Good day, Poptropicans! It’s LJ here coming at you with another Pop Fan Artist Spotlight. I’ll be featuring the works of AdventurersNHunters, a relatively new artist to pop up in the DeviantArt community. Ready, set, action!
“Main Infamous Villains Battle Attire”
AdventurersNHunters says her favorite characters to draw, for the most part, include Princess Elyana, the main four super villains, and the prisoners from Super Power Island. She also strives to tell stories through her drawings, and she likes to create unique designs for the characters she puts into them.
It’s evident just how true that is when you take a look at this gallery I’ve put together — which includes the piece she’s proudest of, “Game Show Island.” (It took her a month to complete it! Talk about determination.)
“Elyana, Future Queen Of Arturus”
“Wild West Ready For The Showdown”
“Main Infamous Villains Battle Attire”
“Studying”
“Dr. Hare Doodles”
“Game Show Island”
“Four Infamous Villains”
“Chess Playing”
“Middle of the Night”
“Baby Hare is back”
I find her art style so cute, don’t you? No wonder “Studying” was nominated for the Best Fan Art award last month during the Poppies (which I ultimately voted for, by the way!).
This gallery shows a mere 10 illustrations; there’s plenty more where that came from. She’s very active and has over five times of this in her DeviantArt gallery.
Now as the spotlight dims and the artist takes her bow, I thank you all for reading once again.
Wanna see more amazing artwork like this? Check out some of the other artists I’ve featured here on the blog. Wanna be the next Pop fan artist spotlight? Shoot me a message on DeviantArt and we’ll see what we can do.
And finally, don’t forget to take part in our Tribal Tournament as well as this month’s Community Creations — the more art, the better! I’ll talk to you guys in the next one. Pop on!
Hey Poptropicans! In a stunning turn of events, Poptropica has suddenly, somehow managed to do the unexpected: shared actual sneak peek images of something they’re working on, and post a controversial tweet.
Let’s fly into the first thing: sneak peeks! Over on the Creators’ Blog, they shared a post teasing “new stuff” they’re working on. As is the case with their communications these days, the writing is sparse, leaving much to the imagination. But whatever Poptropica Airways is, it’s about to make a landing.
Could planes be the new blimps? That might explain the recent disappearance of the beloved, Poppies-award-winning blimp decor in clubhouses, even while blimps continue to be our Poptropicans’ mode of inter-island travel. But if that’s the case—even conceding that planes might be a more modern form of travel—Poptropica would certainly be losing a very iconic part of its identity! Even the Creators’ Blog uses the blimp in their branding.
And what to make of the blimp photo on the clerk’s desk? Is it a tribute to a soon-to-be past, or will blimps be relegated to being the beat-up rafts to the Phoenix Warbirds of the air? (That’s a Skullduggery Island metaphor, btw.)
Or is this part of a new island adventure? The post does also say they’re working on converting islands, with Time Tangled and Mythology in progress right now—which seems to leave little room for the planning and developing of an entirely new island. But who knows?
Now onto the next juicy news: yes, for the second time in 2020, Poptropica managed to tweet something controversial. (In case you missed it, Poptropica briefly endorsed Joe Biden for US president on Twitter.)
It all started when thePoptropica app reached #1 somewhere in Apple’s App Store, knocking out Fortnite for the top spot. Of course, this called for a celebratory post (and story) on Instagram that started innocently enough, mentioning how they’d outlasted games like Club Penguin and Animal Jam.
But Poptropica’s tone was a little more over-the-top with the gloating on Twitter. In addition to a similar post sharing the same news, Poptropica also responded to a Twitter thread from Animal Jam co-founder Clark Stacey by saying, “First #clubpenguin and now #animaljam too? It’s lonely at the top. #poptropicaforever.”Poptropica’s tweet was pulled in less than a day, but we saved some pics, plus Mr. Stacey’s unamused response, which remains.
Mr. Stacey’s original Twitter commentary had been about the struggles of kids’ game developers being incentivised to create their games for a general audience rather than specifically for the kids category of game lists, as well as Apple’s ambiguity about why they were rejecting game updates to Animal Jam and other kids’ games. And instead of offering sympathy from a fellow kids’ game developer, Poptropica decided to gloat.
