Pranks

PopFeedz: Just a Prank, Bro!

April Fools, Poptropicans!

Yesterday, on April Fools Day, the PHB announced PopFeedz, a new site promising pure Poptropica entertainment, named as the PHB’s “cooler cousin” for abandoning the PHB’s typical posting style in favor of fun web trends like clickbait titles and the most random personality quizzes, gifs, listicles, cute animal pics, more. Well, as many of you guessed, it was just an April Fools prank: we’re not actually planning to turn the PHB into another Buzzfeed.

Many of you caught onto our joke, although we did manage to fool some of you. 😜 Either way, we hope you enjoyed exploring the PopFeedz site we put together! If you missed it, or want to relive it, the site will remain available at popfeedz.wordpress.com – so enjoy!

popfeedz layout

The PHB team worked hard to put everything together, combining ideas and being inspired by each other. Lucky Joker even put up a new quiz about PopGum after we had announced the site! A sketch from Brave Tomato made its way into the post about Skinny Moon – which, if you haven’t figured out yet, is just our imagination, and not a real interview. 😉

As the team was coming up with ideas for what to do for this year’s prank, we kept thinking we wanted to do something about Poptropica Worlds, which was tricky since we still don’t know much about it. However, Slippery Raptor had the idea of turning the PHB into a “PHB 2.0,” just as Worlds is a New Poptropica – and from there, it took off!

The name PopFeedz is, of course, inspired by Buzzfeed, a popular entertainment website with all sorts of fun time-wasters. The content of PopFeedz is similarly inspired, particularly with quizzesmemes, and an overall style of clickbait titles and concise text. Of course, everything is adapted to Poptropica, such as Spotted Dragon’s “You Will NOT Believe What’s In These Behind-the-Scenes Sketches…” playing on our own concerns about what might happen with Poptropica Worlds, but with a humorous intent. And as a reference to the shiny Worlds art we’ve been seeing, we even threw in a little parody of the hit song “Shiny” from the recent Disney film Moana in our announcement post.

Pets of Poptropica is inspired by some of Skinny Moon’s latest social media posts, not only about her pup Toby, but also her call to post pictures of pets on social media with the hashtag #PetsOfPoptropica. A few of us had pets (both past and present), so we started a pets series on PopFeedz! Here’s a look at my betta fish, Biscotti, staring at my Poptropican on the computer screen:

IMG_4477

Because these articles were enjoyed so much, we hope to re-publish a few of them here on the PHB over the next few weeks, so they can be enjoyed by even more readers, who might have missed them on PopFeedz. However, some of them will remain exclusive to PopFeedz since they are more suitable there, so be sure to check them out.

On April 1, PopFeedz received over 1,600 visits to the site, and we heard from many of you about how much you liked it! We even received this complimentary message from the one and only Skinny Moon:

sm comment prank

As always, the team here at the PHB is grateful for your continued support and readership, and we’d like to think PopFeedz was one fun way to celebrate that fact. The Poptropica Help Blog is here to stay, so stay popping, Poptropicans! 😜✌️

– slantedfish 🐠 –

Community Creations

Community Creations: March 2017

community-creations-logo

Hello once again everyone! Spotted Dragon here bringing you the March recap for Community Creations! This month’s theme was nature. The featured work is not in any particular order. 😉

No clue what’s going on? Go see our intro post.

Top 5 Picks

Welcome to Poptropica by DanaKelly AKA BeanSkelly

Bean Skelly - Welcome to Poptropica

A beautifully colored piece that perfectly represents the awe-inspiring, mysterious world of Poptropica. Based on the style of the Poptropica Comics, the mood this design gives off is adventurous and amazing. Find their DeviantArt here (and here).

Poptropical Explorer Costume by Sticky Clown

Sticky Clown - Poptropical Explorer Costume

Not only is this submission unique in the fact that it’s a costume instead of a drawing, but it also perfectly capture’s this month’s nature theme. Poptropica is a world meant to be explored and this costume is 100% prepared to do just that. Find their Gravatar here.

A Fight in the Night by ANNE14TCO

ANNE14TCO - A Fight in the Night

A very cool looking setting that gives off yet another very interesting mood. The lighting sets a rather ominous tone and everything really seems to tell a story. While nature can be beautiful, I like how this design shows its dark side. Plus, this just proves how everyone can improve their talents because this piece is actually a redone older drawing! Find their DeviantArt here.

Ocean Travels by HappyCloneTrooper

HappyCloneTrooper - Ocean Travels

As Poptropicans, we are constantly traveling the world in our blimps and so I really like the route this drawing took. The horizon scene is breath-taking and the full moon’s light is wonderful. The ocean is a huge part of nature and the night sky makes it look incredible! Find their DeviantArt here.

