Advertisements, Social Media, Store

Celebrating Valentine’s Day at lightning speed

Gentle Dolphin

Happy Valentine’s Day, Poptropicans! We hope you and your loved ones are having a great day. Today, we have some news that you’re sure to love (or like, at least). Let’s get started with a shocking store update.

The winner of Poptropica’s 2020 costume design contest (“Lightning Wielder” by Instagram user @bianca_donka) is finally in the game! Visit the store and get this electrifying costume for free, but hurry before it goes away in a flash.

The “Lightning Wielder” doesn’t come with any space bar actions, despite the ideas put forth by its designer. But the lightning arm does come with an animating dazzle!

Along with the “Lightning Wielder” costume, there are plenty of Valentine’s Day-themed goodies available for purchase in the store this month.

Make this Valentine’s Day special by going to the cinema and watching the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie. Speaking of Sonic, you can spot some billboards advertising his movie around Poptropica. Unlike normal island ads, this one doesn’t include any games, videos, or prizes. Clicking the billboard just directs you to the movie’s website.

An ad with no games to play or videos to watch seems kind of underwhelming. However, take a step back and you’ll notice that the game screen has been changed from the normal blue to a bird’s eye view of a city at night. Take a look:

Also, Frozen 2 ads have returned to advertise the film’s digital and home media release. Like the original ad, you have to watch a short video in order to win two prizes: the familiar Olaf Follower and the new Wind Spirit power.

To use the Wind Spirit power, equip the red leaf then press the spacebar to be lifted into the air by a flurry of leaves. Pretty neat!

frozen2home_windgif

Earlier this week, Blue Tooth took to social media to let people know that February 10 is National Pizza Day. 🍕 She posted a video of her Poptropican and her rabbit Dorf waiting for lunch at the diner on 24 Carrot Island, and mentioned that they were waiting for quite a while. The owners were probably preoccupied with the threat of global domination at the time…

That’s about it for now. What are your thoughts on the “Lightning Wielder” costume? Are you going to watch the Sonic movie when it hits theaters? Have you seen “Frozen 2,” and do you plan on re-watching it? Are you craving pizza right now? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Thank you for reading, and have a happy Valentine’s Day! 💘

—Gentle Dolphin🐬

Guest Posts, My Place in Poptropica

My Place in Poptropica: Silver Sword

Slanted Fish

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Silver Sword, whose loss of a main account kept him away from the game for many years, even despite exciting game updates. See below for details on how to send in your MPIP story to be published here on the PHB!

Hey, fellow Poptropicans! I’m Silver Sword (also known by my login name, “Rutherfordium”), and as for my history with Poptropica—that’s quite a long story, lemme tell ya. But here it goes…

The Beginning | Jan 2009–Sept 2012

My story starts in January 2009, just a little bit before Big Nate Island was released. I created an account to play Poptropica, and I actually hit an immovable road-block for me… on Early Poptropica Island. I was used to Club Penguin at the time, so I had no clue what I was doing at all. I sucked at the game, and wanted a do-over.

I went back to the sign-in page so I could get my do-over. And then I just exploited the heck out of it. Account after account after account was made. I never actually stuck to an account, and I kept that up for three years.

That all changed when Super Villain Island was announced on the Poptropica Creators’ Blog, and for some reason, it made me realize that I should probably stick to one account.

The Reign of “Mom40472” | Sept 2012–2013

The first account that I ever stuck with was “mom40472”, and let me say, that account was the best account I ever had. I completed so many islands, and I explored some that I hadn’t even landed the blimp on before, such as S.O.S., Twisted Thicket, and Vampire’s Curse.

After some time, I forgot about Poptropica for a little while. When Virus Hunter Island was announced, though, I bolted to the Poptropica website as fast as I possibly could. Two things caught my attention about this island: one, I’ve been dreaming of an island that explores the human body ever since Super Villain came out with its dream-wandering concept, and two, it was going to launch as an SUI (the first official sound updated island!). You bet I was excited!

But then, the unthinkable happened. Because of my little break, I couldn’t remember how to get into my account, which basically meant it was gone.

I was devastated. So much so that I basically gave up on Poptropica, bitter at them for demolishing a year’s worth of work.

Returning to Poptropica | Feb 2016–present

It was a solid three years before I even considered going back to Poptropica. Not even the six-years-overdue announcement of Monster Carnival Island was enough to bring me back.

But then Thinknoodles, a famous Poptropica YouTuber who I was subscribed to, suddenly popped up in my notifications with a series I thought he had long since abandoned—”Road To Captain Thinknoodles”—with this island that I hadn’t even seen any announcement of on the Poptropica Creators’ Blog. That island was Monkey Wrench Island.

I figured that, at last, I’d go back to Poptropica. But I didn’t want to gamble with my name and all that, so instead I created my account through the Custom Name Genie that I had seen on the PHB’s Glitching page. Much to my pleasure, “Silver Sword” was an option, so that’s what I went with.

