Reality TV: Wild Safari Island, Reviews

PHB Review: Reality TV — Wild Safari Island

Slanted Fish

Clueless about your competitors?
Check out our Reality TV: Wild Safari Island Guide.

Hello, Poptropicans, and welcome to the jungle! 🌴

It’s been three years since Poptropica Original has gotten an island, and a year since Poptropica Worlds did. But we’re pleased to finally welcome Reality TV: Wild Safari to the Poptropica map, and to share our thoughts on this latest adventure that’s a sequel to the original Reality TV Island released in 2010. From people to places to plot, we’re going to cover it all. Let’s go!

Be warned: This review contains spoilers!

Storyline & Characters

As far as the story goes… well, there really wasn’t much on that front. You arrive on the set of the reality TV show and immediately get to jump into the games. Unlike the original Reality TV Island, there’s no build-up to get you there: no washed-up TV star to deliver pizza to, no dreaming about making it out of a rundown town—really, no story, conflict, or scandal about what has transpired between the last season from nine years ago to now.

But the TV set itself has some fun elements, too. There’s a base camp for the show crew that doubles as a common room, monkeys handling cameras, and even the iconic bonfire from the original RTV — and set in a wild safari that looks a little different from the previous season.

The challengers you compete with are really where the island shines most. In addition to a handful of familiar characters from various Poptropica islands (Ringmaster Raven, Scherazade, and Omegon among them), we also meet lots of new celebrity parodies with hilarious names.

Some of our favorites are Shett and Blinked, based on YouTube comedians Rhett and Link; Baby Googoo, based on singer Lady Gaga; and Mandy Screams, based on YouTube personality Miranda Sings. Read more about who’s who in our Reality TV: Wild Safari Island Guide trivia!

Gameplay

As far as gameplay, we basically have three mini-games to look at: Spear Throw, Deep Dive, and Cheetah Run, all of which make up the majority of the island experience.

Though placed in new settings, each of these challenges are actually quite familiar, sharing similarities to other island or ad mini-games. For example, the spear throw borrows mechanisms from Poptropolis Games’ archery event. A bit unoriginal, but fun nonetheless.

That being said, a unique gameplay element that Wild Safari brings to the table is the option to change the difficulty level. This isn’t always an option for us, and is actually quite useful to those players who may struggle with certain gameplay challenges. In fact, selecting your difficulty level has been built seamlessly into the island’s dialogue, aiding in our immersion to the whole experience. You can also win about 5–60 credits for playing all the games, depending on the level you selected and your performance!

One other thing that’s different from the original RTV is that no matter the end results, you’ll win the island medallion. You could come in dead last and TV show host Jim Probably will still give it to you with the assurance that “it’s a Poptropica thing.” While it’s nice not to have the frustration of being voted off the show when you’re down to the final round, as can happen in the original, this new setup feels too easy — after all, you’re literally receiving a participation trophy (or medallion, as it were).

Visuals

As usual, Poptropica’s scenery is beautiful. The safari setting meets our visual expectations, despite there not being a whole lot of scenery to begin with. Perhaps this island isn’t as breathtaking as others, but we’ve got no clear complaints about the aesthetics. Plus, how can we resist some cute animals?

  • “Washed Up” newspaper references old Reality TV hero Bucky Lucas.
  • Monkeys on the camera crew are a new fixture on this sequel island.

The interactable elements at our base camp are pretty fun, too. From spooking a camera-woman to, well, spooking a zebra, there are many clickable objects and easter eggs to discover. In particular, we enjoyed the small tribute to old Reality TV hero Bucky Lucas on the beach shore, and the monkeys managing cameras and celebrating winners with drums.

Little additions to an island such as these bring a bit of life to the experience, even though they may not have a huge impact on the gameplay.

