Category: My Place in Poptropica

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Mad Apper, an avid player of the Poptropica mobile app. See the bottom of this post for details on sending in your own MPIP!

Skip the intro. Let’s do this.

Are you surprised to see me? Or perhaps you don’t know who I am? Well, that’s what this post is for. Today, I’ve been given the great opportunity to tell you a bit about my past, present, and future in Poptropica history. The dates aren’t precise, but somewhat accurate. I’m Mad Apper, and this is my place in Poptropica.

The Summer of 2014 | The Discovery

I think it was June or July. I was bored, and didn’t have a lot to do. I was 14, at the time, and my older brother told me about Funbrain. I checked it out and played a game. It seemed, well, boring. I think I clicked an ad, category, or something, and BOOM- Poptropica.

Late 2014 to Early 2015 | Community & More Discovery

For the rest of that time, I got a bit into Poptropica. Multiple accounts, even! My current (rarely active) Poptropica account is madapper500, just putting that out there. I read the Poptropica Help Blog, Slippery Raptor’s Blog, and that was it. It was Early 2015 that I downloaded the Poptropica App. I hardly used my online Pop account since then. My computer’s really glitchy. 😛

Mid 2015 | PHB Reader Anonymous

First, I was a PHB stalker. Then, eventually a commenter. I gave the PHB one or two tips. Just about ads. On the Poptropica app. That’s it. I eventually began to comment more. At the time, I actually began to comment about random Poptropica thoughts. I’m pretty sure some of you viewers of the PHB do that too. 😀

September 2015 | The Pop App Blog & My Pen Name

One day, I was scrolling through Poptropica blogs (PHB, Slippery’s, etc.) and wondered what it would be like to have one of my own. I settled on WordPress and became The Mad Apper. Well, to be honest my real name is Ian. Ian’s Poptropica Blog? No. Since I played the Pop app more than the web version, I settled on the name The Poptropica App Blog [poptropicaapp.wordpress.com] since it seemed unique. Plus, everybody has a different definition of ‘apper’, I dubbed myself The Mad APPer.* No need to hurt your fingers using caps lock.

Around this time, I was fame hungry. A bit of me still is. Fine, I still am. I went around knocking on doors asking for stuff. Could you do my banner? Can I be interviewed? Is Poptropica awesome? Believe it or not, they said yes.

Present & Future | Basically Everything

I was working, and still am working, with several Poptropica blog authors. Everything’s happening. I’m also now the administrator of The MEGA Poptropica Blog [megapoptropicablog.wordpress.com]! I’m with the two talented authors of Mighty Gamer and Popular Wolf. I’m also a somewhat minor part of Mighty Gamer’s Poptropica Blog, known as Explore Collect Compete, which you can find at explorecollectcompete.wordpress.com.

As for the future, I plan to make a Poptropica Blogs app, I have some collaborations planned, some pretty big stuff planned for 2016. I don’t want to ruin the surprise. That’s basically all up to this point. Reality is an illusion! The universe is a hologram! Buy gold! Bye!

Oh yeah, I’d also want to thank the entire PHB staff, Mighty Gamer, Popular Wolf, and many more Poptropicans. I’m a nerdy dude that loves to work with people, is part of three Poptropica blogs, is impressed by the Pop community, and is glad to be part of it.

And that’s my place in Poptropica.

*The Mad Apper is not to be confused with App Girl, The Mad Hatter, or the Apper WordPress theme.

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! Feel free to send in your own (please include a minimum of 550 words, type with good spelling and grammar, divide it into labeled sections, and include your username). Look out for more community MPIPs in the future!

~the PHB.

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Darth Lizard, a longtime Poptropican with a passion for Poptropica glitching. See the bottom of this post for details on sending in your own MPIP!

Invisible Axe & Wimpy Kid

It was 3rd grade and we were in the computer lab. I was talking to a friend when he told me about Poptropica. Curious, I began playing. I loved it from the start! It was something I’d never seen.

I found it from a site called Funbrain. That was where I also found my love for Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It grew on me, like a fungus. I couldn’t stop playing. The first known island I beat was Spy Island, and everything about that island stuck to me. Director D, B.A.D, everything. Macguy19 was born. Invisible Axe had clawed his way through into the world.

Glitch Discovery, PHB, & Membership

Some time has passed, round the time of Vampire’s Curse, idk when, and I had found a sliver of glitches, the glitch allowed me to get the member items as a non member. I decided to learn more about this bug. That was also the time I started following the PHB. I just swiftly stalked the blog, popping in every few weeks to read the latest posts.

