Techo Color Popularity Poll 2025 results

This is worse than the time someone summarized the results of a pointless poll!

On December 16th, 2024, I opened the Techo Color Popularity Poll 2024 to account for the 9 new Techo colors added to the Neopets canon over the past year, in addition to Patchwork Techo from Neopets: Island Builders, who was exclusive to that build of the game in order to round the total to an even 80 candidates for voting. This new poll recieved 212 responses, plus 72 make-up responses for me Chirstmas Techo in the original poll (I'll get to that later). This was a sequel to the 2023 Techo Popularity Poll.

In this poll, I gave voters a binary like/dislike option for each candidate, with the addition of an abstain button for having no opinion one way or the other. I also asked for every respondent's opinion on Techos before they have rated every Techo color: with the results being 26 respondents (or 12.3%) saying they feel strongly positive about Techos, 86 respondents (or 40.6%) saying they feel Positive, 84 respondents (or 39.6%) saying they are neutral on them, 21 respondents (or 9.9%) saying they dislike Techos, and 4 respondents (or 1.9%) saying they strongly dislike Techos. I accidentally made this option a checkbox instead of a multiple choice question, so several people went ahead and selected 2 or more options, so if you've already noticed the numbers don't add up, that's why.

I'll be listing every Techo's placement from worst preforming to best preforming, giving my personal thoughts on the color and how they preformed, and I'll also be sharing comments that admire and/or abhor them enough to write in that they consider them among their personal (least) favorites if they got any, as I asked people to list their least and most favorite Techo colors. Some people listed multiple colors or specific variants of Techos as their favorites or least favorites. To the voters: you were not supposed to do that. But in the interest of having everyone's comments be heard, I'll include them just this once. It made this take hell of a lot longer to compile, but at least I can be confident in being thorough.

Without further ado, let's begin the list:

80th place: 8-Bit Techo

8-Bit Techo recieved 52 likes against 151 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of -99 likes, or a 0.2562% like ratio overall.

This placement did not shock me. 8-Bit Techo, and 8-Bit pets in general are widely hated across the board. I personally think the hate is a bit overblown, but I agree with the majority of complaints, i.e. inconsistent rules, not really resembling proper pixel art of the time, etc. but I also think some of the hate is unwarranted because a lot of people mentally go "Oh, 8-bit graphics? That must mean NES/Famicom! There aren't exclsuively 4 colors in an 8 by 8 tile, this is a sham!" and then proceed to forget that 8-bit graphics not on hardware from 1983 looked more detailed with time, see Sega Master System/Game Gear, various arcade cabinets, etc. ...The operative word is "some", because the hate 8-Bit gets for otherwise fundamental mistakes like mixels/so retro is deserved. I just think that 8-Bit Techo doesn't deserve to be lump summed with the abominations that are 8-Bit Korbat or 8-Bit Kacheek who actively break rules. 8-Bit Techo only uses 12 colors (yes, I'm counting transparency too) and it's not unreasonable to see 8-Bit Techo on a Sega Master System.

8-Bit Techo gets a lot of flak for being front facing, because you don't really see Techos from the front in general. 8-Bit Techo is also wearing the exact same shirt and shorts as Dora the Explorer and I will never not bring up this similarity, it's too funny to ignore. They also drew a naked 8-Bit Techo but they never properly released the nude 8-Bit Techo, so the clothes are permanently stuck on them. And they never fixed this. Boo. Despite this, I still like 8-Bit Techo but I would not say that 8-Bit Techo is among my favorites, and not a single soul wrote in saying they considered 8-Bit Techo to be their favorite, because a whopping total of 20 people said they considered 8-Bit Techo their least favorite! Let's hear from the jury!

"8-bit. So awful. It hurts my eyes."

"Probably 8-bit. I like the idea of retro looking pets, but I think the color has always been really low effort. It's like it was made by someone who doesn't know how to do pixel art properly. :/ 8-bit is almost always actually a really weird 16-bit, and they often have mixels and other rookie spriter errors."

"8-Bit Techo, did 'em dirty"

"8-Bit, why is it looking at me, ew"

"8-bit and origami"

"8 bit just because 8 bit is sort of a disappointing color in general"

"8-bit, something about that colour looks off. (Though I'm not a big fan of 8-bit in general)."

"...On-site? 8-Bit. "

"8-Bit for every reason in the world"

"8-bit, the front facing looks bad"

"8-bit is an utter disaster of a color in practice, and techos deserve far better than to provide one such example"

"8-bit. The front facing is just wrong."

"Tie between 8-Bit..."

"Most techos I feel neutral or positive on. This feeling does not extend to the 8-bit Techo, for whom I feel an undying rage at the mere fact of its existence. "

"8-bit techo is a travesty against nature. Signed, a real pixel artist."

"8-bit. 8 bit pets just kinda universally look terrible, TNT isn't that great at pixel art."

"I hate the 8-Bit color in general as a pixel artist due to most pets not following color counts and having extremely jagged and unpleasing lineart, but 8-Bit Techo looks especially uncanny."

"8-bit, just not my style."

"8-bit because front facing...."

"8-Bit - Front-facing 8-bit pets look atrocious. It would be much better if it looked like Yoshi's sprites."

"Edited because I'd forgotten about 8-bit techo. NO. Just No. Why those colours? Why that pose? Why facing forward??? "

79th place: Checkered Techo

Checkered Techo recieved 77 likes against 110 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of -33 likes, or a 0.4118% like ratio overall.

This placement on the other hand, did surprise me. I had no idea that people really didn't like Checkered pets. Me, personally? They're fine, but I'm not putting them on my favorites list myself. If I'm to praise Checkered Techo individually, I guess I like that the belly is a different shade of white and grey compared to the body, and you could stretch the black forehead spots to be Checkers or Chess pieces, but that's just about it.

It's not like there are any Checkered Techo NPCs or appearances in supplementary material to make Checkered Techo particularly memorable to the masses, but I suppose that's it. Checkered Techo is inoffensive to me, but offends others.

Checkered Techo also recieved no comments of favoritism, but did recieve one least favorite comments, which is as follows:

"Checkered but that's because I never liked the checkered colour t begin with"

If I'm going to go soley off this comment, I would say that people are targeting Checkered Techo because they don't like Checkered as a color and the Techo is just a victim of circumstance. Which I mean... I did know that Checkered was a rather unpopular color, but hated? Not particularly. I suppose if they did anything with Checkered Techo, or Checkered pets in general in the realm of NPCs, they would have been more positively remembered.

Not necessarily a vote, but someone wrote in under the extra comments that they personally owned a Checkered Techo, and their comment is as follows:

"I personally have two techos: one checkered, and one royalgirl. I based my answer on standalone designs, but I like to pick my own pets based on customization potentials. Overall I think they're a very underrated species and super cute! :) I also wished there was a way to rank the designs from 1-5 or something, since it was really just picking like or dislike. but we'll see how the final poll goes! "

78th place: Transparent Techo

Transparent Techo recieved 77 likes against 115 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of -28 likes, or a 0.4307% like ratio overall.

This is a placement I can wholeheartedly understand because in general, I do not like the Transparent color myself. It definetly has it's fans who like to customize pets, but I rarely find the context to enjoy Transparent pets in general. I would generally be fine with a Skeleton color (ignore Petpet Park's own Skeleton color for a moment here), but I assume as a byproduct of the customization era, they had to accomodate for it and thought "hey, what if we encased it in like plastic or something?" and they made this weird very desaturated green-grey as the color. And it's opaque, not even really transparent. Nerd Emoji.

The only thing I can really benefit myself is seeing what the stomach, intestines, lungs, liver, and heart of a Techo looks like. Which, I mean, I guess that's nice to know... But do I come across as someone who draws Neopets gore, but also someone who cares enough about sticking to the canon to find that information extremely useful? Don't answer that.

Transparent Techo is the first Techo to have someone consider them a favorite! Comments of adoration are as follows:

"Transparent Techo. It's transparent."

Transparent Techo was nominated many times as respondent's least favorite Techo color, with their comments as follows:

"transparent, i dont like anatomy stuff"

"Transparent, it's sort of creepy to me."

"Transparent. Those teeth and jaw..."

"Transparent"

"Transparent Techo - I've never been a fan of Transparent pets in general; they're a little overly creepy."

"Transparent, the teeth are freaky"

"Transparent. I don't like any of the Transparent pets. They are ick."

"...For Transparent, I hate the teeth. Just... unsettling and Cursed. Me no likey."

"Transparent Techo. Too anatomical for me. Also I think the actual mouth looks weird over the skull and teeth pattern on its face."

"I don’t really like transparent techo mainly because transparent pets in general creep me out…"

"Transparent looks so weird"

"Transparent"

"Transparent, why are its teeth like THAT?"

"Transparent cuz why he look like that "

"transparent pets freak me out in general so naturally i don’t like those colors on techos or really any pet"

"Transparent. I get it's like cool to see character skeletons but like... ew."

"Transparent. Those teeth....."

"See through techo is FREAKY (in the bad way)"

If you've noticed anything, you've likely noticed that the majority of people here noted their absolute disgust with how the Techo skeleton looks, especially the teeth. And I'm here to tell you that we have seen Techo skeletons since 2002 and they have always had humanoid teeth. Tekkitu wears a Techo skull on his head. There is an Icy Techo Skeleton from the Hannah and the Ice Caves plot. Yes, they have humanoid teeth and they always did. There is a skeleton Techo enemy in The Darkest Faerie. I'm going to assume that these people are only just seeing what a Techo Skeleton looks like for the first time and are horrified. To me, a self proclaimed Techo fan, it's just an average Wednesday.

Not a vote of like nor contempt, but there were also some write-in comments that mentioned Transparent Techo:

"...However, I did not realize how horrifying the techos' teeth are until seeing the Transparent techo, so that knowledge is something I'll have to live with forever now."

"I did not know until today that Techos canonically have human-like teeth, per the Transparent colour and some of the bonus images, and knowing this troubles me. "

More of the same complaints about how Transparent Techo looks. I don't have anything else to say that I already said. Let's continue."

77th place: Swamp Gas Techo

Swamp Gas Techo recieved 90 likes against 104 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of -28 likes, or a 0.4639% like ratio overall.

Swamp Gas Techo placed about how I expected them to, people don't really like the gross colors in general and I understand why. What's interesting about Swamp Gas Techo in particular is that he sort of became the mascot for the Swamp Gas color when he was introduced, appearing in a Caption Competition to reference Michael Jackson's Thriller, a Random Event that says "eewwwww!", and one of the 2011 Advent Calendar animations clad only in underwear for some reason. Unfortunately, Neopets love for Swamp Gas Techo fell out fast and is now a footnote. Otherwise, that was Swamp Gas Techo. I like them, but I'm also not in a rush to own one.

Swamp Gas Techo received a few comments of praise, which are as follows:

"Swamp Gas, idk it just looks cool. "

"Swamp gas he's sooooo cute 🥰"

However, the overwhelming majority of comments about Swamp Gas were people considering them to be their least favorite color, which are as follows:

"Swamp Gas, yuck."

"swampgas: very upsetting colour as a whole"

"...swamp gas... I've never liked swamp gas as a color for any species."

"My least favorite is either Swamp Gas or Transparent. It's not a Techo-specific thing, though. I just think those colors are very unsettling."

"Swamp Gas because I don't like anything swamp gas or dung. Eww. Gross. Get it away from me. Further, please."

"Swamp Gas, looks like it came out of a blocked public toilet."

"...Swampgas... For Swampgas, it's not a great colour in general and Techo just has too many fumes that also look a little ugly. They look too... solid?? idk"

"Swamp gas. Swamp gas pets overall are off-putting. Who wants a smelly pet?"

"Swamp Gas.... stinky boy.. "

"Swamp Gas. Just ew. "

"swamp gas. because swamp gas is awful"

"Swamp gas, because gross 🤮"

"Swamp gas. I'm a swamp gas hater across the board, though."

"Swamp gas. Gross :("

76th place: Yellow Techo

Yellow Techo Techo recieved 81 likes against 88 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of -7 likes, or a 0.4793% like ratio overall.

Yellow Techo once again takes the L out of the basic colors, by a very wide margin. Yellow Techo is also the last among the negative vote aggregate Techos, but that's not an accomplishment, it's a negative. Yellow Techo doesn't really do much in the contrast department and the beige belly only looks more strange than anything. Yellow Techo is clearly the black sheep of the basic Techo colors, and it's not even close. All Yellow Techo did was be yellow and nothing else, really.

What could redeem the memorability of Yellow Techos in the eyes of the fandom is NPCs, and the most important Techo NPC is Dr_Death. Or Dr. Death. This name is stupid. Anyways, Dr_Death is not popular anymore. I'd argue he once was when he could be a vehicle for Pound angst stories when hormonal teenagers wrote for the Neopian Times, but those days are long gone. He doesn't even really appear in modern content, if anything, I would argue the unnamed Pink Uni and Robot Hissi get more milage nowadays out of the pound NPCs. Johfrit, Mr. Memory, Native from Puzzle Adventure, Techo Adept, and Dembrind are also notable Yellow Techo NPCs, but if you recognized any of those names and their faces without looking them up, you're too far gone down this Neopets thing, I'm afraid.

One favorite vote for Yellow Techo was cast. This is a deep cut reference to the fact that nobody voted for Yellow Techo being their favorite Techo color in the 2023 poll.

"yellow"

Yellow Techo also got a few least favorite votes.

"Yellow because yellow sucks"

"Yellow, they are just ugly (in any pet form). "

"Yellow, as it feels very washed out."

75th place: Split Techo

Split Techo recieved 90 likes against 89 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 1 like, or a 0.5028% like ratio overall.

Despite being among the club of Techo colors introduced in their debut year 2000, Split Techo didn't do all to well in this poll. In fact, Split Techo was in the negatives for a while, before finsihing with only a single positive vote. It would have been really funny if it evened out and we finished at 0, but alas. Notice how I'm talking about the circumstances of Split Techo instead of the actual color. Uhh... It's fine! I wish they inverted the belly or spots on the head to be more contrasting, but it's not terrible.

Split Techo was also in Tales of Dacardia where you could spend $2.99 USD from September to October 2024 to get Split Techo. I did not do that, and now Split Techo in Tales of Dacardia is now the only Techo color I never owned at any point in the game. What a shame.

No favorite votes were cast for Split Techo, but two mentions for Split as someone's least favorite do exist.

"most ones i dislike are an issue of the colors themselves (ex: ...split) "

"Hmm, probably split. It’s just boring no offense!"

