Category: Fan Art Features

Clubhouse, Creators, Fan Art Features, Haxe Javascript, Member Gifts, Membership, Pets, Social Media, Store

Colorful and warm assortments hit Poptropica’s stores and social media 🌈

LJ

Howdy, Poptropicans! How are ya? It’s Lucky Joker here, and today we’ll be taking a look at this month’s member gifts, the latest updates in all of Poptropica’s stores, some social media shenanigans, and more. It’s a lot to go through, so let’s pop into it!

The three items for the paying members are: a Walkman (which is a modified, black version of the 80s Walkman from American Girl: Courtney’s Island), a slaying Rainbow Furry Jacket, and an adorable Llama Follower.

Considering the creators completely skipped over October and missed the opportunity to give us some cool, spooky-themed goodies (*ahem*), I think these items act as a bit of a payoff — because this is a pretty cool bunch in my opinion. 😁

Remember, if you buy a membership at any point within November, you’ll receive these awesome exclusives automatically!

Another month means another rotation of the Poptropica store selection. The current stock is made up of 15 costumes, 7 followers, 5 powers, 5 pranks, and 14 miscellaneous items (for a grand total of 46 items) — 17 of which are exclusive to members. Not bad this time for the non-members! (Items marked with a * are members only; all items listed below.)

  • Costumes: Stylin’ Outfit*, Cool Outfit*, Glam Gamer Girl, Sweater Weather, Comfy Vibes, Warm Vibes, Day of the Dead (girl [designed by yours truly]), Day of the Dead (boy), Lightning Knight, Soccer Player (boy), Soccer Player (girl), Karate Master (girl), Karate Master (boy), Sky Hawk Warrior, and Xenon Trooper
  • Followers: Elephant Follower, Noodle Guy Follower*, Dolphin Follower*, Deer Follower, Charlie the Chocomonkey*, Atlantis Drone, and Mini Dr. Hare*
  • Powers: Binary Rain*, POPGUM (Cinnamon Fire Flavor), Meteor Shower*, Bobblehead*, and Electrify
  • Pranks: Sticky Notes, Sneezing Power, 8-Bit Birthday Pixel Pig Power, Inside-Out Power*, and Love Potion*
  • Miscellaneous: Party Popper* (which was a member gift back in August), Flamingo Floatie*, Watermelon Purse*, Drone Flying Follower*, Popsicles*, Hover Scooter*, Fox Mug, Unicorn Mug, Autumn Scarves, School Backpack, Notebooks, Marshmallow Roaster, Hiking Shoes, and Silly Streams

In addition, some new items (1 face and 4 body) have been dealt in the pet barn shop. They are: Round Glasses, Red Scarf, Magic Cloak, Pearl Necklace*, and Green Cloak. Only 1 (marked with *) of the 5 new items are members only, so that still leaves a good selection of cuteness, once again, to players who don’t have a membership.

Very adorable, am I right? (Of course I am.) My bunny, Clover, will totally be rocking the oversized spectacles and green cloak — and I think my lizard, Ivy, will love those pearls.

If all that wasn’t enough, we’ve also been given a different array of clubhouse décor including an armoire, a funky bookcase, and a diverse variety of appealing wallpapers. Neato!

On the topic of stores, it’s been found that the new release of Mythology Island doesn’t have a Quippy store, making it the only island on the Haxe version of Poptropica to not feature the little common room droid. It may show up later though, like how it did on Time Tangled Island. I guess we’ll wait and see.

(UPDATE: Quippy has made an appearance on Haxe’s Mythology! Stay tuned for a follow-up post soon here on the PHB.)

In other news, the Poptropica Creators featured some more awesome community works of art on their Instagram story yesterday. Check ’em out below!

