As we wrap up the month, we’re taking a dive into some of our favorite clips from the 2021 playlist. Sit back, pop the corn, and enjoy! 🍿🎬
Our first feature comes from our Pop Month hosts, the Dimension Bros. As an analogy for the state of Poptropica in 2021, this 3-minute skit tells the story of a hungry diner customer waiting for his Old Island order, only to be fed excuses instead of dinner. 🍽 The whole act is performed solo by Isaac, and the tale is highly resonant. Props! 👏
The next feature comes from the other half of the Dimension Bros — in this one, Theo sits down with his mother and has her guess the names of various Poptropica characters. She’s pretty inventive — doesn’t “Teresa Moonbeam” sound just like a classic Poptropica moniker? 😜🌙
Invisible Ring appears to be the biggest participant of the Pop Month playlist, with many of her videos being ones we’ve shared for her dream island, Megatropolis. But among her other videos is a mini movie filmed in-game in the style of Perfect Sky, a Pop pirate adventure just in time for Talk Like a Pirate Day. So many islands to explore! 🏴☠️
A different take on Poptropica explorers, this epic cinematic trailer from LostLucas dramatizes his Popsona, Lone Clown, by juxtaposing shots of gameplay with sensational narration about this never-smiling character. Critics are wary — but we’re intrigued. 🤔
Speaking of cinematic, have you ever imagined adapting Poptropica islands into movies? CatfishFour does just that in this vlog, conjuring up ideas for potential audio, lighting, plot, genre, character development, and other considerations for the big screen. Picture Escape From Pelican Rock as a comedic, artistic Wes Anderson film — what a concept! 👮🎬
That wraps up the PHB’s picks for Poptropica Month 2021! You can find more in the Pop Month playlist, but keep in mind that some of its content is for ages 13+. For more kid-friendly choices, the Pop Creators’ Blog also featured a few fan vids this month.
We hope you enjoyed the clips above and all the other festivities for Poptropica’s 14th birthday this month! It’s amazing how creative the Pop community can be. Keep on popping on! 🥳
Hey Poptropicans! We’ve got fan art galore in this post with costume creations, memes, and more featured by the Pop Creators. Let’s go!
First up, Poptropica has posted the monthly compilation video of entries for the costume design contest. With the theme of Red October, you just might find your bones tingling from the early Halloween vibes.
UPDATE: A day after this PHB post, the Pop Creators quietly replaced the video with a new version (shown above), taking into account the concerns we addressed (shown below). While the old video is now unavailable, the new one credits IG artists and removes an offending username. They thought they could be sneaky in not announcing the change, but we noticed! Still, props for doing the right thing.
The PHB’s comments before the change:While the costumes are undoubtedly spooktacular, we did make a couple of chilling observations in the vid: 1) the questionable attribution of “via IG” for various entries from Instagram that do not properly credit their artists, and 2) the inclusion of a watermark from a username with profanity that the Pop Creators previously featured on their IG story.
From these observations, perhaps the Pop Creators only want to credit people by their Poptropican name (although they don’t mind keeping in any watermarks that appear on images, even the aforementioned iffy name). Still, not every IG user put a watermark on their pic, which means that some in the video have gone uncredited. (Tips for Pop: take the extra step to give credit where it’s due, even if it’s not a Pop name, and maybe not at all if it’s vulgar. It matters!)
Beyond these oddities, they also haven’t yet announced the six winners promised whose costumes will be created for the game. While we wait, I figured I’d share some of my own personal picks:
Dryad Fan by Red Panda
Pumpkin Punk by Gentle Dolphin
Will-O’-Wisp by Sleepy Biker
Zombie Nerd by Cheerful Boot
Gem Enthusiast by Red Toes
The Lurking Witch by Brave Cheetah
Lil Ghost by Red Panda
Autumn Leaves by Little Lizard
Besides the costumes, fan artists have been busy making drawings and even videos for the fan-run Poptropica Month. The Pop Creators’ Blog recently featured several pieces starring Amelia, the Baron, and MVB:
Amelia with Pop’s 14th birthday cake by Sleepy Biker
Amelia & Baron as Mario & Luigi by Sleepy Biker
Red Baron discovers Amelia’s love of unicorns by Friendly Feather
Meme by Red Toes
In addition to these pics, they also featured a few videos, all of which were posted this month for the fan-hosted Poptropica Month 2021 playlist! Here’s one from iHateFridays (aka Magic Snowball) doodling while describing their personal experiences with Pop:
And here’s one from TheOrangeHelium taking various online quizzes to test her Poptropica knowledge. (Hey, look at Pop crediting fan creators by their non-Pop usernames on social media. It’s not that hard!)