Heart of the Forest by Criaha

Criaha - Heart of the Forest

Twisted Thicket art of course isn’t surprising, but while it’s an obvious topic choice it also leads to simply amazing creations. The lighting used here is astonishing and the entire atmosphere takes the viewer away to a forest full of imagination. This totally captures the feeling of wonder in Poptropica as well as the calm, inspiring aspects of the island it’s referencing. Find their DeviantArt here.

Honorable Mentions

Click to view the images in full.

Once again, creative submissions from everyone! I hope to see even more next month. 😛

April: How do I Participate?

Community Creations is a cool series for anyone in the Poptropica community to join in on. To sum up what it’s about, it’s basically a chance to show off your artwork, creepy fan-fic, realms, costumes, and anything else that pops into your mind.

If we really like the piece you submit, we will feature it here on the PHB! As long as it relates to that month’s theme. So what is April’s theme? April’s theme is…

Original Characters!

Oh how we love our OC’s in this fandom… Anyway, I know that there is a good amount of hate swimming through the community now and again but getting past all that, I want to focus on how friendly our community is! And since April is such a beautiful (yet rainy) month for a lot of us, I decided the theme should reflect that sense of blooming.

Original characters include any and all of your Poptropica avatars, your friends’ avatars, and any other unique characters that YOU came up with. That means no one necessarily canon. I hope that this theme encourages you to draw creative designs and include many of your friends and other bloggers! Remember that you can submit not only drawings, but literature costumes, etc. as well. And the more detail/backstory, the better! 😉

  • Submitting: Comment below with a link to whatever you’ve created OR share it with me (SydVC aka Spotted Dragon) on DeviantArt, Twitter, or Discord.
  • Results: I will feature 5 of the submissions as well as 3 honorable mentions.
  • Limitations: Nothing NSFW, and make sure you relate to the theme.
  • Due Date: I will take any entries before the end of this month. Submit as many things as you’d like!

I will always be sure to let you know I have seen your creation. Bonus points if you make a compelling description for your piece! Remember that I’m mainly looking for something to catch my eye, so you don’t have to be any perfect artist or anything.

So what are you waiting for? Go make something! 😀

~SD

Pranks

Introducing a New World of PHB: PopFeedz!

Well, Poptropica hasn’t always been this glam
It was a lame little game once
But now, we gotta say, it’s our jam
Because it’s beautiful, baby…

So we all know about the new Poptropica Worlds that’s going to debut this spring. But it’s been quite the wait, and all this talk of new has gotten the PHB team thinking: As Worlds takes on a life of its own, what are we going to do to adapt?

It occurred to us that, just as the game has to adapt to modern technologies, so too should our blog adapt to what’s in these days. And that’s why we’re excited to present…

popfeedz logo

{ popfeedz.wordpress.com }

PopFeedz, the brand-new cooler, cutting-edge cousin of the Poptropica Help Blog! Yeah, come on, check out what the buzz is all about. It’s pretty awesome.

This newfangled, revamped PHB brings you the latest fads in website entertainment, and honestly, it’s so cool that it makes what we’ve got here on the old PHB look boring.

On PopFeedz, we don’t need tedious guides that only serve to cheat people out of the joys of playing the game. Nor does PopFeedz fool around with lengthy posts that analyze Poptropica’s updates to death the way the PHB would. Instead, it fools around with the fun parts of Poptropica, and everything’s short and sweet!

There are the personality quizzes…

pf quiz

(So far, we’ve got the big hits of “What Island Are You?”, “Can You Pop to the Top?”, and “Do You Know Your Poptropica Islands in 140 Characters or Less?” Stay tuned for “Which Astro-Knights planet describes your mood?”, “What flavor of PopGum are you?”, and lots more!)

the celebrity gossip and memes…

pf sm and tweets

(Haven’t you always wondered about Skinny Moon’s childhood? We don’t want to give too much away here… you’ll have to see it for yourself…)

the cute pets…

pf pets

(Toby the #PoptropicaPup isn’t the only cute animal in this community!)

…and muuuuch more. Seriously, you’re going to love it. So come on over and read our new clickbait articles until the sun comes up in the morning and you’re wondering why you still didn’t finish your homework. It doesn’t get much better than this.

popfeedz layout

Gone are the old ways of the PHB. No more long wordy posts investigating the tiniest detail of an image. In fact, we’ll stop rambling on soon and let the site speak for itself. Everything’s bite-sized these days, and it’s all about the fun, fun, fun.

No need to come to us for the news – that’s all on the Creators’ Blog. We’ll make it fun for you, though, so come back to PopFeedz for the latest gossip, cute pet pics, and other entertainment! Just as Poptropica Worlds is bringing us a new gaming experience, so PopFeedz is here to bring you a new fansite experience.

