Author: Samwow5

Hello, everyone! Remember me?  I know it’s been a long while since I posted, and I’m sorry. The Authors and I have planned to do this “My Place in Poptropica” to tell our stories of how we came to be. We also want to hear your stories and experiences! I would love to see other people’s stories on how they came to the game that we all have a common interest in and love! So today, It’s my turn. My story is pretty bland, so if any of you yawn at it, don’t feel bad. Here’s my story on how I came to be…..

Before Poptropica | A Sporty Guy & Video Game Fanatic

Ever since I was little, I’ve always had an interest in video games. I loved to play all kinds of sports games and Lego Games, but the thing was, I didn’t have a lot of time to play them when I was younger. I was constantly involved in sports activities (soccer in fall + baseball & soccer in spring) and extra-curricular school activities at my private school. The sports practices were basically every night and then the games were every weekend. I didn’t really have time for video games even though I loved them. Either I was doing sports or homework (SD can attest to how hard it is to have a life if you are involved in sports after school). But one fateful weekend I had off from sports, I was exposed to something that forever would have changed my life….

Winter 2010 | The Discovery

It was a cold, rainy weekend. I didn’t have much homework that weekend and my brother was playing this game he found at school on his computer. He encouraged me to try it. He was playing this game called “Poptropica” and his name was Grumpy Snowball. I laughed and thought the game was ridiculous, but he convinced me to try anyway. I immediately was hooked. I replayed all the islands currently out then and loved them all. I would stalk the Poptropica Creator’s Blog for info on the new islands. I was crazy – and still am about Poptropica. Then if you read my Behind the Name post, you would know how I got my account and name.

Summer 2012 | Finding The PHB & Making My Blog

It all started on the fateful day of May 15, 2012. I remember I just got back from vacation and I was dying to go back and play Poptropica again. I was so interested in the new friend’s feature Poptropica just added to the game & I was looking for famous Poptropicans and the usernames of the Creators to add them to the game. My brother suggested I go to The PHB and I was really impressed with all the usernames listed in the Creators Database. I began to start looking around the blog and found so many interesting pages. I soon became a regular follower of the blog and inspired me to make my own blog a few days later!

The blog that I created on May 17, 2012 (Tough Icicle’s Blog) became a huge part of me over time and became one of the Top 20 most popular Poptropica fan blogs on the internet in a short amount of time. Over the first 2 years, I had a whopping 50,000 views. Most of which, to be honest, came from when Fishy used some on my posts & guides on The PHB and introduced people to my blog. I was blown away at the success of the blog and the people that actually enjoyed to view my blog and find interest in it. I couldn’t thank everyone enough for viewing my blog and enjoying what I wrote. I wouldn’t have met all these people in my life without it. There was some good and some bad times on my blog, like any other thing in life. I don’t want to go into details, but I’m sorry to everyone that was a part of that debacle. I wish to reconcile with everyone that was a part of it. Everyone makes mistakes and I regret what happened, I should have controlled it better and made it fairer. My ultimate goal though was to be and author on The PHB and after about a year and a half…My dream came true.

Winter 2013 | The Dream Come True

I woke up on the morning of December 7, 2013, to find an email from Fishy asking me to be an author on The PHB! I was so shocked and flattered to be asked to be apart of the biggest Poptropica blog in existence. I quickly replied to it and said I would happily join the blog! I was so excited, I had so many plans and aspirations! I quickly became known as the “zealous partier” between the authors for organizing the parties and trying to make them fun. Instead of having the Christmas Party on my blog, I decided to have the first ever Tough Icicle & the PHB’s Poptropica Christmas Party! It was so awesome to see so many people come and enjoy holiday cheer! It was a complete revelation to me that people would bond and enjoy each other’s company over one common thing – Poptropica.

2014 | One Amazing Year

Just all of 2014 was an amazing year! It was probably the best year of my life thanks to every single one of you! I had 2 top-ten finishes on islands (here & here), Uncovered a Fake Gamer Guy, had an exclusive interview with the creator of CYDI runner-up House of Cards Island (my review here), hosted multiple parties (here, here, here, and here), restarted up the PHB magazine with HP & other authors, and even a PHB’s 11 million Monster Raffle (HP helped me out of course & 11 million hits last yr at the time!?!?!? What the heck????)!

2015 and Beyond | A Slower Year & The Future

I’ll admit it to you guys, this year was just a bad year in general for my posting – and I’m really sorry. Every time I wanted to post; it was posted already or I didn’t have time to post because I was busy with school, my officer duties of my club, or college coming up soon. I am really sorry guys and I will make a huge effort to start re-posting again.

So let’s move onto the future! I’m planning on having the 3rd Annual PHB’s Poptropica Christmas Party! I know it’s late notice guys (don’t hurt me pls) but I want to rekindle with the whole Poptropica community and spread Holiday cheer (even you crazy Creators are invited o;)!

I am eternally grateful and honored that Fishy gave me a chance to be a part of something as big as the PHB. I am also honored to be a part of the PHB’s future. I can’t wait to see what future will hold for every single one of you in your own Poptropica experience! Who knows? You may be where I’m at soon 😉 .  I’d like to also thank the Creators for all they have done to improve the game and make it unique and special! I’d really like to thank all the authors that have helped me through struggles overtime and friends I have made through Poptropica, But most of all, I would like to thank every single one of you that has viewed my works and enjoy it! I wouldn’t be here without you guys!

I’m Samwow5 (Tough Icicle)…..and this is My Place in Poptropica!