Reviews – 🏝 Poptropica Help Blog 🗺

If you’re reading this, Poptropica is/was most likely part of your childhood — and for some, it may even reach beyond. As more Pop players come of age, they’re reflecting on their experiences growing up with the game and sharing them with the world.

We’ve gathered some of these thoughts from various college/university student publications, and are sharing some stellar excerpts below. Check out the full articles if you like them, and enjoy the memories!

Starting off this list is a love letter to the power of Poptropica in The Crimson, the student magazine of Harvard College in Massachusetts. In “Poptropicapitalist Realism, or Love at the End of the World,” Bea Wall-Feng recounts the joy of narrative agency in the game, a rarity in media interested in telling stories about children:

Your goals are as wide and varied as the narrative requires. While capitalism shapes the places you explore, it does not shape you. You might find a five-dollar bill stuck in a tree, exchange it for a sports drink at the general store, and give the drink to a thirsty gardener in return for his shears — but for narrative purposes, the bill could have been any other object of similar value, and other than in rare moments like these, you do not interact with money at all. The game is profoundly uninterested in explaining why your character can jump, barter, and wheedle their way into saving the world.

For me, as a kid, this was the coolest thing ever. Not only was this a world in which I could realize my long-held dreams of living in a walkable city, owning a laser sword, and being a girl, but this was a world in which doing so was normal, rather than subversive enough to require internal justification. To be conferred agency without first having obtained status, experience, or capital meant something that I did not yet have the words to express.
Bea Wall-Feng, The Crimson, 2023 (read more)

In Pop We Trust: The genuine article. Accept no substitutions.

While the previous piece touched on the little capitalism in old Poptropica quests, this next one from The Daily Targum, the student paper of Rutgers University in New Jersey, goes harder on the subject. In “How capitalism has ruined our once-beloved Poptropica” (warning: contains mild profanity), Alexis Washburn explores how this economic model has taken a treasure and reshaped it for worse:

In the case of Poptropica, this larger corporation decided to increase interest by limiting availability to all islands and characters to the select few who would be willing to pay. But, like capitalism naturally does, it backfired, and now, Poptropica has less than half the islands, fewer subscribers and some very unhappy Generation Z-ers, such as myself, writing articles about them.

Although the Poptropica we knew as kids might be dead, the company continues to plan on releasing new islands. As for the future of Poptropica, who knows how long it will last? But until then, all we can do is remember fondly of the fun, escape-from-reality adventure land that it once was.
Alexis Washburn, The Daily Targum, 2021 (read more)

Board Meeting: Planking, the hot new trend this summer.

Next up we have not one, but two pieces from The Michigan Daily, the student paper of the University of Michigan. In “Zoo-wee mama: The evolution of Jeff Kinney,” Meera S. Kumar writes about two franchises headed by Jeff Kinney: Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Poptropica:

If “Wimpy Kid” feels like the continuation of one long story, Poptropica is the opposite: users jump from island to island, each containing its own interactive story that involves a quest, many of which are written by Kinney.

Poptropica’s iconic character design, for which characters’ faces are sideways ellipses, with large blinking eyes, one slightly larger than the other depending on which way the camera is facing, is recognizable anywhere. Poptropica continues to live in a nostalgic class of online media for many late millennials and early Gen-Zers, alongside websites like Webkinz and Club Penguin. In the ultimate super-mega nostalgia-extreme crossover of the decade, Kinney even created two “Wimpy Kid” islands within Poptropica, with storylines based on helping Greg babysit Manny and other cool, fun stuff.
Meera S. Kumar, The Michigan Daily, 2021 (read more)

Photo Finish: Snapshots of happier times.

Then in “Lamenting the loss of a digital childhood,” Hunter Bishop reminisces about playing Poptropica as a kid, alongside worries that these memories formed in the digital age may be lost one day:

It’s 2012. The family laptop, which we traded in our old desktop computer for, is burning my legs as its fans try to wheeze in all the air they can. My hands are on the trackpad, wearing grooves into it and tearing away at the rubber-coated mouse buttons. I’m 10 years old, and I’m about to beat my fourth island in the free-to-play browser game “Poptropica.” I have 15 minutes of parent-mandated screen time left, and life is good.

