PHB Parties, PHB Specials, Web Development

A Decade of Poptropica: Party Recap and Reflections

10th bday pop

You’ve probably heard us say this a lot this month, but it’s a big deal, so we’re saying it again: 🎉 Poptropica is 10!!!!!!!!!! 🎉

That’s a pretty long time to be popping about. In fact, many of us here at the PHB have grown up seeing its progression over the years, from our pre-teens to early adulthood. Many others in this community are themselves just 10 years old, having been born right around the time of Poptropica’s launch! Whatever the case for you, whether you’re a longtime player or just discovered the game yesterday, you’ve got to admit it’s a remarkable thing to have made it here.

This past weekend, to celebrate the big milestone, the PHB threw a party on Poptropica and our chat server, the PHC. We brought our 10th birthday monkey hats and filled Multiverse rooms with laughter, head-to-head battles, and a standard dose of lag. Despite some hiccups with the party rooms, we still had plenty of fun meeting friends and hanging out on the PHC. Check out a recap of the shenanigans in the collage above, or this video captured by TallMeloniscool which recorded a portion of the events!


Here at the Poptropica Help Blog, we’re immensely blessed to have Poptropica be a part of our lives. This game and fandom – for all its whimsical complexities, hearty community of players, and skillful creativity – has made its indelible and unique marks on all of us who are celebrating its tenth anniversary this month.

To that end, the current PHB staff would like to share some reflections with you – our thoughts straight from the heart. You can also check out our “My Place in Poptropica” (MPIP) stories, linked below, for more about how the game has impacted our lives.

Brave Tomato:

bt1010 years? Wow, thanks for making me feel old, Poptropica. 😛 Anyway, I could never be any more grateful to be part of such an awesome community. Over the years, I have gotten to see numerous things, news, and such come and go as Poptropica evolved, and it has been great to get to experience it all.

It helped me gain new interests, build up my confidence to pursue an animation degree while in college, gave me an opportunity to share stories and artwork, and I got to meet so many amazing people through the fandom. I know this is weird for me to say, but being part of this changed my life. Thank you, Poptropica, for not being afraid to teach us not only educational lessons, but also to smile, laugh, cry, face our fears, and most importantly, bringing us all together.

Check out her whole MPIP story here.

Happy Lobster: 10bdayhl

Well, 10 years does seem like a very long time – but for me, playing since 2008, it strangely doesn’t feel like a very lengthy time looking back. As I grew older, I became more and more interested in Pop, ultimately leading up to my discovery of the community, and taking part in it since the start of 2016.

Since then, I’ve met so many amazing people, all of whom share a common interest, and made new hobbies that I almost definitely wouldn’t have began if not for the community – blogging, graphics, digital art. I wouldn’t change a single bit of my time with Pop and its fandom – and I’m very pleased to see Pop’s 10 birthday.

Check out his whole MPIP story here.

Lucky Joker:

lj10The fact that it’s been 10 years that these wide-eyed, formerly neckless characters have been around is still dawning upon me. I consider myself nothing more than privileged to have had this amazing game a part of my life for so many years. From mindlessly wandering around Poptropica in an elementary school computer lab, to secretly playing during the awkward years of middle school, and now to blogging on the biggest Poptropica fan site as an almost high school graduate, Poptropica has been with me all the way. It is with disbelief, but great joy as well, that I’m here today reminiscing on the huge impact Poptropica has had on my life, both online and off.

Looking back at the growth and evolution of this game feels so surreal. I remember earning my first medallion, purchasing my first membership, my first merchandise item… all like it was just yesterday. Because of this game, I’ve developed interests in mythology, astronomy, story writing, art, and journalism, and have also been learning to seek higher successes. This other world has truly influenced me, and for the best way possible. Anyway, I better stop before I get too emotional. Happy 10th birthday, Poptropica, and here’s to many more! ❤

Check out his whole MPIP story here.

Purple Claw:

pc10Poptropica is more than just a game, at least for me. Poptropica is an inspirational world that inspired thousands of people to make fan art, write fan-fiction, start blogging and writing, become more familiar with coding, and more. This game was what kept me sane through my teenage years (2014-2016, thankfully I’m much better now), my hard times, and whenever I wanted to be alone.

