Content Familiar

A content familiar is a special type of familiar that drops items that may be used to access content (zones, monsters, items, etc.). From 2006 to 2011, these familiars were released every year as the June Item of the Month in Mr. Store, while from 2012 to 2015, they instead appeared in Mr. Store year-round as one of the yearly familiars.

A spleen familiar is a familiar that provides a way to fill spleen and gain adventures for it. The content familiars from 2007's Green Pixie to 2010's Rogue Program are also spleen familiars, but in 2011, the previous link between content and spleen familiars was broken, with June 2011's familiar, the Li'l Xenomorph, providing extra zones but no spleen items, and August 2011's Pair of Stomping Boots providing spleen items without unlocking extra zones. From 2012 to 2015, a spleen familiar, distinct from the content familiar, was also offered in Mr. Store year-round.

History

The content familiar trend began in 2006 with the release of the Astral Badger. This otherwise underwhelming familiar dropped up to five astral mushrooms a day, which unlocked a new zone for adventuring: A Journey to the Center of Your Mind. While on an Astral Trip, as adventuring in the zone was called, players could encounter monsters that dropped useful items, as well as the Violet Fog, a choice-adventure maze that could result in stat gain, a useful consumable item, or a piece of equipment.

In 2007, the Green Pixie was released. Like the Badger before it, the Pixie dropped "gateway items" that unlocked content-- in this case, tiny bottles of absinthe that unlocked The Worm Wood-- but the Pixie had two edges over the Badger. First, it was a full-fledged Fairy in addition to attacking and unlocking content, giving it use in an ascension context. Secondly, within The Worm Wood, players could acquire not-pipes, consumable items that gave adventures in exchange for usage of their spleens. This second improvement made the spleen, previously damaged mostly by wads and canned air, a third viable option for adventure-gaining consumables.

Once the spleen familiar precedent had been set, there was no turning back, at least not for four years. The Powers That Be, hesitant to give Pixie owners an insurmountable advantage in ascension, released another spleen familiar in 2008, the Llama Lama, thus cementing a trend of releasing spleen item-granting familiars of the month in June. Each year's familiar provides a new interpretation of the theme, but they all drop tradeable "gateway items" that provide access to new content, and they all provide access to consumable spleen items. The PTB broke this trend in June 2011 by releasing the Li'l Xenomorph, whose drops allow access to a new area but contain no way to get spleen items, followed in August 2011 by the Pair of Stomping Boots, which can generate consumable spleen items but does not unlock any new zones.

Since spleen and content familiars had become so important to the yearly lineup of items of the month, starting in 2012, the annual Mr. Store familiars were reworked to be spleen and content familiars, in addition to traditional Volleyball/Leprechaun and Fairy/Leprechaun hybrids. The Blavious Kloop was a Fairy/Leprechaun hybrid that dropped a content unlocker, and the Bloovian Groose was a Volleyball/Leprechaun hybrid that dropped spleen items. This trend continued through 2015--see the table below.

The cycle of spleen and content familiars ended with the introduction of the 2016 Items-of-the-Year. The Rockin' Robin familiar is a volleyball/fairy hybrid that drops a non-spleen consumable item. Jick stated "Standard means that we can just phase out turns for spleen being a significant thing," and that he intends for future Mr. Store derived spleen items to be potions with limited daily use rather than a source of adventures. (Source) Further, there was no content unlocking familiar, replaced by the Batfellow comic, a single-use content unlocker sold for one Uncle Buck.

Table of previous content and spleen familiars

The following table provides at-a-glance information about the various content and spleen familiars. For more in-depth information, visit the familiars' specific pages.

Year	Familiar	Primary function	Gateway item	Gateway item acquired by	Content unlocked	Spleen item	Spleen item acquired by
2006	Astral Badger	Attacks like a MicroMechaMech	astral mushroom	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat	A Journey to the Center of Your Mind
2007	Green Pixie	Increases item drop like a Fairy, attacks the opponent	tiny bottle of absinthe	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat	The Worm Wood	not-a-pipe	Adventuring in The Worm Wood
2008	Llama Lama	Increases stat gain like a half-weight Volleyball	llama lama gong	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat	The Gong Has Been Bung	glimmering roc feather	Fighting in bird form
2009	Baby Sandworm	Increases stat gain like a Sombrero	empty agua de vida bottle	Using an agua de vida	Memories, in the Corners of your Mind	agua de vida	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat
2010	Rogue Program	Damages enemy to restore MP like a Starfish	Game Grid token	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat	The Game Grid Arcade	coffee pixie stick	Exchanged for 10 Game Grid tickets (1 token can be exchanged for 10 tickets)
2011 June	Li'l Xenomorph	Increases stat gains like a volleyball, increases drops with equipment.	transporter transponder	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat	Dad, I'm in Space!
2011 August	Pair of Stomping Boots	Increases item drop like a Fairy, attacks the opponent, provides free runaways				various flavors of paste	Charging and using the Release the Boots skill on non-boss enemies, up to 7 times a day
2012 yearly	Bloovian Groose	Increases stat gains like a volleyball, increases meat drops like a leprechaun				groose grease	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat
2012 yearly	Blavious Kloop	Increases item drops like a fairy, increases meat drops like a leprechaun	devilish folio	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat	The Suburbs of Dis
2013 yearly	Unconscious Collective	Increases stat gains like a volleyball, increases meat drops like a leprechaun				Unconscious Collective Dream Jar	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat
2013 yearly	Angry Jung Man	Increases item drops like a fairy, increases meat drops like a leprechaun	psychoanalytic jar	1/day: Randomly dropped after combat	Numerous characters' psychoses (1-2-3-4-5-6-7)
2014 yearly	Grim Brother	Increases stat gains like a volleyball, increases meat drops like a leprechaun				grim fairy tale	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat
2014 yearly	Grimstone Golem	Increases item drops like a fairy, increases meat drops like a leprechaun	grimstone mask	1/day: Randomly dropped after combat	Become the antagonist in different fairy tales
2015 yearly	Golden Monkey	Increases stat gains like a volleyball, increases meat drops like a leprechaun				powdered gold	5/day: Randomly dropped after combat
2015 yearly	Adventurous Spelunker	Increases item drops like a fairy, increases meat drops like a leprechaun	Tales of Spelunking	1/day: Randomly dropped after combat	Spelunking