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 ๐Ÿ  Don't forget to be awesome!
Pop Places IRL

Pop Places IRL: Crisis Caverns

Slanted Fish

Pop Places IRL Header

Hey Poptropicans, and welcome to a new series called “Pop Places IRL”! Here, you’ll be taken through a Poptropica island… but side-by-side with scenes in real life (“IRL”). You know, like the reality that exists outside of the internet?

Anyway. To kick off the series, our first tour will be of the first island that debuted on Poptropica Worlds: Crisis Caverns Island. (Check out our guide here!)

Caldera State Park, the fictional area where this island takes place, is inspired by a real-life location in Wyoming, USA: Yellowstone National Park, which is centered around North America’s largest caldera, or supervolcano. Try not to get blown up!

photo: National Park Service (nps.gov)

One of the first places you’ll find on Crisis Caverns is theย Visitor’s Center, which is full of displays about wildlife. But did you know that the design of the building is modeled after Yellowstone’sย Old Faithful Inn?

photo: Old Faithful Inn (yellowstonegate.com)

Wander a bit further and you’ll find the wax pots. They’re not very exciting on Poptropica, considering there’s no movement, but if you visit theย fountain paint pots at Yellowstone, you’ll find them constantly bubbling from the ground.

gif: fountain paint pots (ccortes182.wixsite.com)

Head right and you’ll find the termite rocks. You won’t find these in Yellowstone, but you can see mound-building termites in Africa, Australia, and South America.

photo: termite mounds in the Democratic Republic of Congo (bbc.com)

Just past the termite rocks is Old Reliable โ€” the name itself is inspired by Yellowstone’s most predictable geyser, Old Faithful. Poptropica’s version is hardly a showstopper, but if you wait for the eruptions IRL, Old Faithful can really blow!

gif: Old Faithful (giphy.com)

On Crisis Caverns, we get to dive into some red-hotย magma chambers. That probably wouldn’t go over so well IRL, but we can get glimpses of lavaย (magma at the surface) flowing out from underground.

This park tour wouldn’t be complete without some cute animals, and what could be grander than this great American bison in the Visitor’s Center? At Yellowstone, it’s even better: the park is home to thousands of bison that all roam freely.

gif: bison in Yellowstone (giphy.com)

The Visitor’s Center also offers a display of an elk, an animal that also roams freely at Yellowstone. Like bison, they sometimes block the traffic too. Don’t get too close, though โ€” they can be injurious!

gif: elk (giphy.com)

And that concludes our tour of real-life Crisis Caverns!

What did you think? Have you been to Yellowstone or other national parks, and how does it compare? What other Poptropica islands resemble locations you’ve visited or hope to visit? Where would you like to go next on “Pop Places IRL”?

Thanks for joining us on this journey, and see you next time! ๐Ÿ’Ž

Membership, Store

Now trending: shop summer styles

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! Slanted Fish popping in.

Summer has officially kicked off with its solstice in the northern hemisphere, and over on Poptropica Original, you’ll find summer styles in the latest update to hit the store.

summer shop update

The gold cards have been replaced with the following offering: Wunder Bubble Tonic (Wild West), Fishing Pole, Beach Umbrella (Wimpy Boardwalk), Scifi Doctor (Virus Hunter), Football Fever, Sneezing Powder, Multiverse (free), Tiger Shark, Woodstock Follower (Great Pumpkin), Paper Boy/Girl (Wimpy Wonderland), Heat Wave (Wimpy Boardwalk), Burnt Orange Tan Power (Night Watch), Hat Trick, Followers Classic Pack (members only), Fireworksย (members only), Shark Surfer (Shark Tooth)ย (members only), Jump The Shark (Shark Tooth)ย (members only), Mythology Medusa Surferย (members only), Mega Dog Costume (Galactic Hot Dogs)ย (members only), Shark Costume (Shark Tooth) (members only), Sparkle Powerย (members only), Fake Nosesย (members only), Dr. Hare’s Lair: Light & Shadow Outfitsย (members only), Football Fever: Championย (members only, though you could just get the same clothes from the other Football Fever card).

And the costumes currently in stock are: Disco King/Queen, Rock Star (members only), Soccer Player, Sweet As Pie: Lemon Meringue, Beach Ball (members only), Summer Boy/Girlย (members only), and American Football Playerย (members only).

collage
Thanks to Lucky Joker for the item collage!

In other news: earlier this week, Poptropica announced on social media that “Poptropica” is currently trending on the Apple App Store. Woot! ๐ŸŽ‰

Poptropica has three official apps on the iOS App Store: Poptropica Worlds (playable across multiple devices), Poptropica (islands from the original game, but not connected to the online version), and Poptropica: Forgotten Islands (also on Nintendo 3DS).

Which Poptropica apps are you playing? What do you think of the store update? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Summer boredom got to you already?
Hang out with other Poptropicans on the PHC!
๐Ÿย โ˜€๏ธย ๐Ÿ˜Ž

Advertisements

Get out and paint the big city with greens!

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, it’s Slanted Fish splashing in.

As you may be able to tell from the funny title, there’s a mix of several things going on. Ads, to be precise. Which, on Poptropica, means games and prizes!

The first ad I found, on Mythology Island, is for a new TV show called Get Out of My Room. After watching the video, you can play a game where you match furniture items with where they’re supposed to go in two bedrooms.

Upon completion, you’ll win a Crazy Paintbrush. When you press the space bar with it, you’ll throw paint on the nearest Poptropican.

Get Out of My Room premiered on Monday, June 11 on NBC Universal Kids. Hosted by designer Claire Zinnecker, the show is about creating kids’ dream rooms.

Another ad is also making the rounds: Big City Greens. Once you find and enter the subway station, Cricket Green will ask you to help you find stuff he lost. There are 5 items in total, many of them hidden at the top. Just jump around until you bump into all of them, and you’ll win a Cricket Follower.

Big City Greens will premiere on Disney Channel on Monday, June 18.

Lastly, there’s supposedly also an ad for the Disney Channel show “Big Hero 6: The Series” โ€” at least, according to social media posts from the Creators. I haven’t been able to find it myself, but their pictures show it to be on Mythology Island. With this ad, you can watch a video and play a game to get a prize:ย Baymax Follower.

That’s all the news for now! Stay popping, Poptropicans.

~/๐Ÿ 

Store

Store stock simplified, with prices amplified

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! It’s Slanted Fish, splashing in to report that there’s been severalย changes to the store on Poptropica Original lately.

Last week, the Creators mentioned they’d be updating the shop every month, and three formerly member-exclusive items made a return: the Berry Scary Monkey follower, the Beachgoer costume, and the Sea Captain costume. And now… there’s more, but at the same time, there’s less. Take a look at the current shop stock:

As you can tell, there are more formerly retired items that have returned to the store, and at the same time, there are less items in the store than there have been beforeโ€”many gold cards and costumes have been chucked out, and what you see is all that’s left.

On top of all that, prices have risen dramatically, with most items costing several hundred creditsย (but still free for members). Here’s all of what’s in the store right now:

Gold Cards

  • Earth Day shirt (75 credits)
  • Smiley Potion (375 credits)
  • Binary Rain, Game Show Island (375 credits)
  • Lucky Shamrock Flavor PopGumย (375 credits)
  • Multiverse (0 credits)
  • Hammerhead Shark costume (350 credits)
  • Outlawย costume (350 credits)
  • Robot Dance, Game Show Island (375 credits)
  • Sea Captainย costume (250 credits)
  • Beachgoerย costume (250 credits)
  • Berry Scary Monkey followerย (350 credits)
  • Dr. Hare costume (500 credits)
  • Spiked Bounce Ball costume, from Shrink Shot (250 credits)
  • Zombify! power, from Haunted Houseย (375 credits)
  • (now members only) Mini Dr. Hare follower (400 credits)
  • (now members only)ย Fart Gunย (375 credits)
  • (now members only)ย Cool Kid power (surrounds you with stars), from Cool Kid plush toy (375 credits)
  • (now members only)ย Shrink Rayย (375 credits)
  • (now members only)ย Mini Hamburger follower, from Pocketeer toy (350 credits)

