Them spooky scary skeletons outta be sending some shivers down your spine. Now that we’ve covered the trick, let’s move on to the treat. Welcome to round forty-eight of PMFM (Poptropican Meme Face Mondays)!
The lucky meme-faced Poptropicans this week are Zany Panda, Samwow5, and fellow PHB author Spotted Dragon! And here are the memes:
Zany Panda
Samwow5
Spotted Dragon
Feel free to click on the images to view them in their full glory. 😛
And we have an extra meme face this week! 😀 Today is Happy Lobster’s birthday! And what better way to celebrate than a little meme-ry, eh? Be sure to send him your birthday wishes!
Include the meme face you would like on your Poptropican in your comment (a link to an image of the meme is very preferred).
Post your comment and wait! (PMFM is operated on a first come-first serve basis, so your meme face will come after all of the ones before are released).
Just a note: You do not need to re-comment on newer posts if you haven’t gotten yours yet. Once I reply to your comment mentioning “You being added to the list,” then I have seen your comment and added it to my literal list, so yours will be made after each one before is made.
This completes round forty-eightSPOOP EDITION of meme faces. Tune in next Monday for the next Poptropican Meme Face Mondays!
What do you think about this week’s meme faces? Comment below.
I now leave you with this super scary gif in celebration of Halloween.
Boo! Slip here. I am your host for today, your… ghost host!
The witching hour is almost here – so what will we do? Last year, we did an omnibus of Poptropica’s scariest moments. Well, scary islands and characters are good Halloween clichés: why not review one of Poptropica’s best and creepiest islands? How about Ghost Story Island? Sure!
This review contains spoilers, so if you haven’t played the island yet, close your eyes and hum throughout the review! However, since you’re still reading this, let’s go!
Announced back in November 2011 (wow, it’s been five years!), Ghost Story Island was peculiarly released after Halloween, despite its spooky themes. In December, a pre-island quest called Spook Central was released and involved hunting ghosts throughout different Poptropica islands and eventually earning the exclusive Ghost Hunter suit!
Are you ready for the review? Oh yeah, we’ll be omitting the Soundtrack section since this is a non-SUI island. We’ll begin shortly—if you dare. No turning back!
Storyline & Characters
Hemlock Harbor is a town with a secret. Restless spirits are said to haunt its shores, but no one knows who they are, what they want — or how to get rid of them. Can you hunt the ghosts of Hemlock Harbor and uncover the mystery that will set them free?
This island, I think, has one of the best storylines. Why? First, it tackles on a tricky topic for kids like ghosts, apparitions, and other scary stuff. Just the trailer is creepy enough to make you want to hide under the bed.
As we explore Hemlock Harbor a bit more, we discover the secret behind all these apparitions — it’s one big connect-the-dots game and it’s up to us to weave the story together. Then comes the boldness of the storyline: a story of love, betrayal, and forgiveness — a type of story that goes beyond the typical fluff of kids’ tales.
What I really liked the most was the plot twist in the end, so I suggest that you try playing the island again to find out what it is! Kudos to Poptropica for doing such a great job in making the storyline of the island. I like this island so much that I think it’s worth revisiting once in a while.
Here on the PHB, we love Ghost Story so much that this island won the Best Storyline award in the 2015 Poppies. Awesome.
As for the characters, what amazes is that almost every character makes an appearance and no one gets left out of the story. There is great character development between the ghosts and as well as the magistrate, Henry Flatbottom, as key characters in the story.
My favorite character would be the superstitious guy in front of the bakery. I find it fascinating that some people still believe in superstitions in the modern era.
Gameplay
The island has a serious amount of gameplay, with lots of neat features, some of which are unique and can’t be found on other Poptropica islands!
One feature I really enjoyed were the cutscenes, like the scene inside the inn where the couple scares you. It’s one great tool to make the island better and interactive.
I also liked the mechanism used while maneuvering vehicles within Poptropica, similar to the ones in Wild West and Cryptids. The boat in the gif above is one of the examples of this.