A little boring? Can't disagree, but someone did write in their thoughts on Split Techo on how they would improve them. Here it is:

"I'd personally prefer if they'd inverted the belly and spot colours for Split instead of just darkening/lightening those areas."

74th place: Peppermint Techo

Peppermint Techo received 99 likes against 94 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 5 likes, or a 0.5130% like ratio overall.

If you're currently looking on Jellyneo, Sunnyneo, or third a example of a Neopets fansite that hosts it's own color directory, you will not see a Peppermint Techo. So, who is this then? Did I invent a fake color for the sake of the funny? Well, no. Peppermint Techo is the first of several Techo colors exclusive to the mobile game Tales of Dacardia. If you're still curious to see what they look like, go to this page and ctrl+f the word "Peppermint". And because this is the first one I'm presenting, it obviously ranked the worst.

Anyways, I think Peppermint Techo's design is really funny with the sleeveless onesie and belt. The candy cane in the belt is also a cute touch, Peppermint Techo comes across as the type of person who would twirl around the candy cane with absolute swagger despite it being a piece of candy at the end of the day. I also like the light shade of green against the darker red stripes. Unfortunately, people really don't like this color choice enough to put a dislike vote (despite it being an actual thing)

Peppermint Techo looks like he'd be a Tumblr Sexyman if he was introduced back in the late 2010's. I'd make a page for him on the Tumblr Sexyman Wiki (aka Sexypedia), but Fandom is a piece of s*** per usual and closed the Wiki for "sexual content" despite having none of it being hosted on there. I also made a page for the Tropical Food Shopkeeper as a joke with a friend group I don't really associate myself with there back in 2019 but it was unsurprisingly deleted. Sexypedia's Tropical Food Shopkeeper page is lost media. Always use an adblocker when you visit a Fandom Wiki, kids.

Peppermint Techo got 2 favorite votes and 2 least favorite votes. An even split! If only the actual Split Techo got those number of respective votes, that would've been funny.

"peppermint, I like the festiveness and the outfit and the colors"

"Peppermint Techo"

And here are the 2 least favorite votes for Peppermint Techo:

"Peppermint. The clothing looks boring, and too generic Christmas-y."

"That peppermint one in darcadia was hideous"

Not a favorite vote, but someone wrote in a "Honorable mention" for Peppermint Techo:

"Honorable mentions for favorites are Candy corn and Peppermint (Tales of Dacardia exclusive). I'm a sucker for candy themed designs and I think the stripes on the Peppermint one look really nice."

73rd place: Biscuit Techo

Biscuit Techo recieved 97 likes against 92 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 5 likes, or a 0.5132% like ratio overall.

Biscuit Techo is a Biscuit pet. They look like a chocolate chip cookie, but we don't call it that because Bri'ish. Or as my mom puts it, "turds in a litterbox". There isn't too much to say about Biscuit Techo in general, no presence in miscellaneous media, was late to the game to be liked or desired by the fandom, and no Biscuit Techo characters exist to boost memorability. Biscuit Techo at the end of the day, exists. I'm trying my best to uplift them, but there's only so much to work with.

I mean, they were one of the last Techos to have been made by Neopets' homegrown art team in the brief one year period where Jumpstart inherited all of the Viacom era staff and hadn't laid them off yet in March 2015. If it weren't for the other Techo introduced for Techo Day 2024, it would have been a sour note to end things off, and if you've been paying attention, we haven't covered them yet. And that's because they ranked higher. Much higher, in fact. So it's not all doom and gloom.

Biscuit Techo also got only a single favorite vote, which is as follows:

"Biscuit, despite the error it's just so nicely neutral without being boring. My queen is a biscuit techo.

And Biscuit Techo also got 2 mentions as people's least favorite Techo color, and here they are:

"Biscuit..."

"Biscuit Techo; just kinda sucks, ugly colours, uninspired design"

72nd place: Invisible Techo

Invisible Techo recieved 76 likes against 72 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 4 likes, or a 0.5135% like ratio overall.

Wow. It's Invisible Techo! Don't you guys love Invisible Techo? It's not like there is any miscellaneous media that prominently features Invisible Techo because it doesn't exist! Instead we have to deal with fans of Invisible Pets for already popular species or ones that got a TCG card like Invisible Mynci! Invisible Techo sure would be my first choice out of every Invisible pet! It's just so good! It does things like exist and have the word "Techo" associated with it.

Jokes aside, Invisible is probably one of the most insulting colors and it wasn't until recently did TNT bother to redeem them by allowing them to be customized. And they're still subject to dripfeed when it is objectively the easiest color to make. Wow!

The only Invisible favorite vote was from someone who indicated earlier in the poll that they disliked Techos. This is quite literally a repeat of how people who voted in the 2023 poll managed things when presented with the fact they already hated Techos, so they voted exclusively for Invisible Techo.

"Invisible, so you don’t see the techo <3"

Invisible Techo got several least favorite votes, which really shouldn't be too much of a surprise, there is literally nothing to look at. Here are the least favorite votes:

"invisible because where's the Techo :( "

"invisible techo... (invisible part) i dont like this because how can i rate nothing"

"The invisible one, you literally do not see him"

"I am not a fan of any of the invisable pets "

"Invisible. I can't see Techo at all."

"Invisible bc you can't even see the beautiful techo"

And one write in comment was seemingly perplexed why Invisible Techo was even included.

"is there really a point to having invisible on here lol"

71st place: Gold Techo

Biscuit Techo recieved 95 likes against 89 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 6 likes, or a 0.5163% like ratio overall.

Congratulations Gold Techo, you aren't last place this time! And you got to outrank your fellow 0 vote partner in crime Yellow Techo from the last poll. But at the end of the day, you're still a mediocre color with no real cultural impact in neither the fandom or the site's canon so you still get to place in the bottom 10. I love democracy!

Gold got a single mention as someone's potential favorite Techo color:

"Gold stuck out to me...."

...And coincidentally, Gold got only one least favorite vote.

"Gold"

70th place: Glowing Techo

Biscuit Techo recieved 95 likes against 85 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 10 likes, or a 0.5278% like ratio overall.

We're almost through the slogfest of the samey colors where I don't have much to say about them that doesn't also apply to every other color of the same species, I promise. The only things that Glowing Techo did to be impactful was be the last Techo drawn in the original 2000 artwork, be featured in the Glowing Techo Puzzle item, and be one of several Techo colors featured in the 2009 Zazzle designs, sans the glow effect. That's more than I can say for Gold Techo. Debuting earlier definetly has it's benefits for even unremarkable colors like Glowing.

Glowing Techo got no favorite votes, but did get 2 least favorite votes.

"Glowing, but only because there's no other Techo colors I dislike. It's more a problem I have with the Glowing color in general, since all Glowing pets use the same color set, and that color set doesn't understand how lighting works.

"Glowing techo, eyestraining "

I mean yeah Respondent 114, I do agree! Glowing could have been a more interesting color in general! Anyways-

69th place: Patchwork Techo

Patchwork Techo recieved 104 likes against 90 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 14 likes, or a 0.5361% like ratio overall.

Patchwork Techo can now retrospectively be called the pioneer for the Tales of Dacardia exclsuive colors and opening the gate for non-site colors to be included in the game... Despite being labeled Plushie. I still take the internal file name as gospel for what is very clearly not Plushie Techo. And how did Patchwork Techo get repaid for this effort? By being deleted from existence!

As of the writing of this, you cannot get Patchwork Techo in Tales of Dacardia. The Plushie paintbrush stuff is in the files, but they are very much intact from how they appeared in Island Builders. If you want to relive how Patchwork Techo could have looked on your island, you can watch this video that I recorded in the inevitability the game closed. No regrets.

I do hope Patchwork Techo returns in the future. Despite Patchwork's low ranking by people, they deserve their flowers and should be honored in some form and I think that people should be reintroduced to them.

Patchwork Techo got neither any votes of favoritism nor abhorrence, but a write in comment mentioned Patchwork Techo in a more negative light.

"I also especially dislike the Patchwork Techo (Island Builders Exclusive) because the lighting makes it look fleshy."

I have to actually correct myself on this, because before it shut down. Island Builders did update the shader for Patchwork Techo to make them appear less plasticky and reflective and more appropriately flocked and soft in appearance. I recorded it in November 2022 when the game was very much on life support before they promptly unplugged the servers in 2023 when they announced it would have yet another closed beta. You can see the updated appearance here. This is the part where all of you tell me that I'm a fake fan.

68th place: Strawberry Techo

Strawberry Techo recieved 105 likes against 87 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 18 likes , or a 0.5469% like ratio overall.

Strawberry Techo is pretty much a Red Techo with seeds, green forehead spots, and a pink belly. Compared to it's relative lameness to other colors, it's easy to understand why this is never usually somebody's first choice of their favorite Techo color, let alone Strawberry pets. Not doing any favors for Strawberry Techo is the morphing potion being a quest reward, which has made a trend of people randomly grabbing pounded pets and morphing them into Strawberry Techos to annoy Pound Surfers. That is very funny to me, I'm sorry. Oh wait, no I'm not. I don't care! Wow, what a freeing thought.

Strawberry Techo received three least favorite votes, I bet that must wilt their heart.

"strawberry its BORING"

"Strawberry. It's just a rough pb. "

"Strawberry, seen too many in pound surfing"

Strawberry Techo also got a write-in comment of disappointment by one respondent, which is here:

"i wish the strawberry techo had a leaf tail like many of the other strawb pets. it detracts from the otherwise good color"

67th place: Tyrannian Techo

Tyrannian Techo recieved 109 likes against 90 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 19 likes, or a 0.5477% like ratio overall.

Here's another surprise ranking for me: Tyrannian Techo in 67th place. I always knew in the era of the Unconverted Trading/Black Market that Tyrannian Techo was among the least popular UCs and also the least popular UC Techo, but I thought the base color was fine. I'm not sure why they chose Tyrannian Techo specifically over other Tyrannian pets to be one of the initial UCs, the only thing that changed significantly compared to the converted art was the posture.

Tyrannian Techo got some mileage in supplementary material like a TCG card cameo and a Fun Images gif, it was the first Techo color to be introduced that significantly altered the Techo's general body shape so there's a precedent. I do wonder what that weird bundle of "fur" around it's shoulders is supposed to be, it's probably a plume of feathers or something, but it always looked out of place to me. I think if you removed it, it'd look fine as a primitive reptile.

There are some friends for our prehistoric squamate, let's hear from the Tyrannian Techo fans:

"There's a really nice Tyrannian Techo custom I saw once that I still think about"

"tyrannian it's just got the most character "

"Tyrannian..."

"My favorite is the Tyrannian techo. He looks like a gremlin-y little guy. Very sneaky. Full of personality!"

And here are the people who would very much want Tyrannian Techo go extinct:

"Tyrannian (he's a weird little gremlin, and not in a good way)"

"Tyrannian ewwwww"

"tyrannian..."

"If we're being specific to Techo, probably Tyrannian. Tyrranian colors are hit or miss and while I love it on some pets I just think the one for Techo is a bit ugly. :("

"...I also have a Tyrannian techo with the gila markings and I love the teeth poking out so much :)"

"Tyrannian just doesn't work for me in this case"

"Tyrannian..."

66th place: Dimensional Techo

Dimensional Techo recieved 107 likes against 88 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 19 likes, or a 0.5487% like ratio overall.

Dimensional in general is often considered to be a missed potential color, and I can't say I disagree. The Techo in particular is relatively uninteresting compared to the other Dimensional pets, with a fairly basic shade of violet and white outline/glow. I think if they opted to name Dimensional something like "Neon", the pressure would be nowhere near as tough and people would generally be accepting of it. There isn't any real lore to the Dimensional color to make it of interest like Purple (formerly), Darigan, or Split. There aren't any major characters who are painted Dimensional. It just exists.

As for Dimensional Techo, it is yet another latecomer with no significant relavance to the lore of the website and never endeared the fandom to have a lasting cultural impact. I think if we got a Dimensional Techo character in some way, we could easily fix the unpopularity issue because there are far more basic colors that ranked above it. Maybe they'll add a Dimensional pet onto an Altador Cup team and make people realise it could be a cool color. Not holding my breath, though.

Dimensional Techo got two votes of admiration to be considered someone's favorite color.

"...dimensional (just looks nice)"

"Dimensional is very cool and I think could make for some awesome customs."

Dimensional Techo on the other hand got 3 least favorite votes.

"I cry when I see the difference between dimensional Techo and dimensional Uni. They did us dirty"

"Dimensional - Looks completely unfinished & not very creative to me. Super disappointing paint brush on any neopet ):"

"....I disliked how some of the more conceptually cool patterns gave bland designs- most of all Dimensional Techo. I was expecting a shot of the universe, not just... purple!"

65th place: 25th Anniversary Techo

25th Anniversary Techo recieved 106 likes against 90 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 22 likes, or a 0.5579% like ratio overall.

25th Anniversary Techo is a serious contender for my least favorite Techo. That's a very bold statement to start with, so I'll break down my thoughts:

Firstly, I do not like the 25th Anniversary color. It is in fact my least favorite color in the Neopets pantheon, even beating flat out gross colors like Dung for Petpets or uninteresting ones like Pumpkin Spice from Petpet Park. It was a marketing decision before an actual creative addition to the Neopets universe. I may have ragged on colors like Invisible and Dung, but at least they were made for the funny, even if I don't think they are particularly funny. This color was made for marketing first and foremost. Also the name is very dumb, should've just been "Celebration" like the prerelease media called it. Instantly dates the color and not evergreen.

Secondly, the actual color is uninteresting to me, with fairly basic wearables and the base color just being the Neopets stars laid over repeatedly, it feels like it's hearkening to Valentine for pets with basic design tropes being repated with little variation, unlike earlier themed colors like Halloween, Christmas, Pirate, etc. having range while maintaining a sense of unity. Some people like the sameness, but I personally think that the holiday colors from the past two decades have been more inventive than this one.

Thirdly, the actual design of the Techo is in comparison to the already low bar I have disappointing. It is not beating the "too similar to Starry" allegations with the dark blue body color and beige belly. In fact, it literally was Starry Techo with a bowtie for about a week when it first released. Granted it was a placeholder that got out to the public, but it didn't do any favors for likability to me.