Costumes

  • Candy Barย (250 credits)
  • (now members only)ย Fairy Queen (girls only)(350 credits)
  • Gamer Dude/Girlย (250 credits)
  • (now members only)ย Ice Creamย (250 credits)
  • (now members only)ย Large Fryย (250 credits)
  • Leprechaunย (350 credits)
  • Mythology Surferย (350 credits)
  • Prom King/Queenย (350 credits)
  • (now members only)ย Rock Star 2 (350 credits)
  • (now members only)ย Soda Popย (250 credits)

So… this is pretty different. On one hand, it’s cool to see a lot ofย exclusive items returning to the store, particularly for those who hadn’t had the chance to grab them before. On the other hand, this update has cleaned out a lot of other items from the store, limiting our options. My guess is that the Creators wanted to simplify the selection, considering how long the list of items in both categories were before, but it’s sad to see old favorites go.

Then there’s the fact that a number of items that were formerly available to everyone have been made members only. If you had these items before and are not a member, don’t worryโ€”you can still use them. However, this membership barrier feels a littleย Poptropica Worlds, which is something I’ve written on before. Anyway, all items are free for members on Pop Originalโ€”so it’s odd that these items are given prices in the non-member’s store view.

That brings us to the price hikes. In the past, gold card items have tended to be around 250โ€“350 credits, and now we’re seeing plenty that are 375 or higher. Costumes used to be around 75 credits each, though there have been some cases where they were higher. Now, they’re more in the 250โ€“350 range. This does make some sense with the Daily Spin Wheel that was introduced two years ago, which makes it easier to rack up credits than in years past. Still, it’s quite an adjustment.

What are your thoughts on all the new changes to the Poptropica Original store? What items would you still like to see? Leave a comment for the Creators and for us!

Keep on popping, Poptropicans.

<ใƒป)))><<

Social Media

Outfit snatching and a Skinny note

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, it’s Slanted Fish popping in to show you what’s popping.

The Creators have posted another “Outfit of the Week,” and this time it’s Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series. Check it out:

ootw hermione

That’s creative, it seems, except it wasn’t their creation to begin withโ€”and while they say in the post “we spotted this,” they fail to give credit to the source. Locating the source should only take a simple internet search, and I was able to find this attributed to Rachellyy, a.k.a. Short Eagle, over on the Poptropica Fashion Wiki. And, again, descriptions for how to get the costume were absent altogether.

Want instructions on how to get a cool Hermione costume, plus how to dress up as other characters from Harry Potter? Check out our PHB Pop-over Special: Yer a Poptropican, Harry!

Considering that the Creators also say they’ll be featuring outfits from members of the community, proper attribution is not something that should be overlooked. You can do better, unnamed blogger.

As we said in our previous update about the Creators’ Blog, what we want to see is more creative content from the Creatorsโ€”sneak peeks for upcoming adventures are ideal, but even just more effort into posts like Outfit of the Week would be something. What we’re getting, and don’t need, are all the Island Highlightsโ€”old news for most of us.

Notice, too, how although the Creators’ Blog supposedly takes comments, there are still 0 comments on every post lately. Several of our PHB commenters have mentioned how they’ve tried to comment, but their comments have yet to be approved to be seen on the blog. Creators, if you’re going to be asking us to “comment below,” why aren’t you showing and interacting with these comments? Fans want to know they’re heard!

Oh, and despite multiple attempts to reach out to the Creators on Twitterโ€”no word from them on our many ideas for the game and community that they claimed to be so interested in. Hmm.

In the meantime, we also got this brief note from former social media manager, Jessica a.k.a. Skinny Moon:

Although we only know of a few of the Creators who were asked to leave a couple months ago, the tweet seems to suggest that more have left, to the point where “almost everyone” who was there before, when was working Skinny Moon with the Poptropica team a year ago, “is gone now.” Sad. ๐Ÿ˜ฆ

On a brighter note, the community of Poptropicans here at the PHB is still kicking! In addition to our own posts, we regularly welcome guest posts from readers. You can check them out just by scrolling down our front page, and we invite you to write for the PHBย anytime you’ve got an idea worth sharing!

That’s all for now. Keep on popping on, Poptropicans.

<ใƒป)))><<