Time continues to pass, and then I get membership. That was also around the 5th birthday of Poptropica, so that’s when I got everything membership could buy. I learned of the bonus quests, and how you get rewards from it. I loved the bonus quests, and that’s what made islands cool for me.

I continued playing well into the end of the old island era. It was a hot summer day, I was at a gathering with some people to celebrate 5th grade and all that. I return home and learn Virus Hunter Island is out. It was the crowning achievement of Poptropica, and I went along with it. I learned then that I made a good choice.

Becoming a Glitcher: Darth Lizard

More time passes and then I learn of the seedy underworld that the Poptropica glitches have left on me. I had spent time on the PHC, trying to learn more. I wanted to know.

Then, someone told me of the Avatar Studio Glitch (ASG) for the SUIs. The glitch allowed me to gain clothing that was otherwise unavalible. This was around Monster Carnival SUI. I was astonished. I had never known such. It made me want to learn about the world of glitches. That dream is dead, alas…

I had also came up with an alias based off my backup, called Red Lizard. I came up with the name “Darth Lizard” as both my WordPress name and the name I refer to when in Poptropican discussions. Darth Lizard had become a cross between Darth Sidious, my fav Sith, and Red Lizard, the name of my backup Poptropican.

I never served much purpose strolling through the blogs and through the game. I had dreams of being on the PHB, but I stuck with my goal of playing and beating islands. I wanted to be like my idol, Thinknoodles. He inspired me to pull through and beat an island. He was also pretty funny and one of the coolest YouTubers ever.

Epilogue

After that, I continued playing Poptropica through and through, even today I never had a thought of quitting. It’s a fun game, and you should play it too!

And without the aid of… well I don’t wanna say names here, let’s just call him Creeper, I may have not played or even discovered Poptropica. That’s my story, of my place in Poptropica.

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! Feel free to send in your own (please include a minimum of 550 words, type with good spelling and grammar, divide it into labeled sections, and include your username). Look out for more community MPIPs in the future!

~the PHB.

Heyyo Poptropicans, it’s Ultimate iPad Expert here. Remember not too long ago when the PHB authors (including myself) shared our Poptropica origin stories with a series called “My Place in Poptropica”? Afterwards, we invited you guys in the community to create your own – and starting with this one, we’ll be publishing them periodically on the PHB! More details at the end of this post.

Mighty Gamer (creator of Explore • Collect • Compete and author on the Mega Poptropica Blog) was the first community member to send in her MPIP story. So, without further ado, here it is!

2008/2009: Just Starting Out

To begin with, I’m not entirely sure when I joined. But, I do know that I joined around 2008 or 2009; when I was either 6 or 7. I’m already forgetting stuff.

Anyway, onto how I actually joined Poptropica. One day I was in class during recess, which was being held inside due to rain. There I was, on Funbrain. (I was only allowed on that particular website.) As I was on Funbrain, I saw it. Poptropica.

Throughout 2008/2009, I was continually making new accounts every time I played. Why I did this? I’m not sure. And all I did in-game was collect a costume with the free 75 credits and explore Early Poptropica without even progressing. (Though, I know it like the back of my hand now. :P)

2010-2011: Progressing

At this point, I was still progressing slowly. I didn’t know about the PHB, the Poptropica Creators’ Blog, or any other blog. There was some good news, though. I was actually trying to complete islands at this point.

I was even going into common rooms to play Hoops with other Poptropicans. Sometimes, I would even play Hoops for hours on the weekends. Now, that’s what you call a weekend. Oh, memories! I know I had lots of fun, even if I can’t remember it perfectly. But soon, those fun times would come to an end.

2012-2013: Quitting Poptropica

I quit Poptropica for 2 years. Reasons vary. But that’s not important! It was weird, considering I was usually online every single day for at least an hour. Since I was a major gamer, even back then, I’ve named myself “Mighty Gamer.” 😛

One day, I stumbled upon a new-found curiosity of how Poptropica was doing. No, I did not actually play it, but that’s when I found the PHB. I was on Google and I simply typed in “poptropica.” That’s it. That’s when I found the PHB. I brought it up, and since then, I would occasionally read some posts/comments, and even comment myself. I never did come to play Poptropica again, during this time.