This might just be the last long-winded post on the PHB. From here on out, we’re handing the reins over to PopFeedz. New style. New substance.

A poppin’, shiny, simpler newsfeed. Check out PopFeedz today.

We’d rather be… shiny
Like treasure from old Captain Crawfish’s wreck
Scrub the deck and make it look… shiny!

(Certified 100% Shiny™ by our crustaceous friend Tamatoa.)

–the PHB PopFeedz team–

Home Island

Now Playing in Theaters: What Even Are All These Videos??

Hey Poptropicans! Slanted Fish here to make a splash on the silver screen!

new2bmovie2btheater2bon2bpoptropica2521

The big news of the day is that the Movie Theater on Home Island, which appeared a week ago, is now open for business! The sign is glimmering, and the door is open, so head on in. Inside, you’ll find a little room with a bright sign leading you into the theater. (Wait, where are the concessions?)

Once you click there, a video player will pop up, and the movies will begin! However, the movies aren’t anything we predicted in our previous post about the theater. Instead, this is a collection of kiddy videos – fun, educational, and everything in between – that a few of the Creators picked out for everyone.

(Notes: If you have AdBlock on, you’ll need to deactivate it on Poptropica in order for the videos to play. To see the videos without logging in, click here – thanks to idk for the link.)

If you click on the red video camera button in the top corner, you can browse through a really long list of videos. Here’s what the interface looks like:

The very first video that plays is a song about gravity with animated robots, and it’s very much aimed at a younger age group. However, there is quite a variety among the video selection, from comedy sketches to educational animations and more, and it’s possible to find clips that slightly older audiences can enjoy as well, if you click around. Still, having the starting clip be something so juvenile was a little jarring, to say the least.

All the videos are produced by sources outside of Poptropica. Poptropica must have obtained some kind of rights with the various different producers of these videos in order to be able to show them, but how they’ve worked that out is not clear. At any rate, some Poptropicans on the PHC have already been voicing out some disappointment in seeing that these videos are not Poptropica-produced, as many had hoped. But this doesn’t have to be a bad thing, if they work at choosing videos that will interest the diverse tastes of all Poptropicans. At the moment, however, it seems that most of the videos are geared towards elementary-aged kids.

All in all, the Movie Theater wasn’t what most Poptropicans were hoping for – and the unfamiliarity and lack of organization among the videos has made this update fall a little flat for some eager Poptropicans. I think it would be a good idea for Poptropica, in the future, to arrange the videos by topic and/or age group in order to make it easier to find something you’re interested in.

The good news is, there’s still a wide selection and variety of topics explored in the fun-themed videos, so if you dig deeper, you can probably find something to your tastes (I personally enjoyed the “Types of Teachers” video!). And, this being a carefully curated selection, everything is child-friendly, which could make this a nice alternative from YouTube for the cautious parents out there.

As announced on the Creators’ Blog, the Movie Theater is up on the web now, and will be joining the Poptropica mobile app very soon.

Plus, they plan to mix up the selection of videos playing in the theater as time goes on, so be sure to check back to see what’s new!

What do you think of the new Movie Theater? Any videos you recommend among the huge list? Any videos you think are not worth watching? What else do you wish to see Poptropica do with the theater? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

~🐠

Uncategorized

A Mystique Sneak Peek into Worlds

Hello, everyone!

Lucky Joker here with yet another Poptropica Worlds sneak peek, straight from the Creators’ blog. From what we’ve seen in the past, this one seems a little more noteworthy than the others. Check it out!

If you recall from Skinny Moon’s most recent visit to the Poptropica Help Chat (PHC), she mentioned that they’d be giving a few more sneak peeks of Worlds before it releases.

“I think we’ll do 2-3 more sneak peeks of Worlds and then debut it! Can’t give a date, sorry!”

So what could this mean? Well, they just gave us a sneak peek and for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, spring is here, and that means the release of Poptropica Worlds is near.

If we observe the picture in greater depth and brighten it little (thanks to idk for the picture!), we can see a few items are recognizable from Poptropica; like the rocket ship (which could represent Astro-Knights Island), the shield (which looks similar to the ones seen on Time Tangled Island) as well as the rope hanging down over by the window (which looks like the rope that hangs down from our blimp).

Pop Worlds sneak peek.png

I personally love the newish art style, which looks pretty similar to the current art style, in this image at least. As far as what this could be, it looks like it could be a personal player-owned home (that could offer many customization options), or perhaps a common room hangout spot.

What do you think this room will be? Share your ideas in the comments; we love hearing from you guys. I’ll talk to you soon, pop on!

-Lucky Joker :luckyjoker~1: