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Virtual reality check: store and siren 🥽

June 29, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! You may find goggles good for where we’re going in this store update and fan art feature. Let’s dive in! 🧜‍♀️

As shared on the Pop Creators’ Blog, there are two new items in this week’s store rotation: a Striped Romper for all and VR Goggles for members only. The VR piece matches with the VR Headset available for members’ pets (“a VRy cute combo”).

The Creators’ Blog post also gives a bit of a teaser for what’s coming with The Baron’s Cabin of Curiosities. In addition to what they shared earlier, they added, “The airship also includes a number of other features that’ll bring Poptropicans together and enhance the players’ experience.” 🎈 Guess we’ll have to wait and see what that’s all about!

Over on Instagram, the Poptropica Creators featured a single spectacular work of fan art by the PHB’s Gentle Dolphin! The piece depicts her Popsona as a mythological siren of the sea, with her tail and fins based off of the Amazon River Dolphin. Would you trust her? 🧜‍♀️

“Gentle Siren” by the PHB’s Gentle Dolphin (@phs_animations) was featured on the Poptropica Creators’ Instagram story.

That’s all for this update! What are your thoughts on the new items? Are you excited for The Baron’s Cabin of Curiosities and the free, monthly, winning costume designs, along with whatever surprises await? Let us know in the comments, and pop on, Poptropicans! ✌️

~🐠

Free Membership Giveaways

PHB Membership Giveaway: June 2021

June 28, 2021June 28, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, we’re approaching the end of the month, which means it’s time to announce another lucky Poptropican to win our monthly membership giveaway! 🎁

Congrats, Giant Dragon — you can finally unlock some of the epic members’ items you’ve been craving, including the Rumpelstiltskin and Barbarian Warrior costumes from the store! Plus, you can hop on the blimp for an exclusive adventure on Time Tangled Island.

If you’re not a member, you still have the chance (or many chances, in fact): the PHB is hosting a giveaway every month, and it’s easy to enter! Just comment on the Free Poptropica Membership page and leave at least two other comments around the PHB within the month to be entered into that month’s giveaway.

We’ll announce a winner sometime in the final week of each month. If you don’t win, you can always try again for the next month! Full details »

Congrats again to Giant Dragon, and as always, keep on popping on! 🐉

Fairy Tale Island, Guest Posts

Fairytale Island: A storybook of many pop culture references 📖💫

June 27, 2021June 28, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Barefoot Knuckle. Enjoy!

Hey everybody! It’s Barefoot Knuckle here and today I will be talking about the many similarities Fairytale Island has to other works in pop culture. Most of these are probably just a coincidence, but I think it’s very interesting to discuss, plus fun and hilarious at the same time!

Okay, this island has SO MANY similarities to other stuff, it’s insane. Of course there are the obvious easter eggs like the Poptropican Fairy Godmother being modeled after Shrek 2’s Fairy Godmother.

But Fairytale Island mostly reminds me of the Happily N’Ever After series from Lionsgate. Now although I only ever watched the first one, the second movie’s trailer was also reminiscent of the whole “Rumpelstiltskin causing Snow White to fall asleep” scenario.

The first movie (2006) was a lot like Fairytale Island though. You had one fairytale villain who seized power over all the happily ever afters and started messing them up so no one could have a happy ending. Then Cinderella learns how to be a strong, independent woman and everyone has different happily ever afters in the end.

Snow White and dwarves in Happily N’Ever After

Of course, they defeated the villain in the movie, and in the second movie as well, which was different from what happened in Fairytale Island. But other than that, Cinderella’s pink dress, Snow White’s purple and blue outfits, the dwarves’ tough looking design and the Prince’s personality and design all resemble how the characters are shown in Happily N’Ever After.

Another resemblance is the trend of showing fairytale princesses as modern, independent women. We saw this in Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), where all the princesses gathered in lounge wear. And in Fairytale Island, the princesses are working girls. You can’t be lounging around the house when there are animals to cure, guitars to play, and pizzas to deliver.

