Slanted Fish

Clubhouse Tour: Pink Crush 🏡

April 12, 2022April 12, 2022 Slanted Fish

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

Hello, Poptropicans! Today, I shall be giving a tour around my clubhouse! Oh, sorry, I was having a mini-spa day, please excuse me for a second…

Ok, that’s better! Alright, where to start… let’s start at the beginning, that’s a good place. This is the doorway, with a lovely flowery wreath to welcome guests. I have a light for the whole house, but I also have built-in lights controlled by my home system. There is a backpack for school, a houseplant, and two light trees.

I love to chill in my hanging swing chair thing. Feel free to relax, the couch is very comfortable. I just bought the latest TV, which works great. Totally worth the credits. My pets also like to relax in the living room. Speaking of, where are they?

Ah, there they are. I absolutely love my dear pets. This one is named Luna. She is a rare breed of wolf, and she loves everything nature and the outdoors. She is very energetic and playful. The other pets adore her.

Here is Mavis, the pet that loves fashion, being pampered, and loves to dress up. She just woke up, so she’s still a bit sleepy. Mavis is a very rare dog breed of a blue border collie. She and Luna share a dog house. It’s a lot bigger than it looks and is super nice and comfortable for the dogs. 😊

This is Taj, the only kitten I have. He is a very, very uncommon mix of tiger and wirehair cat breed. He loves to relax and sleep, A LOT. Even though he loves to nap a bunch, he loves to play and is a bit classy as well with outfits. He isn’t wearing it now, but he has a blue bowtie that he LOVES, but it got dirty so it’s in the washing machine upstairs.

This is the pet area, with toys, bowls of water, and food. I hope in the future I can get many more pets and expand the playroom, but this will do for now. Every week, if there are new outfits and toys at the clubhouse store and Adventure Outfitters for the pets, I buy them.

Here is the kitchen. Help yourselves to anything in the fridge. I also bought some cake and ice cream if you would like some. It’s chocolate cake and Zomberry ice cream. Trust me, it’s really good.

I’m thinking of either getting pizza or ice cream. Hmm… let’s do pizza. *eating pizza* 🍕Wow, this is good.

So, over there is a water dispenser and a vending machine for soda and drinks… Hey! Luna, don’t eat that! Cake isn’t for dogs, it’s for Poptropicans only. Sorry, Luna. Anyway, let’s move on.

Here is the hallway! I re-did it a bunch of times, and I like it. Over there is a hammock I like to nap or relax in. Here we have my laundry baskets. (I need to do laundry later!)

We have a big plant and a tropical tree for decoration. I have a big treasure chest full of stuff from past adventures, memories, pictures of friends, and lots of other stuff important to me.

I have a picture frame of a cactus, and windows which each have candles. 🕯 I always have to be careful so the candles don’t knock over or something to cause a fire. Yikes!

Now it is hard to see, but a little above, hold on… there we go! Here is all of the equipment that I need for the sports I play. I do these things occasionally when the weather is right. Usually, on Tuesdays and Fridays, I go to either Midas’s Gym or Bert’s Basement Gym on Mythology and Pelican Rock Islands.

I also like to stop at Ye Old Roastery on Fairytale Island. They have great muffins, and they also… oh sorry, getting a bit carried away. Anyways, based on my sports equipment, I bike, snowboard, surfboard, skateboard, play tennis, soccer, basketball, and volleyball. A lot, I know.

Here is my office. We have my bookshelf, a humidifier, my home voice system “Poppy,” my table to the right with candles and cards, and my upper shelves with my telescope, radio, and speaker. I also have a leaf thing for decoration and a light-up heart above my computer.

I do my school work on my trusty computer and play games such as Legendary Swords. (I just started playing, so I am still learning how the game works!) You can’t see it, but upstairs I have the bathroom, washroom, pantry, and storage room.

Last but not least, my favorite room: my bedroom! I have my unicorn plushy on my bed, and above it is a butterfly decoration, red flower drapes, a moon dreamcatcher, a string of lights with photos of my friends, and a green strand with pinecones. On the left, there’s my dresser with a neon heart lamp and a sparkly lamp.

Well, that’s all folks! I hope you enjoyed my tour! I like to switch out the decorations, so it definitely won’t stay the same for long.

My username is GoldenPuppy3 if you’d like to visit, and you can find me in both the comments on the PHB and the official Poptropica Creators’ Blog. See you soon. Keep on Crushing it!

~ Pink Crush 💖

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Pink Crush. If you did, you might also enjoy other clubhouse tours we’ve featured. Consider sharing yours, too!

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!

