Category: My Place in Poptropica

This is a guest post from Incredible Fire sharing her My Place in Poptropica story, which is all about one’s Poptropica journey. Enjoy!

Hi everyone! I’m Incredible Fire and this is My Place in Poptropica. Let’s get right to it!

The year was 2014 or 2015 and it was almost summer. The sky was blue and clear, as California was in the middle of a six year drought. I was at my friend’s house for lunch and she introduced me to this wonderful little game called Poptropica. I loved it.

The very first game I played, right there, was Mystery of the Map Island. Until then, I had never played a game like Poptropica. A lot of the games I played were platformers or time management games with some storytelling elements. But the focus was always on the gameplay. With Poptropica, I could truly immerse myself in a story while also playing a pretty fun video game. (I first experienced this from the choose-your-own-path Henry Stickmin games.)

The gorgeous and fun tropical art style really appealed to me, and it still does to this day. Mystery of the Map is by no means universally acclaimed, but it will always have a special place in my heart. I made my first account that day, and I’m still using that very account.

When I started playing, there were so many islands that even in my immense free time, I actually never finished them all. And I played a lot. It was my go-to game whenever I got any time on the laptop.

After a year or so, Poptropica stopped working for me, and it seemed like I would never finish the game. In a couple of years I moved back to India where I was absolutely sure it would never work again. But I never forgot Poptropica. It was still my favorite game. When I first started playing, I looked to Thinknoodles for help, but since I prefer written guides, so then I discovered the PHB. And I’ve been following it ever since. Even when I wasn’t playing, I still kept up to date with the PHB’s latest posts. 

Thankfully, Poptropica started working again after Poptropica Worlds came out, and I was grateful for the chance to finally finish the game. I finished most of the islands, but then began what I would call the downfall of Poptropica. I actually really liked Poptropica Worlds, especially compared to the dumpster fire that is, unfortunately, Haxe Poptropica. It really started falling apart with Greek Sea Odyssey, which I found very lackluster. That’s about the same time Poptropica laid off a lot of its senior staff, so take from that what you will.

During the pandemic, I had a lot of free time on the computer. All my life, I’ve never had an online presence because the internet is a weird place with stranger danger. Those are still very real concerns. But I felt like the PHB was a very safe, friendly environment. So I finally took a plunge and joined the PHB on Discord (also known as the PHC). 

I actually had a lot of fun and made some friends on the PHC. I loved getting to know and sometimes even helping creative people: artists, bloggers, writers, YouTubers. But after having an unpleasant experience on other, less friendly sites, I decided to go back into my shell. I still occasionally comment on the PHB, and I may write guest posts like this every once in a while.

Playing Poptropica today is… disconcerting. I really miss the old, good quality, polished game. Although it still makes wonderful art, I miss what made Poptropica my favorite game. The stories. The fleshed out, whimsical, sometimes silly stories. 

I’m not as old as the Poptropica veterans, but I have grown up a bit since 2014 or 15. And somehow, California is still in a drought. Poptropica brings me back to my childhood, though not with its recent direction of treating players as children in need of handholding, if you know what I mean. I love Poptropica, but I don’t know if it can make a comeback, considering the track it’s on right now. But I’ll always have great memories of the game and there’s always hope.

It’s difficult to end this post, considering my journey with Poptropica hasn’t ended. I’m still finding my place. But Poptropica will always have a place in my heart.

Pop on,
Incredible Fire

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! If you did, you’ll probably enjoy our other MPIP stories here on the PHB.

If you haven’t already shared your story, we invite you to send in your own. Interested in writing for the PHB under a different Pop-topic? Take a look at our Write for the PHB page for ideas, guidelines, and more! 📰✨

This is a guest post from Paris sharing his My Place in Poptropica story, which is all about one’s Poptropica journey. Enjoy!

2010 | The world of online games

In 2010, my siblings and I were obsessed with online games — Animal Jam, Webkinz, and even that one McDonald’s MMO, if anyone remembers. Around 2010, my sister introduced us to Poptropica, and everything changed. From the years of 2010 to 2013, I was obsessed with Poptropica.

2013-ish | A PHB obsession 

Near the year 2013 (or was it 2014?) I discovered the Poptropica Help Blog. I don’t exactly remember when or how (perhaps I was searching for island guides?), but when I discovered the PHB, I became even more obsessed with Poptropica. I idolized the PHB authors at the time; this included Slanted Fish, HPuterpop, etc. This obsession of mine continued throughout 2015.

Then in 2016, there was hardly any Poptropica content, and I fell out with the game. This all changed a couple years later…

2018 | What happened to Poptropica?!

