[Lawtan]

Originally Posted by Coda

Heh. You wish that was the story. XD

Actual story: The original coder, before I hacked into the site and took over (ALSO a true story, believe it or not!), wasn't... very good... When he implemented the code to flip the avatar around to face the opposite direction, he didn't use the function to create images with alpha channels, so RIGHT-facing avatars had opaque white backgrounds while LEFT-facing avatars were properly transparent.

We also didn't have recolors in the system yet, so most items only came in gray, with the exception of some premium items that only came in one or two colors.

And then one day, four or so years ago, I got bored. I decided to mess around with the users, created the Beta Style item myself (which should explain the icon), threw it on my avatar, equipped all Basic-color items, and cosplayed as a user from beta.

It was something of an afterthought to actually put the item in the shop.

Coda is indeed amazing.