Poptropica Portfolio

Poptropica Portfolio: Jessica Devine

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans!

Here comes another Poptropica Portfolio—but not just any Poptropica Portfolio! This one’s a little different from others we’ve featured, because instead of illustrations or animation reels, this portfolio features copywriting and social media work.

If you’ve been with the fandom a while, you probably know whose work we’re talking about: the efforts of Skinny Moon, also known as Jessica Devine. She left Poptropica this past June to continue her previous career as a freelance copywriter and social media strategist, and recently launched a new website for her business, “J. Devine Creative.”

jdevinecreative website

On the website, she features samples of her work in a gallery—including work from Poptropica! As far as copywriting, she’s written 100+ blog posts for the Poptropica Creators’ Blog under the name “Skinny Moon,” as we know. As for social media, her gallery features numerous social media posts she’s done for Poptropica. Have a glimpse:

sample jdevinecreative

There’s more where that came from! Check out the rest of her gallery here.

Over on the Client Successes page, you can find several more segments relating to Skinny Moon’s time with Poptropica. A gallery of images accompanies each one, and you can flick through the pics with the rounded buttons below each pic.

This picture features a PHB blog post, PHB tweet, and Clawtropica blog post from Pop fan blogger Purple Claw. Again, there’s more where that came from!

jdevinecreative portfolio

Oh yes, she even featured our Skinny Moon memes. How cool is that?! 😎

That’s not all: “J. Devine Creative” also contains a page for testimonials. And here’s the super cool part: you probably know some of the people behind these testimonials, because she invited them straight out of the Poptropica community!

Here’s one that I (Slanted Fish) wrote:

When Jessica served as Poptropica’s community manager, she brought with her a wonderful dose of enthusiasm for all things Poptropica. Jessica (or “Skinny Moon,” as she is known in Poptropica circles) was instrumental in establishing good rapport between Poptropica and its fans, which had been missing before she came along. It was clear that she cared a lot about the fans of the game, from bloggers with large audiences to casual commenters on a small chat server. Not only did Jessica take the time to respond to our pressing questions (of which there were many!), she also took initiative in creating connections on social media, and that made all the difference.

And one from PHB author Slippery Raptor:

As community manager of Poptropica, Jessica was exemplary. She always made sure that every fan was connected to what was going on in Poptropica by holding frequent parties and activities. Jessica was very active and would promptly answer any questions the best she could. But of all the things she’s done, I’m most thankful for her help in personally ensuring that a package sent by Poptropica would arrive for me.

And one from another Poptropica Creator—senior story developer Mitch Krpata—that may really resonate with Poptropicans:

Jessica did the impossible: she made Poptropica relevant on social media. She met our users where they were, and thanks to her unique, energetic voice and keen sense of the zeitgeist, was able to revive interest in what had become a somewhat moribund brand. Our users really want her back. So do I!

Thanks to Skinny Moon, aka Jessica, for giving the PHB an opportunity to play a part in her new website! As you can tell from our testimonials—and countless more from plenty of other Poptropica fans—we can definitely vouch for her good work. So, if you find yourself (or someone you know) in need of a solid copywriter and social media person, look no further than J. Devine Creative.

If you liked Skinny Moon/Jessica’s portfolio, be sure to also check out other Poptropica artists we’ve featured here on the PHB: Tyson Burnham, Kyle Miller, Geoff Hassing, Nate Greenwall, Chris Goodwin, Abraham Evensen Tena, Jordan Leary, Lance Fry, Nasan Hardcastle, and Ashley Lange.

Hope you enjoyed this portfolio! Stay awesome, Poptropicans. 🌙

<・)))><<

Pop 5

Pop 5: Goals for After You’ve Beat All the Islands

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! This is a guest post written by Poptropica community member Gabren (Mythical Beard), with 5 ideas for things to do after you’ve beat all the islands. Enjoy!

pop5 after islands

So you’ve finished all the islands in Poptropica. You’ve beaten every last one. You feel pretty good about yourself. So you’re done, right? You beat the game, after all. Or did you?

Before you reach for that exit button, consider trying these challenges in-game:

1) Time yourself on the islands and set new records.

See how fast you can beat an island! And I’m not talking about any island, either. I’m talking about one of the looooong islands, like Escape From Pelican Rock. (My best time for that one was 36 minutes, 12 seconds.)

