My Place in Poptropica

My Place in Poptropica: Cuddly Knuckle

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Cuddly Knuckle, a Poptropican active in the community with his own Poptropica blog. See the bottom of this post for details on sending in your own MPIP!

cuddlyknuckle

Hey guys and girls, I saw many people on the PHB sharing their “My Place in Poptropica” story, so I decided to send mine in as well. 🙂 Here we go!

2008 | Discovery

I was in third grade back when my mother showed me an educational site called FunBrain. When I saw FunBrain, there it was – the ad for Poptropica. I saw that the characters looked kind of cute and the game looked fun to play. So I went on the site, made my first account, and completed some islands for several days.

That is, until I got stuck in a hard island and lost interest in playing Poptropica a few weeks later. 😦

2011 | Cuddly’s Birth

A few years later, I did come back to Poptropica, and I forgot my old account’s username from not playing Pop for so long. I was so unhappy about my old account, and I had to make a new one. Yeah, I know, it’s so sad losing Poptropica accounts. 😦

After choosing my gender and age during the new account creation, he exploded out of the box: Cuddly Knuckle. I gave him the username “hesnothappy”, since I was so unhappy because I lost my old account, stuck on a hard island with his username forgotten. With Cuddly, I completed so many islands (the first I’ve beaten was Spy Island, for those who didn’t friend me 😛 ).

2012 | Finding the PHB

I became so involved in Poptropica, I started to google it and found many Pop blogs to comment on. And then I found it: the PHB. I started to talk to the authors and readers and read all the awesome posts and pages, especially the guides and the Magazines. It was so fun, and eventually after visiting the PHB a lot, I came to admire the PHB, the best Poptropica blog ever.

2014 | Joining the Blogging Community

Using a sibling’s email address, I finally created my own WordPress account and made my first blog. I didn’t want to post anything because I had school stuff to work on, and sadly deleted it since I lost interest in blogging a few weeks later. 😦 I still browsed other Pop blogs, though! 🙂

But later that year, I REALLY made a blog. I started to gain a SO MUCH interest in blogging, I made another blog on WordPress called Cuddly Knuckle’s Poptropica Blog (CKPB), and made my first three posts. However, I stopped posting a few days later because nobody viewed it or ‘liked’ the posts. This made me feel very lonely. 😦

2015 | The Most Awesome Year

After another month of reading other Pop blogs and commenting on the posts and pages, I went back to posting on the CKPB, with even more viewers and followers than before as well as some fellow authors helping to make more posts in the blog and make it better.

I also had a great time with Poptropica – my first Realms creation was featured on the second new Realms banner on the Poptropica homepage with five other creations! I also finished all the islands, and I had a great time playing this game. It was so awesome! 😀

I would like to thank all the PHB staff and everyone in the Poptropica community for admiring me for so many great years. The PHB is the very best Poptropica blog in the world, and I hope I will never, ever, stop reading all the Poptropica blogs or playing the awesome game. Keep up the good work, guys! You all are so awesome! ❤

I’m Cuddly Knuckle a.k.a Wilbur, and this is My Place is Poptropica. 😎

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.

PHB Sneak Peeks

PHB Sneak Peeks: Unreleased Costumes, Quiz Game, & More

Hey Poptropicans, the PHB is back at it again with behind-the-scenes Poptropica findings! This post is made possible with the help of glitchers TechWizard and idk (formerly Hyper SW). Let’s begin.

First, from idk: unreleased app costumes! The costumes are: Mummy, Carnival Kid, Pirate, Parasailing, Creepy Turkey, Ring Leader, Bear Costume, Old Diving Suit, Zombie, and Scarecrow. Quite a few of these have not been seen in the game before. Others have been seen online. (*PHB reader Infinity App Nerd notes that the Mummy and Scarecrow are on the app.) Which ones do you like?

unreleased app costumes

Among the files, this never-released Survival Merit Hat was also discovered. Notice the five symbols pertaining to the five episodes of Survival Island. Wonder what this could have been for!

survival merit hat

Also, here’s a look at a Poptropica Quiz Game! Longtime PHB readers may remember when Codien briefly covered some findings of the same game years ago, then thought to be a game coming soon – but at this point, it seems more like another idea lost to time.

