🦄 Ponytropica 🦄

So during this time, everyone is sharing their back stories! Guess whose turn it is! I shall now tell my own story. My place in Poptropica is mostly revolving around bizarre ideas, bizarre circumstances and…bizarre luck. Seriously, some of these circumstances are because I was in the right place at the right time. My story is kinda strange since everything kinda happened so fast. Enough rambling. Well let’s get started, shall we?

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Before Poptropica | A Dreaming Child

I am an only child. No siblings to grow up with. No older sibling bullies or annoying younger siblings share a household with me, so I ended up growing up knowing how to keep myself occupied alone. As a child, I would go upstairs to a little playroom and I’d carry around dolls and making up juvenile, but determined, storylines for them to act out. I’d stand dolls up on a “stage” (aka a table hockey board) and dance to Bratz songs over and over again (yeah, I know, but those were the elementary school days…). I didn’t realize it then, but that was when my love of storytelling began. It just wasn’t written yet.

My enjoyment of writing creatively didn’t come into full swing until 3rd or 4th grade (I do know that I was 9, though). Most kids in their free time would doodle all over their notes. I, however, wrote stories. Yes, they were childish and inspired by what I’ve seen recently, but they were stories through and through. I believe one was inspired by Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. And another The Jetsons. 75% of the book may be drawings, but a story was still being told. Looking back now, I see how awkwardly bad they were, but I loved them back then. I had so many ideas that I ended up not finishing some stories because something else appealed to me at the moment. In fact, one story that I actually finished had an evil circus ringmaster named Raven. Still looking back on it today, I found it so funny how something I saw as a hobby ended up evolving as time went on.

March – July 2010 | Discovery

Maybe it was my love of a good story that lead me to discover Poptropica in March 2010. I was in the sixth grade. I wasn’t recommended by a friend or whatever- I discovered it on my own. Poptropica wasn’t really popular within even my elementary school- kids were more talking about Club Penguin (of which I was never a member of) and Webkinz (of which I was). Before then, I was a big fan of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series since Rodrick Rules, and of course, that lead me to the “About the Author” page on the website for the movie. It was there that I saw… that Jeff Kinney actually works on an online virtual world? My curiosity was piqued and I checked it out. I recognized its host site, Funbrain, from when my mom showed me a site featuring a board game of educational games that I played around third grade. After a bit of nostalgia, the moment of truth arrived.

When I created my character, the very first name that came out was “Brave Tomato”. I snickered a bit. I didn’t really like the name, and I didn’t even like tomatoes yet, but it was given to me and I ended up stuck with it (I didn’t know at the time that selecting “change all” could change my name). I still remember the very first island I landed on: Reality TV, the newest island at the time. As you know, the island lands you from the blimp into the dumpster. I snickered again- I was recognizing the sense of humor that wouldn’t be a stranger to the Wimpy Kid books. However, being tossed in a virtual world with no idea what my goal was or what to do left my young mind very confused. This wasn’t anything like a virtual world I also went on, Nicktropolis (yes, the same virtual world that made Poptropica change its name), with its live chats and mini games hubbub, nor did it have fluffy stuffed animals that I can build houses for like in Webkinz.

Eventually, I did end up finding out through island trailers what I had to do, and I got my first island medallion in Time Tangled Island. I went around other islands, trying to make as much semi-progress as I could. I had been playing for a month, but then something happened that made me no longer think of the game as just a throw away when I’m bored to becoming one of my favorites: Mythology Island.

Mythology Island actually came to define a part of me. I was enthralled by the topic and ended up reading other books that revolved around the same topic, and school helped with that too. It came to a point where I had memorized plenty of myth facts. I read books about it, both obscure and well-known. I don’t think anything as simple as a game could ever do that to me, to make me so curious and entranced about the topic. This is mainly why I say that Mythology Island is my favorite island, whenever I’m asked.

July – December 2010 | The Silent Observer

However, I still had a hard time playing islands, and I needed some form of help. So I went over on Google and simply searched “Poptropica”, and I ran into the first fan blog I have ever visited: Poptropica Secrets with Fierce Moon. Hm, a popular first Poptropica fan blog, huh? I used her walkthroughs to help me with islands I had trouble with. I wanted to say something in the comments, but I didn’t have an email yet, so I was left to be a silent observer. Instead of making comments myself, I scrolled through comments, until I came upon a girl whose icon was a Poptropican with black hair and wore a swan ballerina outfit with a black jacket over it and with a black hat.

