Fairy Tale Island, Guest Posts

Fairytale Island: A storybook of many pop culture references ๐Ÿ“–๐Ÿ’ซ

Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Barefoot Knuckle. Enjoy!

Hey everybody! Itโ€™s Barefoot Knuckle here and today I will be talking about the many similarities Fairytale Island has to other works in pop culture. Most of these are probably just a coincidence, but I think itโ€™s very interesting to discuss, plus fun and hilarious at the same time!

Okay, this island has SO MANY similarities to other stuff, itโ€™s insane. Of course there are the obvious easter eggs like the Poptropican Fairy Godmother being modeled after Shrek 2โ€™s Fairy Godmother.

But Fairytale Island mostly reminds me of the Happily Nโ€™Ever After series from Lionsgate. Now although I only ever watched the first one, the second movieโ€™s trailer was also reminiscent of the whole โ€œRumpelstiltskin causing Snow White to fall asleep” scenario.

The first movie (2006) was a lot like Fairytale Island though. You had one fairytale villain who seized power over all the happily ever afters and started messing them up so no one could have a happy ending. Then Cinderella learns how to be a strong, independent woman and everyone has different happily ever afters in the end.

Of course, they defeated the villain in the movie, and in the second movie as well, which was different from what happened in Fairytale Island. But other than that, Cinderellaโ€™s pink dress, Snow White’s purple and blue outfits, the dwarves’ tough looking design and the Princeโ€™s personality and design all resemble how the characters are shown in Happily N’Ever After.

Another resemblance is the trend of showing fairytale princesses as modern, independent women. We saw this in Disneyโ€™s Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), where all the princesses gathered in lounge wear. And in Fairytale Island, the princesses are working girls. You canโ€™t be lounging around the house when there are animals to cure, guitars to play, and pizzas to deliver.

(Also, comment if you want me to draw Poptropica’s princesses with Disneyโ€™s princesses and I will include it at the end of my next post!)

When Fairytale Island was first released, some fans noted that it was rare to see Cinderella as a Black woman, but it has been done before. In The Wonderful World of Disney (1997) Cinderella, Rodgers and Hammersteinโ€™s Cinderella was portrayed by Brandy (yes, that is her name). Although there isnโ€™t much similarity in terms of dress design, her hair and crown does share a similar style to Poptropicaโ€™s Cinderella.

Combined with Happily Nโ€™Ever Afterโ€™s Cinderella with her pink dress and story arc (though she never turned into a rock star), Poptropicaโ€™s new take on the classic princess had a lot of throwbacks to past concepts on the character. Also, is it just me, or does the pink hair and punk style remind anyone of the rock artist, Pink?

Then there are the character designs in the “Red’s Food Delivery” side quest. This isnโ€™t the first time weโ€™ve seen Red Riding Hood in a modern tomboy look, since the movie Hoodwinked (2005) (another movie Iโ€™ve only seen the trailer for) portrayed Red Riding Hood as a tough karate girl who wore jeans.

Now Poptropica’s Red Riding Hood doesnโ€™t seem like sheโ€™s specialized in any defenses, but she does have that tough girl look about her. And even though they donโ€™t share the same personality, the grandma in Hoodwinked and the grandma in Fairytale Island share a very similar look. And from what Iโ€™ve seen in the trailer, the huntsman in Hoodwinked seems just as weird as the huntsman from Fairytale Island.

The whole island is kind of like a couple other middle grade book series about fairytales, like Whatever After by Sarah Mlynowski and The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer. Red Riding Hoodโ€™s pet in Colfer’s series, Clawdius, is just about the equivalent of Fairytale Islandโ€™s Big Bad Wolf.

And what about that Gravity Falls similarity with these little guys, huh?

The final easter egg Iโ€™ll bring up has to do with the islandโ€™s villain, Rumplestiltskin. You know that part where the player says his name three times and apparently heโ€™s free? Well, the same thing happens in Tim Burtonโ€™s Beetlejuice (1988) when this ghost couple and this goth girl say a creepy ghostโ€™s name three times and heโ€™s free to help them get revenge or something. It was recently adapted into a Broadway show (with a song called โ€œSay My Nameโ€ โ€” and that’s all I know).

But what do you guys think? Is Fairytale Island just a mashup of pop culture references? Is Cinderellaโ€™s pink hairstyle a nod to rockstar Pink? Did the creators intentionally put a Beetlejuice reference in the script? And what kind of pop culture reference would you like to see in Poptropica?

For more trivia, check out the PHB’s Fairytale Island Guide. Keep an eye out for my next posts! I think youโ€™ll like them!


Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Barefoot Knuckle. If you did, you might also enjoy other guest posts here on the PHB!

The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. Interested in writing for the PHB? Weโ€™d love to hear from you! ๐Ÿ“ฐโœจ

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7 thoughts on “Fairytale Island: A storybook of many pop culture references ๐Ÿ“–๐Ÿ’ซ”

  1. Ok Iโ€™m sorry if Iโ€™m the only one but I had never seen any of these shows/movies except for maybe two. I really didnโ€™t see these references when playing, good catch Barefoot Knuckle.

    1. I used the Avatar Studio Gift here on the Poptropica Help Blog. The ID of the costume is called: ScheherazadeToldAThousandTales
      Be warned it may change your skin color and other features but you can fix them if you want. Its under the Glitching section on the top of the PHB page.

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