Author: Slanted Fish

Hello! I'm Slanted Fish, the editor-in-chief and creator of the Poptropica Help Blog (PHB). I'm a writer, Hong Kong native, and Christ follower. My Poptropica username is slantedfish 🐠 Don't forget to be awesome!
Ask Poptropica Siri

Welcome to Ask Poptropica Siri 🧠

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans—this is a guest post by Smart Icicle, who is bringing back a Q&A series to the PHB. Got a Poptropica question? Ask Poptropica Siri!

Hello fellow Poptropicans! I decided to start a new ask series on the PHB. Remember Ask the Joker, where you send various questions to Incredible Joker? Sadly, the Joker is no longer around in the Pop community, but his Q&A segment inspired this one.

Welcome to Ask Poptropica Siri! Like the old series, how it works is that you, the readers, send me your Poptropica-related questions by comment or email, and I’ll answer them with all the wisdom you can expect from a Smart Icicle. I will randomly select a few questions and answer them in each post, which will come every two weeks.

How can you send in your questions to Ask Poptropica Siri?

That’s a great question! You can use the following methods:

  • 📧 Send an email to askpoptropicasiri (at) gmail (dot) com. This way, you’ll get to keep your questions a surprise when they get answered on the blog.
  • 💬 Comment on the latest Ask Poptropica Siri post. Your questions will be publicly visible before they appear in a Q&A post, but this allows others to interact with your question if they so choose. If you don’t have an email address, you can enter a fake one in the email field when you post your comment.

Now put on your thinking caps and let’s get the Pop questions going. See you soon, Poptropicans!

~Smart Icicle 📚❄️

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Smart Icicle. If you’ve got a burning Poptropica question or two, Ask Poptropica Siri for a fresh perspective!

Guest Posts, Pop 5

Pop 5: Creatures of Poptropica 🐶🐴

Slanted Fish

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

Hello again, Poptropicans! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Remember the poll I made last month about “Who is your favorite Poptropica creature?” Thanks to all the people who participated, including a few PHB staff, and especially to those who made whole lists!

Now I’m here to announce the top 5 creatures based on the poll. Note that #5, 4, and 3 were all tied with the same number of votes, so they are ordered randomly here. Anyway, let’s get into it, shall we?

#5: Narf (Mocktropica Island)

Ah, the hilarious and adorable creature, Narf. Narfs can be seen in Mocktropica Island if you toss them some cheese puffs. Their last known location: the bridge. Try not to feed this funny creature.

#4: Fluffy (Spy Island)

Adorable but vicious, Fluffy is one out of the three dogs the player has to pass on Spy Island. Fun fact: guard dogs have better hearing than humans.

#3: Whiskers (24 Carrot Island)

Next we have Whiskers from 24 Carrot Island! In 24 Carrot Island, the player encounters this pet and has to get it back to Charlie. Fun fact: Cats can detect vibrations and earthquakes.

We are almost there! Keep reading for the last two winners!

#2: Elmer (Wild West Island)

In second place, it’s Elmer from Wild West Island. This tamed horse helped the player travel from place to place on the mission to capture El Mustachio Grande. Fun fact: Horses can communicate their feelings by showing facial expressions.

Finally! We’ve made it to the big one. And the winner is…

#1 Merlin (Astro Knights Island)

In 1st place, it’s Merlin from Astro Knights Island! This adorable robotic creature was seen multiple times in Astro-Knights and helped the player defeat Binary Bard at the end. Fun fact: Owls are a sign of wisdom. And yes, robotic birds are real.

Congrats, Merlin! But there is one more creature spotlight award to give out. This was first started by PHB guest writer, Dangerous Dragon, so I’ve decided to make it a category for him. Time to announce…

Favorite Poptropican Creature: Minotaur (Mythology Island)

This award is given out to the Minotaur, who is half Poptropican, half creature. In Greek mythology, the Minotaur is a half human, half bull hybrid. In the game, the player needs his nose ring to help Zeus. Many players might like the Minotaur because of his fun yet challenging labyrinth maze.

That’s all for this post! It’s been a blast doing these PHB polls and I’m glad readers enjoy them! If you haven’t already, please check out my other guest posts on the PHB as well as my new blog about Poptropica and other things I enjoy.

Also, feel free to suggest what you thought of the results, and what other topic I should do a poll on. Bye everyone!

~Smart Icicle 📚❄️

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Smart Icicle! Check out her original Who is your favorite Poptropica creature? post and visit the comments to hear more votes on other critters from the game.

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, Social Media, Store

Trending hot, heavy, and Pop-ular 🐦

Slanted Fish

What’s popping, Poptropicans? We’re serving up piping hot fan art, a sweaty store update, and news of none other than our favorite game #Poptropica trending on Twitter! Let’s pop right in.

First up, get an eyeful of these steamy snapshots of fan art, from a toned and tough Binary Bard to OCs in love or in combat. Topping it all off is a jittery reminder that the Candy Crazed Mini Quest just dropped—be sure to catch our mini review of it in the post below!

Time for a workout? This week’s store rotation contains new Bodybuilder costumes: one a gym bro with medium-sized weights and another with a smaller, hot pink hand weight. Go get those gains!

And now onto ever more sizzling news! Earlier this week, on Wednesday, May 26, the hashtag #Poptropica was trending on Twitter in the US. Which is rather remarkable for a game that, let’s be honest, is past its peak days and only retains a small niche following today.

It all started with a nostalgic tweet from @urfairymaid, who shared a photo with the logos of several popular kids’ virtual worlds from the late 2000s–early 2010s, like Club Penguin and Toontown Online, with a caption that read: “**** your zodiac sign / which one was your favorite.” (Contains some obscene language, but if you’re OK with that, you can see the original tweet here.)

Interestingly, Poptropica was not among the virtual worlds listed in the original tweet that went somewhat viral, with 10K retweets and 33K quote tweets. However, its lack of a mention was what then prompted many on Twitter to bring it up with the hashtag #Poptropica, garnering over 2K mentions and bringing it to the trending page for a day.

Even Poptropica’s sister site, Coolmath Games (@TheRealCoolmath) got in on the trend with a shout-out linking to the Coolmath Games site for Poptropica. Following that, Poptropica’s own Twitter (@Poptropica) retweeted Coolmath’s show of love.

So hey, congrats to Poptropica for popping off the Twitter charts for a flicker of time there! What a witness to the greatness of its past. 🎉

If you’re an oldie player who’s wondering what happened to the Poptropica you once knew, a few things: 1) Pop Protip: You can play all the old islands; 2) catch up with all that’s happened through our Poptropica Yearbook pages; and 3) join us in petitioning for the old islands back! Plus, new or old, thanks for sticking around.

No matter what, Poptropica will always be trending on the PHB! 💙

~🐠

Candy Crazed, Fairy Tale Island

Get sugary high with the Fairytale-twisting Candy Crazed Mini Quest 🍭🍬

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, get your flexing fingers ready — as promised, the Candy Crazed Mini Quest is here!

To get started, head on over to the candy palace on the map, or find the one-legged Master Huggles on Home Island.

Upon arriving at this sugary heaven (which is canonically part of Fairytale Island), you’ll find (as leaked earlier) the prologue comic showing Hansel and Gretel nomming on everything in sight. But unlike the original fairytale, some of these sweet treats are sentient, including the beloved blue gummy bear Master Huggles! Horrified by the hungry humans, a little witch orders Nanny to cage the children…

…and that’s where you come in! If you can follow the treat tower’s trail and grab all 100 gumdrops along the way, the witch says, the kids will be freed. So there you go — jump on gelatinous confections and bop your way to the top. With all the heights and slippery objects, it’s not as simple as it appears, but there’s no time limit!

When you’ve beat the game, you’ll get to see the end comic, in which the freed kiddos find Lady Licorice and begin eating her, too. You’ll earn 50 credits for each playthrough, so you can replay this to rack up credits!

You’ll also win a Little Witchy Follower. She sparkles!

  • pic: Silver Horse

Now that we’ve had a chance to digest this digital dessert, which comes at the heels of a similar Lost Cubs Mini Quest, let’s dish out some thoughts. This style of quick gameplay seems rather like the ad games of Poptropica’s somewhat distant past, but without the ads, although some players on the PHC reported seeing ads for Rugrats and other things. Ad-based mini-games are fine (and often fun), but they’ve never been the main highlight of Poptropica. Stories are.

And while there’s some story packed into this Candy Crazed mini quest, most of it takes place in the comics. We’re dropped right in the middle of the action to pick up a hundred gumdrops, and then we’re out again.

Still, the story itself is interesting — while inspired by the classic fairytale of Hansel and Gretel, it also brings the lively twist of new candy characters, like Master Huggles, Dot and Gummy. It’s too bad we don’t get to interact with them at all in the gameplay.

But perhaps that’s what separates an ad-like mini quest from a full-on island. Which is why, while mini quests might offer a fun distraction with cute new lovable critters, we’re going to keep saying it: Bring back the old islands (or make new ones that go beyond mini quests)!

That’s a wrap for this post. What did you think of this mini quest? Does it make you think Pop Rocks or it’s just worthy of Snickers? Was it a Milky Way (to go) or a Milk Dud? Pop on over to the comments and let us know!

~Slanted Swedish Fish 🐠

Free Membership Giveaways

PHB Membership Giveaway: May 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, Friendly Shell — we’ve enjoyed your friendly presence in the PHB comments and are pleased to give you this month’s membership prize. The availability of Poptropica islands today may be a shell of its former glory, but have fun revisiting Time Tangled and decking out your clubhouse with some new members only gear!

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 Friendly Shell, and as always, keep on popping on! 🐚

~🐠