Gone are the old cast of default characters introduced last year with the restructuring of Poptropica to the Haxe engine. In comes a new crew for new accounts! You’ll find them right on the Poptropica homepage.
From left to right in the pics above, the new starters are: Coolin Dude, Snug Vibes, Floral Spring, Summer Vibes, Lightning Knight, Water Fight, Cool Blade, and Pumpkin Smash. You may recognize most of these looks from past store costumes, with Cool Blade also sharing their fit with Fashion Ninja from PoptropiCon’s Mighty Action Force.
Of course, players can customize their looks even further once they get into the game. Fun refresh, and cool to have all the seasons represented in the lineup. Wonder if this switch-up will happen again next year?
In other news, enjoy the latest fan art features from Pop’s Instagram stories, featuring some feisty character designs in fantastic styles! ⚔️
Hey Poptropicans, tune in for costume calls, TikTok trends, future fun, Instagram imaginations, and mustachioed men. Let’s pop right in!
First up, November’s costume design contest is now taking entries! Share your submissions to Poptropica before November 19 at 8 pm EST, and it might be chosen for the Baron’s return in December.
That’s right, after her long stay all throughout Red October, she’s off to the skies again and, according to the Creators’ Blog, “taking some time away from Poptropica to spend some quality time with her friends and family.” Wait, she can leave Poptropica? And she and Ack aren’t lone wanderers? Wonder if we’ll get to meet the fam?
Next up, Poptropica’s been popping off with the TikToks! The release of Mission Atlantis on Haxe came with a soundbite from The Office, and more recently, here’s one with a noseless human face juxtaposed on a Poptropican zipping through 24 Carrot (a cheat of a speedrun, though):
Poptropica’s post of TikTok features also included some news on upcoming releases.
While Mission Atlantis and a handful of other old islands are back on Haxe, only their first episodes are available at the moment. However, we now have assurance that several of them will be getting their next episodes! As for who, what, and when… that remains to be seen.
Survival Island is one of the episodic islands that only has its first episode up on Haxe. Episodes came out for members first, then later released for all.
We also get a reminder that Goofball Island is currently in the works, though no new info is offered. But in case you missed it from last month, the PHB was able to get an inside scoop on this upcoming island from the fan designer himself, Thirsty Flame! Catch our Inside look at Dream Island winner: Goofball Island.
Also, here’s the latest batch of Poptropica’s Instagram stories. In addition to featuring their own TikTok, they also shared some fun fan art, including Smart Spinner’s “how not to wear a mask” (with nose!).
Also earlier this week on the Pop Creators’ Blog, we have a new guest blogger who, despite his name and writing style, refers to himself as “your old man.” Young Rider shares tons of pics from his “penthouse clubhouse,” as well as erratic doodles and even a Bitmoji.
After introducing us to his many pet followers, Rider gets to theorizing what might’ve happened to El Mustachio Grande since his arrest on Wild West Island way back in 2011. Ten years later, Rider suspects the hairy bandit might be vowing for revenge, eating a sad turducken, hijacking a flight to Home Island, or even, maybe, living as a kind scientist on Super Villain Island. What do you think?
Hey Poptropicans! The long-awaited announcement for the Design Your Dream Island Contest winner is here — but apparently, it’s only just the beginning. 🏝✨
Dropping in late Monday night (around 8 p.m. Eastern time), the Creators’ Blog finally posted a winner whose idea will turn from fable to reality in Poptropica: Fairy Tale Island by Perfect Crab! But wait, there’s more: blown away by the hundreds of entries they received in the past couple of months, the Poptropica Creators will be announcing multiple winners for this contest. Stay tuned as we await further news this week!
Transported by the magic of the movies.
Meanwhile, Perfect Crab’s idea is sounding like the perfectly twisted fairy tale. Here’s what the Creators had to share about it:
The plot: On an island ruled by fairy tales, something has gone awry. The fairy tales are getting mixed up and no one is getting their happily ever after.
We loved this entry because it had a full storyline, a great set of characters, and intrigue! It also touches on a bunch of classic tales that are rich in storytelling.
Poptropica Creators’ Blog
Congrats to Perfect Crab for this crowning moment, which comes with a one-year membership prize! And, although it’ll probably be a while before the island gets made, we can’t wait to play Fairy Tale Island.
(If you’re reading this, Perfect Crab, we’d love to share more about your island idea here on the PHB. And for everyone else who isn’t Perfect Crab, we’d be happy to share yours too — just contact us!)
Whether you have stakes in the game as a contest participant or just want to hear about other people’s island ideas, you can join us over on our Discord server, the PHC, as we eagerly anticipate the rest of the results of the Dream Island contest. May the greatest islands win — and may we all win when Poptropica pulls up with new adventuresome islands, like Fairy Tale Island, in 2021!
In other news, December 28 was also a big day in Poptropica for one other reason: it was the official end of the Flash era of Poptropica, with all Flash accounts scheduled to smoothly transition over to the game’s Haxe build, which has steadily been updating since February of this year.
So if you’ve been playing on Flash, you may log in to see some changes — most notably, the fewer islands on the map — but rest assured, most of your stuff (from items to islands completed) has made it over to Haxe. Scrolling through my items, I found many classics from the Flash days that haven’t formally been introduced to Haxe until now, like the 8th birthday balloon and even the infamous Fart Gun.
Animated items ran noticeably slower and may have contributed to lag.
Classic items from the Flash days made it to Haxe.
Some players have reported still being able to access the game on Flash via the unofficial Format Loader tool. But with the plug being pulled on Flash any day now, that’s probably not going to last for long — so be ready for the inevitable migration. We know, it’s sad to say goodbye, but at least the presence of Early Poptropica on the map (i.e. all the classic islands for members) might assure us that Poptropica is keeping their promise of making the old islands accessible after 2020.
