Salutations! Maryann here with a recap of the most recent store update and Poptropica’s Instagram spotlight on fan art!
This latest store update was promoted by the Creators in a blog post, which shared a couple interesting future plans. But first, the costumes! The two newest additions are the return of the Orange Julius and Pretty Tough outfits. It seems as though the Creators are already moving towards spring/summer styles!
Their post also mentions Fairy Tale Island, on which the creators have “been hard at work without any breaks.” From the sound of it, we may be seeing a new island soon! They also mentioned working on some updatesto the game, but didn’t elaborate.
Speaking of changes, we got confirmation of a store update! It’s supposed to make the shopping experience “easier and more inclusive.” I’m personally hoping for a better sorting system for items, but what do you think?
Now let’s get to the art! (Thanks Gentle Dolphin for the pics!)
Along with a promotion from Coolmath Games to play Poptropica on their website, the Pop Instagram also shared six pieces of fan art, some of which come from active members of the community and the PHC!
If you’re an artist and you have social media, don’t be afraid to share your work and tag #Poptropica so the Pop Creators can see! Plus, many of Pop players love seeing creative work from fellow Poptropicans.
Well, I think that’s all. I’ll be off for…actually, you know what? I don’t think I’ll disappear just yet.
Ask the Joker 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 wit, wisdom, and wisecracks, by one Incredible Joker.
I noticed that you have a Dr. Hare costume on your Poptropican, do you like Dr. Hare or are you a fan of someone else? ~Smart Icicle
I don’t really use that costume too much, but I actually also have another account with the same outfit in white. 🙃👍 I think that Dr. Hare leaves an impression on most players, and I think that’s because he’s usually the first villain people face. (Unless you count the spider from Early Poptropica 😂).
I don’t really have a specific reason that I like him so much, aside from that and his general story. Some villains you just want them to have a (somewhat) happy ending!
Spider from Early Poptropica Island
Hi my question is what do you love most about being a staff writer on the PHB? ~Dangerous Dragon
Fan art! 👍😂 I’ve never had art drawn of me before now. 😛 But really though, it’s nice to help out with this blog and like I’ve mentioned before, to have the freedom that I do with these posts I make. (In fact, I wrote part of this one while eating lunch at work! 😅)
I have a few other ideas for PHB posts in the works, that Slanted Fish has been helping me with 👍 (and being very patient with me 😂😅). I suppose that’s another part of what I enjoy about being here: how much the other PHB staff care about the blog and the game.
What was your favorite Poptropica (Flash) glitch? ~Greedy Shadow
There have been many, many glitches over Poptropica history. Unfortunately many of them are not helpful to the player. 😂😅 But I suppose my favorite one would have to be the small “flying” glitch.
It might not work now, but back in the Flash days, you could “fly” by using any spacebar-activated item action while walking off a building, and would keep going until animation was done. Here’s a YouTube video that captures it in action:
If done right, the glitch could sometimes help you get to places you weren’t supposed to be at yet. Of course it, like all glitches, it was kind of iffy on working most of the time.
How can you send in your questions to Ask the Joker?
That’s a great question! You can use the following methods:
📧 Send an email to justaskthejoker (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 the Joker 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 next time, and remember: You can’t spell Poptropica without letters.
Hey all, Sporty Boa here! As you may know, Poptropica’s Design Your Dream Island Contest has come to a close with the creators announcing the highly-anticipated third and final winning submission a couple days ago. Secret of the Jade Scarab Island took this special spot alongside Fairy Tale & Goofball Island as the winning ideas, but the these were no easy choices. The Poptropica Creators stated that they reviewed all the submissions not once, not twice, but TWELVE TIMES to determine the final winner of the Dream Island Contest!
If it hasn’t already been made apparent, this community is truly brimming with creative ideas and concepts for islands they wish to see in Poptropica. We here at the PHB would love to grant the opportunity for you to share those ideas with our new series: My Dream Island!
Similar to our long running series, My Place in Poptropica, My Dream Island allows for you, the community, to share you own island ideas here on the Poptropica Help Blog. If you are interested in this opportunity, let us know by writing for the PHB!