And that brings us to the present day…

An 11-year journey

I joined Poptropica when I was just five years old. Now I’m 16 years old, and I’m still playing Poptropica after 11 years. Time flies, doesn’t it?

My journey isn’t ending here, though. If anything, my journey is just getting started.

If you think that Poptropica’s a “kiddie game,” just remember that I’ve been playing it for most of my life. To me, Poptropica is not a “kiddie game.” It’s a game for all ages, even if that age is not the demographic.

Don’t put down Poptropica when I’m around. If you do… MESS WITH THE SWORD, YOU GET THE BLADE.

Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! If you did, you’ll probably enjoy our other MPIP stories here on the PHB.

If you haven’t already, we invite you to send in your own. Please include your username and at least 500 words, typed with good spelling and grammar, and divided into labeled sections. If you send in your story, we will continue to post new community MPIPs!

Interested in writing for the PHB under a different Pop-topic? Take a look at our Write for the PHB page for ideas, guidelines, and more. We’d love to hear from you!

~the Poptropica Help Blog

Haxe Javascript

SUI’s will stay, old school islands maybe someday

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, it’s time for another check-in on the post-Flash future.

The Creators’ Blog came out with a (cleverly titled) “State of the Game” address, confirming many of the things we covered in our own similar post last month on “Preserving Poptropica post-Flash”: mainly, that the Creators are working hard to keep Poptropica alive after Flash technology is gone.

This is a screenshot of the HAXE JavaScript build the Creators have been working on since last year, which will be how Poptropica lives on. So far, looking pretty much the same as the actual game!

Here’s a snippet from the “State of the Game” post (our emphasis added):

As many of our older fans know, there were two different Flash engines that previously ran Poptropica. In technical terms, they are called AS2 and AS3. Some members of the community might know them better as Old School and Sound Updated islands. Our main task right now is converting every AS3 island.

We want to emphasize that the Old School islands are still on the table! But the code that built them is so old that they would need to be remade from the ground up if we were to re-insert them into the live game. We’ve seen this rumor quite a bit, so we’d like to put it to bed: They will definitely not be playable when the JavaScript build launches.

Poptropica Creators’ Blog, “State of the Game: Converting from Flash”

Sound updated islands (SUIs / AS3 islands) include Virus Hunter and every island that has followed its release in 2013. You can still play all of them on the current Poptropica. But the Creators still have work to do to make sure they’re all ready for the next iteration of Poptropica, which is being built on JavaScript.

Old school islands (AS2 islands) are every island that preceded Virus Hunter and that did not get an SUI upgrade in subsequent years. As of July 2019, these 30-some islands—which include classics like Astro-Knights and Skullduggery, as the Creators’ Blog laments—are no longer on the map. (For now, though, you can still play them using idk’s Old Island Directory!)

And now, a moment of silence for the fallen:

Early Poptropica
Shark Tooth
Super Power
Spy
Nabooti
Big Nate
Astro-Knights
Counterfeit
Reality TV
Skullduggery
Steamworks
Great Pumpkin
Cryptids
Wild West
Wimpy Wonderland
Red Dragon
Mystery Train
Game Show
Ghost Story
S.O.S.
Vampire’s Curse
Twisted Thicket
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Wimpy Boardwalk
Lunar Colony
Super Villain
Zomberry
Night Watch
Back Lot
Legendary Swords

🙏

Based on the post, it looks like it’s going to be a while before we see those classic islands officially resurface. However, it’s reassuring to hear that they’re still being considered for a return, some distant day… though not when the JavaScript build comes out.

This bit of news about the old school islands may be a downer, but as the Creators remind us, it’s still pretty incredible that Poptropica gets to remain playable even after Flash is no longer supported, especially in a time when “so many browser games from the 2000’s and 2010’s are disappearing.” So thanks back at you, Poptropica Creators, for doing what you gotta do—even when it may not be as exciting as creating new islands.

Plus, the Creators say they’ll be letting players in on open beta testing for the upcoming JavaScript build, which is coming with special rewards for those who try it out. Now that’s something to look forward to!

This quality meme is brought to you by the PHB. Did you know that February’s theme for Community Creations is “Memes”? Send us your dankest!

Keep on popping, Poptropicans. ✌️

Member Gifts, Membership

Savage member gifts and a new poppin’ home screen

LJ

Hello there, Poptropicans! How’ve you been? It’s Lucky Joker here with the member gift bunch for February and a new Poptropica home screen as well.

January’s over, and we’re on to the second month of the year, which means new stuff! If you purchase or have a membership anytime within the month, you’ll acquire these three exclusive items: Blue Storm Sword, Blue Strom Knight, and Blue Storm Viking.

Pretty cool gifts this time around, if you ask me. Okay, moving on…

As of today, Poptropica updated the main picture on their front page.

