🏝 Poptropica Help Blog 🗺

Hey Poptropicans—this is a guest post by Incredible Joker, who is piloting a new series here on the PHB. Got a Poptropica question? Ask the Joker!

Ice cubes! Now that I have gotten your attention with something as cool as I am, let me start explaining what this is all about…

Hello there, I am Incredible Joker and I will be trying out a new old idea. Back in the day, the PHB published a Poptropica fan magazine known as POPCORN or formerly The Poptropican’s 911 (you can read the archives here!). One of the segments in the earlier issues was “Ask PHB,” where the PHB team would answer your Poptropica-related questions.

And now, I’d like to bring that back—with a new flavor. As the PHB team is busy creating other amazing things on this blog, I have taken it into my own hands, or whatever it is we Poptropicans have, to host a Q&A segment here on the PHB. It’s called “Ask the Joker.”

This is where I invite all of you, dear readers, to send in your questions, anything at all — as long as it’s related to Poptropica! It can be about the game or the fandom surrounding it—from island help to glitches to crafting a fashionable seasonal outfit to fan-made art, stories, and so much more—I will try and answer what I can, helpfully and humorously (after all, you are asking a joker!). 😜

As this is just the pilot, we are still working out the structure of these Q&As, like how often it will be and how many questions we will answer in each post. It does depend on how popular this gets (or how little 😅)—so go ahead and share a question (or two or three) with me before you forget what popped to mind!

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.

I look forward to receiving and answering your questions in the next Ask the Joker! And for anyone still trying to get some inspiration for their questions, how about checking out the old PHB fan magazines?

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Incredible Joker. If you’ve got a burning Poptropica question or two, Ask the Joker for a fresh perspective!

The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. You can find some tips and guidelines on our page on how to Write for the PHB, and share blog posts on the PHC, our Discord server.

📰 If you have an idea for a PHB post, send it in! ✨

Hellos & Goodbyes

A new author has conquered: Maryann

January 10, 2021January 11, 2021 Agent Bubbles

Hello all!

My name is Maryann, although if you’d like you can also call me Smart Bubbles, my Poptropican name. I am ecstatic to join this team, and I can’t wait to see where my time on the PHB goes!

As it is par for the course, I might as well give a brief introduction. On pretty much all social media I go by MaryannTheConqueror, including on the PHC Discord where some of you might have seen me. My absolute favorite island is Astro-Knights, and you can probably expect half my posts to be about it (and the other half to include a bunch of vague references and nudges to the Creators to prioritize its Haxe port).

I’ve been a fan of Poptropica for much, much longer than I’ve been active in its fandom. I started playing around the release of Skullduggery in May/June 2010, and kind of phased in and out of my interest in it. That being said, there was something about the game and its stories that captivated me and kept me coming back.

I became obsessed with finding any tiny bit of lore on the world and characters I could, and even began writing (embarrassing) fanfiction that I thankfully never put online. That being said, I still credit Pop as a major inspiration for my love of storytelling, as well as art after I had my chance to show my love in the 2016 #PoptropicaArt contest!

I joined Discord around the time of the 2020 Tribal Tournament, and participated in Poptropica Month on YouTube as well. I also wrote a few guest posts for the PHB as well. Through this I’ve met many online friends and have started a lot of chaos ~~and cults~~ very dedicated groups.

Besides Poptropica, I also love Stardew Valley, Genshin Impact, and pretty much any artsy 2D RPG that comes my way. I also love reading (“Thunderhead” from the “Scythe” series broke my soul), and watching shows and movies, particularly animated ones! I’m also on Instagram, Tapastic (where I post my comics), YouTube, and of course, the PHC.

I can’t wait to write more, and I hope we have a fun journey together!

Castori honorem ~ Maryann/Smart Bubbles

Contests, Goofball Island

Goofball Island throws us for a curveball of a recurring dream ✏️🤪

January 10, 2021January 9, 2021 Slanted Fish

After making us wait a week longer than promised, this Thursday Poptropica finally unveiled the next winner of the Design Your Dream Island Contest: Goofball Island by Thirsty Flame!

Here’s the description from the Creators’ Blog announcement:

The plot: In a colorful and bizarre-looking town populated by joke-loving and silly citizens, the evil scientist, Dr. Blandston, has invented a device to take away the town’s color and goofiness. It’s up to you to defeat Dr. Blandston and destroy his machine before he can turn the entire island into a dull, gray, land.

It’s an interesting idea for sure — but one that has, in a similar form, appeared in the Poptropica universe. Though color snatching hasn’t been a theme of any island in the game before, Poptropica did release a book back in 2012 with a similar premise, complete with evil villain.

Pencil Warrior was a 16-page activity book where a mad scientist named Arthur Eraser tries to steal all of Poptropica with his Super Eraser, and use the stolen materials to build his own island, Evil Eraser Island. In the blank spaces of the partially erased scenes in the book, you can draw things to return Poptropica to normalcy, reversing the “colorless chaos.”

Cover of the “Pencil Warrior” activity book

Still, the book is perhaps obscure enough that Goofball Island will feel fresh for most players. Plus, having another delusional doctor in the game checks out, considering the crazes for Drs. Hare and Beev. And “Doctors” is also this month’s theme for Community Creations, so get coloring before an unstable desperado wipes things out!

Unlike with the announcement of Fairy Tale Island, which is slated for 2021, there’s no mention of when Goofball Island will be released. Presumably it’s going to be a while, what with the Creators’ current priorities on converting old islands to the new Haxe build that Poptropica runs on. The Creators also mention that they’ll be announcing more winners, though no timeline this time — it could be another week or more again for all we know. Stay tuned!

Congrats, Thirsty Flame, for dreaming up this future Poptropica island! What are your thoughts on Goofball Island? Intriguing, or just too goofy for its own good? 🤪 Share with us in the comments!

~🐠

Fan Art Features, Member Gifts, Social Media, Store, Video of the Week

Stylish packs and spider pranks 🐻🕷

January 9, 2021June 6, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, new member gifts are here, and they come in packs of three! First up is the Furry Purse Pack, with variants of a cute brown bear, happy pink bunny (not at all like the evil Dr. Hare), and a sleepy gray kitty. It’s an overshirt item, so it can’t go with jackets.

Then there’s the Snowboard Pack, which has a version with stripes of different colors, another that says “Powder” (interesting brand name?), and one with rounded lines and shades of purple.

The last batch of bonus goods are the RC Cars, or remote controlled cars, although you can’t see the remote. They come in blue (with flames), red (with lightning), or green (truck style), and pressing space bar will make the car drive around a couple times on the ground.

All in all, that’s 9 new member gifts to kick off the new year! But if you don’t have a membership yet, why not enter our giveaways for Free Poptropica Membership? That’s right, this newly launched feature on the PHB gives away free membership to a lucky Poptropican every month, and entering is as easy as 1-2-3. Get started »

While that’s happening, there’s plenty of new stuff for all players over at the store. In addition to some classics, the latest update includes 7 new items: the Floral Tee, Camo Kid, and Record Spinner in costumes, plus a Spider Prank, Jetpack, Baby Penguin Follower, and White Combat Boots. Check out the full stock in the gallery below (thanks, Gentle Dolphin):

Take a look at a couple of these new items in action below. They sure look like they could become fun common room classics in the Haxe era!

The RC Car, one of the member gifts, in action — driving around.

In other news, here’s what the Pop Creators have been featuring this week on social media. On their Instagram story this Friday, they shared two pieces of fan art as well as a snap of Binary Bard socks from the Poptropica merch store. Have you gotten your Pop swag yet?

Pop characters as humans by @hfevra (link)

On the Creators’ Blog, they shared a Video of the Week from Shade-e’s 101, who recorded himself exploring his friend’s clubhouse. The Creators mentioned how they loved seeing the Poptropica community be supportive of one another, and that you can tag your videos with “Poptropica” for a chance to have them featured!

There’s a lot more going on in Poptropica and the fandom than we can fit in this post! Catch up on other news below, like the new Legendary Swords: Match 3 mini-game, and stay tuned for further commentary about the reveal of the second winner of the Design Your Dream Island Contest: Goofball Island. 🤔⚔️🤪

By the way, if you’re a Poptropica fan who’s eager to hear about the latest news as soon as it drops, consider joining the PHC, our Discord server! On the PHC, fans can share and respond to things more immediately than we can blog about them, though of course, we’re still committed to maintaining quality records and commentary here on the blog — it just takes a bit of time. Thanks for sticking with us, and pop on!

~🐠

Legendary Swords

Swords up for a legendary new mini-game ⚔️

January 8, 2021January 9, 2021 Purple Paw

Hi there, Poptropicans! As was hinted at recently, a new mini-game—inspired by the long-lost Legendary Swords action quest—is here!

Though it’s quite different from the original action quest itself, it’s fun and addicting nonetheless. To access the new Legendary Swords: Match 3 game, go to your messages or find it on the map. Plus, read on for a full guide on how to beat it below!

When you start, you’ll be faced with a large board filled with different types of robot heads, the villain E. Vile, and other items from the original Legendary Swords, as well as some new bug-eyed creatures.

The objective of the game is to match three or more of the same item in a row as many times as you can to gain points throughout three rounds. You’ll see a time bar up in the corner. Each round gives you 60 seconds to gain as many points as you can, so move quickly!

To gain points, swipe an item so that it matches up in a row with two or more of the same items. For an example, take a look at this vertical row of one-eyed robots:

Three robots are stacked in a row. One robot, however, is sitting next to the row instead of in it. Swiping the odd robot into the empty space in the row next to it will award a good number of points. The more items collected in a row, the more points will be earned!

But creating rows of items isn’t the only way to gain points. As you match more rows and score more points, a small blue bar in the upper left alongside an image of your Poptropican will fill up, and the picture will start to pulse. When you see your picture pulsing, click on it for a surge of extra points, as well as an extra ten seconds on the clock!

Once you’ve clicked on it, the blue bar will empty and the Poptropican will stop pulsing. Keep matching rows and gaining points to fill the bar up again as many times as you can!

Another good way to gain more points and time is using swords. There are two types of swords that sometimes come up: the Rusty Relic, which will give you at least a few extra seconds and points, and the Bolt, which is even stronger than the Relic and will give you even more time and points. These swords don’t need to be matched up in a row like normal items, so swipe them any which way to collect your points and time.

At the end of the three rounds, you’ll be shown a list of the top three ranking scores, along with your own score!

Now you’re ready to get out there and master this mini-game! What did you all think of Legendary Swords: Match 3? Was it the fun challenge you’d been hoping for, or was it too poor of a representation of the original mini-quest to please you?

And, if you did try it out, what final score did you achieve? Share with us in the comments down below!

~💜