Giant Hawk Adventures

Introducing the Giant Hawk Adventures!

gianthawkpoptropica

Greetings Hawk-tropicans! This is Giant Hawk speaking, and I’ve got some absolutely astonishing announcement news for all of you.

Today, November 2, is my birthday. So how shall I spend it? By officially announcing something very special to me, of course! As any of you who saw my very first PHB post may remember, I dropped a not-so-subtle hint about a super huge written series I was making. Since then, I’ve also been dropping some hints on my DeviantArt page and on Twitter. So what is all of this cryptic hullabaloo about then? Let’s not dawdle, because this is something I am really excited for!

Introducing… The Giant Hawk Adventures!

Giant Hawk Adventures Large Logo (with Scroll)

But what is the Giant Hawk Adventures? Well, here is my official synopsis of the series:

In the world of Poptropica, the most beloved and admirable profession one can achieve is that of the professional adventurer – one who explores the world daily, saving the world whenever needed. Likewise, there is no adventuring organization more highly decorated than the Bureau of Heroic Poptropicans, otherwise known as the BHP. No Poptropican knows this better than the amateur adventurer Giant Hawk. That changes, however, when he applies for and finally gains his dream job of professional adventurer at the BHP, allowing him to meet and work with the world’s top eight most elite adventurers: Friendly Fish, Messy Sinker, Brave Tomato, Slippery Raptor, Spotted Dragon, Yellow Sword, Tough Icicle, and Lone Ring. And while he may now have the tools of the trades and friends in high places, Giant Hawk still must risk his life every day, as new unique challenges, treacherous villains, and unknown environments await him in his new career.

To elaborate, each episode in the series will be based on a real island in Poptropica, starting with Early Poptropica and moving onwards in release order. Do not fret, however, because I will be changing up each of the islands’ plots in order to keep the storylines fresh and interesting. I will not be adapting the sponsored islands, though (the only exception to this rule being Nabooti). Each episode will also be split into multiple chapters, as they would be WAY too long otherwise.

As those of you who read my introductory PHB post may have also recognized, I connected my reference to the GHA with a link to HPuterpop’s PHB post concerning his PoptropiComic series. Why is this, you may ask? Well, maybe this quote from said PoptropiComic post can help explain things:

Also, there’s more to this story than just a comic. Stay tuned for more on that… 😉

Just in case you didn’t understand that, the Giant Hawk Adventures will actually be linked continuity-wise to HP’s PoptropiComic. Actually, the GHA has already been referenced in one of the PoptropiComic’s pages – but like I said, that is just the beginning of our in-story connections.

Also, HPuterpop will be lending his amazing creative abilities to the artwork of the Giant Hawk Adventures. In fact, I just so happen to have some sketches of the GHA to share with you all:

I hope you are properly hyped for the series by now, because the most important news regarding the GHA is this – I will be publishing the Giant Hawk Adventures right here on the PHB!

The series is set to premiere with its first installment on January 5th (UPADTE: This is no longer the release date, for more details, click here), so set your calendars! Until then, take this plot synopsis of the first episode, Early Poptropica:

Giant Hawk, a keen young adventurer, has finally applied for a job at the BHP, the Bureau of Heroic Poptropicans. But in order to get the job, he will need to prove his skill as an adventurer by undergoing a test mission. At first, it doesn’t seem too hard – just retrieve a pig and a flag for the distressed pilgrims of an island. But with a ferocious giant spider on the loose, Giant Hawk’s test mission may not be as easy as it seems.

If you have any questions about the series at all, please do post them in the comment section below. Trust me, there is a lot more about the series that I am willing to talk about. 🙂

Until next time…

– – Giant Hawk

Contests, Photo Booth

PHB’s 7th Halloween Competition Winners!

Slanted Fish

phb hallo win 2015

Happy Halloween, Poptropicans! It’s finally time to unveil the winners of this year’s PHB Halloween Competition, which came in two parts: costumes and Photo Booth. We’re celebrating our recent milestone of 20 million hits by choosing 20 winners; 10 for each portion. Here we go…

Part I: Costumes

Mirror, mirror on the wall; who’s the scariest of them all? Well, the PHB team enjoyed looking at the great number of ghastly garbs that dared to enter this hallowed competition, and we’ve finally narrowed it down to ten of this year’s best! These guys get the honor of being shown on the front page via this post, as well as having their costumes immortalized on the PHB’s Costumes page. Check ’em out:

Part II: Photo Booth

The Creators may have held their own Photo Booth Halloween challenge, but we were first – and we did promise to award memberships to the winners! 😉 Check out these spine-chilling spectacles created right in Home Island’s Photo Booth (with a bit of clever image editing in #2)!

If you are one of the Photo Booth winners, check your email for a message from the PHB regarding having your membership awarded to you. #1 gets a 6-month membership, #2 and #3 get a 3-month each, and #4-10 each get a 1-month! Might come in handy for the upcoming Escape from Pelican Rock Island. 😛

We had hundreds of entries for the PHB’s 7th Annual Halloween Competition, and regardless of whether or not yours made this list, thank you for participating! If you’d like to check out everyone’s entries, browse the comments section of the contest post before it’s too late. 😉

Still in the Halloween spirit? Check out the new PHB post, “Scariest Poptropica Moments”!