2014: Playing Poptropica Once Again

2014 was the year I played Poptropica again. But after 2 years? Why would I decide to play Poptropica after 2 years of inactivity? Well, you’ll understand in a second. While I was at someone’s house, I saw my friend helping his brother with a game. I went over to look at the screen, that three other people were looking at: It was Poptropica. I also saw them watch my now-favorite YouTuber, Thinknoodles.

As I kept watching, I took my laptop and made a character by the name of “Brave Heart.” I looked through the map for Cryptids Island and sooner or later, I was hooked once again. Within 3 months, I completed all the current islands. But, I’d soon come to regret something, a trade. There was only one good thing that came out of this, Thinknoodles. I watch all of his videos now.

2015: Losing Brave Heart & New Beginnings

I traded the account to the friend’s brother I mentioned. I’m not really sure why I did that, but I did. So, that’s when I lost Brave Heart. Anyway, later that year, I made Mighty Gamer, as well as a Twitter account to join the Poptropica community there.

And after that? Well, my interest in blogging appeared. Therefore, there I was; making my very first blog: Explore • Collect • Compete. As I continue blogging, I’m happy to say I’ve met so many nice people. I was, and still am, really excited for the future. I’ve had so many opportunities. Being featured by Mad Apper in an interview and eventually invited to the Mega Poptropica Blog. Ultimate iPad Expert and HPuterpop made me a header for my blog. Even now, being featured on the PHB in this “My Place in Poptropica.”

I can’t say I haven’t gotten anywhere, because I have. And I just want to thank you all. I couldn’t have made it without every one of you. You’re all amazing.

This is my story. My Place in Poptropica.

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! Feel free to send in your own (please include a minimum of 550 words, type with good spelling and grammar, divide it into labeled sections, and include your username). Look out for more community MPIPs in the future!

• Ultimate iPad Expert •

Over the past few weeks, other Poptropicans on this blog have shared their stories. While theirs mostly led up to how they ended up on the PHB, that would only be the beginning of my story. The story of the PHB can also be found on our History page, but this MPIP focuses a bit more on the founder herself (yours truly). Here we go: Slanted Fish’s “My Place in Poptropica”!

2008 | the PHB’s foundation

My Poptropica story began a long, long, time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Well, sort of. It did begin early on, in the summer of 2008, when Poptropica itself was only a year old and islands fit on a single map page. I was eleven, and I had just been introduced to the game by my brother, who was only slightly younger than me. He’d discovered it via Funbrain, a site where we used to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid before it had even been in print (let alone been a bestseller – such hipsters we were!).

Anyway, the name I ended up going with was “Scary Tomato” – what a fine name it sounded like at the time – and my username was tentacle, just evidence of how young the game was that I could create an account with a common word. Scary Tomato was a boy with tan skin and spiky blond hair, while I was a girl from Hong Kong, which meant I looked nothing like ST. But whoever said we had to look like our Poptropicans? At the time, I just felt that boys had better customizing options, so that’s what I went with.

At around this time, I tried making a WordPress blog, and it was going to be about Club Penguin, another game I was an avid player of at the time. But I changed my mind when I started testing URL options and realized that poptropica.wordpress.com wasn’t taken – it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, and so, instead of joining the hundreds of amateur Club Penguin blogs that already existed, I made “Scary Tomato’s Weblog” – the first ever active Poptropica fansite. With a very amateur Microsoft Paint job for a header.

Super Power Island (the 5th island) had just been released a few days before the blog began, so to get the ball rolling, I wrote my first guide on it. The blog soon took off in popularity, further than I had ever imagined, especially with the hype surrounding the release of the next island – Spy Island. Countless comments came in asking when it would be released, and it took a fair bit of time every day for me to stay on top of everything that was happening and post sneak peeks from the Poptropica Creators’ Blog.

About three months in, I hired my first couple of staff members: Smockers, a frequent commenter, and Codien, who was interested in helping with graphics and even came up with a new name for the site: the Poptropica Help Blog, or PHB. The header images improved quite a bit after that.

We even reached 100,000 site hits in November, just four months in, which was pretty impressive for a site run casually by just a few kids.

2009 | unimagined growth

At the start of the new year, the PHB had already reached 300,000 hits. With regular posts about sneak peeks posted on the Creators’ Blog, advertisement games, and even Codien’s PHB Sneak Peeks series, the site continued to grow in content as well as its fanbase.