Suddenly, my character freezes mid-jump. Mozilla Firefox pops up an error message, letting me know that the laptop has finally reached its computational limit. Just like that, the last 10 minutes of progress I’d made, the parkour jumps that I’d finally mastered (playing without a mouse was hard!) and all the backtracking I had done was gone. As was five minutes of my screen time as I waited for Firefox to relaunch itself.
Hunter Bishop, The Michigan Daily, 2023 (read more)

Ephraim University on Mocktropica Island

Wrapping up this post is a piece from The Odyssey Online, a website that publishes writing from mostly college students. In “Playing Poptropica Has Helped Me Conquer ‘College Island’,” Natalie Austin from UNC Charlotte in North Carolina shares about the bliss of playing Pop as a kid, and returning to it for stress relief as a college student:

With the rise of college kids across the United States realizing their Webkinz are still alive and well, not to mention extremely hungry, I think we should all show a little love to a game well-deserving of a place in our childhood memories: Poptropica. It was the game that let us live out our cartoon dreams of saving the world as a spy or superhero or just another animated figure with disproportionately crooked eyes.

Only a real 2000s kid endured the stress of sitting in your fifth-grade class during the free time after a test, struggling to play the impossibly difficult song on your pipe in order to lull the monster to sleep and save Mythology Island. We have all been there. I am there once more.
Natalie Austin, The Odyssey Online, 2019 (read more)

Shield Law: Even the biggest shield can’t stop the biggest spear.

Hope you enjoyed these contemplations on childhood with Poptropica from kids who are now in college! If you liked this post, you may also enjoy our interview with the Poptropica Pals, an official university student club united over our favorite game.

No matter how old you get, keep on poppin’ on, Poptropicans! 🫰

~🐠

Guest Posts, Reviews

A longtime player’s look at Poptropica 👀

March 23, 2023March 22, 2023 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Comical Dragon. Enjoy!

Hi all! My name is Comical Dragon. I’m a longtime Poptropica player and PHB reader. I’m not going to say how old I am, but I am old enough to remember the Flash days of Poptropica, when new islands and ideas were abundant, and each one left me feeling satisfied.

To me, the beauty of Poptropica and its islands was their creativity.

Remember when the friends page used to look like this?

I’m the kind of person that likes the simple things in life. Even as I aged out of Poptropica’s target demographic (originally 6–15 years old), I still revisited the website from time to time, and up until their removal, I would replay some of my favorite islands over and over again. All this to say, Poptropica was, and is, a game that I’ve held close to my heart. For that reason, it pains me to say that I’m deeply disappointed in where the game has gone in recent years.

A bit of background, in case you’re unfamiliar with Pop lore: The game was released in 2007, created by Jeff Kinney (more popularly known as the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series). Through 2007-2015, the game grew to have over 75 million registered users. The original publishers were Pearson Education, but the site was sold to Sandbox Networks in 2015. As it often happens with company acquisitions, teams were restructured, with evidence of some longtime Pop Creators leaving against their wishes. This is the point where I begin my criticisms.

Secret Lair: This evil HQ is under construction.

Looking at this list of island releases by year, taken from the Poptropica Fandom Wiki, you can see that starting in 2015, there are fewer islands released per year, dwindling down to just one last year in 2022.

Also see the PHB’s Island Guides for info on all the islands.

In my personal opinion, the islands from 2015 onwards lack the creativity and depth of the islands before them. My playthroughs of the most recent ones, the three contest-winning Dream Islands (Fairy Tale, Goofball, and Jade Scarab) left me deeply disappointed. The concepts of these islands are so rich and have so much potential! Just check out the inside looks with the player designers of Jade Scarab and Goofball Island. But it felt to me as though the team didn’t want to play with the ideas they were offered from players.

It took me no more than 15 minutes to play through each one — granted, I am an older player. Still, there was not much to explore in the environments of these three islands, barely any NPCs to interact with, and the main quests were extremely simple. They essentially held your hand while going through objectives, and there wasn’t much of a story element that I had enjoyed with previous islands.

Because I don’t want to be overly negative, I will mention that some newer features of Poptropica are quite nice, like the Home Island and the player’s clubhouse, allowing players to make their own space in-game.

