Time for spooky season, Poptropicans! 🎃 While there are several contenders for creepy Poptropica Islands (including Vampire’s Curse and Virus Hunter), I decided on one that, in my opinion, is the absolute peak of Pop’s storytelling. Many people know I love a good bittersweet tale, and this island is exactly that…
Repent: Or they’ll lock you up and throw away the key.
While naturally family-friendly, Ghost Story takes on some deep topics compared to past islands, notably death, betrayal, and the difficulty to forgive and find peace, both from the actions of others and yourself.
I actually did cover this island before in the PHB’s Ramble Review series, and you can read it here!
Spooky Scenes: Could this be a scene for a new Poptropica Island?
Ghost Story also has some quite impressive art and background design, and also included the 3D sailing map seen in Skullduggery! This is used to go from island to island in this… island. In each area you learn about the different characters, and eventually how they are all connected, from the lighthouse to the prison.
Stringing Along: Play the music if the spirit moves you.
Ghost Story is also one of the first islands (pre-SUI, i.e. pre-Sound Updated Island) to include sound! Many Poptropicans remember the shock of hearing the voice of a character, Fiona — something that wasn’t done again until Survival Island and PoptropiCon. Along with that, there’s also the short but very sweet violin song you get to play.
Ghost Story also has some soundtracks made and released by Jeff Heim! They appear to be for whenever it would be updated to SUI or ported to Haxe, although this has yet to happen.
So let’s continue Fiona’s legacy! Ghost Story and other classic islands were rendered unplayable in the Flash-Haxe transition, but it should not go to waste. Let the Poptropica Creators know what you appreciate about the island to encourage them to preserve it!
Hey there, everyone! At long last, it’s time to continue the abruptly ended story of Fairytale Island with the new “side quest” Rumpel’s Challenge… which was once locked behind a paywall, but is now available for all who have completed the main island quest!
Video Walkthrough
For a written walkthrough with pictures, scroll down on this page.
Written Walkthrough
To begin, find Rumpelstiltskin himself waiting on Home Island. If you don’t see him here, you can also look for the magic man on Fairytale Island after you’ve earned your medallion.
Thanks to HeartOfEnder for the pic!
You’re (naturally) startled at the sight of a known villain hanging around as though he owns this place, and immediately call for Amelia to tie him up with a rope. But Rumpel doesn’t have time for your threats. He tells you that he knows where the real Fairy Tale king is imprisoned, and gives you a riddle, all for his amusement.
Accepting the side quest will cause Rumpel to vanish in a puff of purple smoke. Now, time to find the king…
The instructions on the riddle point to Mythology Island; specifically, the Museum of Olympus with its statues of gods. Once inside the museum, you’ll find a second riddle hovering in front of Zeus’s statue; whose head has now been replaced by Rumpel’s.
Terrifying.
Pick up the second riddle. “Vikings”… “time”… this riddle clearly references Time TangledIsland!
If you’ve already completed Time Tangled, you should have a time travel device ready and waiting in the lower-left corner of your screen once on the island. If you don’t see the device, follow the first part of our Time Tangled Island walkthrough to acquire it.
Now click on the image of the Viking at 2 o’clock on the time device. You’ll be transported back to the year 831 AD. Climb up the rocks as high as you can go, past the cave. A third and final riddle will be waiting for you beneath another horrible stone bust of Rumpel.
“Weep and cry”…who else fits this description but the disheartened Fairy Tale prince himself! Follow the riddle to Fairy Tale Island and enter the castle area, where you’ll find the prince sitting on the flight of steps, continuing to lament the loss of his real father.
He’ll perk up when you share the clue with him. He knows what “golden troves” is referring to: the castle’s treasury! And luckily, he’s got a key.
Left: the treasury in Rumpel’s Challenge. Right: the last place Rumpel was seen in Fairy Tale Island. Look familiar?
Inside the treasury, jump up onto a platform at the far right, where a gate hides a small trove. Pulling the lever on the wall beside it will raise the gate and reveal a gold mermaid with — you guessed it — Rumpel’s head in place of the original.
