Pranks

Poptropica is CANCELED 😡🙅‍♀️😡

Fellow haters, it’s time we rise up against the mutilation of Poptropica!!

With every update that isn’t an old island returning, one thing becomes abundantly clear: Poptropica doesn’t care about building a quality game anymore. And we’re done building them up! From now on, the Poptropica Help Blog is going to be a Poptropica Hate Blog. 😤

Honestly, with so much to be mad about, where do we even begin? 🙄 Let’s count the ways in which Poptropica has sinned against us; everything they’ve given that no one asked for: Costumes. Membership. Side quests. Social media. Contests. And… Roblox??

Perhaps you’ve noticed that Poptropica has developed a strange obsession with costumes over the past few years: new costumes, new areas and revamps for costume shops, monthly costume contests. Booorrrriinnng… and it never ends!! 👘 There’s no denying it: they’re spending more time on these instead of the islands, i.e. the actual game!

Art Attack: No one respects true art anymore.

What is the one thing they can’t stop churning out? Store updates. 💸 They’re more than happy to keep their promises and stay up to date with weekly store rotations and monthly costume contests, but year on year we’re coming up with almost no new islands. What gives??

And okay, we can appreciate a cute fit every now and then. But new stuff every week? That just seems excessive. If this were real life, they’d be indulging in some very unsustainable fast fashion practices right now. And even though it’s virtual, why are they emulating such toxic practices and encouraging so much consumerism anyway? What kind of message does that send to kids — the values of superficial spending, hungrily hoarding, and dressing to impress? Come on, think of the children!!

Poptropica wishes they could be as cool as Club Penguin.

Oh, but the consumerism extends to real life, too — the good stuff is too often locked under the paywall of membership. 🤑 Rare is the parent or guardian who will fork over a few bucks a month for your extra Poptropica perks, but should you be so blessed, only then will you get to enjoy fractions of old islands, new side-quests made for babies, and half the store in exclusive items. Back in our day, we had full islands for free, and now you have to pay for a partial island without all the episodes? Not only is that a terrible deal, but the whole membership model just reeks of capitalist greed and reveals the unfairness of class privilege. Canceled!!!

Or… fine. Let’s try our patience and put up with their weird new additions, their costumes and member gifts, and other wearisome whatnot. But when it comes to their horrible new methods of “storytelling,” we’ve gotta stop and say no to side quests. Disjointed, unorganized, facepalm-worthy, Mocktropica-esque side quests.

When the Creators promised a “year of stories” back in 2021, we were hoping they’d fill the year with real good Poptropica stories; y’know, stories with original characters and intricate plots. Stories told in the space of an island. Guess we shouldn’t have been so quick to assume! Fragments of unicorns and fairytales and bee-themed news reporters and who knows what else scattered about; we can’t keep up anymore!! Creators, if you care at all about our wellbeing, you’ll refrain from releasing such headache-inducing content, please and thank you!!!

Plus, can we talk about Amelia popping up all over the place? Pop’s Amelia, as you may know, is based on a real historical figure, Amelia Earhart. Why use Amelia as the central character of a story when there are sooo many original characters they could instead!? Especially when the real Amelia Earhart didn’t even like tea and had no known affiliations with unicorns?? ☕️ How dare Poptropica call themselves an educational site and then share such obvious misinformation!!

Just the sight of this makes us want to exit Poptropica and never log back in.

While they’re busy not bringing back the old islands, though, they sure like to bring up references to those classics on social media to chase that clout. 📱 After they remembered who Betty Jetty was, it seems nostalgia has been their trustworthy strategy for reeling in the fans — which would work if those characters and islands still existed, but alas, all we have are weird TikToks about how Ringmaster Raven is a liberal.

Train in Vain: Go nowhere fast in this subway tunnel.

Plus, they think they can distract us with all those contests? 🏅 We’re not even playing the game anymore, we’re asked to go offline (excuse me?) and dream up costume designs and island plotlines for the honor of having them featured in the game or on their blog. What, are we having to do the Pop Creators’ work because they can’t come up with good ideas anymore? And why are we making more costumes when we already have weekly store hauls?? Told you Poptropica has a shopaholic problem.

