Hello! I'm Slanted Fish, the editor-in-chief and creator of the Poptropica Help Blog (PHB). I'm a writer, Hong Kong native, and Christ follower. My Poptropica username is slantedfish 🐠 Don't forget to be awesome!
As is our tradition here on the PHB, we’re hosting a Halloween costume contest on Poptropica! It’s our eleventh year doing this, and this time around we’re hosting two categories: Heavenly (for all things cute, charming, and classy) and Hellish (for the devilish, deviant, and depraved).
Here’s what you need to know about entering:
Assemble your costume for either category on Poptropica. You may enter each category as many times as you like. Each individual person is eligible to win just once per category.
Take a screenshot of your costume entry in the Costumizer window.* Here’s how to take a screenshot — the instructions will vary depending on your device. For Windows, you’ll also need to paste it somewhere to save it as an image file on your computer. Also, use the in-game Costumizer window (pictured below) as that will display your character at a high resolution. Ideally, crop the image to show just your character.
Upload the image to the web and share the link in the comments of this post. You can use a site like imgur to upload your picture and obtain a web link for it that can then be shared so others can see it. Once you’ve got a link, comment on this PHB post you’re reading right now with the link. Include details such as what category you’re entering, what you’re naming your costume, and anything else you’d like to share about it. Look for my sample entry comment (it’ll be by Slanted Fish) for an example.
*Note: Though we’ve used Avatar Studio (AS) links in the past, many of the newer items in Poptropica are not visible through AS. If your entire costume is still viewable by AS, you’re welcome to provide a link or username in lieu of a picture. However, since AS is no longer a complete guarantee for displaying costumes, we recommend taking a screenshot.
Share a screenshot of your costume in the Costumizer window, like so. You can access this screen from the green shirt button in the menu.
📝 Things to Note ✨
If you send us an Avatar Studio link, you’ll have to keep your costume intact until Halloween so we can see it throughout the month. That’s something you won’t have to concern yourself with if you send a screenshot instead, and it’ll be easier for you to capture multiple costume entries!
Tips for seeking out costume parts: We know Poptropica has changed a lot in the past year, making lots of old methods obsolete, but there are still places you can go for cool costume parts. Dig through old store items, buy new store costumes, crank the switch in the New You shop on Home Island, snag something off an NPC from PoptropiCon, sneak your way into old islands with this link from idk the glitcher, and use MAP (for individual parts) or the ASG Machine (for full costumes) along with usernames from our ASG collection.
Disclaimer: Our “heavenly” and “hellish” themes refer generally to the imaginations of pop culture at large, and do not necessarily reflect theological perspectives on the nature/ideas of heaven/hell.
👑 Prizes ✨
The contest closes on Wednesday, October 30. We’ll announce the winners the next day.
On Halloween (October 31), we’ll post our favorite costumes from each category on the front page of the PHB for all to enjoy.
Two grand prize winners will be selected, one in each category. Each grand prize winner will receive a 1-month Poptropica membership.
Featured costumes will also be immortalized on our Costumes page, but we’ll also have honorable mentions for just the post, not page.
Happy Costumizing!
🎃✨😇 Watch out, guardian angel… the devil is in the details 😈👹👻
Hey Poptropicans—if you’re a fan of the ABC sitcom Black-ish, you’ll enjoy this special “Pop-over”: our term for a Poptropica crossover, in which we take characters from another universe and create them on Poptropica.
Though the tech changes since our last Pop-over have rendered most of these characters not fully viewable from the Avatar Studio or your friends list, they’re still not too complicated to recreate. From left to right, here’s how you can dress like the Johnsons on Poptropica:
Grandma Ruby: Her outfit is fully created from the “create new character” screen. See her live on the Avatar Studio with the username RubyBlackish (for the others below, replace “Ruby” in the username with the character’s name — this may help for customizing via MAP).
Zoey: Get the hair and hoodie from the Tie-Dye Hoodie in the store.
Bow: The romper comes from the Fruity Cutie in the store.
Junior: Everything can be assembled from the “create new character” screen.
Dre: Snag the hoodie from the Warm Vibes costume in the store, and the jeans with the nice chain from inside the New You building on Home Island.
Jack: Everything can be assembled from the “create new character” screen.
Diane: Find the hair and t-shirt on the Galaxy Girl in the store. Get the glasses from New You on Home Island. The fun skirt comes from the “create new character” screen.
Grandpa Earl: Clothes are from the “create new character” screen, while the glasses can be grabbed inside New You.
Black-ish is a TV comedy about an upper middle class black American family living the so-called “American dream.” The generally lighthearted show revolves around the family’s lives, with some exploration into sociopolitics and the culturally assimilated “black-ish-ness” of the characters. Rated TV-PG.
