🦄 Ponytropica 🦄

Welcome back to “Pop Places IRL,” Poptropicans! Today, we’re visiting ye olde times and heading to Astro-Knights Island. Enjoying the series? Be sure to check out other Pop Places IRL posts.

Astro-Knights Island takes place in Medieval Europe, but obviously includes a sci-fi twist. Though its exact location is never specified, we’ll assume the kingdom of Arturus has British roots, given its repeated connections to Arthurian legend.

Before we launch our rocket and start soaring through the stars, we get to explore the kingdom a bit to kick off the mysterious story of this island. The Castle is definitely the largest structure in town, and an iconic element of Medieval Europe to say the least.

Besides the castle, however, we get to see a medieval aesthetic all throughout Arturus, particularly when looking at Main Street. Er… save for those sci-fi elements we talked about earlier. I don’t think we would be able to find a glowing rocket statue in the Middle Ages…

photo: Small Towns in England (planetware)

The Ye Olde Rumour Mille is another major location in town. The name might be a bit of a joke, but the actual structure is pretty similar to its IRL counterpart!

photo: Stembridge Tower Mill (picturesofengland)

General town aside, let’s step back inside the castle. That’s why we’re here, aren’t we? Cool castles!!! Though many castles in Europe have been refurbished in one way or another, it’s nonetheless interesting to still see them standing at all. You can even tour some!

photo: Medieval Castles in the UK (jebiga)

Continuing inside the castle, I think the most important room to talk about is the Throne Room. Gotta have a center piece for the whole castle! The room we have pictured is from France, but you get the idea. Quite ornate!

On the opposite side of things, however, we have the Dungeon. These sorts of cells, including “oubliettes,” are often associated with with the Medieval era (though its correlation with torture more accurately pairs with the Renaissance period). Too bad there weren’t any mysterious robots IRL to keep prisoners company!

photo: The Castle Dungeon and the Oubliette (exploringcastles)

The last room in the castle is the Library. Art history buffs will certainly be familiar with some illuminated manuscripts from this era, though we don’t have much time to stop and study anything in Poptropica. Gotta love that Old English, right? Unfortunately the library in Poptropica is, er, in a bit disarray…

photo: The Golden Haggadah (khanacademy)

While in the castle library, we could also glance at some references Poptropica makes to Arthurian legend (as I mentioned earlier). Though the legend primary features King Arthur, we learn from the Astro-Knights novel that the King of Arturus is actually named Richard. As in Richard the Lionheart!

photo: King Arthur (ancienthistoryencyclopedia)

Similarly, the knights have ties to legend: Pelasus (named similarly to Pelleas, a knight of the round table), Gawain (another knight of the round table with the same name), and Cador (Duke of Cornwall, related to Arthur). Cador may not be a knight of the round table like his comrades, but the ties are there nonetheless! So… have a photo of Sir Lancelot in his place.

Another good comparison to legend: Merlin! Other than sharing the name with a wizard, our “feathered” friend also shares his name with a type of falcon.

Last but not least… Binary Bard! Or Mordred, to be clear. There are various depictions of him in legend, but as Modredus, he is Arthur’s traitorous nephew.

The Life of Mordred: A Cautionary Tale — photo: Mordred (wikipedia)

Alright, I know we strayed away from “places” for a bit there, leaning more towards “people,” so let’s get back on track! Other than Medieval Europe, the other dominant setting of Astro-Knights is, of course, space! The real moon may not have an AstroZone like the Pewter Moon in Poptropica, but maybe we’ll get to that point someday.

photo: Lunar Surface (interestingengineering)

If you recall, the three main planets we visit on our space adventure include the Ice Planet, Fire Planet, and Jungle Planet. Wellllll, those planets may not be in our solar system, but we can still compare them to what we have IRL! Based on their distance from the sun and atmosphere characteristics, Uranus is our coldest planet while Venus is our hottest. Does that make Earth our Jungle Planet then?

Phew, now that was a long trip! I guess space is a pretty far off flight, huh? But anyway, it’s no wonder that Astro-Knights won “OG Island We’ll Miss Most” in the 2020 Poppies. It’s quite the adventure!

Aside from the sci-fi elements, how well do you think this island holds up to IRL Medieval Europe? How much do you know about Arthurian legend? And what other islands would you like to see in this series? Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in a comment below!

Until next time, Poptropicans, I’m blasting off for now!

~SD

Ask Poptropica Siri

Ask the Joker #1: Relatives, island releases, and design reliances 🃏

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 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.

Welcome to the first set of questions in this new PHB series, Ask the Joker! Many of you wrote in with your Poptropica questions, and now— *adjusts goggles* —I shall be offering my sage advice.

