Magazines

POPCORN, the PHB magazine: issue #19 out now!

issue19 out

Hey Poptropicans! Issue #19 of the PHB magazine, known as The POPCORN, has just been released, with all sorts of Poptropica fan creations, including a gripping tale about baker Jane from Ghost Story Island, a collection of Dr. Who costumes designed by Cool Smarticle, several Poptropicans doing the ice bucket challenge, and more!

check out issue #19 of our Poptropica magazine now!

…clicked it yet? If not, you’re missing out on a piece of the PHB legend. 😀

For more information about The POPCORN, check out our Magazines page to find out what kind of entries we’re looking for and how you can submit something in for publication!

The deadline for emailing entries to phbpopcorn(at)gmail(dot)com is October 5th if you’d like to be a part of our next (and potentially last) magazine!

Hope you enjoy our pop-pop-Poptropica Help Blog fan magazine!

PHB Sneak Peeks, Poptropica Portfolio

Poptropica Portfolio: Nate Greenwall

Shark Boy may have been alienated from Poptropica, but his alter ego (otherwise known as Nate Greenwall, Poptropica’s lead graphic artist) is still out and about, churning out some really cool (and even unreleased) Poptropica imagery. They’re available for viewing on his portfolio website (scroll down for more info!). Here’s a look at some graphics of interest (as usual, click to enlarge):

Wow, did you catch all that?! Anyway, Nate has several pages on his portfolio site dedicated to various works he’s created for Poptropica (not all of which are posted above, but some may be familiar). If you’re interested, you can browse through them by clicking the links below:

  • Advertisements – designs for Poptropica ad buildings & characters
  • Dr. Hare’s Lair – LEGO Cuusoo – includes unreleased designs for a Dr. Hare minifigure
  • Papercrafts – from the LEGO Cuusoo campaign
  • Character design & animation – various Poptropica character designs (if you look closely, you’ll see the Sultan to be encountered on Arabian Nights Island!)
  • Posters & wallpapers – a selection of Poptropica wallpapers/posters
  • In-game illustrations – some full views of areas in the game, including the area by the sea in Ghost Story and even a palace for the upcoming Arabian Nights Island
  • Merchandise – among various things, the most noteworthy of all are the iTunes music CD covers and kids’ tattoos/face paint designs, both of which it looks like Poptropica is planning on releasing one day! (you can listen to Poptropica’s music at the PHB’s Behind the Scenes page too)
  • Logos, web, mobile design – graphics relating to Poptropica’s user interface (UI), including an array of buttons and icons, some of which have never been released

There’s a lot of creative work that goes into making Poptropica what it is and what it will be, and the artistic geniuses at Poptropica give us beautiful results. Enjoy the Nate Greenwall collection! 🙂

Daily Pop Sneak Peeks, Labs (Land), PoptropiCon Island, Shark Boy Mystery, Social Media, Super Villain Island

More Land creations & PoptropiCon peeks

Hey Poptropicans — friendly reminder that the PHB’s Land Construction Contest ends this Friday, Sept 5th, so if you haven’t sent in your greatest Land creation to us yet, get building and click here for the post with instructions on how to enter! Or, if you’ve made something that caught the Creators’ eyes like Magic Fire‘s self sculpture (she’s a PHB reader too – hi MF!) and Young Fish‘s panoramic port city have, you might even be featured on the Creators’ Blog! (click to view full images)

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Have you ever wondered why Poptropica tends to release islands on Thursdays? While this doesn’t explain why Thursday exactly (Friday in some time zones), they did recently address the question (brought up by Poptrickia) via their official Twitter:

weekends off

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PoptropiCon (guide here) had its first episode debut just last week for members, but if you’re wondering what’s up next, a good place to look are the Daily Pop sneak peeks. Let’s take a look at what we’ll be seeing inside the convention center (click to enlarge images):

Among all the random tidbits, it looks like there’ll be a booth for a comic hero called Elf Archer — created by some guy called “Stan Ditko”: a reference to Marvel Comics co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Plus, there’s even a Balloon Boy collectible that can be seen on a table!

And not far from the My Little Pony mimicry (“Pony Bros”… even the Daily Pop’s caption is “Brony”), there’s a poster for “Lava Twins” — it may be a long shot, but could this be a reference to a film called The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl? Yes, you read that right, “Shark Boy”: like the beloved Poptropica character who no longer is. (You can read all about the Shark Boy Mystery here!)

sharkmuseum

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Although it’s been about two years and ten islands since Super Villain Island, Brave Tomato recently uncovered this little snippet of Poptropica Creator Jeff Kinney working on it on a computer. It may not look like much, but it’s a pretty neat find nonetheless:

jeff working on svi

This came from a “making of” bonus feature on the Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days DVD, where they talked briefly about Jeff and Poptropica. (Jeff is also the author of the Wimpy Kid series.) Speaking of Jeff Kinney, I wonder if/when we’ll get to see his ice bucket challenge? 😉

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In other news, issue 19 of the PHB magazine, The POPCORN, releases this Sunday, Sept 7th, so be sure to have your creative entries sent in to phbpopcorn(at)gmail(dot)com before then! That’s all for now (or TAFN, as HP the hip one likes to say)! Keep on poppin’ on, Poptropicans. 🙂

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PHB Ice Bucket Challenge & High Kicker power

The PHB team has been challenged by Fierce Moon of Poptropica Secrets to take on the #IceBucketChallenge, and… challenge accepted! The cold doesn’t bother us anyway. 😉

ice bucket challenge

If you haven’t already seen, a few of Poptropica’s most iconic characters have taken on this challenge as well, which aims to raise awareness and donations for the ALS Association, whose goal is to fight a disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) which deteriorates muscle control. I made a little donation in the PHB’s name, and if you can, I encourage you to help a good cause as well. 🙂

As for nominees: we invite any Poptropican who wants to embrace the ice, to do so — whether in real life or with a Poptropica picture! When you do, feel free to post it on your blog or just upload it somewhere, then share it with us in the comments!

EDIT: Check it out — Spotted Dragon & Silver Wolf both completed the challenge and posted pics on their blogs! Also included in the images below is our challenger’s cool Early Pop pixel bucket:

On behalf of Spotted Dragon & her blog (ATP), Poptropica Tips dared to challenge Jeff Kinney himself to the #IceBucketChallenge… and Poptropica has replied on Twitter saying that we can “expect something at some point”! Looks like things may get more interesting! 😛

jeff challenge

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There’s a new ad on SUIs (sound-updated islands) such as Mythology, and it’s a street stand that will lead you to a CapriSun Roarin’ Waters website where you can enter daily for a chance to take on the pros from Major League Soccer. More importantly, though, it gives you the new High Kicker power, which is activated when you click “use” and press space bar.

caprisun enter daily

Strangely, this doesn’t work on non-SUIs, and it also may remove your handheld item if you’re holding one. Anyway, enjoy the special move! Keep on poppin’ on, Poptropicans. 😀

Social Media

More Land creations & Poptropica tweets

Hey Poptropicans! Have you checked out the PHB’s Poptropica Land contest yet? Blake will be accepting entries until September 5th, but if you have yet to pull together something awesome, check out this new set of Land creations posted on Poptropica’s Twitter – which this time credited its makers: Mad Tiger, Hyper Drummer, and Striped Fox! (Click to enlarge pics.)

Speaking of Poptropica’s Twitter… they finally followed us back! 😀 (The PHB is @Poptropica_Help on Twitter, and we tweet links to the Creators’ as well as our own latest blog posts!)

twitter follow

pop retweet

Poptropica likes to tweet out various Poptropica fansites/creations, reply to questions, among other things, like the #IceBucketChallenge with villains mentioned in BT’s post earlier.

Here’s another tidbit: PHB reader Nameless UnDEFiNed recently asked about the top 10 island finishers that used to get shoutouts on the Creators’ Blog, and Poptropica has responded saying that it stopped with the launch of the World Champions maps, but that they’ll discuss it again — maybe something will come of it? 😛

top10

In other news, two of our PHB authors – Angry Wing, who joined last year, and Shaggy Tornado, who’s been posting here since 2010 – will no longer be blogging here, due to inactivity, loss of interest, and the inevitable busy-ness of school life. They will be missed! 😦