Hey Poptropicans! In this post: a TikTok video and fan art features with sweet jams. Plus, a hint at something big to come. Let’s pop right to it!
The Pop Creators finally made their second TikTok video after opening their account back in April. The new clip showcases the Pride costumes released this week in the store, with Diana Ross’s ’80s banger “I’m Coming Out” playing in the background. 🏳️🌈✨
Poptropica also shared the video on their Instagram story to promote their TikTok handle @poptropicacreator.
Also on their Instagram story, Poptropica shared tons of fan art! One particularly noteworthy post is happyclonetrooper’s sheet music for Fiona’s violin song from Ghost Story Island. Although she acknowledges it’s been done before, this is one melodious masterpiece that’ll never get old! 🎻 (Click to enlarge the pics below.)
At one point, Big Nate, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Poptropica’s Mystery of the Map held down three of the top five slots on the New York Times bestseller list. I was the happiest publisher in the world.
Jess Brallier
Hold on for tomorrow’s post from the former Poptropica CEO, which will tackle the big topic on our minds: “What about today’s Poptropica?”
Tomorrow brings one more big event we have to mention before we wrap up: the PHB’s Pride Palooza! Join us Friday, June 18 at 8 pm Eastern in Poptropica’s Arcade and wear the colors of the rainbow. 🌈
We’ll also hang out on the PHC and in the PHB comments. See you there, loud and proud Poptropicans! 💖
So we’re having a blast with Poptropica. Telling unexpected stories via a gaming literacy, exceeding budget targets, employing good people, having fun. We started our storytelling with Early Poptropica and Shark Tooth Island in 2007.
Jess Brallier
In that first post, Jess recounts how Time magazine listed Poptropica as one of the “50 Websites that Make the Web Great” (this was in 2011).
Jess goes on to share about Poptropica’s carefully planned and well executed business strategy, “conceived to serve both kids and advertisers” before a line of code was ever written for the game.
As I’ve said before—and I’m often the lone voice on this—having the right advertisers fund the delivery of great content to kids is a good thing. I had zilch interest in a publishing strategy that was purposely confined to kids with parents wealthy enough to afford a subscription.
Jess Brallier
Next, Jess quotes generously from a 2020 article written by Arian Tomar titled “Why Poptropica Mattered,” posted on a site called Voices of Gen-Z. Here’s a snippet from that reflective piece:
Poptropica changed my life. If I’m being honest, I think it influenced many young people more than we acknowledge… To me, Poptropica represents an internet full of stories, exploration, connection, and advertising, a microcosm of the essential parts of the internet.
Arian Tomar
Anyway, on with the main point of Jess’s post: for a time, Poptropica was the largest kids’ site on the internet!
The news was nervously given to him one morning in late 2008 by Poptropica’s marketing director, Kim Regan. They didn’t blast the news right away as they wanted to make sure it was true. But sure enough, Poptropica’s numbers had grown bigger than Disney’s Club Penguin and Nickelodeon’s Nicktropolis, two other hugely popular virtual worlds at the time. (And Poptropica outlived them, too!)
It was all so incredibly satisfying. This quiet, caring, hard-working, respectful, unknown group of talented and good people went up against Nickelodeon and Disney and kicked their butts.
And they did it by telling stories—great writing, great art, great design—when all the experts confidently screamed that kids wanted nothing to do with stories on their computer screens. By 2012, story-based Poptropica had 500+ million registered users from around the world.
A good story, once again, won the day.
Jess Brallier
Now let’s turn to Big Nate, which began as a comic strip and now has a pretty popular narrative-and-art hybrid book series. But before the book series, there was the Poptropica island.
Poptropica’s official tour page for Big Nate Island when it first released in 2009.
Poptropica Creator Jeff Kinney knew Lincoln Peirce, the creator of Big Nate, and figured it would be a good match, as he and Jess were looking for brilliant content outside of Poptropica to add to the game.
One of Jeff’s and my notions was to introduce content on Poptropica that did not first originate on Poptropica. Why limit all those kids to discovering only what our writers came up with? …Wow, doing that would make Poptropica all the more powerful, inclusive, and all-serving.
Jess Brallier
The first Big Nate comic strip
Jess loved the idea (and the brilliance of comic strip creators), and they met with Lincoln and decided to give it a try.
Two months later, late morning on a Friday, we launched “Big Nate Island.” By midnight, two million different kids had played it. Seriously!
Jess Brallier
Two million is impressive, but what else stands out is the fact that it took just two months to dream of and create an island! A far cry from the snail’s pace of island releases these days…
Anyway, the success of the island confirms Jess’s hunch that there’s a unique kind of book for all those comics. But that’s another story!
