Category: Social Media

Social Media, Zomberry Island

PHG on Steam, Zomberry SUI, over-tweeting, & kite video

HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

What isn’t happening in the world of Poptropica? Prepare to have your mind blown with all the new things happening in the Poptropica universe!  😀

Poptropica Help Group on Steam

If you’re looking for a way to connect and play games with other Poptropica lovers, then look no further – we’ve recently started a group on Steam entitled the Poptropica Help Steam Group, in which we’ll post announcements, hold contests, and host events for playing some fun games! If you have a Steam account, then pop on over to the PHG by clicking here.

Do note that you will need a Steam account to join our Poptropica Steam community – it’s an incredible service, so if you don’t have one already, it won’t hurt to get one. 🙂

stemplz

And by the way, Poptropica – step up your game (quite literally) and get Poptropica on Steam! That would be awesome! 😛

Zomberry SUI & Creator discovered

The next island to be an SUI, after Shrink Ray, might just be Zomberry Island – the reason being that Tania Lynne, a programmer for Poptropica I recently discovered online, posted a screenshot of Zomberry in SUI (sound-updated island) format on her portfolio site.

taniaLynneZomberry

Tania Lynne apparently has been working for Poptropica since 2010 to present, which is pretty impressive – she’s worked on tons of islands including Cryptids, Mystery Train, and Monster Carnival. Do you think she has an alias? Could she be the Black Widow, for example? Tell me what you think in the comments. 😀

taniaLynneZomberry2

Over-tweeting?

Twitter has been becoming one of the main outlets for the Poptropica Creators to release behind the scenes shtuff – back in the early PCB days, similar activities were pretty common. We’ve gotten some pretty epic unused art from islands, release schedules, and Land creations from their Twitter – but there seems to be one thing wrong: they retweet almost everything tweeted at them.

Why is that a bad thing? For one thing, Poptropica is a kids’ game and some of the things being retweeted are not so kid-friendly… posts with hashtags including some innap words have been seen on the profile, including hashtags such as “#fthepolice” or “bad***”, or the phrase “h*ll yeah”. Another tweet also linked to a different site where a post made by a player used some questionable language.

To be fair, their Twitter is aimed at those 13 or older, but whether this type of language should be tossed around to the (even older) Poptropica audience is debatable.

Educational Videos

A video was released over a year ago by the Phaebus Media Group entitled “Poptropica by PhaebusMediaGroup“. It was 30 seconds long and consisted of two Poptropicans on a beach.

One Poptropican has a kite, which he shows to his friend – and there’s a parrot named Pippin, for some reason. That’s the plot of the video, and while it’s pretty kiddish, you can’t deny that the animation quality isn’t half bad. Someone didn’t just make this for fun – as you’ll see if you check the video description:

Poptropica is an online animation resource for children. Phaebus Media Group created this animation as part of a pitch process.

While I’m not so sure about the online animation resource part, I do want to mention the “as part of a pitch” part. The video ends quite abruptly, just as the boy points out that there are two big triangles and two little triangles on his kite.

Obviously, it’s intended to be an educational video, which suggests that Poptropica was working on an educational video series at some point last year. Whether it happens anytime in the future or not is a mystery, but now we do have some foresight for a possible future project.

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Go friend me on Steam if you’d like! I’ll friend back. 🙂

TAFN.

-HPuterpop

Advertisements, Counterfeit Island, Labs (Land), Sneak Peeks, Social Media

Return of Balloon Boy, Tweets on Tumblr, Monster High ad, Best of Land Villages, & more!

Spotted Dragon

Hey guys! There are a lot of recent tweets and posts to cover, so let’s get started! First off, I want to emphasize this new video that has been added to the Creator’s “Inside Poptropica” YouTube playlist:

…Does this mean that Balloon Boy, who has been floating aimlessly since the release of Counterfeit Island, may be returning soon? Part of me is thrilled and part of me is sad that we may not be able to look in the sky and find him there any longer. Here is what has been said on the subject:

balloon boy talk

As you can see, Balloon Boy may soon become a Balloon Man…

In other news, Poptropica is still buzzing about Tumblr! The awesomeness has even spread to classrooms, and look, even the PHB’s 1D costumes are in the mix! (Click to view full images!)

Ugh, I hate it when I’m stuck on the loading page with a ton of vines across my screen. 😛

Plus, some more concept art has been released! The first two shown in the gallery are for the current Monster High: Freaky Fusion ad (see below). There’s also a just-for-fun sketch captioned “tongue tied” where a Poptropica artist experiments with crazy tongues on characters, and another of a boy Poptropican shooting hoops on the moon (and here they link to the Lunar Colony trailer).

For girls only, a Monster High: Freaky Fusion ad is available on Night Watch Island (there’s even an icon on the Map you can use to get there). Inside, along with a quiz game and the promo posters, there’s a freaky portal on the right – it doesn’t have a purpose, but it does look cool.

