🏝️ Poptropica Help Blog 🗺️

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Gentle Fang, who stopped playing Poptropica for a while because she felt too old for it, but returned to it for the challenge and fun she’d missed. See below for how to send in your MPIP!

mpip gentlefang

Hey everyone! I am Gentle Fang (a brilliant oxymoron of a name). I wrote a guest post back in February with a little island history, and decided to return and do a My Place in Poptropica post for fun. Enjoy!

2012 | Introduction

In 2012, I was in second grade, and was seven years old. I always loved to visit FunBrain.com, and in the website’s games there were constantly Poptropica advertisements. The characters in the pictures I saw looked pretty cool to me, so I asked my mom if I could play.

She agreed to set up an account for me to use, although I was not allowed membership to the game. Upon entering, I clicked the first island I saw: Zomberry. I was frightened by the purple zombies back then, but now I see them as nothing to be afraid of. Since I was scared, I quickly exited out of the game. Sadly, I have no idea what my old username was.

2015 | Different school, different kids

When I was in fifth grade, I moved to a new school for the seventh time in my life. I had come from a school where I was very well-liked by the students and was very close to them, so when I moved, I expected it to be just the same as the last school. However, I turned out to be very wrong.

I met lots of kids who were very different from what I was used to (in a good way), and most of them didn’t like any of the same things I did. I got very shy around these kids, and so I had no one to be around when school was over. The work was also kind of boring to me because the curriculum at my new school was behind on what it had been at my old school, so much of it was review for me.

It was out of boredom that I went back onto FunBrain one night, and once again, I saw the Poptropica ads. I thought back to second grade and the scary Zomberry zombies, and was hesitant to join. However, I decided to do it again anyway, because I figured much could have changed as I got older.

I found that I loved the game, and tried to complete islands on my own, which was a huge challenge. I had fun changing my character’s outfits and making her hair bright turquoise. I chatted in the common rooms and even copied down some questions from the chats to ask to kids at school.

I got a very positive reaction, and found that many people who I thought were so different from me were actually quite similar. I made a few friends who I am still close to today, including my friends Isabella and Caroline. I found out that plenty of kids played Poptropica, and one even showed me the PHB, so completing islands wouldn’t be so hard anymore.

It was also on Poptropica that I discovered how much I love theater, especially musical theater. I watched as Gentle Fang cried off of the stage on Reality TV Island and how she would sweat nervously in Game Show Island, and I myself became very good at acting out the very same emotions my character acted out. After fifth grade, I joined the drama club at school, which helped me to get a ton of friends.

2016 | A break from an obsession (and forming some new ones)

In 2016, I entered middle school. I LOVED IT, to say the least. I felt like I had a lot more independence, but also felt I was “too old” for some things.

For one, I felt that it was time I abandoned the pink decorations on all of my stuff and replaced it with boring old zebra stripes. I also developed a new obsession of listening to Hamilton over and over again. And, more relevant to this story, I came to think that Poptropica was too babyish for the eleven-year-old that I was and not worth my time anymore, so I stopped playing.

2017 | Why’d I ever stop?

This year, I felt I was lacking a challenge, some sort of game that would test my logic and reasoning. I realized what I was actually missing was Poptropica. I missed the challenges the islands presented to me, and I missed the fun social interactions that resulted from it. I realized that the only thing I was actually “too old” for was my own brain.

So, I decided to give myself a mental refresh, in which I realized it was dumb to get rid of things I loved so much just because I was getting older. I quickly went back to Poptropica, replaying all of the old islands and laughing at some friends’ outfit choices for their characters.

I went back to Gentle Fang and took her for a long shopping trip in the store. I had tons of fun, and I am working on my Poptropica Worlds account now. While my newer obsession of Hamilton songs continue to play in the background, I am so happy to have gone back to my older obsession of a game that brought me great joy.

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!

~the Poptropica Help Blog

24 Carrot Island, Crisis Caverns Island, Livestreams, Social Media

Speedrun through 24 Carrot, slow down for Home Island, and don’t forget the Antlers

October 15, 2017December 1, 2017 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! Slanted Fish here with the latest report on what’s popping.

Poptropica has released a new video, and this one’s pretty unique compared to the others: it’s a speedrun of 24 Carrot Island, which shows you how to complete the island in approximately 4 minutes! It’s pretty impressive, so check it out:

The narrator’s voice is not one we’ve heard before, but it sounds like it could be a teenager, or at least someone young but not childlike as in the trailer video. This video uses some visual clips from the trailer, and I think the new voice fits the vibe pretty well. The narration packs a fair bit of humor in its quick walkthrough, only stopping once for a hilariously deep breath. I’d like to see more videos like this! What do you think?

That’s not the only new video this week — we’ve also got another livestream (#4) from Creator Stephanie! Catch the archived video below:

This episode aired October 13 (Friday). (Speaking of Friday the 13th, check out this Creators’ Blog post highlighting some superstitiously-unlucky Poptropica moments for the occasion. It’s good to see Captain Crawfish blogging again!)

Anyway, back to the video with Stephanie. The first minute is just silence before Stephanie realizes she’s on air, and then it’s off to Home Island again! As with the last livestream, she picks up on decorating her house, this time adding membership furniture like the beach themed windows along with her non-member items.

Before placing the furniture in her home, she takes a candy break — not jellybeans this time, but candy from her recent travels to Colombia! Then she starts placing her decor around the house, starting with beach windows and then carefully thinking through where to put her clock, fireplace, rocket lamp and more. Plus, she’s taking names for the suit of armor guarding the house — got any suggestions?

Just as she signs off, we can catch a quick glimpse of the recording program she’s using: Gameshow 2. So there you have that, in case you were wondering!

Stephanie will be livestreaming Poptropica Worlds every week for the foreseeable future. They could be any day of the week, but stay tuned for the next one!

In other news, the Elk Antlers on Crisis Caverns Island have moved! Though they used to be in Crispin Cave, they are no longer there — instead, you’ll now find them on top of Ye Old Cabin and Mine. Why they changed this is a mystery, but perhaps it makes a little more sense in the story as a location for pranksters to place the item.

You can see this update in action in this video by Young Hippo. Thanks also to Green Cheetah for the update and a screenshot!

As you may notice if you try it out for yourself, or if you complete any other item on your quest log, a side note will now appear beside your quest log to mark the completion of an item on the list! Pretty neat new feature to let you know when you’re making some progress. But that’s not the only thing that’s new about the quest log…

Now, when you progress to a new point, a notification will also pop up beside the quest log to give a little nudge for what you’re supposed to do or think about next. You may have noticed it in the 24 Carrot video above, which gives pointers like this one:

Cool, huh?

By the way, here’s your chance to write for the PHB: We’re working on a guide for the new mini-game Dr. Hare’s Revenge and would appreciate any help! Send us your writing and/or pictures to [email protected].

Anyway, what do you think of the new quest log updates, livestream, and speedrun video? What would you like to see the Creators do next for Poptropica? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!

<・)))><<

My Place in Poptropica

My Place in Poptropica: Crazy Peppers

October 14, 2017October 14, 2017 Slanted Fish

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Crazy Peppers, who was introduced to Pop by his brother’s friend and hasn’t stopped the obsession since. See below for how to send in your MPIP!

mpip crazypeppers

2013–2015 | My Brother’s Friend

The event that began my road to Poptropica was my older brother moving into a new school. His first friend was a middle-schooler named Moises. (Moises is in high school now.) One day, Moises came over to our place and showed me a computer game called Poptropica. Little did I know that it would be the start of an obsession — an obsession that hasn’t died out (yet).

My first account Yellow Ghost, which was created by my brother. We beat so many islands together — with the help of the Poptropica Help Blog, of course. (After all, who doesn’t look up a little help?)

For the next couple of years, Poptropica was the one and only computer game I played. I watched many islands come out over the time I played: Galactic Hot Dogs, Mystery of the Map, Timmy Failure, Escape From Pelican Rock, and finally, Monkey Wrench. Then, Poptropica stopped coming out with islands.

2016 | Let’s Take a (Long) Break

One day in 2016, I just stopped playing for some reason. I don’t know why, because I hadn’t forgotten my username and password. Poptropica didn’t release any new islands after Monkey Wrench, so that may have contributed to it.

After a while, Poptropica was completely out of my mind. For a long time, it just didn’t occur to my mind to keep playing.

Early 2017 | The Return… to a new World

One day in early 2017, a thought came in to my head: “Remember that old game Poptropica? I should check it out again. A lot of stuff might have changed!”

As it turns out, not that much had changed — that is, until the release of Worlds.

Up until the the release of the new game, I had never heard of it. I guess I hadn’t been keeping up with the news. Anyway, once it was out, I immediately imported my Poptropica Original account.

I played around with it but decided I didn’t like it that much. I liked the houses though. I’ve beat all the islands in Worlds (so far).

August 2017 | Membership

In August, my parents agreed to get me a one-month membership. I LOVED it! I went on Poptropica Original and beat most of the membership islands (except Great Pumpkin Island, because I couldn’t get past the piano part). I played most of the bonus quests, and got all of the members-only store items. When my membership ended, I was pretty sad, but I had fun with it.