Verdict

Considering all of these elements that the island has to offer, our final rating for Reality TV: Wild Safari Island is…

Does this Reality TV experience live up to its predecessor? Maybe not… Was it still enjoyable? Sure thing! Sequels often fall short of expectations, and are commonly labeled as unoriginal. Then again, Greek Sea Odyssey Island successfully brought new Mythology features to the table, and we think the Creators could have delivered better story here, too. Wild Safari simply lacked the substance found in the original.

Still, the island had its charming components. The safari had excellent humor, visuals, references, and dialogue to say the least. Even the mini-games were pretty fun! And that’s why this island gets a 2 out of 5 baby hippos from us.

Thanks for reading our review of Reality TV: Wild Safari Island! How does this adventure compare to the preceding Reality TV Island? Do you agree with our verdict? Share your opinions in the comments below!

– 🦛 the PHB team 🦛 –

Blast from the Past

2009 Rewind: Pop-ular Places

Slanted Fish

This post is part of our Poptropica Yearbook series. If you missed the intro, check it out on the 2007 Rewind and view the follow-up 2008 Rewind.

It’s a fine time to check out 2009! With both the Poptropica Creators’ Blog and Poptropica Help Blog in full swing, the online Poptropica community was growing exponentially, even inspiring new fan sites.

The year kicked off with Big Nate Island in February, after months of Big Nate comics shared on the Creators’ Blog.

While sneak peeks for upcoming islands from the Creators were wildly popular, the PHB took a step further and started a series known as PHB Sneak Peeks. These were glances at things even the Creators hadn’t revealed:

Over on the PHB, we were up to lots of shenanigans as well. In April, for example, we had great success with our “Club Penguin Help Blog” prank that fooled even the Poptropica Creators — if only for a little while.

Before our blog was even a year old, we reached one million site views, so we celebrated by giving away some of those rare and coveted “Monster Carnival leaks.” These were the early days of Poptropica glitching and trading!

That summer, the Poptropica community grew to include a Poptropica Help Forum (the PHF was created by Coderkid, who later became PHB staff) and Poptropica Help Chat (PHC) (which was hosted on Xat). Both brought good times, but only the PHC remains to this day, and we’re on Discord now.

We also began a monthly Poptropica magazine, and PHB readers voted on the name The Poptropican’s 911, for all your Poptropica emergencies. The first issue was published in June, and the series ran for a year. Also in June, the long-awaited Astro-Knights Island was released!

Comic by Green Seal, who later became a PHB staff blogger.

Another big thing that happened in Poptropica in 2009 was the launch of the store. (Can you even imagine a Poptropica without the store??) A hundred credits were given for each island completed, and players happily bought cool new items like the Colorizer, Electrify, and more. Credits could also be bought with real money. The store looked a little different back then, too.

On July 26, the PHB celebrated its first birthday – and by then had reached 1.5 million site views. A few days later, the Multiverse feature was released, and that became the staple way of partying it up on Poptropica. (Too bad it’s no longer around… but we do still have common rooms and clubhouses.)

To wrap up the year, Counterfeit Island finally came out (in its early access period, and after half a year of waiting!) in late December, bringing the map total up to ten islands. (Counterfeit and Astro-Knights were the only islands with early access tickets.)

Before membership, players could buy an early access ticket to a new island for 500 credits in the store.

That concludes the 2009 page of the Poptropica Yearbook! Stay tuned for the next pages, and soon you’ll be able to view the complete series on a new page in our Pop Plus collection, titled The Poptropica Yearbook.

While you’re here, sign the yearbook by commenting? ✏️

Contests, PHB Parties, Poppies

Recap: Poppies 2019 Awards and Party!

Sporty Boa

How’s it going, friends and Poptropicans?

It’s Sporty Boa here to recap what’s been another memorable Poppies awards show and PHB birthday party. The Poppies are our annual community awards event, where we celebrate Poptropica, the PHB, and the community as a whole. We thank all who nominated, voted, and celebrated with us! 🥳

It was a pleasure to announce this year’s winners alongside my brother and co-host, Fierce Flyer, as well as fellow PHB authors Gentle Dolphin, Lucky Joker and Slanted Fish via our YouTube livestream! If you weren’t able to catch us live, you can hear the full recording down below:

Without further ado, let’s recap and take a look at our official Poppies 2019 award winners and runner-ups! (You can find the full breakdown of the results in our livestream slideshow.)

