Author: LJ

Howdy doodly Poptropicans, it’s LJ back with the another Popular Poptropican interview. This time I’ll be interviewing one of our newest authors, Maryann — the mastermind behind this year’s April Fools’ prank, resident Bard stan, and creator of the fan fiction “The Villain Saga”.

1. What do you enjoy about blogging with the PHB?

Besides having an incredible and friendly team, I just like being able to participate so much in this community! Many fans including myself have looked up to it as basically the center of the Pop Fandom, and I’m very honored to be a part of it now after years of reading it.

2. What advice would you give to aspiring bloggers or writers in general that you wish you had starting out?

This is definitely connected to my personal experience, but don’t be afraid of waiting a bit to achieve your goals — whether they be starting a fan blog, publishing a book, or anything of the sort. I really wanted to write Pop blogs during the time I was too young to be on social media, and it made me feel like a failure. If you start writing a series and it doesn’t get the attention you hoped it would, or life gets in the way of starting that really cool project, it’s okay to focus on smaller things to hone your craft until you’re ready.

3. What is your favorite island and villain?

Oh wow. This is a toughie. Hmmmm….HMMM…Okay, but in all seriousness I’m not exactly the most subtle about this on the PHC or even here! The answer is of course Astro Knights and Binary Bard! That part of Pop has continued to influence my interests and creative projects to this day, and I will fight for more Poptropica representation of Mordred because he is the most interesting and well-written and that is a hill I will die on.

4. What challenge in the game has been the hardest to complete in your opinion?

I’ve never been the best at puzzles. I had to rely on guides for basically every single island! That being said, Virus Hunter was probably the most grueling. While Skullduggery had the repetitive trading and Astro-Knights the notorious boss battles, Virus Hunter had something they didn’t–really horrible glitches. I’m not sure if it was just me, but the bugs in that island nearly made it impossible for me, and ten times more frustrating than the usual hard island!

5. What is your favorite feature (still here or gone) from the many years of Poptropica?

I just love the little additions in different islands, such as the flying in Super Power or that sweet elevator music in Night Watch. And of course being able to just fly around in your rocket in Astro Knights even after completing the island. I wouldn’t say I have a favorite, I just like anything that makes the world feel more interactive, even if it doesn’t add much story wise!

6. What is your favorite Poptropica item?

I really like the Capes N’ Cowls costume set. It’s cool to see animated costume pieces, and I even have one on my character! (Honorable mention to the Mordred-Princess outfit because it’s perty.)

7. What is your favorite Poptropica easter egg/secret/reference?

Okay, I’m just gonna say the Mocktropica trash bin characters (actually scrap that how about just ALL of Mocktropica) because it’s obvious, but another thing I really enjoyed finding during my digging through the Creator’s blog was all the extra bits of villain backstories you can find during the 2011 Villain Showdown. It’s almost a bit sad how some of those parts of their stories usually never got brought up again.

(LJ: You can friend her on Poptropica with the username mdp686!)

🌟 Would you like to be the next Popular Poptropican? 🌟

To nominate yourself or someone you know, send me an email at [email protected] or a private message on Discord with the following:

• the name of your nominee (a Poptropica name or other screen name)
• a reason why your nominee should be the next Popular Poptropican

As always, thank you so much for reading and I’ll see you in the next one. Pop on!

– LJ 🍀

Howdy Poptropicans, it’s LJ back with another Popular Poptropican! Today I’ll be talking to Purple Paw as part of our PHB staff lineup of interviews. (Check out Spotted Dragon and Gentle Dolphin‘s interviews, as well as mine, if you haven’t already!) She was one of the founders of Ramble Reviews, does a variety of other fun posts on the blog as well, and we’re happy she’s on the team. Now let’s get into it!

