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!
Shark Boy Mystery

Shark Boy… is now Shark Guy?

Slanted Fish

(recent PHB walkthroughs: Mission Atlantis & Survival)
or scroll down for updates to the Shark Guy mystery! the plot thickens…

Something fishy’s going on… it seems like beloved Poptropica Creator “Shark Boy” (also known as Nate Greenwall) has changed his name to Shark Guy! When did this happen? And why? That I don’t know, but if you look up SharkGuyCreator on the Avatar Studio, here’s what you’ll get:

sharkguycreator

Where’s the iconic dead blue fish he usually carries?! Now he’s inexplicably holding a video camera in his hand. (Here’s a far-fetched theory: what if this has to do with Mission Atlantis? A shark, a film device… it might make a little sense…)

Even stranger, if you look up Shark Boy’s old username, SharkBoyCreator, you’ll just get a random Poptropican named Young Catfish who’s wearing the Aztec warrior mask and Tiger Shark body – whereas before you’d get Shark Boy with his name and costume.

Besides, Shark Boy hasn’t posted on the Creators’ Blog in ages (the same goes for some other Creators…) – it’s almost always Captain Crawfish these days. (UPDATE:) In fact, Shark Boy’s previous posts on the Creators’ Blog have been replaced with Captain Crawfish listed as the author! Here’s an example from a cache from the Wayback Machine, and compare that to the current version on the Creators’ Blog. Other posts (like this one) have just outright been deleted.

HP’s theory on this (which you can read more about in the previous post) is that it might be a cover-up for some kid who got access to Shark Boy’s account, because those who had his old username friended but not his new one would see it replaced with Shark Guy (but with the name “Poptropican”).

sharkboyfacts

PHB readers Big Kid and Cuddly Lion confirm that Shark Guy has been holding the camera handheld ever since Back Lot Island came out (it’s the reward from the bonus quest).

Why are the Creators trying to erase all traces of Shark Boy, and what’s up with all this Shark Guy business? Share your theories in the comments section!

~thanks to Massive Raptor for the tip.

 

Daily Pop, Mission Atlantis Island, Sneak Peeks, Survival Island

Mission Atlantis: sneak peeks from the Daily Pop & Tour

Slanted Fish

With Mission Atlantis Island releasing this Thursday to members, why not take a look at what we Poptropica adventurers may soon be facing in the unknown depths of the sea? These sneak peeks from the Daily Pop may give us some hints about what’s going to go down (click to enlarge pics)–

So here’s what we can gather from these pictures — deep under the sea, it looks like there’s a big pink cylindrical tube that will lead you through a puzzle of smaller tubes (which you must re-assemble to ensure a secure passageway). You’ll be traveling in a little pod, as we saw in the trailer video, and you’ll use clues to lead you to pieces (of random shards, perhaps forming the “puzzle key”?). There’ll also be some awesome sea creatures, like sharks and sea dragons! Hey, not a bad analysis, eh? 🙂

Fuzzy-B also posted some Daily Pop pics for Mission Atlantis a while back (back before we even knew what they was for!); you can check out his post here.

And here’s the description for Episode 1 from the official Tour page:

It was supposed to be simple: photograph rare sea creatures, then head back to the surface. But a stunning discovery leads you to a brand new mission!

There’s also a few more sneak peeks on the Tour page; check them out:

The underwater scenes here are a bit reminiscent of the excavation of Poptropolis Games 2013, although not quite the same – for those of you who don’t remember, there was a period of time just before the Games arose again where players could dive down into a sea (a bit like this one) and win a point for their tribe every time they reached the bottom (congrats, again, to Wildfire).

We can see the waters getting darker here – a sign that it’s pretty deep down. Also, just as Atlantis comes from Greek mythology, the ship’s name is “Medusa”! Medusa is also another term for jellyfish.

Oh, and remember the flying sneak peek from last week? We can now confirm that it is in fact for Episode 3 of Survival, because a background file for the radio tower we saw is in Poptropica’s files for Survival 3! Here’s what it looks like in its entirety:

radiotower

Anyway, Mission Atlantis: Episode 1 comes out this Thursday, April 17 to members, and you can get your Diving Suit from the Store now! Non-members, don’t feel too left out — Survival: Episode 1 will be available to all on the same day. 🙂 Are you excited for some deep-sea diving?!

Sneak Peeks, Web Development

Flying – or falling? It’s time to try defying gravity!

Slanted Fish

Captain Crawfish of the Creators’ Blog recently posted this sneak peek involving a tiny Poptropican, wide sky, structure to the side (a satellite tower, perhaps?), along with the caption “WHEEEEEEE!!!”–

I wonder what this could be for? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section! 🙂

(EDIT: An anonymous tip speculates that this could be for Survival: Episode 3, which is supposed to be about creating a distress signal – notice the radio tower to the side!)

Anyway, if you’ve had your head up in the clouds (like the little guy in the pic above) for the past week or so, here’s a few PHB posts you can catch up on:

By the way, a new PHB page has been added to the Cool Stuff tab – Pop Quizzes, which lists 180+ Friends profile quiz questions and their possible answers all on one handy page! 😀

Pop Quizzes

Have a great weekend and stay awesome, Poptropicans! 😀

Merchandise, Survival Island

Survival (Episode 1) on iPad – and coming soon to Google Play!

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans with iPads, you can now download a new update for your free Poptropica iPad app which includes Survival: Episode 1 (Crash Landing)! And if you need a walkthrough, click here. 🙂

If you own other mobile devices, don’t worry – the Survival Island tour page has been updated to announce that it will soon be coming to the App Store (for iPhones & iPod touches) as well as the Google Play Store (for Androids)!

mobile soon

We also now know that there will be 5 episodes total for Survival Island, and Episode 3 (Distress Signal) now has a description: “A broken radio. A chance for rescue. Send a distress call if you can, but beware of who might be listening!” However, we still don’t know when members can play episode 2.

UPDATE: Survival Island will be launching for non-members on April 17, 2014, according to a recent Poptropica press article (thanks, Brave Tomato!).

Bonus Items, Membership, Monster Carnival Island, Survival Island

Ghillie Suit for Survival & Ringmaster still in Store

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! If you’re a member, you can now collect item #2 of the Survival Island gear pack from the Store: a leafy, twiggy, muddy Ghillie Suit! Would you wear it? Well, when it comes to survival, maybe it’s not a bad idea to want to look like a tree. 😉 Behold, the camouflage costume:

(Fun fact: This item was accidentally leaked onto the Store early for a while before being taken down!)

Speaking of costumes, Monster Carnival’s Ringmaster costume for members is still in the Store, despite the Tour page saying it’d be up for Early Access only. If you’re a member and you still haven’t gotten it even after it was supposed to be taken down about 3 weeks ago, there’s your chance! Though now that it’s mentioned here, they may finally get around to fixing it. 😛

ringmaster still here

And if you’re a non-member who’s feeling left out after all the talk of members’ costumes in this post (or if you’re a member who can’t get enough of costumes), there’s something for you too: a chance to win one of 11 rare Monster Carnival costumes we’re giving away!

All you have to do is comment on the PHB’s 11 Million: Monster Raffle post, so it’s easy! It’s been great reading all the comments so far about what the PHB means to you guys, but there’s not much time left – you have until just before midnight of Friday, April 4 to enter, so don’t wait! 😛

monstershowcase

By the way, did you enjoy the PHB’s April Fool’s prank earlier? (Not to worry, Gamer Guy’s brief reign of robot-crushing terror is over.) Did we trick you? :mrgreen: Well, we certainly tried – this year, surprisingly, Poptropica didn’t have an April Fool’s joke anywhere up their sleeve! What’s up with that? 😛