Hey Poptropicans, a colorful store update awaits! ❤️🧡💛
June is Pride Month, and the Pop Creators are joining in the celebrations with various new store items! 🏳️🌈 As they shared on the official blog, “This week’s item inventory pays a special homage to the LGBTQIA+ community! Poptropica is a safe, inclusive space for everyone. It’s only fitting that we recognize and celebrate the diverse identities and backgrounds from those within the Poptropica community and the world.” Check out the technicolor threads at Adventure Outfitters:
Rainbow beanbag
Breezy Pride
Rainbow heart poster
Rainbow Kite
Rainbow Ride
Rainbow Shoes
Sporty Pride
Choose Love shirt
The new rainbow raiments (Breezy Pride, Sporty Pride, and Rainbow Shoes) are available for free right now in the store! You can also find a few Pride-themed items on the shop floor: a rainbow beanbag and rainbow heart poster for your clubhouse, and the Rainbow Ride hoodie.
The Creators’ Blog mentions the Rainbow Kite, but this doesn’t seem to be in the store. However, the kite was released as a member gift in May, which makes it an unlikely candidate to be a store item so soon in June.
Plenty of other hues are available in-store too, with noteworthy new items like the Volleyball Jersey and the Cat Traveler Pack!
Cat Traveler Pack
Plus, pets get plenty of fresh style options too — including a shark fin, flowery bandanna, snorkels, and more! With the recent return of the Colorizer (for pets too) in the character screen update (RIP Costumizer), you can go back to giving your pet the glow-up they need.
Anyway, all this colorful gear is going to go great with our Pride Palooza coming up this Friday at 8 pm Eastern! We look forward to some fun times with everyone at the Arcade and on the PHC or PHB comments. 🥳 And if you’re new to the whole Pride conversation, check out the ABCs of LGBT with the PHB guide, complete with fantastic Poptropica fan art!
🌈 Be proud of who you are, and pop on, Poptropicans! 🌤
This is a guest post from Incredible Fire sharing her My Place in Poptropica story, which is all about one’s Poptropica journey.Enjoy!
Hi everyone! I’m Incredible Fire and this is My Place in Poptropica. Let’s get right to it!
The year was 2014 or 2015 and it was almost summer. The sky was blue and clear, as California was in the middle of a six year drought. I was at my friend’s house for lunch and she introduced me to this wonderful little game called Poptropica. I loved it.
Drydock: This one’s gone to ground.
The very first game I played, right there, was Mystery of the Map Island. Until then, I had never played a game like Poptropica. A lot of the games I played were platformers or time management games with some storytelling elements. But the focus was always on the gameplay. With Poptropica, I could truly immerse myself in a story while also playing a pretty fun video game. (I first experienced this from the choose-your-own-path Henry Stickmin games.)
The gorgeous and fun tropical art style really appealed to me, and it still does to this day. Mystery of the Map is by no means universally acclaimed, but it will always have a special place in my heart. I made my first account that day, and I’m still using that very account.
Run Aground: Whatever floats your boat.
When I started playing, there were so many islands that even in my immense free time, I actually never finished them all. And I played a lot. It was my go-to game whenever I got any time on the laptop.
After a year or so, Poptropica stopped working for me, and it seemed like I would never finish the game. In a couple of years I moved back to India where I was absolutely sure it would never work again. But I never forgot Poptropica. It was still my favorite game. When I first started playing, I looked to Thinknoodles for help, but since I prefer written guides, so then I discovered the PHB. And I’ve been following it ever since. Even when I wasn’t playing, I still kept up to date with the PHB’s latest posts.
Thankfully, Poptropica started working again after Poptropica Worlds came out, and I was grateful for the chance to finally finish the game. I finished most of the islands, but then began what I would call the downfall of Poptropica. I actually really liked Poptropica Worlds, especially compared to the dumpster fire that is, unfortunately, Haxe Poptropica. It really started falling apart with Greek Sea Odyssey, which I found very lackluster. That’s about the same time Poptropica laid off a lot of its senior staff, so take from that what you will.
Greek Sea Odyssey on Poptropica Worlds
During the pandemic, I had a lot of free time on the computer. All my life, I’ve never had an online presence because the internet is a weird place with stranger danger. Those are still very real concerns. But I felt like the PHB was a very safe, friendly environment. So I finally took a plunge and joined the PHB on Discord (also known as the PHC).
I actually had a lot of fun and made some friends on the PHC. I loved getting to know and sometimes even helping creative people: artists, bloggers, writers, YouTubers. But after having an unpleasant experience on other, less friendly sites, I decided to go back into my shell. I still occasionally comment on the PHB, and I may write guest posts like this every once in a while.