My Dream Island: Sporty Boa
I’ll go first to kick of things off! Like several PHB authors, I entered Poptropica’s Dream Island contest. Although ours weren’t selected as winners, our island ideas remain dear to us. I for one would love to share my Cretaceous creation: Prehistoric Peril Island!
Story
Millions of years ago, all of Poptropica’s dinosaurs went extinct. Or did they? Adventurer-seeking millionaire Harold Mews has found evidence that begs to differ: A super-secret remote island where dinosaurs continue to roam free! He recruits your Poptropican for the mission of a lifetime: To travel to this mysterious island and obtain sufficient evidence of living dinosaurs! Thankfully you won’t be on your own, a team of Poptropica’s biggest and brightest minds join you on this epic escapade, with high tech gadgets at your disposal. However, no amount of tech or expertise can prepare you and your team for the challenges that lie ahead. On Prehistoric Peril Island, surprises await around every corner as you encounter creatures lost to time, and if you’re not careful, you may become one of them!
Setting
The bulk of the story takes place on the enigmatic Dino Island, where vegetation shrouds this wild world and vibrant life surrounds you. Dino Island hosts various terrains home to various dinosaurs, you must be able to traverse them all in an effort to survive.
Notable Locations
Cretaceous Coast – Helicopter landing site
Paleozoic Plains – Location of Research Site A and the locus for your team’s Biological and Historical field studies
Dino Desert – Location of Research Site B and the locus for your team’s Paleontology and Geological studies
Jurassic Jungle – Dense and dangerous rain forest area, home to a mysterious and somewhat familiar face
Archaic Caves – These caves reveal secrets of the past… well, present. Time is weird on Dino Island!
Characters
Prehistoric Peril Island marks the return of a handful of classic and beloved characters (marked with *) along with some new faces to add to the ever-expanding world of Poptropica!
Herald Mews* – Owner of the Mews Foundation; A kind, adventurous explorer keen on pushing the boundaries of science. Loves cryptids and never-before seen creatures.
Dr. Alima – Poptropica’s top paleontologist and paleobotanist, leader of the expedition team
Professor Hammerhead* – 100 year old explorer, expert in ancient civilizations and island survival
Shark Guy* – Professor Hammerhead’s protégé and caretaker
Professor Pendulum* – Inventor of Poptropica’s first (and only) time machine, expert in all things time-related.
Dr. Lange* – Head scientist of the Poptropica Disease Center; Medical professional and expert
Medicine Man – Native of the mysterious Dino Island, Concoctor of special potions
Return of the Medicine Man
Antagonists
Cave Collector – A long-time castaway and unstable thief/inventor, this cave man is desperate to escape Dino Island by any means necessary.
Cave Man
Megalodon Man – Shark Guy wants to make a bigger impact on the team so he drinks a potion from the medicine man, transforming him into the monstrous megalodon man!
Want to hear some shark facts?
INSPIRATION
I approached the creation of Prehistoric Peril Island with a relatively blank slate, wishing to create a fun and unique experience for old and new players alike. While much of the story came off the dome, I combined aspects of my personal favorite islands, Cryptids & Shark Tooth, especially when it came to characters. New characters, like Dr. Alima and the Caveman, were also inspired by things close to home, like my verdant villain costume I made for the PHB’s Halloween contest. In a nutshell, Poptropica inspired me, along with my love for prehistoric life and the natural world.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my Dream Island, Prehistoric Peril! If you’re interested in learning more about my island, I plan on posting the full story/walkthrough on the Sporty Boa Blog and my YouTube channel. Its planning and creation has been something I’ve enjoyed and put a lot of thought into, and even though I didn’t win the contest, I am still incredibly pleased with my work.
If you too are inspired to share your island idea, don’t hesitate to whip up a post like this one, highlighting story, settings, characters, and inspiration, and we’ll share them here on the PHB’s My Dream Island series! I hope you all stay safe and stay awesome, this Boa’s gotta bounce!
Howdy Poptropicans! A couple of weeks ago I posted 5 pairs of Poptropica images to see who could find all of the differences within them — where the quickest two would receive a drawing of their Poptropican by me. Let’s pop right into all of the answer reveals!
