Hey Poptropicans, get ready for more Goofball spirit!
The Poptropica Creators released their own official guides for Goofball Island this past week, both a written walkthrough and a video (below). But if you can’t get enough, the PHB’s also got our own Goofball Island Guide right here, with fun facts you may have missed! ✨
Flying in with Mary Poppins’ “winds in the east,” Poptropica also released a short on TikTok and YouTube to hype up the latest island:
And there’s more on Pop’s TikTok! This new clip pairs the idea of Poptropica “back in the day” with a caption that claims they’re “still releasing new (and old!) islands.” Sooo… are more old islands on the horizon? Time will tell.
Also on TikTok is a clip celebrating the weird physics of Poptropica parkour, paired with screaming from a scene from The Office. Now that’s some Pop core.
There are more Goofball goodies coming from the fandom! The Creators’ Blog featured several pieces of fan art inspired by the new island. Goes great with this month’s theme for the PHB’s Community Creations, which is—you guessed it—Goofball!
Beyond Goofball, Poptropicans’ fan art lately also features classic characters like Ringmaster Raven and Dr. Hare. Check out some recent ones from Poptropica’s Instagram stories:
Happy Grapple-Pap, everyone! It’s time to celebrate Poptropica’s latest holiday tradition! Home Island is now a winter wonderland decked with colorful lights and crates, and the Baron is here with Grapple gear to spread some holiday cheer! ☃️❄️
The Baron’s Cabin of Curiosities is stocked with holiday décor and costumes galore! On your right, you’ll find some Grapple-Pap goodies such asa Grapple totem (150 credits), a stained glass chandelier (150 credits), a mistletoe garland (50 credits), a Grapple bust statue (150 credits), and a traditional Grapple-Garb outfit (50 credits).
Among these Grapple goods, you’ll find the three winning costumes from last month’s poll: Love Potion Demon, Ice Cream Cat, and Movie Geek. If you missed these costumes the first time around, now is your chance to get them for free! 💗🍨🍿
On your left, you’ll find Maroon Moon’s Dr. Hare outfit, the winning design of November’s costume contest. All players can sport this casual look inspired by Poptropica’s most iconic villain forfree! 🐰🥕 The Baron can’t help highlighting her generosity if you talk to her.
Now that this hare-raising look is available in-game, the Pop Creators finally posted a video showcase of November’s costume contest entries.
Among last month’s submissions are awe-inspiring animals, Christmas costumes, and… Rick Astley. Now that’s one that’ll never let us down. Anyway, here are my favorite entries from this reel:
“Bollenhut Creature” by Silver Lion“Warrior Hero” by Quiet Hero“Magical Girl” by Friendly Feather“Jellyfish Costume” by Purple Paw“Christmas Tree” by Spotted Seal“Rick Astley” by Grey Wolf
By the way, ask the Baron where her Grapple-wares are from, and she’ll mention a place we’ve never heard of: Kraghorn Island. The Baron says it’s not on our map, but might there be a future adventure there like the Baron’s Crusade? Maybe she’ll take us sometime; we’ll see!
In contrast to the Baron’s festive findings, Amelia added two spooky costumes to the Adventure Outfitters gallery: the bewitching Wicked Wizard outfit and the members-only Dark Wizard outfit. While these villainous vestments appear new to newer players, they actually debuted back in November 2019 during Home Island’s wizard makeover. New or not, both of these bewitching looks cost 350 credits.
Along with celebrating Grapple-Pap, members can celebrate the 12 Days of Member Gifts. On the first day, they received winter garland, snow globe, anddeerdecorations to deck their clubhouse halls. Then, on the second day, they received violet, gray, and blue beanies to keep their detachable heads warm.
Day 3’s gifts aren’t here at the time of writing this post, but a strange development occurred. While I was on Poptropica today, I discovered that Day 1’s member gifts disappeared from my inventory. It turns out that these initially free decorations can now be purchased from the clubhouse store for 100 credits each. What’s the reason for this happening?
