Monkey Wrench Island, Reviews

PHB Review: Monkey Wrench Island!

Slippery Raptor

mwreview

giphyHey guys! I know it’s been a while since we’ve had my last post; so is a PHB review; and a Poptropica island. To quench your impatience for the New Poptropica, why not review the latest Poptropica island?

Every review usually tends to be full of spoilers, so if you haven’t played the island (which I assume you already have), I’d suggest you look away! Well, you’re a rebel, so read along! Hehe.

Monkey Wrench sneak peeks can be traced back in November 2015, which we thought was a PoptropiComic-inspired island at first. Two months later, after Poptropica responded to Slanted Fish’s open letter to Poptropica, we got a hint of what Monkey Wrench will be like. By the end of February, the name was revealed through the medallion list, and out of the blue, Monkey Wrench was officially released to all! A week later, Poptropica released the island page.

Monkey Wrench is often dubbed as the “better” tutorial compared to the previous tutorial on Home island, now we take a look at why.

Let’s start with the name: Monkey Wrench. At first, I thought the name could’ve been better since it looks like it gave the whole thing away. However, according to my sources (*cough* Brave Tomato), “monkey wrench” means a couple things! Informally, it is a term that means “sabotage“, the way the Red Baroness sabotages you in the race. It could also mean the wrench used on the island, yet it appears to be a kind of a combination wrench, not a monkey wrench. 😛

Storyline & Characters

storyline

The Flying Ace Race is underway! But one evil pilot is about to throw a monkey wrench into your plans. To beat the Red Baroness and win the race, you’ll need to build the fastest yellow blimp in Poptropica! Get ready to take flight in a compact adventure made especially for first-time players!

This island’s storyline, compared to the previous Poptropica tutorial, is detailed in every way. What I admire the most in this island are the characters. We welcomed a brand new villain on the block: The Red Baroness! Also, historical figure and renowned pilot, Amelia Earhart serves as our guide on this island and we got to ride her Electra too! The Red Baroness could’ve had more screen time as a villain, though.

Speaking of the Red Baroness, the island is also packed with references, like the lyrics of “I Will Survive” and cameos from different islands too! Along with those references is the constant chucklesome humor that Crusoe gives us, who makes us smile as we play the island.

The biggest revelation in this island is the Poptropica blimp, which has been an enigma for all Poptropicans. Now, in this island, we can confirm that it is through the help of Mongo, his primate pals, and Crusoe’s idea, that we have our all famous golden Poptropica blimp!

Overall, this island has a light storyline at first, but through thorough research and analysis of what the island really is, we can uncover untold mysteries that can blow our minds.

Gameplay

down

Overall, I can say that this island has a fair gameplay. One thing that I am bummed about in this island is it’s kind of glitchy. Recently, when I was playing this island before doing the review, I still had some difficulties, like the lever part with the crab, for example. I do hope Poptropica can fix these as soon as possible. Fortunately, it gets smoother as we go along the island. 🙂

Since it’s a tutorial, the island has a rich interaction among its players to the game itself. Pausing the game for instructions is helpful to new players, although for re-players I’m not sure it’s necessary. Some of the other interactive moments in the game are found in the ending, from the race to the face-off with the Red Baroness.

Soundtrack

jump

What I’m excited about every Poptropica island is the soundtrack. Man, it gets better with each island! I mean, just listen to this track, you can hear the ukulele!

I appreciate the sound effect details in every island. I like how when you jump on the plane, it makes sounds, as well as the finish line and several other places. I just wish that the monkeys could’ve made sounds as well, instead of having speech bubbles, which made it seem realistic as well. Still, the soundtrack is amazing. Kudos to the Poptropica composers, Jeff Heim and Kyle Fox!

Animation & Design

plane'

On every original Poptropica island, the art quality never disappoints. I mean, it’s really amazing! First, the monkeys have been the recipient of the best animation in this island, as well as their design with the Poptropican touch too. Along with the monkeys, the plane is cool, too. The way it broke and flew away, it was superb. Some of the more noteworthy animations were in the retreat and the race.