Last but not least, this color was neutered before release. If you take a look at the 25th Anniversary's file in a third party Unity file viewer, it can be revealed that 25th Anniversary Techo was originally going to wear a top hat. That would have been a slam dunk to compliment the Techo steretoype that they love to show off and love to be the center of attention and definetly gave context to the collar which otherwise felt out of place. I already wouldn't have been privvy to the 25th Anniversary Techo when it came out, but the choice of clothes could've been a saving grace. Alas, they neutered it. "But can't you just make thrm wear the top hat?" Yes, but now it's never a part of the package and will be most definetly ignored whenever Neopets decides to port 25th Anniversary Techo in 2029 or whatever.

This is definetly the most passion I've felt writingy thoughts on a placement, and I barely even talked about that, so uhhh 65th place? Deserved and should have been lower. I'm hoping I can make a several paragraph rant on how much I like a color when I get to one of my personal favorite colors because I don't want to dedicate most of my time to colors I don't like.

I mean, I may have ragged on and on about 25th Anniversary Techo, but evidently some people like 25th Anniversary Techo to consider them to be their favorite, because someone made them favorite vote. Good for you, Respondent 194! Anyhow, here's what they have to say:

"25th anniversary: i like his little collar and bow tie, very cute!"

And there are people out there who are also fed up with the 25th Anniversary color, just like me! Let the jury be heard!

"Anniversary Techo. It looks like starry techno but slightly lighter."

"Not a fan of how lazy the 25th Anniversary Techo design is, just Starry with a red bowtie."

"Anniversary- it’s too similar to starry"

"f*** 25th Anniversary Techo in particular."

For transparency's sake, I made that last comment. Is it a conflict of interest if I voted in my own survey? Eeeehhh, I don't really care. We also got some write-ins about 25th Anniversary Techo, having more mixed opinions.

"I think all colors should be absolutely different from each other, so for example, the fact that the anniversary and the starry colors are pretty similar is atrocious."

"...Maybe we will get Anniversary Techo eventually."

"I wish the anniversary techo was obtainable in game"

64th place: Zombie Techo

Zombie Techo recieved 108 likes against 84 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 24 likes, or a 0.5625% like ratio overall.

Zombie Techo is... Weird. They are a Zombie pet and those have always been divisive. They also were one of the first colors to be introduced during the conversion as a result of the zombie fad that plagued the 2000's and 2010's, and since it's been so long and people no longer groan at the sight of Zombies from oversaturation in media that maybe people will look back to them fondly?

lol nope

Zombie Techo is a fairly standard Zombie pet, and I wouldn't say Zombie Techo is my favorite Techo color. For a while, Zombie Techo was my least favorite color, but there are two colors introduced in 2024 that have safely kept Zombie Techo out of that least favorite spot, one of which I already discussed. But I'll try to uplift Zombie Techo: I like that they kind of look like the Basic Zombie from Plants vs. Zombies because they wear a shirt, tie, and... Pants? Wait, you can't call the item "pants", we follow Bri'ish English!

Zombie Techo does have some fans, here's what the favorite voters have to say about them:

"...Also zombie techo. I really like that he's just a dude. "

"The zombie"

On the other hand, the negative side of the spectrum wins by just one more least favorite vote, though they are admittedly targeted Zombie Techo for being a Zombie pet more than anything else.

"Zombie. Those aren't real!"

"...also Zombie, i don't like any of the zombie pets so it's not targeted or anything "

"Zombie I hate all the zombie pets"

63rd place: Snow Techo

Snow Techo recieved 102 likes against 78 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 24 likes, or a 0.5667% like ratio overall.

So, Snow Techo. Snow, Snow, Snow. I think of all of the winter themed Techo colors, Snow is my least favorite. But that's not to say I dislike it! The coal eyes are cute to me. But it was at least the first of the winter Techos... Sort of. I mean, it's kind of surreal to see the original 2003 artwork of Snow Techo having detailed shading when I associate the 2000 art of the Techo with the Flash pencil tool and gradients. Snow Techo had one Caption Competition appearance and that's the cultural impact of Snow Techo.

I mentioned before that there is one person or a group of people who adopt pets and use morphing potions to turn them into Strawberry Techos and put them back in the pound to annoy Pound Surfers. The same phenomenon also exists for Snow Techo because it too, was a quest reward. Deja vu.

Snow Techo only got one favorite vote and and it goes like this:

"Snow... because I'm snow..."

Snow Techo was also cited in someone's least favorite vote, but it ties into the next ranked Techo color, so I'll save it until then.

A certain other snow based Techo definetly overshadowed Snow Techo, and we'll get there when we get there.

62nd place: Sketch Techo

Sketch Techo recieved 103 likes against 77 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 26 likes, or a 0.5722% like ratio overall.

Sketch Techo is one of the earliest Techo colors. It even was immortalized on the packaging for the McDonald's Techo plushies, now safely contained in the stomachs of sea turtles around the world. How wholesome! Anyways I don't know what to say about Sketch Techo except that we peaked at the first design iteration from 2000 where the lines were rough and it was unshaded. The modern look of it having shading and looking clean feels so gross.

The only mention of Sketch Techo as someone's favorite or least favorite color was in this least favorite comments, where they namedrop Sketch with fellow low placing colors Snow and Split.

"most ones i dislike are an issue of the colors themselves (ex: snow, sketch, split)"

61st place: Spotted Techo

Spotted Techo recieved 109 likes against 80 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 29 likes, or a 0.5767% like ratio overall.

Spotted Techo has had some decent mileage, originally introduced as a Red Techo clone with the circle tool spammed all over, Spotted Techo eventually gained an identity of their own by 2001 and got the basic design and color scheme we know today, with the tan body and pink belly. But aside from a one-off cameo for an April Fools event, Spotted Techo didn't really make a splash in supplementary content.

Spotted Techo has one of the more interesting vote splits to me, because you have people claiming they like it because they think it looks realistic, and others disliking it because it looks unrealistic. People like it for the color contrast and others do not. They love/hate it for the same reasons as each other. Let's start with the favorite votes:

"I really like how the pink on Spotted Techo makes him look like a leopard gecko and adds an element of contrast."

"Probably the Spotted because it looks like a really lizard"

"Spotted, because the colours are harmonious and well-placed"

...And here are the least favorite comments:

"I'm not really a fan of spotted Techos. I just don't really like the color combo they use for a lot of the spotted pets"

"Spotted, because the pink belly contrasts a bit too much with the rest"

"Spotted... For Spotted, I really dislike the pink belly."

"Spotted. It’s overall a very boring color to me and I do not like the shade of yellow"

60th place: Relic Techo

Relic Techo recieved 111 likes against 80 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 31 likes, or a 0.5812% like ratio overall.

Relic Techo is probably the first Techo color I have something to actually say about in a while. Relic Techo was among the earlier relic pets added, so more modern conventions like flowers, crystals, and lichens were not present, but the stylization for the earlier pets was more consistent. Relic was created to be a more modern interpretation of the Stone color that was removed in 2002, and I do think it's a fine replacement.

As for Relic Techo themself? I like the big crack in the tail. I know that's a weird thing to compliment, but it looks stable enough to be realistic yet precarious enough to seem imposing. I dunno where I was going with this. Anyways, I think that there's a tad overabundance of gradients in the design, since I guess in the late 2000's and early 2010's, Neopets was going for a more realised direction that more requently utilized colored outlines and gradients. And I think that ironically, makes it a relic of the past.

No favorite votes for Relic Techo. Instead, only a single least favorite vote, which is:

"...but techo does not have any extra sauce put on the edge cases (ex: relic being plain). "

Relic Techo got more comments about them than votes, that's kind of interesting. Here's what others had to say:

"I almost said Relic techo is the worst, again because they had the opportunity to do something cool and instead did the most boring thing ever. It might bother me worse than Maraquan, it's a hard choice."

"I feel like some colors could have been a lot better (imo... Relic...) "

...Not all that positive towards Relic Techo in general, huh?

59th place: Desert Techo

Desert Techo recieved 110 likes against 79 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 31 likes, or a 0.5820% like ratio overall.

If you asked me what my favorite Techo colors were when I got back into Neopets in 2019, I would have likely placed Desert Techo in my top 5 favorite Techos. Nowadays? I've unfortunately fallen out of love with Desert Techo, there's definetly a few design choices that I think made this color bug me.

I never understood why all of the wearable's outlines are colored. Gold, I get. Even the vintage Desert art did that. But the shendyt definetly didn't need the colored outlines and that makes up like 18% of the visual real estate of Desert Techo and I find it distracting, even if it's relatively small. Also the base color looks like if Tyrannian Techo took some Normal Pills. Maybe Tyrannian Techo is Desert Techo's ancestor or something.

Desert Techo also did not recieve any votes of favoritsm! 2 in a row now. We also only got 1 least favorite vote, and it doesn't even refer to Desert Techo by name, so here it is:

"that egyptian one feels weird..."

Desert Techo was also cited in a comment on how a voter felt bothered that some colors are too similar to one another.

"Techos are a great species for customization and the NP wearables are decent too. They also have a nice array of different colors though it feels like some are dupes (camo vs marble, pastel vs blue, desert vs brown). "

58th place: Sponge Techo

Sponge Techo recieved 112 likes against 80 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 32 likes, or a 0.5833% like ratio overall.

Sponge Techo is a holy being. Not because Sponge Techo is filled with holes, but because of the lore surrounding it as an unreleased design that got a second chance and is now obtainable as converted art. What do I think of it? I kind of liked the unconverted design's unfilled pupils more than the standard filled pupil that the converted design got, it made it more unique and I'm not sure why they scrubbed that detail out. Also you can't get the flat-board look anymore, but every converted Sponge pet looks like that so not. Regardless, I'm very happy that Sponge Techo officially debuted. I think the memes surrounding Sponge Techo boosted the likability for me and many others.

Sponge Techo did get one favorite vote:

"Sponge, looks like chicken nugget"

...But Sponge Techo ultimately got a couple more least favorite votes.

"...Sponge I'd also put up purely for the trypophobia it causes."

"...Also sponge looks like cheese and grosses me out"

"Sponge. Sponge pets are the worst, regardless of species. "

"Sponge, looks like old cheese"

There are also a lot of Sponge Techo comments. Surprisingly.

"I so happy that they finally released the sponge Techo. "

"The Techo has been around almost since the start of the crazy ride that Neopets has been, and yet it feels like almost no one would care about those lazy lizards if it wasn't for your work. Techos may well be one of my favorite Neopets, and frankly, it's because of your content. I'm sure you've heard this before, but thank you for your dedication to the wider fanbase, and congrats on the successful sponge necromancy!"

"Congrats on Sponge Techo getting released!!! A huge part of my appreciation for Techos has come from your tireless dedication to documenting and drawing them. Thank you for all you do!!!"

"love u and ur sponge techo vid you're so valid"

...Okay, so I think I need to explain as one voter put it, the "sponge necromancy" because statistically speaking, you probably don't know what I'm talking about. Back in 2004 around when the Sponge color was introduced, but before they redrew every Techo color, Sponge was going to be released for Techos and images of it were uploaded to the servers. Despite the anomaly of only one new color for Techos being released for Techo Day 2004 (Glowing), Sponge would be inconspicuously absent from the release.

Sponge Techo would be widely forgotten in the public conscious until in May, where it was discovered that an image for a Nostalgic Sponge Techo style was uploaded to the image servers in early May 2024, and people subsequently got excited for the potential of previously unreleased designs becoming obtainable, as this would have been the first instance of it happening. So May 15th rolled around aaaaaand... No Sponge Techo. fart sound I'm gonna be honest, I was pretty disappointed. In my eyes I thought this would have been it and that Sponge Techo would be freed from unreleased hell. Alas, it was not. Regardless, Neopets opened their May AMA and you had option to write in votes, and I made a question asking about Sponge Techo. While the votes for the poll were tampered with by third parties from unaffiliated websites outside of my control, it got roughly 1,300 votes and was addressed in the AMA, where they revelaed that the reasons why were that there was no converted Sponge Techo and they didn't want to paywall colors.

...Okay, so hindsight is January 2025 and they did paywall colors, specifically the Tales of Dacardia paintbrushes and the 25th Anniversary Pet Styles, and they even released the converted Sponge Techo for the 25th Anniversary day, the same fay as the 25th Anniversary Color. I know I definetly played some sort of role in this role, because even if you ignore said poll, I still made a variety of s***posts and memes about Sponge Techo, most notably this video which boosted the visibility of Sponge Techo, which lead to Sponge Techo's official release. I'm pleased with the outcome obviously, but if you guys wanna rally behind another unreleased pet to be released, go redirect your energy to Alien Nimmo and Gold Hissi. They both have converted art at the ready, so start bugging the monthly suggestion boards!

(This took a while to write but now Gold Hissi is technically canon because they added Hissis to Tales of Dacardia and you can paint it Gold, but a site Gold Hissi still doesn't exist. Still be annoying about it though!)

57th place: Darigan Techo

Darigan Techo recieved 120 likes against 83 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 37 likes, or a 0.5911% like ratio overall.

Darigan Techo made an early debut in the Champions of Meridell plot animations in 2002, with the general design being unchanged except they're orange. Wow! Darigan Techo definetly captures the look of unethical dog breeding to make them attractive to dogfoghting but the dogs are Techos, and yeah! They sure do have sharp teeth that bite hard, a slender build, weird... Tendrils... And sharp claws! Oh no! What ever shall we do?

Neuter it, of course! Darigan Techo's redesign for the conversion has been widely mocked because it looks much less menacing, and yes. It definetly looks stupid. Not gonna lie I kinda like it though. Keep in mind that I didn't necessarily grow up with the unconverted art because in 2007 when the conversion happened, I literally just turned 3 years old and I had better things to do like bite DVDs and cry when they don't work anymore. I completely understand why people hate the converted Darigan Techo, and it makes sense why this specific color got the most votes specifically mentioning the UC version.

Darigan Techo's low placement surprised me, because I knew that Darigan Techo was at least substantially popular, and a lot of people even said they considered Darigan Techo to be one of their favorite Techo colors:

"Darigan, particulary the pet style/UC artwork. "

"darigan bc im a dragon freak"

"UC Darigan"

"The UC darigan is my favorite old Techo."

"...I also like Darigan Techo because it looks menacing."

"(and uc daragian techo only)"

...But of course, the detractors got Darigan Techo down here to begin with, so let's hear from them:

"Probably Darigan..."

"I HATE the converted darigan because they ruined his creepy vibe!"

"Darigan Techo - the UC art was at least unique despite not being my jam, but the new art is just nothing special."

"Darigan! I always thought the unconverted art was too scary and ugly looking. The other darigan pets have more of a cool vibe, but the Techo just looks mean and creepy."

"I also hate what they did to my poor Darigan boyo."

"...( or uc darigan )"

"...darigan..."