There are some new store items in Haxe, too. Well, more like one item recolored a few times and being passed off as different—take a look at the jackets of the Boss Babe, Neon Rockstar, and Pretty Tough costumes. New hair, same styles. The other items in the store are similar to last week’s selection, though some costumes were switched out.
Catch you all soon in the next update — we’ll be waiting for the other winners of the Dream Island contest. 🤞 What a way to end the year!
So much has happened in the past 365 days… and we’ve got a lot of it on the record. Tune into the PHB on New Year’s Eve for a look back on 2020 in our upcoming annual Rewind! 🥳
As 2020 draws to a close, we are dreadfully awaiting the end of an era on the internet: the Flash shutdown.
This event will drastically change the internet at large with countless Flash games being rendered unplayable. Not wanting Poptropica to become lost to time, the Creators have been hard at work moving the game to a new platform and preserving it for (hopefully) more years to come. Now to answer the burning question: “What’s in store for Poptropica’s future?”
Players may have seen a new pop-up appear when they boot up the Flash version of the game. This pop-up, along with a more detailed Creators’ Blog post, lets players know what’s going to happen to the game in the coming days.
On December 28, Poptropica will officially make the switch to Haxe as its sole platform. Players don’t need to worry about their years-old accounts being lost to time. The Creators assured players that existing Flash accounts will make a smooth transition to Haxe. You still get to keep your username, inventory, medallions, friends, and more!
What about the islands that have yet to be converted? While the Creators are still converting all of the islands, they are also working to make the old Flash version of Poptropica accessible to players! Sounds crazy, right? Here’s what they said regarding the matter:
For those of you who are members and are playing the Early Poptropica islands – this will stay on the map and can be accessed in the newest version of the game. We’ll keep this access up for as long as possible and recommend not updating your browsers! Newer versions of browsers are starting to block Flash which will keep you from being able to access these.
To summarize, members will still be able to play the classic islands as long as they don’t update their browsers. While we understand why the Creators say not to update browsers as it’s the only readily available way to access the classic islands, there are some notable flaws with this approach.
First, not updating your browser can leave your computer vulnerableto performance issues and security flaws, which is one of the big reasons why Flash is being retired. Second, some browsers automatically update without the users’ knowledge. Some browsers like Chrome have been warning users that Flash is going away after 2020, so it’s unlikely that such browsers will be supporting the classic islands after this year.
Although it’s uncertain if these classic islands will be accessible for long, their memories will live on in the hearts and minds of players. If you’re feeling nostalgic, you can watch playthroughs on Youtube or read our island help walkthroughs right here on the PHB.
Man, that was a lot to take in. There shouldn’t be too much left to cover, right? Right?
Anyway, a new item rotation has graced the Poptropica store. Players can buy classic and contemporary items to customize their avatars. A few holiday-themed items such as Tangled In Lights and Snowman also arrived just in time for Christmas. 🎄
The Creators didn’t want pets to be left out of the fashion fun, so the pet store also saw a new rotation of items. There a lot of accessories that we have seen before, though the Blue Sunglasses may be new.
Now let’s take a moment to highlight some awesome stuff from fans. Our most recent fan art features come from Instagram artists quria.kressly, birdswithshoes, and grandmother_duck. We also got a Poptropica merch feature from an unknown fan who bought a Binary Bard phone case.
Our “Video of the Week” comes to us from Zany Ice, who created a walkthrough video for the new Wolfwalkers ad game. I recommend playing the game if you haven’t already; it’s one of my favorite Pop ads from this year.
Aaand now I’ve covered everything! Phew!
How do you guys feel about the upcoming move to Haxe? Nervous? Excited? Nervouscited? Feel free to discuss with others in the comment section below. Though Poptropica’s future is uncertain, we can come together as a community and face the new changes ahead.
Hey everyone! After hardly six days since the Creators’ first announcement, Arabian Nights Episode 1: How Bazaar has appeared on the Haxe map! And, as promised, it’s open for members and non-members alike to play.
Arabian Nights, as shown on the Haxe map.
I’ve just run through the new How Bazaar, and here’s what’s I found to report: it seems that, unlike Mythology Island, the Creators made the decision to keep Arabian Nights the same as its Flash equivalent. Most of the scenes remained almost exactly as those in Flash, and the only differences I could spot in the entire island were minor dialogue changes.
Better yet, I experienced very little lag whilst playing. Despite the pop-up ads between scenes, the gameplay was quite smooth! I’d say that overall, Arabian Nights has given me fresh hope for what can be done on Haxe. If Arabian Nights can be executed so well, maybe the islands still waiting for a port will turn out awesome too.
By the way, bring along the PHB’s Arabian Nights Island Guide for handy help as you play through the episode!
A couple scenes from Arabian Nights on Haxe.
For the first time in a while, Quippy has appeared on time! You’ll find the little droid—sporting a cunning thief garb—in the Rumi’s Rugs common room, waiting to deliver his newest stash of Arabian Nights gear.
Did Quippy join the ranks of the Forty Thieves?
And speaking of the Arabian Nights gear pack, let’s see what’s in store! The four new items include: Arabian Style, Silent Thief, Desert Lizard Follower*, and Purple Smoke Bomb*. (Two of which are members-only.)
It’s the latest desert fashion.
The Creators haven’t yet mentioned if the later episodes of Arabian Nights are planned to be released as well; although, in separate news, they did mention in their most recent post that they’ve already received hundreds of submissions in the Create Your Dream Island contest! Wow. Competition is getting real, and there’s still plenty of time left to submit your ideas! All this Arabian Nights stuff is sure to get creative juices flowing.
That’s all the news today! What are your opinions on the new Arabian Nights? What islands do you hope to see converted next? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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