educate me about something fun and silly today!

[@joellema9879]

*looks at the posters behind Choopo* Omg Mr. Ray is missing?!??? :0 also capturing the chef from Octodad Dadliest catch will get me $50 million, nice. But seriously, we need to find Mr. Ray! How else will Nemo get his education! :(

[@Zenithsh]

Glad to see Bobo the baboon is here

[@Seagullfaces]

i am literally BEGGING you to make a video on littlebigplanet. the lore and storymode of the games are amazing

[@Juan-vm3wr]

I’ve been on a binge of your channel and it’s been a hell of a nostalgia shot. I don’t know if you’ve ever played it but you should do a video on Binweevils

[@ctntm]

The dippin dots in an aquarium hit me so hard 🥹

[@whammykablammy2357]

You should do toontown next. Toontown was my jam!

[@crouton_1823]

I played this game back when i was.... oh, 10? Way back before the ocean area was released. I have never once thought about this game until now and i might try to revisit it for old times sake

[@CherryPie_s]

Animal jam was one of my favorite games growing up and it was always super exciting when they released a new adventure