🏝 Poptropica Help Blog 🗺

Glorious Grapple-Pap to you, Poptropicans! 😄

Today’s the day! You’ve heard us tell you the PHB is throwing a Grapple-Pap Holiday Party this Sat evening at 8 pm Eastern, but there’s more: it’s now Poptropica approved!

Just a day ago, the Pop Creators’ Blog gave a little shout-out for our event, complete with a “See y’all there.” Sounds like they might be joining us! Don’t miss your chance to party with a Pop Creator — be sure to pop in for some games at the Arcade tonight! 🕹

Speaking of Grapple-Pap, Poptropica also released an official playthrough video of the Grapple-Gift event that’ll be here for the rest of the month. For something to pair it with, try our Grapple-Gift Guide!

Also on the Creators’ Blog is a post highlighting some fan creations from TikTok and Instagram. From TikTok, we’ve got a ceramic PoptropiCon soda bottle by @poptropisland, a vivid art piece by @romogogo, voiced sketches by @jackoluckisntnormal, and older kids @_carleyjo, @cassidyjuster, and @nikotomc looking to Poptropica as a distraction from school finals. Click the names or visit the Pop blog to watch! 🎥👀

And from Instagram, the Creators featured another batch of fantastic fan art, including a few from the PHB’s Lucky Joker (@howdyitslj)! By the way, you can also find his PHB team pic on our About page, and the names of every OG contestant in our Reality TV Island Guide.

Other art featured on the Creators’ Blog are @happyclonetrooper’s 2021 art summary, @bunnies_n_bowties’ sunset portrait of a Poptropica sky, and Sleepy Biker’s drawings of iconic characters wearing merch from Poptropica’s Zazzle shop. Cute!

By the way, there’s more art featured on Pop’s Instagram stories too, including a couple of the above! In addition, there’s a reminder for the ticking deadline of this month’s costume contest, which closes this Sunday, Dec 19 at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific.

That wraps up this Grapple-Gift of fan-made talents! Be sure to pop by tonight on Discord and Poptropica’s Arcade (through the in-game menu) for our Grapple-Pap Party. See you there!

~🐠

Creators' Blog Guest Posts, Goofball Island, Sneak Peeks

Bosko or Baron, they’ll Bee there 🐝

December 17, 2021December 17, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, buzz in for a sneak peek, special tips to know, and a mini review of the year!

The Pop Creators’ Blog recently revealed that the story of Goofball Island isn’t over — a sequel side quest is on its way, and it involves this Bee Bot! 🐝🤖 The drawing might be dull in color, but could it turn out goofy?

What do you think this little critter could bee for? Whatever it is, stay tuned for more details about the upcoming adventure! No word yet on whether it will be for members or for all, but at least it’s nice to see this behind-the-scenes sketch.

Speaking of Goofball Island, the endings have been updated to include Bosko! Whether you pick a goofy, bland, or balanced outcome, our favorite furry monster will be there to crack his odd jokes. (Thanks to Incredible Flame for the tip!)

By the way, the Baron might’ve disappeared from the skies earlier this week, but you can still access her airship through your messages in the menu. Be sure to catch her Grapple-Pap gear while it’s here! (Thanks again to Incredible Flame for the tip!)

Last but not least, guest writer Invisible Ring is back with another post on the Creators’ Blog, bringing along a cameraman to report on the past year’s developments in Poptropica. From new islands to side quests, features, and multiplayer content, she notes that Poptropica met their promises for 2021, albeit with some mixed reviews in some areas.

On that note, keep an eye out for the PHB’s 2021 Rewind, coming out just before the new year! We’ll be taking an even deeper dive into this past year’s releases, both from the Creators and the fandom. To go even further, browse through our Pop Yearbook of past years in Poptropica.

See you at the PHB’s Grapple-Pap party this weekend, Poptropicans. Bee there or bee square! ☃️ 🐝

~🐠

Fanfiction, Guest Posts

Poptropica Fanfic: What Really Happened to Balloon Boy 🎈

December 17, 2021June 15, 2022 Slanted Fish

This is a guest post by Silver Shell. Enjoy!

Howdy, Poptropicans! Today’s topic is all about Balloon Boy, and how he became a floating Pop icon. Let’s get right into it!

Back in Poptropica’s earlier days, there was a teenage player. His screen name was Green Flyer. He happened to be a glitcher, and decided to see what happened if he took the balloon from Bobo’s Clown Store up and over to the aircraft graveyard of Early Poptropica Island to see what the purple giant’s face looked like, since all anyone knew was his feet.

So Green Flyer took a balloon — a nice green one — and got it from Counterfeit Island to Early Poptropica. He jumped as high as he could, going much higher than the game intended players to go. Now, this glitch had never been tried before, so as anyone can imagine, there were going to be problems. The creators had programmed it to only show the giant’s feet, and this was defying their programming. The glitcher was trying to do something that couldn’t be glitched.

