🏝️ Poptropica Help Blog 🗺️

This interview was originally published on the Poptropica Creators’ Blog along with a call to go vote in the 2021 Poppies. Enjoy!

1. How were you first introduced to Poptropica?

My younger brother found Poptropica on Funbrain and introduced it to me. Back then, we would go on Funbrain to read Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid before it became a printed book series!

2. Who do you think is the most underrated character? Overrated?

Most underrated character: Elf Queen from Twisted Thicket. She doesn’t seem to get mentioned much in the fandom, but her leafy design is absolutely magical, and her storyline very fitting for our modern climate crisis.
Most overrated character: Dr. Hare, who might just be the most marketed Pop character (he even had a whole LEGO campaign at one point!). But we love him anyway.

3. What are your favorite scenes, aesthetically and to play through?

It’s hard to pick a favorite scene as there are so many that are visually stunning! But to highlight a few, I love the aesthetics of the Imperial Garden on Red Dragon (especially the cherry blossom trees), and the various interactive puzzles on Nabooti, such as the mancala game and the fox-chicken-cornfeed conundrum.

4. What was your inspiration in creating and furthering the Poptropica Help Blog (PHB)?

I was inspired to create a blog after seeing lots of fan blogs for other online games I enjoyed at the time, especially Club Penguin (rip). I stumbled into a Poptropica focus somewhat accidentally when setting up the site on WordPress: while thinking about the URL, I discovered that poptropica.wordpress.com was untaken, and it felt like too good of an opportunity to pass up. So that was the PHB’s first URL, which illustrates the dearth of Poptropica fan sites at the time, and how we were able to fill that gap on the internet.

What inspired me to keep going was everything else that followed. I was amazed by how quickly the site grew in readership, fueled by all the amazing things Poptropica has been doing, especially in the heart and depth of storytelling through gameplay in its myriads of island adventures. Even as the game changes and people come and go, what I enjoy about the PHB is how it continues to be a space for Poptropicans to share their ideas, fan art, and friendships. If you’re interested, I’ve written more about this on the PHB’s Philosophy page.

Poptropica Creator Dr. Lange’s drawing of the PHB team (2014)

5. How has your PHB career surprised you?

As the previous Q&A touches on, I’ve been surprised by the rapid popularity of the PHB (it reached 1 million views in its first year, and 13 years later, has over 35 million). But I’m not too concerned about the statistics—I’m more interested in cultivating the quality of people’s visits, and to that end it’s been a blessing to hear from so many Poptropicans over the years who’ve enjoyed what the PHB offers.

Another surprise is the creativity and intensity of so many fans’ Pop-inspired passions, which help shape what the PHB brings to the fandom, from personal My Place in Poptropica stories to discoveries of Pop Places IRL. It’s definitely not a one-person operation—credit goes to the many, many Poptropicans who make it all possible!

6. What does the Pop community mean to you?

To me, it’s as simple as a gathering of people who enjoy Poptropica. They can be of all ages — some are even in their twenties like me. Poptropica fans are creative (just look at all the fan art, blogs, and videos), clever (we enjoy solving puzzles and finding trivia), and concerned (we support each other and sometimes critique for the good of the game we love). Above all, we’re united in our passion for Pop!

7. From your perspective, how has the community changed over the past 12 years?

The biggest change I’ve noticed personally is that the kids have gotten older. Though Poptropica has always been aimed at kids, it’s fascinating to see how teens and young adults (myself included) still participate in the fandom, often returning from childhood nostalgia and sticking around for the community and inspired storytelling (perhaps even creating some of their own). Of course, young kids are still around. From my perspective, even children are capable of enjoying Poptropica’s more sophisticated stories, particularly those from the classic islands.

Friendly Folk: All so nice and polite, for a while at least.

8. How have your experiences with the community and Poptropica influenced you IRL?

Poptropica’s many whimsical worlds — from the medieval madness of Astro-Knights to the genie glamor of Arabian Nights — have inspired my art and writing, and widened my appreciation for digital storytelling and cultural connections.

As for the PHB, it has given me a space to write about something I care about, to carefully consider how to express ideas, and help the blog’s staff and guest writers do the same. Having our content read by so many fellow fans is a responsibility, privilege, and a great encouragement to keep building the blessing.

The skills, friendships, and passions developed over many years of playing and creating carry over to other areas of life too. For me, that has included earning my undergrad degree in English and pursuing a career in communications. With all the diversity in Poptropica and its community comes great potential for many more Poptropicans!

Fish Face: These ocean-dwellers are getting animated.