The Animal Jam co-founder swiftly called them out for being “childish” and “sloppyheaded,” adding that “the Poptropica I know was above this sort of thing.” Which brings us to the question, what’s up with Poptropica’s lackluster communications to players lately? Since Skinny Moon left in 2017, the years of general silence (with occasional vague updates) that followed were unimpressive enough, but this year’s (albeit deleted) Twitter blunders are bewildering. We sure do miss the days when Poptropica had a dedicated social media manager who took the time of day to respond to players’ questions!
By the way, Fortnite’s fall from the top spot is likely related to the game recently being pulled from both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play store for trying to circumvent the stores’ 30% “tax” on in-app purchases by offering a direct-payment option away from the app stores.
In-app purchases give a cut of the cost to the app stores.
But Poptropica does the exact same thing: even though you can buy a Pop membership through an in-app purchase (which gives a cut of the costs to the app store), you can also buy a membership directly on Poptropica’s website, which would allow Pop to keep 100% of the earnings. No matter where you buy the membership, it gets applied to your account on the app (as well as on the computer). So perhaps some sympathy for the predicaments of games like Fortnite is in order. After all, Poptropica could very well be at the same risk.
You can buy a membership on the app and directly from Poptropica’s website.
That wraps up these peculiar updates! What do you think Poptropica Airways will be? Thoughts on Poptropica’s Twitter habits? Hoorays for the app’s achievement? Sound off in the comments below!
What’s up, Poptropicans? It’s Lucky Joker here with a PHB Quickie where I quickly review one of Poptropica’s many great adventures. Today I’ll be reviewing the riveting Cryptids Island. Let’s run through it!
(Be warned: Spoilers ahead!)
If you love urban legends and creatures, you’ll love this island. The task at hand is to find four of the most popular cryptids and prove their existence for the head of the Mews Corporation of scientific discovery, Harold Mews.
I really liked this premise. I find it as interesting and compelling as one could possibly be, in fact. It definitely makes for a thrilling and exciting journey. The creatures, of course, were just as cool. Who isn’t fascinated by mysterious beasts like Nessie or Bigfoot?
On the other hand, none of the Poptropican characters really stood out for me besides Mews — not even the island’s main antagonist, Gretchen Grimlock. There was an absence of any unique personality and everyone was just a bit lackluster, in my opinion. Again, Gretchen Grimlock could have been more heavily featured throughout the quest (like Black Widow, Mademoiselle Moreau, or Myron Van Buren on their islands).
As far as gameplay goes, a quibble I have, albeit slight, is that there’s a lot of back and forth from each location to the lab in Mews’s mansion. (By now, though, our Poptropicans must be used to that 😅) The tasks/mini-games, however, were great! At first the dart game was kind of hindering, but eventually you get the hang of it. And the climb up to the temple in the Himalayas was challenging, but not irritatingly so — so that’s a plus.
Despite my complaints, Cryptids Island gets an impressive 4.5/5 yeti footprints rating from me! I have to admit that when I was younger, I never paid this island any attention, but upon replaying it I discovered a newfound love for it! The positives majorly outweigh the negatives in this case. If you’re a member and haven’t played through this island at least once, or even if you just want to revisit this classic, I totally recommend doing so — especially since it will be disappearing at the end of the year.
And that about wraps it up! What are your thoughts on this island? Sound off in the comments!
Also, don’t forget to participate in the Tribal Tournament currently happening on the PHC Discord server. You’ll definitely have a blast! Thank you for reading as always, and I’ll talk to you all soon.
Hey Poptropicans—it’s remodelling time, and this season’s color, apparently, is pearly white. From knit wall pieces to shiny bikes, there’s plenty to choose from in the latest update to the clubhouse store!
While new players got a set of special housewarming gifts a couple weeks ago (and old players were left out 😢), this update (on both Flash and Haxe) is for everyone—though a little under half of the items (including the “POP”-branded transistor radio) are for members only.
I took the liberty of going on a little shopping spree to showcase some of these slick new furniture items in my crib (including the intriguing head of the mythical jackalope!). Anyway, it turns out the (free) white wallpaper really goes well with a lot of this stuff…
In other news, there haven’t been any new items to the regular store since last week (despite the Home Island billboard’s promises of weekly updates), though some of the items did get shuffled around. But hey, I guess if we’re counting the clubhouse store, then we got some pretty sweet stuff.
