Category: Social Media

Bonus Items, Contests, Livestreams, Social Media

Contest-winning and 10th Birthday Costumes, plus a Pop Worlds Livestream!

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! Looks like things are popping on Pop again. 😉

It may have taken a good seven months, but it looks like the Poptropica Creators are finally about to bring the winning designs of the #MyPoptropicaCostume contest to the game, with confirmation that that means both Poptropica Worlds and Original! Check out the awesome sneak peek, featuring mermaids and letterman jackets:

costumecontestpeek

They haven’t given an exact release date, only “soon,” but it’s a comfort to know they’re at least being worked on (it is rather long overdue). Maybe my earlier nudging helped – but in any case, it is nice to see a glimpse of what they’re working on (we’ve been pretty starved for regular sneak peeks lately!).

Here we see the grand prize winning designs, “Ocean Princess” designed by Creepy Peanut and “Hip Hop Boy” by Speedy Toes. The 6-month memberships they won have probably expired by now, but at least they’re finally going to see their costumes for real, and with designs for more than one gender, expanding upon their original entries! Hopefully, the top 10 runner-up costumes will soon follow.

Speaking of costumes, the 10th Birthday Costume has finally been added to Worlds, this time glitch-free! You can find it in the store for free. Get it while it’s here!

If you’re playing on mobile, be sure to update your app so you’ll see this costume in the store, along with the all-new Ye Olde Shop building!

worlds 10th bday
pic credit: Young Hippo & Yujo_Jacy_the_Jumpy_Coyotekans

(And it only took an extra week compared to Pop Original…)

In other news, Poptropica had their first ever livestream this weekend: specifically, this past Friday (Sept 22) at about 4:40 p.m. EST. It was completely out of the blue, not having been announced on any of Poptropica’s social media channels except YouTube. You can catch the entire 22 minutes of video here:

The livestream is hosted by one Creator, a young lady in the corner of the screen who introduces herself as Stephanie. Her game username is later revealed as PopTrop_Steph. A quick look-up in the Avatar Studio shows that she has never played Pop Original (at least not on her account), since Worlds accounts that have never played Original (like hers) will have the “Afro Guy” appearance (as she does – so it looks like she’s probably a new Creator). (Personally, I’d like to see some livestreams for Pop Original too, though I guess the closest we have are Captain Crawfish’s walkthroughs!)

Indeed, the whole video focuses on Poptropica Worlds, from creating an account to landing on Home Island to – well, that’s about it, really. What Stephanie goes through will probably be familiar if you’re not completely new, but if you want to watch a Poptropica Creator narrate an exploration of Worlds while eating a bunch of gummy bears, this is the video for you. Oh, and we’re promised there’s more to come in the future.

We’ve never met Steph before, but she seems pretty friendly and excitable. It looks like we’ll be seeing more of her on future YouTube livestreams – the next episode, she says, will be about what you can get with membership in the store. That might get some kids interested in membership, but we hope Poptropica will remember to keep up the love for the free players as well.

It’s not clear whether or not Steph is responsible for the rest of Pop’s social media these days, although I would guess not, since the mystery blogger on the Creators’ Blog has previously used a yellow-haired male character. Regardless, it’s nice to finally know at least one face and name – and if there are other social media staff working for Pop, we hope they’ll introduce themselves as well!

What did you think of the livestream video? What would you like to see in a future video from Poptropica? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

<・)))><<

App, Social Media

Followers of Poptropica hope for Dragon Answers

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans!

We thought it might never happen, but Poptropica Original (not Worlds) has gotten an update! But before you get too excited, it’s just on the mobile app, not desktop.

If you update your Poptropica Original app, you’ll get a free Dragon Follower! This little creature is pretty cute, eh? Would’ve been cool to have it on desktop and Worlds as well, so let’s hope it shows up there too.

Thanks to Young Hippo for the in-game screenshots.

