Creators' Blog Guest Posts, Membership, Poptropica Official Series

Creators’ Blog and Membership Gone 💻❌

Gentle Dolphin

In an odd move, Poptropica started the new year with the removal of two important links on their website top menu: the Poptropica Creators’ Blog and the Membership page.

After almost a year of no activity, the official Poptropica Creators’ Blog is officially gone. Clicking links to the Creators’ Blog will redirect you to Poptropica’s homepage. Every news article, every behind-the-scenes look, every guest post… gone. It’s hard to believe that it happened. Rest in Pop, Creators’ Blog. 🪦🌹

On a slightly lighter note, the Membership page is still accessible, just not on Pop’s homepage. You can access it via Google search and a link on Poptropica’s Parents page. While the Membership page is here to stay (for now), the membership plans are still listed as $0.

When debunking the shutdown claim, Poptropica’s official accounts addressed the membership issue with differing details. Pop’s Twitter X account mentioned that membership would be free during the month of December, but Pop’s Instagram account simply said, “Poptropica is free to play for everyone!” with no additional notes. Considering recent events, I doubt that the prices will be added back anytime soon.

True to the Creators’ words, the game is still around. However, the loss of two integral pages is a sign of trouble for Poptropica as a whole. Buckle up, everyone, because 2024 is certainly going to be quite a year for Poptropica.

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin 🐬

Contests, PHB Specials

Favorite Poptropica Island Tournament (Preliminary Round) 🏝️🏆

Gentle Dolphin

Happy New Year, Poptropicans! 🎇🎊

You might remember the “Favorite Poptropica Character Tournament” that I hosted on Twitter X last year. Now, I’m hosting a new Pop-based tournament exclusively on the Poptropica Help Blog: the “Favorite Poptropica Island Tournament”! 🏝️🏆

Poptropica has over 50 islands to choose from, and I need your help to limit the scope. I have compiled a list of every Poptropica island from long-lost classics to fresh newcomers. All you need to do is select up to 10 islands in the preliminary round poll linked in this post. You have until Monday, January 8 @ 11:59 pm EST to nominate your favorites. The 32 islands with the most nominations will move on to the official tournament.

🏝️ Choose your favorite islands here! ☑️

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin 🐬

PHB Specials

The Poptropica Island Eras Tour 🏝️🗺️✨

Slanted Fish

Poptropica has given us a lot of adventures to go on over the years, since the game first began in 2007. To celebrate the game’s legacy, in this post we’re going to go on a tour of its island eras! 🏝️

Compilation of islands on map by idk

This Poptropica Island Eras Tour, as some of you may have swiftly guessed, is inspired by another iconic Eras Tour — the 2023 concert tour of pop queen Taylor Swift, whose music career has also spanned a similar timeframe as Poptropica over the years. An enchanting connection! ✨

Speaking of Taylor, let’s kick this off with one of her hits! The PHB came out with “Backspace”, a parody on “Blank Space”, back in 2021 to petition for the return of old islands that have disappeared from the game since the end of Flash in 2020. Enjoy:

And now, let’s meet the Poptropica Island Eras…

The Classics (2007–2013)

Welcome to the beginning! The Classics are the earliest islands to have popped onto the map. These OG islands from 2007–2013 came with small screens and almost no sound. They were built with AS2, a Flash-based programming language, and are now only playable via Flashpoint.

Bonus Tracks — these mini-quests from the Classics era were not quite islands, and a couple were released on consoles besides the computer.

Episodic (2014–2015)

After years of solid standalone stories, Poptropica decided to shake things up by introducing episodic islands, breaking up an island’s story into a series of episodes. This Episodic era only lasted a couple years from 2014-2015, bringing shorter but more frequent releases.

Flashier (2013–2016)

Starting from 2013 and encompassing the Episodic era, Poptropica used a newer (but now still outdated) Flash technology, AS3. These Flashier islands came with more sound and bigger screens. These adventures can be found in AS3 Flashpoint as well as Poptropica’s paid Steam bundle.

