March Madness

March Madness and Pi Power!

Greetings Hawk-tropicans! This is Giant Hawk speaking, and today, I have some rather maddening news for you all.

In all of your minds, what was the worst thing that ever happened to Poptropica? To some, it’s the onslaught of unoriginal islands that were released recently. For others, it’s the game’s departure from Pearson Inc. But for quite a large number of people in the community, it was the idea to make sponsored islands members only.

After all this time, the Creators have not only listened, but are responding to that bit of criticism. Introducing… March Madness! (thanks to PHC user AAA for the tip)

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From now until the end of the month, March 31, you as a player can choose one members only sponsored island to be released for all again!

These choices, and you may have realized, are Nabooti Island, Big Nate Island, Great Pumpkin Island, Wimpy Wonderland Island, Red Dragon Island, Wimpy Boardwalk Island, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Island! (By the way, courtesy of Charlie the Chocomonkey,ย Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Island is currently open to all for a limited time!)

To enter, simply go to any of the common rooms (or multiverse rooms) on Poptropica, click on the poster you’ll find inside, and cast your vote. Best yet, you can vote indefinitely – so choose your favorite and get to voting!

GiantHawkCommonRoomMarchMadness

Bonus points: What island’s common room am I inside for the picture above?

In other news, Pi Day is almost upon us!ย And Poptropica is celebrating with a not so mathematically inclined new card. Simply log on, and you’ll collect this Cream Pie Toss item power. (Special thanks to WimpyKidFan for the heads up and the pictures coming up!)

UPDATE: Poptropica commented on this post to inform us that the pie item card wasย not supposed to be released until Monday, March 14 (Pi Day โ€“ 3/14). But hey,ย if you have itย sooner, enjoy it! ๐Ÿ˜‹

With it equipped, simply press spacebar to unleash your creamy vengeance upon Poptropica!

So, I can already tell you, my votes will be going towards Red Dragon Island – because honestly, I want to do cool ninja stuff again. But what about you? What island will get your support this month?

Until next time…

— Giant Hawk

Advertisements, Daily Pop, Photo Booth, Social Media

Photo booths, panoramas, and panda-moneum

Hey guys, my name is Brave Tomato and here’s my first update post since… Pelican Rock was revealed to be surprise-released later that day… okay, sorry I haven’t posted much. Being a senior in high school is fun.

Well back to the point of the post. As of Tuesday, the Photo Booth is now available on the iOS Poptropica app! Now, anywhere you can get decent reception in the world, you can put your mobile characters and other well known characters on a screen together making up poses, props, and all sorts of hijinks.ย Sorry, the update is not available forย Amazon and Android users yet, but it will be soon!

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In other news, something interesting had been found in the past two Daily Pops:

… And all of a sudden I feel like a bunch of eyes are looking right at me through the computer screen. Don’t worry, the “Olympus has Risen” one is not what you think, evidenced by the next day’s “Bloon” Daily Pop. This feels like it would be an updated version of an Island Tour video or clip or whatever, giving close-ups of island icons and such. There are comparisons to storyboards not too unlike when they were preparing the Shark Tooth animation. (Speaking of which, what happened to Poptropica TV?)

Finally, the Creators are using their social media connections to create a different kind of advertising – for Kung Fu Panda 3. Players are encouraged to go into the Home Island arcade (common room) wearing theย Baby Pandas headpiece,ย and Pop Creator Skinny Moon will be grabbing screenshots and posting them on Poptropica’s social media. Here’s a tweet with several of the pics she took:

You can find more pics like this on Poptropica’s Twitter feedย now, and keep an eye there for if/when Skinny Moon announces when she’ll be in the common room! If you’d like to get in on the action, just know she’s been practicing her head-to-head gaming and has so farย achieved a 2-star battle ranking.

So that’s just about what’s new in Poptropica! Smile with those cubs for the camera, snap a Photo Booth pic, and get ready to see another new perspective on the world of Poptropica!

BT out!ย 

Daily Pop, Daily Pop Sneak Peeks, Glitches, Twisted Thicket Island, Web Development

Jungle mysteries, monkeys, elves, and more!

Hey Poptropicans!

