Clubhouse, Creators, Store

A very bright clubhouse and store update 🎇

Agent Bubbles

Hello Poptropicans! Maryann here with a rundown of the latest updates to the clubhouse items, store, and Creators’ Blog!

You have no clue how hard it was to get Denali to pose for these with me.

Many of these new items take on a more modern style, including neon lights and a small vending machine. There’s also some gamer oriented decor, including a gaming chair and a neat little wall sign.

All we need now is a gacha system and I can replace my Genshin Impact addiction with a Pop one!

This recent store update included new outfits as well as the return of some familiar ones, including the Heart Astro Knight (a hint at the creators remembering the objectively best much-loved island?), as well as more Winter Girl/Boy sets. New additions include some cute t-shirts!

Along with a clubhouse update post, the Creators’ Blog made another soon after discussing the future of Poptropica in 2021. This post recalls the game’s creation by Jeff Kinney, as well as plans for “new islands… player requested updates to features, launching new side-quests and mini-games, and even giving Home Island a makeover.”

The post ends with dubbing 2021 the “Year of Stories” and hinting at another guest blog post about Paradise (Airport) Island. It also included this really pretty art!

That being said, mentions of new islands have encouraged a pressing question: Where is the news on the Dream Island contest? The most recent addition to the line-up was Goofball Island about a month ago. While outfits and accessories are fun, what makes Poptropica unique are its stories and islands, and it would be nice to have some idea of what is planned for the future, as well as what fan ideas can be achieved through the contest!

I don’t want to end this on a sour note though! So, what are your favorite of these new items? And what are your hopes for future Poptropica islands, both reboots and newcomers?

Castori honorem ~ Maryann/Smart Bubbles

Guest Posts

Creating the perfect Poptropica name

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Dangerous Dragon, who’ll be sharing how to find the perfect combo of a Poptropica player name. Enjoy!

Hi there Poptropicans, it’s Dangerous Dragon! That’s my name, and I’m going to keep it the same, but what about yours? Let me show you how to change your Poptropica name. To start, open the friends menu!

It will take you to your Pop-Profile. Easy, now what? Let’s see… you’ve got your avatar name and your membership status. Below, you will see your friends list. Eek! I need more friends. Maybe later! Right now, we’ve got a job to do. Click on the pencil next to your name to change it!

You’ll get a screen that lets you pick a new Pop name! Choose by moving the arrows in both sections. Let me demonstrate…

Hmm…. maybe… no… hmm… aha! Yes! Here’s an interesting one: Perfect Panda. Do you like it?

I like my own name, so I won’t be keeping this, but you can! Speaking of you Poptropicans, want to be my friend? Leave your username in the comments and I will send you a friend request!

Let’s talk about what makes a strong Poptropica character name. Here are my tips for picking a good one:

  1. Try alliteration, which is when words placed together start with the same letter. A name like Perfect Panda starts with P in both the first and last name, which makes it sound striking!
  2. A name should be ​quirky in some way — it could be mysterious, or cute, or convey some other feeling you like. I like mine b​old, so I’m Dangerous Dragon!
  3. It should be pop-tastic! In other words, as long as you like it, it’s golden.

Here are some names I created with the name generator that I think sound pretty cool: Perfect Penguin, Hyper Raptor, Dizzy Cactus, Loud Paw, Shy Sky, Scary Flame, Zippy Lightning, Brave Bug, Dizzy Leopard, and Super Singer. What do you think?

Did you know? The options you get on the name generator vary among players. The PHB has a whole list of Poptropica Names that have been seen over the years, sorted by first and last names!

Names

Thank you for reading, and share in the comments what cool names you’ve seen on Poptropica, as well as your username if you’d like to add more friends to your list! This is Dangerous Dragon signing off. Bye!

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Dangerous Dragon. If you did, you might also enjoy their My Place in Poptropica story!

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! 📰✨

Ask Poptropica Siri

Ask the Joker #4: Islands, islands, and more islands

Incredible Joker

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.

Which new island are you most excited for, and why? ~Pegs

I am not fully sure about which one I want to play most quite yet. Both Fairy Tale and Goofball Island are interesting concepts, and they still may have one or two more winners of the Dream Island contest to announce.

Fairy Tale reminds me a bit of Time Tangled but with more complexity to it. So I think it will be fun to find the things that are messed up and figure out where they go, and to see how true they stay to the classic fairytales. Or maybe they will even decide to make a few of their own versions.

I am also excited to meet the new villain they will introduce with Goofball island! Though they didn’t say whether this island would also come out in 2021, I hope it will be sometime soon with everything going on. (Also I am quite the fan of color by numbers, and the concept is pretty similar! ☺️🙃).

What is the hardest island? ~Genius Pink Lightning

I suppose this answer is probably going to be different for everybody, but mine would be either Nabooti or Time Tangled. Mostly because of having to find the right order to do things in, and then figuring out how to place all the gems in the right places.

Both those islands did have some pretty cool easter eggs though, like the phone on Nabooti and hidden Viking outfit on Time Tangled. Figuring out new codes for the phone was exciting each time, getting to see what they added to my character.

Even after you have played through them once, they can be pretty fun to replay to see just how well it flows with the right order of events!

Is there any way after the end of Flash to play more islands than are currently available in Haxe? ~Arnav K.

Yes, you can! 😄 You can play a handful more of them on the mobile app. If you can somehow get Flash to still work on your computer, perhaps with an older not-updated browser, a membership lets you access all the classic islands. Still, I can understand not wanting to buy membership to play classics that used to be free.

There is another unofficial way to play some of the classics with a little setup. Using idk’s Old Island Directory, you can play around 34 of them on Flashpoint, a Flash game preservation platform. I would list them here but I am lazy sure you will enjoy their organized list at the bottom of their page!

I wanna know, what is your My Place In Poptropica story? ~Emuuuuuuu

I plan to write a post for this story sometime in the future! 👍

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.

Guest Posts, My Place in Poptropica

My Place In Poptropica: Lone Axe

Slanted Fish

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Lone Axe, a young adult looking back on memories of playing Poptropica while growing up. See below for details about sharing your own MPIP story!

Hello! My name is Lone Axe, and this is the story of my Poptropica experience. I am perhaps a little too old to still be enjoying this game, but at this point, I don’t care. Do what you love, even if people think you should not enjoy it. That said, let’s begin the story…

Elementary school days

My story begins many years ago, when I was in elementary school. A friend introduced me to this game, and it was unlike anything had I played before. If I recall correctly Counterfeit was the newest island at the time. Me and my friend would play the game a lot and talk to each other about how to beat the tricky parts, as well as how we can design our characters. Eventually he moved away from the game, but I didn’t. I often find myself fixated on games I like for a long time.

Counterfeit Island was released in late 2009.

Fun fact: my old account was my school ID. I ended up ditching that account to make one more in line with my other account names, so I could remember it more easily. That is when Lone Axe was born.

Some fond memories

I have beaten almost every island (except Steamworks and Astro-Knights, but don’t tell anyone about that… shhhh).

Two islands that hold a special place in my heart are Cryptids and Twisted Thicket. These islands are most likely why I have such a fascination with cryptids and fae creatures. Mythical beings living in our modern world alongside us in secret is such a cool concept to me.

Have a Sprite: Could one of these dryads be coming to Poptropica?

To this day I still remember getting scared off my computer because of Poptropica. If you remember the Jersey Devil sequence from Cryptids Island, you know why. When it popped up in the window in that old house, I quite literally fell off the chair I was sitting on. My mom thought I lost my mind for a second.

Steamworks Island has been one of my greatest roadblocks in getting all the medallions in this game. I got stuck at the end and refused to try again for years. The island is one of my favorites in story and visuals, but wow, it’s hard.

Thoughts on the game now

With the death of Flash, the game feels gutted and many of my favorite experiences I can’t revisit now. All the chapters of Survival Island (except for one), Monster Carnival, and more are gone. I do have hope, though: hope that things can be restored and more people can experience the old feeling and wonders I had as a child.

I am an adult now, but this game will continue to be a part of me for years to come and I hope to see it improve. If you liked this and want to add me as a friend on Poptropica, my username is LogicBomb404. I hope you continue to have fun in this game as I do!

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. Please include your username and at least 400 words, typed with good spelling and grammar, and divided into labeled sections. If you send in your story, we will continue to post new community MPIPs!

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!

~the Poptropica Help Blog

PHB Specials

PHB Special: Pop the Difference, Round 3

LJ

Howdy, Poptropicans! It’s LJ here with another Pop The Difference special. It’s been nearly 3 years since the last one, so to say this is overdue is putting it mildly. Let’s not waste anymore time and pop right into it!

So here’s how the game works: Down below are five pairs of Poptropica images, each containing five differences. Some differences are easy to spot while others may be tougher. Are you up for the challenge?

1) Inspection of the Imperial Garden

2) Casting about the Carnival

3) Nanoscopic Pantoscopic

4) Eatery Exploration

5) Scanning the Swarm

How many could you find? Send in your answers to [email protected].

The first two people to correctly spot all 25 differences (5 in each) will receive a drawing of their Poptropican by me. (Check out my DeviantArt page to get a glimpse of what you’re in for. :P)

Answers and winners will be revealed at some point in the next coming weeks. That’s it for now and I’ll talk to you all in the next one. Pop on!

– LJ 🍀