To my knowledge, the graphic to grace the home screen has always been a still image, but this time it’s an animated one. I personally love it! All of the characters and islands capture Poptropica’s essence so well — it’s amazing!

So, what do you think of these new things? It’s not much, but I do appreciate even the smallest of updates these days. It’s reassuring knowing the game is still cared for, to some extent.

Thank you for reading as always. Talk to you guys in the next one… pop on!

– Lucky Joker 🍀

Contests

“Lightning Wielder” dazzles creators of Poptropica’s costume design contest ⚡️

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, look sharp! The results of Poptropica’s costume design contest (2020 edition) are here. But first, a word from the Pop Creators:

Remember, even if your drawing doesn’t appear on this list, it has without a doubt made a valuable impression on our art team as we move forward into the new year! There will also be more contests and opportunities to be featured on Poptropica very soon. Remember, all art is subjective, so if you didn’t place as high as you would have liked, don’t let it get you down! The best part of this contest was seeing artists of all experience levels share their ideas with us!

(Editor’s note: bold text = PHB’s emphasis added.) And now, onto the winners!

For the grand prize winner, whose design will appear in the game as a costume in the store (and who will also win 6 months of membership): we have Instagram user @bianca_donka for her “Lightning Wielder” creation!

This fantastic character comes with a loaded description written onto the image (which you can click to enlarge). Its standout feature is the lightning arm (with possible space bar action for “cool lightning stuff”), paired with spiky hair, a funky eye, and tattered clothing, including a jacket that doubles as a cape. The space bar action is explored further with an unnamed friend’s idea that it could be “like the prank things that make everyone else see-through or something… makes everyone else have lightning eyes / a floating blue lock.”

Bianca, the character’s creator, goes on to explain that the concept comes from a Poptropica fan comic she’s been writing for the past year (it’s currently on hiatus for mental health reasons, she added). That comic is in the #PoptropicaBreakdown tag on Instagram and is done in a scribbly style with ink pen and color highlighters. Sample below (click arrows to flip pages):

There are currently 20-some parts to the series, labeled in the post description (like P19 for part 19, above). Plus, check out the artist’s Instagram page for more doodles, including some more fun #poptropica stories like this one:

Anyway, back to the costume. “The concept is that the character experiencing this is starting to see glitches in the game and the locks are whether or not the character is ‘editable,’ aka a player or program in the game,” Bianca wrote in the costume’s description. Locks are shown as open on NPCs, and closed on player characters. She also added that this feature might be “too weird or obscure” to be done, so they may not appear in the actual in-game version when it’s created. Either way, we’ve got a dazzling costume to look forward to!

The Poptropica Creators explained their choice like this: “We chose Bianca’s Lightning Wielder for its snappy gesture, sharp silhouette, and strong stylistic integrity to the Poptropica aesthetic! This Poptropican is gonna give Zeus a run for his money, with lightning powers and, might I add, MUCH cooler hair.”

And there’s more from Bianca: just for fun, she also sent in this drawing of Poptropicans with eyebrows and mustaches along with her entry. Gotta love all those facial expressions… even that frown could get a smile out of you.

All right, now for the runners up! These costumes won’t get made into the game, but the designers do each get a month of membership. In no particular order, here’s “Sunflower Cordial” by @otheraccidk, loved for its 70’s style; “Porcelain Chicken” by Noisy Ghost aka @bylophim, with its adorable chick followers; and “Sharp Beatz” by RadioactivePup, designed to react to the background music with its sweet soundbar visor. (Click to enlarge images!)

  • “Sunflower Cordial” by @otheraccidk
  • “Porcelain Chicken” by Noisy Ghost @bylophim
  • “Sharp Beatz” by RadioactivePup

Last but not least, here come the honorable mentions! The ten artists’ social media handles (generally, Instagram) are on their respective artwork, so consider checking out their pages for more great work. Tons of amazing fan artists are also on DeviantArt! As always, you can click to enlarge the images:

Special shout-out to our very own PHB staffer Lucky Joker for being named an honorable mention! He created each of his three designs with gendered versions and placed them on cool backdrops that aren’t seen on the Creators’ Blog, so we’re sharing them here. They’re also on LJ’s Twitter and Instagram!

  • “Masquerade Gala” by Lucky Joker
  • “POP! Comic Craze” by Lucky Joker
  • “Pixie Sprite” by Lucky Joker

That’s it for the 2020 Poptropica costume design winners! Whether or not your entry made it to the list, may you be encouraged by the fact that the Creators loved seeing your work, and go enjoy all the creativity sparked by this talented community. And if you like, share your entries with us in the comments!

Keep a funky eye out for the Lightning Wielder coming to the Store in the near future, and as always, stay popping, Poptropicans. ✌️

Thunderbolts and lightning! Where can a Poptropican find some more frighteningly good fan art? Check out:

We-Love-Poptropica on DeviantArt · Community Creations on the PHB · Pop Fan Artist Spotlights on the PHB · #art channel on the PHC

🌩