Heyo, Poptropicans! Big news: the Creators recently announced that Arabian Nights will be coming to Haxe in less than a week! And, unlike many islands before it, it’ll be available to all players—non-members included—right from the release! Pretty awesome, huh?
Arabian Nights was one of the most popular islands.
It’s not clear yet whether the Creators plan to remaster Arabian Nights (like they did with Mythology Island) or if they’re keeping it relatively the same as the Flash version. Most players, myself included, weren’t very happy with the lack of challenge in Haxe’s Mythology; but who knows what’ll happen with Arabian Nights? A new island port is progress in itself, and the most we can do is hope that the new version turns out as awesome as the original Arabian Nights!
In other news, a second Creators’ Blog post appeared not long after the Arabian Nights announcement, this one sharing a Halloween Poptropica fan video by Invisible Ring (inspired by the Zomberry Hero special event)! Though the post is quite late for Halloween, it’s never too late to be zombified. 🧟♀️ Check out the spooktacular video below:
There’s something in the title of the Creators’ post that caught my eye: “Video of the Week.” Hmm… is this another weekly promise? The store rotations that were planned to change every week don’t always live up to the promise, but it would be pretty great for the Creators to recognize their (very creative) fans with weekly videos. Between their showcasing of fan art in place of ads, social media spotlights, and now fan video features, the Creators have definitely been giving the Poptropica fandom lots of recognition lately!
Welp, that’s all for this one! What are your hopes for the new Arabian Nights? Thoughts on the Creators’ fan interactions? Let us know in the comments!
Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Mud Bub, who’ll be taking a look at Poptropica islands from her perspectiveas a college art student.
She shared with the PHB, “Poptropica allowed me to get more in-tune with my passion for art. Similar to other Flash or After Effects products like Wow Wow Wubbzy or this video, I get the most thrill out of flat yet bold and colorful designs, and this has greatly affected my art style.
As a college art student, having an influence such as Poptropica is very much needed for me, both with art and being a general stress reliever… I may be older… but time has given me a better understanding, excitement, and idea-fueled drive for the game. This [guest post] is more than just a Pop 5 list to me, but finally articulating the artistic passion that I’ve had for over a decade. Without the openness of the PHB accepting blog post submissions, I would not have finally gotten to express that.”
Thank you, Mud Bub! And with that wonderful intro, let’s get into the post…
Greetings! I’m Muddy “Mud Bub” Bubbles, an art student at Ephraim University and collector of black-framed glasses. Professor Max McPatrick assigned me to analyze only the finest of Poptropica’s island artistry, and I can only hope that he won’t deduct points for not including his native island, Mocktropica.
Poptropica islands are known for their vast adventures, but their visuals are also notable. I’ve discovered that they are all worthy of praise, but there are a mighty few that stand out in their attention to detail and interactions with art.
This wouldn’t be an article on Poptropican art without mentioning Counterfeit Island! This island arguably offers the most extensive art collection of them all, although the genres are a bit narrow, and seeing less represented forms of art would have been nice. It does beat Early Poptropica’s Pop Art Museum by a mile, though. There may be French stereotypes, but Counterfeit Island’s store logos and calming interior design of the abandoned house make for an authentic island experience. Most of all, it allows for literal hands-on experiences with fine art and learning its value, which makes for a great introduction to art history.
It’s no myth that this island has lovely Greek and Roman art. Although the meandering may be overdone, they make the island more unique and memorable. The fonts and architecture also stay true to ancient form. Hades, Zeus and Poseidon have their own icons that are presented consistently, from the island logo to the Mythology Surfer costume. These are examples of brand design, a modern form of art, that other characters use as well, such as Dr. Hare and his rabbit gimmick. The pictures above show how two forms of art (wall art and iconography + sculpture and iconography) can merge into one to truly showcase the personalities of the gods.
This island is more inventive than just its gadgets! Steamworks Island takes on a truly vintage and trinket-y form that makes it hard not to love. The color palettes perfectly show the dullness of the tools in a somehow bright way. There are banners with gears and stripes on them, as well as buildings covered with beautiful vines. So many bits and bobs to be found that make it easy to understand the intricate stylings of steampunk. Exploring this town can get kind of isolating though.
This island truly deserves recognition for the interactions with art it allows us. From literal bridge-building to bonsai trimming and calligraphy, Red Dragon Island is an authentic celebration of Eastern art. Despite the wild ninja adventures, one can feel relaxed, too, while wearing a beautiful kimono as cherry blossoms fly in the breeze. Seriously, this island could be Black Widow’s next strike. The land of Edo leaves Jack and Annie’s neck of the woods in Frog Creek with a little more to be desired, but that stark contrast may make ancient Japan look all the more unique.