And here's some comments about Darigan Techo.

"...modern stances take the fun out of colors like Darigan which make Techo more lizardly."

"darigan can f*** me"

56th place: Cloud Techo

Cloud Techo recieved 108 likes against 70 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 38 likes, or a 0.6067% like ratio overall.

Cloud Techo is probably remembered for being one of the special Techo colors that became a McDonald's plushie in 2004. I'd say they made a good choice to make Cloud Techo a plushie, since the only other viable options at the time were Purple, Speckled, Spotted, and Striped. Compared to other Cloud pets like the Jubjub or Gnorbu, I can't say there aren't much of any clever opportunities to integrate real cloud-like qualities to the Techo, so I'll give it a pass.

Cloud Techo also holds the honor of being my mom's favorite Techo color. Not sure why exactly, but it just is. Good for her.

Cloud Techo got 2 mentions in favorite votes , but I can't say they're particuarly insightful.

"Cloud techo"

"...Cloud..."

55th place: Speckled Techo

Speckled Techo recieved 112 likes against 72 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 40 likes, or a 0.6087% like ratio overall.

Speckled Techo placed 55th! Speckled Techo is yet another example of "extremely early colors introduced in 2000/2001 that don't have much variance beyond a simple pattern" and it shows. While Spotted at the very least got away with making them patterned to resemble real world animals, Speckled didn't get this treatment, with the Speckled Usul being a weird exception that nobody can explain. Green and white is all you get otherwise.

Speckled Techo has two supplementary appearances, one as a user shopkeeper where they're on a lawn chair and look absolutely buzzed, and the other one as a paramedic that rescued Team Kiko Lake for Altador Cup III in 2008 who has about 18 pixels of screen real estate. I sure do love old web standards squandering my chances of looking at cool background characters! Bring him back for a background appearance in a plot comic or something.

Speckled Techo got one least favorite vote.

"speckled. kinda ugly"

54th place: Mutant Techo

Mutant Techo recieved 126 likes against 79 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 47 likes, or a 0.6146% like ratio overall.

I'm astonished that Mutant Techo placed this low. Maybe it's because I spent a lot of time browsing old Beauty Contest entries from the early 2000's under the Techo category when Mutant Techo dominated with angsty MS Paint art. Mutant Techo was also one of the earliest Mutant pets designed and unlike other early Mutant pets like the Aisha, Chia, or Kiko, was unaffected by art updates because he is already perfect. Mutant Techo has a scary and cool factor that I think made it endearing instead of the other pets going for gross out or grotesque designs.

In an unusual twist for the converted designs, they tried to make Mutant Techo more intimidating when it was redesigned, because I suppose someone on the art team thought Mutant Techo was relatively cutesy. The 2007 redesign features Mutant Techo salivating a green liquid, narrowed pupils, yellowed teeth, and random spots on the body. I think that deep down, Mutant Techo is a silly guy. I mean, he was so excited for Halloween in that Neogreeting back in 2001 after all!

Mutant Techo still has fans though, so what do people who consider Mutant Techo their favorite have to say?

"...Mutant... - Maintaining a distinction between the standard coat and belly coat & using that distinction inventively in these designs are why they're (Tyrannian and Maractite) standouts for me!"

"Mutant, he is an evil little dude ready for combat"

"Mutant. I have a personal bias after finding one in the pound and getting attached to her!"

"...mutant..."

"Mutant..."

Like Darigan Techo, let's hear what the Mutant Techo detractors have to say:

"Mutant, ugly and wierd, it looks just really much like "my first f***ed up and wierd techno oc""

"Mutant... I just don't like the mutant..."

"Mutant: did not translate well with conversion"

"Probably... Mutant, they were both (referring to Darigan) extra underwhelming in colors that really shouldn't be. "

"mutant... mutant is just ugly imo"

"Mutant, just not a fan of the eyes"

"Mutant pets tend to be hit or miss for me depending on the artwork, but with Techo I don't recall seeing a single picture in which I did like them, so uhh yeah. They're just not my cup of tea. Something about the eye sockets, I think."

"Mutant techo. Ugly."

"(honorable mention to Mutant techo too, that dude is just flat-out ugly)."

53rd place: Disco Techo

Disco Techo recieved 120 likes against 75 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 45 likes, or a 0.6154% like ratio overall.

Disco Techo is the first true Techo introduced during the Converted era. Orange Techo also accompanied Disco Techo when he was released, but Orange Techo had early background appearances in the Lost Desert Plot Comic in 2005 when he technically didn't exist yet. The first compliment I have is that I like his wearables, especially his ring. It's a small detail, but it's nice nonetheless. The sunglasses are also a great touch and the bead necklace is nice. Not a bad first outing for the converted era.

Here are the people that Disco Techo has rizzed up:

"disco, i didn't realize the glasses were inherent to the pb color also he just looks like a fun lad to hang out with"

"ngl, disco techo got something going on. it's giving uncle (non-derrogatory). I like the accesories."

"Disco because I think the green and pink look ADORABLE on it but imo doesn't need the glasses."

...And here is the person who think Disco Techo is cringe:

"Disco. Boring and uncool. "

52nd place: Camouflage Techo

Camouflage Techo recieved 120 likes against 73 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 47 likes, or a 0.6218% like ratio overall.

In direct contrast, Camouflage Techo is one of the last Techos to be introduced during the unconverted era. Camouflage Techo is definetly on the basic side, and considering the time it was introduced, definetly a product of it's time. If they waited a little longer to introduce Camouflage Techo, they probably would have based it off of a real life lizard's appearance. But what we did get isn't bad at all. Again, it's a little basic but it's forgivable.

Let's hear from our Camouflage Techo fans!

"Camouflage Techo. I liked color combo."

"Camouflage is surprisingly a very good base color (I have one myself) and think is pretty underrated. "

...And now vice versa:

"I feel like Camo Techo could have been way better than just...green."

"I’m not a fan of camouflage. I get it, but it looks kind of hideous. Like a creature in a bad way."

"camo for crime of being boring"

51st place: Silver Techo

Silver Techo: originally debuting as a plushie item, and then 10 years later becoming a real color. It's like Sponge Techo but way less confusing. Anyways, I'm happy to say that in 2024, we did get more Silver Techo content, because they starred in their own TCG card! Multiple Techos got their own cards in fact. It's a full circle thing maybe it you stretch it: fictional merch, actual character, merch of said character. Neat! Still kinda in the weird era of excessive gradients, you can tell this was from 2011, but it's a lustrous material so it's passable.

Silver Techo recieved 117 likes against 68 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 49 likes, or a 0.6324% like ratio overall.

Silver is the first Techo here not to get any mention at all as a favorite or a least favorite.

50th place: Pirate Techo

Pirate Techo recieved 123 likes against 71 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 52 likes, or a 0.6340% like ratio overall.

Yar har, fiddle dee dee, being a Pirate is horrid to be! Pirate Techo also holds the honor of being one of the first Pirate pets added, and consequently has a relatively basic design compared to what would release later. The pirate hat and bandana would be standard fare, but what I like (or used to like) was the peg leg. But over time, they began to subvert and eventually hide it altogether. In 2002, the full leg was gone. In 2004 when they redrew every Techo, it became a peg foot. In 2007, it completely healed! Don't worry Tavi, wait some 5 years and your foot will grow back to normal.

I just like to headcanon that Pirate Techo either has a really good realistic prosthetic leg, or Techos secretly have excellent regenerative capabilities. If either are true, it would make them like 10× cooler to me. Anyways, Pirate Techo is fairly memorable, appearing in several pieces of supplementary art, and most notably having a Morphing Potion for the Anchor Managment daily, being among the least desirable prizes. Oh well, Pirate Techo. I still like you. You are cool.

Only one person said Pirate Techo was their favorite (they also made a comment about Pirate Techo, but since it's on-topic for the vote I included it anyways.

"Pirate is my absolute favorite because I love pirates, but I wished the peg-leg stayed. (bring back pirate techo peg-leg!)"

...And here is one person's disdain for Pirate Techo, so let's see this biting commentary to walk the plank:

"pirate techo bores me. "

49th place: Skunk Techo

Skunk Techo recieved 127 likes against 69 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 58 likes, or a 0.6480% like ratio overall.

Skunk Techo is interesting because it was the last of the early 2000's basic pattern colors for the Techo to get added, in 2013 no less. I have unfortunately never been a big Skunk Techo fan, the fur texture on what is very clearly a lizard never sat right with me. And in a 2021 Island Builders update, Skunk Techo was included but I'd argue the faux hair situation got worse. Because Skunk Techo now had a tuft of chest fur. One could view this is a reference to the iconic Neopets character Chest Hair Techo, who appeared in a Father's Day Neogreeting in the mid 2000's, but I sincerely doubt that was the intention. Thankfully in 2024, we got a more on-model Techo model and a more correct to canon Skunk Techo. Now that there isn't any sort of implied fur, I can look at it just fine and say "Yeah, it's okay."

Nobody considered Skunk Techo to be their favorite Techo color, but a lot of people think Skunk Techo stinks, so let's air out their grievances:

"I don't like how Skunk Techo's stripe is drawn to emulate fur instead of having solid edges."

"Skunk"

"skunk i hate his tail"

Skunk Techo was also mentioned in a comment:

"The Skunk... techos were a pleasant surprise; there are some really nice little details, like the tail on the skunk..."

48th place: Brown Techo

Brown Techo recieved 124 likes against 66 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 58 likes, or a 0.6526% like ratio overall.

Wow! It's Brown Techo! He sure is brown. I'll try to speedrun this one: a bafflingly late addition to the "solid color Techo" group after a whole year gap in 2004 of nothing. A few miscelllaneous appearances in user shopkeepers and frontpage banners, and two NPCs in the form of Nefarious Plotter, a member of The Sway; and Pirate Supporter, a previously scrapped Battledome challenger for the Curse on Maraqua event who made a belated debut in Legends and Letters.

Brown Techo got no favorite or least favorite votes, but was mentioned in a write in comment, which was already referenced in Desert Techo's results.

47th place: Eventide Techo

Eventide Techo recieved 125 likes against 65 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 60 likes, or a 0.6579% like ratio overall.

I really like the Eventide pets. The color itself was among the last of the Viacom art team's color creations, and I think it striked a good balance of not being too detailed, nor underwhelming. It's just a series of gradients with stars and clouds at the end of the day, and by golly it works. TNT tried to speedrun giving every pet an Eventide variation, because they added a whopping 40 of them before the March 2015 layoffs, but the Techo was left out and the Eventide train definetly slowed. With only a handful of new Eventide pets after the layoffs, and only 2 new ones introduced in 2017, there were no new Eventide pets introduced in 2018. I pretty much wrote off the color as dead.

...Until for Techo Day 2019, Eventide emerged from the ashes and we finally got Eventide Techo after a dormant period! Hurray! Long live the eventide! Get your face on a pin, get your face on a plushie! Get into the mobile game! Let us hear from the stars! I submit to my sunset deity, it is a miracle! Oh, and I also like Eventide Techo and I have one on my main account. That's cool.

(This took a while to write, and now Eventide Techo has indeed made it to Tales of Dacardia as a part of a Lunar New Year update. Yay indeed!)

Some people are starstruck by Eventide Techo, so let's hear why they think Eventide Techo is stellar:

"Eventide, i like their design"

"Toss up between Eventide... Have to go with Eventide though. The gradient just looks so lovely."

However, there are also a number of people who want Eventide Techo to be thrown into a black hole. Let's hear them out:

"Eventide because the colour has no respect for the actual anatomy and contours of the lovely lizard boy..."

"Eventide... What even"

"Eventide. Generally not a color I care for "

46th place: Electric Techo

Electric Techo recieved 126 likes against 65 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 61 likes, or a 0.6597% like ratio overall.

Electric Techo was one of two color addition for Techo Day 2009 alongside fellow bottom half placer Desert Techo, but Electric Techo came out the other side just fine. It definetly feels like this particular color could fit well into the unconverted era, it's an uncomplicated design that doesn't really overuse the colored outlines or gradients that the converted era would soon be defined by. Electric Techo is a simple but great design, they'd definetly make the tail a thunderbolt if this color was more modern, but I'm happy with it just as is. Also wouldn't be unhappy to see them in Tales of Dacardia.

Electric Techo got a shoutout in the previous comment involving Skunk Techo:

"Electric techo... there are some really nice little details, like... the symmetry of the electric techo. "

45th place: Teal Techo

16 years after the introduction of Pink Techo as the final solid color Techo (or 9 if you consider Pastel as a solid color, I don't but I see the argument), we see the first solid Techo color introduced, debuting alongside the Techo in Tales of Dacardia in September 2024. A lot of people have requested a cyan/teal color before and it never happened. So if you want a Teal Techo, it is now an option. I still don't understand why this was never made into a real color. Fellow friend Magenta Techo also was made, but was unreleased and is left unused in the files. Shame, I would have loved to include you in the ranking.

Also, the Techo NPC Pirate First Mate now retroactively resembles Teal Techo, so I guess I can say he's the only Teal Techo NPC and he is in fact, an oracle and the most we did with him was put him in Legends and Letters where it was clarified that he was in actuality third in command of The Revenge. And then promptly was thrown into the shadow realm. Way to go.

Teal Techo recieved 125 likes against 63 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 62 likes, or a 0.6649% like ratio overall.

Teal Techo didn't get any favorite or least favorite votes. Noticing a pattern here.

44th place: Baby Techo

Baby Techo recieved 132 likes against 66 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 58 likes, or a 0.6667% like ratio overall.

Oh no, it's another color I don't like. Baby as a color is hit or miss for me. I like ones like the Baby Usul, Buzz, Nimmo, and Pteri, but as a Techo fan I think this one missed the mark. Granted there isn't a whole lot one could do with a baby Techo design as real life baby geckos are more often than not, just a small adult at first glance. Just... Maybe make the head smaller. This is definetly one of those cases where they thought "big head = cute" and not much beyond that. I mean, I like the pale green color scheme. That's a compliment.

Baby Techo has naturally endeared many people, so let's hear the testimonies of Baby Techo fans:

"Baby"

"...regular baby because it's super cute"

"Baby- It's Baby and so cute"

"Baby, love the giant head"

"Baby because its adorable"

"Baby, I love their little toes!"

"Baby techo."

Baby Techo fans have always perplexed me. No disrespect to your opinion if you consider Baby Techo one of your favorites and/or you voted in the poll, but the reasons they like it are in opposition to why I dislike it. Maybe it's a byproduct of having a blanket love for the Baby color in general? I dunno, but if you like it all the more power to you. I just don't get it.