Finally, the Pop Creators also highlighted a sneak peek of a storyline told in comics from Invisible Ring. For the record, you can read (and watch) all about her dream island, Megatropolis, here on the PHB!
That concludes this post! Stay tuned to find out which costumes the Baron will be bringing in her next visit, and enjoy the plentiful productions from both players and Pop Creators throughout the game’s birthday month. Keep on popping on, Poptropicans! ✌️
Hey Poptropicans! The forecast for this post seems to be showing a perfect sky—oh, but wait, it’s looking spooky later on—and with a side of something sticky? Hmm… let’s just pop in and see what’s up!
Some Poptropicans may know Perfect Sky — a Poptropica fan movie creator on YouTube who later became a PHB staff writer. She’s no longer active in the fandom, but her legacy recently resurfaced on the Pop Creators’ Blog in a guest post from Invisible Ring.
All this Poptropica video conviviality is just perfect timing with the backdrop of Poptropica Month, the month-long fan-run event of creating videos inspired by the game. We’re a little under halfway through September and the Pop Month 2021 playlist already has tons of videos to enjoy. Take some time this weekend to check ’em out and maybe even make your own. The sky’s the limit!
While we’re looking up at the skies, don’t forget the Red Baron is looking around for entries to her Red October Halloween costume design contest! To get your spooky senses flowing, the Creators’ Blog featured several enchanting entries they’ve received so far:
by Pink Singer
“Hungry Kung Fu Warrior” by Shiny Fang
“Flashy Werewolf” by Neat Gamer
“The Invisible Man” by Gentle Carrot
“The Tragic Puppet” by Smart Sinker
Remember, the deadline for this month’s contest is the coming Tuesday, Sept 14 at 8 pm PST, and there will be not one, but SIX winners who’ll get their costumes in the game! Be sure to read all the details on the official blog and submit your creation(s) through Pop’s submissions portal. Poptropicans, dare to dream! 💭✏️
There’s more art to be inspired by over on Instagram! Poptropica’s latest stories include chaotic villain doodles, an infographic from a podcast about Hong Kong life (shoutout to my hometown!), and even a new TikTok about computer lab days (with a nostalgic Black Eyed Peas beat).
Speaking of TikTok, looks like Pop’s going viral — their latest video thanks viewers for 1,500+ followers, and at the time of this writing, they’re already up to 2,800+ followers. That’s a pretty huge leap from just two days ago when they were still at 700+ followers, and perhaps the big boost is owed to their recent TikTok about changing hair on 24 Carrot Island paired with a “good soup” line from Marvel. That video, which is currently their most played, was at 200K+ plays a couple days ago, and now the clip is at almost 500K. Well played, Poptropica! 👏👏
Wrapping up this post is a quick mention for another guest post on the Creators’ Blog from yours truly — a Poptropica sticker haul! (You might’ve seen it here on the PHB, too.) Wherever you prefer to read this little merch review, I hope the Poptropica joy sticks with you. ✨💙
Thanks for popping by, and stay awesome, Poptropicans! ✌️
Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Invisible Ring. Enjoy!
Hey there, Poptropicans! It’s been a while, but I think I am ready to showcase my dream island!
Maybe a few of you already know a thing or two about my dream island from my backwater YouTube channel, or from the Poppies 2021 nominations. My original submission to Poptropica’s 2020 Dream Island Contest is found in this little video right here:
…It was the rush job of a lifetime. All those pages on the video were burned through in the last three weeks of the contest… during finals at the end of the school semester… while trying to make daily holiday advent videos at the SAME TIME!! …Although I was proud of what I made at the time, I almost lost my mind doing it!
The contest came and went, and although this island didn’t win, I’m glad it didn’t, because it gave me the chance to finish what I started. From the beginning of January 2021 all the way to the end of May, I fine-tuned my quest and completed my dream island once and for all. The last thing I did was compile my whole island story into new YouTube videos.
I’m much happier with these videos than I was with that old submission video. (I can’t even look at what’s in the old submission video anymore!) Anyway, enjoy Megatropolis Island told through comic panels in this trailer, five chapters, and even a bonus:
So, my dream island is complete at last, and I think it’s gonna blow your mind. But if you don’t have time to view it now, feel free to subscribe to my channel and check out my dream island comic videos (and any of my other videos) anytime you like!
Please let me know what you think of my dream island, either in this PHB comment section or in the comment sections of my videos! Thank you, and Pop to you later!
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! 📰✨
Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Theo’s Ghost. Enjoy!
Hello again PHB readers! Whether you’re still enjoying summer break, going back to school, or don’t have a school to go back to, I hope you’re having a great August!
