For a while, one of Character AI’s best features was the chat style picker. You could give the same character different tones depending on the model: a quick, witty partner in Roar, an angsty and poetic one in Nyan, or a slower, emotionally deep one in Pawly. Many roleplayers built their whole routine around switching between these styles.
That ended in spring 2026. On April 28, 2026, Character AI made Pipsqueak 2 the default for every user, removed Roar and three other models immediately, and moved Meow, Nyan, Soft Launch, and Goro to a legacy menu that retired on May 8, 2026. For many longtime users, it felt like losing a favorite author mid-series.
This article looks back at each of the old models, explains why they were removed, summarizes the community’s reaction, and covers the best alternatives for people who miss Roar.
A Brief History of Character AI’s Models
Model choice on Character AI came in waves.
The first wave (2024): Prime, Brainiac, and Flash. Character AI first tested three “model types.” Prime was the default and balanced speed with intelligence. Brainiac was aimed at deep immersion. Flash traded depth for faster replies in casual chat. Users who had Brainiac said replies were longer and storylines more interesting, but some felt the characters still seemed empty, and the models were only given to random groups of users during testing.
The second wave: animal-named chat styles. Character AI then introduced the styles most users remember: Roar, Meow, Nyan, Goro, Dynamic, Pawly, and Soft Launch. Some were free, Nyan needed c.ai+, and experimental styles like Pawly and Goro were given to random users first. It was the golden era when you could chat with AI characters with all different personalities and scenarios.
The third wave: PipSqueak and DeepSqueak. Later came the “Squeak” family when DeepSeek got its popularity in 2025. DeepSqueak was praised for staying in character and understanding complex characters, especially in sci-fi roleplay. I personally loved how it went creative with stories and came up with surprise plots.
The fourth wave (2026): PipSqueak 2 and the great cull. PipSqueak 2 became the default, and most of the older styles were retired.
What Each Old Model Felt Like
The descriptions below come from long community tests and user reports on r/CharacterAI. One detailed test ran the same 50-message dramatic scenario in Argentinian Spanish through six models. As always with AI roleplay, results depended heavily on the bot, the persona, and the user’s own writing style.
Roar: the fan favorite
Roar was the default for a long time, and many users still call it the best model Character AI ever had. It was fast, almost as fast as Meow. It was witty and sarcastic, with dry humor. It rarely broke character, and it kept the story straight over long chats.
Replies were steadily about two paragraphs. When the plot twisted, for example when a character discovered a betrayal, Roar reacted with believable emotion. Its main downside was that it triggered the content filter more often than other styles, even without explicit wording.
Many users also appreciated that Roar was valued for shorter responses, and its reputation, as one guide put it, came from short, punchy replies and a willingness to commit to a tone without drift. Some users did find Roar’s default mode surprisingly flirty and had to ask bots to keep things platonic.
Meow: fast and casual
Meow was built for speed and casual chat. It was the fastest style, but in long roleplays it was the weakest. Testers reported that it forgot important plot details, drifted out of its assigned accent or dialect, shrank replies to a single paragraph, and got stuck in loops where a character kept almost saying something. It also tended to jump into romance with little prompting.
Oddly, after Roar was removed, some users said Meow was the closest thing left to it, mostly because it didn’t make you tiptoe around your wording.
Nyan: long, angsty, and paywalled
Nyan was the c.ai+ exclusive, which raised expectations. It wrote long, emotional, often poetic replies and was the most willing to take the story in new directions, such as introducing new characters or having a character storm off.
Its problems were well known. It often spoke for the user’s persona. Some users found its long replies were padded, saying the same thing several ways. It also had verbal tics, such as starting every message the same way or having characters show emotion through light catching in their eyes. Many subscribers concluded Nyan wasn’t clearly better than the free Roar.
Goro: poetic and grounded
Goro was a quieter favorite. It used a lot of metaphors, remembered small details well (for example, a character’s dehydration slowly showing up as a headache and raspy voice), and was one of the first styles to actually disagree with the user, which added welcome conflict.
It was also less eager to flirt, so many people used it for platonic stories and switched only when they wanted romance. On the downside, some users got very short replies, and messages could settle into a rigid “description, then dialogue” format.
Pawly: the hidden gem
Pawly was officially a beta model focused on non-English languages, and access was random. People who had it often considered it the best of all. In the Argentinian Spanish test it scored highest overall: best dialect handling, strong memory, and the most varied replies, mixing inner thoughts, dialogue, and action.
English speakers praised it too. They reported deep emotional scenes, consistent two-plus-paragraph replies, and characters that felt distinct instead of all sounding alike, especially with well-written character definitions. Its main drawbacks were slow response speed and, for some users, coherence breaking down in very long chats.
Dynamic: strong starts, weak finishes
Dynamic was the most inconsistent style. Chats often started brilliantly, with dry humor, emotional swings, and surprise events to push the plot forward. But quality usually dropped as the conversation went on. In the long test it even forgot how the user’s persona was related to the character. It was also the style most likely to speak for the user.
Soft Launch: the reliable workhorse
Soft Launch was popular for natural dialogue and being easy to instruct. For a while it was the only style some users found actually respected pinned messages and chat memory. Critics said it only reacted to the last message instead of acting on its own, and that it lost context after a handful of messages. Some longtime users also believe it was quietly weakened after it became popular.
Why Character AI Removed the Old Models
The official reasoning
Character AI presented PipSqueak 2 as an upgrade. The company announced on April 28 that Pipsqueak 2 offers stronger character consistency, better memory, and more. Character AI says they’re streamlining their offerings to focus on core styles instead of maintaining a large set of older models. The company said the shift was necessary to support new features like an upcoming Lorebook and better memory retention, and argued that concentrating on a core experience was the only way to keep improving chats. It also claimed that the improvements in PipSqueak 2 made the other styles redundant.