(Also, comment if you want me to draw Poptropica’s princesses with Disney’s princesses and I will include it at the end of my next post!)

When Fairytale Island was first released, some fans noted that it was rare to see Cinderella as a Black woman, but it has been done before. In The Wonderful World of Disney (1997) Cinderella, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella was portrayed by Brandy (yes, that is her name). Although there isn’t much similarity in terms of dress design, her hair and crown does share a similar style to Poptropica’s Cinderella.

Combined with Happily N’Ever After’s Cinderella with her pink dress and story arc (though she never turned into a rock star), Poptropica’s new take on the classic princess had a lot of throwbacks to past concepts on the character. Also, is it just me, or does the pink hair and punk style remind anyone of the rock artist, Pink?

Then there are the character designs in the “Red’s Food Delivery” side quest. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Red Riding Hood in a modern tomboy look, since the movie Hoodwinked (2005) (another movie I’ve only seen the trailer for) portrayed Red Riding Hood as a tough karate girl who wore jeans.

Now Poptropica’s Red Riding Hood doesn’t seem like she’s specialized in any defenses, but she does have that tough girl look about her. And even though they don’t share the same personality, the grandma in Hoodwinked and the grandma in Fairytale Island share a very similar look. And from what I’ve seen in the trailer, the huntsman in Hoodwinked seems just as weird as the huntsman from Fairytale Island.

The whole island is kind of like a couple other middle grade book series about fairytales, like Whatever After by Sarah Mlynowski and The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer. Red Riding Hood’s pet in Colfer’s series, Clawdius, is just about the equivalent of Fairytale Island’s Big Bad Wolf.

Concept art from Fairytale Island (Poptropica)

And what about that Gravity Falls similarity with these little guys, huh?

The final easter egg I’ll bring up has to do with the island’s villain, Rumplestiltskin. You know that part where the player says his name three times and apparently he’s free? Well, the same thing happens in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice (1988) when this ghost couple and this goth girl say a creepy ghost’s name three times and he’s free to help them get revenge or something. It was recently adapted into a Broadway show (with a song called “Say My Name” — and that’s all I know).

But what do you guys think? Is Fairytale Island just a mashup of pop culture references? Is Cinderella’s pink hairstyle a nod to rockstar Pink? Did the creators intentionally put a Beetlejuice reference in the script? And what kind of pop culture reference would you like to see in Poptropica?

For more trivia, check out the PHB’s Fairytale Island Guide. Keep an eye out for my next posts! I think you’ll like them!

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Barefoot Knuckle. If you did, you might also enjoy other guest posts here on the PHB!

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! 📰✨

Clubhouse, Guest Posts

Summer Poptropica Worlds House Tour: Invisible Ring 🌞

June 26, 2021June 22, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Invisible Ring. Enjoy!

Oh hi! Great to see you again! Do you like my new book lounge? I was just trying it out! Now that I have toured the halls of my Poptropica Worlds clubhouse, it’s high time I explore my two extra rooms. Let’s see, which one do I pick first, door #1 or door #2?

I’m going with door #2. It just feels easier to start with the colorful one before I go into the dark and daring zone.

Hey, wait, when did this red painting and striped sofa show up? — oh yeah, I set it up the same time I set up my book lounge! Heh heh, I’m so forgetful… well, enough chit-chat. Let’s do this!

Yeeee-Haw! Good mornin’, buckaroo! Whaddaya plan to go ropin’ for today? — oh wait, I got another idea! Just have to get it outta my dresser drawer and… there!

Say… you look fabulous! You’ll be the star of the Saturday night dance party! …Oh wait, it’s not nighttime yet. What else have I got?

I got an adventure outfit and a shiny outfit. What other outfits do I have? Oh wait, how about this one? It’s both shiny AND adventurous! Wow, I think my sister was right. I DO look like an Amazon warrior! …Ooh! Warrior! Got another idea here! This is gonna be great!