This August at the Dimension Bros YouTube channel, Isaac and I are taking a short break from making videos. Fear not, because we’re returning next month, and this time we want you to join us!
Next month, for Poptropica’s birthday in September, fans are celebrating is Poptropica Month. The video above explains it all, but the gist is that during September, Poptropica fans are invited to upload their own Poptropica YouTube videos for our Pop Month 2021 playlist!
Now the point of this guest blog isn’t just to advertise the project (we already did that last year). Most people’s Pop Month videos last year were their first time uploading to YouTube, so I thought I’d give some video-making advice to the next generation of Pop Month participants. Hopefully, it might give you a bit of confidence!
Note: This event is typically for ages 13+, but you are younger than 13, you can have an older sibling or parent/guardian submit your video for you.
1. 🤔 Coming Up With Ideas
You might know everything there is to know about filming, editing, and uploading, but all of that knowledge is useless if you can’t come up with an idea for what to make! Coming up with a good video idea can be tricky, but luckily you have all the inspiration you need with the Poptropica Month 2020 playlist.
There’s a lot more possibility than a Thinknoodles-esque walkthrough — anything can be a Poptropica video! If you make digital art, you can do a speedpaint! If you have a clubhouse, you can give us a video tour! If you just like playing the game, you can make a gaming video! And if you still can’t think of a good idea, maybe try asking others for ideas. Some of our favorite Dimension Bros videos were ideas we got from other people’s suggestions, so it doesn’t hurt to ask.
A Poptropica speedpaint fan video
2. 🎬 Recording Your Video
The most exciting part of making a video is filming it! And believe it or not, this is probably the easiest step once you have your video plan thought-out and ready to go.
The tricky part can be determining what hardware and software to use for your video, but we’ve got you covered here:
For IRL videos, just use your phone/tablet/computer camera. Most cameras built into devices are pretty good quality. You don’t need to go get a new special video camera.
For gameplayvideos, OBS Studio is a great screen recording software (that can also be used for streaming). It’s completely free and there are plenty of tutorials online on getting it set up.
For videos with voiceover, a good software to use is Audacity, as it lets you really edit your audio to where you’re happiest with it. And if you have a Mac, QuickTime Player (which is already on your system) does audio recordings as well.
A Poptropica fan video with voiceover
3. 🎥 Editing Your Video
This is the part of the process that can make or break your video. Editing is not as simple as the previous two steps, but it’s just as important. Unless you filmed your entire video in one perfect take, some editing will be required for your video.
Our officially endorsed editing software at Dimension Bros is iMovie for Apple devices. Every single DB video was edited with iMovie, and it hasn’t steered us wrong yet! If you have an iPhone, iPad, or any type of Mac computer, iMovie is completely free and might even already be installed. It’s fairly easy to learn, and it can help you make some great videos!
If you don’t have a device that can use iMovie, a bit of internet research can point you to some free video editing software.
Final Cut: Edit or forget it.
4. ⬆️ Uploading Your Video
The home stretch! Uploading your video can be an excruciating task, as you just want it to be out in the world already!!!
As for giving your video a title and a thumbnail, that’s totally your call on what you think is best for the video. But there are a couple parts the uploading process worth noting if you’re participating in Pop Month.
First, when uploading to YouTube, do not set your video as “made for kids,” even if your video is kid-friendly. Videos that are marked “made for kids” can’t be added to playlists, so if you want to officially be a part of the Pop Month collab, your video cannot be set as “made for kids.”
Second, don’t forget to set the category of the video as “Gaming > Poptropica”! Even if your video isn’t of you playing Poptropica, it’s still a video about the game, and using the right category helps make your video easier for other Poptropicans to find.
Other than these two things, everything else is your choice, like the title, the thumbnail image, or whether or not you allow comments. It’s your video after all!
Now if all of that seems daunting, worry not. There is another way to participate in Poptropica Month besides making a full YouTube video, and that’s Instagram! Throughout September, we’ll be compiling all your different Poptropica Instagram posts, so that at the end of the month we can make a slideshow of all your works to put on YouTube.
To join, just post something to Instagram about Poptropica this September, tag the DB Instagram account (@dimension_bros), and use #PoptropicaMonth. Simple as that! We’ll be sharing every Pop Month post to our Instagram story, and saving all of them in a highlight reel, so follow us if you want to keep track of Poptropica Month posts.
So that’s about it! Poptropica Month 2021 is less than two weeks away, and we’re looking forward to seeing what videos/posts come out this year!
We have some exciting stuff planned for Dimension Bros videos, but we’re sure some of you have exciting stuff of your own planned too. And to those not participating, enjoy all of the Poptropica content coming your way this September!
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! 📰✨
