Author: Slanted Fish

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!
Blast from the Past

2011 Rewind: Toys & Prizes? We’re Game

Slanted Fish

This post is part of our Poptropica Yearbook series. If you missed the intro, check it out on the 2007 Rewind and browse the collection here.

2011 was like Poptropica heaven. This was a time of peak popularity for the fandom, and plenty was popping!

Poptropicans had some fun times hanging out on our Poptropica Help Chat (PHC) server, particularly during the PHB Author Night sessions we introduced. Plus, we had plenty of reasons to party, what with events like the PHB celebrating 5 million views in May, the countdown to Shrink Ray Island’s release in June, and the PHB’s third birthday in July!

Three Spree!

A big new thing was pre-island mini-quests, which were created to promote an island before its release. Back in January, Wild West Island was the first to get one: a little horse-lassoing game called Round’Em Up! Every day, you could play for a new prize, like the color-changing Wunder Tonic.

Sneak preview for Wild West Island
Drunk on the Wunder Tonic

In March, Wimpy Wonderland Island debuted on Poptropica, which was pretty significant since Jeff Kinney, the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, is the founder of Poptropica! (Another fun fact: Before the first Wimpy Kid book was even in print, it could be read online on Funbrain, a website that also promoted Poptropica from its beginning.)

Each island came with its own map, where you could hover over an area to see its name. The PHB would put together fully labeled versions like this.

Other games and islands released this year were: Prepare for Impact! for Red Dragon Island, DC Diner for Mystery Train Island, Money Ladder for Game Show Island, and Spook Central for Ghost Story Island.

Money Ladder, the preview game for Game Show Island

But the general consensus as to the most exciting mini-quest was not a pre-island game. Instead, it was an out-of-this-world (literally, you leave Poptropica for a distant planet) experience filled with mysterious robots and sword fights: Legendary Swords, released on the momentous date of 11/11/11 (November 11, 2011).

A small but helpful feature was also introduced: the pause button. This allowed you to freeze time on Poptropica, which was good for lingering on dialogue or scanning the scenery just a little (or a lot) longer.

Poptropica also released a wide selection of toys, each with a special code that would give your in-game character a bonus item! There were three-inch and six-inch figures, plushies, and even a big ol’ inflatable blimp.

And that’s not all the Poptropica merch. The first ever Poptropica book, The Poptropica Guide, made its debut in October 2011. Poptropica even had a few scavenger hunts from the book to unlock prizes in-game — but of course, the book’s got nothing on the PHB, where we have guides for all the islands that have been released since then… and plenty more!

To round off the year, Ghost Story Island came and gave us a spooky yet sentimental story, making it the 23rd island. Poptropica had released an impressive 7 islands in 2011 — their most yet, and that’s not even counting all the mini-games! Poptropica was really on a roll with this year!

You’ve reached the end of the 2011 page of the Poptropica Yearbook! Stay tuned for the next chapter, and to view the entire collection, check out the Poptropica Yearbook in our Pop Plus collection.

While you’re here, sign the yearbook by commenting? ✏

Blast from the Past

2010 Rewind: Crazy for Crawfish

Slanted Fish

This post is part of our Poptropica Yearbook series. If you missed the intro, check it out on the 2007 Rewind and browse the collection here.

Wish you could’ve been in 2010! But we’ve got you covered with a flashback to what Poptropica was like back in those days, which former Creator Mitch Krpata would later call the peak of Poptropica’s popularity.

It might be hard to imagine these days with all these updates that seem to be geared toward the privileged few, but believe it or not, membership didn’t always plague Poptropica. Even when it was first released in January of 2010, membership status offered some nice perks like early island access and free store costumes — but free players had plenty to enjoy, too.

Membership wasn’t the only thing players had been itching to discover. Reality TV Island, two years in the making and much delayed, finally arrived in early access for members in February. (Nearly a decade later, it would appear that a sequel is on its way!)

There’s our beloved Hippie Harry!

Over on the Creators’ Blog, we started hearing more from Captain Crawfish, whereas before there were several Creator aliases taking turns on the blog. (We had plenty of fun trying to guess and track down who was who, too. Dr. Hare, aka Jordan Leary, may have called us “12-year-old stalkers”…)

Anyway, with that came a new PHB inside joke in which we’d write about nomming the Captain in our update posts, and he even seemed to catch on!

We continued enjoying tons of sneak peeks from the Creators — here’s a sketch of what later became Apollo’s temple on Mythology Island. It was released in April and players consider it to be one of the best islands!

The PHB community was growing, too, and we thought it was time for a couple of upgrades. We got our own custom web domain, poptropicahelp.net, to reflect our Poptropica Help network that encompassed the blog, chat, and forum. And we also changed our site theme to something more blue — more Poptropica.

Even back then, collecting advertisement items was a popular pastime on Poptropica. Here’s a peek at a cool and colorful Magic Paintbrush special ability item from a Ramona and Beezus ad!