Baby Techo has also ended up as people's least favorite Techo, so let's hear the people who would gladly leave one up for adoption:

"Baby. It just isn't cute."

"baby, his head is too big"

"baby techo... (baby part) i dont really like how it looks, its so weird"

"Baby. Generic big-head-tiny-body. Would look way cuter proportioned like a real baby lizard "

"Baby"

"Baby. :( Another baby pet with a big freaky head that's just weird looking."

"Aside from the Baby..."

Okay, last time there wasn't this much pushback against Baby so I'm glad I don't feel like I'm screaming into a brick wall about my opinion. Then again, I'm writing about a paragraph per Techo color on a survey about one of Neopets' least popular species.

43rd place: Plushie Techo

Plushie Techo recieved 133 likes against 62 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 71 likes, or a 0.6821% like ratio overall.

Plushie Techo in my opinion is the only Techo color from the UC era that I wholeheartedly prefer the UC version opposed to the converted version. A lot of people tend to prefer UC-I mean NC Pet Styles (will never get used to it sorry) versions for the sake of having a unique pose, and that's fine, but I've always prefered the fundamental design more. Ignoring the poses, Tyrannian and Grey Techo barely changed so I can take 'em or leave 'em. Faerie does look less elegant, but the basic design is definetly retained.

The only colors I feel are drastically altered to the point of no return are Darigan Techo and Plushie Techo. I already explained that I have a sort of ironic enjoyment for converted Darigan Techo, but as for Plushie it arguably changed less then Darigan Techo. Why don't I like it then? It's the eyes. The eyes have to fit a certain standard for contacts and lenses and since this was made without foresight of things like the Be-Gones, we are forever stuck with this Plushie Techo that always gives you a judgemental stare that unsettles passerby. I don't think I'd be upset with the design changes as much if they didn't do this weird squinting face to accomodate the eyes.

In contrast, I really like the unconverted Plushie Techo. The head is reminiscent to a sockpuppet, the button eyes aren't confined behind weird eyelids, and if they need to emote they can just spontaneously summon floating eyebrows to emote. They used to have Techos do cartoony floating eyebrows on occasion, but after the 2004 revamp they're strictly confined to emoting with their eyelids. It's kind of like how in the first three seasons of Family Guy, most of the characters had floating eyebrows to emote and then they were removed and consequently made everything have a little less life. So yes, I am saying that unconverted Plushie Techo had charm and soul.

Now, who would be willing to hug a Plushie Techo? These people!

"Plushie, the UC version was elite"

"Plushie because I own one!"

"Plushie Techo is the perfect blend between cute and creepy, straight out of a classic children's book! Plus, the colors clash in just the right way."

And here are the people who would gladly chuck Plushie Techo into an incinerator:

"All the ones I dislike have more to do with disliking the color in general. I love plushie on most pets but hate it for techos but also hate it on my favorite species, gelerts. I think it has to do with the eyes."

42nd place: Striped Techo

Striped Techo recieved 126 likes against 57 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 67 likes, or a 0.6885% like ratio overall.

Striped Techo is definetly my favorite one out of the early 2000's simple pattern colors. Originally having plain black stripes, then turned white with purple, and finally the light blue and purple we know today. What can I really say, it's a very visually appealing color and there are at least some Striped Techo appearances in Caption Competitions. I do wish we had some Striped Techo merch in some way, I know Techos aren't the most marketable but I think Striped would've been an easy first option to produce.

Only one person said that they considered Striped Techo to be their least favorite. They were also the same person that said Camouflage Techo to be boring, so... Same reason.

"Striped"

41st place: Purple Techo

Purple Techo recieved 129 likes against 58 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 71 likes, or a 0.6898% like ratio overall.

Purple Techo is notable for having a design change: the removal of purple spots. Purple Techo originally debuted with only an orange belly, but in 2004 gained some orange freckles on the cheeks which would be ratined in the conversion until one day in 2008 where they just got rid of them and also changed the shade of purple slightly for some reason. The image of converted orange spot Purple Techo would have been lost media if they didn't plan on making the leader Neopet in Legends and Letters a Techo and then dropping the idea but leavibg the files behind. Pretty much every Purple pet had the old orange spot version for some reason.

Breaking the streak of the plain colored Techos having no opinion, Purple Techo has some opinions! Here are the Purple Techo fans:

"Purple because a purple techo is one of my pets"

...And here are the Purple Techo haters:

"Purple"

"Purple, they removed orange bits"

"why did they remove the purple's orange belly :("

Adding onto the last comment, some people wrote in another non-vote to say they dislike spotless Purple Techo:

"i used to love purple techo but then they got rid of the orange accents :["

40th place: Ghost Techo

Ghost Techo recieved 131 likes against 58 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 73 likes, or a 0.6931% like ratio overall.

Ghost Techo definetly benefitted from the recent Spooky Ghost Pet Style in the eyes, giving a more whispy design and more unique eyes. Had that not happened, Ghost Techo definetly would have been forgotten. So forgotten that the developers of Island Builders deleted the Ghost Techo texture late in development and made it entirely white for some reason late in the game's lifespan. At least one could read their Neopets the book Ghost Techo Tales. I wonder what they write about that would be considered publisher worthy.

Ghost Techo got no favorite votes. Ghost Techo got 2 least favorite votes instead:

"Ghost. Its just uninspiring IMO"

"Ghost - looks dated and uncool"

39th place: Marble Techo

Marble Techo recieved 138 likes against 58 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 73 likes, or a 0.7041% like ratio overall.

Marble Techo was one of the two first Techos created when Jumpstart (who owned Neopets at the time) was purchased by Netragon. Marble as a color was a very recent addition and I think Marble is a nice looking color. I like the shade of green, bordering on teal. I just wish it wasn't so hyper detailed, it makes drawing Marble Techo extremely annoying and I can never do it consistently. I weep for the poor soul who eventually has to draw the Marble pets for the Neopets Battledome TCG. Anyways, Marble Techo is cool and I would like to see him curl himself into a ball and roll around.

Marble Techo got no least favorite votes, so here is a long overdue positivity streak for voter comments!

"Marble, the colors work really well and it gives the techo more dimension "

"Marble! I can't explain why, I just really like the color as a whole. The green is pretty"

"Marble... Marble Techo looks helpful and smart."

"(Maractite and) Marble are really nice with their colours and textures."

Marble Techo was also mentioned in a write in comment:

"...on DTI I was using a Marble Techo to model some items and I realized how nice he looked, too."

38th place: Starry Techo

Starry Techo recieved 140 likes against 57 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 83 likes, or a 0.7102% like ratio overall.

Starry Techo is yet another early debuter who was introduced in the year 2000 and all things considered, didn't do too bad! Being released on September 22nd would make Starry Techo the color introduced closest to what would later be Techo Day on September 13th. 2 days after 9/11.

Anyways, I like the Starry pets and it's definetly not for any sort of personal sentimental reasoning, no siree. They also made a Starry Techo plush exclusively for the Netherlands in 2007 to be sold in Kruidvat stores and I for the life of me can never find one for sale. All of them pop up on Marktplaats and thry're bundled in expensive lots and there are no proxy services for the Netherlands to buy stuff. If any of you out there have this Starry Techo plush, I envy you. There's even a Magical Starry Techo Plushie item on the site. It's a cursed color combo, I tell you!

...What was I talking about again?

Starry Techo is the shining star of some people's rankings, let's hear what Starry fans have to say:

"Starry. He's just a little night sky friend. A little IKEA coloured pal. 11/10. He's friend coloured."

"Starry. I used to have one of the McDs one in a cage like a real pet as a kid since I couldn’t own a real lizard "

Starry Techo doesn't shine as bright for others, let's hear the least favorite votes!

"starry "

37th place: Toy Techo

Toy Techo recieved 143 likes against 58 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 85 likes, or a 0.7114% like ratio overall.

Toy Techo is a color I was looking forward to and even made fake concept art of it as far back as 2020, when the Toy pets were still largely plastic. I thought the tail for a Toy Techo could look really cool in a plastic coil. Eventually, they started to diversify the Toy color and that opened the color to be based on other things. In 2022, I made a Toy Techo concept based on a sticky lizard, and it was a glittery cyan with orange spots to resemble a tokay gecko.

Eventually in the 2024 September Pet Day suggestions board, everyone went in assuming that Sponge Techo would be added for Techo Day 2024 and offhandedly suggested things like a Toy Techo based on a sticky lizard and a Toy Techo based on a bead lizard. If me designing a Toy Techo based on a sticky lizard was of any indication, I'm team sticky. I think a bead lizard Toy Techo would be claustrophobic in nature and consequnetly overdesigned.

Anyways, they did not add Sponge Techo for Techo Day 2024 and we instead got a Toy Techo based on a sticky lizard. Victory! ...Right? Well, the choice of colors are really strange. I think the deep green and bright green already makes it look incredibly similar to Christmas Techo, with only the hands and feet being red making it distinct. If they inverted the colors, I don't think it would've been an issue. Then there's the pink eyes and tail. I don't think it works. Why not just make them also red? It's frustrating to me because they were this close to a slam dunk. But they made a nice idea I suppose.

Sponge Techo, the at the time 20 year old design definetly overshadowed Toy Techo, and I'm not seeing much of a lasting impact for Toy Techo because everyone seems to have forgotten about it the week after it dropped. It's a shame, really. I just keep on accidentally gaslighting myself that they did release Sponge Techo for Techo Day 2024 because that was the buzz, despite me also being upset Sponge Techo was shafted once again.

Toy Techo is a fun friend to be a pal for life to some people! What do the Toy Techo favorite-opinion havers want to say about them?

"Toy"

"...toy tbh!! if only both (Robot) appeared pre-conversion"

"Toy"

"Toy"

"Toy, because I like the color choices and the toy sheen added to this color. It feels sort of nostalgic "

"...Toy is also very fun."

"Toy Techo. I really like designs that look like toys. The colors are bright and fun and I think the tail is really cute."

"Toy, such a unique design! It's the one that made me go "ooooh""

"...Also toy, it’s just too cute and very clever. "

On the inverse, here are the people who would like Toy Techo to be sent to the donation center.

"Toy techo simply is not nice to look at. I do not like the color choices."

"Toy because the color combo they used is an incredibly weird choice"

"Toy. I'm not sure I understand what the designer was going for. It looks like two different concepts mashed together."

"Only considering the ones on the main game, Toy is the worst. It is cool in concept but the multiple colours are so SO bad together. It makes me feel the weight of lost potential looking at it. Very depressing."

36th place: Mosaic Techo

Mosaic Techo recieved 142 likes against 57 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 85 likes, or a 0.7136% like ratio overall.

I remember being in my first year of community college in between classes and waiting, and then randomly refreshing the Rainbow Pool in hopes that they would drop the new Techo color. Keep in mind this was at 10 AM EST, and Neopets never drops new colors early into the day. Anyways, they dropped Mosaic Techo at this time. I felt like I was sitting at like... a Techo Nintendo Direct, I don't know where I was going with this. There was a Nintendo Direct that same day and the first one since 2018 to land on Techo Day. Neat I guess.

Anyways, I like Mosaic Techo as a design, but I also hate drawing Mosaic Techo. I like that Mosaic Techo got a TCG card and therefore becoming the newest Techo color to have been merchandised. I'm hoping the artist had more fun drawing Mosaic Techo than I normally do. Also, Mosaic Techo's coloration is based on a common agama or something.

A glass mosaic is a spectacle and a work of art to be admired by many, and here are the people who believe that to be the case for Mosaic Techo:

"...Mosaic is beautiful as well, I would just be concerned about being able to customize it."

"Probably mosaic, being one of the more detailed paints."

"...Mosaic..."

On the other hand, here is the person who would smash Mosaic Techo with a hammer in a heartbeat:

"...Mosaic hurts to look at, almost makes invisible seem like a blessing."

35th place: Pastel Techo

Pastel Techo recieved 141 likes against 56 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 85 likes, or a 0.7152% like ratio overall.

While Biscuit and Maractite were by all accounts, the first Techo colors to be introduced during the JumpStart era, Pastel Techo and Water Techo can be argued to be the first real JumpStart colors with the original art team gone and now being outsourced to places such as Ukraine. The release of Pastel Techo was delayed and not released for Techo Day 2015, but instead October 2nd. The swfs for Pastel Techo also have a lot of internal reference material, which is neat to have.

As for Pastel Techo themselves, yeah I like them! It's a very cute shade of blue and I adore the pink forehead spots. Pastel Techo also was among the first Techo colors to debut in Tales of Dacardia alongside the Techo's debut, but originally had only one eye correctly colored and the otber being the defualt eye color. They fixed that issue in about a day.

Pastel Techo has endeared many, and we will paint a picture of love for them:

"...close seconds are pastel..."

"My favourite is Pastel Techo! I like pastel because unfortunately the classic Blue Techo has been ruined for me from association with the crazed Altador Cup fan Blue Techo :/ i do not like that character and it has made me dislike Blue Techo. The Pastel Techo makes me feel like i’m seeing a blue techo for the first time, free of any judgemental first impressions. The shade of blue is also much prettier than the Blue techo, and I really enjoy thinking of Pastel Techo as a new and improved Blue techo for me to be able to like!"

"...Pastel..."

...And here are the Pastel Techo haters. I don't have a joke to make.

"Pastel. I wish the main blue body color was a different, maybe a yellow-green color instead. "

"...Also pastel because it's better than regular blue but loses points for creativity for me"

"Pastel. It is just blue but more pale, they could have made it much better and more distinctive "

"Pastel... Pastel feels like wasted potential to me..."

"Pastel is lazy"

Pastel Techo was also mentioned in a write-in comment:

"I generally think that techos have pretty solid color options; however, they seem to generally be one of the first pets to get new colors, and when compared to other options, they can feel much less detailed. For example, early pastel colors (incl. techo) are flat—recent ones are ombre and/or have other unique characteristics). "

34th place: Origami Techo

Marble Techo recieved 142 likes against 55 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 87 likes, or a 0.7208% like ratio overall.

Origami Techo was a part of the last Techo day to see two simultaneous Techo colors released, and the first one I was coherent enough to remember (I got into Neopets because of the 2008 Burger King promotion but I think Techo Day already came and went and I didn't know nor was I a big Techo fan as a stupid babby). And despite resembling the basic Techo body, it cannot be customized. Fair enough.

Anyways if you open up Origami Techo's swfs in Adobe Animate, it's revealed that Origami Techo was originally going to be teal and then they changed it to red later on. I prefer the teal. Otherwise I like how silly he looks and he did not deserve to place last for the Neopies he was introduced in.

