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!
Membership, Nabooti Island, Web Development

Raise to 150 credits & membership to play Nabooti

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! There’s good news and bad news –

First, the good news: Poptropicans are getting a raise! Instead of the measly 50 credits we usually get for completing an island, the reward is now being bumped up to a whopping 150 credits.

150credits

In earlier years, Poptropica used to give out 100 credits for an island finish, but this is even better! Like before, the reward only applies for the first time you complete each island. Also, the amount of credits you had before this update remains the same, so if you’ve finished every island already, you’ll have to wait for the next one to come along to enjoy the bonus.

Why are the Creators doing this? Perhaps they’ve realized how hard it is to earn enough to save up for the many items available in the Store, and implemented this change out of the goodness of their hearts. Or are there going to be changes made that will make us wish we had more credits to spend?

There’s cause for suspicion, and here comes the bad news: remember how Nabooti Island recently became just a demo version to non-members, with a prompt to get membership to play the full island?

Well, the plan isn’t to make this the next SUI. It’s another ploy to make buying a membership more enticing, because here’s the thing: Nabooti Island, which has been free to play for years, now requires membership – and more changes to membership are to come, according to these tweets:

Will more islands follow the same fate as Nabooti? (Is that why we have the chance to earn more credits – before more islands are locked on us?)

Of course, this isn’t an issue to members, but this could be potentially damaging to the current balance in the offerings between membership and free-to-play: it could mean more members, or it could mean more quitters if there is too much emphasis on membership. Possibly both.

We’ll have to see what’s in store (literally? 😛 ) – but tread carefully, Poptropica.

Leave your thoughts in the comments.

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Is Poptropica part of the Illuminati? (Percy Jackson ad)

Slanted Fish

Percy Jackson fans rejoice: on Main Street of Mystery of the Map Island, you can enter Camp Half-Blood to meet some characters, take a quiz, and collect a couple of prizes!

pj1

If you head down the road inside the ad building, you’ll find the Cyclops Power, a glowing red eye on a pyramid. Now what else do we know contains an eye enclosed in a triangle? There can only be one conclusion: Illuminati confirmed on Poptropica.

Now, with this cool Illuminati Cyclops Power, you’ll have the eye floating above your head, and when you press spacebar, you’ll turn other characters around you into one-eyed beasts!

pj cyclops

If you venture further down to the “underworld” area, you can pick up a Pen Sword, a handheld item that changes into a pen or a sword every time you press spacebar.

Do you see the two triangles on the pen’s pedestal? Hmm. And the triangles that form the tips of the “get prize!” arrows? What about the fact that Poptropicans’ eyeballs are such a prominent feature, while noses and ears are unheard of? Be illuminated: Poptropica favors the same symbols as the Illuminati.

pj pensword

Just kidding. What conspiracies could Poptropica be up to?

Lastly, to all recent graduates (because it’s about that time of year): congratulations! Here’s to the population of PHB readers who have been with us since the beginning, who started off as young pre-teens (as many Poptropicans do) and have found themselves becoming young adults in the process. Enjoy a little Pop graphic made in your honor, and if you’re still in school: you too can make it!

popgrad

Stay popping, Poptropicans. 😉

Advertisements, Daily Pop Sneak Peeks, Escape from Pelican Rock Island

Prisons and caves; masks and balloon launchers

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! If you’ve read our Q&A with Poptropica CEO Jess Brallier in this recent PHB post, you may have wondered what was meant by the ominous hint of an island to come: “Some place you don’t wanna be.” We gave a few clues in the comments, and some of you have figured it out – after Timmy Failure Island and Arabian Nights Ep. 3, we’re headed to a prison, of all places!

The Daily Pop recently revealed some jail scenes, and don’t forget about the sneak peek of dogs and police officers Poptropica tweeted as a behind-the-scenes pic:

Cellular: Won’t be getting calls in here.
Barred: Once you go behind these walls, you may never come out.

Our Daily Pop Sneak Peek Archive was recently updated as well, and amid all the Timmy Failure peeks was a hint that the underground cave island had not been forgotten (although “Mole Man” is for TF Island, the caption is worth a mention). Maybe due to some nudging over on Twitter, though. 😉

Down Under: Will this island ever come to light?
Mole Man: Also not the underground island you were thinking of.

On a different note, if you head over to some of the Main Streets, you may find an ad poster for Scholastic books: in particular, Tombquest, Spirit Animals, 39 Clues, and Infinity Ring. Clicking on it will give you Character Masks (a mummy, leopard, fedora, and pirate’s hat for each series respectively) and a printable Summer Wish List.

There is also a CapriSun Push Play advertisement on Night Watch Island, and the prize is a Balloon Launcher. Press the spacebar while holding it, and your character shoots other Poptropicans with blue, indigo, and green balloons. (Thanks to Cuddly Knuckle for the tip, and HPuterpop for providing pictures!)

caprisun pushplay ad

Stay popping, Poptropicans. 😉

Popstorms, Realms, Web Development

Sandbox acquisition, animation confirmation, & more

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! As you may recall from recent news, Poptropica is no longer owned by Pearson, but for those of you with an even keener eye, you may notice the copyright adorning the bottom of the homepage now being accredited to Sandbox Networks.

sandbox poptropica

You can read more about the Sandbox acquisition in this article. Family Education Network, formerly a division of Pearson, was recently sold to this London, UK-based company, and along with it went Poptropica. Both the leaders of Sandbox and Poptropica seem positive about this change, so here’s hoping this’ll make Poptropica bigger and better in due time! 🙂

In fact, the article mentions a quote from Jeff Kinney revealing that “…we’ll be seeing the stories and characters from FEN brought to life on the big screen.” And this tweet from Poptropica confirms that they are indeed working on an animated show – the question now is “when?”

On a different note, here are a couple of Popstorm illustrations that have recently popped up:

Popstorm #28: Fish!
Popstorm #29: Parading Pigs

Also, Captain Crawfish has posted a new Remarkable Realms video on the official blog, which you can check out below. This one showcases a waterpark made by Fast Lizard – and better yet, a comment made by the Creators on the video assures us that we’ll soon get to share our Realms with each other: “by end of June, we hope to have function that allows users to share on their own”.

And, just in case you haven’t been keeping up with our Twitter timeline (either on the sidebar of the PHB or by following us), here are some tweeted tidbits that may be of interest:

  • Between the site and app, Poptropica gets about 4.5 million different users a month, playing from 100+ different countries. (see tweet)
  • Even Jeff Kinney hasn’t completed every Poptropica island. (see tweet)
  • Arabian Nights Ep. 3 is currently scheduled for late June. (see tweet)
  • The unnamed underground cave island (hinted at in past sneak peeks) has been an idea from the Creators for years, but the storyline is still uncertain. (see tweet)
  • There are plans to offer Poptropica in Spanish in late 2015 or early 2016. (see tweet)
  • There are 31 Creators at Poptropica offices. (see tweet)
  • Among the Poptropica Creators, there are two Jeffs, two Jennifers, and two Jons. (see tweet)

That’s all for this post, but be sure to catch up below for news on the Poptropica Hall of Fame, new Poptropica-comics-based games on the mobile app, and more. Stay popping, Poptropicans! 😉

Daily Pop Sneak Peeks, Timmy Failure Island

Daily Pop Peeks: Here comes Timmy Failure!

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! News has been a bit sparse lately in the Poptropica world, so now seems a good a time as any for another peek into the Daily Pop sneak peeks. This month’s peeks (and a few from last month) thus far have all been pointing to the previously confimed Timmy Failure Island:

It looks like this sponsored island will be drawn in a more flat, cartoony style unlike the typical Poptropica graphics (think Big Nate Island or Galactic Hot Dogs Island).

Personally I much prefer Poptropica’s usual style – even sponsored islands like Red Dragon or Nabooti are often forgotten to not be completely Poptropica-original quests because their art style fits the rest of the islands, and they tend not to be remembered as “just another [mediocre] sponsored island quest.” Let me know in the comments what you think: is the idea of Timmy Failure Island a failure, especially for those not well-acquainted with the franchise?

Meanwhile, the underground cave island we were hoping for this year seems to have been placed on the back burner as TF Island takes its place, according to this tweet:

In the rest of the Poptropica illustration world, we get a peek at a loose concept art painting (calling Poptropica “the Spirit of Adventure”) stated to be “new and not for any specific purpose”. Popstorm #27 has also been published, with the caption “Meet the frog family”.

Poptropica also casually mentioned this fun little protip for the next time you’re playing around on Realms: pressing the F key causes an avalanche!

Interested in asking official Poptropica Twitter-er and CEO Jess Brallier some questions? Check out the PHB post below, where we’re collecting interview questions for a Q&A!

Stay popping, Poptropicans. 🙂