Ask the Joker is a Q&A segment here on the PHB where you, dear readers, are invited to send in your Poptropica questions to have them answered, with wit, wisdom, and wisecracks, by one Incredible Joker.
Tell us about your Poptropica pet! Name, species, items of clothing, personality, likes and dislikes? You might be able to collect them all, but how many pets should one Poptropican really have? ~Slanted Fish
Well while that is technically more than one question, since you are my boss so polite about it, here we go. 😂😋 I got a pet literally just to have answers to this, so these were made by my tired, not thinking creatively, mind. I have gotten myself a pink/purplish dog 👍.
His name is Coney (try figuring that one out people 😜) and he has his fedora and yellow dead eyes. He likes: Being a dog, having a fedora, dog food, and naps. He dislikes: Losing his fedora, running out of food, and alarms. I mean I think you’d agree on this, but can you really limit your love to only one pet at any time? Gotta catch them all give them all nice, loving homes to enjoy!
What is your favorite moment playing Poptropica? ~Pegs
My favorite moment is probably not one that most people would see as a big deal, but I just really enjoyed it and I am easily amused 😅. I was really happy when I ran across the violin playing on Ghost Story.
I probably played that part over again a dozen or so times. I really like the tune (even though I have no musical talent myself) and I like those small things we get with sound in the game. The ‘rare’ and somewhat off feeling fit the creepy vibe of that island.
What do you think should be the next island to be ported to Haxe? ~Silver Horse
I really miss Spy Island. I always liked the feeling of it and the dark colors. And using the bowtie to almost fly around the place, and using the chameleon suit to talk to the enemy guards. 😂 I used to stand just far enough from their stop point to be able to bring up a chat bubble. And whether they do bring this one back soon or not, I would also like to see maybe a sequel or just a similar concept? Maybe the agency needs you to help again? They could introduce new gadgets, maybe some James Bond type stuff?
How can you send in your questions to Ask the Joker?
That’s a great question! You can use the following methods:
📧 Send an email to justaskthejoker (at) gmail (dot) com. This way, you’ll get to keep your questions a surprise when they get answered on the blog.
💬 Comment on the latest Ask the Joker post. Your questions will be publicly visible before they appear in a Q&A post, but this allows others to interact with your question if they so choose. If you don’t have an email address, you can enter a fake one in the email field when you post your comment.
See you all next time, and remember: You can’t spell Poptropica without letters.
Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post from HfEvra, who will be discussing ideas for changes to classic islands should they get remade in Haxe. Enjoy!
Greetings, fellow humanoid creatures with unrealistic proportions who lack ears and noses! My name is HfEvra or Mess of a Being (or Messy Knuckle in-game) and I’m here today with a guest post about island stories.
Though the fandom at large seems to be disappointed by the changed gameplay of the first (and currently only) Haxe remaster, Mythology Island, its existence has made me hopeful that perhaps remastered islands could also have story changes in addition to gameplay changes. In this post, I’ll go over some of the story changes I’d like to see in future Haxe remasters. (Warning: Contains spoilers for Mission Atlantis, Super Villain, and Monster Carnival.) Without further ado, let’s begin!
#1: More on the aliens in Mission Atlantis
One of my biggest gripes about Mission Atlantis Island is how little we learn about the aliens of the story. Poptropica had already made an island about potential alien life (Lunar Colony) two years before the release of Mission Atlantis: Episode 3; and despite it being an island I have very mixed feelings about, I firmly believe that the story of Mission Atlantis pales in comparison.
The big reason for this is that in Mission Atlantis, the alien aspect seems to come out of left field with no prior build-up in episodes 1 & 2. It doesn’t seem really well thought-out, and feels a lot like it was just thrown into the story for no other reason than because the writers wanted to subvert the players’ expectations by having it so that an island called Mission Atlantis doesn’t even have an Atlantis.
At least in other mystery islands like Ghost Story and Steamworks, there was constant progress being made with the mystery. The more you played, the more questions were answered as to why everything is the way it is. The answers weren’t as blatant and in your face as islands like Mystery Train, but they were still there.
With Mission Atlantis, there’s barely any time for the alien mystery to be expanded on — we spend the entire second episode trying to find a way inside a mysterious underwater structure, and then spend the entire third episode trying to find a way out of it. We get a small slideshow near the end of the third episode, but even then, that slideshow doesn’t tell us much beyond the reveal that the fortress is of alien origin and has been underwater since before the continents were formed.
