Author: Gentle Dolphin

Hello, everyone! My name is Gentle Dolphin, and I have been a long-time fan of Poptropica. I like drawing, baking, and being an overall dork. In real life, I'm pretty much the same except for the fact that my hair is brown instead of pink. You can befriend me on Poptropica if you'd like. My username is "magicalyre".
Bonus Items, Member Gifts, Membership, Social Media

The mathematical art of wintry member gifts

Gentle Dolphin

Merry (almost) Christmas, Poptropicans! 🎄

We’ve already covered the first, second, and third waves of member gifts. Now it’s time to unwrap these last few gifts! This final batch of member gifts are pretty cool, pun fully intended.

And the items are: Jack Frost, Ice Princess, Instant Ice, Snow Cone Toss, Carrot Nose, and Flying Sleigh. Thanks to Osmium for sharing pics of the items and animated gifs of the powers in action!

If you have an active membership at anytime this month, these items will be added to your inventory. Act fast before the festive gifts freeze over!

Mythology_Concepts

Over on the Creators’ Blog, Blue Tooth wrote a post detailing how Poptropica’s art is made. The post begins with a series of sketches for a Mythology Island-themed home screen. Artists create these small sketches, called thumbnails, to help them figure out what they want the picture to look like before they start adding details.

After the team agrees on a concept, they begin the sketch phase. And after approving the clean sketches, they put them in a vector format. What’s that, you ask? Blue Tooth describes the process in this paragraph:

What’s a vector? It’s a special, unique way you can make images on a computer. Instead of needing to save every single pixel in a picture, vectors draw and color pictures with math! (Bet you didn’t see THAT coming.) Vectors are what make Poptropica possible. The whole game uses them to run! That’s right, guys. We wouldn’t have Poptropica without math.

Pop_social_home

Poptropica’s team of artists work hard to deliver quality content to make the game more lively. For example, some players may have spotted a new home screen on Poptropica’s homepage. This screen features a cast of Poptropicans enjoying a nice day at a park while showcasing some in-game fashion. It hasn’t shown up on all browsers yet, but perhaps it soon might!

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin🐬

Advertisements, Fan Art Features, Member Gifts, Social Media

Spirit, spies, and sketches, oh my!

Gentle Dolphin

Good day, everyone! The holiday season is still going strong, and Poptropica has been giving nonstop to its players. We at the PHB have been covering the 12 Days of Member Gifts, but let’s take a break to discuss a special gift that gives all year round: ADVERTISING!!! (yay!🙃)

Sarcasm aside, Poptropica recently gave us three unique ads, each with their own cool prizes to offer! Let’s get started with an ad fitting for the holiday season.

Our first ad is a simple one promoting Netflix’s new Christmas special “Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas”. Watch the short video to earn the Free Spirit power. To activate this power, equip the apple and press the spacebar to see Spirit leap across the screen!

Our second ad also comes from Netflix, this one promoting their upcoming series “Fast & Furious: Spy Racers”. Walk inside and talk to Tony to enter the big race. This minigame is similar to the game Crash-N-Bash from the Blast-Off Arcade: choose your car and race to the finish line without running into obstacles (running into other cars is fine, though).

If you manage to win the race without totaling your car, you will receive the Cool Car Follower as well as Tony’s Car. The latter prize is especially awesome since you can take it on a sweet ride.

The last new ad of the bunch moves from Netflix to the big screen with “Spies in Disguise”. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to watch the trailer and play a racing game. After choosing your driver, you need to blast enemy robots by pressing the spacebar and jump over hazards by clicking your mouse (or tapping the screen if you’re on a mobile device).

Successfully completing your mission will reward you with the Pigeon Transformer and the Laser Scan Tuxedo. With these devices, you now have the choice to turn into either a suave pigeon or a savvy spy. Good luck out there, agents!

Over on social media, the most recent “Fan Art Feature” puts the spotlight on Instagram user @goldsberrie, who drew her Pop OC in a Disney-esque art style. It’s definitely a unique entry in this series, and you have to admit that this guy’s hair is amazing! If you would like the chance to have your art featured by Poptropica, post your art to Twitter or Instagram and tag it #poptropica or #poptropicafanart so they can see it.

That’s all for now. Out of these three new ads, which is your favorite? What’s your favorite new ad prize? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and tune in for more Poptropica news.

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin🐬

Advertisements, Member Gifts, Membership

Turkey boy, Frozen decor & more!

Gentle Dolphin

Hello, everyone! Gentle Dolphin here with a delicious helping of Poptropica news! Let’s begin today’s story with a warm appetizer before we get to the main course, which is strangely frozen. Hmm…

On the Creators’ Blog, there is a post reminding players that the November member gifts are here! Members will definitely be thankful for this month’s gifts, which certainly fit the Thanksgiving theme: a wearable Turkey Head, a rideable Turkey Rider, and a fireable Gravy Blaster!

Nov_memb_billboard

If you’re an active member, these items will be automatically added to your inventory upon logging into Poptropica this month. If you’re not a member, do not fear. The post also mentions that a shop update will be coming very soon, so keep an eye out for that!

Now that we have finished our Thanksgiving appetizer, it’s time to move on to the main dish. A lot of us expected Poptropica to make promotions for “Frozen 2”. What we didn’t expect, however, is how much they would end up promoting it. Strap yourselves in, folks! It’s going to be a long ride!

