Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Barefoot Knuckle. Enjoy!
Okay, so I don’t know about you, but do you ever play a Poptropica island, and you’re like, “Huh, this reminds me of that movie I saw last week.” If not, then let me show you some of my favorite comparisons. These comparisons are probably just coincidental, and some of these islands were made before the movie, but that doesn’t make it any less fun to talk about!
1. Escape From Pelican Rock Island = Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
I mean, this movie is practically the island! You’ve got the evil doppelgänger who frames the hero for a crime they didn’t commit. Next thing they know, they’re in one of the most top guarded prisons in the entire world with a very committed warden with no hope of escape.
And while the hero tries to come up with a plan to break out, they make friends with the inmates. In the end they get to kick their evil twin to the curb on top of a tower and restore order. If you take away the musical numbers, the globe-trotting theme, Josh Groban, and the other guest star appearances from Muppets Most Wanted, you’ve got Escape From Pelican Rock Island.
2. Time Tangled Island = Mr. Peabody and Sherman (2014)
I loved playing Time Tangled Island when I was younger (and before non-players weren’t allowed to play it). I also loved watching Mr. Peabody and Sherman with my parents as well. My dad watched the original Mr. Peabody and Sherman shorts when he was a kid, so this movie means a lot to the both of us.
In terms of similar plots, you have a time machine gone haywire, a journey through several time periods, and meeting famous people. Although we didn’t get to go to Egypt or the French Revolution, we did go to France to the Statue of Liberty. There may not have been a genius dog or a creepy wooden child (watch the trailer, you’ll see what I’m talking about) but the approach of a time-traveling adventure in both forms of media are very similar. In both, the characters got to try out Leonardo Da Vinci’s flying machine so, yeah.
There’s also a Meet the Robinsons (2007) feel when you get to fix the future and meet your future self.
3. Night Watch Island = Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
I mean, it’s about a character who’s hired as a security guard being alone in a mall during a robbery that occurs at night. I’m honestly surprised they didn’t put in a Poptropican that looks like Kevin James on this island. Paul Blart: Mall Cop is rated PG, but there is a scene where, because Blart is diabetic, he starts getting a little crazy when he accidentally ingests alcohol. It was cool to have a hero who has a health condition though. Represent!
I do know for a fact that the movie was really funny and the segway scenes were boss. Unlike Night Watch, though, there was no snake. But there is a spray tanner scene and you get to see him just hanging out in the mall like you can do on Night Watch Island.
4. Cryptids Island = Missing Link (2019)
This is such a sweet film. And a very interesting island. Though they both have their differences, these two go hand in hand. Both involve the discovery of many different cryptids and they both investigate the Loch Ness Monster (the one in Missing Link is a lot meaner though), the Yeti (in both, the Yetis were a dead end), and of course, Bigfoot.
There is also the presence of a rich man spending his fortune on finding these creatures. And may I say, both forms of media do a brilliant job with their villains. Missing Link has two villains, but Poptropica’s Gretchen Grimlock makes up for being just one with her ability to pop up from nowhere. She was more like Missing Link’s hitman Stenk in the novelization of Cryptids Island in that she was always trying to attack the main character wherever she went. In the game, she’s closer to resembling the movie’s boss villain, Lord Piggot Duncey, because she appears at the beginning and the end to claim what is hers. Surprisingly in both, you get to watch the villains fall to their deaths thousands of feet in the air.
And talk about Poptropica globe trotting! You get to take a boat out on the loch in Scotland to find Nessie, you get to meet Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest, and you get to climb the Himalayas to look for the Yeti.
5. Astro-Knights Island = Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
Just look at these two pictures. To quote The Office, “They’re the same picture.” In the first Star Wars movie, unlikely heroes take to the stars to rescue a princess and save a galaxy. Along the way, they battle aliens and come face-to-face with a half-robot villain who has the princess held captive and harbors a dark secret about their identity. Sounds like whoever developed the storyline for Astro-Knights Island was a Star Wars fan.
They both have a smart, strong, and independent princess who can defend themselves (Princess Leia using a blaster and Princess Elyana kicking Mordred to the curb), awesome spaceships, a cyborg villain, and at the end, the heroes receive medals in a fancy ceremony.
Any Star Wars fans in the Pop community will definitely enjoy the return of Astro-Knights Island now that they know the Jabba-weight it carries. In a way, I guess we always had a Star Wars Island. Too bad “Jedi Knight Island” would run into copyright issues.
Bonus: Fairytale Island (2021) = Happily N’Ever After and others
Check out my previous post where I compared Poptropica’s latest island to various movies and more: Fairytale Island: A storybook of many pop culture references.
That’s a wrap for this Pop 5! Stay tuned for the next posts about Pop Culture Islands where instead of comparing Poptropica islands, I’ll be comparing Poptropica characters to their popular media counterparts. Be warned, the next post may get a little… villainous.
(Try to guess who her Poptropican counterpart is in the comments.)
Oh, and also let me know what Poptropican villains you want me to draw for my next post. By the way, here are my drawings of Poptropican princesses with their Disney princess counterparts. (Click to enlarge!)
P.S. Before I go, let’s just take a moment to thank the kind soul who decided to put Napoleon Dynamite in Poptropica.
Now that was pure poetry.
Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Barefoot Knuckle. If you did, you might also enjoy her other guest posts here, including her Pop Fan Artist Spotlight!
The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. Interested in writing for the PHB? We’d love to hear from you! 📰✨
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Wow! Loving the drawings! I especially like the one about Princess Elyana, so true. Also if you could draw any villain, I would have to say Rumpelstiltskin.
Aww, thank you! Just finished sketching Rumple for the first time and may I say I see why he’s so popular.
Cool drawings! I can’t even draw a Poptropican if I don’t have a base. Well sort of I can..
Thanks! The key is to keep practicing. It took me a long while to learn how to draw Poptropicans. Looking at a reference helps as well.
Yep! I try mostly every month for the community creations!
Oh I never noticed the similarities. I actually never watched these before so if I hve a chance I’ll surely do.
I love these! If you could draw any villain, I would want to see the Binary Bard and Count Bram. I think one of the major island/movie resemblance islands is Arabian Nights. I was kind of surprised it wasn’t on this list. Anyway, my favorite drawing is the one with Scheherazade and Jasmine, I thought it was kind of funny.
Bruh, I knew forgot something! TBH Arabian Nights has so many references I had planned to just have an entire post on this island! Thank you so much for the feedback! I don’t want to spoil anything, but let’s just say I will post more content about the two princesses in another upcoming post. Stay tuned!
Oh, cool! I can’t wait!