Zapped: A jarring circumstance for this little fella.
I understand that the reveal of the fortress being unrelated to Atlantis is meant to be a twist, but that doesn’t mean we can’t know a little more about the extraterrestrials to whom this vessel belonged. Sure, the artifacts and glyphs from Episode 2 are a start, but there are more ways to scatter clues throughout the story without having them instantly spoil the twist. After all, Super Villain and Mocktropica could leave a trail of clues; I’m certain Mission Atlantis could benefit greatly from it.
#2: The totems in Super Villain
Speaking of Super Villain Island, another story change which I’d love to see in a Haxe remaster is changing what the totems in the villains’ dreams are meant to represent.
The plot of Super Villain Island revolves around helping Dr. Jupiter by removing totems of evil from the minds of some of Poptropica’s most infamous villains in an attempt to bring them back to the light, only to find out that Dr. Jupiter is Zeus in disguise and that he wants to use the power of the totems to take over Poptropica. And though this isn’t necessarily a bad idea for a story, the plot suffers in its treatment of the totems less like a source of evil energy and more like a physical manifestation of a person’s dark side, which can simply be removed from a person’s mind with no immediate consequences.
Not only does Super Villain not at all address the aftermath of the totem removal and the (former) villains’ escape, it glosses over some other pretty important questions: Have these people been completely stripped of any and all evil? Is it possible for them to go back to villainy, or will they remain cleansed for all eternity? And if they truly are good now, what will happen with their former victims? Will they be obligated to forgive the people who have tried to ruin their lives?
The Big Sleep: A pirate just can’t get any rest around here.
Due to how the island immediately shifts all its attention to Zeus following the retrieval of all the totems, none of these questions are given so much as a passing mention. Not even the bonus quest gives us any answers — it’s basically a fetch quest that takes place in Zeus’ dreams. (By the way, is there any reason as to why the player can’t also just take out Zeus’ totem of evil and turn him into an ally? Wouldn’t it be very helpful to have the king of the gods on our side? Just saying.)
#3: The ending of Monster Carnival
Would you look at that? This month’s Island Flash-back actually found its way onto the list! And it’s for good reason.
If there is one thing that almost the entire fandom unanimously agrees on, it’s that the ending of Monster Carnival is extremely problematic due to the way it dehumanizes a man of color who was already treated as a literal monster by the narrative because of an aspect of himself that he had no control over. Although I do not fully agree with the idea that Ringmaster Raven did nothing wrong ever, I am of the opinion that the punishment is far too severe for the crime, especially considering how villains like the Shogun from Red Dragon and Scheherazade from Arabian Nights committed far worse crimes and got away scot-free.
I already made an entire video months ago talking about the messed up implications of Monster Carnival’s story, so I will not re-tread that ground. All I will say is that the way Monster Carnival went out of its way to give Ringmaster Raven one of the saddest backstories in the game and then stripped him of his free will to make him go through even more suffering is not okay. If I could change only one thing about Poptropica, it would be Monster Carnival’s ending.
Spread Your Wings: And fly on out of here, or you’ll be sorry.
(Thankfully, it does seem that the creators are aware of the community’s view of Monster Carnival, as evidenced by the Q&A with the CEO back in November. Does this mean that justice will finally be served after seven years? Fingers crossed!)
Hope you enjoyed this guest post by HfEvra (Mess of a Being). If you did, you might also enjoy other posts in our Pop Petition series.
The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. Interested in writing for the PHB? We’d love to hear from you! 📰✨
Ask the Joker is a Q&A segment here on the PHB where you, dear readers, are invited to send in your Poptropica questions to have them answered, with wit, wisdom, and wisecracks, by one Incredible Joker.
Which new island are you most excited for, and why? ~Pegs
I am not fully sure about which one I want to play most quite yet. Both Fairy Tale and Goofball Island are interesting concepts, and they still may have one or two more winners of the Dream Island contest to announce.
Fairy Tale reminds me a bit of Time Tangled but with more complexity to it. So I think it will be fun to find the things that are messed up and figure out where they go, and to see how true they stay to the classic fairytales. Or maybe they will even decide to make a few of their own versions.
I am also excited to meet the new villain they will introduce with Goofball island! Though they didn’t say whether this island would also come out in 2021, I hope it will be sometime soon with everything going on. (Also I am quite the fan of color by numbers, and the concept is pretty similar! ☺️🙃).