Unsurprisingly, the “clever” glitch failed. Green Flyer’s screen froze and wouldn’t come back on. He informed the creators about it, but there wasn’t much that could be done. The glitch, thought to be helpful, turned out to be a huge bug.

All the creators could do to make sure that Green Flyer would be able to play Poptropica again would be to delete his account. Not having much of a choice, he agreed and had to start from scratch.

Later on, the creators began to think, “Hey, that was a pretty interesting situation there. What a great chance to make a new Pop icon!!” So the creators built Green Flyer’s character into Counterfeit (which at the time was not yet out to everyone) along with a mother character. In the quest, they had the player help him by giving him a green balloon, which he’d take and fly away with. This character also never came down (yet!), just like how in real life, the bug couldn’t be fixed and the teenager couldn’t get his avatar back online.

The Pop community found this NPC cool as well, and used him often when trying to represent Pop. As hoped, he became an important and popular symbol of the game, competing with Dr Hare. However, after a while, people forgot about the name Green Flyer and started referring to him as Balloon Boy.

And that, my Pop friends, is one story of how our beloved Balloon Boy came to be. Thanks for reading as always!

Pop Nonstop,
🥈🐚

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Silver Shell. If you did, you might also like another one of hers: Pop-TROPE-ica: Inter-Island Connections.

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!

Fan Art Features, Mini Quests

Grappling with Grapple-Pap 🎁❄️

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021 Slanted Fish

Grab on for a happy Grapple-Pap, Poptropicans!

For the second year of this Poptropica winter holiday, the Grapple-Gift Side Quest has returned. It’s exactly like last year’s — heart attacks, Grapple-Pops and all. Get the gist in our Grapple-Gift Guide! 🎁

Talk to the old man outside Adventure Outfitters to set off on the snowy village. While you’re on Home Island, you might also notice Bosko with a car in repair calling you to Goofball Island, as well as the fact that the Baron has taken off without so much as a goodbye.

So anyway, what exactly is Grapple-Pap? The side quest reveals it’s both a holiday and a scary creature, with the legend: “If you don’t spread cheer to all who are near, Grapple-Pap will get you for one whole year!”

The Creators’ Blog also shares, “the ideas behind Grapple-Pap are based in other cultures’ celebrations.” We see Christmas garlands, Krampus on pillars, and Scandinavian attire and architecture (similar to Disney’s Frozen). What else does Grapple-Pap remind you of?

Poptropica’s Instagram story also continues the Grapple-Pap hype with a pop quiz (and hello, Club Penguin dance!). Plus it’s a good thing we all have our blimps, or happyclonetrooper’s latest meme might have brought on the wrath of Grapple-Pap. 😈

Speaking of cheer-spreading season, the PHB is hosting a Grapple-Pap Party this Saturday, Dec 18 at 8 pm Eastern / 5 pm Pacific! We’ll be hanging out in Poptropica’s Arcade and on our PHC Discord server (watch out for snowballs). Come out for a chill time! 🎄🎊☃️

~🐠

Fan Art Features, Member Gifts, Store

Frosty Fashion with your Friendly Following Fox ❄️🦊

December 14, 2021December 14, 2021 Gentle Dolphin

Hello, you pretty Poptropicans! The Creators just revealed a new winter outfit as well as the last member gift of 2021. Let’s check them out!

Adventure Outfitter’s latest ensemble is the Cool Flake outfit, a curly afro and a cozy hoodie with an icy snowflake graphic. Members can purchase this chill look for 250 credits.

This new outfit is cool and all, but let’s not forget about AO’s new holiday layout. There’s plenty of festive fashion and furniture to get you in the spirit of the season! You can read LJ’s post for more details about these limited-time items.

🎶 On the twelfth day of member gifts, the Creators gave to us… one Arctic Fox Follower~ 🎶

Musical reference aside, this last gift is a cute companion any member should like to join them on their virtual adventures. If you want any of this month’s member gifts for yourself, you can purchase a Poptropica membership and log in at any point this December to have them automatically added to your inventory.

Pair Arctic Fox Follower with White Fox Mug for best and cutest results

We have one new story feature today. Instagram user brittscarlet1 designed an outfit for December’s costume contest: a casual hoodie based on Binary Bard from Astro-Knights Island. It has a similar vibe to the Dr. Hare Fan outfit, which won last month’s costume contest. Imagine fans creating a whole line of casual fashion inspired by Pop’s most iconic villains. I’d pay to see that.

“Casual Binary Bard Costume” by brittscarlet1

Before I sign off, reminder that the PHB is hosting a Grapple-Pap holiday party on the PHC Discord server this Saturday, December 18th @ 8 pm Eastern / 5 pm Pacific. Come join us for common room games, Discord chats, and holiday shenanigans. We hope to see you there!