Her name was Super Thunder (longtime PHB viewers and community members might know her as a previous PHB author). I noticed the link on her name, so I clicked on it and it led me to her blog. Up till this point, the only Poptropica blog I visited was Poptropica Secrets. And along the way, I also found out about the Poptropica Help Blog. To be honest, back then, it wasn’t a blog I’d check every day but it was there in my head. I still didn’t have an email, so I still had to be a silent observer. I really wanted to talk to these people and find my place within that crowd. No one I knew in real life has played or even heard of Poptropica, so I was on my own when it came to that.

I tried to model myself after the bloggers I have seen- especially noting that they have a constant signature outfit. I became a paid member around the time Great Pumpkin Island was coming out, and I had a full deck of store costumes at my disposal. Inspired by Super Thunder, I ended up mimicking the fact that she had used the biker hat and jacket. However, to prevent myself from being a copycat, I instead used the pop star’s straight hair, the rock star 2’s broken heart shirt, and a pair of jeans as my costume. It was also at that time that I first started wearing the rock star 2’s star on my cheek, and I dedicated it to being my signature. I started to daydream about having my own blog called the “Poptroparazzi” and inner ideas of my very first fanfiction were starting to develop. Despite all this effort, my desire to be a part of the community was still a dream.

2011 | Becoming a Part of the Community

However, everything changed when the PHB’s very first author night came around. I was excited. Confused, but excited, and when the night came, I went onto the chat room. Since I was new on Xat, I ended up starting off with a strange name: SnookiePums (I have no idea how I remember it). I said the simple “Hi”, and people said hi back. I was semi-excited, semi-nervous. I always have called that feeling “nervou-cited”. I knew that some of them were bigger time people within the community and I didn’t want to make myself too much of a fool. I then changed my name into “GreekChic” and finally, I officially called myself by my Poptropican’s wacky name: Brave Tomato. I first met Fishy there (back when she called herself hi.juyo) and I kinda asked a question about what inspired the PHB. There were many more questions I wanted to ask her, but I didn’t want to look like a weird fangirl. I guess you can say I was somewhat celeb-shy. I talked to people, and despite trying to tell myself to keep my cool, I ended up blurting out on the chat:

“I LOVE THIS PLACE AND I LOVE THIS WHOLE PLACE! This is the most fun I’m ever having!” Yup. That was me. Awkward.

I realized what I said and I thought to myself “Oh crap, I just screwed up”. However, it somehow ended up in the “memories” picture that was posted after the party. I was on the PHB! In…image form, and you can’t see my eyes, but still. (I was wearing the red southern belle costume for some reason that day. In the picture, I was next to the girl in the red ornament costume.)

After that, I found out I can go on and chat anytime I wanted to by going to the Poptropica Help Chat. On January 25, four days after I first started chatting with the community, I ended up with my first blogging job with Super Thunder on her blog. I’m not joking. Four days. To this day, I’m still baffled as to how she was able to trust a newbie like myself to be a part of her blog, but there I was. I came out of nowhere. A 12-year-old who hadn’t even played the game for a year, now a part of a Poptropica fan blog. Maybe it was strange luck.

However, I took the opportunity by the horns and gave it my best shot. I made posts, and I released the aforementioned fanfic series that, although a remnant from my childish storytelling endeavors with occasional questionable morals, will always have a place in my heart. Super Thunder was my tutor in the blogging world and we became somewhat of a duo of tight online friends. We’d make silly stories together and had a blast. I became friends with a blog runner, I told myself. I would never have thought that was going to happen to me. I became somewhat of an active member of the community after that.

2012 | Becoming a Part of the PHB

I guess Fishy must’ve noticed because I was invited to be part of the Poptropica Help Blog on New Year’s Day 2012. To be honest, I secretly wanted to be part of the team as well, yet like Spotted Dragon, I knew that one does not simply ask to join here. Fishy gave me the news that I was invited on the PHC, the same place where I got my first blogging job. I accepted the offer with calm delight in text form, but behind the monitor, I was mentally screaming in excitement. Me? Seriously, me? That girl who hadn’t even been on the chat and an actual part of the community for a full year? Now a member of one of the most popular Poptropica fan blogs on the Internet?