For the art, I like how they put on a jungle vibe for us, and the way Crusoe’s retreat is made is amazing. The character designs of Crusoe and other contestants of the race are worth noticing too.

Verdict

meep

This island is pretty awesome for a tutorial; it’s better than the old tutorial as well as even Early Poptropica Island! Poptropica made a good tutorial with all of the elements of a real Poptropica island. I really enjoyed it my first time as well as playing it again. You get celebrated for the race! 🙂

Poptropica has really outdone themselves this time. A great improvement as we go closer to New Poptropica!

If I would rate this from 1 to 10, this gets a….

rate

…and that concludes our Monkey Wrench Island review! By the way, our Stolen Snapshots game is still on! Feel free to guess whenever you like! 🙂

bye-monkey-graphic

-Slippery 💦

My Place in Poptropica

My Place in Poptropica: Shaky Skunk

Slanted Fish

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Shaky Skunk, an on-again, off-again Poptropican who now runs her own fansite. See below for details on sending in your own MPIP!

shaky skunk.png

Hey, guys. I decided to write a My Place in Poptropica story, since a lot of members in the community are doing it, and I thought it would be fun, since I’ve been playing Poptropica for ages. So yeah, here’s My Place in Poptropica, Shaky Skunk Edition! 😀

Before 2008 | Prior to Poptropica

Before I discovered Poptropica, I would go on websites like Boombang, Barbie, Polly Pocket and other stuff for little girls. I was only seven years old, and had to use a crummy old desktop, so I was only on it after school and on weekends, and I also had to share using it with my sister! It was pretty lame, until one day…

2008 | Funbrain

One weekend, we were on the computer, and my sister introduced me to Funbrain. It was a little popular at school, and the kids would play it in free computer time.

I remember playing all of the games in the Funbrain Playground and even reading the book they had there. Until my sister pointed out an ad.

“Hey, what’s Poptropica?” she said, clicking the link.

She created her character, Mighty Skunk, or “MiniMindfreakCasey”, and started playing Early Poptropica and Shark Tooth Island. I watched her play in amazement. I thought it was a really cool game.

Eventually, my sister let me play. Since I was a weird little kid, I entered the username “BigYummyCandyApple”, cause why not? I started changing the name until a got a name that I liked and would stick forever: Shaky Skunk. My character had brown hair and a pink shirt.

Once I had finished Early Poptropica and some other islands, I spent my credits on the Followers: Classic Pack and the Classic PopGum. Soon, the entire class had been introduced to Poptropica. (I honestly have no idea how I remember all of this. 😂)

Eventually, I had finished all of the islands. I completed all the islands, with the help of the PHB and some other blogs, and wore my medallions in pride. After that, I would waste my time in the common rooms battling in games and watching my sister play, until they would release more islands.

2010 | Poptropica at School

It was third grade. Everyone on the computers had Poptropica open, getting stuck on Ghost Story Island, and I was reminded of that amazing game. I started playing the oldies, like Reality TV Island.

At home, I kept replaying my favourites, which had to be the sponsored islands.

2012 | Membership and the PHB Stalking

It was fifth grade. I had completely forgotten about Poptropica, and spent my time on Boombang and made mediocre drawings of cats on DeviantArt.

For some reason, the name Poptropica popped into my head. I went online and played most of the islands. My brother saw that I was obsessed with this game and bought me a month of membership.

With my membership, I got all of the members only and regular cards. Soon, my character was this weird hybrid of a goth and a dog. I was really happy, because I also got early access to Wimpy Boardwalk, and played the members only bonus quests. (Except for that horrid Wimpy Boardwalk one. 😡)

Since I needed help with like, two-thirds of the islands, I rediscovered the PHB. I would stalk it every day. I even added the mermaid and green girl costumes to my closet.