Our picture supplier idk compiled a couple of albums full of images from the files for this game, which you can find here and here. Here are a few of the more interesting pictures:

Plus, a couple of extra now-visible pages from The Mystical Weapons of Arturus on Astro-Knights Island have also been discovered! These last two pages of the book, which are half-covered in-game, can now be seen in full.

Here we have the idea that worthiness of the weapons comes from great strength, valor, and… an affinity for animals, because the love would bring the warrior to new levels. Say what? The other page speaks of a wizard named Borzo, whose elixir could cure heart burn, but the King and Queen were not convinced that it was legendary enough. Also, a man named Klaudius tried to… well, it ends there. Strange stories.

This interesting room was also found behind-the-scenes… what an aesthetic background.

bg

But weird rooms seem to be the specialty of another glitcher: TechWizard. Let’s see what else is new.

Something else he discovered behind-the-scenes is a projectile test room. The contents are a cannon-like object, a non-functioning cannon object, and a projectile shooter that shoots green pellets. Pressing spacebar in this room allows you to shoot dots. Think it’s cooler than Tetris Land from Tech’s last post?

projectile room

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes peek – for more posts like this that have come up recently, check out the PHB sneak peeks of the Zomberry Mini-Games and Development Testing Rooms! And if you like playing around with Poptropica’s files, be sure to check out the glitching community on the PHC’s #glitchers channel for more uncovered secrets!

Stay popping, Poptropicans!

–🐠🐠

Guest Posts, Popspiracy Theories

Popspiracy: Time Bugs in Time Tangled!

(This is a guest post by Mad APPer, an avid Poptropican in the community here to share some Poptropica thoughts. Keep in mind that the theory he presents is only a theory, not to be taken as fact. If you have a Popspiracy, see below for details on guest posting! Enjoy! –SlantedFish 🐠)

popspiracy

What up, Poptropicans? I’m Mad Apper, and I’m guest posting on the PHB! My theory comes from me putting some some thought into Time Tangled Island.

time tangledIn Time Tangled, the time machine takes you to different time periods and places in history. Remember, it’s a time machine. Why would it take you to different places?

I know, “Maybe it’s supposed to do that! You know, so you don’t end up there instead of in the same place in a different time.” Well, hear me out.

Professor Pendulum, the creator of the time machine and devices, can be found on Shark Tooth Island. I’ve learned this from a previous Popspiracy: Nobody said all Poptropica islands take place in the same time period.

What am I suggesting? A time bug. Pendulum might have gone to Shark Tooth via the time machine! For all we know, Shark Tooth could take place before, after, or during Time Tangled. Here’s the twist: We weren’t just traveling through time, but different islands.

Yes, you may go “Whatever” or “All Popspiracies are jokes” or “I came up with that theory a year ago!”. Again, hear me out. How exactly did a particular Time Tangled character end up on top on a Shark Tooth building? (And yes, Time Tangled was originally going to be named Time Twisted.)

what
It’s all Pendulum’s fault. Yep, that’s how wacky this theory is. What if the time machine was still in its testing stage? The second Pendulum tested it, he accidentally transported a soldier from the Ancient Greek period of Time Tangled Island to Shark Tooth. Simultaneously, a time bug may have switched around items from different islands, causing our Poptropican to go through the events of Time Tangled Island.

As for Pendulum himself, he can be found relaxing in the tourist building on Shark Tooth, and you won’t see him in person on Time Tangled. He and Crusoe from Monkey Wrench would’ve been great friends. But what if he got there by using the time machine?

PendulumNewspaper

When you break this down, this theory is really five theories.

  • Theory #1 (likely): Shark Tooth and Time Tangled take place in different time periods.
  • Theory #2 (possible): The time machine is what brought Professor Pendulum to Shark Tooth Island.
  • Theory #3 (most likely fact): The time machine was still in its testing stage.
  • Theory #4 (EXTREMELY UNLIKELY): Professor Pendulum, Crusoe, Dr. Hare, and Myron Van Buren would all be great friends.
  • Theory #5 (MORE UNLIKELY THAN #4, I DON’T EVEN BELIEVE THIS ONE): All Popspiracies are jokes.
  • Theory #6 (most likely): I am terrible at jokes and should never even attempt jokes ever again. More importantly, why am I joking in a serious theory? The world shall never know the truth!