1. What do you enjoy about blogging with the PHB?

I enjoy having such a big audience in the Poptropica community to share news, theories, tips, facts, and my own creations with. I’ve learned much more than I expected since starting out. Plus, it’s cool getting to connect with Poptropicans all over the world! Receiving the invitation to join this team was definitely the most excitement I’d had in awhile, and writing for the PHB has been an awesome experience thus far.

2. What advice would you give to aspiring bloggers or writers in general that you wish you had starting out?

A helpful tip I wish I’d used in my earlier posts is to start with the necessities. I would often jump right in and try to create a finished, revised version of a post right off the bat–but unfortunately, that’s not how it works with writing. If your first draft of writing doesn’t please you, don’t start over right away. Instead, finishing writing down your ideas and everything you’re planning to cover before you start adding special words, notes, images, etc.

There’s always time to go back and fix something after you’ve finished with the first draft, but it’s much harder to go back and fix an issue before you’ve finished laying down the necessities; otherwise, it’s likely you’ll get caught up in one part and forget everything else you were going to write. You gotta bake the cake before you add the frosting. 🎂

3. What is your favorite island and villain?

My favorite island’s always hard to choose, as there’ve been a huge assortment of amazing ones over the years. But in the end, I would probably have to go with Red Dragon, because of all its beautiful scenery and the ninja gameplay — and because of the nostalgia I get from a Magic Treehouse-based island. However, even though it’s one of my top favorites, I don’t believe it’s the best island in general. That, in my opinion, would have to be Ghost Story. Ghost Story had an intricate and memorable story I’ll never forget; one of Poptropica’s true masterpieces.

As for my favorite villain, I definitely loved Daphne Dreadnaught — I always thought she deserved more showtime than she got in the Ghost Story prequel, Spook Central. I also liked Mademoiselle Moreau, mainly since her motive behind her villainy is easy to understand.

4. What challenge in the game has been the hardest to complete in your opinion?

Probably one of the many gear-filled puzzles in Steamworks. Although I did quite like the island as a whole, the mini-games were definitely frustrating at times, the multiple steam terminals in particular. It also took me a very long time to complete Skullduggery (although I found it was easy to get into a rhythm after a little while of trying at it).

5. What is your favorite feature (still here or gone) from the many years of Poptropica?

That’s another hard question. While the islands are certainly the real gems of the game, side ideas such as Tribes were also fun to engage with. I thought it was cool to have a feature where players can proudly wave their flags and compete in an Olympic Games-like event, and even access special common rooms just for them and their Tribemates! I hope the Creators incorporate Tribes again in the future. Go Nightcrawlers! 🌙

6. What is your favorite Poptropica item?

Out of all the amazing items you get to collect throughout the islands, I would have to say the Jetpack from Early Poptropica. It sure was fun to whiz across the city without touching the ground! The stopwatch from Super Villain was also an intriguing object…(I really can’t choose just one of anything, can I?)

Out of the purchasable items in the Store, however, I always did love the many flavors of PopGum; I remember when I was younger I could never get enough of repeatedly hitting the space bar to watch bubbles float around the screen. Now that I think about it, I probably crashed the game once or twice doing that. 🤭

7. What is your favorite Poptropica Easter egg/secret/reference?

This one doesn’t come directly from the game itself, but the binary code at the bottom of every Binary Bard post on the Creator’s Blog was one of my favorites. I unfortunately didn’t engage much with the Creator’s Blog at the time they were posted, but more recently I revisited older posts and found the clever references to Bard’s name. All those mysterious 0s and 1s…

Oh, and of course I can’t leave without mentioning our true lord Beev! Pop simply wouldn’t be the same without him.

(LJ: You can friend her on Poptropica with the username PurplePawzz!)

🌟 Would you like to be the next Popular Poptropican? 🌟

To nominate yourself or someone you know, send me an email at [email protected] or a private message on Discord with the following:

• the name of your nominee (a Poptropica name or other screen name)
• a reason why your nominee should be the next Popular Poptropican

Thanks for reading! We’ll talk soon. Pop on!

– LJ 🍀