If you’re in the mood for some home decorating, consider entering your clubhouse into our Tribal Tournament! Any Poptropica-related works of art, including costumes and clubhouses, can count for points towards your tribe. Plus, don’t miss out on this week’s round of Genius Games! 🧠🏅
That’s all for this post, but plenty more is happening with our ongoing tournament, especially on the PHC. Keep up the flame of the Games! 🔥
~Slanted Fish 🐠 (if I may be biased for a sec, go Nightcrawlers! 🐛)
Welcome, Poptropicans, to the second round of the 2020 PHB Tribal Tournament! (Don’t know what’s going on? Check out our introductory post.) Note: The first round, Creative Competitors, carries on for the rest of the month, so keep sending in the awesome artwork.
“No pain, no gain”? More like “no brain, no gain” because this round is here to get you thinking. And you’ve got to think fast, too, since this round ends in just one week (Monday, August 17). It comes in three parts, so opportunities abound to earn points for your tribe. Let’s dive right into it!
Caption Challenge
In this challenge, you’re presented with a picture, and your task is to come up with a caption to go with it. The concept is simple, but the execution will require some careful thought. Your caption can be funny, serious, and anything in between. Just be sure it’s not longer than two sentences!
Each person can enter up to three captions for the contest, with 10 points earned per caption. You could speak from a character or even an inanimate object in the scene, narrate as an onlooker, borrow a line from something in pop culture, make a self-aware comment—as long as it’s interesting, and it suits the picture. So what’s the pic? Here it is!
Caption this!
Tricky Trivia
For this segment, there are 20trivia questions about Poptropica; some are easy while others are more difficult. You don’t need to answer all of them, but do your best! For every question you do answer correctly, you’ll earn 10 points for your tribe. That’s up to 200 points!
Points for this game are earned collectively as a tribe — not on an individual basis. So, if there’s one you’re not sure about, chances are that one of your tribemates is, and can score the points for your team!
For this specific game, make sure to send your responses to your tribe representative via direct message on Discord, or send us an email, so as to not spoil the fun for your fellow tribe members. It’s fairer for everyone to be able to guess at their own speed. 🙂
Who created Poptropica?
What was the 32nd island released?
Poptropica’s in-game currency is called what?
What year was the Friends feature implemented?
How many islands have a bonus quest?
When was Early Poptropica (the settlement) founded?
Who was CJ’s role model on Shrink Ray Island?
Why is Crusher wanted in prison?
What are the nine flavor variations of PopGum that exist?
Which iconic character had their name changed due to legal issues?
What event, on Mystery Train Island, is the train headed to?
Where did Flambe, the prison chef, receive his/her culinary training?
What weight does the weight guesser incorrectly predict your Poptropican to be on Monster Carnival Island?
On Counterfeit Island, how long was the museum security guard’s break from his Monday night shift?
How much does an ECO-Bike cost at Twin Palms Mall?
How could one originally gain access to play the Blimp Adventure mini-quest?
Who is buried in the plot A42 at Hemlock cemetery?
What are Zeke Weke’s three favorite musical artists?
On which island is the Grease Monkey building located?
How many islands has Smokey Chinchilla completed?
Trace that place
Oh, the places you’ll go! We travel far and wide across Poptropica aboard our little yellow blimp and see so many wondrous things. But, how well do we really pay attention to the details? For this game, your task is to pinpoint which island each of these snippets is taken from.
All pics are open to all tribes to guess! Each correctly guessed photo counts for 10 points within a tribe, not per person.
As with “Tricky Trivia,” please send your answers to your tribe rep through direct message or email. Be sure to clarify which picture(s) you’re guessing, using the labels.
Flying Squid #1
Flying Squid #2
Black Flags #1
Black Flags #2
Nanobots #1
Nanobots #2
Nightcrawlers #1
Nightcrawlers #2
Yellowjackets #1
Yellowjackets #2
Wildfire #1
Wildfire #2
Seraphim #1
Seraphim #2
Pathfinders #1
Pathfinders #2
Presenting the Creative Competitors MVP
Last week in our initiatory post, we said for each round we’d be recognizing a Most Valuable Player (MVP), someone whose dedication and enthusiasm stood out from the rest. This week’s shining star, who so far has already entered a number of costumes based on her tribe’s colors, as well as a few of her drawings, is Magic Flipper of Flying Squid!
Congratulations, you just won a membership! Keep up with the good work and high energy. You’re doing awesome. 👑
Could you be the next MVP? We’ll all have to wait and see. Until then…
🏝️ Poptropica Help Blog 🗺️ 