Joining the community is probably one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life, and I’m really thankful for every single one of my friends. Everyone here is so nice. Being in this fandom made me realize that Poptropica is my home, and I’m really happy to see this world become 10 years old. Here’s to many more! Stay poppin’! (:

Check out his whole MPIP story here.

Silver Wolf:

sw10Poptropica has become a huge part of my life, and I even remember the first time I played it, which was about 9 years ago (I was in elementary school!). I didn’t become part of the community, though, until 2012, and that was possibly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I only know some of my best friends because of how we met on Poptropica chat rooms or blogs, and I’m so happy to have them in my life. Even my family asks how blogging is going, and it’s become a conversation piece with others offline.

Poptropica has also always been a way to cheer myself up if I’m going through a hard time, and I’ve formed a personal connection with it over the years; it inspires me to be creative and express myself without judgment. I can’t believe it’s been so long, and I wish Poptropica a happy 10th birthday! I can’t wait to see what else the future holds. 🙂

Check out her whole MPIP story here.

Slanted Fish:

fishy10I’m greatly indebted to Poptropica for its being the source of creativity by which I do much of my writing. After all, there would be no Poptropica Help Blog without Poptropica; no Poptropica fandom nor all the fan art, blogs, friends, and conversations it’s inspired for ten years now. So thank you, Poptropica, for giving voice to so many ideas… and for giving me something to write about.

Blogging about this game over the years played a huge part in how I’ve developed my own writing voice, as well as a passion for sharing words with people that I’ll carry with me for as long as I have the ability for language. And it’s more than writing, of course: on Poptropica there are artistic worlds to admire, stories to dig deep into, and many more treasures than can be named – but suffice it to say, I’m grateful to have popped into these tropics. Keep on popping, Poptropica! 🎉

Check out her whole MPIP story here.

Slippery Raptor:

slip10If Poptropica was a kid, it’d be 10 years old today. Funny that it would probably play Poptropica as a kid, too! It’s cool to see how time had flown by so fast. I remember myself many years ago going to a friend’s house just to play Shark Tooth Island, and nagging him about a new island’s release not long after. This game has been a big part of my life.

Only Poptropica had the magic to make me feel like putting in so much effort, time, and dedication into a game. Even in the rough and crazy times, we’ve gotten through, and I’m pretty sure we can keep going through with just a little patience. And look, Poptropica’s already 10! Long live Pop! Stay poppin’!

Check out his whole MPIP story here.

Spotted Dragon:

sd10I still can’t believe it’s been 10 full years! I started playing Poptropica waaaay back in the early days and while I’ve taken breaks, I’ve never really stopped playing. Though I didn’t truly become part of the community until a few years after my very first medallion, I’m still amazed at how big our little fandom is. If I hadn’t started blogging, I honestly don’t know where I’d be in life right now!

I do get odd looks when people find out I still play Poptropica, but those looks almost always turn into a wholesome, nostalgic conversation. I don’t care that I’m a bit old for the game and I don’t know how long it will be before all of this starts to fade from my mind, but I’m 100% enjoying this while it lasts. I’ve made many priceless friendships and discovered absolutely incredible artists, and little things like that are what really made me stick around so long.

Check out her whole MPIP story here.


Well, that’s enough opining from us for now. We’d love to hear your thoughts on baby Poptropica growing up into big-guy Poptropica, and we bet the Creators would too. So we encourage you to share in the comments, even if it’s a simple “congrats!”

🎈🎁 Happy 10th birthday, Poptropica. 🎁🎈

😁 Thanks for everything. 💕

pop 10years

❤️,
– the Poptropica Help Blog –

Bonus Items, Contests

🎈Poptropica’s Poppin’ 10th Birthday Bash! 🎈

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday, dear Poptropica,
Happy birthday to you!

It’s official: Poptropica is 10 years old! It’s been a whole decade, and Poptropica is still, well, popping. That’s incredible. We said as much earlier this week, but today the Creators made it official with their big birthday bash, on and off Poptropica!

First, as promised earlier, the 10th Birthday Costume – grinning monkey and all – is here! You can get it for free on Poptropica Original by going to the store. It will also be on Worlds, but they’re still “getting the final birthday touches added,” so it’s not there yet.

cake10 2

On the Creators’ Blog, the Creators also shared a glimpse of the celebrations going on in real life at Poptropica HQ in Boston – featuring a sweet-looking birthday cake with the 10th birthday costume printed on it, and a happy birthday message, sitting among a bunch of Poptropica graphic novels, including the latest book, The End of Time!

The mystery blogger on the Creators’ Blog had this to say about the occasion:

IT’S BIRTHDAY TIME! The big 1-0. 10 years of Poptropica awesomeness, time really does fly. Another year under our belt with a newly launched book AND game, the next upcoming year is sure going to be as exciting as the last. Here at Poptropica HQ, we love to celebrate with cake and fun (as I am sure you have seen in past years)

Well, it’s nice to see the festivities at Pop HQ! The post came out around 11 am EST today, with a promise at the end for “another gift we will open today for all of you, and this one is BIG!” So, what they brought up next, at around 2 pm EST, is most likely the rest of the “big release” they had planned for September:

A MEMBERSHIP CONTEST!!!

membership10

The full details and rules are available here, so be sure to check that out before you start dreaming up ways you’re going to win this thing! They’ll be giving out 10 one-month memberships, which are good for both Poptropica Original and Worlds.

The task is to come up with a completely unique island with 3 pre-determined ingredients: a birthday cake, a parrotfish (that’s a real fish, by the way), and the color green. You can present it in any way you want, whether that’s through prose, drawings, websites, or whatever else you can think of to show it to the Creators. They haven’t promised to actually make any winning island a reality, but it’ll still be a fun endeavour.

On the page with all the details, the benefits of membership are displayed to show you what to look forward to if you win, and interestingly, there are a couple of features on the Worlds chart we haven’t seen on Worlds before: an all museums access pass and early island access. So far on Worlds, these things have not been restricted to members, but this suggests that they very well could be in the future. (Thanks to idk for the tip.)

membership benefits

You’ll have 10 days to create and enter for this contest starting today. It ends September 25 (Monday) at 9 am EST. Be sure to read all the rules, and use the submission page to submit your one (and only one) entry!

Speaking of contests… I do believe many of us are still waiting for the winning costumes from the #MyPoptropicaCostume Contest of yesteryear to actually appear in the store. So… if the Creators are still able to pull off another costume and contest like they’re doing now, let’s hope they get on that old promise too. 😉

By the way, don’t forget: the PHB is hosting a Poptropica party this weekend to celebrate the big entrance into double-digit years! Check out this post for more info, and be sure to come! It’s going to be a blast, and the PHB team hopes to see you there!

10years party

🎈🍰 🎁🎉 🎂 Happy 10 years, Poptropica! 🎈🍰 🎁🎉 🎂

Here’s to many more.

pop chars

<・)))><<

Bonus Items

10th birthday costume releases this Friday!

Hey Poptropicans!

As you may have heard – that is, unless you’ve been living underground in the Early Poptropica sewers – Poptropica turns 10 years old this year!

To mark this big milestone, Poptropica will be releasing a 10th birthday costume on Friday, September 15. It will be available for a limited time starting then, but it is not clear for how long. But we do know that the costume will be available on both Poptropica Original and Worlds! Nice to see that Original is still getting updated.

We also know what the costume will look like! The Creators released this quick animated clip of the outfit, featuring a happy blue-green monkey wearing the birthday cap on the character’s head and a shirt with the iconic Poptropica blimp. Check it out:

That’s all Poptropica has revealed for now, but we’re still hoping the “big release” they promised for September is a little more than just a costume, seeing as we’ve been getting a new costume for every Poptropica birthday for many years now, so although this costume is a fun one, it’s nothing too out of the ordinary for Poptropica. We’ll see.

Don’t forget, here at the PHB we’ll be having our own celebration for Poptropica’s 10th anniversary this weekend, Saturday in most time zones (3 PM EST). Be sure to check out this post for more details and mark it on your calendar so you can come join us! It’s going to be a poppin’ time. 🎉

10years party

Stay popping, Poptropicans!

<・)))><<

Books, Merchandise

It’s the End of Time for Poptropica Books!

Hey Poptropicans, guess what time it is…

It’s time for the adventures of Jorge, Mya, and Oliver – our heroes in the Poptropica graphic novels – to come to an end, because Book 4, The End of Time, is here at last. And – in case you hadn’t caught on yet – it’s the finale of this series. 😱

popbooks
photo credit: Daniel Lazar, @DanLazarAgent on Twitter

The book has started shipping for those who pre-ordered it, and is now available in many bookstores across North America! For those who aren’t able to get to a store, fear not: you can still order from Amazon, which ships worldwide (though shipping fees will vary) – or you can even get it on a mobile device (no shipping necessary!).