Poptropica’s been a bit quiet lately, and even the Daily Pop has less sneak peeks this month than usual. Still, there are some pretty interesting pics hinting at what’s to come:

That’s quite a bit to take in! Are the monkeys and jungle scenes related, and if so, might they be part of the new tutorial island the Creators are working on? At least we think theย hot air balloon is.

Also, looks like a Photo Booth is coming to Mystery of the Map (MotM) Island โ€“ presumably with the release of the print version of the graphic novel, expected this March! Andย what’s with the MotM fort with dodos? Plus, why does the left character in “Terra Firma” look suspiciously similar to an original character design by Poptropica player Bony Hopper?? The mysteries are many.

Check out the PHB’sย Daily Pop Sneak Peek Archive for more sneak peeks!

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Earlier this week, the Creators also tweeted out these planning sketches from the Twisted Thicket Island files. Check out all those fancy curls and leafy bits. Which elf design is your favorite?

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On a different note, we have a new page on the PHB under the Cool Stuff tab: Overview of Poptropica Glitching! Whether you consider yourself an experienced glitcher or have no idea what that means, this article will give you an overview of whatย exactly goes on in the underground world ofย Poptropica glitching for awesome account alterations. Check it out!

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Curious about PHB authors Giant Hawk and Ultimate iPad Expert? Check out the latest Community Celebrities post on Slippery Raptor’s Blog, where fellow PHB author Slip interviews the twin bros on all things Poptropica (plus some questions about their lives offline)! Read it here.

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Also, hang on for the results of theย 2016 PHB Readers’ Survey! We were hoping to have the results up by now, butย due to delay, they will be coming later this week. ๐Ÿ™‚

Stay popping, Poptropicans! ๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ 

Blast from the Past, Daily Pop-In, Escape from Pelican Rock Island, Galactic Hot Dogs Island, Hall of Fame, Home Island, Mystery of the Map Island, PHB Specials, PoptropiCon Island, Timmy Failure Island

2015 Rewind: Islands, Events, and More!

poptropica2015

Hey guys, Slip here.

Wow, another year has already passed. 2015 is coming to an end, and what better way to bring it to a close than toย reflect and look back to all that’s happenedย this year?

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2015, for Poptropica, is one of its awesome years. They reached a lot of milestones and new developments that made our game experience better than ever. This post is divided into three parts: the islands, the Poptropica milestones, and the PHB events.

Islands &ย Episodes

In 2015, weย had a total of 4 new islands and 2 new episodes! From the forty thieves to space pirates to robot rulers, there was a lot for Poptropica adventurers to experience this year. Let’s take a look!

Arabian Nights Episode 2: Lair of Thieves

Poptropica started the year with releasing the second episode of Arabian Nightsโ€”one of the best episodic adventures we’ve had. It was definitely challenging, heart-stopping, and mysteriousย all at the same time. In this episode, everything was well done, making for an enjoyable experience. (You can check out our review here!)

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Galactic Hot Dogs Island

Poptropica also launched aย brand new sponsored island early on in the year: Galactic Hot Dogs. To be honest, Galactic Hot Dogs Island is one of Poptropica’s easiest islands, and its lack ofย challengeย plus its being a sponsored island with a very contrasting art style made it rather unlikeable for many Poptropicans (in fact, it was voted Worst Poptropica Island in the PHB’s Poppies event!). Still, Poptropicaย brought a new island with a distinct story and a light challenge to all.

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PoptropiCon Episode 3: Reign of Omegon

After releasing Galactic Hot Dogs to everyone, PoptropiCon’s concluding episode followed next. Now this wasย one amazing episode. Everything worked out well and Omegon played effectively as the story’s antagonist. I believe Poptropica made sure that this island would be remarkable; itย definitely was one of the better ones and even inspired our April Fool’s prank this year!

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Mystery of the Map Island

Inย May, a new island dawned on Poptropica. Based on the Poptropica graphic novel, you could say thisย island is a hybrid of both original and sponsored island.ย I enjoyed how our player is added to the plot. The downside wasย that the graphic novel hadย already been released, which meantย everyone was already awareย of what was going to happen. Still, the island was cool to play, and the design was well made. (Read ourย review of this island here!)