If you do not see yours in this post, do not worry — I am saving all submitted questions and they may be answered in the future. Now, onto your pressing questions, and my ~~rambling~~ amazing answers! 😂

Guessing by your name and appearance, are you related to Lucky Joker and/or Dr. Hare? ~Gentle Dolphin

I am not related to Lucky Joker as far as I am aware (unless… long lost relative? 😮). As for Dr. Hare, I guess that would be a hare-y situation to explain. So instead I will just play it by ear and hop onto the next question! 🙃👍

When do you think there will be a new island? ~EvilGirl31

I suppose that we’ll be waiting a while, as they just last week announced Goofball Island, the second winner of the Dream Island contest (out of who knows how many?). Before that, there is also Fairy Tale Island, planned for sometime in this year according to their announcement. Meanwhile, they’re also working on porting the old classic islands over to Haxe, so that may see more progress in 2021.

They may release a few old islands first to keep people happy until the new ones are ready. They have the content of their old islands — it’s just a matter of getting them on the new Haxe system. Maybe we’ll get a few in early to mid 2021? Just speculating, though. And Fairy Tale Island, being a brand new island, is probably going to take more time to create — but still in 2021, if all goes as scheduled.

Either way, we should have something coming to help our impatience! 😂😛 Of course, even then, I will probably be procrastinating on completing it myself… 😅

What inspired the art and design for Poptropica? ~Shantelle W.

This one was not easy to find, and I’m still researching it a bit, but here’s some stuff you may find fascinating! Here’s a Q&A with Poptropica artist Abigail Grigg, which talks a bit about art styles and inspirations. Abigail’s advice? “Experiment and try new stuff!” You never know where you might dream up the next big idea.

And check out the PHB’s Poptropica Yearbook for 2007, which includes some fun pics of Poptropica’s early concept art before the game was even created. According to Poptropica’s founder, Jeff Kinney, Poptropica’s first concept was “an enormous map of single-scene rooms,” but it took a competitor making a game with a similar name as Poptropica’s working title, “Poptropolis,” for them to switch gears and start thinking about islands, the format we know and love today.

That’s it for the very first Ask the Joker! Bring on your questions and I’ll see you in the next one. And quick thanks to Slanted Fish for letting me have the freedom to write 😂😜 and for her editing! 😅

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.

Creators, Uncategorized

A call for guest writers whips up more questions

January 14, 2021January 14, 2021 Agent Bubbles

Greetings Poptropicans! This is Maryann bringing you a recent update from the Poptropica Creators’ Blog, an open call for guest writers!

The requirements are fairly simple: you must be 13 years old or older, and sign up through the usual submissions page with a “quick answer on why you think you’d be a great contributor to the blog.” You must also include your (or a parent’s) email.

Many fans (including myself) were thrilled about the news at first, and many members of our online community have submitted for the position! However, it wasn’t long before some questions arose, notably from the Dimension Bros’ video released soon after, discussing the Creators’ motives for how they approach their fans. (Disclaimer: Individual fan reactions do not necessarily represent the PHB’s views.) Fans have also questioned how writers would be credited, as this is not the first time Poptropica has asked for fan ideas to use and gain rights to, such as when they asked players to submit ideas for merch.

If you want to learn more and form your own opinions/ideas on this, and read through a bit of legalese, I suggest looking through the terms of use connected to the submissions page.

They state, among other things, that Poptropica may use your content anonymously (unless you give them permission to disclose your name otherwise), on third party sites (such as social media), and that you are not owed any compensation for what you submit. Rest assured, though, that Poptropica does not “claim any ownership rights to your content.” In the end, it’s up to an individual how they feel about their content being handled, but at the same time transparency is important, especially with a younger demographic.

In the end, hopefully this turns out in a positive way for both the fans reading the blog and those who are picked to be guest writers! Until next time!

Castori honorem ~ Maryann/Smart Bubbles

Legendary Swords, Store

Lights on for clubhouse, but what really happened to Legendary Swords?

January 13, 2021January 14, 2021 Fierce Flyer

Hello everyone, Fierce here with two updates: a clubhouse store update, and… the story of what really happened to Legendary Swords!

First, the clubhouse store was updated on Tuesday, featuring plenty of nice decor to add to your abode. There’s plenty of furniture this time around with 43 decorations, 13 of which are for members. Some highlights from this collection are the neon signs of a cactus and crescent moon, plus welcoming text signs, all sure to brighten up your clubhouse — figuratively and literally.

We’ve had quite the eventful month thus far, including a brand new Match 3 mini-game inspired by the classic Legendary Swords. Legendary Swords was a mini-quest released back in 2011, where your Poptropican was pitted against a race of robots led by the diabolical E. Vile. But, was this always the plan for this well-received adventure?