In 2018, I decided to check back on the current situation of Poptropica, only to find it a mess. Flash was shutting down in a little over two years and the creators were spending time on Poptropica Worlds: a laggy, slow, and unfinished mess. The old islands seemed like they were doomed to die, so that summer, I decided to play through all of the old islands I hadn’t completed yet.

Also during that summer, I decided to join the PHB’s Discord server, the Poptropica Help Chat (PHC). It was not really active at the time, but it did introduce me to the larger Poptropica community. I participated in the Poppies, gave the PHB a tip-off about the ad-based Lego Island, and all sorts of things. But 2019 brought even more things to the table.

2019 | Finding community

I became even more active in the community and joined another Discord server in the fandom, the Poptropica Club. This was in its early days before I became a part of its staff. Due to the massive growth and activity of the Pop Club, I grew disinterested in the PHC, but still read the PHB religiously.

In 2019, we were introduced to Reality TV: Wild Safari, and later a new tutorial called Snagglemast. These underwhelming islands left me disappointed and even more pessimistic about the future of Poptropica.

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Also, that summer, the old islands were taken off of the map. This proved to be devastating to most players, but quite fortuitous for the Pop Club, as it became a key place where players could conveniently access links to the old store inventory, the old islands, and the old friends page, and get tech support from idk, who made these links available. (These methods have long since expired, by the way.)

The summer of 2019 proved to be one of the most disappointing for Poptropica, but the most wonderful for me, as I was able to engage in this community. But when September 2019 rolled around, I had to take a break from Poptropica and the community for school.

2020 | Antagonism

When everything shut down for the pandemic, I was able to make my return to the Poptropica community. This time around, I had more of an antagonistic attitude towards the PHB. Certain community members got on my nerves, motivating me to troll the PHC during the 2020 Poppies and Tribal Tournament events. This eventually led to me being banned from that space.

I didn’t let that discourage me, though. The rest of 2020 held some good times in the fandom. One of the highlights for me was the Pop Club’s New Year’s party, in which idk created a custom snowglobe common room for us all to hang out in and watch a countdown to 2021. And with 2021, some things changed.

2021 | Letting go of grievances

After some drama on the Pop Club, I was promoted to an admin position. Later in April of 2021, I returned to the PHC during the open house party.

I’m willing to put aside my minor grievances with the PHB, because I can’t spend all of my time hating this blog; it’s exhausting. I’d rather spend my time participating with it and making friends, rather than enemies.

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! If you did, you’ll probably enjoy our other MPIP stories here on the PHB.

If you haven’t already shared your story, we invite you to send in your own. Interested in writing for the PHB under a different Pop-topic? Take a look at our Write for the PHB page for ideas, guidelines, and more! 📰✨

This is a guest post from Golden Singer sharing her My Place in Poptropica story, which is all about one’s Poptropica journey. Enjoy!

Hi Poptropicans, this is a guest post by yours truly, Golden Singer! And I’m here to share my “My Place in Poptropica” (MPIP) story with you! Right now I am eight, and this is my first year on the Poptropica Help Blog. Enjoy! 

2016–2017 | Bored of board games

I was 4 years old and I was bored while playing boring board games. So I logged on my computer and just started playing online games. Then… I saw a pop-up saying “Poptropica: play now.” So I pressed on it and it brought me to some game.

I pressed on “new player” and made my account, then I started playing! The first Island I remember playing was Monkey Wrench Island. Later, in 2017, I started buying stuff from the store, but didn’t get much. So I tried to beat more Islands.

2018–2019 | Rewind

I stopped playing Poptropica for a while. I forgot my password, so I had to make a new account. My first account’s name was Icy Horse, but now my name is Golden Singer. All the stuff I had was gone, and I couldn’t get them back, so I decided to finish the same Islands I did before.

Then… I found the Poptropica Help Blog! I didn’t go on it as much as I do now, but it’s ok — I started beating more islands and it was fun!

2020 | The end of Flash

The end of Flash was kind of hard on me. All the island worlds I’d beat disappeared! I was kind of sad about that, but at least I still had fun, because Poptropica is fun.

2021–beyond | The future

The future of Poptropica is coming, with all the excitement about the new things in Poptropica like the new Poptropica Islands. I’m looking forward to it all!

So that’s My Place in Poptropica. If you like this one, check out all the other MPIP stories on the PHB too. Bye!

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! If you did, you’ll probably enjoy our other MPIP stories here on the PHB.

If you haven’t already shared your story, we invite you to send in your own. Interested in writing for the PHB under a different Pop-topic? Take a look at our Write for the PHB page for ideas, guidelines, and more! 📰✨

~the Poptropica Help Blog

This is a guest post from Cheerful Comet sharing her My Place in Poptropica story, which is all about one’s Poptropica journey. Enjoy!