Like before, I took the opportunity by the horns. I had my ups and downs within the community, but they allowed me to become a much stronger person. I celebrated island releases (including an island release that allowed me to revisit a turning point in my interests), kept an eye on the news, commented, wrote stories, drew, and more. My middle school days drew to a close, and high school was just ahead. I had the opportunity to bond with my co-authors and became close with people in the community I would never have dreamt to be online friends with back when I was a silent observer.

2013-2014 | Expansion

2013 was when I started to take my art and fanfiction writing more seriously. I posted regularly on my deviantArt page and wrote a grand total of two fanfictions that year: Assembling the Returning Four, and My Sister, the Super Villain. I had fun writing both, yet when I look back on it now, I recognize its flaws.

With 2014 came another island that hit close to home: Monster Carnival. Upon playing, I was inspired to write what would become my longest (and favorite) one-shot fanfiction, Nevermore. Despite that, I took a break from writing after I finished it. I had a writer’s block, and it hit me hard.

2014 was also when I first started publishing YouTube videos. Nothing was a series yet, but I just wanted to make some things for fun. It was just iPad-recorded videos of me playing PoptropiCon: Spoiler Alert, but it’s something to get started from.

2013 and 2014 also brought along the end of Freshman year, Sophomore year, and the beginning of Junior year of high school. Was it really flying that fast? Was I really in 7th grade when I started? The latter year also had a correct island plot prediction (for Survival 4 and 5) and the first time I ever interacted with a Poptropica Creator- over on Twitter. Not to mention that Christmas gift from Dr. Lange. That was awesome.

2015 – Now | Above and Beyond

2015 was one of the most eventful years for me in the community. First off, I got a digital art program for the previous Christmas, and I was now able to make digital art share. Took a while to get used to, but when I somewhat did, it was a lot of fun messing around with it.

Secondly, I also predicted the backstory of Arabian Nights, and the Poptropica Twitter even said that I was “dead on”. Okay, now that was just ridiculous. Guess you can say I can make a story out of pictures? I don’t know. However, I’ll have to say one of my greatest moments was when Reign of Omegon walkthrough came out on the Poptropica Creators’ YouTube, Captain Crawfish said this line that will stick with me for a long time: “We’ll try our best to make this walkthrough better than Brave Tomato’s, but no promises!” Did… he just give me a shout out? ME? I swear, I feel like I shouldn’t deserve this sometimes, it feels so… surreal. That’s the best way I could describe my experience here in a nutshell.

In July, I got to talk with HP, Sam, SD, and Paul as we hosted the Poppies Award Show live stream together. That was a lot of fun. Really. Getting to talk to people who share this common interest was an amazing experience. Additionally, after a long time of not writing, I finally released my latest fanfiction “Forevermore”, a sequel to “Nevermore” and I also had fun with it too. It may help me with my love of writing stories for the future.

I feel like it was these past few years that I finally had it. My training was over. I was no longer just someone’s best online friend. I was no longer that random kid who came into the community. I was no longer defined by someone else’s achievements. I was no longer simply a silent observer.

I’m now my own person.

My name is Brave Tomato, and I’m 17 years old now. I’m a senior in high school, now. I’m somewhat of a geek. I like to draw. I like to write. I can sometimes piece together a story simply with pictures. I like hard rock. I’m the girl with the star on her cheek. I also make YouTube videos. And I always love a good story.

I can never be any more grateful to you all for the opportunity to be here right now, where I am. Creators, thank you for all that you’ve done for us and being just amazing people- we are so lucky to have creators like you. This is one of the best creator-fan relationships I’ve ever seen on the Internet! Co-authors, friends, everyone, thank you for the years. Thank you for the fun times we had, and I hope we continue to have. Thank you for welcoming me into this amazing fandom. Most importantly, thank you for being a part of the show. I wouldn’t have been feeling this was if it weren’t for you. This feeling of accomplishment, I believe I’d call it. It gives me a great new sense of confidence. I am really grateful for you all, I can’t say it enough.

And to think, it all started when a new user named “SnookiePums” had first said “Hi”, and after that time, it evolved to become “Hey guys, my name is Brave Tomato…

…and this is My Place in Poptropica.”