2013 | A Fresh Start

It was sixth grade. I was getting a little bored of my Poptropica account, so I made a new one. I entered the username “AdelaideQueen”, and my name was something like “Red Fox”. I can’t remember.

After replaying the islands, and discovering the HORRORS of sound updated islands, I was starting to get sick of playing Poptropica.

Occasionally, I would check Poptropica and replay my favourite islands, but I only did that about once or twice a year.

2016 | Rejoining the Community and Blogging

By now, I’m in ninth grade. It was January, and I wondered how Poptropica was going. I logged on to my BigYummyCandyApple account, and the memories came flooding back.

I wanted to replay all of the islands, but then I remembered the PHB. I decided to make my own blog, Poptropica Skunk Blog. I soon discovered the Poptropica community, chat rooms, and joined two other blogs. So, yeah, I’m still playing Poptropica to this day.

Hopefully in the future, I will still be a fan of Poptropica. I hope the game, islands and ad placements are improved in the future. Cause right now, the ads are just like the ones in Mocktropica.

That’s the end of my adventure. I hope you enjoyed reading it!

-Shaky Skunk 🐼

–

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!

~the PHB.

Hellos & Goodbyes

Welcoming Another Author: Mighty Gamer

Mighty Gamer

Nope, this isn’t a guest post.

Hey, Poptropicans!

I’m Mighty Gamer, as some of you may know. You can call me Emily, MG, or just plain ol’ Mighty Gamer. Whatever works for you! Yes, the post title is correct. I am an author on this blog now, and I’d like to thank Slanted Fish and ultimately, everyone else on the team for the invite.

Now, to tell you a little about myself.

MightyGamer126

I’ve known about Poptropica since I was a young girl, when I was about 7. Though, I have taken a few breaks from the game at different points in my life. I won’t bore you with the details, but if you want to read my MPIP, you’re free to do that, too.

I’m a 15 year-old girl slightly obsessed with the internet. Ha, yeah, slightly. Let’s go with that. I like online gaming and Steam, reading, writing, and I enjoy drawing, even though I don’t do it that much. Oh yeah, and blogging. I guess you could say that’s why I’m here today! Well, and Poptropica, but that’s pretty obvious, I’m sure. 😛

I enjoy making friends and being friendly, so I hope I can be exactly that to everyone. I also have my own blog, Explore Collect Compete, and I work on Poptropica Tips. I made ECC on November 15, and was invited to Poptropica Tips last month [April]. I was apart of the MPB “squad”, too, but now the blog is inactive. At least for now.

And since this is a Poptropica blog, I’ll share some info on my characters. My main account MightyGamer126 has 57 islands completed, and is a member. My second account, DianatheHunter, is not a member, and has 24 islands completed currently. You can add them both, if you want. Both have the same names and signature look, which you can see above.

Well, I believe that’s all for this post! If you’d like to know a little more about me, feel free to comment any question you’d like below. I don’t bite, I promise. 😛

Your newest author and pizza lover [that had to be made known],

–MG

P.S. I’ve started a collection of short stories that will be shared with you all sometime soon! The first “journal entry” won’t be too long and detailed, but this is just the beginning! Stay tuned. 😉

Web Development

Presenting: Ylimegirl

Ylimegirl

Hello readers!

‘Tis the newest PHB author, Ylimegirl/Ylime/Emily/ESC/empressotime/the-girl-with-too-many-nicknames!

You may already know me from the wiki or my MPIP or my cameo in the Valentine’s day special or Orb Legend or… Wow, I’ve shown up a lot here.

empressotime

Anyways, most of my Poptropica-related history can be found in the MPIP I wrote. So I guess I’ll talk about how I was invited to the PHB then, since I don’t really know what else to talk about here.

