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!
Contests

Winners of the PHB’s 6th Halloween Costume Contest!

Slanted Fish

halloween2014 contest winners

Helloooo, Poptropicansss… are you ready for this year’s top scarers? Of the many spooktacular costumes who dared enter the PHB’s 6th annual Halloween competition, the party of fabulous October fashionistas has been narrowed down to a list of fourteen winners – in celebration of the PHB’s recent milestone of 14 million hits. And without further ado, here they are:

These costumes are listed in alphabetical order by title, and have also permanently earned their place on the PHB’s Costumes page! Just to complete the collection, I put my own (Slanted Fish) Halloween outfit in the mix, which was also recently featured on the Creators’ Blog. 🙂

Thanks to everyone who entered, and congratulations to all the winners – enjoy the honor of having your Costumes featured! Whether or not your costume is listed, we hope you enjoyed creating your costume and looking at this creepy collection. Heh, heh, heh… >:D

happy halloween from the PHB!

Labs (Land), Sneak Peeks

Best of Land: Obstacle Courses, Racer Island, & monkey ruins

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! The Best of Land: Obstacle Courses have been announced on the Creators’ Blog, and without further ado, here they are (click to enlarge and view captions):

From Comical Ant, here’s an ant farm maze. Mr. Silva from Shrink Ray Island would feel at home here!
From Dangerous Fox, a very spelunky obstacle course.
From Fast Lizard, it looks like Myron Van Buren has another devious challenge in store for his, er, houseguests.
From Prickly Fish, this one packs a lot of gameplay into a small space.
Serious Bird’s Village won the readers’ poll. He’s still climbing the ladders of success.
From Shifty Bubbles, this one takes you up, down, and underwater.
From Shy Paw, this intricate course will take you to every corner of the screen!
From Silly Whale, it’s nice to see someone who just wants players to have a bouncin’ good time.
From Silver Lightning (another repeat Land challenge champ), this multi-screen course is truly a-maze-ing!
From Silver Sun, we would have liked this no matter what, but the sword-wielding statue certainly made its point.

Cast a vote for your favorite on the poll in the sidebar of the Creators’ Blog! As of now, Silver Lightning’s maze in the lead by a fair bit. These are the current results:

  • Comical Ant (14%)
  • Dangerous Fox (2%)
  • Fast Lizard (7%)
  • Prickly Fish (4%)
  • Serious Bird (5%)
  • Shifty Bubbles (6%)
  • Shy Paw (5%)
  • Silly Whale (8%)
  • Silver Lightning (37%)
  • Silver Sun (7%)

Also, congrats to Serious Bird, who was not only featured among the best Obstacle Courses above, but was also the readers’ poll winner for his fast food Village! Delicious.

"From Serious Bird, you don't have to go far for a bite to eat in this town. Does the building on the right shake in an earthquake?"
“From Serious Bird, you don’t have to go far for a bite to eat in this town. Does the building on the right shake in an earthquake?”

The next and final Land challenge is the theme of Haunted House, and the Creators will be featuring the best ones on Halloween (Friday, Oct 31)! Remember, the Land public preview itself ends on the 30th, so if you’re a non-member, be sure to make the most of this cool feature while you can. 🙂

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Poptropica has continued to tweet behind-the-scenes pics, and fresh from this pile are these monkey ruins, with no further explanation. Just speculating here: perhaps these are related to the monkey sneak peeks we saw earlier, which may mean an island based on the Poptropica comics with Jorge and Oliver. We’ll have to wait and see! 😛

monkey ruins

Here’s another behind-the-scenes look at something called Racer Island. As cool as this sounds, though, it was an island concept that has been abandoned (much like WaterThrill Island). 😦

racer island

In other news, don’t forget to enter (if you dare, that is) the PHB’s 6th annual Halloween costume contest! Fourteen winners will be announced this Friday in time for Halloween, and if you win, your costume will be featured on the PHB! Pop to the top, Poptropicans. :mrgreen:

Arabian Nights Island, PoptropiCon Island

This Thursday: P-Con Ep. 2 for members & Arab Ep. 1 for all!

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! This Thursday, October 23, everyone will have something new to play. Here’s a little spoiler alert: for members, PoptropiCon: Ep. 2 (wittily titled Spoiler Alert) will be released!

As of now, members can get a free Popzilla costume in the Store (which looks suspiciously like a mix between the Furry Monsters & Dragon costumes, plus the Chemical X creature from Monster Carnival).

Popzilla

To see what’s on its way to the convention, from trading cards to crazy costumes, check out the PHB’s Behind the Scenes: Overview & Theory post on Episode 2 PoptropiCon!

World Guy
PoptropiCon – World Guy (click here for more “Spoiler Alert” sneak peeks!)

For non-members, Arabian Nights: Ep. 1 (How Bazaar) will finally be released on Thursday as well. If the Forty Thieves have got you totally baffled, check in with our Arabian Nights Island Guide for a detailed walkthrough!

c356a-arabiannights

In other news, the PHB’s 6th Annual Halloween Costume Competition is still going on, and there have been some spooktacularly awesome entries so far! If you haven’t entered yet (or would like to enter more), you have until next Friday, October 31. Stay popping, Poptropicans. 😉

Arabian Nights Island, Labs (Land), Sneak Peeks

Best of Land’s Dream Homes & Arab genie sketch

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! The Creators have posted their top ten entries for the Dream Homes portion of the Land challenge, and I’m honored to be listed among them! ❤ In fact, you can check out the PHB post below for an in-depth tour of my “slanted fish” Land. :mrgreen:

However, I don’t want to detract from the glory of the other picks (and there are some pretty great ones!), so here’s a gallery of the chosen Lands, along with their witty captions (click to enlarge):

From Cool Sponge, here’s a Victorian-style mansion that looks like an absolutely gorgeous place to live, provided the Bates Motel is not located just down the hill.
From the one and only Friendly Fish, an abode that lives up to her name.
From Golden Lightning, a period piece that wouldn’t look out of place on Mythology Island.
From Golden Lobster, a dream home of biblical proportions — inside the belly of a whale!
From Hyper Fire, the great thing about a houseboat is that if you don’t like your neighbors, you can just pack up and leave!
From Mad Comet, a gorgeous fusion of old and new, built into a hillside. Does the League of Shadows have meetings here?
From Red Sun, a nicely organized, wonderfully appointed home. It’s move-in ready!
From Small Tiger, this one has it all: a lovely garden, comfortable accommodations, and a storeroom that will guarantee you outlast the apocalypse.
From Striped Fox, this home is distinguished by a massive telescope in the observatory, which fortunately is pointed away from the bathrooms.
From Zany Crown, this is a treehouse that stays true to its roots. Just beautiful.

Great entries, guys! And don’t feel bad if yours isn’t up there: the Creators received thousands of entries over the weekend, and they promise that they looked at every submission. The next/current theme until Oct 23 is Village, and the Creators will be announcing their favorites on Friday.

By the way, for more details on making the most of this sandbox feature, do check out the PHB’s Poptropica Labs (Land) Guide, now with a detailed chart for what you unlock at each level and how much Poptanium you need to get there! 😀

There’s also a poll on the sidebar of the Creators’ Blog asking “Who created your favorite Dream Home?” and so far, Zany Crown and her treehouse is taking the lead! These are the results:

  • Cool Sponge (7%)
  • Friendly Fish (that’s me!) (12%)
  • Golden Lightning (5%)
  • Golden Lobster (7%)
  • Hyper Fire (6%)
  • Mad Comet (10%)
  • Red Sun (4%)
  • Small Tiger (11%)
  • Striped Fox (2%)
  • Zany Crown (31%)

Also, is it just me, or are the Creators deliberately avoiding words like “contest” and “winners” for this “challenge”? Not that I have a problem with it; just an observation. What do you think? 😛

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Another behind-the-scenes sketch has popped up on Poptropica’s Twitter, and this one’s an early character sketch for the unreleased Arabian Nights, Ep. 3! From the looks of it, it’s a female genie – perhaps the one from the Sultan’s lamp? We’ll have to wait and see.

arab3 genie sketch

Speaking of Arabian Nights Island, friendly reminder that Episode 1 will be available to all this Thursday, October 23 (at least according to one of Poptropica’s tweets)! And while we’re talking about upcoming releases, Poptropica has also tweeted what’s to come for ads:

Anyway, that’s all for now! Keep on popping on, Poptropicans. 😀

Labs (Land)

Dream Home: touring Slanted Fish’s Land!

Slanted Fish

Update: Thanks to the Poptropica Creators for featuring my Land among their favorite Dream Homes! Here’s what they said about it: “From the one and only Friendly Fish, an abode that lives up to her name.” Indeed. ❤

“You’ll shoot me down, but I won’t fall… I am POPTANIUM!”

Wow, that was some rousing musicality there. But anyway… *ahem* Well hello, Poptropicans! Like the new Land-themed PHB header? 😉 Just for fun, today we’ll be taking a tour of my Poptropica Land, which is also my attempt at the “Dream Home” Land challenge!

Here’s an overview of my not-so-humble-abode (click to enlarge):

slantedfish landYes, it’s shaped like a slanted fish, and yes, I marked my territory in the water below. Hehe. :mrgreen:

(Helpful hint: you can take a screenshot of your whole Land by pressing the “S” key. For more tips on using Land, check out the PHB’s Poptropica Labs Guide!)

Continue reading “Dream Home: touring Slanted Fish’s Land!” →