The Creators were also busy adding tons of fun new items to the store, like fireworks, robot suits, and various flavors of good old PopGum.

Poptropica Creators popping gum.

In November, the Creators launched a big feature that got players hopping on Poptropica daily. The Daily Pop featured comics, games, creator clips (stories from Creators), and best of all: a new sneak peek every weekday. In fact, we’ve got a whole Daily Pop Sneak Peek Archive here on the blog.

Here’s what the menu looked like once the Daily Pop was added:

Also, in addition to RTV and Mythology, 2010 saw several more islands added to the map: Skullduggery (known in its early stages as Pirate Trade Island), Steamworks, Great Pumpkin, and for members, Cryptids closed out the year, bringing Poptropica’s total to 16 islands — 6 from 2010 alone!

A succession of sneak peeks of the Hub on Steamworks Island.

That concludes the 2010 page of the Poptropica Yearbook. We hope it brought a nostalgic look to a booming time! Browse the rest of the collection over at the Poptropica Yearbook, accessible from our Pop Plus tab.

While you’re here, sign the yearbook by commenting? ✏️

Reality TV: Wild Safari Island, Reviews

PHB Review: Reality TV — Wild Safari Island

Slanted Fish

Clueless about your competitors?
Check out our Reality TV: Wild Safari Island Guide.

Hello, Poptropicans, and welcome to the jungle! 🌴

It’s been three years since Poptropica Original has gotten an island, and a year since Poptropica Worlds did. But we’re pleased to finally welcome Reality TV: Wild Safari to the Poptropica map, and to share our thoughts on this latest adventure that’s a sequel to the original Reality TV Island released in 2010. From people to places to plot, we’re going to cover it all. Let’s go!

Be warned: This review contains spoilers!

Storyline & Characters

As far as the story goes… well, there really wasn’t much on that front. You arrive on the set of the reality TV show and immediately get to jump into the games. Unlike the original Reality TV Island, there’s no build-up to get you there: no washed-up TV star to deliver pizza to, no dreaming about making it out of a rundown town—really, no story, conflict, or scandal about what has transpired between the last season from nine years ago to now.

But the TV set itself has some fun elements, too. There’s a base camp for the show crew that doubles as a common room, monkeys handling cameras, and even the iconic bonfire from the original RTV — and set in a wild safari that looks a little different from the previous season.

The challengers you compete with are really where the island shines most. In addition to a handful of familiar characters from various Poptropica islands (Ringmaster Raven, Scherazade, and Omegon among them), we also meet lots of new celebrity parodies with hilarious names.

Some of our favorites are Shett and Blinked, based on YouTube comedians Rhett and Link; Baby Googoo, based on singer Lady Gaga; and Mandy Screams, based on YouTube personality Miranda Sings. Read more about who’s who in our Reality TV: Wild Safari Island Guide trivia!

Gameplay

As far as gameplay, we basically have three mini-games to look at: Spear Throw, Deep Dive, and Cheetah Run, all of which make up the majority of the island experience.

Though placed in new settings, each of these challenges are actually quite familiar, sharing similarities to other island or ad mini-games. For example, the spear throw borrows mechanisms from Poptropolis Games’ archery event. A bit unoriginal, but fun nonetheless.

That being said, a unique gameplay element that Wild Safari brings to the table is the option to change the difficulty level. This isn’t always an option for us, and is actually quite useful to those players who may struggle with certain gameplay challenges. In fact, selecting your difficulty level has been built seamlessly into the island’s dialogue, aiding in our immersion to the whole experience. You can also win about 5–60 credits for playing all the games, depending on the level you selected and your performance!

One other thing that’s different from the original RTV is that no matter the end results, you’ll win the island medallion. You could come in dead last and TV show host Jim Probably will still give it to you with the assurance that “it’s a Poptropica thing.” While it’s nice not to have the frustration of being voted off the show when you’re down to the final round, as can happen in the original, this new setup feels too easy — after all, you’re literally receiving a participation trophy (or medallion, as it were).

Visuals

As usual, Poptropica’s scenery is beautiful. The safari setting meets our visual expectations, despite there not being a whole lot of scenery to begin with. Perhaps this island isn’t as breathtaking as others, but we’ve got no clear complaints about the aesthetics. Plus, how can we resist some cute animals?

  • “Washed Up” newspaper references old Reality TV hero Bucky Lucas.
  • Monkeys on the camera crew are a new fixture on this sequel island.

The interactable elements at our base camp are pretty fun, too. From spooking a camera-woman to, well, spooking a zebra, there are many clickable objects and easter eggs to discover. In particular, we enjoyed the small tribute to old Reality TV hero Bucky Lucas on the beach shore, and the monkeys managing cameras and celebrating winners with drums.

Little additions to an island such as these bring a bit of life to the experience, even though they may not have a huge impact on the gameplay.

