Hey jammers, Aster here! It’s time for an overview and review of the September update for Animal Jam (Play Wild). I’ll be going over every new feature and my opinions on them, for your reading pleasure. I’ve also got some stuff about last month’s mid update, since I missed that. Let’s begin with the first big announcement!

New Gem Animals

This right here is a huge deal. I’m so happy that AJHQ has decided to bring out more animals for those that don’t have the ability to get lots of sapphires. I was getting pretty tired of seeing wolves and bunnies everywhere, and now there’s a few new options. It seems the fox is the most popular of the three, which isn’t surprising. I hope that when Koalas come back they are gem animals too, so that all the alpha animals are free-to-play friendly.

I really want to stress how much of a game changer this is. The developers opened up so many more outfit options for all players. There’s a sizeable group of people that just can’t spend much money on Animal Jam. Thank you so much, AJHQ.

Chihuahuas

Alright, now into the actually new stuff. This month, chihuahuas have been added as a playable animal. I’ve seen the community pretty excited about this, but only because AJHQ has confirmed this is the last dog they’ll be adding for a while. I won’t let the community’s opinion about the excess in cats and dogs affect my review of them.

Just like the last new animal, the chihuahua is available for the standard 150 sapphires, or in a 250 sapphire bundle. The bundle’s exclusive outfit is the Jamaallywood outfit. The Jamaa Journal claims it’s the barista outfit that’s exclusive, but that one was released into the sapphire shop.

In terms of the animal itself, I’ve got to say, I’m disappointed. I feel like I just bought a Fennec fox that’s been modified. With the Scottish Fold, the animal had a fairly unique body shape. Here… well, the comparison photos show you everything you need to see, really. The chihuahua stands a bit more upright, as a much short tail, a rounder head, no fluff in the ears, and the ears don’t go as far back. Personally, I don’t think you’re missing out on much if you already have a Fennec fox. But if you’re in the market for an animal with this general shape, you may prefer the chihuahua. I think the tail is the deal-breaker for me.

You can also see above that AJHQ got lazy with the patterns. On the chihuahua, they just pasted the same image all over the body. On the Fennec fox, the pattern is more varied. Though it does come down to personal preferences.

Alright, onto the outfits! First is the Jamaaliwood Outfit, which I really like! The colors are really cute, and the items fit well. I think it’ll go up in value as well because it’s exclusive to the bundle.

The Cafe Barista Outfit is, in my opinion, very bad. The apron is very cute, but the tail is creepy for it’s implications, and the other items look too silly for my taste.

You can also see some rare-ish items on the chihuahua in the gallery to the left.

So what’s my final verdict? I’m not really feeling this new animal. If you already have a Fennec Fox, I definitely wouldn’t pick this one up. However, if you like the chihuahua and one of the outfits, mathematically the bundle is a deal. The second outfit comes out to only being 20 sapphires.

Speaking of math, this bundle is the same as the last one in terms of price. It’s about $3.50 USD if you’re buying sapphires from the membership package, which is the best deal.

My Shops for Everyone - But With a Catch

Next up, AJHQ has unlocked a new feature from membership and given it to all jammers, but… there’s a catch. Now, everyone can use My Shop stalls to sell their own items for sapphires and gems in their dens. However, if you’re not a member, an additional sales fee will be placed on your items. I am unfortunately not able to test this, but it seems like it works like this: You list the price for an item, and the buyer pays that price, but you don’t get the full amount the buyer pays. The sales fee is 5% of whatever the listing price is, so it scales with the cost of the item. Thank you to the Animal Jam Wiki for this information.

While I’m very glad that My Shops are now usable by everyone, the sales fee feels… icky. The reason that sales fees or taxes exist in the real world is to keep the payment processes in business. For example, Paypal adds on an additional sales fee to your transactions, and uses that money to keep their site working. The problem with this is that Animal Jam does not require gems or sapphires to actually run, it costs real money. I don’t really see the point in this fee as anything more than an annoyance to try and get people to buy memberships. But, placing the removal of inconveniences behind a paywall feels unfair, because those inconveniences don’t even have to be there in the first place. Membership should be about unlocking new features, not removing annoyances.

Sorry about the ramble, folks, I just feel pretty strongly about this. I think they should’ve made the whole system free and added a new feature for members.

Pet Glow Worms Are Here!

The winning pet of the pet design contest has arrived. Glow worms were designed by wolfbatdragon, and are super duper cute! I’ve seen them all around Jamaa, and the glow effect is really cool. They can be obtained through using pet glow worm tokens at the pet adoption machine, which will give you a randomized one. You can also get them from the regular pet tokens.

Yeah, I don’t know about this one. It’s a shame that you can’t create your own of one of the only jammer designed pets in the game, you just get a random one. At least they have their own token, I guess. But also, why does it cost 50 sapphires if you can’t even design it yourself? The other pets that you make your own cost that much. The glow worm is a very cute pet and I love them, but it’s a shame AJHQ used it as an opportunity to push their pet slot machine. It feels a little too much like gambling to me.

All of the glow worms above with the X eyes are for sale. Message me on Instagram @asteralium if you’d like to give them a good home.

Oh! And if you were wondering why I skipped over the Chihuahua’s actions earlier, this is why. I filmed them with the glow worm actions to save time. Look at the little worm baby… absolutely precious.

Pet Park Party

A new party has arrived! I really enjoyed the pet park party, actually. The music is good, and I liked the interactions with the playground equipment. Good job to AJHQ on this one. I don’t think you need to have a pet equipped to attend this party, but please correct me if I’m wrong. Below, you can find a full tour of the party!

Updates Lightning Round

This post is already getting really long, so it’s time for a lightning round of updates. I’ll just make these quick. If you’d like to get a bigger view of the Jamaa Journal page, you can click or tap on it to see the full image.

• The pack run has changed over to Autumn Harvest. The items are new but I don’t really like them. They’re all called “Too Many Apples/Carrots/Pumpkins/Corn/Hay” and they really just made more food clothing items huh?

• The Elemental Armor set as well the pet size is back in stores! No strong opinions, but cool.

• Pet honeybees are back for this year’s national honeybee day. Now we’re getting into stuff from mid-last month but I thought it was important to cover still. Honeybees can be bought for 1,500 gems. They also brought back their three toys, seen below.

• The Schoolhouse Party has returned, but I think the shop items are the same. Not my favorite party but glad to see it back.

• The Scottish Loch den arrived in Jamaa, and unless you really love medieval and fantasy stuff like I do I think you’ll be disappointed. What you see is what you get, and the castle is very, very small. The furniture is cute but as a whole I do not think the bundle or den should’ve been full price. At least it supports day-night cycles? I’ve also heard there’s a Loch Ness Monster cameo, but I have yet to see it myself.

• And finally, pet cardinals have been added. I didn’t get one myself, but they’re cute.

Wow, that was alot! Thank you for reading all the way through, I appreciate it! This post took a while to write, so it would be awesome if you could share it, or like and comment on our Instagram post. Before I go, I do want to share with you AJHQ’s video that teases at the upcoming updates. It looks like something odd is going to be happening in Appondale really soon. No sign of the Alpha tag though. Interesting…

Until next time jammers! Asteralium signing off!