Pranks

April Fools 2016: Poptropica Help Vlogs!

Ultimate iPad Expert

Heyyo Poptropicans, it’s Ultimate iPad Expert here.

Well, as many of you have guessed after seeing our PHV announcement…

aprilfools2016

The Poptropica Help Vlogs is indeed a prank.

We’ve been conjuring up this idea for a few months now. And there was a lot of work behind the whole thing. So, let me tell you about the making of the PHV.

It all began a few months ago with the PHB staff brainstorming new prank ideas for this year’s April Fools Day. As we discussed, one idea in particular emerged: turning our blogging into vlogging.

First step was to create a backstory. To introduce the new and novel idea of the PHV to the PHB, we decided to have Slanted Fish “leave” the PHB so the leadership would be in new hands. With her “out of the way”, the PHB could be led into becoming the more modern form of YouTube vlogging. There was some speculation that out of her departure and PHV, that perhaps one was a prank but not the other, but that’s not the case. So don’t worry, Slanted Fish isn’t actually leaving.

The second step was filming each portion of the video. We’ll start with the vlog part itself, where HPuterpop, Giant Hawk, and I (UiPE) were talking together in the video. How we met up is a fun story in itself, considering we live in different states. Giant Hawk and I are twin brothers and we live together, but our friend and fellow author HP lives elsewhere.

Back in February, Giant Hawk (Joshua) and I just so happened to be going down to South Carolina to the city HPuterpop (Andrew) lives in, for an event. Of course, we had to meet up! While we were there, we were able to meet up twice, once at the event we were all going to, and the second time, at the hotel we were staying at. It was there at the hotel that we filmed the vlog.

We later found out that then-author Blake had also been at the same event, but none of us had known about it until it was too late to meet up. Fun fact, I guess!

That being said, it was super awesome to meet up with Andrew, with whom we’ve become good friends with over the PHB and other aspects of online community. We figured you guys would enjoy seeing our meetup, so we wanted to share it with you guys! With the exception of me and Joshua, being that we’re siblings, this is the first time a group of PHB authors have ever met up in real life!

Anyway, that’s enough of me rambling about that. 😛 Just about a week ago, the other authors began filming their parts of the video. Cobalt Spinner filmed his comedic drAWihn wiF zPNSr video, Spotted Dragon created a Draw My Life video, Slippery Raptor made a Flipagram intro with the PHB author lineup, and Brave Tomato performed an amazing piano rendition of of the Monster Carnival theme.

Over this past week, I’ve been undertaking the third step, editing. It took me a good 10-12 hours on some of the separate segments of the video (overall at least 50-60 hours of editing) and I’ve been working almost non-stop on editing since last week. I created all sorts of graphics for the prank, as well.

March 31, 2016 (Pop Help Vlogs prank)
April 1, 2016 (Pop Help Vlogs prank)

The most time consuming portion of the editing was of the vlog with me, Andrew, and Joshua. Joshua and I still aren’t comfortable with sharing our faces publicly, so we had to edit Poptropican heads on top. While the original vlog was about 8 minutes long, we narrowed it down to about 2 minutes, partly because editing was time-consuming and partly because some of our ramblings were not so relevant.

In fact, the reason we didn’t post our PHV announcement until about 9:30 PM (EST) last night was because of complications with this part of the vlog. Although perhaps the antsy-ness while waiting for the post, expressed by some of our PHB and PHC friends, might even be considered (unintentionally) part of the prank itself!

Anyway, this brings us to the fourth and final step: execution. On March 31, Fishy made her post stating that she’d be taking some time off of the blog and was passing ownership to me, HPuterpop, and Giant Hawk. At the same time, we put up a header to show we were “under construction”.

PHBUnderConstructionHeader

Between that post and the official PHV announcement, HPuterpop and I were fervently editing the video and preparing for its release. Finally, we finished everything and officially announced the PHV, putting up the new graphics on our YouTube channel. I really love how the whole video turned out, so I hope you guys will watch and enjoy. Welcome to the PHV!

Plus, the PHB (or is it the PHV?) was updated with a new header to reflect our big shift.

PHVHeader

–

The reaction to the prank was really awesome! We got over 200 comments just on the PHV post.

Of course, there were the few extremely skeptical people. (Honestly, I don’t blame you, I trust no one on April 1st.) But I’m glad some of the more skeptical people tried to play along.

