Slanted Fish

This is a guest post by Silver Shell. Enjoy!

What’s up, Poptropicans? Silver Shell here. I’m back to show you my latest Pop-TROPE-ica post, a series about trends in the game.

This time, we’re talking about how some Poptropica islands send you through time and space. Let’s get into it!

10. Early Poptropica

This island goes way back — and not just in the sense that it’s the first Poptropica island ever. The 8-bit characters are definitely old-timey, and reflect the pilgrims who settled in what became America. While only one half of the island is designed like this, the Pop Art museum also has you meet artists from the past, such as da Vinci and van Gogh.

9. Red Dragon

Remember this one? This island is one of my favorites. It’s based off of Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House series, and has you go back in time to the Edo period of Japan with Jack and Annie. However, instead of being set in the past from beginning to end like Early Poptropica, you first arrive in the present before the tree house sends you to Old Japan a little later.

8. Mystery Train

Not only is this island full of mystery, it also puts you way back in time–to 1893, specifically–and has historical figures around every corner. From Nikola Tesla to Susan B. Anthony to President Cleveland, this island is definitely an island set a long time ago.

7. Astro-Knights

This one’s a good example. It shows both time travel to the past, what with the medieval knights and all that, and futuristic technology. Though it was a good mix of the two, I think it was set more in the past, just with items of the future.

6. Super Power

This one may be just me, but doesn’t it kind of seem like Super Power is set in the future? Think about it. Radioactive meteorites giving regular criminals superhuman powers, anti-power handcuffs, and everything else. I guess it’s more sci-fi than anything, but don’t you think it could also be futuristic? I mean, who knows what could be invented in the near future? Anyway, it seems possible that it’s in the future.

5. Mythology (or Mythology – Classic Version)

Yes, Mythology Island! Puts you back in time to when the gods walked among mortals, as the legends would have it. From the design of the buildings to the way people are dressed, you can see this island is set back in Ancient Greece.

4. Shrink Ray

Shrink Ray, the island where you get shrunk by an evil teacher! While I suppose it doesn’t really seem like time-travel since it looks like a modern town with modern stuff, it gives me a sense of the future. Shrink ray guns have been talked about since forever, and the fact that it exists here makes it seem like the island is set in the near future, perhaps.

3. S.O.S.

Being modeled after the fall of the Titanic, when I played this one it kind of seemed like we were had gone back in time to experience this bit of history. While it could have been in the present but just similar to something from the past, the Titanic connection makes me think S.O.S. should be considered an island with time travel.

2. Cryptids

People have been obsessed with finding cryptids since forever, but the ones we spot on this island have yet to be confirmed in our IRL timeline. Actually finding them here hints at what could happen in the future. I guess this one’s kind of a long shot, but it’s still remotely related to time travel in my opinion. It’s not just me, is it?

1. Time Tangled

Of course this one! Visiting eleven different time periods from the past! That’s a time travel island if you ask me. I bet everyone expected this one would come up on this list. Come on, this island is the most related to time travel ever to appear on the map.

So, how do you like it? Ten whole islands that take you back in time. That’s a Poptropica trend for sure. Maybe the next Dream Island, Secret of the Jade Scarab, will also have time travel. We’ll see. Until next time!

Pop Nonstop,
Silver Shell 🥈🐚

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Silver Shell. If you did, you might also like her other posts, such as this Pop Petition: Stop replacing good features.

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!

Creators' Blog Guest Posts, Goofball Island, New Islands

Pop drop: Goofball Island is here! 🤪🕵️‍♀️

November 19, 2021November 30, 2021 Slanted Fish

It’s playtime, Poptropicans: Goofball Island is here and available to all players! Head to the map to get started on this wild ride.

Looking for a little help in this adventure? Check out our Goofball Island Guide with pictures, trivia, and more! 🥳🥸

Get ready for a wacky world of contrasts, exploration, musical madness, colorful characters, and weird twists. We won’t spoil too much here, but you’re welcome to discuss your thoughts in the comments here, on our guide, or on the PHC. Plus, stay tuned for the PHB’s review!

In other news, Poptropica has two contests underway: November’s costume design contest (ending this Friday, Nov 19) and the Goofy Clubhouse Challenge (ending Monday, Nov 22) in honor of the new island. To participate, you can use their submissions page.

The Creators’ Blog also has a new guest post from Invisible Ring, comparing the two Dream Islands that came before Goofball: Arabian Nights (2014) and Fairytale (2021). In her commentary, she highlights their similarity in drawing inspiration from classic legends, as well as a few differences, such as genre, platform, and even medallion designs.

Which fan-imagined Dream Island is your favorite? What did you think of the latest one? Share your thoughts and get your goof on! 🤪🕵️‍♀️

~🐠

Creators' Blog Guest Posts, Fan Art Features, Social Media

Crowning glories of characters in stories 👑

November 14, 2021November 14, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, pop in for the latest in Pop culture! We’ve got Pop stars, boredom busters, Mythology assumptions, and more.

The Pop-arazzi are back—kind of. Poptropica recently put out a tweet comparing two celebs with Pop characters: SNL comedian Pete Davidson as Hades from Mythology and actor Timothée Chalamet as Edgar the carnie from Monster Carnival. See any resemblance?

honestly can’t stop thinking about how much pete davidson and timothee chalamet look like poptropica characters pic.twitter.com/h7VAXMONcC
— Official Poptropica (@Poptropica) November 11, 2021

Over on the Pop Creators’ Blog, new guest writer Golden Crown (who has appeared on the PHB) shares some Poptropica boredom busters! Crown’s tips include winning at all the games, buying everything you can, looking for details (btw, get some good ones in the PHB’s Island Guides trivia), throwing a party (even playing tag!), and taking pictures.

Here on the PHB, we’ve got a list of 101 Boredom Busters you might enjoy as well, though many of them will apply only to the old islands. For more modern ideas, check out Golden Crown’s post! 👑

Beyond dressing up on Poptropica, you can also give your character some flair through drawings! Poptropica’s latest Instagram stories feature some expressive Popsona designs, as well as a call to join the monthly costume contest, which runs until this Friday, November 19.

On TikTok, Poptropica has started a new series called “What your fave Poptropica island tells me about you.” First up: Mythology. If you love this island, you might also love everything else about ancient Greece, the Percy Jackson series, use scifi and fantasy as a form of escapism, and are super into art or a band kid — “either way, you really relate to the burned-out gifted kid stereotype.” Rings true, or just a myth? 😜⚡️

@poptropicacreator
#asktiktok Making assumptions based on your favorite Poptropica island — #Mythology edition! 🏛⚡️How accurate do you think this is? #ForzaHorizon
♬ slipping through my fingers – favsoundds

The short clip wraps up by promising a part two, so stay tuned. Thanks for popping by, and see you in the next one!

~🐠

Guest Posts, Pop Petitions

Pop Petition: Stop replacing good features

November 12, 2021November 11, 2021 Slanted Fish

This is a guest post by Silver Shell. Enjoy!

Hey Poptropicans! Today I’ll be talking to you about how Poptropica should first work on what we players specifically ask for, before jumping onto something else that they only think we might like.

Granted, this one’s a little obvious, but I feel like someone needs to bring it up. Poptropica often makes a ton of new features nowadays, and I feel like most of it is really unnecessary. Specifically, Poptropica seemingly enjoys replacing and changing perfectly good features. I’ll be addressing some of them here.

Not only are most of the new features pretty annoying and inconvenient in my opinion, they also bring up more glitches than the original version had. This is bad for both the players and the creators, since they have to spend even more resources on fixing the glitches, when they could have avoided all this by simply leaving the feature the way it had been. Here are some examples:

A Buggy New Inventory

This one has been brought up a lot. For a long time, Poptropica’s inventory screen has looked similar to the above picture to the right (though the categorization of items with tabs came much later). Earlier this year, it was changed to the one on the left. The original had very few bugs, and there was hardly anything wrong with it, especially once tabs were introduced to help sort through tons of items.

However, once it was changed to the character screen, even more bugs came up. People have been complaining about bugs on the character screen for a long time, but few are fixed. My theory is that the creators hear these complaints, but have already invested so much on changing the inventory setup that they are lacking the resources to fix it.

Loss of the Charming Crate Menu

Remember the crate menu? You’d click on the box in the top corner to open up all the menu options. I know I definitely loved the crate. It was subtle and charming, and it was satisfying to watch your items just spill out across your screen. For another thing, it didn’t take up a lot of space like the new one does.

But when it was changed earlier this year, it was a boring modern 3-lines button. Not very fun at all! Not to mention how much space it takes up when all nine blocks are set out on the screen. I just think there was no real reason to change it. And it’s not like we couldn’t have the original in Haxe, since it had been there in Haxe’s earliest stages. Why did the creators feel the need to change this?

Home Island Refreshed, Again

Some people like this new Home Island, but I have to say, I enjoyed the old one much better. I don’t see any reason in changing it — the creators should stop working on new Home Islands for a change and start working on classic island returns! They’re what we really want.

Speaking of new visuals, I’m also not a big fan of the new animation of characters, but that’s getting off-topica.

With all that in mind, this is my message to the creators: Stop replacing good features, and work on what we players specifically ask for!

The game wouldn’t be much without the players, but in its current state, it barely resembles the Poptropica I used to play. Creators, if you listen to our petitions for old stuff, Poptropica will really improve! So please, stop changing what is fine the way it is, and start working on what we really want — specifically, island adventures.

That’s all for this post. Thanks so much for reading about my ideas for what Poptropica should really focus on!