Category: Islands

Monster Carnival Island, Steam Bundle

Step right up for a secret twist! 🔮

Slanted Fish

Just a few more clues to go as we guess the upcoming 13 Steam islands! (Keep up with past hints here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.) 

The ninth hint has descended upon us like night: “Hidden behind the thrilling fun is a fowl affair. Step right up, if you dare.”

If you know your stuff, this one should be straightforward: our bets are on Monster Carnival! The island (which follows the AS3 theory) introduces you to the carnival (“thrilling fun”), with booths including a weight-guesser who implores you to “Step right up.” But as we soon learn, something’s not quite right: “hidden behind” the monstrosities is the bird-like Ringmaster Raven (“fowl affair”). 🎡🐦

pic: Thinknoodles

But note the caption of the hint post: there’s going to be a “secret twist” with this return! And based on past fandom chatter, we have an inkling of what that could entail.

Ringmaster Raven’s portrayal has been critiqued for playing into ugly stereotypes (including anti-Semitism and slavery), and he is given disproportionately unfair treatment when he is turned into a chicken to be a laughingstock by the townsfolk (who bullied him as a child and never repented). Here’s a fan video that covers the discourse:

Back in 2020, the PHB hosted a Q&A with Poptropica’s CEO Abhi Arya, where we asked how Poptropica might address the Monster Carnival critiques. In response, he shared:

I totally get it. This is definitely one of those instances where you know the intent doesn’t align with the issue and you have to ask, “How was this affected by implicit bias?” We’re actually auditing all the islands for this reason and have already revised Monster Carnival for its conversion to Haxe. I appreciate that players bring this to our attention. It’s the only way we can all collectively move forward in the right direction.

Abhi Arya, Q&A with the Poptropica CEO

It’s been a while since that Q&A and we haven’t seen Monster Carnival return to Haxe, but it looks like we’ll be seeing it soon on Steam. Perhaps this time around, we’ll be getting a new look, character arc, and/or better ending for Raven, and maybe the townsfolk as well. We’ll see! 🤞

~🐠

Contests, Jade Scarab Island, Monthly Costume Contests, Steam Bundle

Arbiters of Fate & Artifacts to Create 🪲

Slanted Fish

Poptropica’s pressing on, and we’re guessing on with clues for the upcoming Steam islands. (Keep up with past hints here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.) 

The eighth hint appears to be the most enigmatic one yet: “Restore the puzzle to its natural state or face the consequences of a dire fate.”

This latest riddle is surprisingly vague after a week of fairly guessable clues, but let’s give it a try. While this could apply to lots of islands, the Pop Creators suggest focusing on the hint’s last words: “dire fate.” ⚠️

If we’re following the AS3 islands theory, outside of islands guessed from previous hints, there are still quite a few candidates. Perhaps it’s Virus Hunter, where you must restore Patient Zero to homeostasis before a virus spreads; or Monster Carnival, where you have to save the town from Ringmaster Raven’s hypnotic spell. Or could it even be Mocktropica — a dire fate not for human life, but a computer game?

Mocktropica
Virus Hunter
Monster Carnival

Still others have speculated Time Tangled (fixing the timeline of history), which fits the clue well, but already exists in-game. It wouldn’t exactly be a “returning” island if it came to Steam, but it’s an AS3/SUI.

However, the vague clue leaves options open for older AS2 islands as well. Among the best of Pop classics, we might consider Zomberry, where we have to find the source of the zombie outbreak or risk succumbing to it; Super Villain, where we enter villains’ dreams and extract the source of their evil; Twisted Thicket, where we risk the destruction of a forest; Steamworks, where we crack puzzles that lead us to restoring humanity; Spy, where we rescue spies and prevent hair loss… and so many more! With so many possibilities, who knows? 🤔

Steamworks
Spy
Zomberry

While we wait for islands both old and new, the Pop Creators are hosting a new challenge based on the upcoming Dream Island winner: the Secret of the Jade Scarab Fan Challenge! 🪲