In all honesty, it’s been talked about for a while. HPuterpop (Andrew) and I have been bouncing ideas off each other for a while, and the notion that I should be a PHB author came up more than once. I kept declining for a while… I felt I wasn’t worthy of such a big role.

Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked PHB author count went from an all-time high of 9 back down to 6. Andrew and I talked a bit more, and I decided I’d probably join after my ‘tech week’ was over, since life was pretty chaotic at the time. (For you non-theater people, tech week is the period right before the opening of a production where all of the effects are figured out, such as sound and lighting.)

One tech week and two performances later, it was my birthday. It was a nice day (I got to eat cake and everything), and after the limited festivities I went back online and saw a message from Slanted Fish. Sure enough, it was an invite to join the PHB! That really made my birthday a sweet sixteen.

After messaging [the offline] Andrew a bit about my delight, I accepted and a few short clicks later, I was an author! Then I went to sleep because it was a school night and it was late.

And that’s that! The conclusion of my glorious journey (as detailed in my MPIP) from Poptropica-player to Poptropica-tutor to Tumblrite to Poptropica-tumblrite to Poptropica-player, and now to Poptropica-blog-author!

Hope to see you around,

-Ylimegirl

Crisis Caverns Island, Sneak Peeks

Crisis Caverns and New Map!

HPuterpop

EDIT: The old store is back — but only if you access it from ingame.
The map icon still takes you to the mobile app store.

Hi Gs,

Big news today, as a new island has been added to the Poptropica file database: Crisis Caverns! You may recognize it as the “underground island” that was canceled. It looks as if it’s being brought back! The name, now verified as Crisis Caverns, alludes to the bulk of the island being underground. From what we’ve seen in past Daily Pops, it involves alien-like creatures and a villainous Mole King!

All that’s uploaded of the island so far is the main street, which is a refreshing glimpse of new content that we haven’t had for so long! What new information can we glean from this sneak peek?

2

The setting of the island is confirmed to be the “Caldera State Park“, which after a quick Google search can be verified as not a real location, but a parody of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. We’ve seen Old Reliable, and most of the interiors of these buildings before; it seems that the island is nearly finished in the art department based on previous Daily Pops. We can also see some dashing buffalo scattered around the scene.

What the elk: All your questions answered, right here.
Spouting Off: Geology can be a real bear.
Disguiser: You might recognize this incognito geological feature.
Can You Canoe: Hang around a while and you may get a chance.
Mine All Mine: You don’t have to dig far to find a cool common room.

One more thing about CC: in the files, the island is named “cavern1” — and if you’ve kept up with BTS island names, you’ll recognize the “1” as the indicator of an episode. Whether they’re bringing back episodic adventures or not is a mystery, but I personally feel that full island releases are subjectively better.

Another major update is that the map has been updated to SUI, with the same set up as the mobile app! This update has come with a whole slew of new features:

  • A progress bar for how far you are in an island. For the episodic adventures, the bar is split up into sections.
  • A new info page before you enter the island.
    • Difficulty rating – one, two, or three skulls.
    • Description from the Tour pages.
    • Restart button.
    • Island completion counter.
    • Progress bar (again).
    • Island logo.
    • Screenshot from the island.
  • The island order is now scattered, with no obvious order. This is most likely because islands from previous years usually are easier than newer islands.
  • You can access your account settings/game settings directly from the map.
  • The store button now leads to the mobile app store — which currently does not work! You can’t buy anything.
  • All island icons are now in color! Do note: not all islands are SUIs, it’s just the icons alone.

newMap

The store, as before mentioned, is the same store as the mobile app — but for some reason, you cannot purchase any of the items there. You also cannot access the original store – will original store items become relics?

newStore

The homepage that greets you upon login as been completely disabled and Home Island now acts as a home page. While I do not necessarily support the SUI engine, I do like these updates in theory. We’ll have to see where it leads. Tell me in the comments what you think of Crisis Caverns, the new map, and all these neat colored island icons!

TAFN.

-HPuterpop