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,

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! 😀

Forgotten Toys 2.0

Remember my last post about forgotten toys? Well, it seems that I’m nearly halfway sure that I’ve uncovered another forgotten toy. I found this photo of Jeff Kinney holding the Poptropica Blimp from an old Creator’s Blog post, and I dis-regarded it until I looked back over it.

In the background you can see a Shark Boy poster on the wall, but there’s also a strange blue object sitting on the window sill next to it. You can’t hardly even tell what it is because it’s being hidden by another poster. At first glance it just looks like a flower pot — until you take into consideration how uncanny the color of the object is to Poptropica’s main color, blue.

blimpToy

At this point, I was pretty intrigued — and the more I looked, the more it looked like a Poptropican. Check out the two white circles that are cut off at the very bottom of the object. I also ruled out the background object, because the change in coloring doesn’t match up.

forgottenToy

The problem is, I couldn’t recognize this character from anywhere in Poptropica. If anyone finds this character, please — tell us in the comments! We’d love to know who this forgotten toy is. 😀

UPDATE: The closest match found thus far came from a comment from Mαgı¢ Fıяe ♪, who noticed that it looks a lot like the Poptropica Cool Kid Plush Toy. However, the eyes are different – the top half of the Cool Kid plush’s eyes are skin-colored, while on the mystery toy, they are white.

coolkidplush

Costly walkthroughs

First alerted by PHB reader Trusty Tooth, the official Poptropica Tips and Tricks app now requires money to buy guides for recent islands. Three new guides were recently added — Monster Carnival, Mission Atlantis, and Survival Island – and unlike their predecessors, these each cost US$0.99.

I find this pretty outrageous when you can go online and find perfectly good and perhaps even better guides for these islands for free. The PHB houses the complete collection of island guides, every single one entirely free — and possibly even better than the app itself. Part of that is because the guides on the app aren’t as thorough as you would expect — believe me, I tried one. So please, don’t waste your money on something that can be gotten for free. Use a free online source. 🙂

By the way, when the official Tips & Tricks app was first released, their walkthroughs used to be US$0.99 each as well – but some time later, they made everything free. It seems strange that they’re going to start charging again, especially when, as noted above, you can get a service like this for free!

Loads of Advertisements

There’s been a couple of new advertisements pop up recently, the first being for the Lego Movie on DVD. Upon logging in, you will receive two new cards: a Batman Thought Bubble and a “Everything is Awesome” card.

When the Batman Thought Bubble is used, pressing space bar will make a thought bubble appear above your head, and a sound clip will play shouting “I’m Batman”. The “Everything is Awesome” card plays a short sound clip shouting “Everything is Awesome”. Pretty straightforward.

legoAd

You can actually do some pretty annoying things to people with the cards in common rooms. It turns out that when you use either card in a common room, it plays on everyone’s screen! It will also take anyone in their inventory out of their inventory. Mwahahahaha. >:)

The second ad is a bill board for the new Disney Channel movie “Zapped” and the new Disney Channel show “Girl Meets World”. After watching the short video, you will be awarded a Zapped hat/GMW hat! The hats are cool, but couldn’t they have used a better quality image for the logos? 😛

zapGirlAd

There’s also an ad in the space between places (such as on Early Poptropica) with a big summer-themed bulletin board for a reading wish list from Penguin Young Readers. You can click on the red button to get the printable wish list added to your inventory.

500 Likes?!

I recently got a WordPress award for 500 likes on the Poptropica Help Blog. I’m really grateful for your attention to my work. 🙂 Thank you guys.

500

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Thanks for reading. 😀

-HPuterpop

PHB Quickie, Survival Island

PHB Quickie: “Survival: Distress Signal” Overview

June 19, 2014 HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

Episode 3 came fairly quickly after episode 2 of Survival, but the release date was delayed by a day so they could fix bugs — this is the first time that had ever happened, too. So, did the extra day pay off, or was the episode a wreck? Let’s find out! You can check out the last two overviews for Survival here, or view the PHB’s full guide (with pictures) for Survival here.

s3Over

The most noteworthy thing about this episode is the environment, and everything that makes it up. The soundtrack surprised me, and even though I had already heard it, it really contributed to the environment. The sounds were also very nicely put together, and everything was brought to a new level of eerie this time around.

The layout of the island was quite different than the past episodes, and it was built to a grander scale. Everything was fine tuned, and attention to detail was a big factor in the island.

In my past overview, I mentioned the continuity between the episodes, and here it just shows even more, and perhaps a little more subtly. You find a manifest, which is a catalog for the cargo/passengers on a plane or ship. On the manifest is listed the various items that you have been collecting throughout the adventure — meaning that someone had passed through everywhere you had been!

I was surprised to find that when playing it I felt that it was pretty educational, more so than usual, and more obvious. To assemble the radio, you have to find zinc and copper, and while you find the zinc in an old box, the copper is found by searching through a collector coin bag. You may know that they stopped making pennies copper in 1982 — so you have to find the one from 1981 — genius!

As for the story, right around now does the story really pick up. We learn that a passenger of a Mews Airline plane, Max McGullicutty, has been stranded on the island. We don’t meet him, but on the manifest is a small note saying “Don’t trust MVB”. MVB stands for Myron Van Buren, and from our speculation about him, it seems like he’s going to be the antagonist of the adventure.

The Survival series seems to get better every episode — I rate this episode 5 out of 5 stars. 🙂

-HPuterpop

Livestreams, PHB Parties, Poptropican Portraits

Recap: Pop Portraits S1 finale livestream & PHB 12M hits party!

