This is a guest post written by Oliver O., an 11-year-old Poptropica player in the community. In this post, he’ll be exploring the question of why Poptropica Original is still getting updates, while Poptropica Worlds is not. Enjoy!
Hello, I’m a person who’s never written on this blog, but hopefully you like this post. (By the way, I live in Alaska. Yes, we accept US money, and no, we don’t live in igloos. But enough about me.)
Let’s talk about Poptropica. Specifically, what’s up with it these days?
As you may remember, the Creators decided to build Poptropica Worlds in favor of Poptropica Original. The last island on the original Pop was Monkey Wrench in early 2016, three years ago, and even that was more of a tutorial than a full-length island.
So I have a question: why is Poptropica Original still getting updates? Why do they still have member gifts? Why did they update Home Island?
Keep in mind that apparently they were focusing on Poptropica Worlds, and originally claimed they wouldn’t be updating Poptropica Original any longer. As we know, that’s not the case.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love the new changes. The pets? Absolutely adorable! I have all five and love the colorization feature, although I really agree with Lucky Joker—pet clothes really would be cool.
And the clubhouses are a whole different thing. THEY. ARE. AWESOME!! (Although… I don’t understand why there are so few furniture items.)
But let’s not slander that stuff. Let’s talk about my question: why are there updates in the first place, when they said Worlds was the future?
My first guess: They meant no more islands. And although this is very sad for the original Pop, Poptropica Worlds did produce some new islands since Monkey Wrench—the latest one was Greek Sea Odyssey, released a year ago. Progress is very slow on this front, now more than ever.
Next thought on the list: Maybe they just forgot? I mean, it’s not unusual to forget. Raise your hand if you’ve ever forgotten something! *silence, no hands go up* Okay, maybe just me. Or maybe they didn’t forget, but liked their new plan (to update the original game) better.
So that’s what I think! Do you think different? Share your thoughts in the comments. This is a random person signing out. The end!
The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. You can find some tips and guidelines on our Write for the PHB page. We also encourage sharing blog posts on the PHC.
What’s up, Poptropicans? It’s Lucky Joker here with this month’s wintery member gifts and an advertisement.
If you’re currently a member, you’ll receive three winter styles upon logging in. Boys will receive outfits called Frosty, Ice, and Cool, and girls will receive outfits called Meow, Toasty, and Snugly.
Remember, if you purchase a membership any time within January, you’ll obtain all the member’s gifts (corresponding to your character’s gender).
Also, an ad for the upcoming movie, The Kid Who Would Be King (which premieres on January 25), can be found on various islands. Home Island or 24 Carrot would be your best bet.
There’s no game this time, but there are prizes. To get them, all you have to do is watch the short video trailer.
The prizes you’ll earn are King Arthur’s Sword and an Owl Transformation.
So, are you going to see The Kid Who Would Be King? What do you think about this month’s member gifts? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading, and I’ll talk to you all soon… pop on!
What’s up, Poptropicans? The year is wrapping up, and that could only mean one thing—it’s time for our 2018 rewind!
Every year, we reflect back on the events regarding Poptropica and the community surrounding it. So, what happened this year?
Part 1: Poptropica (Worlds & Original)
2018 started out with what would probably be the biggest event of the year—the member release of Poptropica Worlds’ third full island quest, Greek Sea Odyssey, in February. (It released to all in mid-March.) Check out our Island Review!
Things unfortunately took a turn for the worse as the end of the month approached… Several employees (all with senior positions) were sadly laid off. Because of this, we made some speculations regarding Poptropica’s financial status.
In March, the misfortune continued when @Poptropica unexpectedly unfollowed hundreds of accounts (including me… not salty at all, ahem) on Twitter, with no follow-up explanation. (Though the PHB’s official Twitter, @Poptropica_Help, is one of a few still followed by Poptropica.) It caught many people off guard, to say the least. Even former Poptropica social media manager Skinny Moon had something to say about it.
On the flip side, March Prizes went on throughout the month, where special items were hidden on a different island each week. If you found it, you got to keep it!
April brought us a few new series on the Poptropica Creators’ Blog which included Outfits of the Week, Island Highlight, and Guess the Island—all of which have since discontinued. The writing wasn’t exactly high caliber, either.
Not much happened in August, but September was a great month for Poptropica. First and foremost, Poptropica celebrated their 11th birthday by releasing a funny-looking Birthday Candle costume—free for everyone!