Now for the distinct features of this island! One would be the first-person mazes found in the cemetery. It’s one of the best features of the island and I like how it adds to the eerie atmosphere.
Last but never the least, is the violin mini-game in the island. It’s actually amazing to hear music and sounds in classic Poptropica, and this island has become a good recipient of it. Check out our PHB Special about Fiona’s violin song!
Visuals
Ghost Story received a decent amount of animation — some of which are seen on the banners above. The best thing that I liked in this island was the fog effect seen throughout the Main Street and the cemetery. I also like the ghost glasses being sold by the vendor on Main Street! Poptropica really put in some cool details on this island!
Another thing to point out in this island was the numerous rooms—so many that I’ve already lost count. With all those rooms, Poptropica filled each one to the brim with detail. What’s more amazing is that while some of the rooms seem repetitive, they’re actually different, such as inside the prison.
Even the concept art made before the island came into being is amazing! It simply shows that Poptropica really gave their best making this island, because their art quality never disappoints!
Verdict
Judging on a scale from 1 to 10, Ghost Story Island gets a… 9.4/10!
Ghost Story Island is undoubtedly one of Poptropica’s best islands. Being released almost five years ago, it still stands out among classic Poptropica islands.
I see it as one of the underrated islands because it doesn’t get that much attention, and according to the map, it’s not that popular. If so, I hope this review enlightens and encourages you to play the island and explore it for once! You’d be missing out if you didn’t.
Well, that concludes this review! Hope you enjoyed this gif-filled post as much as I do!
Don’t forget, tomorrow is Halloween, and we’ll be announcing the winners of our 8th Annual Autumnal-Halloween Contest! Watch out for that, everyone! Stay awesome.
This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Marci (Queen of Libraries), who discovered Poptropica while on a computer in the school library. See the bottom of this post for details on sending in your own MPIP!
Howdy, it’s Marci. Or as I like to also refer to myself, Queen of Libraries – like the Queen of Hearts character from Alice in Wonderland, but with libraries. Anyway, that is beside the point. Let’s get on with the MPIP, eh?
The School Library
It all started in school. The school library, to be more specific. During recess time, instead of playing with the other kids, I normally went over there to read some books, hoping for the time to go by quickly. (Hey, well, I’ve never been much of a people person.) Sometimes if I felt like it, I would hop on one of the computers to play on FunBrain.
Anyway, I decided to play on FunBrain one day, and that’s how I found Poptropica. While playing one of the minigames, I spotted one of the ads. Of course, I clicked on it. And that’s how it began. I made an account (one of which I can’t remember now), and played until I beat every island (though I can’t remember how many there were at the time).
Whoopsies, Forgot About It
However, even though I thoroughly enjoyed the game, that quickly came to an end. After I beat every island, I found that I had nothing to do on Poptropica anymore. I quit and forgot about it and found other fun things to do, like draw and write (which Poptropica previously distracted me from). I also found other games like Free Realms (which is now shut down), Wizard101, Woozworld, et cetera, and played those instead.
But let’s talk about how I re-found my love for Poptropica.
My First Sleepover
A couple years later, when I was in 5th grade, I re-discovered my love for Poptropica. At the time, I had made a friend in the same grade as me. After a month or two of being friends, she asked me if I’d like to sleep over during the weekend. So we both asked our parents if I could come over during the weekend, and they said yes.
When I got there, I saw that my friend was on the home computer. I was curious, and she must have noticed, because she gave me a funny look and said, “I’m playing Poptropica.” I couldn’t help but watch. I saw her playing islands I haven’t seen before, which wasn’t surprising since I hadn’t play the game in about two years.
Finding the PHB and Finally Getting Involved
Anyway, after sleeping over, I quickly decided to play Poptropica on my laptop. It’s no surprise I instantly fell in love with the game again, like I did before. However, I did get stuck on some islands, and looked up guides on Google. Can you guess where that brought me? The PHB, of course!
