Category: Guest Posts

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!

So during this time, everyone is sharing their back stories! Guess whose turn it is! I shall now tell my own story. My place in Poptropica is mostly revolving around bizarre ideas, bizarre circumstances and…bizarre luck. Seriously, some of these circumstances are because I was in the right place at the right time. My story is kinda strange since everything kinda happened so fast. Enough rambling. Well let’s get started, shall we?

___

Before Poptropica | A Dreaming Child

I am an only child. No siblings to grow up with. No older sibling bullies or annoying younger siblings share a household with me, so I ended up growing up knowing how to keep myself occupied alone. As a child, I would go upstairs to a little playroom and I’d carry around dolls and making up juvenile, but determined, storylines for them to act out. I’d stand dolls up on a “stage” (aka a table hockey board) and dance to Bratz songs over and over again (yeah, I know, but those were the elementary school days…). I didn’t realize it then, but that was when my love of storytelling began. It just wasn’t written yet.

My enjoyment of writing creatively didn’t come into full swing until 3rd or 4th grade (I do know that I was 9, though). Most kids in their free time would doodle all over their notes. I, however, wrote stories. Yes, they were childish and inspired by what I’ve seen recently, but they were stories through and through. I believe one was inspired by Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. And another The Jetsons. 75% of the book may be drawings, but a story was still being told. Looking back now, I see how awkwardly bad they were, but I loved them back then. I had so many ideas that I ended up not finishing some stories because something else appealed to me at the moment. In fact, one story that I actually finished had an evil circus ringmaster named Raven. Still looking back on it today, I found it so funny how something I saw as a hobby ended up evolving as time went on.

March – July 2010 | Discovery

Maybe it was my love of a good story that lead me to discover Poptropica in March 2010. I was in the sixth grade. I wasn’t recommended by a friend or whatever- I discovered it on my own. Poptropica wasn’t really popular within even my elementary school- kids were more talking about Club Penguin (of which I was never a member of) and Webkinz (of which I was). Before then, I was a big fan of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series since Rodrick Rules, and of course, that lead me to the “About the Author” page on the website for the movie. It was there that I saw… that Jeff Kinney actually works on an online virtual world? My curiosity was piqued and I checked it out. I recognized its host site, Funbrain, from when my mom showed me a site featuring a board game of educational games that I played around third grade. After a bit of nostalgia, the moment of truth arrived.

When I created my character, the very first name that came out was “Brave Tomato”. I snickered a bit. I didn’t really like the name, and I didn’t even like tomatoes yet, but it was given to me and I ended up stuck with it (I didn’t know at the time that selecting “change all” could change my name). I still remember the very first island I landed on: Reality TV, the newest island at the time. As you know, the island lands you from the blimp into the dumpster. I snickered again- I was recognizing the sense of humor that wouldn’t be a stranger to the Wimpy Kid books. However, being tossed in a virtual world with no idea what my goal was or what to do left my young mind very confused. This wasn’t anything like a virtual world I also went on, Nicktropolis (yes, the same virtual world that made Poptropica change its name), with its live chats and mini games hubbub, nor did it have fluffy stuffed animals that I can build houses for like in Webkinz.

Eventually, I did end up finding out through island trailers what I had to do, and I got my first island medallion in Time Tangled Island. I went around other islands, trying to make as much semi-progress as I could. I had been playing for a month, but then something happened that made me no longer think of the game as just a throw away when I’m bored to becoming one of my favorites: Mythology Island.

Mythology Island actually came to define a part of me. I was enthralled by the topic and ended up reading other books that revolved around the same topic, and school helped with that too. It came to a point where I had memorized plenty of myth facts. I read books about it, both obscure and well-known. I don’t think anything as simple as a game could ever do that to me, to make me so curious and entranced about the topic. This is mainly why I say that Mythology Island is my favorite island, whenever I’m asked.

July – December 2010 | The Silent Observer

However, I still had a hard time playing islands, and I needed some form of help. So I went over on Google and simply searched “Poptropica”, and I ran into the first fan blog I have ever visited: Poptropica Secrets with Fierce Moon. Hm, a popular first Poptropica fan blog, huh? I used her walkthroughs to help me with islands I had trouble with. I wanted to say something in the comments, but I didn’t have an email yet, so I was left to be a silent observer. Instead of making comments myself, I scrolled through comments, until I came upon a girl whose icon was a Poptropican with black hair and wore a swan ballerina outfit with a black jacket over it and with a black hat.

Her name was Super Thunder (longtime PHB viewers and community members might know her as a previous PHB author). I noticed the link on her name, so I clicked on it and it led me to her blog. Up till this point, the only Poptropica blog I visited was Poptropica Secrets. And along the way, I also found out about the Poptropica Help Blog. To be honest, back then, it wasn’t a blog I’d check every day but it was there in my head. I still didn’t have an email, so I still had to be a silent observer. I really wanted to talk to these people and find my place within that crowd. No one I knew in real life has played or even heard of Poptropica, so I was on my own when it came to that.

I tried to model myself after the bloggers I have seen- especially noting that they have a constant signature outfit. I became a paid member around the time Great Pumpkin Island was coming out, and I had a full deck of store costumes at my disposal. Inspired by Super Thunder, I ended up mimicking the fact that she had used the biker hat and jacket. However, to prevent myself from being a copycat, I instead used the pop star’s straight hair, the rock star 2’s broken heart shirt, and a pair of jeans as my costume. It was also at that time that I first started wearing the rock star 2’s star on my cheek, and I dedicated it to being my signature. I started to daydream about having my own blog called the “Poptroparazzi” and inner ideas of my very first fanfiction were starting to develop. Despite all this effort, my desire to be a part of the community was still a dream.

2011 | Becoming a Part of the Community

However, everything changed when the PHB’s very first author night came around. I was excited. Confused, but excited, and when the night came, I went onto the chat room. Since I was new on Xat, I ended up starting off with a strange name: SnookiePums (I have no idea how I remember it). I said the simple “Hi”, and people said hi back. I was semi-excited, semi-nervous. I always have called that feeling “nervou-cited”. I knew that some of them were bigger time people within the community and I didn’t want to make myself too much of a fool. I then changed my name into “GreekChic” and finally, I officially called myself by my Poptropican’s wacky name: Brave Tomato. I first met Fishy there (back when she called herself hi.juyo) and I kinda asked a question about what inspired the PHB. There were many more questions I wanted to ask her, but I didn’t want to look like a weird fangirl. I guess you can say I was somewhat celeb-shy. I talked to people, and despite trying to tell myself to keep my cool, I ended up blurting out on the chat:

“I LOVE THIS PLACE AND I LOVE THIS WHOLE PLACE! This is the most fun I’m ever having!” Yup. That was me. Awkward.

I realized what I said and I thought to myself “Oh crap, I just screwed up”. However, it somehow ended up in the “memories” picture that was posted after the party. I was on the PHB! In…image form, and you can’t see my eyes, but still. (I was wearing the red southern belle costume for some reason that day. In the picture, I was next to the girl in the red ornament costume.)

After that, I found out I can go on and chat anytime I wanted to by going to the Poptropica Help Chat. On January 25, four days after I first started chatting with the community, I ended up with my first blogging job with Super Thunder on her blog. I’m not joking. Four days. To this day, I’m still baffled as to how she was able to trust a newbie like myself to be a part of her blog, but there I was. I came out of nowhere. A 12-year-old who hadn’t even played the game for a year, now a part of a Poptropica fan blog. Maybe it was strange luck.

However, I took the opportunity by the horns and gave it my best shot. I made posts, and I released the aforementioned fanfic series that, although a remnant from my childish storytelling endeavors with occasional questionable morals, will always have a place in my heart. Super Thunder was my tutor in the blogging world and we became somewhat of a duo of tight online friends. We’d make silly stories together and had a blast. I became friends with a blog runner, I told myself. I would never have thought that was going to happen to me. I became somewhat of an active member of the community after that.

2012 | Becoming a Part of the PHB

I guess Fishy must’ve noticed because I was invited to be part of the Poptropica Help Blog on New Year’s Day 2012. To be honest, I secretly wanted to be part of the team as well, yet like Spotted Dragon, I knew that one does not simply ask to join here. Fishy gave me the news that I was invited on the PHC, the same place where I got my first blogging job. I accepted the offer with calm delight in text form, but behind the monitor, I was mentally screaming in excitement. Me? Seriously, me? That girl who hadn’t even been on the chat and an actual part of the community for a full year? Now a member of one of the most popular Poptropica fan blogs on the Internet?