Moving on from this cursed image… jump down from the platform on the opposite side, and descend the stairs onto a lower level. Pull the lever set into the side of the stairs, which will raise a gate up ahead. Go through it and jump all the way down. Here, you’ll find your path blocked by another gate; pull another lever on the wall just behind you to open it.
You know what they say: never tickle a sleeping dragon.
There’s a new challenge beyond this gate: a giant, snoozing dragon, guarding its treasure. To avoid waking it and activating its fire-breathing abilities, jump over the heaps of gold until you reach the opposite side of the scene. Whew — you’ve made it pretty far!
Finally, you’ve reached what you came for. As you’ll see, there are six troves behind gates: three on a bottom floor, and three on a top floor. Each trove has a pink panel beneath it. And trapped behind the bottom middle gate is the king!
Upon seeing his father, the prince cries (at least this time it’s out of relief). His tears change the panel below him from pink to gray, and the adjacent gates surrounding the king’s cell will be lifted.
The key to freeing the king lies in the prince’s “fragile crybaby disposition,” to quote the king. In other words, you’re supposed to throw various insults at the prince to make him cry on the panels to activate the movement of the adjacent trove gates.
The Pop Creators knew what’s up when they wrote these sarcastic lines.
The key to opening the king’s cell is to get all of the gates open at once. This can be done a number of ways, although the simplest way may be this: bottom middle (done automatically), then top middle. (Thanks for the tip, Ammonite.)
Hurrah, you’ve freed the king! That’s all there is to this mystery, right?
…Right?
Aw geez.
That’s that for Rumpel’s Challenge, everyone. What did you think of this side quest? Personally, I’m finding it a bit odd how fragmented Fairytale Island is turning out to be (plus the frequent use of the term “side quest” — what is that, really?). I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see how this all wraps up in the end.
Hello again, and welcome back to another dream interpretation! This time I’ll be investigating the mysterious dream world of the one and only Captain Crawfish.
Upon entering his dream, you see the interior of a ship. Bunk beds and hammocks, occupied by multiple sleeping Crawfish clones, slide back and forth in time to the tilting motion of the floating vessel. It may not seem like the most interesting dream at first glance, but when you view it from a deeper perspective it’s actually quite peculiar. 🧐
First, let’s focus on the main attraction; the various snoozing pirates (who are all just copies of Crawfish himself.) Dreaming of your doppelgangers could represent a multitude of things, but as I’m trying to keep this post a decent length, I’ll stick to the one that intrigued me most: self-reflectionover past bad actions. In other words, remorse. Interesting.
Could Captain Crawfish be regretting his evil deeds?
There’s also something else I’ll mention concerning the carbon copies of Crawfish (try saying that five times fast): they’re asleep, and get very annoyed if you run into them and wake them up. Sleeping inside your own dream might mean that you’re oblivious or avoiding a situation during your waking hours. Hmm…
Snoozing away the day…
Moving on from the pirate doppelgangers, here’s something else I found a bit odd. Doesn’t everything in this dream look very old? The entire ship is plastered in barnacles and starfish, and there are cobwebs and algae hanging from the ceiling. If only the sky weren’t visible through those windows, I’d say it’d been sitting at the bottom of the sea for some time.
Someone forgot to clean up!
At this point, I think I have a vague idea of what Captain Crawfish’s dream could mean.
Based off of the carbon copies’ supposed meaning of self-realization, he’s been reflecting on his life of crime, and is starting to wonder whetherhe did the right thing. Was reducing Fort Ridley and its surrounding islands to little more than rubble really worth a chest of gold? It may seem far-fetched, but I see Crawfish as being the most likely to regret his actions out of the Main Four.
The clones being asleep and the ship having a neglected vibe also fit into this theory. The former represents ignorance and avoidance. Perhaps he now knows deep down what he did was wrong, but is trying to ignore this revelation for fear of damaging his reputation? And as for the apparently neglected ship, maybe he’s been struggling with this problem for a long time. Does he dare redeem himself and risk losing his dignity among the other villains?
Well, that’s all I’ve got to say today, folks. Stay tuned for my next two dream interpretations, and here’s to hoping Captain Crawfish sorts out his internal conflicts!