Ever since I found the PHB, I haven’t quit the game. But I haven’t been actively a part of this community, either. To change that, I decided to write this MPIP.
Once the New Poptropica comes out (I still have no clue when that might be), I look forward to creating a blog myself after years of reading the opinions, theories, and news from various Poptropicans in the community.
For now, I’ll just be hanging out on the PHB Discord server from time to time, under the name “Marci//QueenOfLibraries”. I can’t promise I’ll be on much, though. I might also try to find some time to blog, if anyone would care enough to invite me to write on one.
Anyway, this is Marci signing out. Thanks for taking the time to read this post!
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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story! Feel free to send in your own (please include a minimum of 550 words, type with good spelling and grammar, divide it into labeled sections, and include your username). Look out for more community MPIPs in the future!
Over the years, the team here at the Poptropica Help Blog has changed in appearances and members, but one thing stays the same: we’re all Poptropicans. And, sometimes, we receive awesome fan art from fans of this blog! (Plus, some of us also like to make that art.)
This PHB Special is here to showcase the great team pics in our collection, and they’re just poppin‘ – check out all the different illustrative styles below!
by Silver Wolf (2014)
by Brave Tomato (2014)
by (Dr.) Ashley Lange, Poptropica Creator (2014)
by Slanted Fish (2015)
by magicseagull30 (2015)
by themightywolftiger (2015)
by Striped Lizard (2016)
by Spotted Dragon (2016)
by Slanted Fish (2016)
by criaha (2016)
by Slanted Fish (2016)
by themightywolftiger (2016)
by Yumi-Chan-Chu (2016)
by 1BraveHero (2016)
by Lucky Joker (2016)
by Brave Tomato (2016)
by Shaky Skunk (2016)
by Lucky Wing (2016)
Pretty cool stuff, eh? If you like looking at Poptropica art, be sure to check out (and do join!) our community on DeviantArt, called We-Love-Poptropica. It’s full of Poptropica fan artists, including the PHB team, and new stuff is being submitted to the gallery daily!
Thank you to all the artists (including one Poptropica Creator!) who have sent us fan art over the years, whether it’s one of the group drawings above or individual portraits. We really appreciate the love! ❤
Halloween is coming up this Monday, and I’m ready to dress up for a hardcore night of… playing Poptropica, probably, since I might be a little too old for trick-or-treating (by most people’s standards).
Anyways, the Creators have certainly have been getting in the spirit this month, and even more news has poured in from the floodgates! First of all, we’ve got a lovely wallpaper, perfect for screens with a 4:3 ratio! Skinny Moon claims it’s from one island and us “longtime Poptropicans” would know, but I keep staring and can’t think of any island that features scarecrows, carrots, and spaceships.
I mean, I can think of threedifferentislands that have these traits, but not a single one. Maybe I’m just missing something, and I’m not as much of a veteran as I thought I was. I digress though. Wallpaper!
(Update: As a couple of commenters here have mentioned, this scene is from the optional video game you can play on Zomberry Island, Terror in the Garden.)
To keep up this spoopy mood, the Creators released some concept art and animations for one of the IOTM, Monster Carnival! We’ve got sketches of both the Poptropicans and monsters that made their way into the island, as well as a couple of animations.
It’s always pretty neat to see what designs creators go through before the final product. (Unless it’s my characters, in which case please don’t look into that my original designs are terrible and I want to burn them.) Be sure to check them all out!
Finally, we have Skinny Moon celebrating Black Cat Day (October 27th) with the new black cat follower. This cat can jump really high and seems far more friendly than my cats. (Mine just sleep all the way over in the corner and glance at me sometimes. I’m sure they love me though.)
If you’re a member, be sure to pick up the card from the store. If not, well … say hi to Whiskers from 24 Carrot Island I guess? Wait, Whiskers isn’t a black cat. Darn it!
Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. May your Halloween be filled with lots of candy!
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