Pop 5: Tear-Jerkers in Poptropica 😢

August 16, 2019August 3, 20191 Comment

How’s it going, Poptropicans? I’m Lucky Joker and today I’ll be counting down the top — or should I say pop — 5 most tear-jerking moments in Poptropica! Keep in mind that this list represents my personal opinion, so your list may differ from mine. Anyway, let’s get right into the waterworks! (**Warning: Spoilers ahead)

5) The Wreckage of Poptropica (Super Villain Island)

After the job of collecting the totems from Poptropica’s most evil villains is done, it’s revealed that Dr. Jupiter (the person who sent us on this journey) was really Zeus all along! He betrays us and steals the totems we’ve retrieved in order to make himself the most powerful villain who’s ever lived, and to take over all of Poptropica.

Once he gets away, a cutscene plays out showing Shark Tooth, Mythology, and Mystery Train Islands completely destroyed. There’s something tragic about seeing the beloved past islands we’ve once explored and saved laying in ruins. I could imagine if this island was sound updated and had a sad piano or violin track playing over it, it would make the scene even more dramatic.

4) Count Bram and Annabelle’s Reunion (Vampire’s Curse Island)

Unlike all the other picks for this list, this moment is actually not a sad one, but still manages to get you emotional. After years of being cursed as a vampire and having Katya — who he believes is his wife — not want anything to do with him, Count Bram is finally happy when we break the curse and reunite him with the love of his life, Annabelle. We witness a very heartwarming moment as he finally is able to rest in peace.

3) Scheherazade’s Confession (Arabian Nights Island)

Scheherazade demanded Samhal the genie to relinquish his magic abilities to her, and after, went on a rampage ignited by her hunger for power — becoming a mere reflection of her father, the sultan. It’s later revealed that she was only acting up because she was yearning for something she missed greatly: her father’s attention. After he became sultan, he rarely showed her any affection because he was too concerned about his riches. When she opens up about her feelings, he begins to cry. That’s a sentiment everyone felt in that moment. I mean, c’mon, just look at her adorable little drawing of them happy together.

2) The Destruction of the Magic Orb (Twisted Thicket Island)

At the climax of the island — after you’ve gotten past all of the creatures and into the center of the forest — you encounter the Elf Queen and discover that the woodland creatures have been the victims of this story all along. All they want is to live in peace. The Elf Queen explains the orb’s importance to us when all of a sudden, the developer and his construction crew raid the forest and destroy the magic orb, leaving the woodland creatures in a vegetative state. Tsk tsk, greedy Poptropicans.

1) Ringmaster Raven’s Story (Monster Carnival Island)

Though this one is more of a series of moments, there’s no doubt that it’s a very sad tale: that of a boy who just wanted to feel welcomed and accepted by those around him, but wasn’t because he was different. Sure, he went about coping in the wrong way as he sought to seek revenge on the citizens (most of whom were innocent) by making them his servants through hypnosis — but really, all he wanted was acceptance, and I think that’s something we all can resonate with.

At the end of the island, we turn him into a laughingstock of a circus act through more hypnosis. So it’s on with the circus life for Raven, now dubbed “The Incredible Chicken Man.” The poor bullied bird boy never got his happy ending. 😢

Need a tissue? No judgment. Anyway, that’s it for this Pop 5! Do you agree with my choices? What other moments from Poptropica do you think deserve to be on this list? Sound off down below! Pop on…

– Lucky Joker 🍀

Follow your nose back to school

August 16, 2019August 16, 20195 Comments

Hey, everyone! This is Gentle Dolphin keeping you in the loop of the latest Poptropica news. Let’s get started and flash forward to our first update!

We all dread leaving summer vacation behind and returning to school or even college. Don’t worry because Poptropica has got you covered with brand new back-to-school items!

auguststorepic

This month, everyone can buy cool school fashion and supplementary supplies for their arrival back to school. There is one member-exclusive item, though: the Noodle Guy Follower. It’s a weird but funny addition to a back-to-school update, to be sure.