Unfortunately, Origami Techo got absolutely zero favorite votes. That's a shame, I really wanted to make a Paper Mario joke. Anyways, here are the people who would chuck Origami Techo into a shredder!

"...origami"

"...Origami mostly because it can't wear most of the clothes."

"I dislike the origami... techo. They both (8-Bit) make me uncomfortable for some reason?"

"...origami... origami could be good but failed on the paper look and has a lot of nonsense folds, also the mouth is a thicker line for some reason and it looks jarring "

Origami Techo was also mentioned in one write in comment:

"I love techos! I love 90% of the techo colors and the only ones I dont like are on colors I just dislike as a whole (like 8bit, origami and dimensional)"

33rd place: Pink Techo

Pink Techo recieved 132 likes against 51 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 81 likes, or a 0.7213% like ratio overall.

Pink Techo until very recently was the last basic/solid Techo introduced, for Techo Day 2008. They are pink. They only have one miscellaneous appearance in a Caption competition and only recently gained a second appearance in Tales of Dacardia. That's Pink Techo, the color of all time.

Surprise, surprise; nobody had stronge enough opinions on Pink Techo to consider them their favorite or least favorite Techo color.

32nd place: White Techo

White Techo recieved 141 likes against 54 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 83 likes, or a 0.7231% like ratio overall.

White Techo was also a color who debuted as a plushie item before they were properly introduced, and also has an innacurate McDonald's plushie that depicts them with a tan belly like the other basic Techo colors despite having a grey one, and no forehead spots. But hey, it's cool that White Techo was chosen to get a plushie at all. The captain of Meridell's Yooyuball team, "Wizard" Windelle, is also a White Techo, so it's definetly not a forgettable color combo. If "Wizard" Windelle wasn't the captain, I'd happily ditch Team Meridell. He is the only reason I play for them.

See, Pink Techo? Being introduced earlier gets you mileage!

Two in a row, no strong opinions to be had by the voters on White Techo one way or the other. Fitting for a stereotypically safe color.

31/30th place: Royalboy Techo and Valentine Techo

Royalboy Techo and Valentine Techo both recieved 144 likes against 54 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 90 likes, or a 0.7273% like ratio overall.

So this is the first tie we have because they got the same exact number of likes and dislikes. I'll talk about Royalboy Techo first since he released first.

Royalboy Techo's design boils down to trying to nail the "king of the jungle" look. The outfit definetly doesn't resemble something you'd see in the real life, it's loosely based on Polynesian or Micronesian styles, but they didn't have metal smithing so they definetly wouldn't have a golden crown, caring for the brooch, or waistline. It's definetly another product of playing fast and loose with real world influences. Other than that, I like the design overall and the brooch's design is definetly interesting and ripe for story potential.

Valentine Techo is disappointing to me. I wanted a Valentine color to be like Christmas or Halloween where they get to do so many concepts and ideas with a variety of costumes and color variation, but instead we get... The same repeated heart patters and the occasional bow. How innovative. No box of chocolates, no love letters, no love arrows and bows, just that. And Valentine Techo is butt naked. Even something like holding a valentine's card and a pen would have given character. But I mean, the basic pattern is nice I suppose. Still feels like wasted potential.

Unfortunately, not a lot of people wrote in saying that they specifically consider Royalboy Techo to be their favorite of the two Royal Techos, so I'll be lump summing blanket votes for the Royal Techos as a whole. Here are the favorites:

"Royals"

"...Royal Boy..."

"Royals as I'm unsure I've ever looked at them and they felt very inspired..."

"...Royal techos get an honorable mention."

"...I also think the Royal designs are fun too."

"Royal boy and royal girl fit the species really well. "

Valentine Techo got a few mentions as someone's favorite Techo color.

"Valentine is cute"

"Valentine..."

...And Valentine also got one vote as someone's least favorite color.

"Valentine, seems extra lazy"

29th place: Grey Techo

Grey Techo recieved 141 likes against 52 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 89 likes, or a 0.7306% like ratio overall.

Grey Techo, you sad thing. You always stare at people with your forlorn, hopeless eyes in hopes that someone will do something for you. Did you know that you are technically in the files of Tales of Dacardia as a texture but not as an actual color? Sucks to be you!

People are gonna read that above paragraph and assume I hate Grey Techo. I don't. I like Grey Techo and I have one on my main. I think she is cute. Grey Techo also has a nice MSN icon that I can't tell if the hands are supposed to be touching each other's index fingers in a needy way or not. Also I like the expression that the unconverted Grey Techo's default pose makes, very much a smile through the pain look and I love it.

Grey Techo got no favorite votes and one least favorite vote. That probably will make Grey Techo's depression worse, but let's hear it anyways:

"I don’t like grey why make them sad "

28th place: Black Techo

Black Techo recieved 137 likes against 50 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 87 likes, or a 0.7326% like ratio overall.

I mentioned earlier that my other least favorite Techo color was introduced in 2024, and here it is: Black Techo. I don't like it because it's redundant, because we've already had Shadow Techo for the past 22 years and Black Techo is now permanently a part of Techo history. There's not much to talk about Black Techo, it is just Shadow Techo but darker.

If we're gonna defend Black Techo here, it is technically something from the website, as Black is a color exclusive for Petpets. It's definetly a byproduct of the original desigms for Shadow pets making them appear as shadowy rather than it being "the black color". I'd love to live in a world where we have the original Shadow color exist today and have Black functionally take the place Shadow has today, but that is not the timeline we live in. I'd say Black Techo is moreso a victim of circumstance more than anything. And to give credit to the Tales of Dacardia devs, they did make the later Black pets more visually distinct to their Shadow bretheren, such as the Aisha and Hissi. Maybe they'll revisit the Techo.

If I had to choose which one I think is worse, I'd say 25th Anniversary Techo because I don't like what it stands for as opposed to being slightly different.

Black Techo didn't get any favorite or least favorite votes. Hmm... You'd think the redundancy would at least anger one person enough to mention it.

27th place: Island Techo

Island Techo recieved 147 likes against 51 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 96 likes, or a 0.7424% like ratio overall.

I really like Island Techo. If there's one thing I can criticize Island Techo, it's the necklace being a gold hoop. Again, no gold in real life Polynesia or Micronesia. Not a dealbreaker though. I always liked Island Techo's design because it looked like a creamsicle to me. The white stripes and the nice shade of orange really reminds me of one. A healthy presence in supplementary material and even getting merchandise in the form of a charm shows that Island Techo got around, and if Techos were more popular I'm sure that Island Techo would have been merchandised more widely.

If we're gonna be judging the Island Techo on the "how stereotypical is this scale", I'd say it's not that bad, but it could be better. The markings are only just horizontal stripes and the grass skirt is full and not practically a loincloth. My only gripe is the necklace but that's it. The only Neoclone to have redesigned Island Techo to be less offensive is virtu.pet, and I'm not a fan of the more fleshy tone of orange they used, it looks like skin now. The White spots now resemble sunscreen (because he's supposed to be a lifeguard) and all of the sudden my creamsicle boy is now a caramel cream boy.

One of the first things I saved up for when I got back into Neopets in 2019 was an Island Techo Morphing Potion because I vibed with Island Techo that much. I hope Island Techo gets into Tales of Dacardia, they've been pushing a historical diplomatic connection with Mystery Island in the story and I think it would be climactic to see Island Techo make an appearance.

Here are the people who would gladly kick back and have a coconut cocktail with Island Techo:

"Island.. Vibes are chefs kiss"

Meanwhile, here are the people who would gladly redeem Island Techo to Techo Mountain for some Codestones:

"the caricatures but thats a problem with the island color itsself."

"Island Techo"

26th place: Rainbow Techo

Rainbow Techo recieved 139 likes against 48 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 91 likes, or a 0.7433% like ratio overall.

Rainbow Techo is notable for... Not much, really. Rainbow Techo was featured in an AIM icon and being a user shopkeeper where it's revealed how far a Techo can unhinge their jaw to consume a slice of cake. But I like Rainbow Techo either way, being one of the three Techo colors introduced for Techo Day 2002 alongside Baby and Shadow will definetly boost memorability for me. Also, none of Rainbow Techo's original 2002 images were archived anywhere and are lost media. Sad.

Rainbow Techo has one fan, and they surely are over the rainbow with them:

"Rainbow but I'm biased because my Techo is awesome (Ra5pb3rry)..."

...And here is the person who thinks Rainbow Techo must deal with the average corporation on July 1st:

"...Rainbow, anything that has that boring horizontal stripes. "

25th place: Ice Techo

Ice Techo recieved 142 likes against 49 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 93 likes, or a 0.7435% like ratio overall.

Ice Techo is cool! I like that they have a blocky tail. I wish that their head more more edgy in general, but that's definetly at the sacrifice of making it compatible for wearables. They often forget that tail specific wearables for the Techo exist so they usually get to do whatever they want with them. I definetly want an Ice Techo, shame it's one of the hardest Techo colors to get and I already used my species change perk to change a 25th Anniversary Aisha into a Sponge Techo.

Also, is it a missed opportunity that Ice Techo doesn't look like a Snowickle? Before you go to the comments and type "Uhm acktually, the Ice Hissi is based on the Snowager and is therefore based on a Snowickle 🤓", I'd like to remind you that the Snowager existed before Snowickles, and that it'd make sense since they are also ice lizards. the snowager is also technically a legless lizard so the hissi doesn't deserve to look like the snowager so checkmate liberals 😎

Here is someone whose heart thaws for Ice Techo:

"I really like the Ice Techo, the ice pets in general are all well done but I feel it leans heavily for Techos. Very simple while maintaining unique aspects. "

...And someone who would happily chip away at Ice Techo with an ice pick:

"Ice. Not my least favourite but most disappointing? They mixed the sharp lines in the tail with rounded part of the body?! No sir, decide on sharp or round! "

24th place: Candy Corn Techo

Candy Corn Techo recieved 145 likes against 49 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 96 likes, or a 0.7474% like ratio overall.

Candy Corn Techo is the first original Techo color from Tales of Dacardia to not be a solid color, and it's a solid first outing. Word repetition in one sentence, that's 1 point off my grade. The eyes are copied from Pastel Techo, but it wouldn't be the first case of a Techo having weird eyes so it's nothing new to me. I like that they have freckles added, very much filling a void that the removal of the orange spots on the Purple pets had left behind.

I think it's definetly funny that if someone says "Man, I wish we had an official Candy Techo" and you can point out that Candy Corn Techo exists. It's right but it's also not. Also wondering if they add Candy Corn to Neopets.com how they would handle Candy Korbat, who looks like candy corn by default.

These people have no problem with candy corn and would happily chow down a plate full of it... Oh, I forgot the word "Techo".

"The candy corn, looks like a fun idea but probably works best on a candy corn like body."

"...close seconds are pastel and candy corn"

"I like the candy corn one even though it’s from outside of the site"

"Candy corn, I wish it was in the real game, or if there was a Halloween 2.0 paintbrush with diff aesthetics. So fun"

"Candy corn techo was wonderful to learn is real. "

And here are the haters of Candy Corn Techo that throw it all away. ...It doesn't quite work when I make it a proper noun, does it?

"Candy Corn..."

This has nothing paritcularly to do with Candy Corn Techo, but I got a comment about someone wanting a Candy Techo of the non-corn variety:

"They need to give us Candy Techo already, I am filing a complaint!"

Maybe we'll get a Candy Techo for Techo Day 2025! I've always wanted one based on cotton candy with a paper cone tail.

23rd place: Christmas Techo

Grey Techo recieved 54 likes against 18 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 36 likes, or a 0.7500% like ratio overall.

My forgetfulness towards Christmas Techo is responsible for delaying the results of this poll, because I forgot to include Christmas Techo in the original poll and subsequently had to open another poll to determine how Christmas Techo would rank, and it turns out we got an even 75% like ratio. How nice. Ideally I shouldn't have forgotted about Christmas Techo, because I made an entire character based on the scarf they wear for a project I participated it.

Actually, Christmas may have been planned to debut much earlier than December of 2005, because a Christmas Techo design was made as far back as December 2000, where it was used on a coloring sheet. I'm not sure why this specific design was cut, I'm personally theorizing that it was because it was too visually similar to Christmas Buzz, but I very much enjoy the current design of Christmas Techo and therefore forgive the wait. Still some neat trivia, I'm wondering if there's other early design variations of other Techo colors out there rotting in an ex Neopets artist's hard drive. I'd love to see 'em.

Despite my forgetfulness to include Christmas Techo in the first place, Christmas Techo was still mentioned as soemone's least favorite Techo color despite not being reminded of them!

"Christmas, mostly because I don't like the contrasting colors. "

22nd place: Water Techo

Water Techo recieved 146 likes against 48 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 98 likes, or a 0.7526% like ratio overall.

Water Techo is the other of the two 2015 Techo day colors. I like Water Techo too, the wavy tail is adorable. The green pupil for the eyes is also of note to me. Water Techo got recently uplifted in the New Features board where they were used to model the Water Splash Effect wearable. Otherwise, I don't have too much to say about Water Techo.

Water Techo washed up to be someone's favorite Techo color!

"Water"

21st place: Steampunk Techo

Steampunk Techo recieved 156 likes against 51 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 105 likes, or a 0.7536% like ratio overall.

Steampunk Techo may just be my favorite Techo color. If I'm gonna go into negatives first, I wish they finished the base color because it is quite literally unfinished. I'd love to have a customizable ivory Techo with a cool metal belly, but alas. Also I do think it's a little overdesigned, but for a Steampunk pet it's in actuality rather tame. Now onto the positives!

I love Steampunk Techo's vibe, no notes. The clocks on the belts, the purple tinted googles, the mechanical glove, the color choices? Chef's kiss. Steampunk Techo gives off the vibes that he's a train conductor from a dystopian novel and I love it for that. If they ever decide that they want to explain the technological revolution in Neopia, I'd love to see a Steampunk Techo explain "this is why we in Moltara have been experimenting with the steam engine further to create locomotives". I don't want to sound like a broken record, but damn. Slam dunk.

I really would love to see Steampunk Techo make more appearances in media. Steamounk pets already don't get a lot of mileage because they're often overdesigned, but if we had to choose one pet to be an ambassador of the Steampunk pets in like merch or something, make it Steampunk Techo. They will probably never make it, but I would love a Steampunk Techo plush. At the end of the day I'll probably have to commission someone to make one because there's a lot of detail that nobody would put up with. Make him into a pin! Make a TCG card! Put him in Tales of Dacardia! Let him steal the spotlight!