Looking to the present

Well, that’s it for now, but I sure hope the Poptropica Creators come up with more soon! My username is intinavia2 if anybody wants to friend me, and I’d like to give a special thanks to the PHB for letting me post on their site.

Stay safe out there, Poptropica fans.

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

~the Poptropica Help Blog

Clubhouse, Home Island, Livestreams, Social Media

A Mythical Scene and House Decorating Tips on Tape

October 9, 2017December 1, 2017 LJ

Hello, everyone!

Lucky Joker here with some news on the world of Poptropica from social media!

First off, the Poptropica Creators tweeted this sneak peek earlier today of a new island in the works. Pretty intriguing…

Speaking of #blocktober: have a look at a graybox for an island we’re working on currently! pic.twitter.com/U5hEckCxwj

— Poptropica Creators (@Poptropica) October 10, 2017

It’s unknown whether this is an original release or a newer adaption from an older island, but if I had to guess, I’d say this is a graybox of Mythology Island, or as someone guessed in the comments of the tweet, an island based off Pompeii (perhaps for an island based on the graphic novels?).

From observation, you can see a few Poptropicans standing to the side of the image. They’re most likely standing there as statues, but they could also represent the victims buried under the ash and pumice of Mount Vesuvius. Also, a broken ionic pillar can be seen at the top, which suggests this may be either Mythology Island or a Pompeii-based island with the Roman and Greek feel. What do you think?

Update: Brave Tomato points out that if you look in the top-left corner above the coin count, you’ll notice a certain medallion that appears to have a lightning bolt in it… the medallion of Mythology Island! Are we in for our next remastered island?

Over on YouTube, Stephanie – Poptropica’s official YouTuber (and possibly the new social media manager, or at least one of them) – has returned for a third livestream about Poptropica Worlds! Catch the archived video below:

The livestream occurred around 3 PM EST (which seems to be the usual time) on Sunday, October 8. As with the other times before, Stephanie gives a few intermittent shout-outs, while also answering a few questions, from viewers who chatted on the live chat during the stream.

In this episode, Stephanie spends the first few minutes recapping her past livestream about customization, plus she does her daily wheel spin and talks to Cliff Housebuff. She confesses that she had a “magical wizard” (presumably another Creator) give her the 15,000+ coins she currently has in her account, and talks a bit about how she started without membership so we could see the difference, and emphasizes that you can always still play the game without membership.

After another quick makeover, and a spicy jellybean, she gets into decorating her house. She goes through the bare-bones version of the house, then scrolls, speaks, and shops her way through the various decor options for wallpaper and furniture. Unfortunately, the stream ended abruptly, most likely due to a technical difficulty. You’ll just have to stay tuned to find out what happens next!

Here’s another recent development: Poptropica is slowly re-doing the thumbnail images on their YouTube walkthrough videos! Here’s what they have so far:

Hmm. It is kind of odd to see Worlds avatars represented for Poptropica Original videos, isn’t it? Plus, the characters seem kind of funky — especially with the beard and long eyelash combo. And the text and bright colors feels rather randomly placed; unlike the previous organizational design of the “Captain Crawfish’s walkthrough” thumbnails.

It’s commendable to see Poptropica try to personalize their video thumbnails more, but perhaps they could do a better job trying to fit with their branding. Thoughts?

On the discussion of decorating houses, Poptropica also uploaded a new video where Stephanie shares her top 10 tips for decorating the ultimate house. Check it out:

If for some reason you can’t watch the video, here are the tips she shared in the video, quoted for you below:

Walls make the house: Wallpaper with patterns like pineapples, polka dots, and stripes, automatically dress up a room with spunk. When using textured walls like ship lap, bricks, and stone, you can make any house look like the interior of a castle!
A home should have a personality: Artwork and knickknacks like a mounted fish, cuckoo clock, or knights armor could really take a room from simple to awesome! Think about your hobbies — surfing, basketball, or playing the sax, perhaps? Let your home speak for itself.
You don’t have to settle for just one look! Mix and match: Just as you’re ever growing your style in clothes, your home style should change too. Maybe you feel like a hamburger light because you’re hungry, or you’re felling fancy with a big chandelier and fireplace. Whatever it may be, it’s your space, so let it reflect you.
Let the outdoors in: Create windows to let the light in, with all kinds of shapes and sizes to fit your decorating needs. And don’t forget to add a little extra greenery with a floor plant, or a flower pot perhaps.
Balance the space: Pairs of things can really pull together a home, for a more cohesive look. Buying in pairs of twos like two windows, two lamps, or two nightstands, can really create space. Groupings like multiple art pieces on one wall, and a rule of threes can also help balance a room by creating a center point for your eye to look at.
Mix up colors and textures: Mixing things up can make for a more interesting space… like how your chairs don’t all have to match. By finding something that brings the room together, or by choosing an artwork piece with multiple colors, you can really pull in multiple types of furniture… or things, or beds, or anything really!
Think outside the box: Who says you can’t have a sofa in your bathroom? Or a bed in the living room? Or even a pool table in your kitchen? If you like it — do it!
Try, try again: Just because something doesn’t look right in one place doesn’t mean it doesn’t work somewhere else. Rearrange furniture to your liking as often as you like, and don’t forget, you can flip positioning too.
Comfort is key: Your home is your haven — make it comfy! Get that comfy couch, or big fluffy bed, or lazy hammock because you earned it. You deserve to relax and enjoy yourself after a big adventure.
Start collecting now: Just because you don’t have everything you want now, doesn’t mean you won’t. Spend the big coins on what matters to you. Maybe you’re an animal person, so an iguana and a fish tank are right up your alley. Or are you a big gamer? In that case, an arcade or computer desk are the way to go. So don’t be afraid to spend on what makes you happy, and don’t forget to get your free coin spin from Captain Scuttlebutt!