A recent post on the Creators’ Blog informed players of a new Froot Loops advertisement on Poptropica. Toucan Sam will stand outside a brick house and invite you to come inside. In the house, he will tell you to jump into his imagination, which is where the ad game takes place.

This ad game is similar to the Schroeder’s Piano minigame from Great Pumpkin Island. While the song is playing, click the different colored Froot Loops when they reach the bottom of their respective rows. Keep doing this in order to fill the gauge in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Don’t get too distracted by the weirdly animated Toucan Sam.

After keeping the rhythm, you will win a “Follow Your Nose” hat. Wearing it gives you the ability to leave a colorful trail of Froot Loops as you run.

I could finish this segment here, but I want to share something I discovered a few days ago. Before the Froot Loops ad appeared on Poptropica, I stumbled upon a cyclops kid standing in front of a mysterious green structure. Take a look:

mysterydoor

Weird, right? This structure acted as a place where players could watch videos to earn credits, similar to the movie theater and billboard on Home Island. However, it also showed up in ad spaces between scenes on other islands, possibly so players could earn more credits during their adventures.

I went to check on it later, but I found that it had been replaced by the Froot Loops ad. Maybe the structure was there to take up space because Poptropica didn’t have any new ads at the moment? But why did the structure have such a strange temple-like design? What was with the cyclops kid? We may never know…

Last but not least, there’s a new screen for when players need to activate Flash before playing Poptropica. Unlike the previous screen, it includes a helpful guide on how to allow Flash to run on your computer. Neat!

activate_flash_v2

What do you think of these new updates? Do you like the new store items? Do you have any theories about the mysterious green structure? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin🐬

2011 Rewind: Toys & Prizes? We’re Game

August 13, 2019August 11, 20194 Comments

This post is part of our Poptropica Yearbook series. If you missed the intro, check it out on the 2007 Rewind and browse the collection here.

2011 was like Poptropica heaven. This was a time of peak popularity for the fandom, and plenty was popping!

Poptropicans had some fun times hanging out on our Poptropica Help Chat (PHC) server, particularly during the PHB Author Night sessions we introduced. Plus, we had plenty of reasons to party, what with events like the PHB celebrating 5 million views in May, the countdown to Shrink Ray Island’s release in June, and the PHB’s third birthday in July!

A big new thing was pre-island mini-quests, which were created to promote an island before its release. Back in January, Wild West Island was the first to get one: a little horse-lassoing game called Round’Em Up! Every day, you could play for a new prize, like the color-changing Wunder Tonic.

Sneak preview for Wild West Island
Drunk on the Wunder Tonic

In March, Wimpy Wonderland Island debuted on Poptropica, which was pretty significant since Jeff Kinney, the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, is the founder of Poptropica! (Another fun fact: Before the first Wimpy Kid book was even in print, it could be read online on Funbrain, a website that also promoted Poptropica from its beginning.)

Each island came with its own map, where you could hover over an area to see its name. The PHB would put together fully labeled versions like this.

Other games and islands released this year were: Prepare for Impact! for Red Dragon Island, DC Diner for Mystery Train Island, Money Ladder for Game Show Island, and Spook Central for Ghost Story Island.

Money Ladder, the preview game for Game Show Island

But the general consensus as to the most exciting mini-quest was not a pre-island game. Instead, it was an out-of-this-world (literally, you leave Poptropica for a distant planet) experience filled with mysterious robots and sword fights: Legendary Swords, released on the momentous date of 11/11/11 (November 11, 2011).

A small but helpful feature was also introduced: the pause button. This allowed you to freeze time on Poptropica, which was good for lingering on dialogue or scanning the scenery just a little (or a lot) longer.

Poptropica also released a wide selection of toys, each with a special code that would give your in-game character a bonus item! There were three-inch and six-inch figures, plushies, and even a big ol’ inflatable blimp.

And that’s not all the Poptropica merch. The first ever Poptropica book, The Poptropica Guide, made its debut in October 2011. Poptropica even had a few scavenger hunts from the book to unlock prizes in-game — but of course, the book’s got nothing on the PHB, where we have guides for all the islands that have been released since then… and plenty more. 😉

To round off the year, Ghost Story Island came and gave us a spooky yet sentimental story, making it the 23rd island. Poptropica had released an impressive 7 islands in 2011 — their most yet, and that’s not even counting all the mini-games! Poptropica was really on a roll with this year!

You’ve reached the end of the 2011 page of the Poptropica Yearbook! Stay tuned for the next chapter, and to view the entire collection, check out the Poptropica Yearbook in our Pop Plus collection.

While you’re here, sign the yearbook by commenting? ✏

Pop Petition: Bring back old features

August 10, 2019August 18, 201919 Comments

What’s up, Poptropicans? Lucky Joker here popping in with a brand new Pop Petition! Here, I’ll be listing what I would like to see added (or in this case, re-added) into the game to make the game even more enticing. Let’s pop right into it, shall we?

1) Multiverse

In my opinion, Multiverse was one of Poptropica’s best features. It was first introduced to the game in the summer of 2009 and offered a great hangout-with-friends experience in the largely single-player-based game that Poptropica was and still is.

Sure, we have our common rooms. However, they’re not as good for meeting up with specific friends (and even posed a challenge for us when organizing our most recent Poppies party). If that’s not bad enough, most of the minigames were withdrawn along with the removal of Multiverse. These include: Paint War, Hoops, Pathwise, Soupwords (one of my favorites), and Sudoku (my absolute favorite!). I hope Poptropica can convert Multiverse into AS3 (their newer game engine) soon.

2) Friends Page

“LJ, there still is a friends page, silly. What are you talking about?”

Right you are, anonymous reader — and I really like it too! The wallpaper and sticker wall customization is a plus, and the friendship interaction options such as the like button and message board are things we didn’t have before. On the downside, though, there’s a ton of stuff missing that I took for granted on the original friends page.

Firstly: pop quizzes (Tall Melon also talked about this in his guest Pop Petition essay last year). These have been gone a while — even before the old friends page was replaced. It was nice to be able to show a bit of your personality through answering various things about yourself, and it was just that little extra something to do when you were bored.

Second: in-game stats. On the current profile page, it displays how many islands a person has completed, but not which ones exactly. It was really convenient to see which islands you’d completed by viewing your medallion collection. Now, you have to go to the map and check more carefully… oh wait, some of the islands aren’t even there anymore (more on this later). Also, the battle ranking and tribe tiles are completely gone. Not to mention only 25 of your friends will show up on your friends list at a time. If you have any more than that, sorry!

3) Costume Collector

*screenshot from Magic Heart in Poptropica*

Although this feature at face value may seem pointless considering we have a costume closet with a much larger capacity of outfit space, it actually had some good use, and it’s sad to see it gone.

For one, who wouldn’t want three extra costume slots, am I right? Also, I know a few people who had rare pieces stored in their costume collector from years ago. They were pretty upset when those were suddenly gone. Creators, please bring this feature (and our costumes) back if at all possible! 🤞

4) Original Islands

This is probably the feature that everybody definitely wants back. Just recently, many of the older islands were removed.

Some of Poptropica’s greatest adventures — the ones that shaped most of our childhoods and made Poptropica what it is today (like Counterfeit, Nabooti, and Cryptids) are no longer playable. It just isn’t the same without all of our beloved islands on the map, and in fact, it feels like a huge part of the game has disappeared (after all, 29 of the 42 islands are gone!).

I can only hope the Poptropica Creators are actively working on bringing these islands back, and all of the other features for that matter.

As some of you may know, these features are still accessible through idk the glitcher’s teleporter link, but Poptropica’s vast majority of players are unaware of this and don’t have that option.

I’m sure there are more features we’d all like to see make a comeback in the future, but that’s for another Pop Petition. So, what do you guys think? Do you agree with my list? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Thank you all for reading, and I’ll talk to you in the next one. Pop on!

– Lucky Joker 🍀

Compare and Contrast: Snagglemast vs Hub Island

August 8, 2019August 10, 20193 Comments

snagglemast hub

Snaggled by this new island? Check out our Snagglemast Island Guide.

