🦄 Ponytropica 🦄

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.

Welcome to the second ATJ where you will be learning about the Joker himself! (Whether you want to or not 😂). These three questions were actually asked by the same person, Pegs. So thanks for taking an interest in me! And if anyone wants to mention their answer to any of these in the comments, go ahead. 😁

What is your favorite island? ~Pegs

That is a bit hard to pick between. You might guess 24 Carrot and yeah that one makes me pretty hoppy to play it, but each has its moments. I like ones with multiple parts like Arabian Nights and PoptropiCon. I liked on Counterfeit having to travel to another island and wish they had expanded on that idea. I did get really spirited about Ghost Story Island, for a few reasons. To be a stereotype, I am from a relatively haunted state and I have heard many, many ghost stories over the years so I like that type of thing already. I was pretty excited when they announced the island.

Who is your favorite villain? ~Pegs

Binary Bard. 😐

How many medallions do you have? ~Pegs

If I counted it up right I would say 48? That is not counting any I may have replayed, or the slightly modified 24 Carrot Island. The two islands that I have not completed are Back Lot Island and Lunar Colony, so maybe if they do add the old ones back then I can bring my count up to a perfect 50. Of course hopefully that count will go up soon anyways with two winners of the Dream Island contest being announced so far! Fairy Tale and Goofball Island! Unless I procrastinate and never finish the new islands. 😅

And that’s it for the second Ask the Joker! Remember to ask more questions and I’ll get to each one when I can. If this gets more popular, I may do more than three per post. More work for me but more fun for you all. 😅👍

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.

My Place in Poptropica: Dangerous Dragon

January 24, 2021January 23, 2021 Slanted Fish

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Dangerous Dragon, who found Poptropica during the pandemic. See below about sharing your MPIP story!

Ok, this is Dangerous Dragon and welcome! Poptropica Creators and Poptropicans, this is my story of how I discovered Poptropica. Get ready… get set… Go!

Bored for a game…

Yeah so, I’m from India and I’m 9 (well, almost, since my birthday is in February) sometimes it’s exciting, sometimes it’s boring. When India was on lockdown in 2020 it was obviously boring. Our classes were going online, and a few months later there was a problem…

Exploring the web

In the area where I lived, the internet network connection got very bad. So we got wifi! Now you will know: how did I discover Poptropica?

Some advice: when you’re a kid and you get wifi… the first thing you do is EXPLORE AND HAVE FUN! That’s what I did! I opened one thing I wanted to do: YouTube! Now a few days passed, and I got some games. I kept looking for a game where you could explore and do your own thing, but couldn’t find any. I got tired and opened YouTube again. There was something recommended from my favourite channel: it was from Thinknoodles a.k.a. Speedy Catfish… and the video was about Poptropica. And I was like, “Wha?”

Counterfeit Island docks (Thinknoodles on YouTube)

Poptropica!

I decided to download Poptropica on my tablet, and when I did… I could not believe it. It was a game where you could explore! At first I thought that we just had to do everything on Home Island — just customize and buy stuff.

A few days later, I got bored just customising, and then I wondered how Thinknoodles was playing on that island. With a bit more exploring, I discovered the Poptropica blimp. I hopped on, and then it showed me that precious screen: the Map.

Getting good at the game

From there, my journey truly began. My first island was Time Tangled, and I got through 4/5 of it before getting stuck. I searched on YouTube for the walkthrough and there was Thinknoodles playing Poptropica! After watching his video, I really started to understand how the game worked.

By now, my knowledge of Poptropica has grown even more. I’m even writing this post about it by myself! I also have a lot of things in my clubhouse and lots of credits.

Here is a quick picture of me in my clubhouse.

I’ve started to play many more islands, including Reality TV and Monster Carnival and Survival. While playing PoptropiCon, I got stuck and looked up a guide. That’s how I found the PHB!

Well, that wraps up my journey on how I discovered Poptropica. Ciao, Poptropicans!

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

Fan Art Features, Glitches, Social Media, Video of the Week

Video from Alana and villainous fan art 🐍

January 23, 2021June 6, 2021 Slanted Fish

Happy weekend, Poptropicans! Pop in for a fun video, fan art highlights, and more from the community!

In this Video of the Week from the Pop Creators’ Blog, Alana returns to Poptropica after 8 years and plays through Arabian Nights, Ep. 1: How Bazaar. Watch as she rediscovers her old account, calls out an old man for being completely oblivious to theft happening before his eyes, and gets spooked by a handful of the forty thieves:

It’s kind of funny how the Creators’ Blog post starts with “Did you know there are people who have been playing Poptropica for YEARS!?” — more evidence that they’re expecting, and catering to, new players over longtime ones. Speaking of the official blog, did you know there was no Video of the Week last week? 🤔

What does appear to be a regular occurrence, though, are fan art spotlights on the Poptropica Creators’ Instagram story! Check out the latest features from this week:

In other Poptropica news, the formidable Avatar Studio Glitch (ASG) is still going strong, even after the death of Flash. The PHB continues to update its ASG collection, so if you like strange and hard-to-find costumes, keep checking back there for new ones! Here are just a few we’ve added recently, thanks to Silver Horse and Dangerous Icicle:

That’s all for this post. Be sure to catch up on the other fun things happening in the posts below, from guest writers on the official Pop blog to what Astro-Knights Island may look like IRL!

Keep on popping, Poptropicans. ✌️

~slantedfish 🐠

Fan Art Features, Social Media

Guest writers to start popping up on the Poptropica Creators’ Blog ✏️

January 21, 2021June 6, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans — you may recall that just last week, the Poptropica Creators’ Blog put out an open call for guest writers. Today, we’re seeing our very first guest post on the official blog from one Fearless Walker!

Interestingly, Fearless Walker’s writing doesn’t show up on the blog’s homepage, but only appears when you click into the post. From there, she shares that she’s gained her expertise from having played for 8 years now, as well as 5 random facts and tips for Poptropica, punctuated with exclamation marks aplenty. Read Fearless Walker’s full post »

Though it’s our first time meeting Fearless Walker (hello if you’re reading this!), you may be more familiar with some of the other guest writers who will be making an appearance on the Pop blog.

Over the past day, a few of us from the PHC received an email from the Poptropica Creators inviting us to be Poptropica guest bloggers: Invisible Ring, whom you might recognize for her recent fan videos and compilation of the Poptropica comics; Purple Paw, a PHB staff writer, and yours truly, Slanted Fish, also a PHB staffer. What an opportunity!

The email sent by the Pop Creators inviting me to guest blog. The signer may be Natalie Shahmiri, Poptropica’s general manager, who was part of our Q&A with the Pop CEO.

I’m personally grateful for the chance to share on the Creators’ Blog and am already thinking about what I might write about! In particular, I’d love to take the chance to ask and share about Poptropica behind the scenes, as well as highlight creative work from the fandom (a little intro to the PHB, perhaps? 😉 ). We’ll see how it goes!

As the PHB noted earlier, the Creators are only offering guest writing opportunities to those who are 13 or older. They didn’t say why, but our speculation is possible concerns about child labor laws, though we don’t know the specifics. Still, the policy has spawned some discontent among younger kids in the Poptropica community, expressed in the official blog’s comments. Might there be an explanation?

If you feel similarly, or didn’t get an invitation for the Creators’ Blog, let me offer you the next best thing: you can guest write for the PHB! We might not be as big as the Creators’ Blog (though we don’t know their stats), but we’ve shared plenty of great guest posts here, and have no age requirements. All the details are on our Write for the PHB page!

While we’re on the subject of blogging about Poptropica, the PHB recently published a new page all about Our Philosophy. 📖 You can find it under the “About” tab on the site menu. The article is a reflection on why the PHB exists and endures, including why we think it’s worth investing in this corner of children’s media and how that shapes those whose lives it touches. Enjoy the read »

See you next time—and perhaps on the Poptropica Creators’ Blog! ✌️

~slantedfish 🐠

Pets, Store

Winter boys, girls, pets? Bully (bot) for you!

January 21, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans — new updates are in store! 🛍

Costumes have rotated, though other items remain the same as before. Several winter boy/girl costumes are in season, though you won’t find the full series together. Anyway, here they are, with new poses and all:

The Creators’ Blog also highlighted the Bully Bot Costume for its complementing of the Legendary Swords: Match 3 minigame, though veteran players may recognize that the Bully Bot was awarded as a prize in the original Legendary Swords adventure.

Have you played the new Legendary Swords: Match 3 minigame?

Don’t be fooled (like I was) by the ambiguously phrased Creators’ Blog post title, “New Pet and Store Items” — though there are no new pets, the pet barn has new accessories available for your little friend: a Pom Pom Hat, Pink Bow, and Puffy Coat are each 75 credits.