What is the hardest island? ~Genius Pink Lightning
I suppose this answer is probably going to be different for everybody, but mine would be either Nabooti or Time Tangled. Mostly because of having to find the right order to do things in, and then figuring out how to place all the gems in the right places.
Both those islands did have some pretty cool easter eggs though, like the phone on Nabooti and hidden Viking outfit on Time Tangled. Figuring out new codes for the phone was exciting each time, getting to see what they added to my character.
Even after you have played through them once, they can be pretty fun to replay to see just how well it flows with the right order of events!
Is there any way after the end of Flash to play more islands than are currently available in Haxe? ~Arnav K.
Yes, you can! 😄 You can play a handful more of them on the mobile app. If you can somehow get Flash to still work on your computer, perhaps with an older not-updated browser, a membership lets you access all the classic islands. Still, I can understand not wanting to buy membership to play classics that used to be free.
There is another unofficial way to play some of the classics with a little setup. Using idk’s Old Island Directory, you can play around 34 of them on Flashpoint, a Flash game preservation platform. I would list them here but I am lazy sure you will enjoy their organized list at the bottom of their page!
I wanna know, what is your My Place In Poptropica story? ~Emuuuuuuu
I plan to write a post for this story sometime in the future! 👍
How can you send in your questions to Ask the Joker?
That’s a great question! You can use the following methods:
📧 Send an email to justaskthejoker (at) gmail (dot) com. This way, you’ll get to keep your questions a surprise when they get answered on the blog.
💬 Comment on the latest Ask the Joker post. Your questions will be publicly visible before they appear in a Q&A post, but this allows others to interact with your question if they so choose. If you don’t have an email address, you can enter a fake one in the email field when you post your comment.
See you all next time, and remember: You can’t spell Poptropica without letters.
Howdy, Poptropicans! It’s LJ here with another Pop The Difference special. It’s been nearly 3 years since the last one, so to say this is overdue is putting it mildly. Let’s not waste anymore time and pop right into it!
So here’s how the game works: Down below are five pairs of Poptropica images, each containing five differences. Some differences are easy to spot while others may be tougher. Are you up for the challenge?
The first two people to correctly spot all 25 differences (5 in each) will receive a drawing of their Poptropican by me. (Check out my DeviantArt page to get a glimpse of what you’re in for. :P)
Answers and winners will be revealed at some point in the next coming weeks. That’s it for now and I’ll talk to you all in the next one. Pop on!
Here we are Poptropicans, with the first Island Flash-back! And this time I didn’t stall on the post until the end of the month! But in all seriousness, this island was high on my list, and considering this is its release month, it’s the perfect time. I know I already spoiled it in the title, but I’m going to do a dramatic reveal anyway! February’s island is…
Monster Carnival!!
I would be lying if I didn’t say this island has a very complicated history. It was actually planned to be released alongside Poptropica’s very first islands, but was delayed for years. Even some Creators seemed to think it was never going to be completed, as evidenced by the description for this old concept art found in the Daily Pop archives.
Early concept art for Monster Carnival (and its ringmaster?)
“The Wayback Machine: An early sketch for a long-rumored, never-completed Island.” -The Daily Pop
Monster Carnival takes its inspiration from many sources, from the horror genre, to the at times creepy atmosphere of circuses, and even the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe, referenced by both the main villain and the trainee Edgar. Possibly over time the island’s story and atmosphere became more complex due to new inspirations over what appears to be many re-writes.
A really good example of how “creepy” and “pretty” can be conveyed in the same image
Of course, no Monster Carnival discussion can be made without mentioning it’s villain: Ringmaster Raven. This character has stirred many responses from fans, due to his tragic backstory that held so much potential, and his unfortunate (and quite ungraceful) end. That all being said, he is still much-loved, and like many other villains is one of the main reasons this island is so remembered.
It’s just the story of a boy who lost his way, into shadows strayed–wait wrong “Nevermore”
Now here comes your part, fans! Monster Carnival and many of its peers were the first to go in the Flash-Haxe transition, and the months (or in this case, years!) of work artists and writers put into it should not go to waste! Make fanart, fanfiction, videos, guests posts, chicken memes and essays on why Ringmaster Raven deserved better. Let the Creators know what you appreciate about their past work to encourage them to preserve it!
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