Gameplay Awards

Community Awards

Congratulations to all the winners, runner-ups and nominations!! 🏆

“Best Fan Art” Nominee Gallery

We’re always impressed by what this fandom produces. To celebrate that, we’re showcasing our top nominees for this year’s “Best Fan Art” award:

Once again, a huge thanks goes to the Poptropica Creators, the PHB staff, and most importantly, the community for making this possible.

Thanks for sticking around to see the Poptropica Help Blog reach 11 years! We hope you continue to be a part of this incredible journey for years to come.

🔹 See you next time on the blue carpet! 🔹

New Islands, Reality TV: Wild Safari Island

Reality TV: Wild Safari Island just released

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! BIG news…

The new island is here, and it’s called Reality TV: Wild Safari! Yes, there are similarities with the original Reality TV Island released in 2010—but it’s also its own island in other ways. We’ll cover more in a future review post.

It’s no blimp, but I guess I could live with this helicopter spin palace.

Right now, you won’t find RTV 2 on the island map, but it’s completely playable on CoolMathGames.com. You don’t even need a membership to play!

Promo screens on Poptropica and on social media are calling it a “preview,” suggesting there’s more to come — but as far as we can tell, the whole island is already on CoolMathGames. After all, you even get an island medallion at the end. Suppose we’ll find out when the island releases on Poptropica!

This spin-off island is a quick one, and here on the PHB, our Reality TV: Wild Safari Island Guide is already ready for your perusal. If anything, there is some interesting trivia to uncover about some of this island’s inhabitants!

Check out Reality TV: Wild Safari Island on CoolMathGames.com and let us know what you think in the comments!

🌊 🦁 🦛 🦒 🌿

Poppies

You’re invited to the 2019 Poppies awards party!

Fierce Flyer

Salutations, fellow Poptropicans!

For those who’ve been keeping up, we’ve counted your Poppies nominations and voting is well underway. There’s still a bit of time to punch in your votes to help dictate the victors of the 2019 Poppies! Voting ends on Wednesday the 24th, so cast your votes while the ballot is open.

Per tradition, there’ll be a party on the PHB’s birthday, July 26 (Friday), in which we’ll announce the winners. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Poptropica and its incredible community. Below are the details of the event:

🥳 WHO: Every Poptropican is invited! PHB staff will be there too!

🏆 WHAT: Hanging out in Poptropica clubhouses and arcades, chatting and cheering on your picks for the awards on the PHC, and tuning in to a livestream on the PHB’s YouTube channel co-hosted by Fierce Flyer and Sporty Boa, where we’ll be revealing the winners of this year’s Poppies!

🕖 WHEN: July 26, 2019 (Friday) @ 7 p.m. Eastern / 6 p.m. Central / 5 p.m. Mountain / 4 p.m. Pacific. If you live in a different timezone, you can use a time zone converter to see what the time will be where you live.

💻 WHERE: The Poptropica Help Chat (PHC), our moderated chat server on Discord. If you’ll be on the go, make use of Discord’s mobile apps! The livestream will be on the PHB’s YouTube channel, MyPoptropicaHelp.

🎉 WHY: To announce the winners of the 2019 Poppies, have fun, and celebrate 11 years of the PHB!

Again, go vote if you haven’t already! And if you have, perhaps tell some friends and family to join in on the fun this year. The poll closes Wednesday, and the party is Friday, with a recap post to follow the event.

Remember to bring your snazziest outfit, your most exciting attitude, and maybe a bag of popcorn as we announce the winners for this year’s Poppies! Stay tuned, and until then…

🔹 We’ll see you on the blue carpet! 🔹

– the Poppies Help Blog team –