Worlds (2017–2018)

With the looming demise of Flash, Poptropica Worlds was introduced as a new platform for the game’s future development. From 2017–2018, Worlds brought a handful of 3D adventures. Sadly, it remained inactive until it was quietly discontinued in 2022, and is no longer playable.

Haxe (2019–2023)

While Worlds went dormant, Poptropica continued updating its original platform. In 2020, Poptropica rolled out Haxe to replace the Flash build. This current era is characterized by islands that are shorter and simpler than in years past, along with a curious trend towards Roblox.

Like Taylor reclaiming her music by re-recording her previous songs, Poptropica has also since re-released some of their old islands after they were lost to Flash. The Flashier era and a few of the Classics are recovered on Steam, but we can only hope that more adventures join them someday. Until then, we also have the unofficial Flashpoint.

Anyway, that’s a wrap for the Poptropica Island Eras Tour! We hope you enjoyed this journey through Pop’s many storytelling eras of 16 years and counting. Share your favorite era with us in the comments! ✏️

Poptropica, it was enchanting to meet you.

~ 🩵 the PHB

Fanfiction, Guest Posts

Fanfic: Zombies, Zombies, ALWAYS ZOMBIES! 🧟 Ep. 15: I Spy

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Magic Kid. Enjoy!

And we’re back (probably sooner than you thought)! Back with the fifteenth episode of Zombies, Zombies, ALWAYS ZOMBIES!

If you missed it, you can catch the previous episode here, or if you would like to start from the beginning, click here. Please enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed writing it. 😈

Character doodles by Magic Kid

ZOMBIES, ZOMBIES, ALWAYS ZOMBIES!

A Zomberry Series

Episode Fifteen: I Spy

The three friends were in that hot air balloon and had been scanning the ocean for hours. As there wasn’t much to do other than occasionally steering the ship, they had settled for a game of I Spy, which was still very boring.

Icy Stone

I spy with my little eye something… blue.

Jazzy Hawk (semi-gloomily)

Water.

Icy Stone (sarcastically)

Wow? How could you have guessed?

Truth be told, all they could see WAS water. The ocean stretched to all the corners of the horizon, leaving almost nothing but a blue expanse, speckled with a handful of islands. None of the islands they passed looked like it had anything similar to the helicopter they had seen on it. Every island was full of zombies, little purple dots from the view on the hot air balloon, and they served as a reminder on how much damage the apocalypse had done. On how much they had to save.

Clumsy Bird was looking through binoculars through the horizon, keeping an eye out for any upcoming islands.

Clumsy Bird

I spy… OH! An island!

Continue reading “Fanfic: Zombies, Zombies, ALWAYS ZOMBIES! 🧟 Ep. 15: I Spy” →
Advertisements, Home Island

Pop’s Littlest Return to Normalcy 🖥️

Gentle Dolphin

Good day, PHB readers! After the shutdown hoax raised concerns about Poptropica’s future, the Creators gave the site some minor updates.

The first update can be found just by going to Poptropica’s homepage. You can once again access Pop’s different web pages. It’s nice that the website is working properly again.

How’s the game itself? Log in to find the second update: Home Island has skipped winter and gone back to its original summery state. While Home Island is in a new era, Adventure Outfitters is still stuck with its nautical November catalog.

Walk to the right to find the third and final update: a new ad for Littlest Pet Shop on Roblox! While it’s a simple video ad with no prizes, it’s a small sign that Pop is still kicking — or at least, its spin-off studio is.

The new Littlest Pet Shop game on Roblox is another creation from Suit Up Games, the Roblox studio formed from diverting resources formerly allocated to Pop. Looks like it’s full steam ahead for Sandbox’s Roblox projects, while Poptropica sticks around as its advertising platform…

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin 🐬