Author: HPuterpop

I'm Andrew Wiles, although on this account I'm known as HPuterpop. I've played Poptropica since 2007, the year it started. I play on the users puterpop and puterpoptropica. I'm a graphic designer, editor on the Poptropica Help Blog, and executive manager on the Poptropica Wiki. Check out my links to find out what I'm doing at the moment - I like to stay active in the community and always have a couple projects in the works. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and following me on Google+. I would greatly appreciate it. I'd like to stress how easy it is to contact me, so if you do need to, [email protected] is the one to contact. Thanks for reading, I'll see you soon. :) And thanks to Muzzki for my current profile pic!

Hi Gs – Issue #20 of the PHB magazine, known as The POPCORN, has just been released, with all sorts of Poptropica fan creations, including the start of an exciting series by Bony Catfish, some epic villain art, and the first of a two part story involving the evil Dr. Hare by Captain Spencer!

check out issue #20 of our Poptropica magazine now!

…clicked it yet? If not, you’re missing out on a piece of the PHB legend. 😀

For more information about The POPCORN, check out our Magazines page to find out what kind of entries we’re looking for and how you can submit something in for publication!

The deadline for emailing entries to phbpopcorn(at)gmail(dot)com is November 2nd if you’d like to be a part of our next magazine!

Hope you enjoy our pop-pop-Poptropica Help Blog fan magazine!

Bazaar as it may seem…

October 3, 2014October 6, 2014 HPuterpop

Arabian Nights Island (Episode 1: How Bazaar) is out for members! Check out our written walkthrough here! Looking for a video walkthrough? We’ve got that too!

The island awaited for a year has been released. Arabian Nights Ep. 1 has come out of the shadows and is available for members! If you’re looking for a written walkthrough, click here. Our video walkthrough is coming soon, you’ll find it here on my channel when it is released. When you’ve finished the episode, be sure to check your rank on the World Champions Map!

There’s good news for everyone else as well – Survival Ep. 5 has been released for non-members! If you need help getting out of this neck of the woods, check out our Survival Island Guide. Tally ho!

Also, if you haven’t forgotten, the PHB’s 20th issue of the POPCORN is coming this Sunday – there’s still a window for submissions, so if you have something cool to share, be it art, fan fictions, or costume designs, be sure to send it in to phbpopcorn(at)gmail(dot)com!

Enjoy, and have a truly “bazaar” experience!

-HPuterpop

Advertisements, Arabian Nights Island, Bonus Items, Store

Drawing Poptropican heads, Jeff Heim’s account, and Halloween costumes!

September 18, 2014September 20, 2014 HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

What isn’t happening in the world of Poptropica? Prepare to have your mind blown with all the new things happening in the Poptropica universe! 😀

Thoughts on Arabian Nights description

We already knew about Arabian Nights of course, but the recent announcement reveals some epic wallpapers and descriptions. As I was reading, however, I found something that sort of peeved me.

In Arabian Nights, players will travel across the desert trying to rescue the Sultan’s lamp from the 40 Thieves. Prepare for an adventure full of magic, treachery, and danger, in a setting like none we’ve ever created!

I’ve made my standing on this topic known, but in-fact there has been an Arabian setting created in Poptropica before. One of the many ports that Skullduggery island has is called Golden Harbor. It has an Arabian theme, thus they have created a similar setting before. Just wanted to point this out. 😛

Drawing Poptropicans with Jon Pitcher

The Creators recently posted a video on their YouTube channel featuring Poptropica illustrator Jon Pitcher. In the video, he shows you how he draws Poptropican heads, and how you can make your own. While the camera is a little shaky, I still think that the Poptropicans he drew were awesome. 😀

I might just make a video tutorial for drawing my Poptropican style sometime in the near future too. If you liked the video, you might also want to check out the PHB’s How to draw a Poptropican guide. 🙂

Jeff Heim’s account

I recently asked Poptropica’s sound producer Jeff Heim to make a Poptropica account, to which he responded that he already had one – his username is jeffheim88, and his Poptropican’s name is Lazy Cactus! While he hasn’t completed any islands, he does have membership and apparently believes in Bigfoot. 😛 He lives in New Hampshire, US, and is a member of the Black Flags tribe.

jeffHeimPoptropican

If you check out his site, you’ll also find a video (using all Poptropica music) where he explains what he does – note the smile when he mentions Poptropica. 😉

7th birthday/Halloween costumes

You may know about the new 7th birthday balloon that you can get free in the Store, but they also released two new Halloween-themed costume cards – the Egyptian Mummy and the Scarecrow. These both can be found in the Haunted House mini-quest, and are fully costumizable there. It’s quite a mystery why they’re here – for one thing, they should be in the costumes section. Also, does this relate to Poptropica’s birthday? Only time will tell, I guess. 😛

store

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Pop-pop-Poptropican Portraits!

TAFN.

-HPuterpop

Merchandise, PHB Sneak Peeks

Music album one, dust bunnies, and more on Dr. Hare

September 9, 2014September 10, 2014 HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

Poptropica Music Album: Volume One

A new type of Poptropica media is out and available for download – music (of course we already knew)! Poptropica Music Volume 1 is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon, featuring 12 tracks. Each track is $0.99 USD, which is pretty pricey considering you can listen to tons of Poptropica music on our Behind the Scenes page (which boasts 100+ tracks).

