Category: Contests

Contests, Fairy Tale Island

Fans deliver fantastic Fairytale fanfics 📚 ✨

Purple Paw

A little over two weeks ago, the Creators made a call for the Pop fandom to write and submit their own alternative endings for Fairytale Island—and, unsurprisingly, you knocked this contest out of the park!

Similar to the results of the Dream Island Contest, the Creators had trouble choosing just one entry, and instead ended up featuring four (very deserving) winning submissions.

Congratulations to Speedy Eagle, Mighty Fox, Slippery Sword, and Tall Cactus (from the PHC) on winning the Fairytale Fanfic Challenge! From the origins of Rumplestiltskin’s name, to the reveal of the real king, to an explanation for that mysterious tube of lipstick’s role in the story, your fanfics covered just about all we’d been wondering after Fairytale Island’s strangely abrupt ending. Read the full submissions here!

Between fan creation highlights on Instagram, the Fairytale Fan Art Challenge in April, and now this fanfic challenge, the Creators have been offering a lot of attention to their creative fanbase, and that’s great! It’s awesome to see them connecting with players as regularly as the Creators are, plus welcoming them to submit their own creations for possible features.

But asking players to write a whole new ending for an island, even if it won’t be canonified in the game, is slightly odd. Fairytale’s ending was generally unsatisfactory and left many important questions unanswered, which the Creators acknowledged previously in their blog post announcing the Fanfic Challenge. Where did Rumplestiltskin vanish to? What happened to that poor prince? Did somebody arrest the Huntsman for his attempted homicide?

Leaving these questions to be answered by the fanbase instead of simply including them in the island itself is… a bit weird, to say the least. Did the Creators not have the time to write a full ending for Fairytale? Are they planning on surprising us with a sequel, or are these fanfics the only endings this shorter island will ever see? 🧐

Either way, let us know what you thought of the winning fanfic submissions in the comments. And if you entered your own story, feel free to share it with us in a guest post! See you next time, Poptropicans.

~💜

Fairytale’s various characters may have gotten their happy endings in fan fiction… but what about the island itself?

Contests

PHB Special: Pop the Difference, Round 4

LJ

Howdy, Poptropican friends! It’s LJ here with another round Pop The Difference! Let’s pop right in, shall we?

Here’s how the game works: Down below are five pairs of Poptropica images, each containing five differences. Some differences are easy to spot while others may be tougher. Are you up for the challenge?

1) Shark Tooth Seek

2) Fairytale Fish-Around

3) Bazaar Bewilderment

4) Comb the Crowd

5) Scour the Staff

How many could you find? Send in your answers to [email protected].

The first person to correctly spot all 25 differences (5 in each) will receive a drawing of their Poptropican by me. (Check out my DeviantArt page to get a glimpse of what you’re in for. :P)

Answers and winners will be revealed at some point in the next coming weeks. That’s it for now and I’ll talk to you all in the next one. Pop on!

– LJ 🍀

Advertisements, Contests, Fan Art Features, Social Media

Monthly costume design contests, strange art shares, and… questionable ads?

MaryannTheConqueror

As we continue to wait on news for the porting of old islands and the imagined futures of Fairytale Island, the Pop Creators made an announcement regarding a new Costume Design Contest.

This event has been held a couple times in the past, but now, a new contest will be held every month! According to the Creators’ Blog, the contest will be open for two weeks each time, so the current one closes June 7 at 8 pm PST.

If this continues, plenty of fans should have the chance to see their designs become a virtual reality! Unlike past versions of this event, no prizes (such as membership) were mentioned, other than having winning costume designs implemented into the game. Good luck to all!

Continuing with the subject of fan art, Poptropica shared six new Instagram stories today. But there’s something a little odd…

Look closely and you’ll find that two of these pieces are not Poptropica related—with one being a non-Pop original character, and the other being fan art of a character from the game Resident Evil, which does not exactly share Poptropica’s demographic. They are done by arts.n.darts, the same artist who also recently made fan art of Betty Jetty that the Pop Creators did not recognize.

While it would be admirable if this is simply an effort to show more support towards artists who have previously made Poptropica fan art, the shares are nevertheless uncharacteristic, and also raises the question of whether Poptropica’s social media person (or people?) is once again unaware of Poptropica’s content. Sus?

On a final note, a couple changes appear to have happened to the ads that appear on the website and in-game.

From past observations, most ads on Poptropica are specifically targeted towards its younger audience, similar to how they are sponsored to make in-game advertisements that showcase books, toys, or movies and shows that its general demographic may enjoy.

However, lately the ads appear to be more random and not exactly geared for kids. PHB staffer Gentle Dolphin reported seeing ads for Honey, which is a browser extension for online shopping, as well as for Morgan & Morgan, an injury law firm.

It’s understandable that a game needs to make a profit to survive, but this does raise some suspicion towards Poptropica’s insistence that they are still getting a large amount (“over a million”) of players. Why would they need to accept more advertisements if that was the case? The COVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on businesses, but as an online game, has Poptropica been growing or shrinking in attention? The branching out on ads seems to suggest the latter.