Okay, so just like my fellow PHB authors, I’m going to be sharing my Poptropica Origin Story, or My Place in Poptropica (probably not going to be too intriguing though).

Now, I’m not one to remember the dates of important events, so just know that I’m trying my best to remember everything. 😛

Anyway… *clears throat* I’m Spotted Dragon.

2009: Bye-Bye Penguins, Hello Poptropicans

When I was in elementary school, I mainly played Club Penguin. This was most likely sometime in 2009. I would meet up with friends and chat online for as long as possible, but I just wasn’t getting anywhere in the game. Without membership, I felt very restricted, no matter how much fun I had.

Then, Poptropica came into my life around 1st or 2nd grade. Some friends of mine in 5th grade were talking about this “cool online game” on the bus. Of course, being in 2nd grade, I thought that all the 5th graders were really cool and must have great opinions. After I joined the conversation, I learned more about the game, including its name… Poptropica. 🙂 Once I got home, I immediately went to my computer the check it out: Poptropica.com. Now at this point, I was oblivious to the Creators’ Blog, Daily Pops, etc. All I was focusing on was the gameplay.

So… I just made an account! The name “Spotted Dragon” popped up and I didn’t know how to change it, so I just went with it. If I remember correctly, I chose a black skirt, a purple shirt with a peace sign on it, and short brown hair with a purple headband. I landed on Early Poptropica and basically explored that one island for the rest of the night. I wasn’t really sure what to do, so I just started clicking everything that was clickable.

Being new to the game, it took me a couple hours to get the hang of things and complete the island… especially since I was terrified of that giant spider. XD Still, I had tons of fun and couldn’t wait to try out more quests! The only problem was that my brother was always hogging the computer and I was only 8 or 9, so my problem-solving skills weren’t amazing.

2010-2011: Poptropica Help for 25¢

I quickly became addicted to Poptropica and I completed almost every island. With the last couple islands I needed to beat, I looked up random video guides for help (often Thinknoodles). I spent a lot of time gathering credits because my goal was to buy everything possible in the Poptropica Store, starting with the vampires, since they look the coolest. I was also still oblivious to the Creators’ Blog, the PHB, and even the DailyPop. I have honestly no idea why.

Anyway, right around the time I was mastering the game, everyone else in my class started to love the game too. For the kids who weren’t familiar with the game, I offered to help them create an account and taught everyone the basics during our class’ free time. Since I did this, I kinda became known for my Poptropica knowledge.

Now, I’m not exactly sure how I pulled this off, but I convinced people to play me 25 cents for help on finishing islands. If their problem was too difficult to just explain, they would give me 50 cents, along with their login info, and I would beat the island myself. I don’t know why in the world people would trust me, a 9-year-old, with their account. Now you might be wondering: why didn’t people just look up walkthroughs like you did? Well kids, believe it or not, the world wasn’t always surrounded by technology. 9-year-olds didn’t have smartphones and most of us had very limited computer time.

Sadly, Poptropica began to fade after awhile, slowly becoming less and less popular. Heck, even I will admit that I would go a month or two without logging on. I still had hope it wouldn’t just be a one hit wonder, though.

2011-2012: The PHB Fangirl

After our school system banned Poptropica for no apparent reason, the few people that still played Poptropica pretty much stopped caring. Except for me obviously! However, being up to date on all the islands could get kinda boring.

I eventually got super bored with Poptropica, but I didn’t just want to give up on it like I did with Club Penguin, even though none of my friends were interested anymore. So, I figured the internet would help me with my crisis! With a quick google search of “Poptropica,” I came across the Poptropica Help Blog. In fact, it was the first result after Poptropica itself! I instantly loved it and checked back every day. Not knowing much about WordPress, I didn’t comment, follow, or make a WP account the blog until a while later.

When I first started participating in the community, I simply started commenting. I didn’t even have an actual profile. I think my first comment started out by saying something really cheesy, like “long time viewer, first-time commenter.”

Ever since I started commenting, I knew I wanted to be an author on the PHB. Although I always tried not to ask for the position, since I saw so many fans ask and get turned down. I knew that if Fishy wanted to add me to the team, then she would.

Anyway, the PHB inspired me to create my own site in 2012, which I still run today: Adventure Time Pop (be sure to check it out by the way 😉 ). Plus, having a blogging experience would boost my chances at a job. It may be an odd mashup, but back then all I wanted was to make my blog unique, so I just thought of my two favorite things at the time: Adventure Time and Poptropica. Which, still are two of my favorite fandoms in the world.