All are invited to design an Egyptian artifact, which can be completely original or a redesign of a preexisting one. Submit your entries to Poptropica by Thursday, April 28 at 8 p.m. PST for a chance to win big credit rewards. See the official blog for details »

At the same time, the monthly costume contest has kicked off. Design an outfit for a chance to get it in the game! April’s contest runs until Monday, April 25 at 8 p.m. PST. More details on the official blog »

Rounding off this post are the latest fan art features from Pop’s Instagram stories, including doodles of the many different emotional sides of the Black Widow from the PHB’s MaryannTheConqueror. Enjoy!

Popsona recolor by @sockf00ted.books
Speedy Catfish (Thinknoodles) by @sakurannb0
Bard in Smart’s dress by @brittscarlet1
Favorite games by @_smart_spinner_
Cymbeline & Laertes (Pop OCs) by @a.jbox
Mademoiselle Moreau by @pinklightningmc
Amelia’s seen some stuff by @kohukokofe
Fox costume by @joeynigrogames
Black Widow by @maryanntheconqueror

That wraps up this big bunch of small stories! Thanks for popping by!

~🐠

Arabian Nights Island, Steam Bundle

Dungeons & Dummies & Dr. Hare 📚

Slanted Fish

Them Steam island hints keep coming, and we’re already halfway to 13! (Keep up with past hints here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.) 

The seventh hint ups the challenge with a more obscure reference: “Bypass ‘Spell Casting For Dummies’ and ‘How to Survive In A Dungeon’ while searching for another bizarre book. Your medallion depends on it!”

You’d be forgiven for wishing on an older classic island — maybe Astro-Knights, where a library leads into a dungeon, or Red Dragon, where a book transports you to old Japan and you end up in a dungeon at some point — but don’t let the hint’s change in background fool you away from the AS3 islands theory, which continues with this reveal:

The book titles mentioned are from a shelf in Arabian Nights Island, Episode 3. Careful what you wish for! (Thanks for the tip, Sean30303.)

Poptropica currently only has Episodes 1 and 2 of Arabian Nights (with the latter being members only), so having the Steam bundle serve as our magic carpet access to the full set will be nice. We’re not sure how that’ll tie in with membership, but we do know the Steam bundle won’t be free.

Arabian Nights may not have a ton of nostalgia, but this recent tweet from a former Pop Creator might! Nate Greenwall, sometimes known as Shark Boy, was one of the OG Pop Creators (see his Pop Portfolios 1 & 2) who invented the character of Dr. Hare. Here he shares an early sketch of the goggled bunny, and a note that he’s glad he’s still out there:

That’s all for now. Join us on Discord to share your theories, and stay tuned with us for the next half of the Steam island hints as they come!

~🐠

Galactic Hot Dogs Island, Steam Bundle

Wiener Hints at Leaner Steam Islands 🐕💨

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, steamy sounds of more clues incoming!

Since the announcement of some old islands to return on Steam, Poptropica’s been sharing daily clues as to what those islands may be. The third hint is but a lone image: a pink wiener dog. 🌸🐕

While a few islands of the past had their share of dogs, the specificity of the clue being a wiener dog seems to point strongly to one in particular: Galactic Hot Dogs. In this island based on the eponymous graphic novel series by Max Brallier (son of former Pop publisher Jess Brallier), we hop aboard a spaceship called the Neon Wiener, which has a hot dog inside.

If we want to look to other possibilities for the clue, we might also consider the B.A.D. guard dogs you have to dodge in Spy Island, or Spitsy, a slender dog who helps you dig up the time capsule in Big Nate Island.

Spy Island dogs
Snacktime for Spitsy.

With the three hints we’ve seen so far, rumors have been circulating about the choice of the 13 islands to return on Steam: they may all be newer old islands, as opposed to super longtime classics. These newer old islands are sometimes known in the fandom as SUI (Sound-Updated Islands) or AS3 (ActionScript 3, the Flash-based programming language) and include islands released from around 2013 to 2015, which had bigger screens and sound, and may be easier to port as the technology isn’t as old as AS2 (encompassing all pre-2013 islands).