Hope you enjoyed this Black-ish x Poptropica crossover! Have you seen the show? What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments!
~/🐠
Want to see more? Check out our other Pop-overs and browse our Costume database for more Poptropica costumes to inspire your own outfits!
Oh hallo…weenever expected spooky season to be upon us so soon!
Coming just at the close of September and only a couple weeks after its previous fall makeover, Home Island has been redecorated once again, this time with Halloween charm. Check it out:
A deep blue-green night sky envelops the island, which is glowing green from its windows, plus covered in jack-o-lanterns, floating candles, and other fun decor. Even the duckie got dolled up as Dr. Hare! You can also smash pumpkins and catch a slimy candy apple from the local witch, all in good fun.
As you might’ve seen, the store has also joined in on the Halloween party! This update includes four new costumes, one follower, and a prank.
Hop on over to get your very own:
Ghastly Pumpkin Follower
Dance-a-corn Costume (tap space bar to dance)
Fairytale Costume (tap space bar to read)
Headlessman Costume (tap space bar to twirl)
Inflatable Rex Costume
Witch’s Brew (prank—tap space bar to throw the potion, which turns the nearest character’s head into a fish, rat, or frog)
Joy of joys, each one of these items is available to all players—no membership required!
With Halloween approaching, that means it’s almost time for an annual PHB tradition: the Halloween Costume Contest! We’ll have more details for you in October, but with Poptropica already on the festivities, it’s not too early to start thinking about your Halloween outfit… 🎃🦕✨
Jonathan is a Poptropica artist who’s designed tons of cool stuff you may have seen in the game. We featured a Pop Portfolio of his work on the PHB last year, which you should definitely check out!
Anyway, this week on the Creators’ Blog, in addition to a new obnoxiously-placed Poptropica/ad video that now plays on the bottom corner of the screen with no option to be removed, we’re treated to a special post: an artist interview with Jonathan Trimble! It’s short and sweet, so we’ve shared it below, but you can also view the original on the Creators’ Blog. Here it is:
Meet Jonathan, one of our awesome artists busy with designing new characters and worlds in Poptropica! We call him JT around HQ. He took some time to do a few Q’s and A’s just for you!
Q: What was your favorite thing to work on in Poptropica?
A: Designing and animating the monkeys on Monkey Wrench Island!
Q: Who’s your favorite Poptropican? Favorite Island?
A: My favorite Poptropican is Amelia on Home Island because she’s so helpful. My favorite Island is a classic! Skullduggery! I miss it so.
Q: What kind of artwork do you make when you’re not working on Poptropica?
A: I like taking photos and drawing fantastic lands, making ceramic sculptures and designing logos– I can’t ever seem to make up my mind.
Q: What’s your advice for young artists who’d like to go pro?
A: Draw every day and never stop. Good days or bad, make sure you draw something, anything! The practice will pay off more than you could ever know!
In other news, the fall update on Home Island that came last week to mobile is now on the online version, too, so enjoy the orange leaves! 🍂
Last week, Blue Tooth also hit us with a Flashback Friday featuring the spooky horrors of running away from zombies on Zomberry Island. The post adds, somewhat ominously, “if you haven’t had the chance to experience the purple plague, you might be able to get a taste soon…!”
Since Blue Tooth also brings up Halloween coming up next month in the blog post about fall, and Zomberry has a clear creepy theme going, perhaps the Creators are planning a spine-tingling, bone-trembling surprise for us coming up? We’ll have to wait and see… 👀👻
Another glorious year has passed, and the ever-so-beloved Shiny Bird continues to restore harmony across Poptropica, along with the mysterious stranger who goes by the alias Mighty Sky… In other news… The Booted Bandit of Pelican Rock was reportedly caught by Shiny Bird after a series of unusual events…
Channel 7 Pop News, 1st day of year 3 of the Gilded Age
I entered 2016 optimistic considering we were just coming out of the Gilded Age. In the beginning of the year, I still went by my usual routine with Poptropica: log on every day and cause mayhem in the Early Poptroica common rooms. However, as the weeks went on, I began to realize that Poptropica hadn’t posted anything on the Creators’ Blog for some time… Strange… Even when they did post, it wasn’t anything that interesting (to me). I was looking for new content, but there hadn’t been anything new for a while… By the end of January, I was beginning to question the future of the game.
In the midst of February, Monkey Wrench Island came out. Even though it was short and intended for new players, I found it to be quite enjoyable, fun, and entertaining. Other than this, however, February wasn’t all that better than the previous month. The Creators’ Blog was becoming stale and new content was scarce… What’s going on here? I wondered.
Months had passed and nothing interesting was coming out of Poptropica. Sure, there were a few prizes here and there, but nothing really worthwhile to me. I was beginning to play less and less, to the point where I only checked in on Poptropica once a week — not even logging onto my account, but just looking at the Creator’s Blog to see if they had come out with something new.
In April, the news of some “new Poptropica” came about. I initially had mixed feelings for it, but I wanted to stick with an open mind — after all, they just announced it, so I’d have to wait and see before I could rightfully judge.
Desolate
…the best word I can use to describe the period between 2016–mid-2018… I logged on very little, as there was little to do. Nothing had me excited. Even the launch of the overdue Poptropica Worlds was a disappointment for me.
To make matters worse, late 2017-2018 was also a period where I entered a state of deep depression (admittedly, it still persists to this day, but it is not as bad as it was during this time), hence my online activity was becoming quite scarce.
Ignition
October of 2018 came around, and I still didn’t played Poptropica as much as I once did. I was in my senior year in high school and was beginning to drift my attention away from the game and more into school. As October dragged on, however, a thought randomly popped into my head: the annual Halloween costume contest on the PHB!
Lately, I had been checking in with the PHB, as it was the only place that was coming out with cool and interesting things about Poptropica. Meanwhile, the game itself seemed to have been abandoned by its creators.
Anyway, once I remembered the annual contest, I wanted to participate. So I checked the PHB, and sure enough, they were hosting another contest. I read through the post and—OH MY PRETZEL STICKS, THEY’RE GIVING AWAY FREE MEMBERSHIP?????!
I froze, fantasizing about the endless possibilities of a free membership… the exclusive stuff I could get from the store… the bonus quests I could gain access to at the end of each island… the clout I would get from the glowing membership status that would appear at the top left corner of the screen next to my battle rank every time someone hovers their mouse over me. I could hear myself laughing in the common rooms at everyone else as I’d spam the spacebar with the exclusive Poptropolis Games Discus in my hands, freezing them, and forcing them to their knees and beg for mercy. “FEAR ME, NONS!” I would shout.
But in order for all that to happen, I must take action… I’m now a man on a mission. Immediately, I went to work. I logged onto Poptropica filled with new determination, a feeling I hadn’t felt in years…
A New Hope
He sat there, staring back at the computer screen, proud of his creation. But would it be enough to take the prize home? Hours of effort put in, even creating a little poem about it just for safe measure… But could it all have been in vain? Only time would tell.
He had wanted to be a part of this particular community for a long time, but he never knew where to start. Deep inside, he was more afraid than anything. This is my best shot at it, he thought. He’d spent hours writing just one comment, consistently erasing it and polishing it in an effort to make a good first impression…
When the midnight hour struck, he settled down and hovered his mouse over the button that read “post.” Deep breath. Closed his eyes, and, in a whisper: here goes nothing… He lifted his finger… and pressed down…
*Click*
…The End.
A Final Word
You’ve reached the end. Yaaaay! Now, a few words: I can hear some of you saying, “ShInY, hOw DaRe YoU EnD In A cLiFfHaNgEr! ThAt’s, LiKe, BaSiCaLlY A CrImE — dId YoU wIn ThE cOnTeSt???” Yes, I did!
I won, got my membership, and enslaved every innocent soul in every common room spamming the Poptropolis Discus for hours on end got back to playing Poptropica more frequently. I even slithered my way into involvement in the PHB… well, kinda. So far, the only things I’ve really done around here is hang out in the comments section on each blog post and post my opinions on things, maybe referencing a meme or two… and that’s really it.
Later, I discovered the PHB Discord server. I joined, but never really said anything, lol. Mainly because I’m… well… kinda scared to be honest (as I mentioned in my author’s note at the beginning, I am a little socially awkward, hehe).
Anyway, when the summer (of 2019) hit, I decided to take a break from Poptropica, as well as refrain from posting comments on the PHB, in order to focus on college. (Believe me when I say it: college hit me hard, like, for me it’s basically the equivalent of being run over by a bus.) Still, I might come back and try to be even more involved in this community, though probably not until I get myself adjusted to college. We’ll see how it goes.
Well, I hope you liked my little story, despite the length. (I was originally gonna try to keep it shorter, but I’m just kinda used to writing long and didn’t want this to be any different, so I ditched that idea, lol.)
My fellow Poptropicans, don’t forget to stay fresh, and go crazy out there (not too crazy, though!). Most of all: keep on shining!
This is your friendly neighborhood bird signing off. Peace.
– Shiny Bird 🦅
Hope you enjoyed the final part of this “My Place in Poptropica” story!
If you haven’t already, we invite you to send in your own (and they don’t have to be as long as this one!). Please include your username and a minimum of 500 words, typed with good spelling and grammar, and divided into labeled sections. If you send in your story, we will continue to post new community MPIPs!
Interested in writing for the PHB under a different Pop-topic? Take a look at our Write for the PHB page for ideas, guidelines, and more. We’d love to hear from you!
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