Moving on to the PHB’s 2012 Halloween Costume Contest! I was exhilarated to find that my entry had won!!! Fast forward to 2013, where another entree of mine had won! Next up is 2014… and I won again! I just wanted to mention this because it really boosted my spirits and really encouraged me to stay a part of the community. 😀

2013: Internet Friends

Shortly after making the ATP, I discovered, even more, Poptropica blogs and decided to expand my blogging skills. The amazing Silver Wolf added me to her blog: Poptropica Tips for Poptropicans, which I still am a part of today. I joined a few other sites over the years, but none of them really stuck with me.

Suddenly, I felt like I was actually well known throughout the string of Poptropica fansites. I was meeting a lot of awesome people! For example, HPuterpop contacted me with some Adventure Time Pop fan art, back when he was still a newbie. I also got in touch with Samwow5 and helped him out with his site.

Anyway, I eventually joined Google+ to be in one of HP’s live stream (where I was sick, so… yay). Well, Google+ is where I really got to know some of my best online friends, like Brave Sky, Cool Smarticle, etc. They helped to put a smile on my face and (even though I’m terrible at conversations and socializing in general) I knew I could always talk to them. Of course, I’m also leaving out a ton of my friends so please don’t feel excluded! 😛

2014: Dream Come True

Okay, let’s get to the big moment… It was around August of 2014 (whoa, that’s a pretty long time…) when I got the email. Something like “Well, I think it’s about time… Join the PHB?” I don’t know, something like that. 😛

As you probably guessed, I freaked. Eyes wide, jaw dropped, speechless. Of course, I accepted right away!!! Who wouldn’t? Don’t worry, I won’t relive my freakout here. Part of me felt like this invitation was totally unexpected, but the narcissist in my was just like “FINALLY!”

Wow, this is such a long post…

*clears throat* I started posting as soon as I could and I made sure to triple check everything I wrote (looking back at my first post… cringe). I didn’t want to make a single mistake. Of course, that doesn’t stop Fishy from rewording my sentences here and there.. 😉

Still, I wanted to stand out and make the PHB a better place. HP had been teaching me the basics of Poptropica’s coding, so I convinced him and Sam to start up a BTS series with me. It has formed into the amazing BTS Overview & Theory series that you know and love today, with the whole PHB team, but just remember who’s running the show. 😉 *cough cough*

2015: The Present and Beyond

The post is wrapping up, so just stick with me a little longer.

If you guys still don’t know me that well, feel free to check out my Gravatar page, which has links to all the other sites I’m on. I spend a ton of time on DeviantArt and would love to get to know more Poptropicans. I’m a huge fangirl with too many fandoms to count who loves art, reading, soccer, music, and a ton of other stuff. I’m currently 13 years old (almost 14… being one of the younger bloggers can get annoying) and I hope to be a part of the PHB team for a very long time. 🙂

Without Poptropica and this entire online community, I have absolutely NO IDEA what my life would be like today. Seriously, it takes up a ton of my time that hasn’t already been devoted to homework (which isn’t a bad thing, trust me). Blogging, although sometimes stressful (mostly due to my procrastination and busy schedule), has really improved my life. Even if I’m not your favorite PHB author, I really hope that you can tolerate and maybe even enjoy my posts because I love each and every one of you. 😀

I am absolutely honored to be a part of the PHB’s future. I hope that I will be able to see the entire community continue to grow and thrive. I have been so lucky to have played a part in the PHB’s first award ceremony, many live streams, stories, art, etc. The accomplishments made on the Wiki have also been extraordinary, even though I didn’t play a big part in them.

Before I end this post, I’d like to take a moment to thank all my fellow authors who have welcomed me to their team, including authors that are no longer with us (they aren’t dead, though, don’t worry). I’d also like to thank the other bloggers that I’ve interacted with over the years, even if we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye. Finally, I can’t leave out the amazing artists I’ve met on DeviantArt. *cough* Wow, I’m making it seem like I won a huge award. Well, I should end this before it gets too sappy.

I’m Spotted Dragon, aka SydVC, and this is my story. My Place in Poptropica. 😉

~SD