There isn’t much else to the latest from the Creators, except to say that whoever made the blog post managed to make two typos: one in the title that was fixed after being pointed out, and another with an extra space in the hyperlink. Speaking of which, why not hyperlink some words instead of posting the entire URL?

Now, this wouldn’t be such a big deal, but with many players feeling a drop in overall quality from the Creators since the release of Worlds, what we’d desperately like to see is for them to step it up – and a higher degree of professionalism would definitely help.

Since Skinny Moon’s departure as Poptropica’s social media manager, we haven’t had any introduction to the new social media staff, and that along with their noticeable differences in communication has only added to the growing impersonal feeling between Creators and players.

naps dragon
fan art by naps (astroknightsisland on tumblr)

With Poptropica’s 10th anniversary coming up this month, we sure hope they’re planning something big for sometime soon, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Not too much has been said about it – Skinny Moon sounded excited about the upcoming 10th anniversary when she was running the social media a few months ago, but now that we are into the month itself, Pop’s social media has been eerily silent on this topic so far.

Still, a few earlier tweets have hinted that something big is coming this September, so perhaps we’re close to a big update soon…

All we ask for are a little more answers to our questions: What’s Poptropica working on these days? Who are the new social media staff? Could we have some more interesting updates, blog posts, and community contests?

If you are someone who shares these feelings, leave your questions and concerns in the comments below. The Creators have been known to consider our feedback, so let’s give them some suggestions!

<・)))><<

Clubhouse, Cryptids Island, Social Media

Escape Cryptids with the #FreeThe15 Challenge

Purple Claw

Hey there, good players of Poptropica!

It’s me, Purple Claw, with some interesting news — the unknown Creators are hosting another challenge that you should all know about! (There was also the visitors’ center challenge that we didn’t post about, but you can check it out here.)

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

FreeThe15_1080x1350 (002)

So basically, the Creators are releasing 15 new house decor items, and we have to be the ones that have make that happen, through the power of social media!

Random PHB reader: Um, Purple Claw, what do you mean by that? We’re just plain fans! And why don’t you post more often?!

I’m glad you asked! Well, the Creators are giving us an opportunity to release some new sweet house decor items, but what we have to do is… uh… post pictures of the Ice Cream Machine inside our houses for some reason, and with the hashtag #FreeThe15. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Poptropicans must post a picture of the Ice Cream Machine from the Home Decor Store placed into their Pop Worlds Home.

Step 2: Don’t forget to use the hashtag #FreeThe15 in your entries so we can find it.

Step 3: Tag your friends and get them to post! We only release the 15 items if we get enough people to share their Ice Cream Machine in their Home and tag with #FreeThe15. The more people who enter, the greater the chances of unlocking these items!

Remember, this is a race against the clock- we need enough people to post with the hashtag by Monday to unlock all 15 items. The more Ice Cream Machines you have & pictures you post, the better! These items would be available for ALL PLAYERS, and we need EVERYONE to participate! Good luck, Poptropicans!

There’s a positive and a negative side to this. First of all, it’s free items, baby! Everyone loves ’em! But on the other hand, this kinda popped out of nowhere, and there seems to be no real rhyme or reason to it…

Don’t get me wrong; I love Poptropica challenges. But this one just felt so… random. In my opinion, I think that they should’ve just added the 15 new items without making this contest, but maybe this was their way of trying to increase the activity on social media. Still, the way they’re going about it feels half-hearted, with not much of a story to it.

If you want the new items to be added, please post the picture of your ice cream machine along with the #FreeThe15 hashtag on your social media pages. If you don’t have any social media, I can share yours on my twitter page – just DM me on Discord.

In other news, yesterday, another post was published on the Creators’ Blog, promoting one of Poptropica’s most popular islands: Cryptids Island. Cryptids Island is well-known for its mythical creatures and its extraordinary adventure.

The post was pretty interesting, but the thing that stood out the most was this glorious drawing of the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie:

Cryptid_Island_1200x627 (1).jpg

It’s really nice! I really like the detail on the ocean, and I wish I would draw like that. However, it doesn’t quite look like the ordinary Poptropica style. When asked about it, the Creators wrote back that a Poptropica artist wanted to do things a bit differently to capture the mystery.