You’ll find two prizes on the top floor: Sirena Follower and Fusion Power (see below for images – thanks to Scary Plug of PWSP for the pics and insight!).

monster high freaky fusion

The Poptropica mobile app has gotten a couple of updates: first, Survival: Escape! (episode 5) is now available for 99 cents. (Although, of course, you can just play it for free online! Plus, if you need help, check out our Survival Island Guide.) Also, 3 free Halloween costume packs have been added to the Shop on your home island, and the app icon has even gotten a Halloween makeover! Cute.

The Best of the Land: Villages have also been announced! Check them out:

“From Cool Sponge, an old-fashioned village that looks like the perfect place to hold the inaugural constitutional convention. (Cool Sponge also made it into Monday’s Dream Homes!)”
“From Creepy Goose, how clever is this? She zoomed way out for a blimp’s-eye view of her village.”
“From Friendly Heart, imagine waking up to that giant shrubbery every morning. It wouldn’t be terrifying at all.”
“From Ice Age, an intricate desert setting. Unfortunately, Ice Age wasn’t a registered user so we can’t share their avatar with you! Always a good idea to save your game.”
“From Mad Comet, here’s a medieval village that seems to be struggling with a dragon problem. (Mad Comet, too, was featured on Monday!)”
“From Neat Tiger, we can see why they needed to build this village above the flood plain. Looks like they’ve got everything up there!”
“From Popular Shadow, it’s another dragon! Let’s hope this one is a protector. If not, we know exactly what to do (Red Dragon Island reference).”
“From Serious Bird, you don’t have to go far for a bite to eat in this town. Does the building on the right shake in an earthquake?”
“From Silver Lightning, another underwater-themed world! We’ll take the raft, thank you very much.”
“From White Flyer, it looks like a Poptropica Main Street! Even without the blimp it’s a dead ringer. Well done.”

Click here to go vote for your favorite! The poll, from now until Monday, should be to the right of the page. As of now, these are the results:

  • Cool Sponge (14%)
  • Creepy Goose (4%)
  • Friendly Heart (9%)
  • Ice Age (6%)
  • Mad Comet (8%)
  • Neat Tiger (13%)
  • Popular Shadow (3%)
  • Serious Bird (23%)
  • Silver Lightning (7%)
  • White Flyer (7%)

The next theme in the contest, which runs from October 24 to 26, is Obstacle Course. Check out our Poptropica Labs (Land) walkthrough for help. Good luck everyone!

As for The Best of the Land: Dream Houses, Zany Clown’s treehouse ended up as the best of the best according to readers’ votes. Congrats, Zany Clown! 😀

From Zany Crown, this is a treehouse that stays true to its roots. Just beautiful.
From Zany Crown, this is a treehouse that stays true to its roots. Just beautiful.

~SD

Advertisements, Glitches, Labs (Land), Sneak Peeks, Social Media

Poptropica has Tumblr-ed over and can’t get up (plus more!)

Spotted Dragon

Hey guys! The Creators have been checking out micro-blogging site Tumblr recently, taking screenshots of specific posts they liked and re-tweeting them (they even re-tweeted the PHB’s tweet about this post after it was published!). Check them out! (click to enlarge)

Cute! Sadly, there haven’t been any behind the scenes images for any islands recently. However, they did post these random sketches (made by bored Creators in their downtime):

Also, the Creators’ “Inside Poptropica” YouTube playlist has been updated with another video, in which a “QA tester” has found a bug in the most recent unreleased update to SUIs – not being able to swim in the water on Mythology Island.

Meanwhile with the Land Public Preview Challenge, the Creators have already tweeted a couple of their favorite Dream Homes so far (click to enlarge).

For help with Land, check out the PHB’s Poptropica Labs (Land) Guide, which was recently updated to reflect some new changes: now including a detailed chart of what you unlock at each level (as well as how much Poptanium is needed per level, which is no longer the standard 15 – it now varies)!

They’re also seeking advice for the future of the Land project over on Twitter, and so far suggestions have included changing the health effects of water in different biomes, plus the ability to name your own Land and have it seen by people on the Map. Both sound pretty neat! 😀

Heh. Well, good luck in the Land contest, everyone! 🙂

Lastly, on Night Watch Island for a limited time, there is is a dance party for girls only (sorry guys). It’s an ad for Lalaloopsy Girls, which was covered a bit more in-depth on the PHB last week. You can chat, battle, make friends, and get two costumes and a Dance Party power. Visit it before it’s gone!

sparkle

Umm… sparkly… 😛

~SD

Daily Pop Sneak Peeks, Labs (Land), PoptropiCon Island, Shark Boy Mystery, Social Media, Super Villain Island

More Land creations & PoptropiCon peeks

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans — friendly reminder that the PHB’s Land Construction Contest ends this Friday, Sept 5th, so if you haven’t sent in your greatest Land creation to us yet, get building and click here for the post with instructions on how to enter! Or, if you’ve made something that caught the Creators’ eyes like Magic Fire‘s self sculpture (she’s a PHB reader too – hi MF!) and Young Fish‘s panoramic port city have, you might even be featured on the Creators’ Blog! (click to view full images)