June 15, 2014December 1, 2017 HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

If you’ve been keeping up with my recent posts, then you’ll know that the Poptropican Portraits Season 1 Finale Livestream has commenced — maybe you attended. 😉 You can watch the recorded livestream below, featuring me with PHB author Blake and ATP blog owner Spotted Dragon. 😀

A couple things happened in the livestream that were note worthy — first of all, my main account (puterpop) was hacked during the livestream, and I wasn’t able to log in. It was randomized frequently while hacked, but don’t worry — I got my account back and it was fine. 😉

I also got through three (uncolored) creators, leaving Tracy West for later — but do not worry. I’ll make a speed art coloring all of them and finishing Tracy in a video on my Youtube Channel soon. 🙂

Also, hope you had fun at the PHB’s Poptropica/PHC party for our 12 million hits (if you attended) while enjoying the livestream! 😀 UPDATE: Here’s the finished product!

creator portraits

-HPuterpop

Livestreams, Poptropican Portraits

Poptropican Portraits: details for the season 1 finale livestream

June 12, 2014December 1, 2017 HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

As stated recently, I’m going to be hosting a livestream as a finale for season 1 of Poptropican Portraits — and the details are decided! This event also coincides with the PHB’s Poptropica party this Saturday for our recent milestone of 12 million hits, so we hope you can make it for a couple hours of fun on the PHC, Poptropica, and Google+! 😀

The livestream and Poptropica party will be on the 14th of June (3 days from now), and will start at 4pm EST, ending at 6pm EST. The reason for the extra hour is because this livestream will be a little different than the rest — I’m going to be drawing 4 of the creators in real life as Poptropicans!

As for special guests, yes there will be two of them. Because I’m not going to be drawing Poptropicans from the community, there’s no username form, but you can vote below to choose the 4 Poptropica Creators you want to be seen drawn! You’ll find the livestream here when the time comes. 😛

Again, this will be happening along with the PHB’s Poptropica party for our dozen million hits, so come out to watch the Poptropican Portraits livestream on Google+ as well as chat with Poptropicans on the PHC and hang out in Multiverse rooms!

I’ll see you there! 🙂

-HPuterpop

Glitches, Merchandise, PHB Sneak Peeks

Forgotten toys, the evolution of Poptropica, and hidden findings!

June 10, 2014June 10, 2014 HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

I’ve been inactive for a while, but that’s about to change — I’m now on summer break! Prepare for more HP than you ever asked for… 😛

Forgotten Toys

Am I just really uninformed? I was searching through Poptropica photos on Google finding fan art for the Popcorn, when I came across this image:

forgottenToys

From a first glance, this seems normal — it’s just a picture of some of the Poptropica toys in a store… But before you write a nasty comment talking about how we wasted your time, take a second look:

forgottenToy

Wait, there’s a Rock Star toy?! Also, the green coins that have redemption codes on the back are apparently gold in this picture!

You may recall that the Rock Star outfit was removed from the store mysteriously, and is now considered a rare item — but now it makes sense! Because they were going to release a Rock Star toy, they deleted it from the store and probably were going to make it the redeemable card for the toy. But why wasn’t it released? Tell me your thoughts in the comments. 🙂

The Evolution of Poptropica

No, this isn’t another “A Pop Down Memory Lane”. Instead, I want to talk about the logo, the motto, and the terminology of Poptropica. First, the logo. When Poptropica started back in 2007, it had the same logo on the homepage that it has always had — but another logo with similar features has risen and is used outside of the game, in logos and more.

First, my thoughts: personally, I like the new logo better. It seems more “poppy” so to speak. As for who designed it, I presume it was designed by the trailer maker for Poptropica, Tyson Burnham, as he was the first to use this logo in his videos.

popEvo1

Secondly, the motto of Poptropica seems to have changed outside of the game — on the homepage, the motto is “Explore • Collect • Compete”. However, seen on a banner on the Island Creator Kit book page, the motto is “I am what I play.” To be honest, the latter one sounds pretty awesome (and accurate). 😛

Thirdly, the phrase “island”. First noted by Poptropica Secrets, the term “island” after the island name is seemingly becoming extinct. She muses that the first island ever, Early Poptropica, also didn’t hold the island title, but that was probably because they hadn’t decided about island titles yet.

Lately, Islands have been losing the island title, and episodic adventures aren’t going to have the island title either. The last “island” was Virus Hunter Island — even MCI is officially MC! I can see where some islands don’t sound right with the island title (e.g. Mission Atlantis Island), but to do away with the (iconic) phrase completely isn’t a good idea. 😦

Old, Hidden, and Strange

I recently posted about a “Monster Adventure” logo that was found while searching through the files of Poptropica via the “JPEXS Flash Decompiler”, but I found more than just that. First, I found a picture possibly relating to Monster Carnival — along with classic Poptropica “pow”s and “sting”s was “Raarrr!”. This has never been used in an island, so what is it doing there?

roar.

The tiny picture below is of two Poptropicans running — and it’s also filed next to the Sky Dive game picture. Obviously there was supposed to be a race minigame, and I would rather enjoy the feature. Also, this very same type of mini-game was done in Poptropica Adventures for the DS.

lostGame

Including Monster Adventure, there’s many strange things in this file — tell me what you think of these in the comments. 🙂

Upcoming Survival Costume

An upcoming item will be released to the store soon — a fishing suit. Yes, it was obtainable in Survival: Episode 2, but it looks like it’s going to be an actual item in the Store. Plus, it’s free! (just like in the episode… 😛 )

newFishingSuit