Of course, I can’t talk about the latest islands without talking about Flash. When Adobe Flash was discontinued in 2020, many of Poptropica’s islands were rendered unplayable. The Creators kept promising that old islands were being brought over to a new format, but the selection of islands has disappointed fans. Poptropica went from a bustling 51+ islands to 17, with some of them being locked behind a paywall, either of membership or the paid Steam bundle.

I will admit that transitioning the amount of content that Poptropica had does take time and hard work. I won’t fault the Creators for that. However, I think that rather than releasing new islands that don’t have the same appeal as old islands, and continually revamping the Home Island, the Creators need to bring back the old islands — as they were originally. They’ve remastered classic islands in the past, and the results haven’t been well received (see the watered-down Mythology, and Zomberry on Roblox).

Moving on from the islands, I’d also like to touch on the membership paywalls. Many original costumes, and even some of the re-released islands, are for members only. I understand the need for revenue since the website doesn’t seem to be getting as much traffic these days, but this has a huge impact for players. The costumes available to all are flat — they’re everyday clothes that you or I might wear. And the Costumizer tool, which allowed players to put together creative looks inspired by the characters they met across the islands, is also gone!

Poptropica doesn’t offer the same freedom to players anymore — we can’t explore islands nor customize our characters to be as fantastical as we want. A huge part of what drew me to the website was the creativity, and the escapism of it all. It just isn’t there anymore.

My suggestions to the Pop Creators:

Spend more time rebuilding, and gradually releasing old islands! While adding to the Home Island and little side quests are great, they’re really not what Poptropica is all about.
Let players make their own choices, and have deeper gameplay! Kids are so much smarter than we give them credit for, especially when they’re engaged — simply look towards the old islands.
Give players more creative control over their characters, and make more whimsical and fun costumes and add-ons available to people who don’t have memberships.

Poptropica in its prime was releasing quality islands and drawing millions of players, old and young alike. What happened? Let’s bring back the old Poptropica that so many people cherished.

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Comical Dragon. If you did, you might also enjoy our various Pop Petition posts.

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!

Reviews, Steam Bundle

PHB Review: Poptropica on Steam 💨🎮

May 29, 2022January 30, 2023 Slanted Fish

Poptropica recently released a bunch of their older islands and more via Steam for about US$20 (or less in some regions). From what’s in it to whether it’s worth it, we’ll be evaluating everything you need to know about this Steam bundle. Let’s pop into it!

What do you need to run the game?

First and foremost, you’ll need access to Steam, the video game distribution platform. Signing up for an account and downloading its app is free and easy. The game will run on both Windows and Mac computers, although M1 Macs (post-Nov 2020) are currently not supported, and Mac users will also need to download Adobe AIR.

Downloading the game requires 2 GB of storage space, and playing the game requires an internet connection and Poptropica account (free).

What’s new with Poptropica on Steam?

Most of the content has lived on the main Poptropica desktop and mobile game before, so playing it is more for nostalgia than novelty.

The only new thing is a twist on the ending of Monster Carnival Island. However, the changes are not particularly significant — just a bit of dialogue changed, with a somewhat less cruel fate for Ringmaster Raven. See what’s new in our updated Monster Carnival Island Guide! 🐦

What else is included in the Steam bundle?

The Steam bundle includes 17 islands (+1 if you count the tutorial, Snagglemast): Mythology (classic), Shrink Ray, Poptropolis Games, Monster Carnival, Time Tangled, Mystery of the Map, Virus Hunter, 24 Carrot, Galactic Hot Dogs, Mocktropica, Escape From Pelican Rock, Reality TV: Wild Safari, Timmy Failure, and all episodes of Survival, PoptropiCon, Arabian Nights, and Mission Atlantis — also known as the AS3 islands, or the newer bunch of the old islands. 🏝Plus, it also comes with the create-your-own-world Realms.

You’ll also have the Flash version of Home Island (with summer scenery), which includes Amelia greeting you on a bridge, your clubhouse and Realms portal at the top, the New You customization building to the left (plus the movie theater, closed), and the daily spin wheel, store, pet barn, and Blast-off Arcade to your right.

In terms of features, it’s almost like going back to the 2020 version of Poptropica. You’ll get to access the Costumizer (on all islands, not just PoptropiCon), the crate menu, and the inventory layout with the item cards in two rows and horizontal scrolling. You can also visit common rooms and buy older store items, but can’t access the friends feature nor play in full screen — though it’s still bigger than the desktop version.