What did you think of this week’s videos, and what other types of content would you like to see from Poptropica? Share your thoughts down in the comments section!

One last thing: If you’d like to help us with a guide for the new mini-game Dr. Hare’s Revenge, whether by sending pictures or writing, contact us! You can learn more about opportunities like this on our Write for the PHB page.

That’s it for now… thanks for reading, and of course, pop on!

Contests

PHB’s 9th Annual Sp00py Costume Contest!

October 7, 2017February 9, 2018 LJ

Hello, sp00ptropicans! October is here, Halloween is just around the corner, and that means it’s time for the PHB’s Annual Sp00py Halloween Costume Contest!

This is our ninth year doing this, and this time around, we’re going to have two categories: Poptropica Original and Poptropica Worlds!

Traditionally, Poptropicans submit their best Poptropica Halloween costumes in the comments section by giving an Avatar Studio link and/or posting their username. Since the Avatar Studio only works for accounts on Pop Original, the procedure for submitting a Worlds costume will be different — details below.

Tips for a sp00py costume

As you put together your entry (or entries — feel free to submit as many times as you like!), keep in mind the following:

🎃 Be original! Instead of just using all the parts of one costume that already exists, mix and match to create your own unique costume.
🎃 There are some great Halloween costume parts at the ghoul gathering from the end of the Haunted House quest from the Store, as well as the collection of free costumes in the Store, but be creative and search in other places too! We have tools like the Avatar Studio Gift and iPop to help you find just the right parts you need.
🎃 Keep your costume intact until after the winners are announced on October 31 (Halloween). If you change your costume before then, we may not see it! If you don’t want to keep the costume on your main account, you can create a new one and post the link to that instead. Or, send us a screenshot from the Avatar Studio in the same way as you see cropped on our ASG page. (Entries for Worlds will require a screenshot — don’t worry, it’s a simple process!)
🎃 Optional: Give your costume a groovy name. It’ll help your costume stand out even more, and if it wins, we’ll refer to it by the name you’ve given it!

How to enter your costume

🍭 To post your entry for Poptropica Original, go to the Avatar Studio, type in your username, click Load, click on the Link to highlight it, right-click and choose Copy. Then, go to the comments section on this post, right-click and choose Paste, type in your comment (you can include your username if you’d like to) and submit it, so we can view your costume by clicking the link!
🍭 To post your entry for Poptropica Worlds, go to your closet and take a screenshot (see instructions here for screenshotting on any computer or mobile device). Then, upload your screenshot on an image hosting website such as imgur or TinyPic, copy the link to your image, and insert the link into your comment so we see it!

For both games, you can submit as many entries as you like, but if you do, make sure to use multiple accounts so that you don’t overwrite the last costume you put on. Remember, though, you can only win a maximum of one time for each game.

The contest closes on Monday, October 30. Winners will be announced October 31.

Winners & Prizes

👻 On Halloween (October 31), we’ll make a post featuring the winning costumes on the front page of the PHB for all to see, *PLUS* each winner will receive a one-month Poptropica membership, courtesy of the Poptropica Creators!
👻 The winning costumes will also be immortalized on the PHB’s Costumes page, where you can see examples of past Halloween winners.
👻 We’ll have 12 winners total – 6 costumes from each game – as well as some honorary mentions for just the post, but not the page.

🍭👻🎃 Happy Costumizing! 🎃👻🍭

🦇 P.S. If you’re feeling especially artistic in this spooky season, be sure to participate in this month’s Community Creations, which also has a Halloween theme!