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Arabian Nights Episode 3: Careful What You Wish For

Wishes do come true, as the ending ofย Arabian Nightsย showed us. I would consider this episode one ofย Poptropica’s finest works. Poptropica made everything top-notchย in this episode โ€” the story, the characters, the gameplay and even the design were all so amazing! Plus, Samhal the comedic genie gave us a lot of laughs along the way!ย (Read the PHB’s review here!)

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Timmy Failure Island

This island isn’t a complete failure; it’s actually greater than expected! Sponsored islands have a down-factor since they aren’t an original Poptropica story, but this island defied the paradigms of the sponsored islands! From its wacky characters to itsย hilarious whodunit storyline, this island didn’t fail to meet our expectations. As far as sponsored islands go, this is one of the best.ย As a plus, it even came with aย weekly giveaway!ย (Check out ourย review here!)

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Escape From Pelican Rock Island

We’ve been through a lot of prisonsย in Poptropica. Most of the time, prison security was a joke. Not so withย Pelican Rock Prison! The year ended wonderfully with this island, which brought on aย unique storyline with fantastic designs, particularly of the individual characters. Poptropica clearly worked hardย on this island, and I believe this is the best island of 2015. ๐Ÿ˜› (Catch the PHB’s review overย here!)

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That brings us to the next part: Poptropica’s milestones of 2015!

Poptropica’s Biggest Momentspop realms

PHB Events

Look back through the parties, events, milestones, and even fan art contests! Here’s a slideshow of variousย PHB events we’ve had through the year:

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This year was a big year for other reasons โ€“ namely a strongerย reunion of the PHN.

UiPE bringing back a weekly series really helped out with inspiring the community again like Poptropican Portraits did once. Last year, HP reflected that heย wanted the community to be more community centered, and in the past year we have gotten a lot of awesome community help. Trusty Biker helped out with the PHN website, Ylimegirl did a load of work on the Poptropica Wiki, and remember the fan art contests UiPEย and HPuterpop held?

The Poppies was an awesome awards show โ€“ we really enjoyed seeing what you guys, the community, collectively preferred. Weโ€™re excited for next year!

We also joined forces with We-Love-Poptropica on deviantArt, the biggest Poptropica fan art community, fulfilling our goal to focus on the arts. Plus, starting in July, we picked up our Magazine series again, this time publishing The POPCORN in PDFs.

Here’s a timeline of some of our majorย events, too!

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Wow, a lot of things have come down in one year and things have gone so fast. Time really flies when you’re having fun, eh? It’s really a great time to reflect and ponder all of the things we’ve done this year.

Looking forward to the new year, here are a couple ofย our next aspirations:

  • A better glitch community. Free for all!ย (And more on the way!)
  • More active viewers โ€“ PHB lurkers, start commenting more on our posts! Thatโ€™s the only way we can improve. ๐Ÿ˜€

Here at the PHB, it’s our privilege toย bring you the best Poptropica news as we can.ย Hope y’all enjoyed this year-end recap! 2016 is going to be an awesome year!

๐ŸŽ‡ Happy New Year, Poptropicans! ๐ŸŽ‡

~fromย the Poptropica Help Blog โค

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Daily Pop, Daily Pop Sneak Peeks, Escape from Pelican Rock Island, Sneak Peeks

Airing 30th for All: Escape From Pelican Rock!

Greetings Hawk-tropicans! This is Giant Hawk speaking, and today, I don’t actually have too much news to share with all of you. The little I have, though, is most certainly warranting of its own post.

First off, the Creators have announced, via the Creators’ Blog, that Escape from Pelican Rock Island will be out for everyone on Wednesday, December 30! You better get your digging spoons ready!

If you don’t want to wait, you can play Escape From Pelican Rock for free now on the mobile app!

Until next ti – Hold on a second… That’s not all!

On the Daily Pop, there seems to be a pattern – or should I say, air pattern – beginning to form. Could these sneak peeksย hint towards an upcoming Poptropica Island encompassing the idea of aviation?

Seems probable. The picture titled “Deplane” even suggests that this aviation theme is related to the jungle theme we’ve been seeing.ย We might need a bit more to go on, though. In the meantime, you can catch up on even more sneak peeks over at our Daily Pop Archive.

Whatever we’ll get from the Creators soon, though, we here on the Poptropica Help Blog will be ready to bring the news to you!

Until next time…

— Giant Hawk