As Tough Spinner points out, these AS3 islands had been playable on the Poptropica app before they were removed in early 2022 to match with the desktop experience. Those now-missing islands are the complete sets of episodes for Survival, Mission Atlantis, PoptropiCon, and Arabian Nights, as well as standalone islands Reality TV: Wild Safari, Mystery of the Map, Shrink Ray, Galactic Hot Dogs, and the original Mythology Island. Maybe these are the islands returning via Steam…

Some of the islands from the Poptropica app before they disappeared in early 2022.

…but that’s nine islands (counting episodes as part of a full island), leaving four more, since we were promised 13 islands on Steam. It just so happens that there are at least four more AS3 islands that were never ported to the mobile app: Virus Hunter, Monster Carnival, Mocktropica, and Monkey Wrench (whose return was promised last year). Poptropolis Games was also re-released as an SUI/AS3, though it was originally an AS2 island.

Yet another possibility for some of the Steam islands could be those AS3-turned-Haxe islands that already exist on desktop: 24 Carrot, Time Tangled, Timmy Failure, and Escape From Pelican Rock — a perfect four. (The former two are OGs from 2008, but later remade into SUI/AS3 format.) Hopefully not, since we can already access them, and it wouldn’t really be in the spirit of “old islands” as promised…

Branching Out: Time for us to make like a tree, and leave.

The fact that Galactic Hot Dogs was never really a popular island among the fandom also makes it an odd choice, but it lines up with the AS3 islands theory, as do the rest of our best guesses for the other hints so far (Shrink Ray and Mythology). But who knows? Maybe we can still have hope for a few truly older AS2 islands… time will tell.

For a bit of nostalgia about islands old and new, check out our updated Poptropica Music collection under the Pop Plus tab here on the PHB! 🎵

Formerly known as “Behind the Scenes,” we’ve recently updated this page to remove outdated links as well as share previously uncovered Poptropica music files as embedded audio so you can listen directly on the page. For a taste, enjoy this track from Monster Carnival at daytime:

There’s more! Pop into the PHB’s Poptropica Music page to hear tunes from Mocktropica, Time Tangled, and many more. Enjoy!

~🐠

Jade Scarab Island, Social Media, Steam Bundle

Ghostly Rap and Jade Scarab on Map 👻🐈

Agent Bubbles

Hello Poptropicans! Two important posts from the Creators today, both pertaining to islands. Let’s pop in for a look!

As promised, here’s another hint for the upcoming 13 island releases on Steam: “I’m a sailor that’s neither living nor dead. I’ll transport you to the danger ahead. My role is restored; climb into my boat to collect your reward. Who am I?” (In case you missed it, check out yesterday’s hint here!)

This one can apply to multiple islands, considering the many sailor characters present among all the, well, islands. We’ve seen guesses ranging from Ghost Story Island (Valiant Lovejoy) to Skullduggery Island (sailing galore!).

But as Gentle Dolphin speculates, the one that seems fit most may be Mythology Island, with the hint possibly referring to Charon, the ferryman of the underworld (“neither living nor dead”) who takes you to Cerberus (“the danger ahead”).

While a remastered version of Mythology currently exists in the game, Charon’s River Styx minigame was one of the parts cut out from the controversial Haxe version. “My role is restored,” then, may be a hint for a return of the classic and popular Mythology Island.

Do you have any guesses as to which it could be? Fortunately, many future hints are promised, so we can continue guessing! We’ve seen Poptropicans on the lookout for space, carnivals, superheroes (and supervillains!), and many more. Stay tuned!

The other announcement is that Secret of the Jade Scarab Island is now on the map and will be available to all players “before you know it!” No current date is set, but it’s nice to see the long-awaited Dream Island winner at last, with our little kitty friend making another appearance! 😊

Castori honorem ~ Maryann/Smart Bubbles