To end off this extensive holiday post, we have a new ad for the Disney Channel original movie “Christmas… Again?!” Watching the short ad gifts you two prizes with special spacebar actions. You can ride around and rev your engine in Ro’s Race Car, then summon a snowstorm, err, flurry with the Mall Santa Suit. 🏎️🎅
This was a lot to cover, and there’s always more news popping into our feeds. Stay tuned to the Poptropica Help Blog for all the latest Poptropica news and more!
Hello once again everyone! Spotted Dragon here bringing you the November recap for Community Creations! November’s theme was Sweet & Sour, so be sure to check out all the featured artists (not in any order)!
Some sugary soda-POP sure suits our sweet theme! I love the bright colors in this work and attention to detail, like the blimp in the background and the Dr. Hare energy drink. You think Speeding Spike would be into that sort of beverage? Sounds like quite the sugar-rush. Super cute character design too! Find their Instagram here.
Pop/Froot: Lemon by Criaha
Any MARINA fans out there? Criaha pairs Poptropica villains with fruit inspired by the song/album Froot in this series. This is a super creative mashup and shows excellent craftsmanship. The lighting just blows me away! And the sour art thief known as Black Widow somehow feels like a perfect fit for a lemon. Find her Instagram here.
Sweet Tooth Dr. Gramston by LeggyBug!
If you haven’t played the new Goofball Island yet, I think that this is your sign to go do so. Though we usually see Dr. Blandston Detective Gram in a fully Black and White, bland get-up, this “candified” version of the character sure is sweet. And fitting for the design of, well, half the island of course! I love all the colors in this work, the sugar texture on the clothes, and just how much energy it has! Find the artist on Discord and in the comments.
Nervous Star & Blueberry Cake by Bunnies_N_Bowties
Man, things just keep getting sweeter! This cute little Poptropican next to the huge, delicious looking dessert is just adorable. The coloring is fantastic and the line art is wonderfully soft. And the mood of everything is so joyful. Excellent design! I just want to dig in! Find her Instagram here.
Candy Crazed by _smart_spinner
Speaking of sweet things, this Candy Crazed inspired art is certainly right on the nose of this month’s theme. The intensely bright and shiny colors of this work definitely capture the, well, crazy vibe of the mini-game. I especially love the sparkles around the wand that add to the magical setting. Well done! Find their Instagram here.
Honorable Mentions
Fruitcake by pinklightningmc
I’m gonna be honest guys, I think I’m going into a candy-coma after this month’s submissions. They were sweet, sweet, sweet! And, of course, with just a dash of sour. Keep up the great work as always! 🍬🍭🍋
December: How Do I Participate?
Community Creations is a cool series for anyone in the Poptropica community to join in on. To sum up what it’s about, it’s basically a chance to show off your artwork, creepy fan-fics, Pop clubhouses, costumes, and anything else that pops into your mind.
If we really like the piece you submit, we will feature it here on the PHB! As long as it relates to that month’s theme. So what is December’s theme? December’s theme is…
🕵️♂️ Goofball! 🤪
Well, this theme is no surprise, right? With the recent release of Goofball Island, the fan art is already pouring in. And whether you’re a fan of the goofy side, the bland side, or somewhere in between, there’s undoubtedly some inspiration to be drawn from this new adventure. Try checking out our review of the island too.
Maybe draw some art of your favorite goofy and bland characters, or create a goofy or bland outfit for your own Poptropican! Or even goof-ify or bland-ify other beloved Poptropica characters? Maybe, in the spirit of December, write up a story of what holidays are like on Goofball Island. It’s all up to you!
Submit: Comment below with a link to whatever you’ve created, email it to the PHB team on our Contact page, OR share it with me (SydVC aka Spotted Dragon) on DeviantArt, Twitter, or Discord.
Results: Next month, I will feature 5 submissions that stood out to me the most as well as some honorable mentions.
Limitations: Just make sure you relate to both the theme and Poptropica (and nothing NSFW or otherwise inappropriate).
Due Date: I will take any entries before the end of this month. Submit as many things as you’d like!
I will be sure to let you know I have seen your creation. While quality counts, I’m mainly looking for something to simply catch my eye, so don’t be afraid to join in!
So what are you waiting for? Go make something awesome!