This island is a real gem, and I’m not just talking about its logo! Nabooti Island allows you to explore many environments and rare items of Africa. It’s also a rarity to see how an entire continent can fit in one island, and note how the starting point isn’t even a separate piece of land. Still, there are artful features such as masks, sculptures and animal photography that allow us to see the beauty of the island’s culture. This is also shown in its fashioned natives, shimmering minerals and detailed hieroglyphics. Nabooti Island gives its players a diverse and unforgettable artistic appreciation of Africa.
Honorable mentions
Arabian Nights Island: This island proves that there is beauty to be found everywhere—even in a desert hijacked by forty thieves! The mansion in particular shows bold application of Middle Eastern architecture and design.
PoptropiCon Island: Yes, PoptropiCon, and this is not just because of my love of puns! This place is riddled with costume-makers, comic book writers, and other artists that connect over their craft. PoptropiCon is a testament to the ever-changing mediums of art and its content. That said, they could have shown more of the communities that conventions have to offer.
Big Nate Island: This unique island allows us to jump in a graphic novel. What it lacks in detail it makes up in its dynamic character design and a bright, consistent style. If nothing else, this one wins for the most colorful and characteristic island logo.
This list was so difficult to narrow down. Will you fight for the royal aesthetic of Astro-Knights? Maybe I wimped out on the Wimpy Kid islands and owe Greg Heffley an apology. Or will you be bold and claim the best art comes from your own Home Island? Share your favorite art from Poptropica in the comments!
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.
📰 If you have an idea for a PHB post, send it in! ✨
Hi there, everybody! I’m Purple Paw, and it’s true—I’ve just become the PHB’s newest author!! I’m incredibly proud, very surprised, and most of all, excited to have this opportunity.
Art of my Poptropican (username: PurplePawzz)
Beginning my journey as a writer for this blog, I’ll tell you a bit about how I joined this fandom.
I first started playing Poptropica in 2015, finding the game through Funbrain (as many players do). After playing my first island—Mystery Train—I quickly became engrossed in the game. In mid-2016, I ran into technical difficulties that prevented me from playing for several months. But as soon as everything was fixed and back in working order, I jumped right back into playing!
For quite some time, I wasn’t as interested in Pop, as my attention gradually shifted to other fandoms. Throughout 2017, 18, and 19, I would occasionally log in to check out what was happening, but nothing interested me enough to convince me to stay. That is, until 2020 came…
This past summer, I had a thought to check back on Poptropica. And this time, something did convince me to stay: the return of the old islands. I was thrilled to see that they had come back. I bought a membership so that I could enjoy them once more.
Whilst playing through a difficult island (which one, I can’t remember) I found myself stuck. But I wasn’t worried; I knew there were plenty of helpful walkthroughs out there. So I browsed the Internet for the best one I could find. And then I came across the PHB! I liked the PHB enough to revisit it several times. But I didn’t involve myself in the community at first—that is, until the PHB’s Tribal Tournament began in August. Now, this was something I couldn’t resist. I sent in my submissions, and was very surprised when I was crowned MVP!
I joined the PHC Discord community for the end of tournament party, and decided to stick around. I met several online friends there on the Discord server. In the following months, I started writing guest posts for the PHB and participated in a few other contests. By that point, you could say I’d put myself out there in the Poptropica fandom.
But the most shocking surprise came just this week. I had logged onto Discord, and was typing a message, when I noticed a new DM from Slanted Fish. Curious, I opened it, and it took all my willpower not to scream when I saw the invitation to join the PHB team!
I won’t deny that I had considered becoming a PHB author, but the fact that it was really happening was unbelievable! The down-to-earth side of me tried to convince myself the invite was just a dream, but I knew it wasn’t. Ecstatic, I accepted the offer. And that just about brings us to where we are today. I’m super excited to be part of the PHB staff, and can’t wait to see what happens next!
Hey Poptropicans, big Pop drop: the official Poptropica merch store, teased about a month ago, is here!
