New author popping in: Purple Paw

Hi there, everybody! I’m Purple Paw, and it’s true—I’ve just become the PHB’s newest author!! I’m incredibly proud, very surprised, and most of all, excited to have this opportunity.

Beginning my journey as a writer for this blog, I’ll tell you a bit about how I joined this fandom.

I first started playing Poptropica in 2015, finding the game through Funbrain (as many players do). After playing my first island—Mystery Train—I quickly became engrossed in the game. In mid-2016, I ran into technical difficulties that prevented me from playing for several months. But as soon as everything was fixed and back in working order, I jumped right back into playing!

For quite some time, I wasn’t as interested in Pop, as my attention gradually shifted to other fandoms. Throughout 2017, 18, and 19, I would occasionally log in to check out what was happening, but nothing interested me enough to convince me to stay. That is, until 2020 came…

This past summer, I had a thought to check back on Poptropica. And this time, something did convince me to stay: the return of the old islands. I was thrilled to see that they had come back. I bought a membership so that I could enjoy them once more.

Whilst playing through a difficult island (which one, I can’t remember) I found myself stuck. But I wasn’t worried; I knew there were plenty of helpful walkthroughs out there. So I browsed the Internet for the best one I could find. And then I came across the PHB! I liked the PHB enough to revisit it several times. But I didn’t involve myself in the community at first—that is, until the PHB’s Tribal Tournament began in August. Now, this was something I couldn’t resist. I sent in my submissions, and was very surprised when I was crowned MVP!

I joined the PHC Discord community for the end of tournament party, and decided to stick around. I met several online friends there on the Discord server. In the following months, I started writing guest posts for the PHB and participated in a few other contests. By that point, you could say I’d put myself out there in the Poptropica fandom.

But the most shocking surprise came just this week. I had logged onto Discord, and was typing a message, when I noticed a new DM from Slanted Fish. Curious, I opened it, and it took all my willpower not to scream when I saw the invitation to join the PHB team!

I won’t deny that I had considered becoming a PHB author, but the fact that it was really happening was unbelievable! The down-to-earth side of me tried to convince myself the invite was just a dream, but I knew it wasn’t. Ecstatic, I accepted the offer. And that just about brings us to where we are today. I’m super excited to be part of the PHB staff, and can’t wait to see what happens next!

~Purple Paw 💜