One of the highlights of that year was our ingenious April Fool’s prank – we turned the whole site into a “Club Penguin Help Blog”, and what’s more, we seem to have fooled even the Poptropica Creators. Or maybe they were playing along? Sadly, they’ve since removed this little acknowledgement from the official blog, but the evidence remains in our hearts – and on the internet’s Wayback Machine.

Before the end of May, we reached one million site hits, and the blog wasn’t even a year old yet! 😀 To celebrate, we gave away rare costumes that were leaked from the then-mysterious Monster Carnival Island. (If you don’t know that story, click here.) We also expanded our community to the now-defunct PHF (Poptropica Help Forum), a site run by Coderkid, as well as the PHC (Poptropica Help Chat), which continues to exist today. (However, do check out our PoptropicaHelp subreddit – our relatively new Poptropica mini-forum! And check out our Hub for all the Poptropica Help Network sites!)

I also changed my screen name to Hijuyo, to reflect the names of me and my brother, since I was no longer the only ST around and didn’t really like the name ‘Scary Tomato’ anymore. For a while, I let people think that Hijuyo (or Juyo) was the two of us, as it felt too weird to say that it was just me all along – but, it really was just me all along for the most part.

2010 – 2012 | changes & fishes

A lot of eventful things continued to happen in the Poptropica community, with me heading up the blog, which you can read about on the PHB’s History page. Among them: we nommed Captain Crawfish, got our own website domain to reflect the growing Poptropica Help Network, and changed our website theme a couple of times.

In 2012, I changed my name again – goodbye Hijuyo, hello Slanted Fish. “Slanted Fish” has more of a personal meaning to me: it’s a pun on my Chinese name that someone made up for me. While playing with same-sounding words with different meanings, one such version of my name led to “Slanted Fish”. The name stuck, so I went with it – and perhaps as a plus, it sounds a bit like a Poptropican name, even though it isn’t one.

2013 – beyond | cultivating a community

While I won’t get into every little occurrence, as that would go on forever, I can say that the little blog I started in the summer of 2008 continued to grow and fulfill its purpose of helping fellow Poptropicans with the game I knew and loved. When I started in 2008, it was simple: there were about five islands, and no Store, membership, and most other extra features to speak of. The game has grown so much since then – and that’s a beautiful thing.

The community has grown, too. As of this post, we have 21 million hits on the PHB and counting. Behind every author who has come and gone on this blog is where I stand, the person inviting them on board, managing this whole site little by little by finding authors to contribute, making edits here and there, and more. It’s an interesting job I’ve somehow created for myself, but it’s something that I love doing, and it amazes me to see this site become what it has and will continue to be.

Also, I’m happy to say my skills with graphics have grown a lot since those dark days of Scary Tomato’s Weblog. That’s what happens when you hang around your high school’s art room for way too long…

For those of you calculating my age from this post, yes, I am among one of the oldest in the Poptropica community – for a little bit of perspective, when this blog started in 2008, the PHB’s current youngest author was in kindergarten!

Countless Poptropicans have contributed to the Poptropica Help Network in various capacities. Whether it was simply replying to a comment asking for help somewhere on the blog, or bringing a little flair whenever they hung out on the PHC, or writing a guide for the PHB, or even just being a faithful reader of the blog, and so on – this area of the internet known as Poptropica Help could not have flourished without its community. So thank you, dear reader, for the part you play.

Thanks for reading ‘My Place in Poptropica’. I hope you find yours, too.

– 🐟 slantedfish 🐠 –

Hello, everyone! Remember me?  I know it’s been a long while since I posted, and I’m sorry. The Authors and I have planned to do this “My Place in Poptropica” to tell our stories of how we came to be. We also want to hear your stories and experiences! I would love to see other people’s stories on how they came to the game that we all have a common interest in and love! So today, It’s my turn. My story is pretty bland, so if any of you yawn at it, don’t feel bad. Here’s my story on how I came to be…..

Before Poptropica | A Sporty Guy & Video Game Fanatic

Ever since I was little, I’ve always had an interest in video games. I loved to play all kinds of sports games and Lego Games, but the thing was, I didn’t have a lot of time to play them when I was younger. I was constantly involved in sports activities (soccer in fall + baseball & soccer in spring) and extra-curricular school activities at my private school. The sports practices were basically every night and then the games were every weekend. I didn’t really have time for video games even though I loved them. Either I was doing sports or homework (SD can attest to how hard it is to have a life if you are involved in sports after school). But one fateful weekend I had off from sports, I was exposed to something that forever would have changed my life….