Since you’ll need to login to your Pop account, everything’s connected to your save data from Haxe (desktop) Poptropica (formerly Flash) and the mobile app, which means you’ll have all your store items, costumes, pets, clubhouse layout(s), island progress, credits, etc.

Is Poptropica on Steam worth the price? Do we recommend it?

At the risk of sounding like a cop-out answer, it depends! If you can swallow the US$19.99 price tag (varies by country), and are wondering if this is where you want to spend it, these are our recommendations:

👎 If you have Flashpoint (requires some setup): No

You might know that you can revisit these islands and more with Flashpoint, the fan-run preservation project, which is already free. All it needs is a bit of setup on a computer (Windows will be easier, while Macs might take more work, and Chromebooks are not compatible).

Flashpoint might occasionally glitch out, but if it works for you, then this Steam bundle won’t add anything new beyond Realms and the minimal changes in Monster Carnival. And if you’re looking to play the oldest of old islands, like Astro-Knights or Super Power, you’ll want Flashpoint, not Steam.

👌 If you have the pre-2022 Pop mobile app: Maybe

For those who have the pre-2022 Poptropica mobile app, the content will be similar — although you do gain Poptropolis Games, Mocktropica, Monster Carnival, Virus Hunter, and Realms, so long as you never update the app. Plus, if you just have the islands on mobile but want to play on the computer, the Steam bundle gives you that option.

👍 If you don’t have Flashpoint: Yes

Mac users will have to jump through more hoops to get Flashpoint working, so if you’d rather save yourself this effort, the Steam game offers an easier option (except for M1 Macs, which are not currently supported). If you can spare the cash, $20 adds up to about $1 per island, for about an hour of gameplay each, which seems like an OK deal.

Plus if you’ve updated your Pop app since 2022, this is also the only official way to access these old islands. Because of that, it should run more smoothly — if it doesn’t, you can always contact Pop support for a fix. You’ll also be supporting the development of Poptropica with this purchase. It’s true that these islands all used to be free, but alas, times have changed. Better a paid Poptropica than none at all?

That wraps up the PHB’s review of Poptropica on Steam! You can also read more reviews directly on Steam. Will you be getting the game? What do you think of it? Share your thoughts in the comments!

— the Poptropica Help Blog —

Jade Scarab Island, Reviews

PHB Review: Jade Scarab Island 🪲

May 2, 2022May 13, 2022 Slanted Fish

*Curbed by the curse? Check out our Jade Scarab Island Guide.*

You you you! Yes you, adventurer! Have you played Jade Scarab Island yet? The PHB team has had some time to dig in and digest, and now we’re here to share our thoughts with you about this final Dream Island, which released in late April. Beware: spoilers lie ahead!

Storyline & Characters

Soon after Jade Scarab Island was announced as a winner of the Dream Island contest last year, the PHB shared an inside look from Girl Power, the Poptropican who designed the island. Looking back at her original ideas, it’s interesting to compare them to the real thing.

Girl Power’s submission contains extra details not found in the game, particularly in regard to names. This includes: Claira the curator, King Khnurn’s tomb (“reborn sun” in Egyptian), and the village of Iteru (“river” in Egyptian) — in Poptropica, they were all nameless.

However, the game is faithful to some of her other ideas, like the merchant and Howard Diggory. Other ideas are modified — instead of errands of fishing and translating, we’re boosting a camel business and locating a missing excavator. We’re not opposed to the Pop Creators taking creative liberties, but for an island that felt a bit short in playtime, it could have benefitted from more fleshing out of details.

*The Ancient Antiquities Museum in Cairo became the Museum of Really Old Things on Pop, but still with the Egyptian flag on top.*

Still, there were lots of fun characters and dialogue. We especially loved the player’s self-aware blimp remark, the busy businessman who rejects your flirting, and of course, the adorable little cat (although that goddess transformation came out of nowhere and left too soon!). 🐱

The reveal and defeat of the villain, the digsite foreman, felt abrupt and anticlimactic. He’s surly throughout the island, so it’s not much of a surprise when he swoops in to attack. However, his identity (though not expression) was part of Girl Power’s plan — she had named the foreman Awantagi (“deceitful person” in Egyptian). We don’t get much time to face him, either: a quick cutscene and it’s all over. Overall, the story is intriguing, but we just wish we could engage with it longer.