Hey Poptropicans! My name is Cheerful Comet and I am here to share with you how I got into Poptropica. I started playing Poptropica in 2012 when I was 8 years old, and now I am 16.

2012–2014 | My neighbor’s introduction

My neighbor was the one who introduced me to Poptropica. His Poptropican’s name was Thirsty Cactus and he had 5 medallions. When I first saw the game, I watched him log in and start playing SOS Island, which was new at that time. He recommended that I play this game.

But to be honest, I did not really like it. I would just go island to island, exploring the place and changing my outfits. This went on for a long time. I made a million Poptropica accounts which I never touched again.

Things changed when I moved out from my apartment, and my neighbor gave me his account username and password. I logged into his account and found myself on the cliff of Super Villain Island (Home Island did not exist back then). It was super hard for me to climb those cliffs, but I enjoyed it once I entered Dr Hare’s dream.

I don’t remember much, but I remember that after a while, I couldn’t get into the Thirsty Cactus account. I figured maybe I forgot the password or he changed the password.

2013–2014 | Beating the Islands

I started beating the islands one by one every day. Just one problem: I had yet to create my own account, and still didn’t do it until 2015. I know, I could have just stuck to one account. Or I guess I didn’t know… I was an idiot, still am.

So basically, each day I would start playing on a new character and win two or three island medallions. I usually beat the easy classics, like Early Poptropica and Shark Tooth Island. This went on for a while.

2015–2016 | Creating an account

One day, I finally created an account named Yellow Lobster. I did not care about the name for a while, but it did start bothering me later.

I started beating the islands again, but this time without losing progress. I earned at least 33 medallions during this time (with the help of Thinknoodles walkthroughs). Then in 2016, something happened. No, I did not ‘forget’ about Poptropica. I was moving to my family’s country. But it only lasted 7 months. During these months, I had no WiFi on my PC, which meant no Poptropica.

2017 | Discovering the PHB and learning more about Pop

2017 was the best year for me in terms of Poptropica. I am pretty sure that I had come across the PHB a couple of times before then, but I consider my official “discovery” of the PHB to be in 2017, through a YouTube video about the Avatar Studio Glitch. Since then, I became a daily reader of the blog. I was hooked.

I participated in the PHB’s annual Halloween costume contest and won a membership that year, which was sponsored by the Poptropica Creators. But that’s not all. My membership should have only lasted for 1 month, right? It lasted for more than 11 months starting from November 2017. Below is my proof of how long it lasted, along with my winning costume. I don’t know why it lasted that long, but I am grateful it did.

I also learned that Jeff Kinney, the author of my favorite book series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, was the creator of Poptropica. But that explains the two Wimpy Kid Islands, doesn’t it?

2018–2020 | Costumes and a plan that backfired

In 2018, I also participated in the PHB’s annual survey and the Halloween contest. I won yet again—call it luck maybe. This time I did not win membership, but my membership from the last contest did not expire until 20 days later.

Like my old neighbor Thirsty Cactus, I wanted to give my username and password to someone and inspire them to play Poptropica. I chose someone who I knew more than Thirsty Cactus, but let’s just say it backfired TERRIBLY. I almost lost my account, which had membership, all the medallions, and lots more — and of course, a place in my heart. Yeah I know, it’s cheesy. So I made the sensible decision to talk to her parents. And I literally told her why the account is worth a lot to me. I got my password back after all that embarrassment and begging. If only I knew to contact Poptropica support back then.

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In 2019 and 2020, I did not play much Poptropica. I did not forget about it, but I did not have as much time on my hands to play. Still, I did all my annual traditions on the PHB: the annual survey, voting in the Poppies, and the Halloween costume contest. But I made a mistake in the 2019 costume contest: instead of sending my costume link via the Avatar Studio, I sent a link to the Avatar Studio. So they never saw my costume. But let’s not dwell on the past, shall we?

Anyway, because of a new feature in Haxe, I changed my name from Yellow Lobster to Cheerful Comet.

2021–beyond | The future

I don’t know whether I will continue to play Poptropica in the long run, but it makes me happy, so why should I quit for no reason? I am playing Poptropica more than ever right now, although I miss the classics.

Before ending this post, let me take a moment to say that common rooms aren’t really interactive at all anymore. I miss the prank cans and fortune cookie cards. I hope I will continue to play Poptopica.

Bye Poptropicans! Stay poppin’!

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! If you did, you’ll probably enjoy our other MPIP stories here on the PHB.

If you haven’t already shared your story, we invite you to send in your own. Interested in writing for the PHB under a different Pop-topic? Take a look at our Write for the PHB page for ideas, guidelines, and more! 📰✨

~the Poptropica Help Blog