As of now, fans have many questions, many of which we may not see answers to soon. Hopefully we can still have fun while we wait with contests, upcoming quests, and the next Dream Island!

Castori honorem ~ Maryann/Smart Bubbles

Contests, Fairy Tale Island, Fan Art Features, Social Media, YouTubers

Fairytale’s fate left to fans with flair ✏️💫

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! This post comes to you with a few updates: an official contest, the return of a legend, and more fan art features. Let’s pop in!

First, the Pop Creators have announced a Fairytale Fanfic Challenge, calling Poptropicans to write an original ending for Fairytale Island.

With Fairytale Island closing on a cliffhanger, why not come up with a happier ever after?

Acknowledging that questions were left unanswered in the island’s ending, the Creators decided this little contest would be a fun way to open it up to us to decide what happens next for the characters we’ve come to know and love. Questions such as…

  • Where did Rumpelstiltskin disappear to? Will he ever return?
  • What does the prince’s fate hold? Will he have to get a job?!
  • What comes of the new happy endings for Red, Snow, and Cinder?
  • What friendship blossoms between Little Red Riding Hood and the Seven Dwarves?
  • Does Snow White open her veterinary practice?
  • Do the Huntsman and Cinderella fall in love? Hopefully the Huntsman’s left behind his homicidal hijinx…
  • And what did Rumplestiltskin do with the real king?

The Fairytale Fanfic Challenge is open from now until next Friday, May 21 at 8 pm PST. Send your rewritten ending as text or a file attachment to Poptropica’s submissions form for a chance to win some credits and be featured on the Creators’ Blog!

But also, what about that lackluster ending to Fairytale Island? While it’s exciting to get everyone’s creative juices flowing with these fanfiction writing prompts, fans also want to experience more complete narratives in the game itself, from the creators themselves.

The creators haven’t made any promises on changing the island’s ending in the game or adding an Episode 2, though some of the island’s dialogue hints at it. Could this be a compromise for wanting to add more but not having the time and resources to do it just yet? And is this what Perfect Crab, the Dream Island winner, envisioned for Fairytale Island? Whatever the case, at least we’ll be seeing some semi-canonical conclusions with the fanfic challenge…

While we’re talking Fairytale Island, a very special video playthrough dropped just this week. Some of you may recognize Thinknoodles, the popular gaming YouTuber who got his start years ago with Poptropica walkthroughs. Although he doesn’t play much Pop now, he dropped by with a “Road to Captain Thinknoodles” let’s-play for the OGs!

The vid starts with (a younger looking) Think playing through the new Home Island mini quest, but he soon makes his way to Fairytale Island, where he intensifies the jumpscare of the forest wolf, appreciates the “aged up” jokes, and even sings along to Cinder’s guitar riff. Enjoy!

Last but not least, here’s the latest round of fan art features from the creators’ Instagram stories, with OCs and villains galore:

That concludes this update! You’ve got about a week to come up with a better happily-(or sadly?)-ever-after for Fairytale Island and might win some credits for it. Plus, rack up some more by playing through the new Lost Cubs mini quest. 🐻 Keep on popping on, Poptropicans! ✌️

~🐠

Contests

Guess That Poptropican, Round 3 — Answers

LJ

Howdy Poptropicans! It’s LJ coming back at you with the answers to round 3 of Guess That Poptropican. (Keep reading to see who came out on top!)

Now, let’s find out who these mystery characters were, shall we?

Poptropican 1

  • My favorite color is green
  • I have my very own in-game action figure
  • I appear on many islands as a cameo
  • I’ve even been featured on a couple of Poptropica’s YouTube videos
  • My exact whereabouts today remain unknown

I am Balloon Boy from Counterfeit Island!

Poptropican 2

  • I have an occupation
  • My shifts are usually very quiet
  • I wear an apron
  • I have big hair
  • I appear in both original Poptropica and Worlds

I am Flo from 24 Carrot Island!

Poptropican 3

  • I come from a ranch
  • I act as your transportation
  • I must be tamed
  • I have a tail

I am Elmer from Wild West Island!

Poptropican 4

  • I come off as very odd and mysterious
  • I have a secret identity
  • I keep my illusion skills hidden
  • I have curly hair

I am Erik Weisz/Harry Houdini from Mystery Train Island!

Poptropican 5

  • I like to sign autographs
  • I care very much about my fans
  • I am very violent and aggressive

I am The Yokozuna from Red Dragon Island!

Poptropican 6

  • I wear goggles
  • I want to steal items from all over Poptropica to create my own evil island
  • I use a school supply as a weapon

I am Arthur Eraser from the Pencil Warrior book!

Congratulations to Paris for getting them all right in a very quick time! Here is your pop portrayal prize. I hope you like it! 😀

Paris

How many were you able to guess? Thanks to everyone who gave it their best shot. Don’t be discouraged if you didn’t win this time; there may be more be rounds in the future depending on demand. Until next time, pop on!

– LJ 🍀