Popular Poptropican: Purple Paw

Howdy Poptropicans, it’s LJ back with another Popular Poptropican! Today I’ll be talking to Purple Paw as part of our PHB staff lineup of interviews. (Check out Spotted Dragon and Gentle Dolphin‘s interviews, as well as mine, if you haven’t already!) She was one of the founders of Ramble Reviews, does a variety of other fun posts on the blog as well, and we’re happy she’s on the team. Now let’s get into it!

1. What do you enjoy about blogging with the PHB?

I enjoy having such a big audience in the Poptropica community to share news, theories, tips, facts, and my own creations with. I’ve learned much more than I expected since starting out. Plus, it’s cool getting to connect with Poptropicans all over the world! Receiving the invitation to join this team was definitely the most excitement I’d had in awhile, and writing for the PHB has been an awesome experience thus far.

2. What advice would you give to aspiring bloggers or writers in general that you wish you had starting out?

A helpful tip I wish I’d used in my earlier posts is to start with the necessities. I would often jump right in and try to create a finished, revised version of a post right off the bat–but unfortunately, that’s not how it works with writing. If your first draft of writing doesn’t please you, don’t start over right away. Instead, finishing writing down your ideas and everything you’re planning to cover before you start adding special words, notes, images, etc.

There’s always time to go back and fix something after you’ve finished with the first draft, but it’s much harder to go back and fix an issue before you’ve finished laying down the necessities; otherwise, it’s likely you’ll get caught up in one part and forget everything else you were going to write. You gotta bake the cake before you add the frosting. 🎂

3. What is your favorite island and villain?

My favorite island’s always hard to choose, as there’ve been a huge assortment of amazing ones over the years. But in the end, I would probably have to go with Red Dragon, because of all its beautiful scenery and the ninja gameplay — and because of the nostalgia I get from a Magic Treehouse-based island. However, even though it’s one of my top favorites, I don’t believe it’s the best island in general. That, in my opinion, would have to be Ghost Story. Ghost Story had an intricate and memorable story I’ll never forget; one of Poptropica’s true masterpieces.

As for my favorite villain, I definitely loved Daphne Dreadnaught — I always thought she deserved more showtime than she got in the Ghost Story prequel, Spook Central. I also liked Mademoiselle Moreau, mainly since her motive behind her villainy is easy to understand.

4. What challenge in the game has been the hardest to complete in your opinion?

Probably one of the many gear-filled puzzles in Steamworks. Although I did quite like the island as a whole, the mini-games were definitely frustrating at times, the multiple steam terminals in particular. It also took me a very long time to complete Skullduggery (although I found it was easy to get into a rhythm after a little while of trying at it).

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5. What is your favorite feature (still here or gone) from the many years of Poptropica?

That’s another hard question. While the islands are certainly the real gems of the game, side ideas such as Tribes were also fun to engage with. I thought it was cool to have a feature where players can proudly wave their flags and compete in an Olympic Games-like event, and even access special common rooms just for them and their Tribemates! I hope the Creators incorporate Tribes again in the future. Go Nightcrawlers! 🌙

6. What is your favorite Poptropica item?

Out of all the amazing items you get to collect throughout the islands, I would have to say the Jetpack from Early Poptropica. It sure was fun to whiz across the city without touching the ground! The stopwatch from Super Villain was also an intriguing object…(I really can’t choose just one of anything, can I?)

Out of the purchasable items in the Store, however, I always did love the many flavors of PopGum; I remember when I was younger I could never get enough of repeatedly hitting the space bar to watch bubbles float around the screen. Now that I think about it, I probably crashed the game once or twice doing that. 🤭

7. What is your favorite Poptropica Easter egg/secret/reference?

This one doesn’t come directly from the game itself, but the binary code at the bottom of every Binary Bard post on the Creator’s Blog was one of my favorites. I unfortunately didn’t engage much with the Creator’s Blog at the time they were posted, but more recently I revisited older posts and found the clever references to Bard’s name. All those mysterious 0s and 1s…

Oh, and of course I can’t leave without mentioning our true lord Beev! Pop simply wouldn’t be the same without him.

(LJ: You can friend her on Poptropica with the username PurplePawzz!)

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🌟 Would you like to be the next Popular Poptropican? 🌟

To nominate yourself or someone you know, send me an email at [email protected] or a private message on Discord with the following:

• the name of your nominee (a Poptropica name or other screen name)
• a reason why your nominee should be the next Popular Poptropican

Thanks for reading! We’ll talk soon. Pop on!

– LJ 🍀