And there’s plenty to choose from: clothes, stickers, notebooks, phone cases… 54 items now and more to come, say the Pop Creators. (You can also send your ideas!) Take a look at these beauties, for starters:
The official Pop merch store is hosted on Zazzle, which means “they make and ship all the products for [Poptropica].” Right now, there’s a discount of 20% off if you use the code BESTZAZGIFTS at checkout. That’ll probably come in handy, as the items can cost quite a bit, ranging from US$4.95 for the lowest-priced sticker to $91.90 for Dr. Beev pattern high tops (our beloved Beev has quite a bit of merch here!).
Items are sorted as Apparel and Accessories (hoodies, T-shirts, party glasses, socks, tank tops, hats), Stickers (blimp, Herc’s Hero Hut logo, Zomberry clown, Poptropica logo), and Vintage Distressed Pattern (with a jigsaw puzzle, face mask, and more — also, you might recognize this as the background the PHB uses!). Browse the Pop shop now!
By the way, this isn’t Poptropica’s first time on Zazzle! For a few years starting in 2009, they used to sell different T-shirts, wall stickers, and posters there, but they haven’t been available for a while. To see what else Poptropica sells IRL (or used to sell), check out our page on Poptropica Merchandise: A Guide to Poptropica Shopping. 🛍
Whether or not you’re getting the real-life gear, you can still treat yourself to a shopping spree on Poptropica: The Actual Game!
The in-game store has gotten a few updates since last week, with new costumes like the Pumpkin Pleasure and Aqua Rebel, and a couple new powers: the Levitation Spell Book (which has you shout out “Volantem Levitatio!”) and Spark Shower Wand (check out our gif below):
While you’re in Poptropica, you may notice a new ad for The Croods: A New Age, a Dreamworks animated movie which will be in theaters in time for Thanksgiving. Check out the Pop Creators’ video of the mini-game, where you ride a creature named Chunky to collect bones and avoid baddies, in the end winning your very own Chunky Follower!
The Pop Creators also recently released a video for another ad, which you may recognize as it’s been around for about two months now: it’s for American Girl: Courtney’s Island, and contains plenty of prizes!
Also on Pop, you may notice something a little different from the bottom left corner: instead of the usual video ads, this space is now playing a slideshow of some recent Poptropica fan art!
Part of the fan art slideshow includes this piece featuring Gentle Dolphin with the Jersey Devil, by the PHB staffer herself!
You may have seen some of them spotlighted on the Creators’ Instagram stories, which we’ve also shared on the PHB. Pretty cool to see it within the game browser, too — and an improvement compared to ads. 🙂
In other news, Poptropica has disabled the Avatar Studio, the much-loved tool that allowed us to view player characters by entering their username. It’s not too surprising, given that Poptropica hasn’t linked to it on their site for a while now. However, the ASG still works.
Fortunately, you can still access the AS via this link on idk’s website, which simply loads the Shockwave Flash (SWF) from Poptropica’s files. But with Flash’s end coming up, it’s not guaranteed to last.
That’s it for this post! So, will you be getting any Poptropica merch? Or just sticking to the virtual store? What items do you want most? Share with us in the comments!
Hey Poptropicans—contest alert! 🚨 From now until December 18 at 11:59 p.m. PST, you can submit your own original Poptropica island idea for a chance to have it made into game reality!
The next Poptropica island could be from your imagination.
Fans have been hoping for another chance at the contest ever since the massive success of the first one. More recently, the question was put forth in the PHB’s Q&A with Poptropica’s CEO, who answered, “How about after this interview gets posted we start the contest?” And true to their word, here it comes now!
📝 The Pop Creators have put together a brand new submission form (poptropica.com/submissions) which allows anyone to share their island ideas — as well as fan art and letters outside of the contest’s purposes! The form is simple: you enter your username, write a message, add an optional attachment (which can be a jpg, png, gif, or pdf file), click a checkbox captcha, and with the press of the submit button, your submission is sent to Poptropica.
Share your island idea on Poptropica’s new submission form.
Fortunately, there are no geographical or age restrictions like the previous Dream Island contest, but children under 13 do need a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. Your island idea should only be entered once.
As the Creators shared on the official blog, they’re looking for the following in a successful island idea: an original and exciting story, key characters, and setting (don’t copy from other brands or people!). Not only will the winning idea become a real Poptropica island, its inventor will also win a one-year Poptropica membership!
What ideas do you have for a Poptropica island? Start dreaming, maybe bounce some ideas with our PHC Discord community, and remember to submit your idea before the December 18 deadline!
And stay tuned — the winner will be announced December 28. Whatever it is, we’re excited to see, and eventually play, another fan-invented island! 😄🏝
🏝️ Poptropica Help Blog 🗺️ 