This is one of those addicting time-wasters that takes skill, patience, and just a little bit of luck. See if you can beat my score and set some new records for yourself!

restart

2) Wear every item in the game at least once.

Being able to say that you’ve worn every item, male and female, in the game, is a very impressive feat. (I still have yet to complete this one.)

Glitching tools like the Avatar Studio Glitch (ASG) and iPop can help you change your gender and access all kinds of rare items.

With the ASG, you to change into a whole new outfit almost instantly. And with iPop, you can view and send various items to your account, plus other benefits like increasing your battle ranking. You can find both these tools (and more) on the PHB’s Glitching page.

3) Contribute to the Poptropica Help Blog.

Why not? You want to see more good posts, right? Why not have it be one of your own? Check out ideas, guidelines, and more on the Write for the PHB page!

write for phb

4) Get a 5-star battle ranking.

By winning mini-games against other players in common rooms, you can increase your battle ranking: that’s the five little stars in the upper-left corner that you can see when you hover your mouse over yourself or another player in a common room.

Many people don’t have a five-star ranking, so it’s pretty impressive to have one (that is, unless you used iPop to get one).

cosmoe

For advice on all the multiplayer games, check out the PHB’s Game Guides!

5) Make and share some ASG accounts.

So we talked about the Avatar Studio Glitch (ASG). But did you know that it is possible to make your own ASGs? Just keep a few things in mind when you make your own:

  1. Your ASG must be wearing one of the following: jetpack from Early Poptropica, glider from Time Tangled, bowtie from Spy, or chameleon suit from Spy.
  2. If you want to share your ASG on the PHB, make sure your ASG is unique so the collection doesn’t have too many overlaps.
  3. Have fun!

ASG gift

So that’s it for now. Tell me what you guys think!

Keep popping,

Gabren

Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Gabren, also known as Mythical Beard! You might also like another one of his guest posts: Why do Poptropicans change their look so much?

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 Write for the PHB page. We also encourage sharing blog posts on the PHC.

If you have an idea for a PHB post, send it in!

YouTubers

YouTubers Ethan, Dan & Phil play Poptropica!

Silver Wolf

Hiya, Silver Wolf here with some exciting news about two popular YouTube gaming channels that have recently uploaded videos for Poptropica!

First there’s EthanGamerTV, popular for his videos for Roblox and other games, who in November played Poptropica Worlds for the first time! Here’s his video:

In this video, Ethan focuses on one aspect of Worlds: playing through 24 Carrot Island. I personally thought it was really fun to watch!

Interestingly enough, he did play Poptropica Original in another video over a year ago, so some of you might remember seeing him. But StoryArc Media (Poptropica’s company) actually sponsored this video, which means he was paid for playing Poptropica Worlds.

He hasn’t made another Poptropica Original video since then, which is probably because he had other motivations besides fun, but at least the sponsorship exposes the game to another audience—and who knows, maybe he’ll even like it enough to come back to it.

Next up there’s a new video from DanAndPhilGAMES, a general gaming channel owned by Dan Howell and AmazingPhil, in which both Dan and Phil take a trip to Poptropica Original. Neither of them have played Poptropica before, but the video came about as a request from their viewers. You can check it out below:

(WARNING: In the guys’ words, this is a “15+ rated game”—or at least, their commentary makes the video such. Keep in mind that parts of their conversation are not G-rated.)

To recap the video as far as gameplay goes, Dan and Phil didn’t actually complete a full-fledged island, but they did complete the Home Island tutorial, played the Snowpocalypse mini-game, and interacted with some Poptropicans in common rooms, chatting and playing mini-games like Star Link and Hoops. All in all, it seemed like they had a fun time, and it was fun seeing their reactions!

To me, though, Dan and Phil’s video was slightly unfulfilling, as they didn’t really complete an island, but who knows what will happen next? After all, many commenters are asking for follow-up videos, like this one:

dan and phil

Even though I found Dan and Phil’s video to be funnier (though not for younger audiences!), Ethan’s playthrough was more fulfilling, since he did go through a full-fledged island, whereas Dan and Phil jumped from place to place and didn’t stay too long in any of them. Still, both videos were quite entertaining!

Now that you’ve read my thoughts, what did you think of the videos? Leave your comment below!

-SW

Advertisements, Legendary Swords, Social Media

Legendary, All-Bright Sabers

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! It’s Slanted Fish, popping in with the latest.

