Phantoms

The Phantoms are the first and only major antagonists in Jamaa. For unknown reasons, they terrorize Jamaa and all of its inhabitants. While it is unclear where they originated, Phantoms made their first actual appearance in the game as part of the broken Zios statue in the Lost Temple of Zios. They no longer come out of the statue because it was fixed.

Appearance
Phantoms come in a variety of shapes and sizes with a few common features. They are usually a pitch black, circular blob with a single, large white eye that has a small black pupil. Phantoms also tend to have tentacles that stick out from different sides of their body.

Normal Phantom
These are slightly small creatures with six or more tentacles. When approached by an animal, they produce a blue-white electric arc in an attempt to shock the animal.

Proto-Phantom
These are much smaller than regular Phantoms, only being the size of Pets. Instead of regular tentacles, they have one or two small black plump tentacles on the right or left side of their head. When approached by a Pet, they become scared and attempt to flee.

Slammer Phantom
These are small creatures with eight small black plump tentacles on the top and bottom of their head. When approached by an animal, they attempt to slam down and crush the animal.

Phantom King
Phantom Kings are much bigger than regular Phantoms. They have violet-purple round spots around the bottom half of the body and a cracked-looking set of spikes on the head, like a crown. When approached by an animal, they float up into the air and slam back down into the ground in an attempt to stun the animal.

Phantom Goop
The Phantom Goop appears to be large, slug-like goop piles with violet-purple outskirts. They have one large eye in the middle which is followed by three much smaller eyes.

Phantom Coral
The Phantom Coral is an unusual type of phantom that consists of a blob with many sharp spikes in an irregular shape. When touched by an animal, it will produce a white electric arc in an attempt to shock the animal.

Pet Phantom
The Pet Phantom is a friendly kind of phantom that seemingly only wants to be loved. This is the only phantom with good intentions and the only non-animal pet.

Phantom Spitter
A Phantom Spitter is a strange type of phantom that first appeared in Storming The Fortress. It's a phantom similar looking to a plant that spits out purple spiked Boomseeds.

Phantom Sprouter
The Phantom Sprouter looks like a very old pipe ruin, with rotten plants growing out of it. Phantom Sprouters can appear out of almost nowhere, taking the player by surprise. They spawn about one Phantom every few seconds, with seemingly no limit. This can actually get very out of hand if the Phantom Sprouter is not destroyed quickly. A Phantom Sprouter can be defeated using one boomseed. However, sometimes the timer will lag out, causing another Phantom to be spawned directly during the destruction of the Sprouter.

Phantom Pipe
The Phantom Pipe is a large purple pipe connected to the ground. It is often seen spewing out a purple liquid that is contaminating the environment or blocking a path.

Phantom Watcher
The Phantom Watcher looks similar to a Phantom with no tentacles, except without any movement. They stay perfectly still, hovering above a small prism. Their attack method is to use lasers shooting from their eyes. The lasers are a deadly one-hit-knockout, instantly sending the player back to the latest checkpoint if touched. The lasers are commonly used as for a puzzle effect, forcing the player to try to get past them in order to complete an objective. They can also be dodged by hiding behind a wall. Phantom Watchers cannot be deactivated from Chomper Plants or BoomSeeds, but sometimes can be deactivated using a nearby switch.

Phantom Lookout
The Phantom Lookout looks like an eye looking through a bulb. It casts a triangular beam of light across the walking path, and moves back and forth. If an animal crosses the beam, Phantom Webs appear, trapping the player inside, while 2 Normal Phantoms approach the player. The beam does go away in regular increments, or if an animal goes almost off-screen. However, if the latter happens, walking into range again will cause it the resume its beam. The Phantom Lookouts are currently only included in The Phantom Fortress and Storming The Fortress.

Origins
"Mira, the Sky Mother, was sad that she had lost her companion Zios, the Sky Father. Her feelings of sadness and anger fell to the ground, mixed with the elements of Jamaa, and formed the dark and mysterious phantoms."

- AJHQ

According to the original legend, it was Mira who made the very first Phantoms, presumably from her tears. However, this story alone does not provide a clear explanation for what happened between Mira and Zios or how the Phantoms actually formed. "The phantoms came through dark portals and they quickly spread through the uninhabited regions of Jamaa. Wherever the Phantoms went, they left a trail of spoiling destruction. Rivers were polluted, trees became bare, and the air was thick with noxious fumes. The Phantoms consumed everything in the environment and gave nothing back. They leveled entire villages the animals had built and left the entire civilization in pieces."

- AJHQ

In a more recent story, the Phantoms are said to have invaded Jamaa from some other world. This suggests that only the companionship between Zios and Mira was lost, as both of them were still in Jamaa when the Phantoms invaded. It also suggests that the combination of Mira's tears and the elements of Jamaa somehow created an entirely new world where the Phantoms evolved, as they did not invade Jamaa initially.

Goals
"Because animals were spread out in isolated villages, the Phantoms easily conquered these villages one by one. The animals soon discovered that if the Phantoms reached a Heartstone, they could imprison the animals of that species inside it! Each time the Phantoms captured a Heartstone, an entire species disappeared from Jamaa."

- AJHQ

"Remembering how much they had accomplished when they lived and worked together, the remaining six species gathered their Heartstones, left their villages, and returned to the Lost Temple of Zios. As the tigers, monkeys, koalas, pandas, rabbits, and wolves of Jamaa gathered together for one last stand against the Phantoms, Mira and Zios saw that it would not be enough."

- AJHQ

It is unknown why the Phantoms came to Jamaa, but they cause destruction where ever they go. Their behavior of quickly spreading and imprisoning the other species suggests that they want control over Jamaa. This also provides an explanation for the initial lack of species in Jamaa, as most species were trapped by the Phantoms. "As the animals marched forward, the Phantoms escaped by fleeing into their dark portals. But just as the last of the Phantoms were retreating, they overtook Zios and vanished with him into a portal. Mira quickly dove into a dark portal, following Zios and the Phantoms, disappearing as the portal closed."

- AJHQ

In their efforts to take over Jamaa, the Phantoms captured Zios and may have captured Mira as well. While it is not clear if this was part of the Phantoms' plan, removing the guardian spirits from Jamaa would prevent them from creating any more Alphas.

Adventures
Return of the Phantoms: The Phantoms first appear in the Return of the Phantoms, where they terrorize a Bunny village by destroying their crops and kidnapping some of the villagers.

The Phantom Portal: The Phantoms also appear in The Phantom Portal, where they try to get one of the Phantom Kings into the main land of Jamaa by opening a portal-gate to the Phantom realm.

Meet Cosmo: In the Meet Cosmo adventure, the Phantoms terrorize a farm where Koalas live by polluting the waters and kidnapping farmers.

The Hive: In The Hive, the Player enters one of the Phantom bases. At the end, a Phantom King appears to try get rid of the Player and the player must defeat the King to finish the adventure.

The Great Escape: In The Great Escape, they have taken over the Great Tower and are quite happy to take the Player as a prisoner. The player must find a way to escape the Tower and get to the top to see what the Phantoms are doing. In the end, it is discovered by Greely that the Phantoms plan to use a volcano to destroy Jamaa.

Greely's Inferno: The next adventure, they go ahead with the plan on destroying Jamaa only to be stopped by both Greely and the Player.

The Search For Greely: At some point between Greely's Inferno and The Search For Greely, they have taken Greely captive. They are seen when the Player enters the Phantom Vortex while trying to stop the player from rescuing Greely.

Bubble Trouble: In Bubble Trouble the Phantoms seem to be making a factory of some sort while kidnapping four Dolphins, which the player must free.

In Too Deep: The Phantom Factory is open, and the player must shut it down while freeing the 4 kidnapped sharks. The Phantoms begin to attack when the player starts to destroy their factory. At the end, it is discovered that the Phantoms captured the Dolphin Alpha, Tavie.

Turning The Tide: The Phantoms try to prevent anyone from rescuing Tavie and they have easily captured the Bottlenose Brigade. Near the end, many of them are defeated by both the Player and the Bottlenose Brigade in the process of rescuing Tavie.

Games
The Phantoms appear in all types of games in Jamaa. Mostly being the villain of them all. They appear in games such as Falling Phantoms, Wind Rider, Fruit Slinger and Hedge Hog. They also appear in all the Summer Carnival games as targets.

Side Games
They briefly appear at the start of Tunnel Town in the short animated video. The group of Phantoms try to kidnap a female Bunny but was stopped by the bunny's supposed lover. The biggest Phantom of the group creates a portal where the male bunny is teleported to another dimension. It is unknown if Phantoms can do this on the main game. They also appear in AJ Jump where they try to prevent the Player from going higher by striking them with their electricity.

Items
There are a number of phantom-themed items that can be purchased. Many of these items are seasonal and available only during the Night of the Phantoms, but some others can be purchased year-round.

Clothing
Phantom-themed costumes allow Jammers to dress up as a Phantom.
 * Phantom Amulet
 * Phantom Armor
 * Phantom Balloon
 * Phantom Bracelet
 * Phantom Gauntlets
 * Phantom Hat
 * Phantom Helmet
 * Phantom Mask
 * Phantom Necklace
 * Phantom Shirt
 * Phantom Tail Armor
 * Phantom Beanie

Trapped Phantoms
Despite their tendency to electrocute innocent Jammers, Phantoms are actually sold in Jamaa. They come in a variety of cages, crates, pens, and cells but they are always animated. Each Phantom is securely locked up, so that they may not escape.
 * Caged Phantom
 * Giant Trapped Phantom
 * Imprisoned Phantoms
 * Phantom Cage
 * Phantom Cell
 * Phantom Coop
 * Phantom Crate
 * Phantom In Ice
 * Phantom Pen
 * Phantom Lockbox
 * Trapped Phantom

Phantom Statues

 * Angry Golden Phantom
 * Angry Phantom Statue
 * Bulky Golden Phantom
 * Coral Phantom Statue
 * Frozen Phantom Guard
 * Frozen Phantoms
 * Heavy Phantom Statue
 * Ice Phantom Statue
 * Left Phantom Guard Statue
 * Proto-Phantom Statue
 * Right Phantom Guard Statue
 * Scared Phantom Statue
 * Small Golden Phantom
 * Tall Phantom Statue
 * Tough Golden Phantom
 * Surrendering Phantom Statue

Trivia

 * The first story of Jamaa said that "A mysterious dark force has crept into the land, stealing away animals and ruining the beauty of Jamaa." This may have been in reference to the Phantoms.
 * Phantom electricity only appears as blue and white, but the items based on Phantoms include a variety of colors for the electricity.
 * The meaning of "Phantom" is Ghost. This is understandable because of their ghostly behavior and movement.
 * At the Summer Carnival, players can get cotton candy shaped as a Phantom by choosing black cotton candy, followed by white cotton candy, then black cotton candy again.
 * During the Night Of The Phantoms the Mira's Statue is replaced by a giant red Tall Phantom Statue.
 * Before September 29, 2016, there were no Phantoms that were known to be friendly; that changed with the introduction of the Pet Phantom.
 * If a Jammer turns into a phantom (which Jammers can do with The Phantomizer or in the adventures) there will be no animation for it with the exception of Pet Phantoms.
 * They are also very bad at spelling, as can be seen from their edits to the Jamaa Journal during the Night of the Phantoms.