Steampunk Techo was the first of what is now the norm of 1 color per Pet Day in the 2020's, and I'm glad that we got a banger design to soften the blow, since if you don't like the new color they added, then that's pretty much it. But aside from me wishing that the base color was better, I think the clothes are cool enough to stay on Steampunk Techo. I think the more I write about Steampunk Techo, the more I like them. Wow!

Steampunk Techo has absolutely chugged into people's hearts, so let's hear out their steaming passions!

"I really like Steampunk Techo. I think the metal jaw is a really nice touch, and the clothes are pretty cool too."

"Steampunk, i really like the clothes + the tech gauntlet and tail go really hard"

"Steampunk!! I didn't realize how neat their outfit is, and now I'm wondering about a crosspaint..."

"Steampunk! Love his goggles."

"Steampunk. Adds pb clothing that makes the design so peak and yet if you opt to take them off, the base coloring is good enough to use clothing without looking weird. "

"...Second to that is probably (and surprisingly) Steampunk. The base color is so nice. "

"Steampunk has a cool outfit but without clothes looks a little odd."

"...or steampunk are so cool "

" I'd say my favourite is Steampunk"

"Steampunk"

"Steampunk, it's cool and detailed "

"Steampunk ir chocolate I can't choose which. They both look really cool"

"Steampunk! It adds a lot to a design that I'd otherwise consider pretty basic and lacking a bit of uniqueness honestly (when in its base colors ofc)."

And the inverse, people who think Steampunk is uncool and is destined to stay nothing more than lame fiction:

"...unpeeled steampunk techo having messed up shadows is lame"

"Steampunk. Not because of the steampunk itself, but because WHAT is happening with its mouth/jaw?? Is that its teeth?? I don't like it"

"Pastel or Steampunk, both colors I normally enjoy, fall flat on Techos for me... Steampunk has. Way too much going on, even by a Steampunk pet's standard."

Steampunk Techo also got a mention in the write-in comments:

"Base colour steampunk techo was very pretty. "

20th place: Wraith Techo

Wraith Techo recieved 153 likes against 49 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 104 likes, or a 0.7574% like ratio overall.

Wraith Techo was a rather early addition to the Wraith Lineup, and I think Wraith is a silly little demon lizard and I would happily keep one in real life and then let him bite me before he lets ghosts take refuge in my house. The tail being coiled and segmented is great, and the swirl in the stomach is also a cute touch. I also own a Wraith Techo on my main account, he's apparently the strongest one for the Battledome since his original owner trained him.

Here are the people who would happily let Wraith Techo rule over Faerieland:

"wraith techo, looks like my fursona ^-^"

"Wraith is a close second for it's simplistic cartoon design and cool mouth"

And here are the people who would like to see Wraith Techo eradicated:

"Wraith, it just seems like very poor artwork"

Wraith Techo also got a mention in a write-in comment:

"I think they should redo the wraith techo."

19th place: Orange Techo

Orange Techo recieved 141 likes against 45 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 96 likes, or a 0.7581% like ratio overall.

Orange Techo is a Techo whose appearance was changed by the item Orange Paint Brush, becoming Orange. I already mentioned in Disco Techo's entry that Orange Techo had an early debut, so there's not much else to say. Congratualtions to Orange Techo for being orange. Orange you glad he made it this high?

Orange Techo didn't get any favorite votes, but instead got a least favorite vote from someone who dislikes the color orange, apparently:

"Orange Techos. They are orange."

Hey you, reading this. Thanks for sticking with me this long! Here's a little thing: make sure your comment includes the word "grass" for me to ensure that you pretty much read everything. If you planned to comment of course.

18th place: Blue Techo

Blue Techo recieved 137 likes against 41 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 96 likes, or a 0.7697% like ratio overall.

Blue Techo is a true blue friend. Did you know that the first ever Techo NPC introduced to Neopets, the Tropical Food Shopkeeper, was a Blue Techo? or that Kelland, the Neopian School Supplies Shopkeeper, the Cheeseroller Shopkeeper, the Techo Fanatic, Bibblebub, and Harry the Explorer are also all notable Techo NPCs who are Blue? ...Except Bibblebub. Nobody likes Bibblebub.

Blue Techo definetly felt like the third wheel to the basic Techo colors, having considerable appearances but less than Red or Green. But I gotta say, the blue lizard looks striking and it's far from forgettable despite being so basic. My first Techo plushie (but not my first Neopets merch) was a Blue Techo. I adore him.

Blue Techo holds nostalgic value for some, and that was enough to make someone's favorite Techo color:

"My original pet from decades ago was a blue Techo, so I am "slightly" biased."

Blue Techo got one least favorite vote that is to the point:

"Blue"

Lastly, here is someone's recollection of their time with a Blue Techo plush:

"one of my fondest memories wrt neopets is browsing the site at school with a blue techo mcdonalds plushie sitting nearby"

17/16th place: Chocolate and Halloween Techo

Chocolate Techo and Halloween Techo recieved 154 likes against 46 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 108 likes, or a 0.7700% like ratio overall.

I'll talk about Halloween Techo first since they released first. Halloween Techo was among the many pets to get a Halloween variant in 2000, and was entirely covered in bandages until 2004, where they were revealed to have grey scales and green forehead spots. I think Halloween Techo is a very simple idea that's executed well, the 2004 redesign definetly added character and made it more mortal (she's dressing up as a mummy, not literally being one).

That's not to mention Wan Dirx, who is the coolest Techo to have ever lived being a Halloween Techo. Won the first Altador Cup, retiring when he felt it was time for better players to come on, and then stealthily returned in 2021 for the Altador Cup and is yet to be noticed. He's the best.

Chocolate Techo has had roughly 17 less years on this living realm than Halloween Techo, but that high ranking is nothing to sneeze at. Chocolate Techo definetly looks yummy with that swirl of cream on their head and white chocolate drizzle around the tail. And the literal cherry on top is so good! No wonder why Chocolate Techo managed to get a card in the Battledome TCG so soon. Definetly earned.

Here are the people who would love to dance with a Chocolate Techo at the annual Chocolate Ball:

"Chocolate"

"Chocolate is always cute!"

"Chocolate... Chocolate Techo looks very friendly, like he would be nice to me."

"Chocolate, Tyrannian, Woodland, and Gold stuck out to me.... But if I had to pick one, Chocolate; looks so yummy"

...And here are the people who would not feel bad if they left Chocolate Techo out in the sun to melt:

"...chocolate overall. Gross."

Chocolate Techo was also cited as the reason someome started to like Techos:

"I didn't really like Techos until I got a FFQ and realized how great a Chocolate Techo looked... So my opinion is slowly changing.

Sadly, Halloween Techo was met with overwhelming indifference, not a single person casted their favorite or least favorite votes to Halloween Techo.

15th place: Maraquan Techo

Maraquan Techo recieved 154 likes against 44 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 110 likes, or a 0.7778% like ratio overall.

Maraquan Techo is a fishy lizzy. Being among the early Maraquan pets, Maraquan Techo's design doesn't go beyond "what if Neopet, but fish". If Maraquan Techo were added any later, they definetly wouId have been designed after a marine iguana. Regardless, Maraquan Techo deserves hugs and a Maraquan Techo by the name of Barit Jowes has the role of designated punching bag on Team Maraqua.

Here is the person who would happily care for a Maraquan Techo and spend thousands of dollars on tanks and water maintenence supplies:

"...Maraquan are standouts as well."

Here are the peoplewho would fish up Maraquan Techo and throw them on land, not even caring enough to put them back in the water... I dunno where I was going with this one, sorry.

"Maraquan techo - they had the opportunity to do something cool and instead made a boring fish with arms?"

"maraquan. missed out on the opportunity to go with a salamander design which could have been awesome, instead it looks so generic "

"Maraquan, because other Maraquan pets look so cool! but I feel like the Techo's falls flat. I recognize this may be due to having seen it so many times since the design is older. "

"I almost said Relic techo is the worst, again because they had the opportunity to do something cool and instead did the most boring thing ever. It might bother me worse than Maraquan, it's a hard choice."

14th place: Snowflake Techo

Snowflake Techo recieved 152 likes against 43 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 109 likes, or a 0.7795% like ratio overall.

This is the other snow based Techo color I alluded to earlier. Snowflake as a color originally debuted in Petpet Park, but after Petpet Park's closure the many exclusive colors slowly became forgotten. Until Snowflake returned for Christmas 2024 and we now have Snowflake Techo! I think Snowflake Techo is really cute, it reminds me of the Snowman TV from Animal Crossing, incredibly specific thing to reference.

Snowflake Techo is the second highest ranking color and one that while I personally liked, was pleasantly surprised with the performance. 14th out of 18 is nothing to sneeze at. I definetly think that Snowflake would be a nice addition to neopets.com, and I'm glad that Tales of Dacardia is allowed to exist as a grounds of experimentation for colors when we live in an era where new color additions are more sparse than ever.

Snowflake Techo was a surprise hit, with many people who had otherwise never seen them before claiming them to be their favorite:

"...Also adore... snowflake"

"Snowflake"

"...Snowflake is also pretty. Idk I just like the colors."

"I'd heavily consider painting my own Techo Snowflake if the color wasn't trapped in mobile game jail, it's such a pretty color."

"Snowflake, despite its recency. They absolutely nailed the colors on that one."

"Snowflake is also really nice in a kind of understated way."

People would also love to see Snowflale Techo added to Neopets.com!

"I'd love to have Candy Corn, Peppermint, and Snowflake as real colours! "

"that Snowflake colored one was cool we should have that as a paintbrush"

13th place: Fire Techo

Fire Techo recieved 152 likes against 42 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 109 likes, or a 0.7835% like ratio overall.

Fire Techo is a cool color that had also improved with every redesign iteration, with the original 2001 design looking a bit on the basic side, the 2004 redesign making the design more neat, and the 2007 adding a cool flame on the tail. Fire Techo was also in Island Builders but was internally named "Flame Techo" for some reason; and had a tan belly instead of a gray one, also for some reason. Regardless, Fire Techo has currently not returned in Tales of Dacardia so we are out of 3D Fire Techo representation.

Fire Techo burns with passion for several people, such as this person:

"Something about Fire Techo is incredibly nostalgic for me."

...Consequently, one person wishes nothing more but for Fire Techo to burn in hell:

"Fire. I hate all Fire pets."

12th place: Alebrije Techo

Alebrije Techo recieved 150 likes against 41 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 41 likes, or a 0.7853% like ratio overall.

Alebrije Techo is the biggest upset to me, and I mean that in a positive way. When I was taking a look at the files of the Halloween update, I was immediately caught off guard by Alebrije Techo's texture. I was like "Alebrijes? Like those painted figures that my Spanish teacher taught me about?" and lo and behold, it's real. Alebrije Techo was released on November 1st, 2024 with virtually no promotion in-game, it just kinda dropped in the shop and it wasn't even a featured item.

I think Alebrije Techo is fantastic. The colors are great and the details are intricate not yet overboard, and it's a very realised concept that I'm not surprised was done sooner. I'm hoping that this post brings awareness to Alebrije Techo and that the Alebrije color is expanded in-game to be non-Techo exclusive and put on Neopets.com. An easy new favorite of mine.

Again, Alebrije Techo left the biggest impact among the Tales of Dacardia exclusive Techo colors, and I think I should let the people explain why they think they're great:

"alebrije was a surprisingly good color"

"...Alebrije! Unique and references real world things."

"alebrije my beloved"

"I love Alebrije Techo, it's such an inspired color "

"I want Alebrije Techo to be canon!"

"alebrije bc its so pretty and creative"

"alebrije (very cool and colorful)"

"Like many others, I think the Alebrije techo is fantastic and wish we had it onsite. "

"Alebrije looks super vibrant and funky and I absolutely LOVE that."

"Alebrije. It is a much needed colorful color with a deeper meaning."

"Alebrije because it’s beautiful"

"Alebrije"

"Alebrije, it’s so different and beautiful. "

"Alibrije"

11th place: Royalgirl Techo

Royalgirl Techo recieved 159 likes against 39 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 120 likes, or a 0.8030% like ratio overall.

Most of my thoughts of Royalgirl Techo can just be copied from Royalboy Techo, so I'l try to keep my thoughts Royalgirl specific. I like the color of the Techo and I like that the flowers. The leaf and flowers on the crown area are also a nice detail and I like that the tattoo on the tail is more pronounced than her male counterpart. I'm not sure if I prefer Royalgirl over Royalboy, they're about on par with each other in my head. If I had to give one edge over the other, maybe Royalgirl is better because I like the body color more.

As stated earlier, Royalgirl Techo left a strong enough impression to get individual votes, unlike her male counterpart. Here they are:

"Royalgirl, I've never seen it before today (not a huge Techo fan) and I was shocked by how cute the island queen look of the colour + clothes is"

"Royalgirl, it's a beautiful color and outfit, and I love the tail markings"

"...But I think I'd have to say my favourite is Royalgirl. Great base colour and nice clothes. 10/10, no notes."

"The patterns on rg's tail are really cute as well."

10th place: Jelly Techo

Jelly Techo recieved 155 likes against 38 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 117 likes, or a 0.8031% like ratio overall.

Jelly Techo is a Techo that is 100% real. Our gelatinous friend dropped sometime in 2005, Jelly Techo is a nice shade of purple to imply that she is grape flavored like the Grape Jellly item. We also have a Jelly Techo NPC as the Lab Jellies Scientist from The Scourge of the Lab Jellies, who has a resemblance to Dr_Death, though he is notably blue rather than purple.

If you want a purple Jelly Techo character, look no further than the Jelly World Practice Team, where if you were bad enough at the practice round, you would be able to see a Jelly Techo score a goal for a brief moment. Sadly, this was not meant to be, because the following year replaced the entire Jelly team with Jelly Chias. But there is hope, maybe. A Neopian Times editorial did sort of address the Jelly World Team, but also not really. Maybe this year we will finally see the triumphant return of the original Jelly team with the Techo in tow!

Jelly Techo is real enough to be 2 people's favorite Techo! Let's hear their biting analysis!

"Jelly, he just looks very tasty and it's currently lunchtime"

"jelly cause he squishy"

9th place: Magma Techo

Magma Techo recieved 157 likes against 38 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 119 likes, or a 0.8051% like ratio overall.

Magma Techo was another color I was dangerously close to forgetting about, and I often do unfortunately. But Magma Techo does hold the honor of being the last Techo color introduced during the 2000's, and even made an early cameo in the Advent Calendar before being released as an official color. Magma Techo was also happy to get coal for christmas in another Advent Calendar animation the following year. I guess it makes sense, maybe Magma pets like to eat it as food. But still, very cute.

