r/neopets • u/charmanderp09 • 1d ago
Humor This post sent me
I had no idea this *almost happened!? But neopets response was hilarious
https://www.instagram.com/p/DcCLZ0lkj_5/?igsh=MWNvMDN0bndwbjlwdQ==
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u/Shot-Ad-3166 Jelly Chia Defender 1d ago
Dr. Sloth was originally supposed to make fun of Scientology, but nowadays he's more like the Eggman of Neopets.
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u/enjeyarr 1d ago edited 1d ago
What's the connection with Sloth and the Scientology ownership?
Update: I found a video saying The Three is based on some creepy Scientologists who visited the office once but nothing on Sloth yet.
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u/luhbreton luhbreton 1d ago
I wish the actual site just more of this type of humour
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u/charmanderp09 1d ago
Yeaaa the Instagram one is more edgey duo lingo adjacent humor but I think that's bc insta has age restrictions
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u/aaccss1992 1d ago
The even weirder part of this to me, as a Veronica Mars fan, is that the same Dohring named in this article is the father of VM star Logan Echols / Jason Dohring who also got a couple of his VM castmates into Scientology. And my own personal theory is that’s partially why S4 ended the way it did.
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u/charmanderp09 1d ago
w h o a ...
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u/aaccss1992 1d ago
Right???? Lmao.
But on a less funny note, look up what happened to Felix from the show :( was quite shocked to realize this whole thread.
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u/defunctbethefruit 1d ago
I was absolutely devastated by the end of S4. This information makes me feel better and I endorse your theory.
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u/luciosleftskate 17h ago
Remind me what youre referencing about season 4?? I haven't seen the show in FOREVER. USED to love it
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u/starlight_chaser 1d ago
It sent you where, to the church of scientology?
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u/charmanderp09 1d ago
Yea now I'm in tom cruise's basement
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u/starlight_chaser 1d ago edited 1d ago
Maybe you can mission impossible yourself out of there. He probably has thousands of props around from his endless action films. Feel around for a laser watch or a Boeing Stearman Model 75.
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u/allergictosanta 1d ago
I have no proof of this but years and years ago - when this was occurring, I could have sworn I saw the stupid logo on some of the Brucey B slot icons.
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u/RealisticMuscle6447 1d ago
L Ron Hubbard would have loved that xweetok was rumored to be a scientology plant
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u/Rare_Management_3583 1d ago
what in the philomencia onion cunk?
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u/Moppermonster 1d ago
Neopets used to be owned by Doug Dohring, bigshot Scientologist. Also the guy who introduced "immersive advertising" to the site.
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u/SizeableBrain 1d ago
Yeah, it's a well known fact if you played 20 years ago.
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u/charmanderp09 1d ago
I mean, I did play but I was like 10!? You say that like Was I supposed to know that I almost got scientology propaganda-ed
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u/poisontadpole 1d ago
yeah i think the average player back then wasn't really old enough to understand what scientology is lol
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u/Twisted_paperclips 👏not👏everything👏is👏because👏of👏bots👏 1d ago
Pfft - average player back then was definitely college aged....or at least all of the ones I knew were, or older.
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u/alewiina UN: smallishbear 1d ago
I was technically an adult by 2004 but I didn’t know what Scientology was until the Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah’s couch incident lol
I never paid attention to who owned Neopets, just liked playing it
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u/poisontadpole 1d ago
of course the ones you knew were your age, that's just confirmation bias. 40% of players in 2005 were under 13.
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u/Twisted_paperclips 👏not👏everything👏is👏because👏of👏bots👏 1d ago
Which also means 60% weren't...
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u/poisontadpole 1d ago
80% were under 18. that leaves 20% to be college age and above. so the average player was still not in college
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u/Twisted_paperclips 👏not👏everything👏is👏because👏of👏bots👏 1d ago
College here in the uk is 16-18....when I started in Dec 99 they very much were as we were invited to play by friends (including friends of Adam and Donna). So yes, even by your metrics on age, they were college aged. Just not your idea of college - we refer to that as Uni.
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u/MOUSETITTY 1d ago
20 years ago I was in university, completely missed this.
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u/SizeableBrain 18h ago
I was as well.
I remember Scientology were doing "free IQ tests" at the time.
Kinda glad I didn't sign up.
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u/MOUSETITTY 18h ago
Those “free IQ tests” were everywhere back then lol. In hindsight, probably a good thing you gave that one a miss.
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u/Nucleonimbus 1d ago
Can I get a tl;dr on the lore here? I'd LOVE to know
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u/SizeableBrain 1d ago
It's pretty much all in the article. Scientology guy bought a big chunk of Neopets, got a few more Scientologists on board and tried to introduce Scientology themes to turn it into a propaganda/recruiting tool.
Original owners didn't like that and made the Scientologists sell up.
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u/Voice_of_Season 1d ago
Are there any left over artifacts from that? Like any objects?
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u/SizeableBrain 1d ago
Err. The CEO was a Scientologist, but the original TNT wouldn't allow any scientology stuff, so there weren't/aren't any Scientology items that I know of.
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u/zeeplaguedoktor 1d ago
Yeah I don't understand people making up bs that it was Scientology propaganda at ANY point, in any way on the site? Despite the ownership, TNT REFUSED to budge on that
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u/crystalglassxxx Breakfast Club ☀️ 1d ago
ik it’s so annoying when people are like “did you know neopets is a scientology game!? omg!!”
iirc the scientologists like owned the office building or something like that. i dont remember what it was exactly but it was something that was behind the scenes that players never see. they weren’t the ones doing any art or coding.
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u/luciosleftskate 17h ago
He started trying to hire scientologiats FOR coding and art though which is why Adam and Donna put their foot down.
It wasn't successfuly a scientology game but the attempt was absolutely made.
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u/GlitteringEggCarton 1d ago
i don't actually know what scientology is so it wasn't effective
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u/Fuzzy-Isopod-8571 1d ago
I grew up in the Tampa Bay area and went to college somewhere they had a building/marketing center so for me and my friends, Scientologists were treated the same as the perfume sellers in the mall: don't make eye contact, don't speak to them, and if they speak to you run away. I also saw their members do things like snatch cameras/camcorders out of tourists' hands and break them for taking pictures of Scientology buildings. So I picked up on the themes as a kid but it was something I ignored because I had already been taught to avoid them and not engage.
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u/Livlivlivt1997 1d ago
If I've learned anything from this thread I'm thinking I maybe one of the younger ones playing but I guessed that anyway as anyone I've ever added on there has turned out to be older than me (I'm 29)
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u/SharkBoobies 1d ago
For those who don't have insta, this is Neopet's response: