Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, buzz in for a sneak peek, special tips to know, and a mini review of the year!

The Pop Creators’ Blog recently revealed that the story of Goofball Island isn’t over — a sequel side quest is on its way, and it involves this Bee Bot! 🐝🤖 The drawing might be dull in color, but could it turn out goofy?

What do you think this little critter could bee for? Whatever it is, stay tuned for more details about the upcoming adventure! No word yet on whether it will be for members or for all, but at least it’s nice to see this behind-the-scenes sketch.

Speaking of Goofball Island, the endings have been updated to include Bosko! Whether you pick a goofy, bland, or balanced outcome, our favorite furry monster will be there to crack his odd jokes. (Thanks to Incredible Flame for the tip!)

By the way, the Baron might’ve disappeared from the skies earlier this week, but you can still access her airship through your messages in the menu. Be sure to catch her Grapple-Pap gear while it’s here! (Thanks again to Incredible Flame for the tip!)

Last but not least, guest writer Invisible Ring is back with another post on the Creators’ Blog, bringing along a cameraman to report on the past year’s developments in Poptropica. From new islands to side quests, features, and multiplayer content, she notes that Poptropica met their promises for 2021, albeit with some mixed reviews in some areas.

On that note, keep an eye out for the PHB’s 2021 Rewind, coming out just before the new year! We’ll be taking an even deeper dive into this past year’s releases, both from the Creators and the fandom. To go even further, browse through our Pop Yearbook of past years in Poptropica.

See you at the PHB’s Grapple-Pap party this weekend, Poptropicans. Bee there or bee square! ☃️ 🐝

~🐠

Fanfiction, Guest Posts

Poptropica Fanfic: What Really Happened to Balloon Boy 🎈

December 17, 2021June 15, 2022 Slanted Fish

This is a guest post by Silver Shell. Enjoy!

Howdy, Poptropicans! Today’s topic is all about Balloon Boy, and how he became a floating Pop icon. Let’s get right into it!

Back in Poptropica’s earlier days, there was a teenage player. His screen name was Green Flyer. He happened to be a glitcher, and decided to see what happened if he took the balloon from Bobo’s Clown Store up and over to the aircraft graveyard of Early Poptropica Island to see what the purple giant’s face looked like, since all anyone knew was his feet.

So Green Flyer took a balloon — a nice green one — and got it from Counterfeit Island to Early Poptropica. He jumped as high as he could, going much higher than the game intended players to go. Now, this glitch had never been tried before, so as anyone can imagine, there were going to be problems. The creators had programmed it to only show the giant’s feet, and this was defying their programming. The glitcher was trying to do something that couldn’t be glitched.

Unsurprisingly, the “clever” glitch failed. Green Flyer’s screen froze and wouldn’t come back on. He informed the creators about it, but there wasn’t much that could be done. The glitch, thought to be helpful, turned out to be a huge bug.

All the creators could do to make sure that Green Flyer would be able to play Poptropica again would be to delete his account. Not having much of a choice, he agreed and had to start from scratch.

Later on, the creators began to think, “Hey, that was a pretty interesting situation there. What a great chance to make a new Pop icon!!” So the creators built Green Flyer’s character into Counterfeit (which at the time was not yet out to everyone) along with a mother character. In the quest, they had the player help him by giving him a green balloon, which he’d take and fly away with. This character also never came down (yet!), just like how in real life, the bug couldn’t be fixed and the teenager couldn’t get his avatar back online.

The Pop community found this NPC cool as well, and used him often when trying to represent Pop. As hoped, he became an important and popular symbol of the game, competing with Dr Hare. However, after a while, people forgot about the name Green Flyer and started referring to him as Balloon Boy.

And that, my Pop friends, is one story of how our beloved Balloon Boy came to be. Thanks for reading as always!

Pop Nonstop,
🥈🐚

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Silver Shell. If you did, you might also like another one of hers: Pop-TROPE-ica: Inter-Island Connections.

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!

Fan Art Features, Mini Quests

Grappling with Grapple-Pap 🎁❄️

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021 Slanted Fish

Grab on for a happy Grapple-Pap, Poptropicans!

For the second year of this Poptropica winter holiday, the Grapple-Gift Side Quest has returned. It’s exactly like last year’s — heart attacks, Grapple-Pops and all. Get the gist in our Grapple-Gift Guide! 🎁

Talk to the old man outside Adventure Outfitters to set off on the snowy village. While you’re on Home Island, you might also notice Bosko with a car in repair calling you to Goofball Island, as well as the fact that the Baron has taken off without so much as a goodbye.

So anyway, what exactly is Grapple-Pap? The side quest reveals it’s both a holiday and a scary creature, with the legend: “If you don’t spread cheer to all who are near, Grapple-Pap will get you for one whole year!”

The Creators’ Blog also shares, “the ideas behind Grapple-Pap are based in other cultures’ celebrations.” We see Christmas garlands, Krampus on pillars, and Scandinavian attire and architecture (similar to Disney’s Frozen). What else does Grapple-Pap remind you of?

Poptropica’s Instagram story also continues the Grapple-Pap hype with a pop quiz (and hello, Club Penguin dance!). Plus it’s a good thing we all have our blimps, or happyclonetrooper’s latest meme might have brought on the wrath of Grapple-Pap. 😈

Speaking of cheer-spreading season, the PHB is hosting a Grapple-Pap Party this Saturday, Dec 18 at 8 pm Eastern / 5 pm Pacific! We’ll be hanging out in Poptropica’s Arcade and on our PHC Discord server (watch out for snowballs). Come out for a chill time! 🎄🎊☃️

~🐠

PHB Parties

This Sat: PHB’s 2021 Grapple-Pap Party! 🥳❄️

December 12, 2021December 18, 2021 Slanted Fish

Happy Grapple-Pap, Poptropicans! To celebrate the holiday season (both on Poptropica and in general), the PHB is hosting a Grapple-Pap Holiday Party! 🎄🥳

Legend has it that Poptropicans are obligated to spread holiday cheer, or the great Grapple-Pap will get you for one whole year. Well, we love an excuse to party, so you’re all invited join us on the Discord sleigh for a merry time of Poptropica play! 🎊🎅

Save the date for Saturday, December 18 @ 8 pm Eastern / 7 pm Central / 6 pm Mountain / 5 pm Pacific (for all other time zones, check a time zone converter). In some parts of the world, it may be Sunday morning, Dec 19. 📅

We’ll be hanging out in Poptropica’s common rooms like the Arcade (via the in-game menu), playing head-to-head games, and talking on our Discord chat server, the PHC — a space where PHB staff and other Poptropicans regularly hang out. It’s open anytime, so come on in. 💬👋

Bring your wondrous winter wear and get ready to have a beautiful blizzard blast. See you this weekend! ❄️

~Poptropica’s little help bloggers 🎄

Fan Art Features, Goofball Island

Goofball goodies for all the goonies 🤪

December 5, 2021December 5, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, get ready for more Goofball spirit!

The Poptropica Creators released their own official guides for Goofball Island this past week, both a written walkthrough and a video (below). But if you can’t get enough, the PHB’s also got our own Goofball Island Guide right here, with fun facts you may have missed! ✨

Flying in with Mary Poppins’ “winds in the east,” Poptropica also released a short on TikTok and YouTube to hype up the latest island:

And there’s more on Pop’s TikTok! This new clip pairs the idea of Poptropica “back in the day” with a caption that claims they’re “still releasing new (and old!) islands.” Sooo… are more old islands on the horizon? Time will tell.

@poptropicacreator
Back in the day? NAH. Poptropica is still releasing new (and old!) islands on a regular basis!! #nostalgia #throwback #poptropica #kidsoftiktok
♬ original sound – teqfla

Also on TikTok is a clip celebrating the weird physics of Poptropica parkour, paired with screaming from a scene from The Office. Now that’s some Pop core.

@poptropicacreator
you won’t be able to unhear the “PARKOUR” every time you run in Poptropica after this #AmazonMusicJingleBellTok #gamingclips #nostalgia #gamersbelike
♬ original sound – Patty b

There are more Goofball goodies coming from the fandom! The Creators’ Blog featured several pieces of fan art inspired by the new island. Goes great with this month’s theme for the PHB’s Community Creations, which is—you guessed it—Goofball!

Beyond Goofball, Poptropicans’ fan art lately also features classic characters like Ringmaster Raven and Dr. Hare. Check out some recent ones from Poptropica’s Instagram stories: