Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! We’re not goofing around with this announcement — we’ve got sneak peeks for the next Poptropica island!

Poptropica’s been busy lately with side quests and other specials, but they haven’t forgotten about making islands. The latest one in the works is Goofball Island, which was announced as a winner of the 2020 Dream Island contest. Take a look at their wavy wonders!

As we see in this first ever sneak peek, the “land of Goof” is lined with curving everything, from trees to lampposts — and even slanted fish on the Crazy Club? We’re not sure what this grinning building is all about, but we get another look at it through this sketch (sans “Toof”-paste):

Are the dancing creatures and poofy trees giving anyone else Dr. Seuss storybook vibes? In any case, that silly energy fits in here, as the plot is all about an unusually cheery town that’s about to have all its color wiped out by mad scientist Dr. Blandston.

Back to that first picture, we find some curious things of note, like the fact that our boy Ned Noodlehead from Super Power Island is hanging out by the Crazy Club, likely just as a stand-in for scale. We also see a building for Boskos Car Fixing and Embroidery, which seems a strange combo. And wacky faces are everywhere, from the clouds to the gate gnomes and birds (real and inflatable). 🤓🤪

Besides the announcement of this winning island idea back in January, this is the first time we’re hearing about Goofball Island, and it seems to be shaping up to be quite the adventure! Stay tuned for the latest news on this upcoming island, and let’s hope they (don’t) goof it up!

Poptropica’s Instagram story has been busy too, with last calls to enjoy Hoptropica birthday goodies and a slew of fan art, including a couple of drawing process videos. Hippity hop before they drop!

That’s it for this update! How hyped are you for Goofball Island? Have you made the most of Hoptropica’s birthday visit? Share with us in the comments, and keep on popping on, Poptropicans! ✌️

~🐠

YouTubers

PHB’s Picks: Poptropica Month 2021 🎥⭐️

September 28, 2021September 28, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! This September has been a birthday blast with cake costumes, Hoptropica and its 8-bit followers, TikToks, fan art, and of course, fan videos for the fan-run Poptropica Month on YouTube.

As we wrap up the month, we’re taking a dive into some of our favorite clips from the 2021 playlist. Sit back, pop the corn, and enjoy! 🍿🎬

Our first feature comes from our Pop Month hosts, the Dimension Bros. As an analogy for the state of Poptropica in 2021, this 3-minute skit tells the story of a hungry diner customer waiting for his Old Island order, only to be fed excuses instead of dinner. 🍽 The whole act is performed solo by Isaac, and the tale is highly resonant. Props! 👏

The next feature comes from the other half of the Dimension Bros — in this one, Theo sits down with his mother and has her guess the names of various Poptropica characters. She’s pretty inventive — doesn’t “Teresa Moonbeam” sound just like a classic Poptropica moniker? 😜🌙

Invisible Ring appears to be the biggest participant of the Pop Month playlist, with many of her videos being ones we’ve shared for her dream island, Megatropolis. But among her other videos is a mini movie filmed in-game in the style of Perfect Sky, a Pop pirate adventure just in time for Talk Like a Pirate Day. So many islands to explore! 🏴‍☠️

A different take on Poptropica explorers, this epic cinematic trailer from LostLucas dramatizes his Popsona, Lone Clown, by juxtaposing shots of gameplay with sensational narration about this never-smiling character. Critics are wary — but we’re intrigued. 🤔

Speaking of cinematic, have you ever imagined adapting Poptropica islands into movies? CatfishFour does just that in this vlog, conjuring up ideas for potential audio, lighting, plot, genre, character development, and other considerations for the big screen. Picture Escape From Pelican Rock as a comedic, artistic Wes Anderson film — what a concept! 👮🎬

That wraps up the PHB’s picks for Poptropica Month 2021! You can find more in the Pop Month playlist, but keep in mind that some of its content is for ages 13+. For more kid-friendly choices, the Pop Creators’ Blog also featured a few fan vids this month.

We hope you enjoyed the clips above and all the other festivities for Poptropica’s 14th birthday this month! It’s amazing how creative the Pop community can be. Keep on popping on! 🥳

~the PHB 💙

Free Membership Giveaways

PHB Membership Giveaway: September 2021

September 27, 2021September 26, 2021 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! 🎁

Congrats, Happy Bubbles — your new status lets you unlock the latest side quest, Rumpel’s Challenge, continuing the story of Fairy Tale Island! We might not know when they’re ever going to bring back the old islands, but at least you can help a king get his happy ending… sort of.