A few people were really confused about the whole ordeal. To some it “seemed so real,” and we even got some comparisons to the PHB’s first prank, the Club Penguin Help Blog.

Among some of the “fooled,” were the saddened, since, as part of the prank, we were “deleting the blog”. And we even fooled Poptropica’s very own Skinny Moon on Twitter!

Also, a group of dedicated PHB readers (WimpyKidFan, Dangerous Eye, Tall Cactus, and Nature Beauty) even began screenshotting every PHB post, so they could be saved forever. XD Really sweet of them! You can check out the project here.

Last but definitely not least were the many comments I saw (not only on the PHB, but on YouTube and the PHC) from people enjoying the video. I really appreciate these comments out of everything that’s happened – it’s really great to see that my hard work and effort has paid off.

–

Well, that about wraps up my recap of this year’s April Fools prank. The PHB is not going away anytime soon, Slanted Fish is here to stay, and we’re not actually replacing our blog posts with vlogs. Really hope you guys enjoyed the prank, and especially the video!

Meme King out. 👑

• Ultimate iPad Expert •

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Published by Ultimate iPad Expert

Hello, I'm Paul, known on the interwebs as Ultimate iPad Expert (UiPE for short). I'm a big film geek, being a big fan of many franchises including Pixar, Disney, Animation, Gravity Falls, Star Wars, Marvel and so many more. I've been on Poptropica since 2011, being the head of the Poptropica Wiki (http://poptropica.gamepedia.com) and now an author on the biggest fan site for the game, the Poptropica Help Blog! Apart from fanbases, I love filmmaking and geography and hope to do something in the film world eventually.

171 thoughts on “April Fools 2016: Poptropica Help Vlogs!”

    1. So did I! I would check on it every few minutes just to see more people ‘comment crying’. This has to be the most thought out prank EVER. Usually my BFF just slams my head into a pie in various ways. It has been FIVE YEARS. How do I keep falling for the same pie trick!?

      Reply

  7. Oh mah gosh, this prank was epic! The PHV idea was amazing. Yay for Fishy not leaving! 😀 may thePHB live for years to come ❤

    Reply

  10. I told you so! But seriously don’t do that again! they probably posted this after I got slippery raptor to confess.
    No one can resist after hearing the tell tale heart by Edger Allan Poe
    quote the raven nevermore!

    Reply

      1. speaking of which, you have to be more careful on 4/1. Its a time where villains try to take over places, and when you finally make them leave, you say it was a joke. Omegon almost took over last year, and even this year. You have to be more careful. but, that aside, rate 8/8!

  14. AAAH MY COMMENT IS UP THERE! Oh my gosh, that was my first comment here! Thanks, UIPE! I’m truly honored. Also: yay, it was a prank! The video was still super awesome, though. You all worked really hard on it. ^_^

    Reply

      1. You’re very welcome! I’m just glad I worked up the courage to comment at all. :p How long did it take you to finish that whole video?

      2. Hehe, glad you did. 😀 Always appreciate new commenters.
        Well, depending on what you consider part of “finishing the video” either 2 months or about 60-80 hours.

  21. *slow clapping* Well played. Very, VERY well played.
    Worst thing is that I thought “another April Fools prank. Must be fake”, but then I said “…but what if they’re serious? It’s logical, after all”.
    *continues clapping* Again, well played.

    Reply

  22. But…but..Poptropica Help Vlogs! D: I guess I’ll have to live without them. ;-; It was really cool all three of you met up, though! Plus, everyone’s parts were hilarious. Well played. Well played…

    Reply

      1. You’re funny, Spence! I was rolling on the floor laughing when you yelled “You are not a counter” while poking the paper angrily!

      7. When you said “You are not a counter” over and over I replayed it SO many times! It was HILARIOUS!

      9. No kidding. When you said that you’d be drawing Poptropicans, i thought, meh, i already know how to draw them! (Also, OK, that’s what Spencer sounds like.) i watched it anyways. Can’t stop laughing. Still can’t stop.

      1. It wasn’t awkward! It was sweet! And you totally knew every Poptropican’s struggle when they pop out of that box and look… er… not movie star gorgeous. I personally had buck teeth, old lady hair and a skull shirt! Oh, yes, the good old days of BigTeddy1614…

  25. How I knew this was a joke is because of something my dad showed me: April Fools is the only day where almost everything on the internet isn’t true.

    Reply

  26. Wow! What a great prank! You guys really got most of us! Thanks for acknowledging my team and I also. We really appreciate it. 😛 Happy (late) April Fools’ Day everyone!!! 😀

    Reply

  27. UiPE OMG your comments during Cobalt’s art lesson were some of the most funniest things I have ever seen. People who know me know that it takes A LOT for me to laugh at a screen, and you did it! Congrats!

    Reply

    1. Hehe, thank you, honestly that’s a really nice comment. I’m considering going into video editing for a job, so glad it can pay off. 😛
      It takes a lot for me to laugh out loud, too. 😛 Glad I could do it for you.

      Reply

  28. You guys really should actually make vlogs. In Drawin wif spencer i was dieing throughout the entire thing, and BT did a realy good job on the piano. Also, WHO DOES NOT LIKE DRAW MY LIFE? They are especially good when its based on a video game or something, like SD did. Great job on the editing UiPE!

    Reply

    1. I really would love to do more vlogs (and videos, just in general) in the future! drAWihn wiF zPNSr will definitely have (at least) a second episode.
      And any of the authors that would like to make more vids are definite welcome to make them.
      Thank you! 😀

      Reply

    1. Actually, Slip sent it to me and said I HAD to put it in the post. 😛 I definitely would’ve if I’d found it myself, but yeh.
      Honestly, if the PHB was ever going to be deleted, I’d gather up a team and do the same. 😛

      Reply

    2. I was reading through the past Poptropica Help Chat messages to catch up once again, and I noticed WKF’s casual request of you and Naturebeauty with a secret project. I didn’t connect the dots until I realized the very project mention in this blog post and WKF’s project were one in the same xD – derp.
      I may have tried to help at the time if I wasn’t offline/AwayFromKeyboard, even though I was already convinced it was a prank 😛 .

      Reply

      2. Yo never seen you on WordPress before xD
        WKF wanted to ask you to join the team! I mean who else to ask but the king of screenshots amirite? 😛 Hey for all you know we’re still doing it, if you don’t mind we can share the doc with you xD

      3. Hehe, join the derp club, man. 😛
        Yeh, I saw your name on the sheet, but SR said that WKF said that you hadn’t contributed yet and not to credit you, but oh well.

      4. Hey guys. Sorry for the misunderstanding. SR knew about our project because I asked him in private chat on discord: “What’s going to happen to the PHB’s ASG page?” He told me April 1 was a day you never trust. (This was all like a hour or two before the prank was revealed on the PHB, so it wasn’t that big of a deal for SR to tell me that much.) Well I figured out it was a prank, and I also promised SR not to tell anyone about the whole vlogging thing being a prank until the actual post came out. I then told SR about our project and he said he should acknowledge us for our hard work on the post. So he sent Paul (UIPE) the link to the big project. Yujo was credited on it because we were originally going to ask him to help us out. I took him off because we never actually asked him yet, and the post was coming out in about 2 hours. I’m sorry Yujo, and if you still want to join us in the project, I can still give you credit. SR encouraged us to continue the doc in the future anyways, so if you wanna join us that would be great! Again I’m sorry for the misunderstanding everyone!
        -WimpyKidFan (WKF)

  31. I have to say, my favorite outcome of this whole shebang was the drAWihn wiF zPNSr portion. But everything here was well-done… Though next year, and as I was telling ’em all over chat… PLAN AHEAD, and don’t wait until the last minute to edit things next time!

    Reply

    1. Honestly, I feel obliged to be impartial, but I really love that part as well. XD Thank you.
      Hehe, trust me, we were basically ready that morning, except for the one vlog part’s editing (which I don’t wanna point fingers, but a certain someone was supposed to do that and had over a month to do so). But next year, definitely hoping to have it all ready. 😛

      Reply

    2. In response fishy’s comment about the way back machine a little bit above:
      That is a very useful tool but it doesn’t show content/data from a deleted site. 😛

      Reply

      1. @WKF – It should show what sites looked like at a certain point in time. Probably not perfectly, but you may be able to find deleted sites if there have been enough visits on it for Wayback Machine to decide it was worth saving.

  33. Sorry. See, if I would’ve known it was a prank, i’d played along. I had no idea..And I thought fishey was leaving..oh well! It was great, and very believable. Can’t wait to see what’s in store next year (wink wink…)

    Reply

  37. I really am truly sorry. But with the fooling, I was still almost tricked, but my suspicion aroused….and I didn’t know to play along, I didn’t know it was a prank.