Favorites

Costume: Fish kimono from Red Dragon
Island: Shark Tooth
Backstory/Lore: How islands appear in the world of Poptropica through a central spot in the sea called the Nexus, as described in Poptropica graphic novel #4: The End of Time.
Hero: Max McGullicutty from Survival
Villain: Scheherazade

The Nexus, land of limitless time crystals

Thank you, Poptropica Creators, for hosting this interview with me (and for calling the PHB “the leading fan-run Poptropica blog” in the original post 😁). Keep on popping on, Poptropicans! ✌️

~Slanted Fish 🐟🐡🐠💙

Ask Poptropica Siri, Uncategorized

Ask Poptropica Siri #4: Pigging out, Poppies plus-one, and a positive

July 19, 2021August 19, 2022 🌸Smart Icicle🌸

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!

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.

See you all in the next one!

~Smart Icicle 📚❄️

Poppies

Poppies 2021: Vote now! ☑️ Party how? 🎉

July 17, 2021July 24, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poppie-tropicans! The noms are in and now it’s time for the voting round of the 2021 Poppies. Catch up with our Poppies explainer here, and read on to find out how you can join us at the Poptropica fandom event of the year! 🏆✨

Every vote counts towards popping the big questions of who and what will win the 2021 Poppies, so go cast your votes while you can! 🗳 Voting ends Thursday, July 22, and we’ll be announcing the winners at our awards (and blog birthday) party that weekend. Check the deets:

🤩 WHO: You and everyone! PHB staff will be there too!

🏆 WHAT: Dress to impress for the blue carpet of Poptropica’s Arcade. Join us on the PHC and/or our YouTube livestream, where we’ll be revealing the Poppies winners LIVE!

🕗 WHEN: July 24, 2021 (Saturday) @ 8 p.m. Eastern / 7 p.m. Central / 6 p.m. Mountain / 5 p.m. Pacific. If you live in a different timezone, you can use a time zone converter to see what time it’ll be for you.

🖥 WHERE: Join our livestream on YouTube and find the buzz on the Poptropica Help Chat (PHC), our Discord server (for ages 13+). We’ll also be hanging in Poptropica’s Arcade (accessed through the menu in the corner of the game).

🎉 WHY: To have a poppin’ grand time as we announce the winners of the 2021 Poppies and celebrate 13 years of the PHB with the Poptropica community!

Get your snap-worthy suits on and we’ll see you on the blue carpet of our YouTube livestream, PHC Discord, and Pop Arcade! But for now…

🗳 Cast your Poppies votes! 🗳

24 Carrot Island, Fan Art Features, Pop-arazzi Fashion, Social Media

Coolmath fame and classic games 📸🥕

July 17, 2021July 17, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! In this update, we’ve got Pop-arazzi snapshots, tweets, fan art features, an official vid, and more. Let’s pop right in!

First up, the Pop-arazzi are back with more Pop fashions inspired by real-life pop stars. This time we’ve got American alt-rock musical duo Twenty One Pilots and actress Zendaya featured on the Creators’ Blog!

Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun of Twenty One Pilots

These stylish icons aren’t the only celebs floating in the fandom this week. Over on Twitter, a fan asked Jeff Kinney, Poptropica’s founder, if there were plans to restore the Wimpy Kid islands to the mobile app. Jeff responded, “I don’t know! I miss all the islands!”

I don’t know! I miss all the old islands!
— Jeff Kinney (@wimpykid) July 12, 2021

This marks the third time this year Jeff-senpai has publicly acknowledged the game he helped create. Although he’s not currently involved with Pop and doesn’t seem to have any say in its development these days, it’s great to see he still cares. And hopefully it’s one more mighty nudge for the current Creators (who retweeted Jeff’s tweet) to maybe, just maybe, bring the old islands back?

Poptropica’s been active on Twitter too this week. In response to sister site Coolmath Games (who hosts Pop among the games on their website) sharing that they’d added the updated maps, Poptropica thanked them for the “Coolmath Fame.”

Is this what Coolmath Fame feels like?

Thanks friend, y’all are the best! 🤩💙 https://t.co/FBwAqPp4ql
— Official Poptropica (@Poptropica) July 15, 2021

On another note, here’s the latest batch of fan art features from Pop’s Instagram stories. Check out the villain vibes and costume creations!

While most of Poptropica’s classic islands seem untouched after Flash zapped them away, at least a few of them have survived into Haxe. One of them is 24 Carrot Island, which just recently got an official walkthrough video made and its tour page updated with a full written walkthrough.

As the Creators’ Blog explained, “24 Carrot was one of the few islands we didn’t have a complete walkthrough for, but now we’re one step closer to a complete Island walkthrough playlist.” But hey, you know where you can find a complete collection of Poptropica island walkthroughs in both video and written form, plus more extras like trivia and long-gone album photos? The PHB’s Island Guides!

Finally, the Baron’s Airship has set sail, but she’ll be back! Next time the Baron returns, we’ll get to pick up the winning designs from July’s costume contest (which ended this week) for free in her Cabin of Curiosities.

That wraps up this post! Plus, stay tuned for the Poppies voting round dropping later today. Thanks for popping by, and stay awesome, Poptropicans!

~🐠

Popular Poptropicans

Popular Poptropicans: Dimension Bros

July 16, 2021July 11, 2022 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, welcome to another Popular Poptropican interview! ⭐️ We have two guests today, Isaac and Theo, who together form the Dimension Bros. They’ve been making Poptropica (and other) fan videos (some of which are for ages 13+) on YouTube for over a year now, and are also known for heading up the Poptropica Month fan video event.

Welcome, Dimension Bros! Let’s pop into it.

What inspires you to create Poptropica videos?

Before we started, the only Poptropica YouTube videos you could even find were all just playthroughs and walkthroughs, nothing but gameplay. So we felt like there was just a huge hole for content in that area. Being one of the only channels making Poptropica videos that aren’t just playthroughs is pretty inspiring just due to the fact that it’s our job to fill that void that no one else seems to be filling.

The ~~Earth~~ Poptropica Help Blog is pleased to share this Dimension Bros video of Theo reacting to players’ Poptropicans.

What advice would you give to aspiring Poptropica YouTubers?

Solid advice for any YouTuber is just to focus on making content you want to make, and whatever is fun for you. But if you’re interested in Poptropica videos specifically, you could consider taking part in our Poptropica Month 2021 collab this September. All you need to do is make your Poptropica video, let us know about it, and we’ll add it to our playlist! Last year’s playlist has over 1,000 views, so taking part in Poptropica Month is a great way to give your channel a little extra boost from the Pop fandom! There’s a video on our channel about how to join.

Shameless self promo aside, as long as you’re enjoying the video-making process, people should enjoy watching them! It’s not hard to tell when a lot of love went into a video, and that’s all that really matters.

What do you enjoy about the Poptropica community?

Theo: I enjoy everyone’s dedication to keeping the memory of Poptropica alive. You’d think for a game that had a majority of its content removed, fans would’ve left, and a lot did, but some fans have stuck around and are keeping the fandom chugging along! Like the PHB continuing to write posts and hold events, and fan artists continuing to draw their favorite characters, it’s nice to see a small but dedicated fandom still be so active for what little is left of the game.

Isaac: Having been a part of a lot of fandoms throughout my time on the internet, I’ve always found it interesting how close all the Poptropica fandom is. For better or worse, everyone in the fandom has had at least one interaction with pretty much everyone else. I feel like this creates a really good sense of unity. Every time the creators do something dumb (like forgetting the name of one of their own characters) the entire fandom unites to complain about it. And in a weird way, that’s kinda nice.

Publick House: This place on Cryptids Island could use some customers. Come right in!

What do you hope for the future of Poptropica and its fandom?

Isaac: My main hope for the future of the Poptropica fandom is that everyone on the Poptropica Help Chat will change their nickname to “#ISAAC4MOD” in an attempt to “vote” me into office as the next PHC moderator 😉

Theo: In an ideal world, Poptropica would port all of the old islands and the game would be fully restored, but it looks like that’ll never happen. All I can hope for now is that more people take part in the Poptropica Rewritten project as an attempt to save Poptropica. (You can learn more about that project in another DB video we have on our channel.)

World Warriors: Welcome back to the stage of history.

What is your favorite feature (still here or gone) from the many years of Poptropica?

Theo: Obviously the feature everyone misses most is THE ISLANDS, but another feature I really miss are the minigames you got from the store. I’m pretty sure I spent more time playing Shrink Shot than I did playing any actual islands as a kid. Another feature I miss dearly are all of the personality questions you could answer on your friends page, as well as that whole page in general.

Isaac: While it may have made little impact on gameplay, I really liked when you had to go to Early Poptropica during the events of Counterfeit Island. This along with details such as Zeus destroying a bunch of the other islands during the events of Super Villain really made Poptropica feel like one big cohesive game rather than a bunch of small separate ones. (And if you know me, you know I love theorizing on the connections of all the islands.)

What is your favorite Easter egg/reference in Poptropica?

Isaac: The entirety of Survival Island is a huge reference to one of my favorite short stories, “The Most Dangerous Game,” so playing through that is always enjoyable. I’m also a big fan of all the Marvel references in PoptropiCon, especially the Mighty Action Force card game, seeing as I’m a huge board/card game nerd. (Also, creators, if you’re reading this, you should make the MAF card game into a real thing!)

Theo: I really enjoy all of the references to Alcatraz in Escape from Pelican Rock. It’s no surprise that the island contains references to Alcatraz since the whole premise is based off the Alcatraz prison break, but having guards recite certain dialogue said in the prison, and having your Poptropican escape in almost an identical way to real escapees is cool. Also the PHB nod in that island is a fun easter egg too.