But wait, there’s more. Let’s talk about that Roblox game Poptropica recently released, which just about embodies everything that’s wrong with the state of the game today. No, we’re not talking about the Zomberry game that’s dropping today, because we already decided to boycott it as this post was being written. 😤

That’s because we’re not crazy about Unicorn Frenzy, the pathetic pastel pony pile-up. 🦄 No story or substance related to the game, and it’s not even on Poptropica’s platform? It’s evident that the Pop Creators are making a vain attempt to appeal to Roblox’s much larger fanbase, but what’s the point when we can’t even gather five players to start a game at any given moment?? Besides, the sickeningly saccharine scenery is a poor imitation of My Little Pony Generation 3’s beautiful visuals. Sadly, it reveals the Poptropica of today: soullessly devoid of originality.

Where’s the Poptropica we loved? All we want are the old islands back, or at least new ones that could be just as good — yet we’ve gotten everything but. If actions speak louder than words, Poptropica’s tone-deaf updates are violence crushing our once-hopeful hearts. 🔪💙

And not for lack of trying: we’ve shared Pop Petition posts, contributed to countless comments on social media, and even made a music video for the cause. We know they hear us, but their silence is suffocating.

Best of the Best: A Poptropica designer’s work is never done.

Meanwhile, the Poptropica of the present just isn’t cutting it. So from this day forth, we’re not the Poptropica Help Blog anymore. We’re more like a “Help Poptropica” Blog now. Because this game really needs some help.

We’re calling it now: Poptropica is canceled. It’s too far gone. Cut it out of your life and join the chorus of haters pronouncing it dead. Until the ashes of Captain Crawfish, Gretchen Grimlock, and all our old faves rise from their graves, we’re just gonna be here to gripe. Let’s let it all out!!

In the comments, bring your rage, your sorrows, your calloused hearts! Join us in taking down these posers who call themselves storytellers. 🤯 LET LOOSE YOUR HATRED! WE DESERVE BETTER!! 😤😤

Dare to dissent,

🔥💀💔 The Poptropica Hate Blog 💔💀🔥

Pranks

April Fools! A date of sim-ple fun 💖

So Poptropicans, how did your dates go with the venerated villains? Now that the night’s over, we’re coming clean to say… April Fools!

The Poptropica Dating Sim Fan Blog is getting a goodnight kiss, and the PHB’s back, baby. Did you miss us? 😘

The PHB became the Poptropica Dating Sim Fan Blog on April Fools’ Day.

Some of you caught on to our shenanigans yesterday, but others of you just could not believe it! 🤣 Check out some of our favorite reactions from the community on the PHB post and on our PHC Discord server:

Now that the jig is up, we figure we’ll share a bit about how this all came to be! Of course, the PHB loves pulling its share of April Fools’ pranks, and this year was no exception.

Inspired by the fan-made Poptropica Dating Sim created several months ago by Jia/Magniventris, the PHB’s MaryannTheConqueror dreamed up the idea of turning the PHB into one giant ad for this beloved spin-off game, keeping it a surprise from Jia. She also created the header image, which features the dating sim characters in anime style!

Adding to all the fun, Lucky Joker then created a “Which villain would you date?” quiz to help match players with a villain to date in the simulation. By the way, you can still take the quiz!

While the Poptropica Dating Sim Fan Blog was just a fantasy, the Poptropica Dating Sim itself is most certainly real and still getting updates! This unofficial Poptropica visual novel takes you on daring dates with iconic Poptropicans Binary Bard, Octavian, and Ringmaster Raven, and we are in love. 😍 Play it now on CloudNovel!

Binary Bard with Venus, an OC by Gentle Dolphin

xoxo,

💙 the PDSFB PHB

Pranks

PHB who? We’re all about the Poptropica Dating Sim now 😍💋

Poptropicans, we’ve got a major announcement to make.

The Poptropica Help Blog has sold its soul to the Poptropica Dating Sim. Henceforth, this Poptropica fan blog shall be in service to a fan creation about dating some of the game’s iconic villains.