Anyway, Cryptids is one of my favorite islands, and I really want it to be remastered for Poptropica Worlds, so I kinda hope (even though the chances are really low) that it might be. So I guess #CryptidsForWorlds..? I don’t know. XD

Anyway, thanks for reading this post! I’ll try to post more and stop being too lazy – but until then, I’m out!

🐾 Purple Claw 🐾
:mrgreen:🌊

Contests, Livestreams, PHB Parties, Poppies

Recap: Poppies 2017 Winners and Party!

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans!

Throughout this month on the PHB, we’ve been hosting The Poppies, our annual Poptropica community awards event. This is our third year of doing the Poppies, and as usual, it’s been a blast! From nominating to voting to partying, we’re grateful to celebrate the Poptropica community with you.

Even the Poptropica Creators showed interest in our Red Blue Carpet event!

The main event, which celebrated the Poppies winners and the PHB’s ninth birthday with a lively party on the PHC and Poptropica Multiverse rooms, has just wrapped up. Thanks to all who attended – can you find yourself in the recap collage above?

We see amazing costumes at every PHB event, but this year we really wanted to highlight some of our favorites. So, we’ve compiled a selection of some stand-out outfits from the Poppies attendees in the Multiverse rooms! Check out their snazzy suits:

best poppies outfits

Kudos to Red Crush, Greedy Shadow, Mia (aka Grumpy Cactus – she also won Best Poptropica Fansite alongside her friend LillySparkle$!), Sporty Boa (who almost died for his outfit!), and Spotted Lion! Y’all are looking especially fly on the blue carpet.

Of course, what you really wanna know is who won, right?! We announced all the winners via a livestream during the party, but in case you missed it, you can catch up on it below. The video contains commentary from several PHB authors – Brave Tomato (main host), Spotted Dragon, Silver Wolf, and Lucky Joker – as well as pics for each category and a breakdown of voting percentages via charts (to show how the other nominees fared).

Below the video, we’ll also list out all the winners and the second-place runner-ups.

And the Poppies go to…

A huge congratulations is in order for all the winners of this year’s Poppies!!

Winners should have received a printable paper Poppie trophy from us via email or social media, and nominees (those who made it to the voting round) have been given badges. Thanks to Spotted Dragon for creating these! If you earned a Poppies trophy or badge but did not get one, we may not have your contact info – if so, do let us know!

Here at the Poptropica Help Blog, we can’t stress enough how blessed we are to be able to write about something we love and have so many readers who keep up with our shenanigans. Whether we’re planning creative parties or putting together island walkthroughs, it’s a pleasure to play Poptropica alongside all of you.

So thank you. Thank you for being part of this community, in big ways or small ways, whether veteran or newbie. Thank you for seeing us to our 9th year – from 2008 to 2017, it’s been a pretty long journey, and it’s not over yet. Here’s to more to come!

We’ll see you next time on the blue carpet!

 ✨ Don’t stop poppin’! ✨

– the Poptropica Help Bloggers –

PHB Specials, Social Media

PHB Special: #MyPopsona from the PHB Team!

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans!

A while back, Skinny Moon posted on the Creators’ Blog (twice, actually) about Popsonas, which is shorthand invented by the Poptropica community to mean Poptropica personas. Such creations have been a longtime tradition among the fandom, and this fun practice continues to this day. In fact, you’re invited to join in.

One’s Popsona tells the story of their Poptropica character, and the details are up to you: you can create a backstory, personality, likes/dislikes, and more! Some of the staff writers here on the PHB wanted to create and share their own Popsonas, so in this post, we’ll be doing just that. Here we go!

 Slanted Fish

Slanted Fish hails from Shark Tooth Island, where she has always admired the swimming fish, including the bright blue betta she adopted from the sea. Born as Friendly Fish, she acquired the nickname Slanted Fish in her youth as a wordplay on her Chinese name. This Fishy finds her home in both land and ocean; bustling cities and secluded islands.