Centering on a weird and whimsical town that’s being “bland-ified” by the dull Dr. Blandston, this island is bursting with unique characters, fun art and soundtracks, and a story full of shocking plot twists that we haven’t fully deciphered yet. We’ve got tons to cover, so let’s dive in!
Beware: spoilers lie ahead!
Storyline & Characters
Goofball Island was particularly impressive in terms of its story. The plot was complex, thought-provoking (so Detective Gram/Dr. Gramston was the original Blandston and… turned people productive and soulless?), and even offered numerous new concepts we’ve never before seen in Poptropica, the most notable being multiple endings (more on that later) and the player being an antagonist.
Some might wonder if this story, with its performance-enhancing crystals and over-the-top lifestyles one way or another, could be a metaphor for something: Growing up? Neurodivergence? Drugs? Dreams? Whatever your interpretation, that’s the beauty of story — through it you can experience anew.
The plot does get a tad confusing towards the end, though. As soon as you emerge from the flashback revealing that you were a Blandston, the mayor makes you decide the island’s fate, leaving no time for further explanations. Still, with twists and turns throughout the tale, the story was engaging and overall well done.
Also noteworthy is how both the bland and the goofy side are portrayed as relatively neutral, something you don’t see very often in media. While the bland and goofy people don’t seem to understand each other well, they at least live together peacefully — even to the point of goofy Mayor Naise hiring a bland detective to investigate the case.
Lucky Joker: “Do you not see who you’re talking to?”
It was also fascinating to learn about the origins of Goofball Island in City Hall, particularly through Jumpy Spinner’s woke commentary. Who knew that the goofiness it was named for wasn’t there from the start? Then, like a parallel to real-world colonialism, there’s the acknowledgement that even though Xavier “discovered” the island and coined its current name, Native Poptropicans had inhabited the island for some 1000 years previously. Represent!
Speaking of Jumpy Spinner, Goofball Island is full of intriguing characters, even when they’re being bland. In the land of grayscale, we have the City Hall lady breaking the record for longest monologue in Poptropica, the baker who regulates your consumption of carbs, and Regular Dan, who somehow hasn’t gotten kicked out of the Crazy Club. And on the flip side on Goofside, we have to mention the tree dude in City Hall, the lovable Bosko, and nearly all of the Crazy Club. Among them, it was interesting to see animals counted as island citizens and people dressing up like animals (furry gang, anyone?).
Gameplay
With items to collect and interactive elements to explore, playing Goofball Island felt almost like the experience of the old islands, albeit shorter and with the newer Haxe pop-up graphics. While the quest was fairly straightforward, there were still a few moments of slight challenge, but nothing really difficult. Cutscenes interspersed helped propel the story especially in unexpected moments (rip goofy Bosko), yet for the most part, the player had a decent amount of agency in where to go and who to talk to.
Moments of choice are what really stand out in Goofball’s gameplay. Inside the Dreary Building, for example, you can choose to take either the stairs (and annoy people behind locked doors) or elevator (which turns out to be the slow way) to get up to Detective Gram’s office. Just for amusement, you can also play around with the food at Fry’s Fried Freds (and even the Dusty Crust Bakery, to a much duller extent). And of course, at the very end, you get to decide the fate of the island: will it be all bland, goofy, or a balance of both?
Of the endings, the two extremes are fun to experiment with, and the choice offers an incentive to replay the island to discover the alternate endings (or you can see them here in our guide).
But the balanced ending looks almost exactly like the island did from the beginning, just with a pop more color. For this ending which may have felt more “right” as it allows both types of personalities to coexist, the lack of newness leaves something to be desired and seems to erase our hard work of getting to the bottom of things. After all, weren’t the citizens of Goofball Island thriving in their goofy selves before “Dr. Blandston” appeared?
What if we got to see more characters switch between their two forms, goofy and bland? Maybe the use of crystals could be regulated like a medicine prescription? At any rate, it would have been interesting to see more change in the balanced ending, to reflect all that we’d gone through and the newfound knowledge of the crystals.