Here we go! ARRRGH, look alive, ya scurvy scallywags! Thar may be intruders on board this vessel and I want the whole lot of ya to… YIKE! Have you been watching me the whole time?!

(Come on, Invisible Ring, pick it back up!) *ahem* …Welcome aboard, me hearties! I didn’t hear you come in there! Well, perfect timing, buccaneers, ‘cause I just finished suiting up. Let the cabin tour commence!

In me cabin, I have a very important treasure. Aye, it’s golden indeed, and… what’s that? Where is it? Ye may find some of it amongst the thicket here…..What’s that? Ya want to know what me treasure IS?…. Aye, you asked for it, sea pups!

Ohhh… Do what ya can with what ya got, have any of you have heard that a lot?
If yer bored and the day is new, and you are just wonderin’ what to do,
Then come on along! Come on with me, and maybe you’ll see things the way I see!
Take a glass and slam it down! Stomp yer feet and strum up a sound!
Be ready for anything, take a stance! The music will start, and you gotta dance!
Put a smile upon yer face! Walk around like you own the place!
All you need is a sense of fun! Before ya know it the magic’s begun!
Put yer mind to it then you’ll see, adventure’s the best treasure that can be!
Like all yer booty it’s hard to find, but never give up and take yer time!
But if ya think I’m being absurd, yer on yer own, ye scallywag! WORD!

That was fun. Now ya know where and what me treasure is. Now onward! We have another floor to explore, mateys!

Welcome to the hangout! The perfect place to hang out, hang around, run around, bounce around, monkey around — anything you want! You can even ride a giant butterfly like I’m doing right now! CHARGE, Monarch! Let’s overthrow the governor agent of Captain Crawfish!

In this part of my cabin lies the best spot to relax after you’re through with the wild ways of a pirate… or even if you’re done talking like a pirate, because I think I’m done with both! I think I should grab a book from over there and relax for a while.

Hey, this bed is bouncy! Haha! This is even more fun to dance on than the upstairs jungle!

Bounce around with all your might, grab your sword, and put up a fight!
Chuck the balls and drop the books, rip the jackets right off the hooks!
Swing around and clang the bell! Off the top with a GREAT BIG YELL!

Ha-ha-haaarrgh, heh heh… This is great! …huhh…hooo… Now I’m all worn out. Well, at least I can take a breather on this bookshelf and look out the window for a moment.

Wow! I never thought I would say this, but I think I need a nap now. This hammock is the best place to do it, so I think I’ll make myself comfy and…

Hey! There’s something really sparkly coming from out the window! Oh, wait, it’s just the beach. But it looks a lot shinier than usual… Forget the hammock, I gotta get outside and check it out!

I thought so! It’s the perfect day for a beach day!

Man the cannons! Fire one! CANNONBALL!

*GASP* Blithery Blathery Icicles, that was colder than I — wait a minute, where did my hat go? And I think I got some seashells stuck in my hair, too.

No matter. I can go back up there and dive down again and find my hat and — Whoa! What the-? Did I just… change into… a mermaid?

Random Guy: Bravo, mermaid pirate! Perfect 10! How did you do all that?

Me: Um… Thanks… and… I have no idea. I think I… gotta go back inside now.

Well, that was interesting. I wonder how that happened and how I can become a pirate again. Maybe it will come to me later on. Now, where was I? …I feel like I’m forgetting something on this tour.

Oh, I know what it is! Ice cream! No beach day or vacation tour is complete without ice cream! Yay!

Well, tourists, I hope you liked the summer-style tour. Now that I’ve had my ice cream and my indoor and outdoor fun, It’s time for a nap on the hammock now. Have a great summer, and if you want any ice cream on the way out, there’s enough upstairs for all of you. See ya next time!

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Invisible Ring. If you did, you might also enjoy her many other Poptropica clubhouse tours, including her main Worlds house, which contains the room you just saw!