Like before, I took the opportunity by the horns. I had my ups and downs within the community, but they allowed me to become a much stronger person. I celebrated island releases (including an island release that allowed me to revisit a turning point in my interests), kept an eye on the news, commented, wrote stories, drew, and more. My middle school days drew to a close, and high school was just ahead. I had the opportunity to bond with my co-authors and became close with people in the community I would never have dreamt to be online friends with back when I was a silent observer.

2013-2014 | Expansion

2013 was when I started to take my art and fanfiction writing more seriously. I posted regularly on my deviantArt page and wrote a grand total of two fanfictions that year: Assembling the Returning Four, and My Sister, the Super Villain. I had fun writing both, yet when I look back on it now, I recognize its flaws.

With 2014 came another island that hit close to home: Monster Carnival. Upon playing, I was inspired to write what would become my longest (and favorite) one-shot fanfiction, Nevermore. Despite that, I took a break from writing after I finished it. I had a writer’s block, and it hit me hard.

2014 was also when I first started publishing YouTube videos. Nothing was a series yet, but I just wanted to make some things for fun. It was just iPad-recorded videos of me playing PoptropiCon: Spoiler Alert, but it’s something to get started from.

2013 and 2014 also brought along the end of Freshman year, Sophomore year, and the beginning of Junior year of high school. Was it really flying that fast? Was I really in 7th grade when I started? The latter year also had a correct island plot prediction (for Survival 4 and 5) and the first time I ever interacted with a Poptropica Creator- over on Twitter. Not to mention that Christmas gift from Dr. Lange. That was awesome.

2015 – Now | Above and Beyond

2015 was one of the most eventful years for me in the community. First off, I got a digital art program for the previous Christmas, and I was now able to make digital art share. Took a while to get used to, but when I somewhat did, it was a lot of fun messing around with it.

Secondly, I also predicted the backstory of Arabian Nights, and the Poptropica Twitter even said that I was “dead on”. Okay, now that was just ridiculous. Guess you can say I can make a story out of pictures? I don’t know. However, I’ll have to say one of my greatest moments was when Reign of Omegon walkthrough came out on the Poptropica Creators’ YouTube, Captain Crawfish said this line that will stick with me for a long time: “We’ll try our best to make this walkthrough better than Brave Tomato’s, but no promises!” Did… he just give me a shout out? ME? I swear, I feel like I shouldn’t deserve this sometimes, it feels so… surreal. That’s the best way I could describe my experience here in a nutshell.

In July, I got to talk with HP, Sam, SD, and Paul as we hosted the Poppies Award Show live stream together. That was a lot of fun. Really. Getting to talk to people who share this common interest was an amazing experience. Additionally, after a long time of not writing, I finally released my latest fanfiction “Forevermore”, a sequel to “Nevermore” and I also had fun with it too. It may help me with my love of writing stories for the future.

I feel like it was these past few years that I finally had it. My training was over. I was no longer just someone’s best online friend. I was no longer that random kid who came into the community. I was no longer defined by someone else’s achievements. I was no longer simply a silent observer.

I’m now my own person.

My name is Brave Tomato, and I’m 17 years old now. I’m a senior in high school, now. I’m somewhat of a geek. I like to draw. I like to write. I can sometimes piece together a story simply with pictures. I like hard rock. I’m the girl with the star on her cheek. I also make YouTube videos. And I always love a good story.

I can never be any more grateful to you all for the opportunity to be here right now, where I am. Creators, thank you for all that you’ve done for us and being just amazing people- we are so lucky to have creators like you. This is one of the best creator-fan relationships I’ve ever seen on the Internet! Co-authors, friends, everyone, thank you for the years. Thank you for the fun times we had, and I hope we continue to have. Thank you for welcoming me into this amazing fandom. Most importantly, thank you for being a part of the show. I wouldn’t have been feeling this was if it weren’t for you. This feeling of accomplishment, I believe I’d call it. It gives me a great new sense of confidence. I am really grateful for you all, I can’t say it enough.

And to think, it all started when a new user named “SnookiePums” had first said “Hi”, and after that time, it evolved to become “Hey guys, my name is Brave Tomato…

…and this is My Place in Poptropica.”