Steam Bundle

“C” for Cost? Steam Islands Not Free 💨💸

April 11, 2022April 11, 2022 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, tune in for more on the upcoming Steam bundle!

The fourth hint is here and it’s got only slightly more verbiage than the last one: the letter “C” followed by the word “answer.” What do you C?

Reddit user ashelenbrowses made a strong case for the hint pointing to Mission Atlantis Island: the “answer” is found under the “C” (sea). In this island, we discover an ancient city underwater, which fits the bill.

If you’ve been keeping up with the past few hints (1, 2, 3), this guess goes along with the theory that the 13 islands we’ll be seeing on Steam will be AS3 (newer) “old islands.” Complete islands were promised for Steam, so if this guess is right, it’ll be a bigger offering than the one episode that was ported several months ago to desktop for members. 🌊

Below: What do you call a skyline when it’s underwater?

(Also, check out our updated Pop Music collection for tunes from Mission Atlantis and more!)

But if you’re hoping for a different guess, we might also consider Skullduggery or SOS, which are also sea-based. Or if we’re looking at the capital C, maybe islands that start with the letter: Counterfeit, Cryptids, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or Pop Worlds-based Crisis Caverns.

It turns out, by the way, that the Steam bundle will not be free. In a comment on the Pop Creators’ Blog, Poptropica replied to a fan’s question about cost, adding that the price is to be announced. It’s pretty disappointing considering that all these old islands were free before they disappeared — but business is business.

Anyway, that’s all for Steam hint #4! Stay tuned for the next one, and if you’ve got some good guesses, share them in the comments or on our Discord server, the PHC. “C” you later!

~🐠

Galactic Hot Dogs Island, Steam Bundle

Wiener Hints at Leaner Steam Islands 🐕💨

April 10, 2022April 11, 2022 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, steamy sounds of more clues incoming!

Since the announcement of some old islands to return on Steam, Poptropica’s been sharing daily clues as to what those islands may be. The third hint is but a lone image: a pink wiener dog. 🌸🐕

Third Steam hint comin’ in hot today!

That’s it. That’s the clue. Any guesses which island this could be? 🧐 pic.twitter.com/GXmHUrZ8hM
— Official Poptropica (@Poptropica) April 9, 2022

While a few islands of the past had their share of dogs, the specificity of the clue being a wiener dog seems to point strongly to one in particular: Galactic Hot Dogs. In this island based on the eponymous graphic novel series by Max Brallier (son of former Pop publisher Jess Brallier), we hop aboard a spaceship called the Neon Wiener, which has a hot dog inside.

If we want to look to other possibilities for the clue, we might also consider the B.A.D. guard dogs you have to dodge in Spy Island, or Spitsy, a slender dog who helps you dig up the time capsule in Big Nate Island.

With the three hints we’ve seen so far, rumors have been circulating about the choice of the 13 islands to return on Steam: they may all be newer old islands, as opposed to super longtime classics. These newer old islands are sometimes known in the fandom as SUI (Sound-Updated Islands) or AS3 (ActionScript 3, the Flash-based programming language) and include islands released from around 2013 to 2015, which had bigger screens and sound, and may be easier to port as the technology isn’t as old as AS2 (encompassing all pre-2013 islands).

As Tough Spinner points out, these AS3 islands had been playable on the Poptropica app before they were removed in early 2022 to match with the desktop experience. Those now-missing islands are the complete sets of episodes for Survival, Mission Atlantis, PoptropiCon, and Arabian Nights, as well as standalone islands Reality TV: Wild Safari, Mystery of the Map, Shrink Ray, Galactic Hot Dogs, and the original Mythology Island. Maybe these are the islands returning via Steam…

Some of the islands from the Poptropica app before they disappeared in early 2022.

…but that’s nine islands (counting episodes as part of a full island), leaving four more, since we were promised 13 islands on Steam. It just so happens that there are at least four more AS3 islands that were never ported to the mobile app: Virus Hunter, Monster Carnival, Mocktropica, and Monkey Wrench (whose return was promised last year). Poptropolis Games was also re-released as an SUI/AS3, though it was originally an AS2 island.

Yet another possibility for some of the Steam islands could be those AS3-turned-Haxe islands that already exist on desktop: 24 Carrot, Time Tangled, Timmy Failure, and Escape From Pelican Rock — a perfect four. (The former two are OGs from 2008, but later remade into SUI/AS3 format.) Hopefully not, since we can already access them, and it wouldn’t really be in the spirit of “old islands” as promised…

Branching Out: Time for us to make like a tree, and leave.

The fact that Galactic Hot Dogs was never really a popular island among the fandom also makes it an odd choice, but it lines up with the AS3 islands theory, as do the rest of our best guesses for the other hints so far (Shrink Ray and Mythology). But who knows? Maybe we can still have hope for a few truly older AS2 islands… time will tell.

For a bit of nostalgia about islands old and new, check out our updated Poptropica Music collection under the Pop Plus tab here on the PHB! 🎵

Formerly known as “Behind the Scenes,” we’ve recently updated this page to remove outdated links as well as share previously uncovered Poptropica music files as embedded audio so you can listen directly on the page. For a taste, enjoy this track from Monster Carnival at daytime:

There’s more! Pop into the PHB’s Poptropica Music page to hear tunes from Mocktropica, Time Tangled, and many more. Enjoy!

~🐠

Roblox, Zomberry Island

Zomberry on Roblox: Humans vs Zombies Survival Guide 🧟🫐

April 3, 2022April 3, 2022 Slanted Fish

Look out: the Zomberry outbreak is back, but not on Pop! Poptropica’s second Roblox game is out and this time, it’s hide-and-seek.

To play Zomberry: Humans vs Zombies, you’ll need a free Roblox account. Once you enter the game, you’ll find yourself in the parking lot of Joe’s Donut Drive-in, which is the lobby waiting area. We’ll delve more into fun finds from this area below, but for now, click “ready to play”!

Two or more players can start a game, which already makes it more accessible than Pop’s first Roblox try, Unicorn Frenzy. Each player is randomly assigned to one of two teams: humans or zombies.

🧟 Team Zombie: You’ll start off in a shed and will need to bust open the door by rapidly clicking on it till it opens. Once you’re free, start looking for humans so you can infect them with your spit! If all humans are infected and become zombies, zombies win.
👷🏾 Team Human: Your role is to run and hide from the zombies. If you’re infected, you’ll join the zombies team to try to infect others! But if you can stay hidden until the 3 minutes are up, humans win.

You’ll also play as a random 3D Poptropican avatar, which could be any random civilian or, if you’re lucky, an iconic character such as Dr. Hare from 24 Carrot Island, Xavier Pendragon from Home Island, or even Joe Puddy himself from the OG Zomberry Island.

But that’s not all of the familiar faces: in the arena, you can find a fountain with the missing statue of Xavier from the Home Island quest. And in the lobby, inside Joe’s Donut Drive-in, the storekeeper is none other than Amelia… with a zombie caged above her: the Baron. Eerie…

By the way, you can talk to Amelia by clicking on the cup of caffeine (one of her beloved teas?) in front of her. She’ll explain that zombies have taken over the city, and now the donut shop is a safe house.

Behind the counter, you can also find secret rooms inside the donut shop. The one on the left is a storage room with another bizarre sight: a Frozen Zombie. The one on the right is a cozier room with film gear, a unicorn plushie you can ride, and framed photos previously seen in Amelia’s home (thanks for the tip, Tough Spinner!).

Back out in the lobby, you can find the leaderboard as well as a few more Easter eggs. On the outside walls of the donut shop are movie posters previously seen in Poptropica: Pony Bros (PoptropiCon), Night of the Living Carrots (24 Carrot), and Zombie in Paradise (Zomberry).

Poke around and you’ll find a mini one-seater car which you can ride around the lot at varying speeds. The car even has “RED” as its license plate — could be the Red Baron’s? She’s quarantined now, so enjoy!

If you played this Zomberry game on its release day, April 1, you might’ve met the Pop Creators, who held a launch party at 3 p.m. PST/6 p.m. EST, but were also online for a while before that. 🎉

Plus, the friends of @Pop_Creators account that hosts Pop’s Roblox games might reveal individual team members’ Roblox handles. 👀 We don’t recognize most of the 12 names, but there are a few familiar ones, like Pop artists @jonpitcher (Jon Pitcher aka Master Mime) and @lionhearted_gale (Abigail Grigg, who also has a webcomic called “King and Lionheart”). And @bloctorhare: “block” and “Dr. Hare”?

Another point worth mentioning: Poptropica’s Roblox games mark the first time officially having free chat in a Poptropica medium, something they’ve previously shied away from due to safety concerns. It might be a welcome change for players, but also indicates a shift in values.

Overall, this Zomberry romp is a decent minigame with some nice references to tie it into the Poptropica universe we know and love, which gives it more substance than Unicorn Frenzy. But as with that other Roblox release, and with our half-joking rant on release day, we’re still left wondering why develop on Roblox in the first place. It’s more Poptropica this time, sure — just not the Poptropica we’re looking for.