Pranks

Flashy Fools: the real April 1st experience ⚡️

Heeey Poptropicans! So you remember all that talk we posted yesterday about a grand PHB Flash Experience? Our little Flash game of homage to the pending doom of Flash and old school islands? Well, check your calendars…

Yup. So, April Fools! How long were you clicking to “allow Flash” and refreshing the page so you could play the game? Were you convinced that your computer just couldn’t handle Flash anymore? Did we fool you?

Whether our shenanigans had you flashing with anger at game that was never meant to load, or flushing with embarrassment for refreshing way too many times, we hope that, in the end, we can still make you flash a smile. So here, enjoy the behind-the-scenes of this year’s PHB prank.

Gentle Dolphin put a ton of work into making the preview scene of a glitching bridge in our prank post. Check out the stills behind the gif, from a peaceful Red Dragon Island scene to the world falling apart with game-breaking code.

In addition to the scenery, she also made plenty of outfit prototypes before settling on the final look of our invented villain, Addo B. Flash. (And yes, he even has the Flash logo in his design!) Addo also came with views from different angles when we introduced him, which was Gentle Dolphin’s idea to add to his legitimacy as a game character.

Which of these outfits do you like most? Were you bamboozled by the PHB Flash Experience, or cautiously suspicious through it all? We’d love to hear from you in the comments! Keep on popping, Poptropicans.

—the PHB—

p.s. Play the old school islands before Flash is truly gone, here.

p.p.s. Quarantined? We’ve come up with ideas for making the best of Poptropica in these bizarre times here.

Pranks

Once and for all: the PHB Flash Experience ⚡️

Heeey Poptropicans, we’ve got a little surprise for you…

Meet the evil meddler of worlds Addo B. Flash! Read on to find out what he’s up to… and how YOU can stop him.

As you’re probably well aware by now, the oncoming end of Flash has done quite a number on Poptropica. It’s already killed Poptropica’s classic old school islands—and yes, you can still play them with this Old Island Directory. But in the official game, they aren’t coming back anytime soon.

Of course, here at the PHB, we couldn’t just let that happen without a proper goodbye! So, we’ve been working up a little something to pay homage to the many great classic islands that have gone before us, and now we’re ready to reveal this thing. What is it, you ask? We call it: the PHB Flash Experience.

Warning: The following experience contains bright, flashing imagery. It may cause discomfort for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised.

Gahhh! What happened to the bridge on Red Dragon Island? That’s just a taste of the wreckage to come…

The PHB Flash Experience a sweet RPG adventure (kind of like Poptropica!) where you travel around through different dimensions—from the clouds of the purple giant in Early Poptropica to the distant planet of E. Vile’s Legendary Swords battles—all in a noble quest to save them from perhaps the most nefarious villain of them all: Mr. Addo B. Flash, vanquisher of a zillion islands.

You can play this epic PHB Flash Experience right here, right now on this PHB post in the blue box below. Of course, as the name implies, you’re going to have to enable Flash. But you already know how to do that, don’t you? 😉

Have fun, and hey, when you’re done with the game, share your feedback with us in the comments. 😜

—the PHB team—

Surveys

📋 PSA: Take the 2020 PHB Readers’ Survey! ✏️

Howdy, Poptropicans! It’s Lucky Joker here, inviting you to fill out the 2020 PHB Readers’ Survey. Every year, we survey our readers to get a current picture of our community’s demographics and hear from all of you.

Your feedback helps determine the way we run things around here so that you get the best possible reading experience when you visit — and that is the primary goal for us. 🙂 We also like to get a better understanding of how our community and reader base has evolved since the last survey.

The survey will stay open until Saturday, April 18, and we’ll share the results here on the PHB sometime in May. With that said:

✏️ Take the 2020 PHB Readers’ Survey now!

Note: Your identity will remain anonymous, unless you opt to include it in the comment box at the end.

Thanks for sticking with us, and thanks for your feedback! Stay tuned for the results in May, and feel free to check out survey results of previous years in the PHB archives. See you in the next one.

– Lucky Joker 🍀

Advertisements, Photo Booth, Social Media

Going on tour with the dogs! Where’s my camera?

Hi, everyone! We hope you’re all staying safe during this pandemic. With many businesses being affected, Poptropica could be taking a hit as well. Still, the Creators managed to give us some minor yet meaningful updates.

There is a new ad campaign for the upcoming Dreamworks movie Trolls World Tour. Many concert stadiums have popped up on various islands, so you can rock out no matter which island you’re on.

TrollsWT_island

When you’re ready, go inside and talk to Poppy. She will ask for your help to stop the rock trolls, and you agree to lend your epic guitar skills. This mini-game is like Guitar Hero, and the objective is to click the jewels when they reach the bottom. Keep doing this to fill the gauge on the bottom left.