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Have you ever wondered why Poptropica tends to release islands on Thursdays? While this doesn’t explain why Thursday exactly (Friday in some time zones), they did recently address the question (brought up by Poptrickia) via their official Twitter:

weekends off

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PoptropiCon (guide here) had its first episode debut just last week for members, but if you’re wondering what’s up next, a good place to look are the Daily Pop sneak peeks. Let’s take a look at what we’ll be seeing inside the convention center (click to enlarge images):

Collect Em All: Keep them in the original packaging and they may be worth dozens someday.
Victory: It’s in the cards.
Hall Pass: Low-pill carpet for a high-traffic area.
The Help: With an attitude like that, you’ll go far.
Look Closer: It’s what’s under the cap that matters.
Silver Age: This archer gets right to the point.
Marvelous: A real stand-up comic booth.
History Lesson: Golden age, silver age, outrage… we’ve got it all.
Brony: Don’t say no, here we go, off across the plain.
You Hall: The swag bag is loaded, but where’s the exit?
Off-Screen: But we’re monitoring the situation.

Among all the random tidbits, it looks like there’ll be a booth for a comic hero called Elf Archer — created by some guy called “Stan Ditko”: a reference to Marvel Comics co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Plus, there’s even a Balloon Boy collectible that can be seen on a table!

And not far from the My Little Pony mimicry (“Pony Bros”… even the Daily Pop’s caption is “Brony”), there’s a poster for “Lava Twins” — it may be a long shot, but could this be a reference to a film called The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl? Yes, you read that right, “Shark Boy”: like the beloved Poptropica character who no longer is. (You can read all about the Shark Boy Mystery here!)

sharkmuseum

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Although it’s been about two years and ten islands since Super Villain Island, Brave Tomato recently uncovered this little snippet of Poptropica Creator Jeff Kinney working on it on a computer. It may not look like much, but it’s a pretty neat find nonetheless:

jeff working on svi

This came from a “making of” bonus feature on the Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days DVD, where they talked briefly about Jeff and Poptropica. (Jeff is also the author of the Wimpy Kid series.) Speaking of Jeff Kinney, I wonder if/when we’ll get to see his ice bucket challenge? 😉

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In other news, issue 19 of the PHB magazine, The POPCORN, releases this Sunday, Sept 7th, so be sure to have your creative entries sent in to phbpopcorn(at)gmail(dot)com before then! That’s all for now (or TAFN, as HP the hip one likes to say)! Keep on poppin’ on, Poptropicans. 🙂

Advertisements, Bonus Items, Popspiracy Theories, PoptropiCon Island, Social Media

BoxTrolls, new map icons, and revisiting the Shark Boy mystery!

HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

What isn’t happening in the world of Poptropica? Prepare to have your mind blown with all the new things happening in the Poptropica universe! 😀

Advertisement update: BoxTrolls

Some new ads are finally here, the first promoting the new movie “The BoxTrolls” (which btw looks incredible 😛 ). You’ll need to watch a lengthy trailer for the film in order to get a cool new “Eggs Costume“.

troll3

In other news, you’ll get a card upon signing in entitled “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge“. When used, a bucket of ice will be poured onto your Poptropican’s head. As of late, the Creators seem to be pretty involved with this project, having many of their characters take on the challenge and hints of the game’s founder, Jeff Kinney, taking it on as well. Of course that remains to be seen, but the card is still pretty cool. 😛

And have you seen my rendition of the challenge? 😀

aslHP

New map icons: PoptropiCon & Land

If you’ve checked the map recently, you’ll know that the PoptropiCon island microcosm has been added (of course it will be released on Thursday), alongside a Land icon that takes you to the feature (and no, the upcoming update has not been added yet).

They added yet another map page to hold these two, with only 6 islands being displayed. A load was obviously taken off of the previous page, but now that page is just proportionally off and only holds 5.

newmap

Revisiting the case of the missing shark

If you’ve been following the PHB for a while, then you’ll know about the Shark Boy mystery that has never really been answered. However, if you think about it, you’ll start to find some similarities between it and other mysteries of Poptropica.

sharkBoySimilar

Monster Carnival island was an old island (a classic) that was never released and was mysteriously taken off the map. For 6 years the mystery was left alone, the Creators hinting at it here and there. One time was different, however – they actually acknowledged that it was gone. (If you don’t know already, it was finally released about 8 months ago)

Not since the introduction of the Costumizer or the removal of the Monster Carnival map icon have we made an update this momentous.

If you compare that to what happened to Shark Boy, it’s pretty similar – even about the Creators acknowledging the disappearance –

The second Island we ever released, way back in 2007, was Shark Tooth Island, which featured the massive Booga Shark, a helpful medicine man, and one very special boy whose name we no longer recall.

So what does this mean? Is Shark Boy going to make a miraculous return? Will we ever find out why he mysteriously vanished? And could this all this be a publicity stunt for something bigger – a new island with Shark Boy as the villain (hey, no one said he was a good guy 😛 )? Tell me what you think in the comments. 😀

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Eww, spooder! 😛

TAFN.

-HPuterpop