Poptropica also held a small-scale #SpookyPop Photo Booth contest, featuring just a couple pics on their Instagram. In larger news was the Home Island overhaul, which brought unopened buildings like the Blast-Off Arcade, Pet Barn, and more.
December started out with the 12 Days of Member Gifts, an extension of the monthly Member Gifts benefit with, for the first time since it began, new original items. Snow arrived on Home Island, text chat arrived at the Blast-Off Arcade, and towards the very end came the biggest feature of all: clubhouses!
The PHB posted three times as much as the Poptropica Creators’ Blog this year—about 180 posts to their almost 60.
In fact, at 59 posts in 2018, it’s the Creators’ Blog’s lowest yearly post count yet—even lower than the 64 from when the blog began in mid-2008. While they did maintain a social media presence, the lack of a personable social media manager left a disconnect between players and Creators worsened by infrequent updates.
To make up for the missing communications on the part of the Pop Creators, we at the PHB have been hard at work bringing you the latest and greatest in all things Poptropica. Here’s what we’ve been up to this year as a community:
In August, we held our first ever PHB Header Contest, and the winning design (by Gentle Dolphin) was displayed as our blog banner for the month of September!
November and December were quieter months here on the PHB, but they were surprisingly active ones for Poptropica (see above). To conclude 2018…
Tributes
There is one final section to go in this Rewind post, and that’s the tributes for the 4 PHB staff authors who left this year. (Poptropica isn’t the only place with departures, but at least these were willingly so.) Thank you, again, to these delightful Poptropicans:
Before joining the PHB team, Happy Lobster blogged on several Poptropica fan sites, including his own, the now-defunct A Quota of Poptropica. Having worked with the PHB for about a year and a half, HL has contributed some fun posts including a Pop-over of Inside Out characters, a Pop 5 for beautiful scenes, and more. Wherever he goes, we hope he stays happy!
Ah, Brave Tomato, a PHB legend. The longest-staying PHB staffer thus far (other than Slanted Fish, the creator of the PHB, who’s still around), BT has been with the blog since 2012. In her six years here, and more within the greater Poptropica community, BT has done a lot: she’s revisited most of the islands on her YouTube channel, created tons of Poptropica fan art and fan fiction, and more. Named the 2018 recipient of “Best PHB Author” at the Poppies, BT is known for her love of mythology, accuracy in Pop theories, and hunger for lore, among many other great qualities. We give her 10/10 fresh, brave tomatoes.
That’s 2018! We the Poptropica Help Blog have been around for 10+ years now, and we look forward to even more poppin’ times with all of you. Thanks for being a part of our journey, and we’ll see you in the new year. Keep on popping, Poptropicans!
The last of the “12 Days of Member Gifts” are upon us! In case you missed it, check out the first, second, and third waves of gifts in our previous posts. And now…
It’s time to open the presents! The gift items are as follows: Rudolph Nose (Monday, Dec. 10), Winter Outfit for girls and boys (Tuesday, Dec. 11), and Freeze Ray (Wednesday, Dec. 12). Thanks to Osmium for the pictures below:
If you get a membership now, all 12 of the gifts will be added to your inventory to keep forever. (Update: This is still applicable even after Dec. 12! Perhaps it’ll last the whole month?)
Now if only Poptropica would remember the non-members among us, too…
Hello, Poptropicans, it’s Lucky Joker here with new stuff to share with you today.
First off, Poptropica has finally updated the Photo Booth since the Halloween update back in October—but, it’s probably not what you’d think. I kind of expected to see some new holiday props and characters for the season, but I was little disappointed when I discovered that wasn’t the case.
There are 5 new backgrounds that appear to be from a few familiar islands, like Astro-Knights, Mythology, and Wimpy Wonderland (oh look, there’s a winter one!).
It’s safe to assume these new backgrounds will be replacing the good old ones we’re used to since they’re no longer there and these new ones aren’t exactly seasonal. Small update, but still neat in its own right.
Secondly, the third wave of member gifts is coming our way, starting off with some coolSnowboard Gear. Tomorrow (Saturday, the 8th), watch out for the Snowball Toss card, and the next day (Sunday, the 9th), an Elf Follower not too far behind!
And lastly, Home Island has received a full, fun winter makeover! It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas now, wouldn’t you say? ❄️🎄 (Even that LEGO ad tucked away in the corner of the sky, that probably isn’t meant to be visible, is coated in snow… 👀)
So, how are you liking these member gifts so far? And what do you think about the rest of these updates? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below. Thanks for reading as always and I’ll talk to you all very soon… pop on!
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