Slanted Fish

Popspiracy: Behind the Backpacker

April 20, 2016June 22, 2017 Slanted Fish

(This is a guest post by Hyper Gamer, a PHB reader here to share some Poptropica thoughts. Keep in mind that what he presents is only theory, not to be taken as fact. If you have a Popspiracy, see below for details on guest posting! Enjoy! –SlantedFish 🐠)

popspiracy

How is everyone? It’s me Hyper Gamer. I’m here today to share a Popspiracy.

Last month, the Creators posted a Daily Pop sneak peek of this character, laden with gold and goodies, titled “Backpacker”:

sneakpeek_03-25-16 — Backpacker: Time to hit the dusty trail.

Good news! The Backpacker NPC (non-player character) is finally released. He resides on Home Island, but it seems like not everyone has been able to see him there yet. You have to complete Monkey Wrench Island in order to be able to see him, but if you’ve done that, try restarting the island as well.

What does this Backpacker guy do? The Backpacker guy tells you how to get to more adventures, which is basically the blimp. Below is a gif of me interacting with this character.

backpacker

Let’s start by discussing potential reasons why the Creators decided to create this guy. Yes you might think it’s for tutorial purposes, but I think there is more to it than that. Take a look at the image below.

backpacker1

On the left is a conversation with Amelia Earhart. On the right is a conversation with Backpacker. Notice how they both have a tutorial on how to get to more adventures. Why would there be a need for two tutorials of the exact same thing?

Maybe it’s supposed to be like that, but I think the Backpacker is part of an unfinished project that lies within the realm of secret projects the Creators can’t reveal. Perhaps they released the Backpacker earlier so we would think that they were doing something. If that’s the case, Backpacker’s release was made to not seem like something random that was unfinished. It actually looks fine where it is.

Now let’s talk about his role as a character in the Poptropica world. Going back to the sneak peek, the caption says, “Time to hit the dusty trail.” Now where is this trail? Is it on another island? Now look at all that stuff he’s carrying and the medallions he’s wearing. There’s only one explanation: He’s one of us. The backpack is his inventory and the medallions he won from other islands. Now why would some great adventurer be spending his time telling us how to get to more adventures?

Let’s look at his backpack. The sword could be from one of his adventures, perhaps on Astro-Knights Island, the map appears to be the one from Mystery of the Map, and the green coins must be his credits, to name a few. What if the Backpacker saw Poptropica through our perspective? Maybe he only sees what we see. By that I mean, he can only go to the Islands that have been released. Sine he’s completed all released islands, he is at Home Island resting. It’s called “home” for a reason. Now he spends his time helping all the newcomers on their adventures while relaxing on Home Island.

He has an ax and a crystal, which could be from the Poptropica Realms. And here’s another thought: he must be a paid member. He has membership, so he has no use for credits. That’s why he has so many green coins (credits) in his sack. Also, only members-only items have goggles like the pair he’s wearing. Sure, they may look a bit different (perhaps greener for those items based on Dr. Hare) on the item cards, but that’s a very small thing to worry about.

What do you guys think? Is the Backpacker part of something bigger? Is he Poptropica’s first NPC to break the fourth wall? Write back with your thoughts in the comments!

-Hyper Gamer

—

Share your Pop conspiracies in the comments or on the PHC – we’d love to hear them. If you’d like to develop it into a full guest post like this one, contact the PHB (minimum 500 words). Stay popping!

My Place in Poptropica

My Place in Poptropica: Cuddly Knuckle

April 16, 2016March 17, 2016 Slanted Fish

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Cuddly Knuckle, a Poptropican active in the community with his own Poptropica blog. See the bottom of this post for details on sending in your own MPIP!

cuddlyknuckle

Hey guys and girls, I saw many people on the PHB sharing their “My Place in Poptropica” story, so I decided to send mine in as well. 🙂 Here we go!

2008 | Discovery

I was in third grade back when my mother showed me an educational site called FunBrain. When I saw FunBrain, there it was – the ad for Poptropica. I saw that the characters looked kind of cute and the game looked fun to play. So I went on the site, made my first account, and completed some islands for several days.

That is, until I got stuck in a hard island and lost interest in playing Poptropica a few weeks later. 😦

2011 | Cuddly’s Birth

A few years later, I did come back to Poptropica, and I forgot my old account’s username from not playing Pop for so long. I was so unhappy about my old account, and I had to make a new one. Yeah, I know, it’s so sad losing Poptropica accounts. 😦

After choosing my gender and age during the new account creation, he exploded out of the box: Cuddly Knuckle. I gave him the username “hesnothappy”, since I was so unhappy because I lost my old account, stuck on a hard island with his username forgotten. With Cuddly, I completed so many islands (the first I’ve beaten was Spy Island, for those who didn’t friend me 😛 ).

2012 | Finding the PHB

I became so involved in Poptropica, I started to google it and found many Pop blogs to comment on. And then I found it: the PHB. I started to talk to the authors and readers and read all the awesome posts and pages, especially the guides and the Magazines. It was so fun, and eventually after visiting the PHB a lot, I came to admire the PHB, the best Poptropica blog ever.

2014 | Joining the Blogging Community

Using a sibling’s email address, I finally created my own WordPress account and made my first blog. I didn’t want to post anything because I had school stuff to work on, and sadly deleted it since I lost interest in blogging a few weeks later. 😦 I still browsed other Pop blogs, though! 🙂

But later that year, I REALLY made a blog. I started to gain a SO MUCH interest in blogging, I made another blog on WordPress called Cuddly Knuckle’s Poptropica Blog (CKPB), and made my first three posts. However, I stopped posting a few days later because nobody viewed it or ‘liked’ the posts. This made me feel very lonely. 😦

2015 | The Most Awesome Year

After another month of reading other Pop blogs and commenting on the posts and pages, I went back to posting on the CKPB, with even more viewers and followers than before as well as some fellow authors helping to make more posts in the blog and make it better.

I also had a great time with Poptropica – my first Realms creation was featured on the second new Realms banner on the Poptropica homepage with five other creations! I also finished all the islands, and I had a great time playing this game. It was so awesome! 😀

I would like to thank all the PHB staff and everyone in the Poptropica community for admiring me for so many great years. The PHB is the very best Poptropica blog in the world, and I hope I will never, ever, stop reading all the Poptropica blogs or playing the awesome game. Keep up the good work, guys! You all are so awesome! ❤

I’m Cuddly Knuckle a.k.a Wilbur, and this is My Place is Poptropica. 😎

–

Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! Feel free to send in your own (please include a minimum of 550 words, type with good spelling and grammar, divide it into labeled sections, and include your username). Look out for more community MPIPs in the future!

~the PHB.

PHB Sneak Peeks

PHB Sneak Peeks: Unreleased Costumes, Quiz Game, & More

April 15, 2016April 16, 2016 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, the PHB is back at it again with behind-the-scenes Poptropica findings! This post is made possible with the help of glitchers TechWizard and idk (formerly Hyper SW). Let’s begin.

First, from idk: unreleased app costumes! The costumes are: Mummy, Carnival Kid, Pirate, Parasailing, Creepy Turkey, Ring Leader, Bear Costume, Old Diving Suit, Zombie, and Scarecrow. Quite a few of these have not been seen in the game before. Others have been seen online. (*PHB reader Infinity App Nerd notes that the Mummy and Scarecrow are on the app.) Which ones do you like?

Among the files, this never-released Survival Merit Hat was also discovered. Notice the five symbols pertaining to the five episodes of Survival Island. Wonder what this could have been for!

survival merit hat

Also, here’s a look at a Poptropica Quiz Game! Longtime PHB readers may remember when Codien briefly covered some findings of the same game years ago, then thought to be a game coming soon – but at this point, it seems more like another idea lost to time.

Our picture supplier idk compiled a couple of albums full of images from the files for this game, which you can find here and here. Here are a few of the more interesting pictures:

Plus, a couple of extra now-visible pages from The Mystical Weapons of Arturus on Astro-Knights Island have also been discovered! These last two pages of the book, which are half-covered in-game, can now be seen in full.

Here we have the idea that worthiness of the weapons comes from great strength, valor, and… an affinity for animals, because the love would bring the warrior to new levels. Say what? The other page speaks of a wizard named Borzo, whose elixir could cure heart burn, but the King and Queen were not convinced that it was legendary enough. Also, a man named Klaudius tried to… well, it ends there. Strange stories.

This interesting room was also found behind-the-scenes… what an aesthetic background.

But weird rooms seem to be the specialty of another glitcher: TechWizard. Let’s see what else is new.

Something else he discovered behind-the-scenes is a projectile test room. The contents are a cannon-like object, a non-functioning cannon object, and a projectile shooter that shoots green pellets. Pressing spacebar in this room allows you to shoot dots. Think it’s cooler than Tetris Land from Tech’s last post?

projectile room

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes peek – for more posts like this that have come up recently, check out the PHB sneak peeks of the Zomberry Mini-Games and Development Testing Rooms! And if you like playing around with Poptropica’s files, be sure to check out the glitching community on the PHC’s #glitchers channel for more uncovered secrets!

Stay popping, Poptropicans!

–🐠🐠

Guest Posts, Popspiracy Theories

Popspiracy: Time Bugs in Time Tangled!

April 14, 2016June 22, 2017 Slanted Fish

(This is a guest post by Mad APPer, an avid Poptropican in the community here to share some Poptropica thoughts. Keep in mind that the theory he presents is only a theory, not to be taken as fact. If you have a Popspiracy, see below for details on guest posting! Enjoy! –SlantedFish 🐠)

popspiracy

What up, Poptropicans? I’m Mad Apper, and I’m guest posting on the PHB! My theory comes from me putting some some thought into Time Tangled Island.

In Time Tangled, the time machine takes you to different time periods and places in history. Remember, it’s a time machine. Why would it take you to different places?

I know, “Maybe it’s supposed to do that! You know, so you don’t end up there instead of in the same place in a different time.” Well, hear me out.

Professor Pendulum, the creator of the time machine and devices, can be found on Shark Tooth Island. I’ve learned this from a previous Popspiracy: Nobody said all Poptropica islands take place in the same time period.

What am I suggesting? A time bug. Pendulum might have gone to Shark Tooth via the time machine! For all we know, Shark Tooth could take place before, after, or during Time Tangled. Here’s the twist: We weren’t just traveling through time, but different islands.

Yes, you may go “Whatever” or “All Popspiracies are jokes” or “I came up with that theory a year ago!”. Again, hear me out. How exactly did a particular Time Tangled character end up on top on a Shark Tooth building? (And yes, Time Tangled was originally going to be named Time Twisted.)

what
It’s all Pendulum’s fault. Yep, that’s how wacky this theory is. What if the time machine was still in its testing stage? The second Pendulum tested it, he accidentally transported a soldier from the Ancient Greek period of Time Tangled Island to Shark Tooth. Simultaneously, a time bug may have switched around items from different islands, causing our Poptropican to go through the events of Time Tangled Island.

As for Pendulum himself, he can be found relaxing in the tourist building on Shark Tooth, and you won’t see him in person on Time Tangled. He and Crusoe from Monkey Wrench would’ve been great friends. But what if he got there by using the time machine?

PendulumNewspaper

When you break this down, this theory is really five theories.

Theory #1 (likely): Shark Tooth and Time Tangled take place in different time periods.
Theory #2 (possible): The time machine is what brought Professor Pendulum to Shark Tooth Island.
Theory #3 (most likely fact): The time machine was still in its testing stage.
Theory #4 (EXTREMELY UNLIKELY): Professor Pendulum, Crusoe, Dr. Hare, and Myron Van Buren would all be great friends.
Theory #5 (MORE UNLIKELY THAN #4, I DON’T EVEN BELIEVE THIS ONE): All Popspiracies are jokes.
Theory #6 (most likely): I am terrible at jokes and should never even attempt jokes ever again. More importantly, why am I joking in a serious theory? The world shall never know the truth!

Enough with the jokes. You may agree with one theory, but not the others. Or maybe you want to make a fan-fic where Pendulum and Crusoe are great friends. Maybe you think I’m just wasting time because I’m trying to make this post 500 words long. Good news, readers! This is the end! Feel free to run away!

This is not to be taken as fact. Who knows, maybe it is fact? Talk amongst yourselves in the comments.

May I guest post another day,

IAN, Infinity, MA, or rather…
—Mad APPer—

How’s that for a Popspiracy?

—

Daily Pop, Glitches, Web Development

Castle Crasher, FunBrain Flasher, and ASG Request-er!

April 13, 2016April 13, 2016 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! What’s new? Well…

BREAKING NEWS: There is finally a Daily Pop in sight. Yes indeed, let the masses know, a Daily Pop has popped up. It is the first one this month, preceded by last month’s abysmally low count of two total Daily Pops. And now, let us ponder this momentous image:

Castle Crasher: A palace fit for a queen.

The PHB reached out to hear what Poptropicans had to say on the picture…

“Astro-Twice? Please let it be Astro-Twice Island,” commented Cobalt Spinner, an avid Popspiracist.

“The party don’t start ’til I walk in!” declared DJ Saturday Nite, best known for ditching the party after the zombie apocalypse took over her turf. She was last seen enthusiastically greeting players into the Arcade on Home Island, a locale known for looking nothing like what its exterior suggests. “In my defense, I’m just here to get the groove on. You checking out this castle too? Hit me up!”

“There! We finally gave you guys a sneak peek! Now leave us alone, we’re busy!” an anonymous disgruntled Poptropica developer snapped before quickly rushing off to avoid press cameras. Okay, so that last quote didn’t actually happen… but hey, we want more Daily Pops!

What do you think this scene is about?

–

In other pictorial news… Poptropica’s sister site FunBrain got a makeover! A lot of Poptropicans in the community have expressed in their My Place in Poptropica stories that this was where it all started for them. Well, some of us are probably not quite the elementary-aged target audience of FunBrain anymore either, but Poptropica felt it was right to give them a shoutout for their redesigned, mobile-friendly site with new games and a new look – and so, from the PHB as well, here’s to FunBrain.

The only thing is… let’s hope they keep placing ads for Poptropica. That’s how many of us came to know this place, and for the next generation, we hope they’ll find Poptropica too!

–

And finally… here’s a little message from PHB glitcher WimpyKidFan regarding ASGs:

Hey guys! It’s me! Your all-time favorite person in the world, WimpyKidFan! I’m the new author here on the PHB! Awesome right?! Jk. This is just a guest post so don’t you worry. The real reason why I’m here is to discuss something new I’m taking on: the Poptropica Island ASG Request-er!

This Request-er is a form where you guys can request for Poptropica characters from islands to be made into ASGs. Using it will be a more efficient way of requesting ASGs than merely posting comments on the PHB or PHC and hoping for someone to create your ASG.

comments

Anyway, it’s a very simple procedure. To get started, just visit the Request-er site here [http://poptropicaislandasgrequest-er.weebly.com] and fill out the form! You don’t need to be signed into a google account to fill out the form). Other important information about the request-er and its rules can be found on the website.

Because the majority of requests for ASGs come from characters from islands (villains, heroes, regular NPCs), and because it’d be pretty hard to do more than that, for now we’ll be taking island ASG requests only. But you never know what might happen in the future. We’ll try to do every request we can!

Before I leave I would like to thank Slanted Fish and the PHB. I would also like to thank my ASG team: Red Lizard, Grand, and Magic Panda. Thank you everyone, and request on! 😀 — WimpyKidFan

–

Stay tuned for more updates on the PHB… and as always, stay popping, Poptropicans!

–🐠🐠