Also, on the Creators’ Blog, Poptropica has (hopefully) finally satisfied the fandom’s curiosity by addressing some of the questions people had regarding the game’s fate post the shutdown of Flash at the end of this year. Here’s a snippet of what they had to say (Check out their post to see the full responses):

Once Flash is no longer supported, your account will still be accessible. Your existing account will work in the Haxe version of the game too. You’ll keep your stuff and we’ll give you a mega credit bonus so you can get to shopping for anything available that wasn’t in the Flash game. For those of you who started playing Poptropica in March 2020 or later you’re already in the Haxe version!

We’re also working on how to make sure you can play all the classic islands in their original format. We know our long-term fans love the classic Poptropica they grew up with and we want to keep that going forever. 

Poptropica Creators’ Blog, “⚡Oh How Time Flashes By⚡”

Another thing — Short Glove, over on the Poptropica Help Chat (PHC), shared a short video demonstrating how to costumize your character on the Haxe version of Poptropica in case you wanted to know how. I know I’ve been wanting to! It’s kind of ingenious, really.

Whew, that was a lot, wasn’t it? Well that concludes this post. I thank you all for reading and I’ll talk to you in the next one. Pop on!

– Lucky Joker 🍀

(By the way, we’ll be releasing the Q&A we (and you) did with current Poptropica CEO, Abhi Arya, soon, so stay tuned for that! He had a lot of promising responses I think many of you will be pleased to hear. 😉 )

Fan Art Features, Merchandise, Social Media

New merch coming to boys and ghouls! 👕🎃

Gentle Dolphin

Hey, everybody! Yesterday, we received some exciting news from the Poptropica Creators: a new line of Poptropica merch is coming soon!!!

As we’ve seen from their wide variety of products, Poptropica is no stranger to merchandise. Long-time players may remember that Poptropica once offered certain items such as clothing and wall decals, and it looks like this new merch line will provide that and then some.

The announcement post teased a few items that will be available for purchase. We have a sweatshirt with the Poptropica logo, a puzzle of one of the game’s wallpaper, and a blue and white ballcap with the iconic golden blimp. The designs of these items are simple yet recognizable.

Are there any particular products or designs that you would like to see in this new store? The Creators will be taking suggestions until November 4th, so let your ideas be heard!

With Halloween on our front doorstep, many dedicated celebrators are making their costumes. In the holiday spirit, the Creators asked Instagram users to share their in-game Halloween costumes with the hashtag #popghouls for a chance to be featured on the Creators’ Blog! Don’t miss out on this scary cool opportunity!

Whenever we talk about Poptropica and Instagram, we also need to share the cool fan content they highlight on their stories. The Creators featured some spooky and groovy artwork as well as Lucky Joker’s Golden Guerilla costume!

Speaking of costumes, tomorrow is the last day to submit your entries to the PHB Halloween costume contest! Make sure you submit before October 30th 11:59 pm EST for a chance to win a Poptropica membership! Also, feel free to make some spooky stuff for Poptober and Community Creations, which are ongoing until the end of October.

Good luck to everyone submitting, and have a happy Halloween!

—Gentle Dolphin Violet Vamp 😈🦇

Fan Art Features, Social Media, YouTubers

Scariest moments and villainous depictions

LJ

Hello, everyone! It’s Lucky Joker here with some fun stuff to share with you all today: scary moments, more fan art, and a throwback highlight for a YouTube gamer. Let’s pop into it!

On Instagram and the Creators’ Blog, Poptropica asked the community: What’s the scariest moment in Poptropica? Appropriately timed for the spooky Halloween season! Check out some of the responses below.

Here were some of the answers given by Poptropicans in the comments:

scoutin0ut wrote, “Definitely the Ghost Story [Island] ‘Are you looking for someone?’ part!! I jumped out of my seat and actually gasped during that!”

cacaocheri added, “For me, it was walking through the tunnel in Zomberry [Island].”

Gentle Dolphin of the PHB shared, “One scene that still unnerves me is the haunted house on Monster Carnival Island. I’m not a fan of jumpscares, so a creepy puppet popping out of random doors is definitely terrifying.”

