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 Poptropicans, we have a very special guest with us! Thirsty Flame (aka Blank Slayte, or BigMarioFan99 on DeviantArt) is one of the winners of Poptropica’s 2020 Design Your Dream Island Contest. In this post, he’ll be sharing about his winning idea, Goofball Island. Smile and wave!
The first glimpses of Goofball Island were revealed in September 2021.
Hello, this is Thirsty Flame, and I’m glad you asked me for an inside look about my island idea: “Goofball Island.”
I want to get this out of the way first, to those Poptropicans who are aged 13+ and seen some of the NSFW stuff I post on Twitter or DeviantArt, this island will have none of that. I mostly try to be safe for all ages, and most of the stuff I post is alright.
Crazy Club concept for Goofball Island from the Poptropica Creators
Now onto the island! To be honest, I haven’t really thought about how the island will be played, like levels and all that. All that I submitted was a visual (see below), and the basic plot of the island:
In a colorful and bizarre-looking town populated by joke-loving and silly citizens, the evil scientist, Dr. Blandston, has invented a device to take away the town’s color and goofiness. It’s up to you to defeat Dr. Blandston and destroy his machine before he can turn the entire island into a dull, gray, land.
Still, I can tell you how I came up with the idea for Goofball Island. It was around the time the first Dream Island contest was happening in 2013, and I had gotten the Poptropica Island Creator Kit book to help me draw and write ideas that I had. My only problem was that I didn’t know how to send it, so I never entered my original idea.
See what other books Poptropica has released in our Merchandise Guide.
My original island was called “Toon Island,” and the plot was mostly the same one I used for Goofball Island, except someone was stealing Poptropicans’ sense of humor and you would find who’s doing it and stop them. I came up with ideas for the visuals, such as what the island would look like on the map…
Concepts for Toon Island, which later evolved into Goofball Island.
…as well as the medallion, two versions of the villain, and how Poptropicans look before and after their sense of humor is taken. Basically, for Goofball Island, I reworked my “Toon Island” idea and renamed it to “Goofball Island,” since I doubt they would’ve accepted an island named “Toon Island.”
Toon Island medallion
Sad villain concepts
Citizen and Clown before and after losing their color and humor
Shortly after it was announced that my island won, I came with ideas on what I thought the logo for island would look like and reworked the medallion idea as well. I hope I’m close to being right with what Poptropica ends up creating.
With the official sneak peek of the island that was shown recently (and at the top of this post), I can say that it was exactly what I was hoping for, and I’m excited to play it when it comes out.
I do want to point out something in that sneak peek, specifically the building labeled “Bosko’s Car Fixing & Embroidery.” Coincidentally, I have an original character named Bosko, who is a mechanic. I made this character well before the second contest was announced. I’m not sure if this was a coincidence, or if they found my DeviantArt page and are using some of my characters.
“Bosko is Toon City’s best toon auto mechanic and can fix any toon car that rolls into his garage. Sometimes he’ll have some strange cases, but he will always get the job done.”
Either way, thank you for your interest in how I came up with Goofball Island! I hope it will be one of Poptropica’s memorable islands.
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, a classic island is making a comeback!
Poptropica recently dropped a new YouTube video offering a quick glimpse at something to come. It’s got bubbles and submarine pods — can you guess what it is? (Oops, the title of this post gave it away.)
If you’ve been around a while, you’ll probably recognize the beginnings of Mission Atlantis Island in this clip. Oddly, the original trailer video has disappeared, but you can watch the full clip in this old video from Thinknoodles, which also has Daily Pop sneak peeks:
Mission Atlantis originally released in 2014 and had three episodes, all of which disappeared in the transition to Haxe in 2020. (You can still play it on the Poptropica app, though.) In this island, players discover something amazing at the bottom of the sea… if only you can get inside and figure out how it works.
While Mission Atlantis may not have been as popular as other past islands, it’s nevertheless exciting to see that we’re getting closer to another classic returning to the Poptropica map! 🏝
Although the Haxe map currently contains only the first episode for other episodic adventures like Survival and Arabian Nights, we’re hoping that the rest of the story eventually comes along, too. And while we wait, join us in jamming to “Backspace,” our anthem for the old islands!
Concept art for Mission Atlantis Island
Also on the Creators’ Blog is another video from guest writer Invisible Ring, who picks up from her last post where she spotlighted Perfect Sky, a Poptropica fan movie creator on YouTube who is no longer active. This time, Ring shares how Poptropicans have been hoping for someone to continue Sky’s legacy, and how she could be that person.
So, inspired by Perfect Sky, Invisible Ring announces that she’s working on a “full-length movie,” and drops a trailer for her upcoming creation. “Poptropica: Battle Morale” tells the story of one little girl standing up to the winds of change in the Poptropica universe. Where others are pessimistic on Pop’s future, she’s optimistic, refusing to let naysayers have the final word. Watch it here:
The world of Poptropica could certainly use more hope, and “Poptropica: Battle Morale” might just be able to offer that light to the fandom. Best of luck on the movie, Ring!
Across the fandom, other stories are being told in still yet spectacular pictures. Just take a look at the latest fan art of haunting characters and places on Poptropica’s Instagram stories!
That’s a wrap for this update. Are you hyped for the return of Mission Atlantis? What about the upcoming fan-made movie? Have you started putting together your outfit for our Halloween costume contest? (It was retweeted by the Pop Creators!) Let us know what’s popping with you!
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