Enough with the jokes. You may agree with one theory, but not the others. Or maybe you want to make a fan-fic where Pendulum and Crusoe are great friends. Maybe you think I’m just wasting time because I’m trying to make this post 500 words long. Good news, readers! This is the end! Feel free to run away!

This is not to be taken as fact. Who knows, maybe it is fact? Talk amongst yourselves in the comments.

May I guest post another day,

IAN, Infinity, MA, or rather…
—Mad APPer—

How’s that for a Popspiracy?

Share your Pop conspiracies in the comments or on the PHC – we’d love to hear them. If you’d like to develop it into a full guest post like this one, contact the PHB (minimum 500 words). Stay popping!

Advertisements, Wimpy Boardwalk Island, Wimpy Wonderland Island

Rant: Wimpy Ads

Hey folks, Cobalt here. Ohoho, do I have a rant for you.

So, I went on Poptropica today, as I do almost daily. Here’s the news: both Wimpy Kid islands have been opened to all (Wimpy Wonderland and Wimpy Boardwalk), and first-time finishers get 300 credits (instead of 150). And there’s a Wimpy Shirt prize for going on one of those islands.

But there’s a bigger issue here, and it’s glaring right in our faces. This update truly is wimpy.

Screenshot at Apr 13 18-26-01

I thought, well, it is Wimpy Kid Month, and Jeff Kinney is the author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. So I didn’t have any doubts at all they would advertise it at some point. Despite me not personally enjoying the book series after the trillionth release, I logged on anyway. It’s not like it was going to ruin my Poptropica experience for me.

Screenshot at Apr 13 18-27-08

Oh wait, it did. It really did. Look at this. It looks so tacky and cluttered it makes me think who was orchestrating this mind-numbing catastrophe opened up MS Paint and just played around with it for two minutes. On top of all that, April has become “Apriil”.

2016-04-13

There are six different fonts in this. Six. Are you guys aware that HPuterpop and UiPE from the PHB do design work for free? Hire them! Like, what is this?

The prize card that Poptropica so obnoxiously and cringingly shoves in our face is also poorly made. They couldn’t even make good what they advertised so heavily.

Screenshot at Apr 13 18-27-41

Like, is this just a belated April Fools prank? The text is off-center, the image is highly pixelated, and it all makes me wonder who thought this was okay. Honestly, if this person got paid for making this, it angers me. Not only did they recycle the redhead from the other ads, but they also recycled the prize shirt itself without adding anything new. Poptropica, you can do better than this, and you have in the past. Why deteriorate now?

Some of you may remember Smockers, the first PHB author ever, not including Slanted Fish? He hasn’t played in years. And yet, this shirt is part of his look. It’s that old.

Screenshot at Apr 13 18-28-28.png

This was an ad prize a long, long time ago that they’re passing up as something new and exciting. I’m not even joking, this frustrates me. Also, care to notice how that recycled, low-resolution lady is wearing a necklace? She’s covering up the collar above Greg’s (The Wimpy Kid) face. Why are they advertising a shirt and covering part of it up? That’s like advertising a watch and wearing a long sleeve shirt and covering some of it.

Honestly, I’d love to go even deeper into this, and why I think the quality (and quantity!) of the ads are as downright pitiful as they are, and how it’s been 50 days since the last island (and a simple tutorial one at that), and how Daily Pops are inconsistent, and getting any sort of update is slow and disappointing… but I don’t want any controversy from my viewers or the Poptropica team themselves. So, I’ll leave it at this crude joke from fellow author Brave Tomato:

2016-04-13

I think Poptropica should really rethink their priorities, their graphic designer(s), and what kind of content they consider approved for the game.

This whole thing is really embarrassing, and I’m not happy about it. Poptropicanos, can you really tell me this isn’t honestly a complete annoyance? This is hardly the first time Poptropica has released poorly designed promotional graphics, offered disappointing prize items, or offered a bunch of extra credits for a first-time island completion and called it news. And while it’s great that a couple members-only islands have been unlocked to the public, they should have been free in the first place, as they were before that fateful member-lock update last summer.

I honestly don’t want Poptropica to be chagrined over this, but hopefully, this is a wake-up call for them.

When community manager Skinny Moon said they may have had something planned for Wimpy Kid Month, I was expecting something better.