Hey, everyone! Poptropica has been giving us new islands to play this summer. We already went over Reality TV: Wild Safari in extensive detail, and now it’s time to take a look at the newest tutorial island: Snagglemast Island!

The strangest thing about Snagglemast Island (aside from the fact that it replaced Monkey Wrench Island) is that it borrows a lot of elements from the first tutorial island, Hub Island. However, Snagglemast Island did make some interesting changes to differentiate itself from the original. Here are some of the most notable changes.

The first major difference can be found in the collectibles. In Hub Island, you had to collect eight medallion shards. In Snagglemast, however, you need to collect eight mega coins (which add up to 250 credits). A few mega coins can be found in the same places some shards were found, such as the diving board.

Shard in Hub Island

Mega Coin in Snagglemast Island

To keep track of how many mega coins you need to find, just look at your trusty coin counter in the top-left corner of your screen.

CoinBar_Full

Aside from shards, a wrench could also be collected on Hub Island. However, it has been replaced by a mega coin (pictured below) on Snagglemast Island.

Wrench (Hub Island)

A minor change I’d like to mention is the fact that there was a small tree branch that was removed from the second scene, leaving an empty hole in the side.

Tree branch containing shard

Burt Diamond was here

The second major difference between the two islands is their casts of characters. Hub Island had only two characters: Amelia and an unnamed male pilot. In Snagglemast Island, the male pilot was removed, so Amelia took his place at the beginning and end of the island.

She isn’t the only character on the island, though. You’ll also get to meet various Poptropicans and animals along your mini adventure. Some characters stand in different places on the island while others occasionally run past you, presumably adventurers also in pursuit of coins. Here are some of the interesting folks you will meet on Snagglemast Island:

The biggest (and saddest) difference is the fact that Snagglemast Island has no medallion! Collecting the shards in Hub Island served the purpose of creating a whole medallion, but collecting the mega coins in Snagglemast Island just gives you credits. Getting more credits is nice, but earning a medallion at the end of an island is a Poptropica thing. Even Jim Probably on Reality TV: Wild Safari pointed this out!

Those were some of the more interesting things we spotted in this new tutorial. What did you think of these differences? In your opinion, is Snagglemast Island better or worse than Hub Island? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin🐬

2010 Rewind: Crazy for Crawfish

August 6, 2019August 3, 20194 Comments

This post is part of our Poptropica Yearbook series. If you missed the intro, check it out on the 2007 Rewind and browse the collection here.

Wish you could’ve been in 2010! But we’ve got you covered with a flashback to what Poptropica was like back in those days, which former Creator Mitch Krpata would later call the peak of Poptropica’s popularity.

It might be hard to imagine these days with all these updates that seem to be geared toward the privileged few, but believe it or not, membership didn’t always plague Poptropica. Even when it was first released in January of 2010, membership status offered some nice perks like early island access and free store costumes — but free players had plenty to enjoy, too.

Membership wasn’t the only thing players had been itching to discover. Reality TV Island, two years in the making and much delayed, finally arrived in early access for members in February. (Nearly a decade later, it would appear that a sequel is on its way!)

Over on the Creators’ Blog, we started hearing more from Captain Crawfish, whereas before there were several Creator aliases taking turns on the blog. (We had plenty of fun trying to guess and track down who was who, too. Dr. Hare, aka Jordan Leary, may have called us “12-year-old stalkers”…)

Anyway, with that came a new PHB inside joke in which we’d write about nomming the Captain in our update posts, and he even seemed to catch on!

We continued enjoying tons of sneak peeks from the Creators — here’s a sketch of what later became Apollo’s temple on Mythology Island. It was released in April and players consider it to be one of the best islands!

The PHB community was growing, too, and we thought it was time for a couple of upgrades. We got our own custom web domain, poptropicahelp.net, to reflect our Poptropica Help network that encompassed the blog, chat, and forum. And we also changed our site theme to something more blue — more Poptropica.

Even back then, collecting advertisement items was a popular pastime on Poptropica. Here’s a peek at a cool and colorful Magic Paintbrush special ability item from a Ramona and Beezus ad!