Plus, on Amazon, it’s still 25% off. So now’s a great time to place an order! 📙

As with any book birthday, it’s quite something to see the book ready at last, so congratulations to Mitch Krpata (the author), Kory Merritt (illustrator), and all the other people who helped make this possible! Knowing that it’s the last book in the series is bittersweet, but Poptropica fans everywhere are sure to enjoy the entire quartet of graphic novels for years to come.

Here at the PHB, we hope to have the chance to read it soon, and we’ll be sure to post a book review sometime in the not-too-distant future for you guys. In the meantime, you can check out our reviews for Book 2 and Book 3. (We also reviewed the island that Book 1 is based on here.)

popbook4
photo credit: Mitch Krpata, @mkrpata on Twitter

Captain Crawfish – who is most likely Mitch Krpata himself – even made a return to the Creators’ Blog to talk a bit more about the plot of the book:

When The End of Time begins, Mya, Oliver, and Jorge are stranded in the ruins of Poptropica. After causing a cataclysm at the end of the previous book (uh, spoiler alert?), they’re alone and seemingly out of options.

The kids may have one chance to return home. If they can reach the legendary “Nexus,” a place through which all time flows, then it’s possible that they can return home to the instant they left — or even further back.

Faced with the opportunity to rewrite their own histories, our heroes will have to make the most difficult decisions of their lives. And so will Octavian…

Well, it’s nice to see a familiar face on the Creators’ Blog again! We’re still hoping for the day when Ye Current Mystery Blogger makes an introduction.

And now we’ve reached the end of our time here, so Poptropicans, be sure to get your copy of The End of Time, as well as all the earlier books if you haven’t already! (Pro tip: You can read Mystery of the Map on our Comics page.) 📘📕📗📙

Thoughts on The End of Time? 👻🕕 Share in the comments below! 😁

<・)))><<

PHB Parties

Celebrating 10 Years of Poptropica!

pop 10years

2007 to 2017… it’s been a poppin’ decade.

September 2007 – From an office in Boston, Poptropica is launched as an extension of the kids’ educational entertainment site FunBrain. There is no blimp, because there’s only one island: Early Poptropica. There is no Costumizer, no friend profiles, no membership. Just a simple island, and a gaggle of basic-looking Poptropicans.

But ten years later… the Poptropica of the past is worlds apart from the present – with tons of creative characters, 50+ intricate islands, and lots more fun features – but at its core, it’s still the same whimsical world it started out as. And now here we are, in September 2017, looking back on the fact that it’s been a whole decade. Most games don’t stay popular for so long and still pump out new content, but this one beat the odds. Wow.

To commemorate the occasion, we put together the graphic above, celebrating each one of Poptropica’s 10 years with the 10 letters of its name (although, since September is not at the start of the calendar year, the last letter had to encompass two years). You can click on the picture above to take a closer look – there are a lot of details packed in, with each letter marking some events that took place in its represented year. Hope you enjoy! 😁

That’s not all. We’re also going to be having a party on Poptropica to celebrate the anniversary – after all, we couldn’t let such a big milestone pass by without one! It’ll be this weekend, it’ll be lit 🔥, and you should totally pop in…

10years party

Mark it on your calendar! Here are the details for the celebration:

  • 😜 WHO: Everyone’s invited! PHB staff will be there too!
  • 🎉 WHAT: Multiverse parties on Poptropica, games, and hanging out on the PHC.
  • 🕒 WHEN: September 16, 2017 (Saturday) @ 3 p.m. EST /  2 p.m. CST 1 p.m. MST 12 p.m. PST. If you live in a different timezone, you can use a time zone converter to see what the time will be where you live.
  • 🎈 WHERE: The Poptropica Help Chat (PHC), our moderated chat server on Discord. If you’ll be on the go at this time, you can download the Discord mobile app.
  • 🎂 WHY: To celebrate a decade of Poptropica’s existence!

You’ll find the Multiverse room codes on the PHC during the party. Bring your favorite party gear: colorful outfits, balloons, special effects – let’s pop into those rooms with a bang! See you there, and bring on the flair! 😉

– the Poptropica Help Blog team –