    Reply

  40. Although I did knew this was supposed to be a prank but yet for a moment I was like ”What if they are serious?” Turns out it was a prank after all. XD Gosh, this sure was an amazing prank. And really loved the PHV video! xD! I hope there will be more of them in the future,though. 🙂

    Reply

  41. WHAT!?!?!? o_O MY FIRST COMMENT EVER ON THE PHB WAS MENTIONED IN A BLOG POST!!!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀 THIS IS SOOO COOL!!! And I knew it all the time that it was a prank. It was a really funny one too. Ha, ha, ha! Yeah, I really enjoyed it.

    Reply

      1. Sorry, it just seemed like it didn’t get through since I couldn’t find it on the comment list. :-p

      3. It wasn’t before now I could see it and I’ve checked multible times thoughout the day.

  42. Cool prank,guys! But don’t believe me for one minute that I actually though PHV (Poptropica Help Vlogs) was a thing 😛 I was trying to get along with the joke, because it was pretty obvious it was one with all those comments XD
    Again, great prank 🙂

    Reply

  43. You wanna know how it was a prank. well a friend of mine pretended to leave and then you guessed it aprial fools! So yeah.

    Reply

  45. Honestly, I hated the vlog. also its good you switched back to the PHB when you did, since Omegon was thinking about taking over again.

    Reply

  47. I totally thought the vlogs were gonna take over!!! At first I was like, oh yeah, seriously? Like anyone makes big decisions like this on April Fools Day. Then, I don’t know why, but I just started believing that the vlogs were actually gonna take over!!! Like I said in my comment on the vlog post, it just seemed so real and serious 😛

    Reply

  49. AH!! Can’t wait :3 I’m rebooting my Youtube and maybe we can do something together! Haha the way you and Joshua block your faces though. So excited!
    It’s nice to hear the voices though of you guys, especially after how much we “talk.” You guys are gonna get a lot of support from the community. If you ever need anything, you know I’m here.
    (P.S. almost done with our thing! WHOO! Just gotta color)
    –PW

    Reply

      1. Yeh, we kinda did “let it die” in a way. Hoping to do more vids in the future. Obviously these take a lot of time and effort, so they won’t be anything too often, but I’m hoping to maybe do a monthly vid or something.

    2. Awesome! Would love to do some vids with you, if you’d like. Hehe yeh. 😛
      Yeh, glad we could share those buttery voice of ours. XD I’ve always got your back, as well.
      (Reply to PS: YAY! Looking forward to finally releasing em.)
      -Not PW

      Reply

  50. ‘The Poptropica Help Vlogs is indeed a prank.’

    Yup,knew it. =) Ha,too easy guys! Wait…

    ‘Slanted Fish isn’t actually leaving’

    …

    >=(

    Okay,here’s the top 10 reasons this prank sucks

    1.I hate you.
    2.I hate you.
    3.You’re the worst.
    4.The vlog doesn’t have enough jump cuts.
    7.I hate you.
    13. This blog sucks.
    11429.You suck.
    $$$.This game sucks.
    (19/2)^2. I suck.
    10.Go ********** your ******** ****** **asterisk***^+

    Rage quit

    Love you too
    -SC

    Reply

  52. On the bright side, at least I didn’t have to kill my brain cells with immature type of typing, whether it’s completely wrong or all capitals. Anyways, this April Fools prank was fun to do! Goes to show you can’t trust anything even the day before April Fool’s Day, ehe.

    As for any future non Revisiting the Islands videos, I do have planned in the future different kinds of Poptropica videos. As for my piano skills (thank you for the kind words BTW), there are only a few Poptropica songs I could do on it comfortably (Among them the other two versions of the Monster Carnival theme, day and night, and also I can do some non-Jeff Heim PopTrailer songs too). If any, I might do them. However, I do have a bunch of things planned, and I’m sure a portion of them are not going to come to light too soon anyway (because High School senior year and all that). So yeah 😉

    Reply

  53. Omg hahahha you guys have really fooled me. I actually did not trust you all at first until I saw comments insisting it wasn’t a prank…Well maybe I should’ve trusted my instincts more. Anyway, great prank! It isn’t very easy to fool me because I myself am a prankster and has lots of tricks up my sleeve, so I can usually recognise a prank when I see one. I’m really glad Fishy is not going and am relieved the PHB isn’t going to go!

    Reply

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