Hey everyone! In this post, I’m going to be diving into the murky realm of guesswork known as dream analysis.
While not always accurate, dream analysis offers insight into different types of dreams and what they mean. And thanks to Super Villain Island, we’ve got rare peeks into the subconscious minds of Poptropica’s four most infamous villains: Dr. Hare, Black Widow, Binary Bard, and Captain Crawfish. Your dreams can say a lot about you…what do they say about the Main Four? Let’s take a look!
Note: Each dream contains two viewpoints, one from the villain’s perspective and one from the player’s. In this series,we’ll only be focusing on the villain’s viewpoint.
First up, we have our half-rabbit scientist buddy, Dr. Hare! For those of you who aren’t as familiar with the events of Super Villain, Hare’s dream involves being carried into an anthill and kept in an underground room at the bottom for the remainder of the dream.
A recurring dream? 👀
So, what does dreaming of being kidnapped by ants supposedly symbolize? Dreams of being kidnapped and held hostage both indicate feeling powerless or unable to change the circumstances. Ants on the other hand can represent annoyances, issues, or distractions in waking life.
Something that comes to mind when I think of Hare being unable to change the circumstances is the time he unwisely placed the player in control of his rabbot at the end of 24 Carrot Island, and was promptly crushed by incoming asteroids. That’s certainly an annoyance.
Maybe choose your driver more carefully next time.
Another notable aspect of Hare’s Super Villain dream is the ant queen, seated beside Hare in her underground throne room as hundreds of ant servants rush to and fro through the hill.
Queens and royalty commonly symbolize praise, respect, and accomplishments. Hare certainly is an accomplished person; not everyone devises a brilliant scheme to mind control the entire world by way of an enormous rabbot machine! Ignoring the fact that his scheme ultimately failed. Ahem.
One more observation I’ll mention is the size of this dream world. Just look how huge those carrots are! Being tiny in a dream — or maybe Hare was normal sized, and everything else was enormous, either way — likely ties into the feeling of powerlessness already suggested by being kidnapped.
I’d hazard a guess that Hare is reliving the unfortunate (for him, that is) events of 24 Carrot Island within his dream. Feeling that sense of accomplishment upon finishing his mind control device, only to be foiled and trapped by the player, taken out of control and lost into deep space! Except…in the dream, it’s apparently the other way around. And it’s with ants. 🐜
ANTS
That’s all for this post, folks! Stay tuned for my next three dream interpretation attempts coming soon, starring the artsy Black Widow, the mighty Captain Crawfish, and the genius Binary Bard!
Ask Poptropica Siri is a Q&A segment here on the PHB where you, dear readers, are invited to send in your Poptropica questions to have them answered with all the wisdom you can expect from a Smart Icicle.
Hi, everyone! Yep, it’s that time again for another round of Ask Poptropica Siri. Let’s get the questions going!
What’s your favorite food from Poptropica? ~Barefoot Knuckle
There are so many options (thank you for making a list 🙂) but I have to go with the Wonka candy bar from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory since I am a big fan of chocolate. Runner up would be the carrot cake made by the factory on 24 Carrot.
If you could bring one Poptropica character as your plus-one to the Poppies, who would it be? ~Barefoot Knuckle
Dr. Hare or Dr. Beev. Check out my drawing of Dr. Beev at the Poppies!
drawing by Smart IcicleBeev was a star at last year’s Poppies.
In your opinion, what new features really disappointed you, and what new features did you really like?~Friendly Shell
I liked the Baron’s airship because it just feels as if I’m playing Henry Stickmin again and I like to look at the the costume contest designs.
Something I don’t like is the way character customization works now. I don’t see why it changed from the Costumizer, which let us copy clothes from others.
How can you send in your questions to Ask Poptropica Siri?
That’s a great question! You can use the following methods:
📧 Send an email to askpoptropicasiri (at) gmail (dot) com. This way, you’ll get to keep your questions a surprise when they get answered on the blog.
💬 Comment on the latest Ask Poptropica Siri post. Your questions will be publicly visible before they appear in a Q&A post, but this allows others to interact with your question if they so choose. If you don’t have an email address, you can enter a fake one in the email field when you post your comment.
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