The Creators were also busy adding tons of fun new items to the store, like fireworks, robot suits, and various flavors of good old PopGum.

In November, the Creators launched a big feature that got players hopping on Poptropica daily. The Daily Pop featured comics, games, creator clips (stories from Creators), and best of all: a new sneak peek every weekday. In fact, we’ve got a whole Daily Pop Sneak Peek Archive here on the blog.

Here’s what the menu looked like once the Daily Pop was added:

Also, in addition to RTV and Mythology, 2010 saw several more islands added to the map: Skullduggery (known in its early stages as Pirate Trade Island), Steamworks, Great Pumpkin, and for members, Cryptids closed out the year, bringing Poptropica’s total to 16 islands — 6 from 2010 alone!

A succession of sneak peeks of the Hub on Steamworks Island.

That concludes the 2010 page of the Poptropica Yearbook. We hope it brought a nostalgic look to a booming time! Browse the rest of the collection over at the Poptropica Yearbook, accessible from our Pop Plus tab.

While you’re here, sign the yearbook by commenting? ✏️

Pop Places IRL: Red Dragon

August 4, 2019July 31, 20193 Comments

Welcome back to “Pop Places IRL!” Miss the series? Today I’ll be taking you to Red Dragon Island and comparing it to its counterparts in real life. And if you like the sound of that, be sure to check out other Pop Places IRL posts.

So… where in the real world is Red Dragon based off of? Well, we already know that the island is based on the Magic Tree House books, so where is that based off of? The answer to that question is right in the novel’s description!

“Jack and Annie are headed to a land of fierce samurai and great beauty, the capital city of Edo (now the city of Tokyo), in ancient Japan in the 1600s. They bring only a research book to guide them and a magic wand with three special rules.”

Japan it is, Poptropicans! Wait, wait, wait, hold on… what about Main Street? What about Jack and Annie’s hometown? Well, “Frog Creek, Pennsylvania” is sadly a fictional city, but Pennsylvania’s neighborhoods match up pretty well anyway!

photo: Shadyside Pittsburgh (wikipedia.org)

Okay, now we can head over to Old Japan. We have many sites to see here, foremost being the imperial garden that our Poptropicans come across during our adventure. Basho’s Garden, which we visit later in the game, offers a similar setting. At both locations, we see beautiful Japanese trees, flowers, and huts over water. Looking at the IRL version of the scene, things seem pretty accurate!

photo: Best of Old and New Japan (kimkim.com)
photo: Exteriors of Japanese Houses (pinterest)

Moving on, we come across the Great Bridge before truly entering Edo! The resemblance of the bridge is uncanny to the Shin-kyo Bridge in Nikko Japan, which demonstrates very similar architecture and color.

photo: Nature & Nikko (tokyocheapo.com)

Next we have East and West Edo, which then lead to the fortress and the secluded lake. Red Dragon shows us a marketplace, paired with a stunning landscape, bonsai shop, and more. Though times have greatly changed since the days of Ancient Japan, its rich history can still be seen in the distinct architecture and environment.

photo: Sawara (japan-guide.com)
photo: Old Edo (muza-chan.net)

Even the Fortress in game mimics the classic Japanese architecture used in palaces and castles. Perhaps some stylistic choices were taken in Poptropica to add some more pops of color?

photo: Himeji Castle (japantoday.com)
photo: Imperial Palace Tokyo (japanvisitor.com)

Before we wrap up our trip through Tokyo, who could forget about the unique apparel and characters that we come across on the island? Geishas, sumo wrestlers, and ninjas alike are memorably encountered.

photo: Culture of the Kimono (tsunagujapan.com)
photo: Geisha in Kyoto (pinterest)
photo: Sumo Legend (asianews.it)
photo: Ninja (jpninfo.com)

Pretty cool, right? Many people in the community agree that Red Dragon Island has some of the most beautiful scenes in Poptropica. Makes me want to go visit Japan! 🙂

That wraps up our post, so what do you guys think of the comparison? Does Poptropica accurately capture Japanese culture?

Sayonara, Poptropicans!

~SD

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