Month: September 2017

Contests, Membership, Social Media

Parrotfish for Membership and Top 5 Fashion Tips

LJ

Hello, everyone!

Lucky Joker here with the results of Poptropica’s 10th Birthday Membership Contest, as well as a “Pop 5” of fashion tips from Poptropica! First, let’s hear from the winners…

On September 15th, Poptropica announced their membership contest, in celebration of Poptropica’s 10th birthday. The contest called for a submission of an original island idea including a birthday cake, a parrotfish, and the color green in the story.

The winners receive a free 1-month Poptropica membership (which works for Poptropica Original and Worlds). The ten lucky winners are listed below, where you can also read their winning submissions! Click to view the images in full size.

Gentle Singer (Alh1106)

pop10 gentlesinger

Hyper Gamer (17312043 – a VIP blogger at Poptropica Fun Zone!)

Fearless Lizard

Young Cloud (Brikris)

Maroon Jumper (LillySparkle$ – a VIP blogger at Pop Blog!)

Thirsty Seal (Peanutty333)

Friendly Grape (SimplyArtByAlly – a Poptropica VIP!)

Wild Bubbles (TheUnicorn09)

Striped Dolphin (warblaster414)

Jumpy Coyote (westpb) (aka Yujo – a guardian on the PHC!)

So creative, right? Congratulations to all of the winners, and good job to everyone who participated!

Moving along… Poptropica posted a new video on their YouTube channel yesterday! Stephanie, the newly introduced Creator, shares her fashion tips on how to make your Poptropican look its very best. Check it out!

In the video, Stephanie goofily dresses up in costume (in real life) to present her ideas. Here are the tips she gave in the video, summarized below:

  1. catshirt
    This cat shirt, shown in the video, is available on the girl with the pink jacket in the shop!

    Patterns are your friends: Patterns can amp up any style. Mixing in patterns can help give your avatar personality. Stripes, polka dots, checkers, flannels, floral – you name it! Pairing similar patterns in different colors, sizes, and tights is a great way to go.

  2. Don’t be afraid to accessorize: Accessories can help define your look and bring it together. They can be useful, like a hat and scarf, or ornamental, like a pair of earrings. There are tons of things you can choose from in the Poptropica Worlds shop, so don’t be shy, and accessorize!
  3. Layers upon layers: Layers in real life can keep you warm, which makes layers a flexible fashion tip. Layers aren’t just useful in the cold, however — they also look cool! A sweater, a button-down, or a flannel could really change your style.
  4. Colors: Bold or Matchy-Matchy?: Colors have been shown to create different feelings. For instance, blue tends to calm you, and yellow makes you hungry. Additionally, colors can also convey your mood. So, wear what you’re feeling!
  5. Alter ego: Who inspires you? Maybe a celebrity? An athlete? A superhero? Whoever it might be, try recreating their style with a twist that represents you. Whatever your alter ego is, let it shine through. There’s nothing from stopping you be whoever you want to be!
  6. Bonus Tip: Look for sales! With a Poptropica membership (which, again, works for both games), you can get all items for 25% off, as well as exclusive member-only costumes. (Not sure when the percentage changed, but it looks like the Creators heard our comment about the upping the membership advantage for the shop!)

What do you think about the video? What contests would you like to see from Poptropica in the future? Let us know down in the comments! This is Lucky Joker signing off; we’ll talk soon…

Lucky Joker sign off

Home Island, Livestreams, Social Media

Worlds Livestream #2: Echoing and Clothing!

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans!

Remember Poptropica’s first livestream episode earlier this week? Well, it’s back for its second episode, again featuring Poptropica Worlds gameplay narrated by the Creator vlogger we met last time, Stephanie. Check it out below!

Be warned: The first 5 minutes of this video were hit by a disruption of audio technology that resulted in eerie echoing where you can hardly make out what’s being said. However, the problem was solved at around the 5:11 mark.

In this episode, Stephanie plays around with various clothing she’s acquired for her character (Cuddly Dragon), some of which required membership to obtain – including her favorite, the skateboard! She also shows off the Colorizer, which can change your hair and skin tone (though free players are restricted to a small palette). Then she spends some time interacting with the characters on Home Island, and is inspired to do more shopping for more different styles of clothing.

The livestream occurred around 3 PM EST on Thursday, September 28. Throughout the video, Steph gives the occasional shout-out to viewers who chatted on the live chat during the livestream. We’re not told the exact time these livestreams will happen – they just do – so keep your eye out for the next one!

In the next show, which Steph says will be next week (so perhaps this will be a weekly thing?), Steph plans to check out the player house and set up the place. As she puts it, it’s important to “get your style down first!” Following that, she plans to explore one of the islands in an upcoming livestream, so stay tuned for that!

What did you think of this livestream? Did you like it as much as the first episode? What else would you like to see on the livestreams? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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PHB Specials

Poptropica Wallpapers for All Screens!

Silver Wolf

popwallpapers

A popular Poptropica community member and artist named napstachill has recently made a gigantic collection of — you read the title right — over 60 Poptropica wallpapers, taken from various scenes and parts around Poptropica. They’re 1920 by 1080 pixels, which is really good quality and standard for most desktop computer backgrounds. You could also crop them a bit to fit the screens of your other devices, such as phones, tablets, or other computers.

UPDATE: The links below no longer work. However, you can still download the images right here on this page by right-clicking the image you want and selecting “Download” to save them to your device. Enjoy!

The zip file includes amazing backgrounds of tribes, characters, and islands! If you want any of them yourself, you can download them from naps’s DeviantArt (there’s a part 1 and part 2) by clicking the download button on the right side of the DeviantArt page, and if it won’t let you download from there, you can also download them from Google Drive.

This first set of photos is of the backgrounds you see in tribe common rooms. In addition to being just really cool-looking, they are perfect if you want to show your support for your tribe. Even though I’m in Seraphim, I love the look and feel of the Nightcrawler background; it would be very soothing to look at when you turn on your laptop or PC, and the colors in it are very complementary.

Next are wallpapers of Myron Van Buren and Omegon. I love how these wallpapers, especially the Myron Van Buren ones, aren’t too crowded and are easy to look at. Even though they are villains, they deserve some appreciation, which you can give by using them as a wallpaper! 😉 Perhaps not exactly what they had planned, but better than nothing, right?

With these backgrounds from Mythology Island, not only can you express your love for Poptropica, but you can also express your love for mythology and lore. Perhaps you want to honor Zeus or Poseidon while showing your love for Poptropica, too, or maybe you just like the scenery and architecture. Either way, these backgrounds would be great!

Out of all of the wallpapers, the ones from Super Villain Island have my absolute favorite. Binary Bard’s dream is absolutely stunning (although, a bit bright for a wallpaper) and is simple enough that it won’t look crowded with all your desktop icons on it. The two photos of the statue of Zeus can easily be put together and cropped to become a great phone background, too!

Then there are these are very fantasy-like, natural backgrounds from Twisted Thicket Island that would look completely magical as a wallpaper. The throne room scene has nice framing where desktop icons could go too, and the scene of the tree with flowers has non-harsh, cool colors that would be easy on your eyes. Of course, they are also beautiful backgrounds in general. Maybe you can somehow even set the throne wallpaper for the daytime and the tree for nighttime.

The largest group by far, Monster Carnival Island also has some of the best wallpapers; mostly consisting of pastel colors, the photos would be perfect as they wouldn’t cause a headache when on the computer all day, which most of us probably do all too often. Ringmaster Raven’s tent would also be great if you’re a fan, but I feel like the reds could become a little grating to the eyes over time.

If you love space and technology, these backgrounds from Lunar Colony Island would be a fitting choice. They’re not necessarily striking, but they make a statement, and the one with the world in the background adds a nice little detail to the picture. If you’re a fan of NASA (as I am!), the one with the “PASE” logo would be a small nod to the awesome agency, too.

Then there’s this collection of imagery from Arabian Nights Island – including one starring the mischievous genie Samhal!

If you’re in the mood for something more somber and contemplative, you might like this selection of scenes from Ghost Story Island. Spoooky.

Or, if you’d rather have something bright and beautiful, you might enjoy these nature scenes from Red Dragon Island, featuring traditional Japanese aesthetics.

These two don’t exactly go together, but they were the only ones for their island – Mystery of the Map and Vampire’s Curse respectively.

Last but not least, there’s the Part 1 batch (already included in the Google Drive folder), most of them with a strong focus on one Poptropican. If you liked these, you can find them on napstachill’s DeviantArt as well.

I hope you enjoyed! Leave your comments below! 🙂

-SW

Poptropica Portfolio

Poptropica Portfolio: Geoff Hassing

LJ

Hello, everyone!

Lucky Joker here, featuring another Poptropica Portfolio! The artist in the spotlight this time around is Geoff Hassing. You can find a sample of his artwork for Poptropica and more on his portfolio site here.

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out the previous portfolios we’ve showcased, featuring Poptropica artists Nate Greenwall, Chris Goodwin, Abraham Evensen Tena, Jordan Leary, Lance Fry, Nasan Hardcastle, and Ashley Lange.

As stated on his LinkedIn page, Hassing no longer works for Poptropica, and though his time with them was short-lived, he still left us with some amazing background scenes and in-game assets from some of the newer islands, including Monkey Wrench and Escape From Pelican Rock. There are also a couple of Poptropica-like scenes here that were made for practice and not for anything in-game. Check them out:

Monkey Wrench Island
Colt Tower
Prison Kitchen/Mess Halls
Escape From Pelican Rock promo poster
Weight Room common room
Red Baron plane objects
Practice city scene
Practice living room scene

Pretty cool stuff, Geoff!

These days, Hassing illustrates children’s books for GrapeCity, a corporation that provides learning materials, tools, and methods for kids learning English through their oral language acquisition and critical listening program. We really like his Poptropica work, and we wish him the best in everything does going forward.

Speaking of art pieces, be sure to join in on the PHB’s Community Creations this month! September ends soon, so you’ve got until the end of this week to enter. The theme for this month is “school.”

I hope you found this popping portfolio enjoyable! We’ll talk soon…

Lucky Joker sign off

Bonus Items, Contests, Livestreams, Social Media

Contest-winning and 10th Birthday Costumes, plus a Pop Worlds Livestream!

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! Looks like things are popping on Pop again. 😉

It may have taken a good seven months, but it looks like the Poptropica Creators are finally about to bring the winning designs of the #MyPoptropicaCostume contest to the game, with confirmation that that means both Poptropica Worlds and Original! Check out the awesome sneak peek, featuring mermaids and letterman jackets:

costumecontestpeek

They haven’t given an exact release date, only “soon,” but it’s a comfort to know they’re at least being worked on (it is rather long overdue). Maybe my earlier nudging helped – but in any case, it is nice to see a glimpse of what they’re working on (we’ve been pretty starved for regular sneak peeks lately!).

Here we see the grand prize winning designs, “Ocean Princess” designed by Creepy Peanut and “Hip Hop Boy” by Speedy Toes. The 6-month memberships they won have probably expired by now, but at least they’re finally going to see their costumes for real, and with designs for more than one gender, expanding upon their original entries! Hopefully, the top 10 runner-up costumes will soon follow.

Speaking of costumes, the 10th Birthday Costume has finally been added to Worlds, this time glitch-free! You can find it in the store for free. Get it while it’s here!

If you’re playing on mobile, be sure to update your app so you’ll see this costume in the store, along with the all-new Ye Olde Shop building!

worlds 10th bday
pic credit: Young Hippo & Yujo_Jacy_the_Jumpy_Coyotekans

(And it only took an extra week compared to Pop Original…)

In other news, Poptropica had their first ever livestream this weekend: specifically, this past Friday (Sept 22) at about 4:40 p.m. EST. It was completely out of the blue, not having been announced on any of Poptropica’s social media channels except YouTube. You can catch the entire 22 minutes of video here:

The livestream is hosted by one Creator, a young lady in the corner of the screen who introduces herself as Stephanie. Her game username is later revealed as PopTrop_Steph. A quick look-up in the Avatar Studio shows that she has never played Pop Original (at least not on her account), since Worlds accounts that have never played Original (like hers) will have the “Afro Guy” appearance (as she does – so it looks like she’s probably a new Creator). (Personally, I’d like to see some livestreams for Pop Original too, though I guess the closest we have are Captain Crawfish’s walkthroughs!)

Indeed, the whole video focuses on Poptropica Worlds, from creating an account to landing on Home Island to – well, that’s about it, really. What Stephanie goes through will probably be familiar if you’re not completely new, but if you want to watch a Poptropica Creator narrate an exploration of Worlds while eating a bunch of gummy bears, this is the video for you. Oh, and we’re promised there’s more to come in the future.

We’ve never met Steph before, but she seems pretty friendly and excitable. It looks like we’ll be seeing more of her on future YouTube livestreams – the next episode, she says, will be about what you can get with membership in the store. That might get some kids interested in membership, but we hope Poptropica will remember to keep up the love for the free players as well.

It’s not clear whether or not Steph is responsible for the rest of Pop’s social media these days, although I would guess not, since the mystery blogger on the Creators’ Blog has previously used a yellow-haired male character. Regardless, it’s nice to finally know at least one face and name – and if there are other social media staff working for Pop, we hope they’ll introduce themselves as well!

What did you think of the livestream video? What would you like to see in a future video from Poptropica? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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