You can also buy the whole volume for $8.99 on Amazon, or $9.99 on iTunes. It includes one unreleased track, the Back Lot main theme, which hasn’t been uploaded to the files yet (don’t worry, we’ll find it soon 😛 ). You can listen to the preview here. :3 Also, these tracks contain added sounds exclusively for the album, so that might be worth checking out!

Dust Bunnies & more on Dr. Hare

Recently we released a post about Nate Greenwall’s portfolio which included lots of unreleased material for Poptropica. We did not show all the work, however, and on the “Character Designs” page you will see a character drawn in a Poptropica-esque style. It’s a bunny in a purple suit with a tank on his back that has the word “dust” on it.

Obviously the idea is a dust bunny, but my point is that with the Poptropica like style, it may be an upcoming villain and nemesis/comrade to Dr. Hare, or perhaps an old draft of what later became Dr. Hare. As you know, Dr. Hare was created by Nate, so he would likely be the one to design a second bunny character for Poptropica, should that happen.

Also, something no one else noticed – the LEGO design image for Dr. Hare’s minifig reveals what’s behind those goggles! It’s not a big discovery, but it’s one step more into why Dr. Hare is how he is. Just look at those manic eyes.

Mission Atlantis Hub

I’ve recently released a new video on my channel that is a “hub” video for Mission Atlantis. It includes all the links to everything you need to know about the island, and I’ll be making hub videos for all the episodic adventures eventually. 😀

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Poptropican Portraits: Season 2 is still coming very soon. 😀

TAFN.

-HPuterpop

Ten things you DIDN'T know about Poptropica!

10 more things you DIDN’T know about Poptropica!

September 6, 2014June 30, 2015 HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

One of the first posts that I ever made here on the PHB was titled “10 things you DIDN’T know about Poptropica!“, and from the looks of the title, you probably have gathered that this is the sequel. Hope you enjoy it. 😀

1. Lunar Colony: Flag of Poptropica

This was mentioned by deviantArt user “Child-Of-Hades“, so you can check out the original post here. In Lunar Colony you can see the first instance of Poptropica’s official flag, somewhat like one of the United States’ numerous flags from over the years — after counting the stars, you will find that there are 28 stars in total — and Lunar Colony was the 29th island! Well played, Creators. 😛

2. Meeting the CYOA Book’s Author

You can meet R. A. Montgomery, author & founder of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, in the CYOA hut on Main Street of Nabooti Island.

dk1

3. Customizing Secret

On Time Tangled Island in Timbuktu, you can customize the silhouettes from inside the buildings!

dk2

4. Wimpy Wonderland inspiration

The scene in Wimpy Wonderland island where you climb the Leisure Towers building is inspired by a Simpsons game called “Bart’s Nightmare”, in which he is “Bartzilla” and climbs a tower while people throw random items down on him from windows.

dk3

5. S.O.S. Common Room

While this may be known by some, it may surprise others — S.O.S. Island does in fact have a common room on the far left corner of the Main Street entitled “Daggoo’s Fish Market”.

dk4

6. Vlad the Viking

The old Creator, Vlad the Viking, had a Poptropican account with an unknown username. It is the only known account to have three prefixes (Vlad the Viking) instead of the regular two. Here’s a picture of him (on the right) from one of his old Creators’ Blog posts, when he ran a series called Snapshot Sagas:

7. Job Requirements: Poptropica flash developer

According to this Google Forum post by Poptropica Creator Jordan Leary (Dr. Hare) from 2010 (one of Poptropica’s most active years), you must meet the following requirements met in order to be a flash game developer at Poptropica —

Submit a strong portfolio demonstrating solid game development experience.
At least 3 years experience in AS2 or AS3 with expert level skills.
The ability to work well both on a team and independently.
Experience using object-oriented design methods.
Good code organization and knowledge of ActionScript best practices.

AS is the acronym for ActionScript, the code that Poptropica used to run on (I don’t know for sure if it still does). Read the full job posting here, it’s pretty interesting!

8. The Origin of Poptropica

According to an interview with Jeff Kinney by Words on a Limb, he got the idea for Poptropica one day while mowing his lawn! Here’s his exact quote:

I was mowing my lawn one day when the idea for Poptropica sprang up. It’s changed a lot from its initial conception, but the basic idea is still there. We publish every story we come up with that feels like it has merit.

9. Strange Poptropica cityscape

This photo, released by Poptropica Creator Nate Tufts back in 2009, shows an apartment building with an insane-looking Poptropican in front and a leaf monster on the top. The image document is entitled “CityScape”. What could this have been made for? Monster Carnival? Or another unreleased island?

CityScape

10. Ad Creator

Coralee Lazebnikova is a 2D animator, and if you read all of her profile, you’ll find that she’s previously done work for Poptropica and Family Education doing advertisement design. Like Nate Greenwall (senior graphic artist at Poptropica), she may have had a hand in designing ad games for Poptropica!

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That’s all the cool facts I have for you today! 😀 Tell me in the comments your thoughts on these – did you know them? If so, how many? The person who knew the most facts gets a cookie!

TAFN.

-HPuterpop