Gameplay

At times, the game can run rather slowly, and some players have reported getting locked in scenes. Hopefully the Creators can iron out these glitches soon, but in the meantime if you find yourself stuck somehow, you can restart the island from the map.

When things work, though, exploring Jade Scarab does feel like a classic OG island, with less hand-holding than most of the other new islands. Scanning the desert by flying with the falcon definitely gave us nostalgic vibes for similar mechanics on old islands like Wild West and Cryptids! 🦅

Perhaps the most challenging part of Jade Scarab is the merkhet puzzle. Even with the instructions and animated demonstration, players have been confused about the task at hand. (Our guide can help!) Its uniqueness makes this part interesting, but it also leaves us without much frame of reference for what we’re supposed to do.

Still, other parts struck a decent balance between fun and frustrating. Whether we were making charcoal rubbings or chasing a cat, it was exciting to make discoveries, and rewarding to figure things out.

Audio & Visuals

We love the looks and listens for Jade Scarab, but at the same time, they don’t feel new. Many of the soundtracks are from Arabian Nights Island, including this “Genie Dance” tune. (Hear more on our Pop Music page!)

The desert marketplace and tomb setting feels similar to Arabian Nights, while the ancient Egyptian aesthetics were also a feature of Nabooti Island. Technically, Jade Scarab is a new story with new art, but it doesn’t really break barriers in the Poptropica canon. 🚜

That being said, there are still many cool details to enjoy, like the mix of ancient and modern culture (including traffic honks!), hijab-wearing bystanders, and even Rumpelstiltskin on a ring float.

Verdict

With its fun but short storyline, classic island vibes, and neat but derivative stylings, Jade Scarab Island feels like a good-but-not-great addition to the map. Out of five we’d give this Egyptian expedition…

3.5 out of 5 Bastet idols. Though this excavation vacation comes with its share of enjoyable discoveries, it ultimately comes up short in its potential to dig deeper. Let’s hope Poptropica breaks that curse soon!

There’s so much more to unpack — head over to the trivia section of our Jade Scarab Island Guide to see what other details you may have missed!

With that, all three Dream Islands from the 2020 contest are done and dusted! Which one was your fave: Fairytale, Goofball, or Jade Scarab? 🏝 Next up, we’re looking forward to the return of some old islands to Steam—and maybe bigger adventures on Poptropica, too? 👉👈

Thanks for reading our review of Jade Scarab Island! Do you agree with our verdict? Share your opinions in the comments below!

— 🚜 the Poptropica Help Bloggers 🪲 —

Guest Posts, Reviews

Ramble Review: Mocktropica Island

January 15, 2022January 15, 2022 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Silver Shell. Enjoy!

Now, I love Mocktropica Island because of how real it is. You don’t battle pirates or ninjas on this island, but you battle something just as challenging: Games breaking down. Chaos. Frustrating management that doesn’t listen to anyone. There’s a lot of frustration and confusion in the plot of this island. There are plenty of glitches, but the creators seem to only care about new things, like the dreadful Pop Coins.

Sounding familiar yet? Unfortunately, modern Pop has started to immensely resemble Mocktropica these days. There’s plenty of talk about that already, though, so let’s move on from that.

I think the island is really fun! You get to design Main Street from a little basement, change the weather and time of day, and, of course, it’s the home of the Narf. My favorite part of this island was trying to convince the former creators to get back to their jobs. All three of them had moved on and needed lots of persuasion before they would return. However, once you get the whole team back together, a lot is fixed! The player gets to actually fix the game itself! How cool is that?!

The twist? First-rate. The fact that management had been planning to destroy Poptropica all along to move Mega Fighting Bots up to the top of the list was, I have to say, quite genius. The clues were everywhere, but I never made the connection! I had assumed those people were just cheap and loony. In my opinion, that twist was the best one in Poptropica.

I actually needed Thinknoodles’s walkthrough for the end part with the flying bots, but I had a lot of fun with it, especially considering the fact that you threw Pop Coins at them. Revenge on the Pop Coins. 😜

And that’s that! Thanks for reading again!

Pop Nonstop,

🥈🐚

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Silver Shell. If you did, you might also enjoy the PHB’s other Ramble Reviews of various islands, like this one about Lunar Colony by Purple Paw.

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!