Playing Poptropica today is… disconcerting. I really miss the old, good quality, polished game. Although it still makes wonderful art, I miss what made Poptropica my favorite game. The stories. The fleshed out, whimsical, sometimes silly stories.
Basket Case: What a deflating voyage.
I’m not as old as the Poptropica veterans, but I have grown up a bit since 2014 or 15. And somehow, California is still in a drought. Poptropica brings me back to my childhood, though not with its recent direction of treating players as children in need of handholding, if you know what I mean. I love Poptropica, but I don’t know if it can make a comeback, considering the track it’s on right now. But I’ll always have great memories of the game and there’s always hope.
It’s difficult to end this post, considering my journey with Poptropica hasn’t ended. I’m still finding my place. But Poptropica will always have a place in my heart.
Pop on, Incredible Fire
Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! If you did, you’ll probably enjoy our other MPIP stories here on the PHB.
If you haven’t already shared your story, we invite you to send in your own. Interested in writing for the PHB under a different Pop-topic? Take a look at our Write for the PHB page for ideas, guidelines, and more! 📰✨
Howdy doodly Poptropican friends! It’s LJ here with the final interviewee of the Popular Poptropican staff lineup. She’s the friendliest of fishes, the editor-in-chief, the very creator of this Poptropica Help Blog… it’s the one and only Slanted “Fishy” Fish! Does she really need an introduction, though? Let’s pop right into it!
1. What has it felt like to watch something you created grow so much and even get recognized by Poptropica themselves?
No doubt it’s been amazing! When I first started this blog, I couldn’t have imagined how big it would become. I didn’t really have any expectations — I just wanted to make a blog about something I cared about, because I had been inspired by fan blogs on the internet for other games I played, made by kids and young adults.
I remember the first time Poptropica made some kind of acknowledgement to the PHB, almost a year after it first began, it was just a feeling of surprise, awe, and excitement from me and others involved with the blog. Since then, it’s been nice to know the Pop Creators are keeping up with what fans are thinking, and to garner an occasional nod of appreciation!
2. What advice would you give to aspiring bloggers or writers in general that you wish you had starting out?
Looking back at some of my earliest posts, I’d say the biggest points I could have done better are writing more concisely and making the formatting more appealing. On the first point, remember that effective news writing is all about how well you’re able to get your message across, and you don’t always need a ton of words to do it. On the second point, it turns out there are ways to polish up a digital post, like making use of hyperlinks, bold text, and images.
Of course, these are things that take time and effort to figure out, and best practices will change over time. But the old adage remains: practice makes better!
3. What has been the biggest milestone for the PHB?
Just the fact that it’s been around for so long (12 years and counting), almost as old as Poptropica itself, is pretty phenomenal. The community definitely helps keep the spirit alive — without all of you, there’d be no blog here!
4. What sort of future do you hope the PHB will have?
I hope the PHB will continue to share Poptropica insights that are thoughtful, truthful, and tale-full for as long as we can dream of and grow from them. Nothing lasts forever, but why not enjoy the ride while we can?
5. Would you say the PHB is like a family? What do you think keeps everyone so involved and connected with the blog?
In a sense, yes! We may not know each other IRL, but we’re in touch with one another digitally and united through our common interest in Poptropica. I think new and solid quality content is what keeps people engaged and coming back — that’s true of any online space!
6. What is your favorite island and villain?
My favorite island is Shark Tooth, which may seem like an underdog choice, but it’s a classic (Poptropica’s second island!). The blue palm trees in the background are nostalgic Poptropica aesthetics, and despite the simplicity, there’s good story to explore.
And my favorite villain is probably Scheherazade from Arabian Nights. I love her many forms, with impeccable outfits in all and a compelling backstory that tugs at the heartstrings.
7. What challenge in the game has been the hardest to complete in your opinion?
Anything that’s dependent on game physics is quite the challenge — as in jumping platforms with the right timing or you’re toast. The volcanic platforms on the Fire Planet in Astro-Knights are a great example of this.
8. What is your favorite feature (still here or gone) from the many years of Poptropica?
The Costumizer, which allowed you to “steal” (well, copy) clothes off characters, was such a unique and fun feature in Poptropica. It’s a shame it didn’t carry over to the new Haxe version of the game (except for on PoptropiCon, where it’s essential to the quest).
9. What is your favorite Poptropica item?
It’s hard to pick! Maybe the boba tea, since I love drinking the stuff IRL. I also quite like the Rainbow Ride hoodie, which is a staple of my Poptropican’s wardrobe nowadays. And I have to also mention the Fireworks, which makes every PHB party pic so much brighter.
10. What is your favorite Poptropica Easter egg/secret/reference?
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