The love for Magma Techo is as hot as lava for some, let's hear what the one Magma Techo fan has to say:

"Magma, because... I like Magma Cookie."

8th place: Red Techo

Red Techo recieved 137 likes against 33 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 104 likes, or a 0.8059% like ratio overall.

Ah yes, Red Techo. The fallen mascot color for the Techos before swiftly being usurped by Green Techo because of the stereotype that lizards are green. That's not to say Red Techo hasn't done anything before then, he used to be the face for the pet bio flash animation where he repetitively danced on a stage to a drum beat, and we got a few characters who are red Techos, such as Velm, Dr. Thunder, Bowe, Sir Edmund Ogletree, Francisco Corvallio, Alabaster Chesterdrawers, and iconic character Reese's Puffs Car Wash Techo. I think the Red Techo does look nice, but it is pretty easy to see why they fell out of favor for Green by TNT as the years went on.

You guessed it, the basic color doesn't have anyone considering it to be their favorite or least favorite color once again. Moving on.

7th place: Robot Techo

Robot Techo recieved 164 likes against 39 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 125 likes, or a 0.8051% like ratio overall.

Robot Techo is definetly the first design one could look at and say "yep, this is a converted era color". Introduced in 2008, Robot Techo is quite popular but you also don't see a lot of people patient and sane enough to constantly make fanart of them, and that's fair. I definetly have less fun drawing Robot comprared to Steampunk. Robot Techo also had an eye error over the years where the yellow light panel intended to be the eyes would frequently roll back to an organic normal Techo eye set. It gave me a lot of fun headcanons as to why that happened. Robot Techo also recently got a card in the Battledome TCG.

Here are the people who would submit to the Robot Techo uprising of society:

"...Robot..."

"i'm torn between robot..."

"Pretty impressed by the current Robot Techo."

"...Robot... get an honorable mention. "

"Robot! I'm normally not a big robot fan, but the Robot Techo goes so hard for no reason"

"Robot. I like the robots a lot, they're all neat"

6th place: Faerie Techo

Faerie Techo recieved 166 likes against 38 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 128 likes, or a 0.8137% like ratio overall.

This is a surprise to me, I totally thought Faerie Techo would have had a spot in the top 3 in the bag, but now she's just shy of the top 5. Anyways, Faerie Techo was one of the most memorable Techo colors by the general public and was widely considered "one of the good ones" by Techo non-enjoyers. The unconverted Faerie Techo was also highly desired, as it was only available to be obtained for about 6 months before the conversion, leaving people to keep the old art of their existing Faerie Techos. Eventually, unconverted pets became Pet Styles and now the 2006 Faerie Techo can be widely obtained once more.

Faerie Techo's old design made them appear longer and more slender with large waving wings, giving them a delicate and elegant appearance. I've stated earlier that I don't mind the converted design for Faerie Techo, and I still stand by that. I have a Faerie Techo and evidently there's still love for the UC Faerie Techo since the Faerie Techo plushie was based on the UC design despite being released in 2009. Still the most popular Techo color yet not enough to recieve any representation in merchandise. Sad.

Faerie Techo has fluttered into the hearts of many, and let's hear why so:

"...Second place would be faerie, because the color scheme is nice."

"Unconverted Faerie because it looks amazing"

"...Or Faerie,"

"faerie, its a classic. so pretty"

"faerie/uc faerie and woodland"

"I found, surprisingly, that the Faerie Techo passes a vibe check I didn't realize I was making when assessing Faerie pets."

"...faerie is a classic"

"Faerie, the colors are pretty and I love the wings and antennae :)"

"faerie because just look at it"

"Faerie - it's unique within the faerie colors available and it's fun on the techo "

"Faerie (I love that the colour scheme is so different from most standard faeries)"

"Faerie! I’m a sucker for fae pets but that’s biased."

"Faerie... The pose and wings are so good."

"Fairy..."

...And here is the one person that hates Faerie Techo the most out of every Techo:

"faerie cause derp eyes"

" ...Faerie. I think Techos serve well for bright, varied colors and love to see them depicted like poisonous amphibians"

5th place: Maractite Techo

Maractite Techo recieved 159 likes against 36 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 123 likes, or a 0.8154% like ratio overall.

Maractite Techo accompanied Biscuit Techo as one of the last Techo colors made with the original art team, and this was definetly the high note to go out on. Maractite Techo has a great design, with the details like the forehead spots being intricate swirls, the nice triangle portion in the tail, and the little swirls in their knees and elbows also beoming nicely detailed patterns. It's definetly a beautiful color that again striked a good balance of being detailed yet not overdesigned.

Maractite beating Faerie Techo was not on my bingo card, I don't really see a surplus of Maractite Techo fans nor do I see a lot of people going out of their way to make fanart of them. But it's not a bad surprise, either. I'm glad to see that Maractite did well despite me underestimating them.

Maractite Techo definetly got a lot of love, and a few favorite votes to boot:

"Maractite, I think the colors look beautiful on Techos! "

"...Maractite..."

"Maractite and Marble are really nice with their colours and textures."

"maractite..."

4th place: Woodland Techo

Woodland Techo recieved 170 likes against 33 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 137 likes, or a 0.8374% like ratio overall.

Woodland Techo has been dethroned as the champion, dropping from 1st place to 4th place. Ouch, just short of the podium. Anyways, Woodland Techo has a great design. Instead of being based off a plant, it's instead based on uroplatus phantasticus, better known as the satanic leaf tailed gecko, which resemble dead leaves. Woodland Techo was immediately showered with praise and alongside fellow Top 10-er, Faerie Techo, had the Techo haters consider it "one of the good ones".

Woodland Techo is definetly adorable and I understand why so many people have gravitated towards him, definetly deserved and I'm hoping in the future we get more Woodland Techo appearances in some way.

Woodland Techo, being last year's champion of favoritism, unsurprisingly (to me at least) recieved the most favoritism votes and no least favorite votes. Let's hear it out for Woodland Techo!

"Woodland! "

"Woodland, because I love the leaf texture! "

"Woodland, because they based it on actual lizards that look like leaves and I loved that. "

"Woodland"

"Woodland..."

"Woodland! It looks like a leaf-tailed gecko!"

"Woodland. So unique, so cool. "

"...Also adore woodland..."

"Woodland. I loved Treecko in Pokemon RSE, and I think it's one of the better uses of the Woodland color, not being literally a plant."

"woodland will always be my favorite..."

"Woodland, I love that it is based on a real gecko and fits the theme perfectly"

"Woodland Techo is GORGEOUS. I love how it references a real animal, but still makes it look like a techo and keep the leafy woodland theme. A++++ made a techo specifically because of that art/design."

"woodland... for unique and awesome creature shapes n colors"

"Woodland, leaf tails are cool"

"Woodland Techo as I love the homage to the real life satanic leaf-tailed gecko."

"Woodland techo - the leaf design is so cool! "

"It used to be robot/faerie/maraquan, but I've never seen woodland until now and now I NEED one! It's so cool and unique."

"Woodland Techo - the design is creative and I like the color palette"

"woodland (love the leaf tail)"

"...Woodland..."

"Woodland. reminds me of leaf tailed geckos which I love. "

"Woodland"

"Woodland Techo. It's really cute how it's a leaf mimic."

"Woodland, by far. It's just really unique."

"Fairy, then woodland. I think they're really unique designs that really complement the natural shapes and designs of techos. "

"If I had to go with a color that's actually on the site, I'd go with Woodland for the fact it references an actual lizard."

"Woodland is peak lizard content."

"Woodland. Best colors and detail. (Better than the Camo color imo)"

"Woodland is a really neat concept, but the official art does not quite pull it off imo."

"The woodland one, he be based on an actual animal and stuff"

"woodland; the colours, the reference to the real life animal. Wraith is a close second for it's simplistic cartoon design and cool mouth"

"Woodland is very cute - I like the unique design given to it just for being a Techo."

"Woodland, it's so unique and lovely"

"Woodland Techo. I just think the design is creative and I like the color palette."

"Woodland - it reminds me of my pet gecko the most"

"(also woodland though, I didnt know it was so pretty)"

"Woodland is a incredibly creative and smart design"

"Woodland, I like the blending in with nature thing going on. "

"i love woodland techo! so cute"

"...Woodland... stuck out to me..."

"Woodland - The satanic leaf gecko inspiration is cool!"

"I like so many but I think Woodland. It's a newer colour compared to my current best buddies but it really nails the woodland theme uniquely in a pretty way channeling leaf-tailed lizards. (Woodland in general was already winning because it wasn't just a lazy copy-paste)."

"Woodland - sweet leafy baby"

3rd place: Stealthy Techo

Stealthy Techo recieved 168 likes against 31 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 137 likes, or a 0.8442% like ratio overall.

Stealthy Techo was the other of the two unscheduled Techo colors added in 2012, arriving in November. I really miss these unscheduled color additions to the game and I hope we get a return for them as an excuse to add more of the less popular or desirable colors. Anyways, Stealthy Techo is very much a generic ninja archetype and that's fine. I like his hood and scarf and his belt with the little skirt thing is a nice touch. We also a got a Stealthy Techo Plushie item and a morphing potion, that's cool.

I also like the base color for Stealthy Techo as well, but I do wish the tail and body color were consistent with each other. The body is a solid color while the tail has a weird gradient.

Stealthy Techo snuck into many people's favorites list, and sidled all the way to their top! What do the Stealthy Techo fans have to say?

"Either Stealthy..."

"My favorite is Stealthy because I love its eyes."

"Stealthy"

"Stealthy techos cuz they're mysterious "

"Stealthy"

"Stealthy because I love the wearables and the color combo"

But Stealthy Techo has been struck down with hatred as well.

"Stealth. Stealthy as a color tends to either be very cool or uninspired, and unfortunately Techos variant is lacking in comparison. "

2nd place: Green Techo

Green Techo recieved 163 likes against 26 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 137 likes, or a 0.8624% like ratio overall.

Green Techo is the highest ranking basic color, managing to beat beloved colors like Faerie and Woodland. That's shocking, surely those would have outranked Green, right? I've mentioned this earlier but Green Techo has been considered the "mascot color" for Techos since... I want to say 2001, they dropped Red Techo as the main Techo color pretty fast. There are a variety of Green Techo NPCs too, including the Techo Master, Tekkitu, Federismo Corvallio, the Altador Cup Scorekeeper, Tekel, and fan favorite character Chest Hair Techo from Neogreeting ID 698.

Green Techo is definetly ranked high because of the "lizards are green" stereotype, and adding another iconic green lizard to the pantheon. Unfortunately, Gex is currently more popular than Neopets Techos. We should fix that.

Green Techo got a handful of favorite votes, which is in stark contrast to the other solid colored Techos recieving absolutely zero.

"Green Techo, i like basic pet colors <3"

"I think most colors look pretty good I’d say probably the green is my favorite if only because it looks like the ideal lizard"

"green. Because my boy is a green techo. (also woodland though, I didnt know it was so pretty)"

There's only one color left, and if you've been paying attention you should know who it is. We're jumoing straight up to 90% of people saying they liked them! Who is it?

1st place: Shadow Techo

Shadow Techo recieved 180 likes against 20 dislikes, resulting in an aggregated total of 160 likes, or a 0.9000% like ratio overall.

Well this is an unexpected result, and dare I say anticlimactic. The whimsical Faerie Techo, the silent Stealthy Techo, and the naturalistic Woodland Techo are all ranked worse than... Solid black. Very interesting.

Okay, I suppose I'm being a little mean to the winner. We have the Shadow Techo plush thanks to the McDonald's promotion, and Shadow Techo was chosen to represent Techos in those 2008 Target fun pack cards (using the 2002 art for some reason). We also have a handful of Shadow Techo NPCs, like uh... Hamaul, a reskin of the Altador Cup Scorekeeper who appears exclusively in The Darkest Faerie, the Shadow Techo member of the Konido Clan, the tribe of cannibal Techos on Mystery Island. Oh, and we have the unnamed Techo from the Engraved Boomerang card who has a tan belly. That should've been what Black Techo looked like! Oh and for no particular reason, here's a fuller version of the Engraved Boomerang card art.

So yeah, Shadow Techo! With only a meagre 10% of people disliking them, Shadow Techo is the winner!

Despite being the most liked Techo overall, only 1 person wrote in to say they considered Shadow Techo to be their favorite Techo. It's not a very climactic note to end on in both regards, I'd say.

"Either Stealthy, Robot, or Shadow. They all just look really cool, I guess."

I hope whoever made that comment feels honored in some way.

Closing thoughts

This was tough to compile, but it's over. I wanted to publish the results to this poll as early as January 16th, but I missed the dealine and unfortunately had already started my final semester of community college so trying to balance this was difficult. I've even been missing opportunities to draw a Techo every day, which is personally upsetting to me the most. But if I couldn't get it out on the 16th, I could do it in January, right?

...So yeah, I'm writing this on January 31st and I'm only barely keeping my internal promise. Whoops.

Million dollar question: Will I make a follow up poll? The answer to this is as of now, maybe. I definetly made it harder on myself copying and pasting people's responses when it wasn't necessary, but I also didn't want people's precious time spent on the poll to have gone to waste so I wanted to show that their effort hadn't been for naught. I think right now I'll say this: If we see a total of 90 Techo colors by the end of 2025, I think I'd be motivated to pull through again. Not concrete and I can totally change my mind and do it anyways with less or never make a sequel at all, but I'd like to see a good chunk of Techos make their way in.

If I do continue it, I will change the format. Making it a binary like/dislike system definetly had it's flaws, I definetly don't believe that there are genuinely more people who consider Shadow Techo their favorite over established favorites. What I think I will do is change the voting system to rate every Techo color from 1 (worst) to 5 (best). I think this would be the best way to disambiguate a binary option of liking a color when in all reality, the voter only just kinda likes them.

I also got a whole bunch of comments saying that they appreciated me uplifiting Techos and I'm quite uplifted by them. Thank you to those who wrote those comments in, they really motivated me to push through with this! I really am thankful for the kind words, you mean the world to me.

If you want to view the whole unredacted voting results with every voter comment intact, you can check it out here.

If you've read this far, I'd like to extend one last thank you for reading this far. It makes me happy to see so many people unite over this silly little poll. You are also free to copy the format I've done to apply it to other species colors if you want to do your own ranking. And I believe that's about it from me, have a good day. Bye!