Are my expectations too high? Or was the delivery too low? What do you Poptropicanos think?

UPDATE: Poptropica Creator Skinny Moon left the following comment on this post in response:

Hey there Poptropicans,

We hear your concerns and we admit it — we rushed this Wimpy Kid promotion and we apologize. We need to do better. Honestly, we’re glad when you point out something that’s not our best work. All fan feedback is helpful!

We do hope you enjoy your rare Wimpy Kid shirt, though! It’s true that it’s an old-school Poptropica item. We thought you’d enjoy a little piece of history!

Also, we know you’re wondering why there hasn’t been a lot of new stuff happening on Poptropica and why we seem to be pretty quiet. All I can say right now is that we are incredibly busy working on very exciting things for Poptropica, and we’ll be able to reveal more towards the end of the month.

Please know we’re listening to your feedback — keep it coming — the good and the not-so-good!

Keep poppin’,
Skinny Moon

Thanks for hearing us out, Poptropica. We hope it gets better!

Until next time,

– Cobalt Spinner

Daily Pop, Glitches, Web Development

Castle Crasher, FunBrain Flasher, and ASG Request-er!

Hey Poptropicans! What’s new? Well…

BREAKING NEWS: There is finally a Daily Pop in sight. Yes indeed, let the masses know, a Daily Pop has popped up. It is the first one this month, preceded by last month’s abysmally low count of two total Daily Pops. And now, let us ponder this momentous image:

Castle Crasher: A palace fit for a queen.
Castle Crasher: A palace fit for a queen.

The PHB reached out to hear what Poptropicans had to say on the picture…

“Astro-Twice? Please let it be Astro-Twice Island,” commented Cobalt Spinner, an avid Popspiracist.

“The party don’t start ’til I walk in!” declared DJ Saturday Nite, best known for ditching the party after the zombie apocalypse took over her turf. She was last seen enthusiastically greeting players into the Arcade on Home Island, a locale known for looking nothing like what its exterior suggests. “In my defense, I’m just here to get the groove on. You checking out this castle too? Hit me up!”

“There! We finally gave you guys a sneak peek! Now leave us alone, we’re busy!” an anonymous disgruntled Poptropica developer snapped before quickly rushing off to avoid press cameras. Okay, so that last quote didn’t actually happen… but hey, we want more Daily Pops!

What do you think this scene is about?

In other pictorial news… Poptropica’s sister site FunBrain got a makeover! A lot of Poptropicans in the community have expressed in their My Place in Poptropica stories that this was where it all started for them. Well, some of us are probably not quite the elementary-aged target audience of FunBrain anymore either, but Poptropica felt it was right to give them a shoutout for their redesigned, mobile-friendly site with new games and a new look – and so, from the PHB as well, here’s to FunBrain.

The only thing is… let’s hope they keep placing ads for Poptropica. That’s how many of us came to know this place, and for the next generation, we hope they’ll find Poptropica too!

And finally… here’s a little message from PHB glitcher WimpyKidFan regarding ASGs:

Hey guys! It’s me! Your all-time favorite person in the world, WimpyKidFan! I’m the new author here on the PHB! Awesome right?! Jk. This is just a guest post so don’t you worry. The real reason why I’m here is to discuss something new I’m taking on: the Poptropica Island ASG Request-er!

asg graphic

This Request-er is a form where you guys can request for Poptropica characters from islands to be made into ASGs. Using it will be a more efficient way of requesting ASGs than merely posting comments on the PHB or PHC and hoping for someone to create your ASG.

comments

Anyway, it’s a very simple procedure. To get started, just visit the Request-er site here [http://poptropicaislandasgrequest-er.weebly.com] and fill out the form! You don’t need to be signed into a google account to fill out the form). Other important information about the request-er and its rules can be found on the website.

Because the majority of requests for ASGs come from characters from islands (villains, heroes, regular NPCs), and because it’d be pretty hard to do more than that, for now we’ll be taking island ASG requests only. But you never know what might happen in the future. We’ll try to do every request we can!

Before I leave I would like to thank Slanted Fish and the PHB. I would also like to thank my ASG team: Red Lizard, Grand, and Magic Panda. Thank you everyone, and request on!  😀 WimpyKidFan

Stay tuned for more updates on the PHB… and as always, stay popping, Poptropicans!

–🐠🐠