She went on to study many of her passions, including art and writing, at Ephraim University on Mocktropica Island. These days, Slanted Fish works as the editor-in-chief of a Poptropica publication known as the Poptropica Help Blog. She is often traveling around various Poptropica islands to promote the PHB, but also travels to relax and catch up with Poptropicans all over the community.

Spotted Dragon

sd popsona

Born on Monster Carnival Island, Spotted Dragon grew up in an apartment off main street with a distant view of the carnival. Not being much of an extrovert, SD admired the carnival from afar and often just stayed within the comfort of her own home, occasionally visiting the Lazy Sundae Ice Cream shop for a sweet treat. She did small jobs for the local newspaper to earn money and gradually found an interest in photography. Sadly, she had lots of insecurities, especially about her hair that seemed to constantly change shades of brown.

As an only child, SD grew bored of her aging parents’ simple lifestyle and as an adolescent decided to leave home in search of her passion. Inheriting her grandmother’s blimp, she started to fly around Poptropica as a loner, eventually learning how to maintain a constant set of odd photography jobs. Today, Spotted Dragon resides on Home Island, in a house she bought herself. After really finding her personality, she managed to become widely known throughout Poptropica for her tendencies to help everyone she meets, snapping pictures along the way.

She briefly attended Ephraim University, expanding her knowledge on subjects like journalism and discovering her non-traditional name translation of Sydney Doragon, but soon dropped out for financial reasons. Thankfully, she met Slanted Fish and much later earned herself a job working for the Poptropica Help Blog as an author and photographer. SD continues to travel for her work and personal adventurers and has acquired lots of confidence in herself. She shows a great interest in the arts, casual soccer, pride advocacy, and of course her trusty hoodie. She is asexual and panromantic, has a varying INTJ-T and INFJ-T personality, funny in the stupidest of ways, became best friends with Silver Wolf, and loves music.

Slippery Raptor

popsona

Who am I? You sure you want to know? The story of my life is not for the faint of heart. If somebody said it was a happy little tale if somebody told you I was just your average ordinary guy, not a care in the world… somebody lied. But let me assure you — this, like any story worth telling, is all about a Poptropican….

I grew up in River City, one of Shrink Ray Island’s cities. I attended River City High, where I was one of the kids on the honor roll. CJ was one of my study buddies back then, and I actually helped her with her shrink ray project. Sadly, I never got to attend the science fair because there was an interstate debate that I had to compete in.

My family later moved to Red Dragon Island, and that’s where I met Jack and Annie, who were my neighbors next door. They showed me the joy of reading books! I instantly fell in love with books, and sometimes you can find me hanging out in the Frog Creek Library past dusk.

Later, I moved to Mocktropica Island to attend the ever-prestigious Ephraim University. The university life was bizarre for me, and I met Slanted Fish, then a college senior who also attended my journalism classes. Upon reading one of my essays, she invited me to take part in the journalism club, which then grew into the renowned Poptropica publication, the Poptropica Help Blog.

Today, I continue to quench my thirst for learning, travel to many Poptropica islands, write poetry, and watch world-famous musicals on Back Lot Island.

Lucky Joker

Lucky Joker was born on Back Lot Island and lived on the overlooking hills of the island for most of his life. He’s an only child and often did things on his own since he didn’t have many friends to play with. He found various ways to entertain himself like coloring and solving puzzles, but what he likes to do most (and still does today) was learning.

Lucky gained an interest for Greek Mythology, in particular, and in the pursuit of his own happiness, packed up his bags and moved to Mythology Island. Currently, he studies Greek history, art, literature, and mythology, while still having the time to enjoy the peaceful environment his new home offers him. He also writes on the widely-known Poptropica Help Blog to practice his writing – another favorite pastime of his.