What was your scariest Poptropica memory? Share with us in the comments here on the PHB, our PHC Discord server, or on Poptropica’s official channels!

In other Creator-fandom interactions, Poptropica also showcased more awesome fan art on their Instagram story this past week. Check out the poptastic gallery below (including a piece from Gentle Dolphin with the spooktacular Jersey Devil of Cryptids Island!)…

Pretty neat, huh? I encourage all of you to get creative and whip up your own Poptropica fan art too. For inspiration, we’ve got Poptober and Community Creations going!

And who knows? Your work just might get featured!

And finally, we have a video feature from the Creators’ Blog showing kid gaming YouTuber EthanGamer playing Poptropica for the first time—and since it’s an older video (from 2016), he’s playing Monkey Wrench Island, the old tutorial that has since been replaced by Snagglemast. The Creators loved his joy over the Hot Dog costume too! Give it a watch:

We featured another one of Ethan’s videos on the PHB a few years ago, when he played the now-inactive Poptropica Worlds for the first time and was even sponsored by Poptropica for that video.

Anyway, it’s cool to see the Creators give some love to Poptropica YouTubers, even if they’re from the archives!

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading, have a spooktacular rest of your day, and stay tuned for our Halloween contest wrap-up. 🎃 Pop on!

– Lucky Joker 🍀 

Contests, Fan Art Features, Haxe Javascript, Social Media, Zomberry Island

Not gone in a Flash: bring on the bevy of blimps, Beevs, and berries 🫐

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! We’ve got a bunch going on in the Poptropica fandom this week: news of what’s to come beyond Flash, Instagram story highlights, and contests past, present, and future. Let’s pop right in!

In the comments of their latest Instagram post about the Zomberry Hero special event, the Poptropica Creators confirmed a couple of salient details: 1) that “nothing will get lost” regarding the old islands currently on Flash, and 2) old (Flash) accounts will be transferable to Haxe, with more details coming “towards the end of the year.”

That’s certainly something to look forward to! In the meantime, if you’re not yet caught up on Poptropica’s preparations for the end of Flash by the end of 2020, check out the following PHB articles:

And if you have more questions, shoot them at Poptropica’s CEO here — we’ll be sending some of your questions for the Poptropica team to answer in an upcoming Q&A here on the PHB!

That’s not all that’s new on Poptropica’s Instagram. On their profile, the Creators added two new story highlights, Fan Art and Zomberry, so you can view some of their past stories even after the initial 24 hours.

  • New story highlights on Instagram: Fan Art & Zomberry
  • Promo for Zomberry Hero

Check out the fan art they shared this week, including a few from PHB staffers Gentle Dolphin and Lucky Joker, and several blimps!

Speaking of Poptropica fan art on Instagram, remember all the fantastic features of Dr. Beev creations? The Poptropica Creators posted several more on the official blog, and announced that they decided to “give a bunch of artists 10,000 credits”!

Gentle Dolphin was among those whose Dr. Beev art was featured, and she confirmed that the Creators sent a DM on Instagram to ask artists to send their usernames in order to receive the 10,000 credits prize.

And there’s more from the Creators’ Blog post:

Also, if you’re under 13 and not on the gram, we’ve got you covered. We’re working on an all-new submission system so everyone can participate!

Poptropica Creators’ Blog, “Paging Dr. Beev”

Sounds like we can look forward to more contests in the future that aren’t limited to Instagram, so people of all ages can participate!

On the subject of contests, the Creators have unveiled the first 30 winners of the Zomberry Hero event who beat the game without restarting. They’ve each won a free one-month Poptropica membership! For tips on the game, check out our Zomberry Hero Guide.