In case you have not had the pleasure yet, the Poptropica Dating Sim is a brilliant simulator fan-made game where you, the player, can go on dates with Binary Bard, Ringmaster Raven, and Octavian. It’s all part of an experiment led by good old Dr. Morrigan to make the imprisoned bad boys, well, not so bad. And there’s going to be voice acting! 💋

We truly have to thank Jia/Magniventris, the genius behind the whole sim, for creating this ongoing masterpiece. You can play part of the Pop Dating Sim now on CloudNovel, and join us in awaiting its future installments! Forget seeing the PHB post about Poptropica news and clubhouse tours, we’re past that amateur hour. We know — the Poptropica Dating Sim Fan Blog is a blog you didn’t ask for, but it’s the blog we all need. Just look at how you can cheer up those sad souls! 😍

Maybe Ringmaster Raven will feel better with a little company…

Not sure which of these handsome hooligans to ask out first? Try our “Which villain would you date?” quiz to help you decide! 🤔

So what are you waiting for? Start playing the unofficial Poptropica Dating Sim today, and bring us all your shipping and simping, your fan art and fan fights — we’re totally here for it. After all, we’re the Poptropica Dating Sim Fan Blog now. And no, we’re not sorry. 😘

All the love,
~the PDSFB 🖤⚡️

Pranks

Flashy Fools: the real April 1st experience ⚡️

Heeey Poptropicans! So you remember all that talk we posted yesterday about a grand PHB Flash Experience? Our little Flash game of homage to the pending doom of Flash and old school islands? Well, check your calendars…

Yup. So, April Fools! How long were you clicking to “allow Flash” and refreshing the page so you could play the game? Were you convinced that your computer just couldn’t handle Flash anymore? Did we fool you?

Whether our shenanigans had you flashing with anger at game that was never meant to load, or flushing with embarrassment for refreshing way too many times, we hope that, in the end, we can still make you flash a smile. So here, enjoy the behind-the-scenes of this year’s PHB prank.

Gentle Dolphin put a ton of work into making the preview scene of a glitching bridge in our prank post. Check out the stills behind the gif, from a peaceful Red Dragon Island scene to the world falling apart with game-breaking code.

In addition to the scenery, she also made plenty of outfit prototypes before settling on the final look of our invented villain, Addo B. Flash. (And yes, he even has the Flash logo in his design!) Addo also came with views from different angles when we introduced him, which was Gentle Dolphin’s idea to add to his legitimacy as a game character.

Which of these outfits do you like most? Were you bamboozled by the PHB Flash Experience, or cautiously suspicious through it all? We’d love to hear from you in the comments! Keep on popping, Poptropicans.

—the PHB—

p.s. Play the old school islands before Flash is truly gone, here.

p.p.s. Quarantined? We’ve come up with ideas for making the best of Poptropica in these bizarre times here.

Pranks

Once and for all: the PHB Flash Experience ⚡️

Heeey Poptropicans, we’ve got a little surprise for you…

Meet the evil meddler of worlds Addo B. Flash! Read on to find out what he’s up to… and how YOU can stop him.

As you’re probably well aware by now, the oncoming end of Flash has done quite a number on Poptropica. It’s already killed Poptropica’s classic old school islands—and yes, you can still play them with this Old Island Directory. But in the official game, they aren’t coming back anytime soon.

Of course, here at the PHB, we couldn’t just let that happen without a proper goodbye! So, we’ve been working up a little something to pay homage to the many great classic islands that have gone before us, and now we’re ready to reveal this thing. What is it, you ask? We call it: the PHB Flash Experience.

Warning: The following experience contains bright, flashing imagery. It may cause discomfort for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised.

Gahhh! What happened to the bridge on Red Dragon Island? That’s just a taste of the wreckage to come…

The PHB Flash Experience a sweet RPG adventure (kind of like Poptropica!) where you travel around through different dimensions—from the clouds of the purple giant in Early Poptropica to the distant planet of E. Vile’s Legendary Swords battles—all in a noble quest to save them from perhaps the most nefarious villain of them all: Mr. Addo B. Flash, vanquisher of a zillion islands.

You can play this epic PHB Flash Experience right here, right now on this PHB post in the blue box below. Of course, as the name implies, you’re going to have to enable Flash. But you already know how to do that, don’t you? 😉

Have fun, and hey, when you’re done with the game, share your feedback with us in the comments. 😜

—the PHB team—