Happy Lobster

hl popsona

Happy Lobster was born and grew up in Ghost Story Island. There weren’t many children who lived on the island, but he made friends with a boy who held a perhaps unhealthy interest in tinfoil hats, and another boy with a red bolt across his face who had come from Astro-Knights Island with his parents. But Happy Lobster was intrigued by all the Poptropicans who came by on yellow blimp to try and solve some enigmatic problem the island harbored.

When he reached 18, he visited the Trading Post at Wild West Island, where he discovered an old yellow blimp – just like the ones he had seen arrive multiple times on his home island! He received it in turn for giving up one of his modern ghost comics, which the owner was more than happy to read about, seeing as he was from a totally different time. At once, with his new blimp, Happy Lobster decided to roam around the world of Poptropica, and stop off at islands where there were unusual rumors, such as dangerous forest creatures and vampires kidnapping seemingly random girls – who knew Poptropica was such a mess nearly everywhere these days?

Happy Lobster eventually came to Monster Carnival Island, where he prevented the sinister aims of the mysterious Ringmaster Raven. After Raven decided to become The Incredible Chicken Man with a lot less villain aspirations, Happy Lobster moved from Ghost Story to Monster Carnival Island, where he had made friends with (nearly) all the carnies from The Monster Carnival – and hey, the Lazy Sundae Ice Cream Shop was pretty sweet, too!

Soon afterwards, Happy Lobster attended Ephraim University, and met Slanted Fish, Spotted Dragon, Slippery Raptor and Purple Claw… the last of which looked very similar to one of his childhood friends. Towards the end of his time at the university, Slanted Fish decided to make a blog about all the wonders of Poptropica – and invited some of her university friends, including Happy Lobster, to join her in writing it!

Silver Wolf

sw popsona

Silver Wolf was born on Mystery Train Island and lived there until she saved the Chicago World Fair from peril in 1893. At the time, she was defined by her iconic purple hair and inspector-like clothing. The event sparked a desire in her to solve more mysteries, so she traveled all across Poptropica to help others, gaining small amounts of money along the way. Once she saved enough, she bought her own private island to live with her many pets: cats, dogs, parrots, hamsters, you name it!

She settled down on her island until the 21st century, when she decided she wanted to do more with her (very long) life. That’s when she started to blog about the world. She also changed her 19th-century outfit to a more modern one, including a joystick t-shirt and headphones.

Since she hasn’t seemed to age, no one knows when exactly when she is going to fulfill her dreams of being a veterinarian, as she seems content as she is. However, what is known about her is that she mainly keeps to herself, enjoys reading fantasy and adventure books, and plays a multitude of video games; it seems as if she keeps interests of the old and modern.

Purple Claw

pc popsona

Purple Claw was born in the great land of Arturus of Astro-Knights Island, and lived there with his mother until he became seven. They moved to Ghost Story Island after PC’s 7th birthday to take care of his grandparents. Over there, he only had two friends, one of them being Happy Lobster.

When Purple Claw turned 18, he got an email from the PND (The Poptropica Nature Defenders) to go on a trip to Nabooti Island to find the missing jewels. PC was absolutely stunned by their proposal, and joined the adventure. Besides the jewels, Nabooti Island had so many beautiful places to visit, that he even made a blog post about his adventure! And ’til this day, he still documents all of Poptropica’s wonders whenever he goes on adventures on his blog!

A year later, Purple Claw attended Ephraim University, and met Slanted Fish, Slippery Raptor, Happy Lobster and Spotted Dragon. The best part was that he met one of his childhood friends there, him being Happy Lobster! He also became an author on a Poptropica publication: the Poptropica Help Blog, run by those friends, a couple of months later.

During his free time, PC likes reading, drawing, writing, playing video games, or taking long walks with his owl, Silver Acorn. Or, if he’s not doing any of this stuff, he’s probably sleeping. 😛

Thanks for reading our Popsona stories!

Now tell us, what’s your Poptropican’s Popsona like? Feel free to share down in the comments, or post on social media with the hashtag #MyPopsona so even the Creators can see it and possibly re-post it! We’d love to hear your story!

– the PHB team –