Slanted Fish

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

Heart is back, and it’s been a while! Originally I wanted to finish writing part 4 of my fanfiction, The Witch’s Heart, before school started again, but then I kinda procrastinated with other projects, especially a certain video game about squids… and here we are.

Now where did we leave off? Oh right, the cliffhanger of what is happening in the castle! All we know is that it’s bad and “he” is behind it all. Well, let’s not leave ourselves hanging and find out the answer!

Inside the castle, mysterious royal GUARDS with purple eyes walk around aimlessly, carrying barrels of strange liquids, spears, and paper clips. ALOUETTE watches from the balcony. The GIANT DRAGON also flies up to the castle to take a look.

ALOUETTE:

Wow, this island can’t get a break. First some guy steals happy endings, now we have this.

A WHITE DRAGON resembling an older version of Pearl is forced into to a different room by royal GUARDS carrying spears.

ALOUETTE:

This doesn’t look good. Why are they enslaving dragons? Is this why you came to the castle, so you could warn us about this?

The GIANT DRAGON nods.

ALOUETTE:

Guess I’m back on the job again — ’cause I don’t think anyone would believe me if I said the entire castle’s guards were being mind controlled.

ALOUETTE casts an illusion spell that makes her look like the mind-controlled royal guards, before hopping down from the balcony and following the enslaved WHITE DRAGON.

The GUARDS take the enslaved dragon to a room with multiple chambers filled with purple goop. One of the guards forcibly removes the dragon’s scales and throws them inside a machine, which starts producing purple goop.

GUARD ONE:

This will be enough to mind-control the entire village!

GUARD TWO:

Wow! How much is needed to mind-control this entire island?

ALOUETTE starts putting the pieces together: White dragons are enslaved for their scales, which are used to make purple goop, which is used to mind control Poptropicans. She snaps her fingers, removing the illusion spell around her.

ALOUETTE:

Hey, you guys can’t be doing evil without me!

The mind-controlled GUARDS turn around, but they’re attacked by a series of fireballs and are knocked unconscious.

ALOUETTE:

First lesson to saving the world, do it in style!

ALOUETTE removes the chains around the WHITE DRAGON, who seems relieved that they are no longer enslaved.

ALOUETTE:

Great, now I continue along my way!

ALOUETTE travels through the castle, along the way fighting guards, freeing dragons, and turning off machines, before finally reaching the very familiar throne room.

ALOUETTE:

This was where that Rumpel guy decided to leave without being defeated. Would be funny if he just showed up right now.

As if on cue, the room fills with purple smoke, which scares Pearl, who hides in Alouette’s bag. When the smoke clears, a very familiar tall figure is standing on the king’s throne.

RUMPELSTILTSKIN:

So we meet again, witchlet.

Ohohoho, Rumpel is here, that can’t be good. Guess we’ll have to wait to see what he’s planning this time…

I apologize for the slight delay in chapters, because school is now a thing again! Hooray! Besides that, I’ve been eyeing lots of games coming out soon, so it may be a while before my next writing update.

The Witch’s Heart is a short story from the universe of Storm’s Calamity, which is available to read on Tumblr and Quotev. You definitely want to check it out, because things are about to get serious over there. (If you thought chapter 5 was crazy, you aren’t ready for what’s next!)

Heart out!

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by HeartofEnder. If you did, you might also enjoy her Pop Worlds house tour and intro of her Popsonas.

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!

Guest Posts

Pop Puzzles: What’s Missing? Round 3 Answers 🔑

September 18, 2022September 17, 2022 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Dizzy Feather. Enjoy!

Smoke and Mirrors: It’s all just a big show, isn’t it?

Hello everyone, Dizzy Feather here with the answers to round three of “What’s Missing?”, a Pop puzzle where I obscured items from in-game scenes for you to guess “what’s missing.” If you missed it, play the game on the original post before scrolling down for spoilers!

Shout-out to Wild Fire, LilysInMay, Purple Star, ❤️LoveHeartGirl❤️, HeartOfEnder, and Young Rider for getting a majority correct! Anyway, here are the answers:

So how many did you guess right? Share in the comments, and I’ll see you next time with a PoptropiCon, Episode 1-themed puzzle!

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Dizzy Feather. If you did, you might also enjoy previous rounds of “What’s Missing?”: Round 1 and Round 2.

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!

coloring pages, Creators' Blog Guest Posts, Fan Art Features, Poptropica Junior

Emotions and a Pop News Station 😎

September 17, 2022September 17, 2022 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! While there’s no sign of the mysterious Baron just yet, we do have a whirlwind of emotions flying in…

Poptropica Junior — the recent Pop spin-off for Pre-K kids — this week released some emotions-based coloring pages with some familiar Pop faces. We’re as upset as the prince of Fairytale Island that Poptropica’s main game doesn’t seem to be getting this much love! 😭

Over on the Pop Creators’ Blog, guest blogger Invisible Ring has returned with a new video sharing segments from “Future Machine News,” with reporting from Time Tangled Island and Popsona drawings throughout. Highlights include: the discontinuation of the fan-run Poptropica Month event, Dr. Hare as prime suspect for the theft of stuffed bunnies, and the mysterious “disappearance” of Invisible Ring. Tune in below:

Enjoy the latest fan art features from Poptropica’s Instagram stories — this time all focused on the handsome bird man, Ringmaster Raven! 🐦

Raven – emo moment 1 by @ask.poptropica.villains

That’s all for now. Looks like we’re already halfway through Pop’s birthday month without any party favors yet, and the Baron is late. Grab me a coloring page, we’re feeling as sad as Sprocket…

~🐠

Fan Art Features, Monthly Costume Contests

September Summons Spooky Suit-ups 👻

September 13, 2022 Slanted Fish

Weather alert: The skies continue to be clear of the Baron’s airship, but not for much longer, according to a comment from Poptropica on their blog: “The Airship hit a bit of headwind, but will be arriving soon!” 🍂

In the meantime, September’s costume contest has already commenced, and it’s seeking Halloween designs! Last year, not one but six costumes were selected for the Baron’s Red October event, and such festivities are set to continue this year. Enter by Monday, September 26 at 8pm PST for your chance to get your costume made!

*Fun fact: One of the winning costumes was the “Pumpkin Punk” from the PHB’s Gentle Dolphin. See them all here for this year’s inspiration!*

In other news, enjoy the latest fan art features from Poptropica’s Instagram stories, with Raven tears and cosmic jeers! 🐦🥺

Sweet Ringmaster Raven by @_frog._._paste_

~🐠

Creators' Blog Guest Posts

Interview with Slanted Fish from the Pop Creators (with New Content!) 🐠

September 12, 2022 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! The Pop Creators have been cooking up some collaborations with us here at the PHB, and over the next few months, we’ll be sharing some interviews with each of the PHB staff.

First up: yours truly, Slanted Fish! The Creators tested the waters of this blog-founding fish with an interview last year you can read here, but for this round we’ve got a splash of new content as well. Let’s dive in!

Read the original interview on the PHB or Creators’ Blog. The following is an excerpt from Poptropica’s refreshed interview featuring the new content.

From your perspective, how have you seen the Poptropica Help Blog (PHB) and community change over time?

The biggest change I’ve noticed personally is that the kids have gotten older, both in the PHB community and the fandom at large. Though Poptropica has always been aimed at kids, it’s fascinating to see how teens and young adults (myself included) still participate in the fandom, often returning from childhood nostalgia and sticking around for the community and inspired storytelling (perhaps even creating some of their own). Of course, young kids are still around. From my perspective, even children are capable of enjoying Poptropica’s more sophisticated stories, particularly those from the classic islands.

As for the PHB itself, it’s definitely grown in professionalism over time. When it first started, we were a group of mostly 10–12-year-olds just starting to learn how to run a blog together, with all that entails. We’d create cringey graphics, ramble on in our posts with inside jokes told in all caps, and occasionally have drama spilling over in the comments. Not that we manage to completely avoid that now, but we’ve come a long way since the start and our style has definitely matured a bit. Nowadays the blog is proud to present content that is more consistent, organized, informative, balanced, and still with a touch of fun!

PHB team pic by (Dr.) Ashley Lange, Poptropica Creator (2014)

6. What inspires you?

Inspiration can come from anywhere: an interesting article, artifact, artwork… and it’s important to find some good ones, as that shapes our thought patterns and, eventually, the kind of person we become! As author Annie Dillard wrote, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” Besides traveling the islands of Poptropica, I enjoy looking at real-life nature, listening to music and podcasts, and learning the stories of people past and present, as ways to be refreshed and inspired.

Journey: The wheel in the sky keeps on turning.

Outside of Poptropica and your PHB involvement, what are you passionate about?

Perhaps it’s cliche, but I’m an advocate for making the world a better place, which can look a million different ways, including social justice, environmental sustainability, and everything in between.

Touching back on my work with the PHB, and outside of it, I’m also passionate about language. I love conveying ideas through writing, discovering just the right words to use, and appreciating a good pun or poetic line. English is my first language, but Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese are part of my life, too. Being curious about languages opens up new worlds!

Fish Face: These ocean-dwellers are getting animated.

Big thanks to the Pop Creators for having me on the official blog and for their efforts connecting Poptropicans with fun content — and more to come. Catch my full interview with Poptropica on their official blog! 💙

~🐠