To start with, Legendary Swords is back on Poptropica Original—it’s a mini-quest where you hack and slash your way past evil robots on a distant planet. Check out our Legendary Swords Guide here if you need some pointers!

SocialMedia_LegendarySwords_FB

While Legendary Swords used to be a store item, it was removed some time ago (for reasons unknown). Now you can find it on the Map as an island, and it comes with a sweet medallion when you complete it.

The sad news for some of us is this: it’s for members only.

If you know your Legendary Swords history, you may recall that it originally came out in 2011 as Free+, which meant the game was free for everyone, but members could have special benefits (in this case, more swords). In 2013, it was labeled as Free, period.

Sometime in the past couple years or so, LS and some other items have mysteriously been pulled from the store. While it’s great to see this adventure return, seeing it come back as members only seems likely to exacerbate concerns about the conflict of Creators’ commitment to both players and revenue streams. What do you think?

Speaking of swords, you can snag yourself a brand new glowing one over on Poptropica Worlds! If you go into your house and watch the short video clip on your TV for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, you’ll be awarded with this cyan blue lightsaber:

UPDATE (Dec 11): The reward is now a red lightsaber, with red light coming out of the sides as well!

red lightsaber

Thanks to Young Hippo (Jersey Devil) for the lightsaber images.

You can also get in on some Star Wars action on Poptropica Original—by watching the same clip on Home Island, you can win (not for the first time) a BB-8 Follower!

One last cool thing for this post: check out this snapshot from Poptropica HQ! It’s got a giant poster of a stylized Spencer Albright, from the Poptropica graphic novels, with the caption “The Curator.” Pretty neat!

Also: “new office”? Presumably still in Boston, but I wonder why they moved!

Anyway, that’s all for now. Let us know what you think of the Legendary Swords return, Star Wars items, and Spencer Albright poster in the comments below! Stay popping, Poptropping trotters. 🐫

<・)))><<

My Place in Poptropica

My Place in Poptropica: Unknown Shadow

Slanted Fish

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Unknown Shadow, who was obsessed with Poptropica until a point of identity questioning that eventually came to pass. See below for details on how to send in your MPIP!

mpip unknown shadow

Hello, people! I’m Unknown Shadow! Here’s a “My Place in Poptropica” post. I’m not the best at writing, but here we go!

2013 | The Not-So-Dramatic Beginning

When I was 9 years old, I was bored on a weekend one day, so I went on my computer and decided to search up “Fun Free Games.” I found one with a fun art style called “Poptropica” that didn’t need a download, so I clicked on it.

I spent about an hour creating my first character, or “Poptropican,” as I would later learn it was called. Most of that time was spent randomizing the character’s name until I got one I liked: “Silly Sword.” My username, which I still use today, was lula4schmidt.

When I was ready, I hovered over the blimp and entered the world of Poptropica. I’m pretty sure the first island I stepped into was Super Power Island, though I don’t remember if I ever beat it.

2014 | Is there such thing as TOO obsessed?

Soon, I went into “special interest mode” and became absolutely OBSESSED. I spent all my spare time on Poptropica. If I wasn’t playing Pop, I was begging my parents for a membership. When they finally gave in one day, I got everything in the store that I was able to, since members could get all store items for free.

My most vivid Poptropica memory from back then is having my character in a wolf costume on Shark Tooth Island. I printed out a picture of one of my outfits, and I think I still have it. I also remember that at one point, a bug in the game turned my girl character into a boy.

Also, I found the PHB, and even made my own Poptropica blog. Mine was really bad—the name was something like “The Pop and Bop.” But I was confident and went ahead with it anyway.

2015–2016 | Oh…

In 2015, I was diagnosed with depression. With the depression, I didn’t have the motivation to do anything, not even play Poptropica. I felt sadder and sadder with each passing day.

Then in 2016, I started questioning my gender. (Spoiler: I’m trans.) I also went into therapy. I logged into Poptropica every once in a while, but not much. By the end of the year, I had stopped playing completely.

2017| Yay!

Sometime this year, I found an old bookmark on my laptop that I had some vague memories of. Yup, it was Poptropica. And I clicked on it.

I made a new (boy!) account called “ace-hq” and logged in to my old favorite website. And even now, I’m still playing.

That’s my story, as best as I can remember it. Anyway, I hope you have a good day! Thank you for reading! ❤

Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story!

If you haven’t already, we invite you to send in your own. Please include your username and a minimum of 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 always welcome new guest posts!

~the Poptropica Help Blog