Slanted Fish

Fanfic: Story of Smart Lightning, Part 1/6 ⚡️

March 12, 2023 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Young Rider. Enjoy!

Hey everybody! It’s me, Young Rider, and I came up with my own fictional Poptropican, Smart Lightning. Her story will be composed into six parts, and will be featured here on the PHB. Hope you enjoy!

The phone rings. “Hello, it’s Smart Lightning, how can I be of service?”

A cheerful voice answers on the other end. “No need to be so formal! Just me, your fabulous bestie!”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know it was you, Brave Star!”

“No problem, I know you make, like, twenty calls a day! But listen, I know it’s storming, but I’m in a bit of a pinch. Can you come over to my place?”

“Ok, see ya in a few!”

Smart Lightning heads out the door, despite the storm raging outdoors. We see her walk down the busy streets of New Tropican.

“Geez, maybe I should have brought an umbrella!”

Lightning strikes a few yards away, and Smart Lightning jumps backwards.

“Ack! I gotta be careful!”

“Hey! Watch it!” an angry citizen shouts, bumping her away. She falls down into a construction site that has signs warning: Keep out! High Voltage zone!

“Ugh, that hurt. Wait… What’s that?!”

A lightning bolt heads straight for Smart Lightning, giving her no chance to escape. A flash of light appears before it strikes, and Smart Lightning disappears.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Young Rider. If you did, you might also enjoy her My Place in Poptropica story or other fanfictions we’ve featured.

The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. Interested in writing for the PHB? We’d love to hear from you!

Free Membership Giveaways

PHB Membership Giveaway: February 2023

February 27, 2023February 25, 2023 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! We’re approaching the end of the month, which means it’s time to announce another lucky Poptropican to win our monthly membership giveaway! 🎁

Congratulations, Young Rider — your new membership status lets you play various exclusive quests, including Survival Island, Ep. 3: Distress Signal. You’ll also get to enjoy exclusive member gifts and more.

Survival: Distress Signal — Digital Wallpaper

The Poptropica Help Blog hosts a membership giveaway every month, and it’s easy to enter! Just comment on our Free Poptropica Membership page and leave at least two other comments around the PHB within the month to be entered into that month’s giveaway.

We’ll announce a winner sometime in the final week of each month. If you don’t win, you can always try again for the next month! Full details »

Congrats again to Young Rider! Keep on popping on! 🏍

YouTubers

Every Poptropica Island Ranked 🗺

February 26, 2023February 26, 2023 Slanted Fish

Get ready for a whopping POP down memory lane! 💥

A veteran Poptropican named Jake Miller (Neat Sun) has taken on the massive task of playing through every* island in the history of Poptropica and ranking them on a tier list. His nostalgia trip is all recorded in an hour-long YouTube video that’s been going viral, with over 200K views in the month it’s been released. Check it out below! (Content warning: occasional coarse language for Super Power Island.)

Jake used the unofficial Flashpoint download to access the oldest islands — more about that in our Old Islands Guide. Another option for some of those islands is Poptropica’s paid Steam bundle, which he did not use, but should offer a smoother experience. And newer islands are, of course, available via the current Poptropica on desktop and mobile.

*With the exception of the few islands in Poptropica Worlds, which is no longer playable, Jake takes us through 51 islands, ranking them each on a tier list as shown below (S-tier being the best, and D-tier as the worst):

Jake considers the halfway point, around Twisted Thicket Island, to be the start of a downhill trajectory for the game, with islands generally feeling shorter and easier afterwards. At the end of the video, he shares a reflection on his Poptropica journey, as someone who grew up loving the game and who just revisited everything it has to offer:

The more complex, fun, and interesting an island is, the more enjoyable it is… We were getting masterpieces 10 islands in. Why was there change? …Poptropica has brought a lot of fun times to a lot of people… so, isn’t that enough? Can we quit making Poptropica islands now? You’d think after 51 they’d be satisfied, but we continue to see poor iteration after poor iteration… I can’t lie though, the newest version has some fun personality.
Jake Miller, “I played and ranked EVERY Poptropica Island so you don’t have to…”

Thanks for the memories, Jake! It’s fascinating to see the evolution of Poptropica islands all in one go, and to relive the depths of each island — an excellent case for the Pop community’s ongoing petition to bring the old islands back.

What did you think of the throwbacks and tier choices? Would you agree with the rankings? Share with us in the comments!

~🐠

Candy Crazed, Creators' Blog Guest Posts

Return of the Pop Quizzes and Candy Crazed

February 23, 2023February 23, 2023 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, pop in for quizzical and historical craziness! 🤯🍭

This past week, players have noticed an interesting feature popping up upon login: daily questions! It’s reminiscent of the former Pop Quizzes feature from the Flash days, though without cute accompanying illustrations nor a place to show off your answers on your profile.

The “daily questions” don’t seem to show up for everyone or all the time. So far, unlike previous Pop Quizzes, they’ve been preoccupied with pop culture, asking about preferences on social media platforms (TikTok or Instagram?) and TV shows (Wednesday or Stranger Things?). Curiously, these topics beckon towards a demographic of ages 13+, older than Poptropica’s purported audience of pre-teens. 🤔

Despite leaning towards older players with the new pop quizzes, however, it seems the gameplay is still gearing towards much younger kids! The Candy Crazed Mini Quest from 2021 has returned to offer credits for replays of the gumdrop-grabbing game. Find it on the map or via Master Huggles on Home Island, and check out our guide here! 🍭🍬

Speaking of Home Island, though, there’s still no sign of the Baron’s airship this month. Curiouser and curiouser…

It hasn’t escaped our notice that the Pop Creators have been quieter than usual this month. Only days away from the end of February, we’re finally seeing the month’s first post on the Creators’ Blog — and it’s a guest post, on the heels of a previous one by the same writer.

This time, guest blogger Invisible Ring takes a look back at the original cast of Creators that would post on the official blog. Though there were aliases aplenty, her Field Trip Files focus on a few, analyzing their roles with links to old posts: Vlad the Viking as Photographer, Comic Kid as Cartoonist and Investigator, Binary Bard as Spy… and she’d be remiss not to make a mention of herself — Possible Infiltrator indeed! 👀

If you enjoyed this peek into a more personable past, you might also like our Poptropica Creators Database, where we matched up some of the former Pop team’s real identities with their alter egos.

Veteran players everywhere reminisce about the work ethic, experience, and punctuality of this team, talking about the old days of how these ancient masters would run the island world like a well-oiled machine.
Invisible Ring (guest post here)

How ironic to have this shared by the current team, hmm? 😜 Yet Ring concludes with hope: “Sensational moments were possible for them, and they’re possible for us, too.” Let’s hope so!

~🐠