1) Inspection of the Imperial Garden
Green trees/red trees
No bush/bush
Flower on bush/missing flower
Clear sky/cloud in the sky
Yellow flowers/blue flowers
2) Casting about the Carnival
Blue pennant/purple pennant
Sock & Buskin/lack there of
Missing fried dough/fried dough present
Green balloon/yellow balloon
Blank area in the sky/star in the sky
3) Nanoscopic Pantoscopic
Conveyor/missing conveyor
Blue speaker dust cap/green speaker dust cap
“CLAP” on screen/blank screen
Bolt/absent bolt
Plain background/silhouette of crab
4) Eatery Exploration
Green soda/blue soda
Fish burritos on the menu/just burritos
Small pendant light/large pendant light
Note hanging on the bulletin board/missing note
Buttons/missing buttons
5) Scanning the Swarm
Skull on Sickly’s top/no skull
Poptropica blimp in background/blank space
Dr. Harold Langely/Octavian
Black dog/brown dog
Green balloon/purple ballooon
There were several people who participated in the game, but there were only a couple of participants who managed to catch all of the dissimilarities. Now it’s time to see who won!
The two speedy seekers who took the prize this time were none other than PHC regular, HfEvra, and frequent PHB commenter, Dangerous Dragon! Here are your Poptropican portraits as promised. I hope you like them! 😉
HfEvra
Dangerous Dragon
P.S. I’m sorry for the delay in the publishing of this post. There were some technical difficulties, but that’s life I guess. Anyway, thank you for reading and a special shoutout to all of you who tried. There’s always next time. Pop on!
Not much has been revealed about this upcoming island, but the name suggests a storyworld similar to Nabooti Island, where we go around Africa to find missing jewels.
If you were starting to feel jaded (heh) about when Poptropica would get around to this long-awaited announcement, well, we don’t blame you! It turns out that the Creators reviewed all the submissions 12 times to determine the final winner, and that really took a hot minute.
So what’s this adventure about? We don’t know much yet beyond the name, as this is all the Creators have said about it so far:
We were looking for a great story, for intrigue, and for a great mystery to solve. We wanted something challenging, exhilarating, and that had a touch of real-world history to it.
Poptropica Creators’ Blog
And it’s certainly got one of the longest island names in Poptropica history, second only to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Island.”
UPDATE: Girl Power has commented on this PHB post to share a little more about her island idea! Here’s what she wrote:
The concept work I did for Secret of the Jade Scarab included lots of archeological references, curses, and Egyptian culture. The main plot featured the player investigating a string of accidents to determine whether or not a pharaoh’s curse was threatening an archeological dig site and visiting a nearby market to learn about hieroglyphics.
Girl Power, island designer (see her PHB comment below!)
While we wait for more details to be revealed, we can draw some speculations from the name. Secret suggests a mystery to be solved, centered on this jade scarab: jade being an ornamental mineral and scarabs being a kind of popular artifact in ancient Egypt, often used in amulets or impression seals. There’s that touch of “real-world history”!
Two sides of a scarab inscribed with the name of Senwosret II (source: Wikipedia)
Scarabs were “typically carved or moulded in the form of a scarab beetle” and were often green or blue, though jade stone would not have been commonly used in ancient Egypt—instead, jade has roots in East, South, and Southeast Asian art. So the Jade Scarab may be a unique Poptropica invention, perhaps one that takes us across cultures.
Meanwhile, the Creators’ Blog goes on to share that the first Dream Island winner, which would be Fairy Tale Island, is already in the works, and it’s going to be different from the traditional island experience:
We have so many great things in the works for you this year and can’t wait to share them all! The first dream island is already in development and it looks SO GOOD! It’s a whole new take on an island experience and we think you’re going to love it!
Poptropica Creators’ Blog
Now that all the winners of the Dream Island contest have been announced — Fairy Tale Island, Goofball Island, and Secret of the Jade Scarab Island — we can look forward to these upcoming, promising adventures. 🧚♂️😜🐞 Fairy Tale is promised to release this year in 2021, but then again, if choosing the contest winners took two months, who’s to say when an entire new island will be ready?
Anyway, what are your theories on Secret of the Jade Scarab Island? Which of the winning islands are you looking forward to the most? Share your thoughts in the comments and on our Discord server, the PHC. 😄
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