Winter 2010 | The Discovery

It was a cold, rainy weekend. I didn’t have much homework that weekend and my brother was playing this game he found at school on his computer. He encouraged me to try it. He was playing this game called “Poptropica” and his name was Grumpy Snowball. I laughed and thought the game was ridiculous, but he convinced me to try anyway. I immediately was hooked. I replayed all the islands currently out then and loved them all. I would stalk the Poptropica Creator’s Blog for info on the new islands. I was crazy – and still am about Poptropica. Then if you read my Behind the Name post, you would know how I got my account and name.

Summer 2012 | Finding The PHB & Making My Blog

It all started on the fateful day of May 15, 2012. I remember I just got back from vacation and I was dying to go back and play Poptropica again. I was so interested in the new friend’s feature Poptropica just added to the game & I was looking for famous Poptropicans and the usernames of the Creators to add them to the game. My brother suggested I go to The PHB and I was really impressed with all the usernames listed in the Creators Database. I began to start looking around the blog and found so many interesting pages. I soon became a regular follower of the blog and inspired me to make my own blog a few days later!

The blog that I created on May 17, 2012 (Tough Icicle’s Blog) became a huge part of me over time and became one of the Top 20 most popular Poptropica fan blogs on the internet in a short amount of time. Over the first 2 years, I had a whopping 50,000 views. Most of which, to be honest, came from when Fishy used some on my posts & guides on The PHB and introduced people to my blog. I was blown away at the success of the blog and the people that actually enjoyed to view my blog and find interest in it. I couldn’t thank everyone enough for viewing my blog and enjoying what I wrote. I wouldn’t have met all these people in my life without it. There was some good and some bad times on my blog, like any other thing in life. I don’t want to go into details, but I’m sorry to everyone that was a part of that debacle. I wish to reconcile with everyone that was a part of it. Everyone makes mistakes and I regret what happened, I should have controlled it better and made it fairer. My ultimate goal though was to be and author on The PHB and after about a year and a half…My dream came true.

Winter 2013 | The Dream Come True

I woke up on the morning of December 7, 2013, to find an email from Fishy asking me to be an author on The PHB! I was so shocked and flattered to be asked to be apart of the biggest Poptropica blog in existence. I quickly replied to it and said I would happily join the blog! I was so excited, I had so many plans and aspirations! I quickly became known as the “zealous partier” between the authors for organizing the parties and trying to make them fun. Instead of having the Christmas Party on my blog, I decided to have the first ever Tough Icicle & the PHB’s Poptropica Christmas Party! It was so awesome to see so many people come and enjoy holiday cheer! It was a complete revelation to me that people would bond and enjoy each other’s company over one common thing – Poptropica.

2014 | One Amazing Year

Just all of 2014 was an amazing year! It was probably the best year of my life thanks to every single one of you! I had 2 top-ten finishes on islands (here & here), Uncovered a Fake Gamer Guy, had an exclusive interview with the creator of CYDI runner-up House of Cards Island (my review here), hosted multiple parties (here, here, here, and here), restarted up the PHB magazine with HP & other authors, and even a PHB’s 11 million Monster Raffle (HP helped me out of course & 11 million hits last yr at the time!?!?!? What the heck????)!

2015 and Beyond | A Slower Year & The Future

I’ll admit it to you guys, this year was just a bad year in general for my posting – and I’m really sorry. Every time I wanted to post; it was posted already or I didn’t have time to post because I was busy with school, my officer duties of my club, or college coming up soon. I am really sorry guys and I will make a huge effort to start re-posting again.

So let’s move onto the future! I’m planning on having the 3rd Annual PHB’s Poptropica Christmas Party! I know it’s late notice guys (don’t hurt me pls) but I want to rekindle with the whole Poptropica community and spread Holiday cheer (even you crazy Creators are invited o;)!

I am eternally grateful and honored that Fishy gave me a chance to be a part of something as big as the PHB. I am also honored to be a part of the PHB’s future. I can’t wait to see what future will hold for every single one of you in your own Poptropica experience! Who knows? You may be where I’m at soon 😉 .  I’d like to also thank the Creators for all they have done to improve the game and make it unique and special! I’d really like to thank all the authors that have helped me through struggles overtime and friends I have made through Poptropica, But most of all, I would like to thank every single one of you that has viewed my works and enjoy it! I wouldn’t be here without you guys!

I’m Samwow5 (Tough Icicle)…..and this is My Place in Poptropica!