TrollsWT_game2

Though it would be cool if you won an electric guitar, you still get two prizes that are pretty interesting. The first prize is the Tiny Diamond Follower, which gives you the power to splash gold glitter onto the screen.

The second prize is the Rainbow Glitter Barf power (yup). Equipping this power gives you sweet troll hair*! (*Side effects include headaches, nausea, and vomitting sparkly rainbows.)

This colorful prize is so unique that Poptropica promoted it across social media. They even posted a video about it to the official Poptropica Youtube channel, making this their first Youtube video since the Greek Sea Odyssey walkthrough from February 26, 2018!

This Trolls campaign doesn’t stop with concerts and sparkles. You can express your love of music by decorating your clubhouse with four posters for Trolls World Tour! Open your furniture inventory to put up those posters.


Two weeks ago, we celebrated the long-awaited return of the Photo Booth. However, some players told us that they couldn’t see it. When I logged in to check, sure enough, the Photo Booth was nowhere to be seen on Home Island!

missingphotobooth

This is strange. Why would the Photo Booth disappear as soon as it came? Did they need to remove a nasty glitch? Maybe they wanted to add more content to the sticker menu? What do you guys think? Let us know in the comments.


On a lighter note, the Poptropica Creators made a post on Instagram on March 23 for National Puppy Day. This may not seem like much, but this is their first social media post since last February. Maybe this is a sign that things are returning to normal at Pop HQ? Or perhaps the post was scheduled ahead of time? It would nice to hear an official statement from them regarding recent events, but in the meantime, we hope they’re well.

How are you guys faring during this pandemic? If you haven’t already, check out our previous post about how you can enjoy Poptropica during the quarantine. Maybe you can watch Trolls World Tour on April 10? I hear the movie will have an early digital release for fellow social distancers.

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin🐬

Comics, Virus Hunter Island

When in quarantine, play Poptropica

Hey Poptropicans. By now, you’ve probably heard of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping over the world, causing school shutdowns, closing businesses, and more. With life on lockdown, why not turn to Poptropica to pass the time?

Like the postcard? You can download Virus Hunter Island printable postcards from Poptropica and send them to your friends!

Real talk, though: we haven’t heard from Poptropica in about a month, and with all of this going on, Poptropica Creators may have their workflow disrupted, too. That could mean a lull in activity for Poptropica, despite earlier promises about updates for this year. We’ll have to wait and see.

Anyway, whether the virus has been on your radar for months, or has just started to affect your area in the past couple weeks, at least one thing is clear: staying away from crowds helps keep you and everyone safe.

The outside world may be falling apart, but on the flip side, the online world is thriving. Here on the PHB, we’re bringing you recommendations for enjoying the best of Poptropica while under quarantine. There’s plenty to do inside!


Can you stomach the comics? 🦠

One obvious island comes to mind: Virus Hunter. In this island released in 2013, your mission is to locate the person harboring a dangerous new virus, then enter his body to remove the disease before it spreads! There couldn’t be a more relatable adventure in these trying times, and whether it’s your first time playing or you want to revisit it, the PHB has a guide for you.

Before the island came out all those years ago, Poptropica created a six-page comic called Pandemic Panic as a prelude to Virus Hunter Island. Check it out below, and read tons more official Poptropica comics on the PHB!


More island adventures, for all the benchers 🏝

Besides Virus Hunter, Poptropica is also filled with lots of other great island adventures to play. If staying at home is starting to feel like jail, try busting out of prison on Escape From Pelican Rock Island. If you miss large gatherings full of people, mingle with the cosplayers on PoptropiCon Island. Or if you prefer to strike it out on your own, embrace the solitude of Survival Island. There’s something for everyone, and we have all the guides you’ll need!

Here’s an open secret: the islands currently on the map aren’t the only ones you can play. With the Old Island Directory, you can play about 30 more old school islands, which Poptropica had taken down from the official game due to the older technology causing bugs. Since Flash is going down, now’s the time to play them before they’re gone for good!


Create or compete, staying upbeat 👩‍🎨

Even beyond the decades of islands, Poptropica still has a fair amount of fun to offer. The Photo Booth is back, your club house could use a refreshed design, and worlds are waiting to be made on Realms. And while you’re at it, maybe you’ll enjoy giving your character a new look, too!

Meeting up in real life may not be a great idea these days, but you can still hang out with friends online! Drop by the arcade at the same time and you can play games like Star Link together, or head in solo and find new buds. You can also challenge yourself on solo games like Blaster Attack.

And last but not least, join in on the PHB’s Community Creations challenge! This month’s theme is Hobbies, and all this downtime is a great opportunity to explore some (within health precautions, of course). Whatever the hobby, you have until the end of March to capture it for us Poptropica-style. Details here.


What have you been up to in this pandemic panic? Share your stories in the comments, keep washing your hands, and take care, everyone! 💪🧼

—the Pop-pandemic Help Blog—