If you’re not a member, you still have the chance (or many chances, in fact): the PHB is hosting a giveaway every month, and it’s easy to enter! Just comment on the 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 Happy Bubbles, and as always, keep on popping on! 🛁

Fan Art Features, Social Media

Thank u, Jeff 🥳 and T-rex? 🦖

September 24, 2021September 25, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, we’ve got a couple TikTok clips and tons more Instagram stories to unpack. Let’s pop into it!

Earlier this week, Poptropica dropped a new TikTok featuring the picking of the golden apple at the Tree of Immortality on Mythology Island. The vid is accompanied by some rather peculiar squeaking and coughing, apparently a trending TikTok soundbite.

Also just recently, another quick vid popped onto the scene, wishing Poptropica a happy 14th birthday along with a slideshow of photos of Jeff Kinney, Poptropica’s original founder. Strangely fitting for the occasion, it’s joined by James Corden’s parody of an Ariana Grande song — “thank u, jeff” — originally for Jurassic Park actor Jeff Goldblum, which explains the line, “I’m so freakin’ scared of that T-rex.”

But maybe the prize should go to TikTok user @seejayseemusic, who asks in response to the clip, “Jeff Kinney is 14?“

Curious about Jeff’s role with Poptropica? Check out our thank-you birthday post from last year, focusing on OG Pop Creators’ vision for the game!

“Thank u, jeff” also debuted on Poptropica’s Instagram stories, along with tons of fan art, including some chubby villains. Enjoy:

Itching to add to the sea of Pop fan art out there? Those Poptober prompts from HCT might be just the thing to inspire your next piece(s). Like last year’s Poptober, the drawing challenges are here to encourage you to create throughout the coming October. You can do as much (or little) as you like — possibly even one a day as LJ did! ✏️ However you participate, just have fun with it!

And yes, as the story says, Rumpel’s Challenge is in fact out now! This follow-up to Fairytale Island is currently only available to members. Stay tuned for the PHB’s guide coming soon. Don’t stumble on ol’ Rumpel! 😈

~🐠

Fan Art Features, Social Media, YouTubers

Real questions raised in Red October reel & September birthday feels 🎥🎉

September 20, 2021September 21, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! We’ve got fan art galore in this post with costume creations, memes, and more featured by the Pop Creators. Let’s go!

First up, Poptropica has posted the monthly compilation video of entries for the costume design contest. With the theme of Red October, you just might find your bones tingling from the early Halloween vibes.

UPDATE: A day after this PHB post, the Pop Creators quietly replaced the video with a new version (shown above), taking into account the concerns we addressed (shown below). While the old video is now unavailable, the new one credits IG artists and removes an offending username. They thought they could be sneaky in not announcing the change, but we noticed! Still, props for doing the right thing.

The PHB’s comments before the change: While the costumes are undoubtedly spooktacular, we did make a couple of chilling observations in the vid: 1) the questionable attribution of “via IG” for various entries from Instagram that do not properly credit their artists, and 2) the inclusion of a watermark from a username with profanity that the Pop Creators previously featured on their IG story.

From these observations, perhaps the Pop Creators only want to credit people by their Poptropican name (although they don’t mind keeping in any watermarks that appear on images, even the aforementioned iffy name). Still, not every IG user put a watermark on their pic, which means that some in the video have gone uncredited. (Tips for Pop: take the extra step to give credit where it’s due, even if it’s not a Pop name, and maybe not at all if it’s vulgar. It matters!)

Beyond these oddities, they also haven’t yet announced the six winners promised whose costumes will be created for the game. While we wait, I figured I’d share some of my own personal picks:

Besides the costumes, fan artists have been busy making drawings and even videos for the fan-run Poptropica Month. The Pop Creators’ Blog recently featured several pieces starring Amelia, the Baron, and MVB:

Amelia with Pop’s 14th birthday cake by Sleepy Biker

In addition to these pics, they also featured a few videos, all of which were posted this month for the fan-hosted Poptropica Month 2021 playlist! Here’s one from iHateFridays (aka Magic Snowball) doodling while describing their personal experiences with Pop:

And here’s one from TheOrangeHelium taking various online quizzes to test her Poptropica knowledge. (Hey, look at Pop crediting fan creators by their non-Pop usernames on social media. It’s not that hard!)

Finally, the Pop Creators also highlighted a sneak peek of a storyline told in comics from Invisible Ring. For the record, you can read (and watch) all about her dream island, Megatropolis, here on the PHB!

That concludes this post! Stay tuned to find out which costumes the Baron will be bringing in her next visit, and enjoy the plentiful productions from both players and Pop Creators throughout the game’s birthday month. Keep on popping on, Poptropicans! ✌️

~🐠