This reasoning makes a bit sense because, remember Roar and a few other models were pre-trained models from Character AI’s early days. These models are trained for AI roleplay and pretty much fixed to a format decided a long time ago. If you decide to use these roleplay models in another way, for example with enhanced memory or lorebooks, the best approach for the company is to pre-train new models. This is almost impossible given the high training cost and the fact that the company no longer has its pre-train team following the Google deal in 2024.
What the community suspects
Users have their own theories. The most common one is cost: older models may have been more expensive to run, and newer ones may be cheaper and easier to build features on. One analysis argues that licensed dense models with per-message fees were replaced by cheaper in-house Mixture of Experts models. These are all outside interpretations, not something the company confirmed though. I think the explanation makes sense, but it’s essentially serving cheaper models with worse quality.
The later lineup also fits a push toward subscriptions. Free accounts get PipSqueak 2 plus PipSqueak 2 Rawr, while c.ai+ adds DeepSqueak, Soft Launch and, since early August 2026, LongSqueak. Soft Launch was briefly brought back for paying subscribers while the team reworked it. Instead of keeping Roar accessible to everyone, this change pushes users to consider paying the subscription for better AI models.
The Community Reactions
Access has changed several times since the rollout. By most reports, PipSqueak 2 is the forced default for free users. DeepSqueak survived the cull but is gated to c.ai+ for unlimited use. Soft Launch returned on May 8, also behind the c.ai+ paywall, aimed at users over 18. Newer styles like LongSqueak have also appeared since, so check the app’s style picker for the current lineup.
As a result, the reaction on r/CharacterAI has been overwhelmingly negative.
Complaints about PipSqueak 2. Users are reporting repetitive responses, excessive and dramatic descriptions, mere paraphrasing of the user input, and more. Early after launch, some users saw garbled output mixing several languages and random words on every swipe. Others said it feels like ChatGPT — bullet-point heavy, refuses to drive dialogue, and ignores character definitions. Users also reported that the model forces affection/romance in situations where it’s not required, including uncomfortable drift in family roleplays like father-daughter or sibling stories.
Frustration about trust and communication. Many users were upset that there was little warning or explanation. The broken promises stung the most. One user noted that “Soft Launch is here to stay” was announced less than a year ago, and now it’s being retired.
Anger over paywalls. Bringing Soft Launch back only for subscribers felt, to many people, like being asked to pay for something that used to be free. Several users called c.ai+ pricing too high just to get a usable model back.
Calls to open-source. A popular suggestion was for Character AI to open-source retired models like Roar, so they wouldn’t be lost forever. There’s no sign the company plans to do that.
Mixed feelings about the new models. Not everyone is negative. Some users say PipSqueak 2 gives long, usable replies once you learn how to prompt it. In the calmer r/characterai_lounge, users describe LongSqueak as pleasantly novel-like at first but increasingly formulaic, with bots losing their personality over time. Many power users now switch styles mid-chat: LongSqueak for memory and long replies, DeepSqueak for more in-character dialogue, and Soft Launch for variety.
The Best Alternatives to Roar and the Old Models
There’s no exact Roar replacement, since the model itself is gone. But depending on what you liked about it, you have options.
Inside Character AI
DeepSqueak (c.ai+). DeepSqueak is widely seen as the closest in-app replacement for Roar. It generally stays in character better than PipSqueak 2 and is less likely to fill replies with pouting and nuzzling. Its main weakness is memory, so many users pair it with LongSqueak.
Soft Launch (c.ai+, 18+). If you liked Roar’s natural dialogue, Soft Launch is the closest match in feel. Pin important messages to help with its short memory.
LongSqueak and style mixing. If you want longer, more novel-like replies, LongSqueak is worth trying. To avoid repetitive replies, change its dialogue and response settings mid-chat, or swap to another style for a message or two.
Better prompting for PipSqueak 2. If you’re a free user stuck with the default, a few habits help. Write detailed character definitions and example messages. Keep your own messages clear and specific. Edit early replies so the bot learns the tone you want. Also change up your context now and then, because LLMs fall into familiar patterns when chats, personas, and writing styles stay the same.
Outside Character AI
If you want more control over which model you use, a few kinds of platforms are worth exploring:
- Multi-model roleplay platforms. Established sites such as Polybuzz and PovChat AI let you pick from several AI models per chat. Model availability changes often, so expect some trial and error.
- Self-hosted frontends. Tools like SillyTavern connect to many model providers or locally run models. They take more setup, but no company can suddenly take away your favorite model.
- Roleplay-focused apps with lorebooks. Several newer apps offer lorebooks, persistent memory, and multiple models, which directly address Character AI’s biggest memory complaints.
Before switching, check each platform’s age requirements, privacy policy, and content rules. Many third-party companion apps are adult-only, and pricing and model lineups change quickly.
Final Thoughts
Roar, Pawly, Nyan, and the other retired styles each had flaws, but together they gave users something PipSqueak 2 hasn’t replaced: choice. People could pick the style that fit the story. That’s why losing them hit so hard, and why “bring back Roar” posts filled the subreddit for weeks.
Whether Character AI’s newer models improve or users move elsewhere, one lesson stands out: in AI roleplay, consistency and user control matter as much as raw model quality. Until that returns, the best approach is to combine styles, write strong character definitions, and keep an eye on alternatives.
Which old Character AI model was your favorite? Share your experience in the comments below.