Audio & Visuals
One of the coolest parts of Goofball Island has got to be its music, reflecting both sides of the island by the pomp of a marching band (goofy) and the vibe of a classic silent film complete with record noise (bland). In an impressive first for Poptropica, the soundtrack shifts as you move around in a scene, with vibrant brass instruments that get louder when you’re on Goofside, coupled with the jazzy piano when you’re in Dullsville. We wish the bop at the Crazy Club could have brought on more energy, though!
Goofball Island is visually striking as well, with the contrast between the island’s two sides emphasized through color (or lack of it), in both scenery and characters. The boisterous and bright Goofside could not be more different from the black-and-white Dullsville (plus, props for the film noir art style with the white static floating around!).
We also can’t miss mentioning Bobby Bill’s shocking dance moves — not only are they confirmation of Poptropicans’ heads being detachable, but they can be spun around and even dribbled like a basketball with seemingly no repercussions! Fun seeing a new side of the whole Poptropicans-without-necks phenomenon that’s sure to generate some wild fantheories.
Verdict
With a mix of contrasting worlds, fun personalities, and intriguing mysteries, Goofball Island definitely feels like the first real Poptropica island in a long time. All things balanced, out of five we’d give Goofball…
4 out of 5 chubby thumbprints. While this at-times rambunctious island carries with it all sorts of fun (even when it’s serious), the villain showdown at the end may leave players confused about what just happened. Still, with a considerably longer tale to unfold, Goofball’s storytelling was a marked improvement from Fairytale and the other strings of side-quests we’ve had lately. Good stuff, Goofball!
There’s so much more to unpack — head over to the trivia section of our Goofball Island Guide to see what other details you may have missed!
That’s 2 for 3 Dream Islands this year! We’re looking forward to the last and hopefully not least, Secret of the Jade Scarab, possibly in 2022.
Thanks for reading our review of Goofball Island! Do you agree with our verdict? Share your opinions in the comments below!
Hello again, Poptropicans! It’s Silver Shell, back again for another Pop-TROPE-ica post. Similar to my last one about time travel, this post is about how Poptropica rarely sends us to the same place twice.
I can’t even make a list for this one. Every single Poptropica island has its own unique setting (unless you count remakes such as the new Mythology Island or episodic islands, like Survival, or the time you go to Early Poptropica to complete the quest from Counterfeit).
Although each island always seems to be set in different places, there are times when we find Easter Eggs on an island that reminds us of another place on the map. For example, in the Baron’s Crusade mini-quest, we see the cove from the Pirate Outpost on Skullduggery Island.
Secret island – Baron’s CrusadePirate Outpost – Skullduggery Island
Islands also contain references to items or brands from other islands. There are quite a few on PoptropiCon, such as the back of a sign for Queequeg’s Coffeehouse which first appeared in Back Lot Island, or the guy eating pizza puffs outside Pepe’s stand, who’s wearing the goblin hat from Twisted Thicket.
However, there are some mysteries about whether or not certain islands take place in the same setting. For example, both Skullduggery and Shark Tooth have a part where you sail or swim through the ocean, but on the Poptropica map, there is only one large ocean containing all the islands (Pop-cific Ocean? Atlant-ica Ocean?). Do those quests take place in the same ocean, and by extension, the same area?
SkullduggeryShark Tooth
There’s a similar question with Astro-Knights and Lunar Colony. When you’re in your spaceship on Astro-Knights, you can bring up a whole map of Poptropica’s solar system. It appears Planet Poptropica has only one moon, and it is inhabited by hospitable aliens all around.
Yet, on Lunar Colony, we seem to cross the entire moon, or at least one half of it, and there is hardly a bit of proof of alien occupancy. (Sure, Salerno discovers an alien world in the end, but we never see it.) What we do see are what appear to be ancient alien artifacts, left behind a long time ago. Are we still on the same moon?
Astro-KnightsLunar Colony
Maybe we went to a moon of one of the other planets, like the Fire Planet? Or did one of the two islands take place in a completely different solar system?
Whatever the case, I think it’s still safe to say that, regardless of how confusing some of Poptropica’s inter-island logic may be, Poptropica takes place in all sorts of different places, all across the world, and never seems to repeat itself. So thanks for reading! Comment below! 👇
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!
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