The internet is full of flash-in-the-pan moments when a completely innocuous thing suddenly becomes a viral sensation. So it is with a baby pygmy hippo named Moo Deng, whose raucous attitude and pudgy shape has created a whole wave of references including merch, ads for Moo Deng-inspired blushes, and (regrettably) an Etherium-based cryoptocurrency. This tiny hippo fever has also extended into Final Fantasy XIV as sales for a pet have hit some new highs on the in-game auction house.
The game’s hippo calf minion can be gained in a couple of ways: either by hoping it drops from the Vanaspati dungeon, or by paying hundreds of thousands of gil for it depending on which server and region you’re living on – there has been at least one recorded sale of nearly 800K in gil, so clearly there’s a market for the little guy right now.
Square Enix’s Creative Studio III is certainly not ignorant to the sudden popularity of the hippo calf, as it posted a little referential tweet a few weeks ago, but despite that length of time, the appetite for Moo Deng appears to have some legs. Tiny, chunky legs.
Unbothered. Moisturized. Happy. In My Lane. Focused. Flourishing. 🦛 pic.twitter.com/ufJLNemkS3
— FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) September 21, 2024
