Heyo Poptropicans, and welcome to another long overdue Ramble Review! This time around, I’ll be exploring the high-tech outer space world of Lunar Colony. 🔭
When I played Lunar Colony for the very first time years ago, my first impression of it wasn’t exactly a good one. I remember feeling annoyed by all of the airlocks especially; I could never figure out how to enter one building or exit another, and for some reason, it took me a good deal of tries before I was even able to land the Lunar Lander. I remember I got so frustrated with this island that I eventually gave up trying to complete it at all, and moved on to something else. But if I’d just held on a little longer, and managed to reach the ending of Lunar Colony, my whole perspective on it would’ve changed at once…
More recently, I decided to give Lunar Colony another shot. This time around, I understood it better, and was able to finally reach the end of the island. And when I saw the ending, with Commander Salerno whisked through the portal to the alien realm, with the flight director on the radio, announcing that it was time to bring you back home, I was more surprised than I’ve ever been at the end of an island.
The main reason Lunar Colony’s ending stood out so much from other islands is because it’s one of very few, if not the only, island where you fail your mission (in a sense). From the beginning, your mission was to find Salerno and bring her safely home. But when you activate the alien portal at the end, the tables are turned, and Salerno ends up escaping once and for all. It’s a sad day for everyone.
Of course, Salerno’s escape did do quite a bit of good for PASE. Now that alien life has been confirmed, people are starting to regain interest in outer space, and the president has promised whatever money PASE needs to keep their space program going! What Salerno did was a heroic move, but the truth still remains that your mission all along — to bring Salerno back to Earth — didn’t end quite as expected, and it’s those final parts of the island that really make Lunar Colony stand out in my eyes.
But enough rambling about Lunar Colony’s ending. Although that is the main reason I admire this island so much, it’s far from the only reason! Something else I thought was interesting about Lunar Colony is how it canonized the fact that Poptropicans’ eye colors can change. I’d wondered for awhile about Poptropicans’ eyes: why all Poptropicans’ eyes tend to stay the same, how there are hardly any customizable eye parts, and yes, whether or not they can change color. It was definitely a cool addition to see a Poptropican’s eyes turn purple!
Something else I found intriguing about this island is how it, similar to Astro-Knights, focuses on outer space — except the two islands couldn’t be more different. While Astro-Knights mainly features the clockpunk genre, Lunar Colony takes a scientific approach on the cosmos. Lunar Colony’s world seems to be in a much more modern, technological era, as opposed to Astro-Knights’ medieval theme.
Outer space is a vast place, and there have been an array of stories taking place beyond the stars. And in my opinion, Lunar Colony is definitely one of those stories that deserves more appreciation than it got. Even though the gameplay is admittedly frustrating at times, and even though not many people think of Lunar Colony when they think of Poptropica’s greatest islands, it’s the plot (combined with an assortment of beautiful outer space artwork!) that ties this whole adventure together and makes it one of the most intriguing Poptropica islands to ponder over. 🚀🧑🚀
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