Veteran players may remember that, upon completing the mini-quest, a message would show up promising a Battle Arena coming soon. As time went on and this never materialized, the message eventually disappeared, even as the mini-quest stayed on.

Answers to this mystery recently came up in the Instagram comments on Poptropica’s post about Legendary Swords: Match 3. According to former Pop Creator James D. Lema (@jamesdlema, also known as Director D), Legendary Swords was originally supposed to be a 3-part series with aspects of being able to use swords from costumes purchased from the store. Sadly, after the Legendary Swords we all know and love was released, the team behind the project did not get the go-ahead to complete the entire series. Director D (Lema) wrote, “(It) broke my heart to not finish that story.” I don’t know about you all, but this too breaks my heart. Legendary Swords for me was such an adventurous and unique idea in the Poptropica world that completely worked, and having even more added to that would’ve been great.

That’s all as of now! Let us know in the comments what you think the other parts of Legendary Swords could’ve been like, had the team been greenlighted on the project. Also, don’t forget to mention which items you would personally include in your clubhouse.

Thanks for reading, and see you around, Poptropicans!

—Fierce

Uncategorized

Keeping tabs on the new inventory 🎒💪 and the old islands

January 13, 2021January 13, 2021 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, look inside your bags for a big surprise: the inventory has gotten a refresh, with items now being sorted by categories!

While the Island and Pets tabs have always been there, the old Store tab has expanded into more categories to match the store’s layout. Now we have: Island, Costumes, Followers, Powers, Pranks, Misc, Pets. Check it out by opening your backpack from the menu!

Your items are now sorted in categories corresponding to the store.

It’s great to see Poptropica finally tackle the mess that was the inventory, which used to be a never-ending scroll through a single row of slow-loading item cards. Now, unless you have too few items, you can scroll through two rows at a time, and the speed has improved too.

One feature that could make this even better would be the ability to search for items by typing, with a Google-like autofill as you type to help suggest what you’re looking for without you having to type the whole thing. After all, some of us have years’ worth of items!

And there’s more: if your eye was sharp, you may have noticed something different about one of the item cards shown above. Instead of showing the player’s Poptropican, the Rainbow Ride hoodie has its own model, complete with a pose! In fact, all the new Haxe-era items will have their own posing models. Take a look in the store:

All the new kids are rocking fresh poses.

While it was cool to have your Poptropican model your items before hitting Costumize (and as shown in the first pic, they still do show up for older Flash-era items) — it’s also interesting to see the variety in these new poses and models. Plus, it’s possible that these premade characters shave off loading time, and if that’s the case, it’s certainly welcome.

And look what else… pets know a thing or two about striking poses, too!

In other news, the Grapple-Pap Gift side-quest is gone, as you may have seen from the absence of Clareta’s brother in our pictures from Home Island earlier this week. And there’s one more farewell we need to note…

As of January 12, 2021, Adobe Flash is truly dead. Yes, we did already our goodbyes to Flash in 2020, but now, when you visit Early Poptropica Island on the map (which would have led to all the other classic islands, and is only open to members), you’ll be greeted with a simple box with Flash’s grayed-out icon and an info button. Clicking it leads to Adobe’s page about the Flash Player’s end of life. RIP, our Flashy friend. 🙏

But all is not lost! You can still play several more (though not all) of the classic islands with the Poptropica mobile app, available on iOS and Android. The app includes all the islands currently on Haxe, as well as all episodes of Survival, Mission Atlantis, PoptropiCon, Arabian Nights, and even the original Mythology Island. Even Kira’s Island, the American Girl ad, is somehow on the app, along with Reality TV: Wild Safari, Mystery of the Map, Shrink Ray, and Galactic Hot Dogs.

The app includes classic islands no longer found on the computer version of Pop.

As the islands there don’t seem to be built with either Flash or Haxe, it seems they can hang out there for a while. Who knows, maybe Poptropica will create a connection for accounts between Haxe and the app like they did with Flash, so we can one day sync across on multiple devices again. It doesn’t seem to be a priority now, but we’ll see.

Another solution for accessing the classic islands you can try is idk’s curation of them on Flashpoint, the Flash game preservation project. You can find instructions on the Old Island Directory, which is linked on the PHB’s Glitching page. At this stage, the setup is a little complicated and only available for Windows. But according to the directory, “availability for Mac and Linux is coming soon, along with less complicated instructions” — so stay tuned!

Anyway, that’s all for this post! What do you think of the inventory update? Will you make use of the methods available for playing the classic islands? As always, keep on popping on!

~🐠