Verdict

Considering all of these elements that the island has to offer, our final rating for Reality TV: Wild Safari Island is…

Does this Reality TV experience live up to its predecessor? Maybe not… Was it still enjoyable? Sure thing! Sequels often fall short of expectations, and are commonly labeled as unoriginal. Then again, Greek Sea Odyssey Island successfully brought new Mythology features to the table, and we think the Creators could have delivered better story here, too. Wild Safari simply lacked the substance found in the original.

Still, the island had its charming components. The safari had excellent humor, visuals, references, and dialogue to say the least. Even the mini-games were pretty fun! And that’s why this island gets a 2 out of 5 baby hippos from us.

Thanks for reading our review of Reality TV: Wild Safari Island! How does this adventure compare to the preceding Reality TV Island? Do you agree with our verdict? Share your opinions in the comments below!

– 🦛 the PHB team 🦛 –

Blast from the Past

2009 Rewind: Pop-ular Places

Slanted Fish

This post is part of our Poptropica Yearbook series. If you missed the intro, check it out on the 2007 Rewind and view the follow-up 2008 Rewind.

It’s a fine time to check out 2009! With both the Poptropica Creators’ Blog and Poptropica Help Blog in full swing, the online Poptropica community was growing exponentially, even inspiring new fan sites.

The year kicked off with Big Nate Island in February, after months of Big Nate comics shared on the Creators’ Blog.

While sneak peeks for upcoming islands from the Creators were wildly popular, the PHB took a step further and started a series known as PHB Sneak Peeks. These were glances at things even the Creators hadn’t revealed:

Over on the PHB, we were up to lots of shenanigans as well. In April, for example, we had great success with our “Club Penguin Help Blog” prank that fooled even the Poptropica Creators — if only for a little while.

Before our blog was even a year old, we reached one million site views, so we celebrated by giving away some of those rare and coveted “Monster Carnival leaks.” These were the early days of Poptropica glitching and trading!

That summer, the Poptropica community grew to include a Poptropica Help Forum (the PHF was created by Coderkid, who later became PHB staff) and Poptropica Help Chat (PHC) (which was hosted on Xat). Both brought good times, but only the PHC remains to this day, and we’re on Discord now.

We also began a monthly Poptropica magazine, and PHB readers voted on the name The Poptropican’s 911, for all your Poptropica emergencies. The first issue was published in June, and the series ran for a year. Also in June, the long-awaited Astro-Knights Island was released!

Comic by Green Seal, who later became a PHB staff blogger.

Another big thing that happened in Poptropica in 2009 was the launch of the store. (Can you even imagine a Poptropica without the store??) A hundred credits were given for each island completed, and players happily bought cool new items like the Colorizer, Electrify, and more. Credits could also be bought with real money. The store looked a little different back then, too.

On July 26, the PHB celebrated its first birthday – and by then had reached 1.5 million site views. A few days later, the Multiverse feature was released, and that became the staple way of partying it up on Poptropica. (Too bad it’s no longer around… but we do still have common rooms and clubhouses.)

To wrap up the year, Counterfeit Island finally came out (in its early access period, and after half a year of waiting!) in late December, bringing the map total up to ten islands. (Counterfeit and Astro-Knights were the only islands with early access tickets.)

Before membership, players could buy an early access ticket to a new island for 500 credits in the store.

That concludes the 2009 page of the Poptropica Yearbook! Stay tuned for the next pages, and soon you’ll be able to view the complete series on a new page in our Pop Plus collection, titled The Poptropica Yearbook.

While you’re here, sign the yearbook by commenting? ✏️

Uncategorized

Old islands snaggled to smoke

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! First off, if you haven’t already, check out the new island, Reality TV: Wild Safari, on CoolMathGames! We’ve got you covered with our PHB island guide, too. You might enjoy the trivia section! 🦛

But an island appears one day, and about 30 islands are gone the next. Yup, check your maps: all the old-school islands (non-SUIs) are gone. RIP. The good news is, you can still access them via idk’s Old Island Directory.

(Don’t be fooled by the page buttons at the bottom… these screenshots were taken before the great loss of our beloved Old School Islands, but they show which islands have survived the purge.)

(UPDATE): Even still, Poptropica is planning on bringing those islands back eventually. They were removed due to the older technology resulting in game bugs, but Poptropica’s working on porting them to newer tech!

From the first page of the new map, you’ll also see that we have one tutorial (Monkey Wrench) replaced by another: Snagglemast Island.

Odd name, but it’s rather similar to the retired Hub Island from 2015, with a similar premise—except instead of collecting shards, we’re collecting mega coins. However, the only coins I saw were all dangling in a bar at the top of the screen. You’ll also get to meet various characters and animals as you bumble along, and fellow adventurers may occasionally run past you in their pursuits.

In other news, the voting round of the Poppies is now over. Tune in on Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern for our awards party, in which we announce the winners via livestream and celebrate the PHB’s birthday in Poptropica common rooms! More details about the Poppies 2019 party here »

The PHB squad is totally ready for the Poppies. | Illustration by Gentle Dolphin

Stay awesome, Poptropicans. ✨