Let’s start things simple with a basic island ad. While you are visiting various islands, you’ll come across a Frozen 2 ad block. Watch the short trailer to get your very own Olaf Follower! Now you can explore all of Poptropica with everyone’s favorite talking snowman (just don’t go somewhere too hot, though).

After your adventures with Olaf, you may be in the mood to decorate your clubhouse. Although there are no new furniture items in the store, you will find seven new posters in your clubhouse inventory (six for “Frozen 2”, and one for “Polly Pocket”)! Here is what they look like on the club wall:Frozen2_Posters

As if prizes and posters weren’t enough, the Poptropica team went above and beyond with what is possibly their biggest in-game advertisement this year. Frozen fever must have spread to the cosmos, because the Blast-Off Arcade has been given a “Frozen 2” makeover!

Instead of flying to an intergalactic planet, you will now wander into a scenic autumn forest. You can climb the trees and bounce on leaves as a majestic orchestra plays in the background. Here’s a look at the updated common room in its entirety. Pretty cool, eh?Frozen2_CommonRoom

It’s clear that Poptropica is going all out to promote “Frozen 2”. At this rate, they may as well dedicate an entire island to the film! Anyway, what do you think of this month’s member gifts? Do you plan on seeing “Frozen 2” in theaters, and how do you feel about all of these advertisements for it? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin🐬

Zomberry Island

Return of the Zomberries

Gentle Dolphin

Hello, boys and ghouls! This is Gentle Dolphin bringing you the latest Poptropica news.

Ever since the big island purge last summer, we have been wondering when the classic islands would return to Poptropica. Just a few weeks ago, a “Flashback Friday” post gave us a glimmer of hope for one of Poptropica’s spookiest adventures. Now, a recent post by Blue Tooth has confirmed what we have been suspecting:

Zomberry Island will be coming back!!!

zomberrytease

QUARANTINE BREACH, POPTROPICANS!!

This is your EXCLUSIVE FIRST ALERT that Zomberry Island will be coming back with an all-new experience later this year!! Keep your eyes right here on the blog for upcoming previews, artwork, and more as our team works on a totally new level based on the classic Zomberry Island!

Awesome, right? After months of anticipation, we finally have our first returning island! There is quite a bit to unpack in this post, so let’s take it bit by bit so we can know what to expect.

Although the release date has not been confirmed, the post says that Zomberry Island will be coming back sometime later this year. It might not be October like we were all hoping, but the island will definitely be back before the end of 2019.

The most intriguing statement is that there will be a brand new level based on the classic island. Does this mean that the Creators are adding more content to Zomberry Island? If so, then this would be the first sound-updated island (SUI) to not be a straightforward adaptation of the original. (Unless you count 24 Carrot Island, which was redone for Poptropica Worlds.) Will other classic islands be given more content, as well? There’s a lot to think about here.

This whole idea to make more Zomberry content is not entirely new. Back in 2016, the Daily Pop showcased some concept art for a few possible Zomberry Island-themed minigames; you can read more about them in these “PHB Sneak Peeks” posts right here. Anyway, could this new level be inspired by one of these unfinished minigames? We’ll have to wait and see if that’s the case. 

Before the outbreak strikes again, you can prepare yourself by playing the original Zomberry Island via idk’s Old Island Directory. Don’t forget to check out our Zomberry Island Guide if you need help finding key clues and avoiding pesky zomberries.

Are you excited to stop the Zomberry plague a second time? How do you feel about the idea of the Creators adding more content to the old islands? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Thank you for reading, and have a good day! 

—Gentle Dolphin🐬

Advertisements, Reality TV: Wild Safari Island

Flying with Jeremy to the Wild Safari

Gentle Dolphin

Greetings, Earthlings– I mean, Poptropicans! Today we have some news stories to make you go wild and fly out of your seat! Let’s start off with a dream that finally became a reality.

After being made members-only almost two months ago, Reality TV: Wild Safari is finally available for all players! Now, non-members can join in on the fun and compete against a slew of celebrity cameos in death-defying challenges for a chance to win the island medallion!

WildSafari_page

If you’re confused by a challenge or curious about your fellow competitors, then come check out our Reality TV: Wild Safari guide! There, you’ll find tips and tricks to help you earn the coveted first place title! Good luck, contestants!

In other news, we have some ads that would intrigue the most dedicated space travelers. The Toy Story 4 ad is back to promote the film’s home and digital release. Like last time, players can watch the trailer to get the Buzz Wings Power! Act fast and claim those wings before the ad disappears to infinity and beyond.

Blue Tooth certainly thinks this power is amazing! She took to social media and posted a video of herself being yeeted into the night sky then falling stylishly back onto the ground. Check it out:

There’s also a new ad for the Disney Channel series “Gabby Duran & the Unsittables”. Watch the short trailer to earn two out-of-this-world prizes: the Space Bubble and the Jeremy Follower.

Curious about the angel costume I’m wearing in the photos? Well, I’ll be representing Team Heavenly for this year’s PHB Halloween Costume Contest! Our theme this year is “Heavenly and Hellish”, so be sure to send in your cute and/or devilish costumes. Check out the original contest post for full instructions on how to submit your costumes!

Are you excited to revisit Reality TV: Wild Safari Island? Which outer space ad prize is your favorite? Will you be entering the PHB Halloween Costume Contest? Are you on Team Heavenly or Team Hellish? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin🐬