There are still more chances to win a free Poptropica membership! Enter our Halloween Costume Contest as a hero, villain, and/or with a group costume — there are just two weeks until the deadline, and already plenty of entries you can browse through for inspiration! 🎃

We’re also loving all the Poptober art you all have been sharing on the PHC, our Discord server. If you’re not already on, join the server to meet other Poptropicans, discuss Poptropica, and more! See you there. 😄

~🐠

Fan Art Features, Social Media, Web Development

Mocktropica strikes back: #DrBeev features and video ad in-betweeners

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! We’ve got a couple of Mocktropica-adjacent updates to share this weekend. Let’s start with the fun one…

With the end of September comes the conclusion of Poptropica’s #DrBeev mini art contest to draw the beloved furry doctor of Mocktropica Island in one’s own style. Check out the beev-tiful creations they featured on their Instagram story on Thursday:

  • by Gentle Dolphin (@phs_animations)
  • by @birdie_bea
  • “Dr. Nyah” (a parody of Dr. Beev) by @kidwhom
  • by @happyclonetrooper
  • by @MaryannTheConqueror

Although they mentioned a prize of 10,000 credits in their original post about the drawing challenge, we haven’t heard any word yet about anyone receiving the prize. We’ll let you know if we get an update!

Dr. Beev isn’t the only thing Poptropicans are drawing! Have you seen the Poptober drawing challenge yet? It’ll give you plenty of ideas for Poptropica inspired creations throughout the month of October!

Check out this artwork from the PHB’s own Lucky Joker for the first Poptober prompt, “Island.” In this case, he went with Ghost Story Island and the love triangle of the tale. Learn more about Poptober here!

“Triade D’amour (Poptober Day 1: Island)” by Lucky Joker

And for more Poptropica fan art, check out Community Creations! This month’s theme is “Monsters.” 🐲

In other not-so-fun news, an unwelcome surprise may now greet you as you travel from scene to scene in Poptropica: full game screen video ads.

With sidebar ads, footer ads including a video ad already, and now the full game screen video ad, the Poptropica browser is literally all ads.

The ads so far have been for kids’ products like Nerf guns, Minecraft Dungeons, and LEGO Mario. (Thanks to Dangerous Icicle and Gentle Dolphin for their reporting.)

The ads are about 15 seconds long and are not skippable. So far, these ads only appear in the Haxe version of the game. They don’t show up every time, but they do appear every now and then, and a regular loading screen will come up after the ad itself ends.

And yes, they’re rather annoying.

This isn’t the first time Poptropica has tried to do this, either. Back in 2014, video ads also appeared in between scenes to advertise for Galactic Hot Dogs, a book series owned by Poptropica’s parent company StoryArc Media which also has its own Poptropica island. After receiving much backlash from players, the video ads disappeared within a month.

Plus, doesn’t this bear some resemblance to yet another aspect of Mocktropica Island? Mocktropica has turned out to be something of a prophecy for Poptropica’s current state for quite some time now…

A scene from Mocktropica Island where the player is charged for simply trying to leave a scene in the game.

With this stunt, Poptropica seems more desperate than ever to make money from and for the game. We don’t know what their financial situation looks like, but can only make guesses from moves like this one that it seems, more than ever, that things aren’t going well.

Video ads you’re forced to view are an easy way for Poptropica to make a buck, and definitely much quicker than creating a whole island for advertising, but it comes at a great cost in a different way: the players’ user experience. Who wants to play a game where the screen is all ads? And ultimately, there is no Poptropica without the players.

So for Poptropica to be willing to sacrifice that, despite their long track record of creating actual non-intrusive engaging ads in the past, is a big sign that either they care more about lining their pockets than their players’ experiences, or they’ve hit a low enough point they’ll do whatever it takes to make enough to keep Poptropica afloat.

We may love Dr. Beev but we certainly don’t love the other elements Poptropica is borrowing from Mocktropica Island! Do you agree? What do you think? Share with us in the comments and on the PHC!

“Poptober Day 2: Carnival” by Magniventris

On a lighter note, we hope you’ll join us for Poptober and Community Creations this month! And there’s at least one more big event to look out for this spooky season: the PHB’s Halloween costume contest! Details dropping very soon, so stay tuned… 🎃

~🐠