👻 † Happy Halloween from the PHB! † 👻
🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

~

zomberries dancing

Dance like a Zomberry!

Blast from the Past, Reviews

PHB Review: Scariest Poptropica Moments

Slippery Raptor

PoptropicaPhoto

Happy Halloween Poptropicans! Slip here.

halloweenintro

What a spooky time to do a creepy post, eh? Today, we’ll be reviewing some of the scariest moments in Poptropica! I might as well tell everyone to beware of nightmares and trauma. Read on, if you dare…

Chupacabra

chupacabra

Let’s start with the cryptids—specifically, the Chupacabra. A creature that is said to look like a coyote-wolf hybrid that has green glowing eyes, sharp quills on its back and leaves a drain on the victim with a fang-like mark. Who wouldn’t be scared of this guy? Did it made you jump? Let’s check the fear meter!

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Jersey Devil

jerseydevil

Ah, of course. Who wouldn’t forget the time when the Jersey Devil, also a cryptid, was peeking at the window looking at your player? You wouldn’t forget that time, right?

That’s the winged creature that looks like a half-horse and half-goat. That face is a face that we all remember when playing Cryptids Island. Let’s check the fear meter!

fearmeter5

Zomberries

zomberries

It’s the zomberries of Eastman—these guys give me the creeps. Well, they became zombies from a substance mixed with blueberries, don’t eat brains, and are scared of lights. These guys are really crazy; lurking in dim places and chasing you every time you meet them. Let’s check out the fear meter!

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Count Bram’s obsession

countbram

Oh, Count Bram. He still hasn’t mastered the art of letting go— perhaps what he needs is a consultation from the doctor? It’s sad to lose a loved one, but he reached a ridiculous level of insanity when he turned our player into a vampire and bit Christopher along the way. He did show a soft side at the end, though, and was reunited with his love, Annabelle. ❤

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Giant Eel/Leviathan

gianteel

This Leviathan is one of the scariest prehistoric creatures I have ever seen on Poptropica. Before you meet this creature, the lights go out—setting a great mood for a jumpscare—then it peeps through holes on the wall, shows itself – and tries to eat you! The giant eel left fear on me and I never came back… after two tries. Oh fear meter on the wall, is the eel the scariest of them all?

fearmeter5

Fiona’s voice

fiona

One of the creepiest things in the history of Poptropica is this scene from Ghost Story island. Before SUIs (sound-updated islands), sound was pretty rare – making Fiona’s voice all the more spooky when it was heard.

What actually made it scary is that I thought that someone was behind me! I was shocked to know that the voice was from Poptropica. RIP headphone users.

Another bonus point is that the person responsible for Fiona’s voice was Creator Dr. Lange — amazing! What does the fear meter tell us?

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Myron van Buren

mvb

You might not have seen this coming, or maybe you did; I don’t know. Well, this list is not complete if it doesn’t include Poptropica’s most despicable villain — Survival Island’s Myron Van Buren! His face his creepy, his butler is also creepy and his motives are frightening.

“Mister van Buren sat on his tuffet, eating his steak away,
Along came a player, who asked for some supper,
and he invited him right away.”

What does the fear meter have to say?

fearmeter5

The Puppet Man

puppet

For the last scariest moment on Poptropica, it would go to Monster Carnival Island’s Puppet Man. At one point, we have to enter the Haunted Lab at night when everyone’s been turned into monsters. If you go in without a flashlight, you can come across this eerie fellow lurking in the shadows of the Haunted Lab — carnie by day; scarer by night. What does the fear meter have to say about this one?

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…and that wraps our special Halloween post! Which of these moments scared you the most? Let us know in the comments if you agree with these ratings, or if you have another moment to add to the list!

Happy Halloween, Poptropicans!

-from the PHB. 😈

halloweenoutro

Contests, Photo Booth

The Creators’ Halloween Photo Booth Challenge Winners!

Ultimate iPad Expert

Heyyo Poptropicans, it’s Ultimate iPad Expert here! It’s been a little while since I last posted, so glad to be back at it again.

Anyway, today the Creators announced the winners of their Halloween Photo Booth Challenge! The Creators’ received thousands of entries from Poptropicans, and have narrowed them down to one winner and 5 runner-ups for each of the five categories. So, let’s get to the winners! 😀

Best Costume

  • Winner: Golden Typhoon
  • Runners-up: Golden Rider, Trusty Lightning, Spotted Eagle, Slippery Boot, Happy Starfish

Best Costume - Halloween Photo Booth Challenge

The first category is Best Costume, showing off the coolest of the creepy costumes. The overall winner is Golden Typhoon, with her character’s in-transformation werewolf and the addition of the awesomely terrifying wolves from on Vampire’s Curse! Here’s what the Creators commented:

Golden Typhoon didn’t just make a great werewolf costume — she also posed it mid-transformation for a dramatic photo. Look how the other wolves are welcoming the newest member of their pack! Creepy!

Great runners up, too, including characters inspired by some of your favorite movies and comic books.

Best Halloween Party

  • Winner: Speedy Knuckle
  • Runners-up: Orange Burger, Squeezy Pelican, Trusty Walker, White Toes, Brave Thunder

Best Halloween Party - Halloween Photo Booth Challenge

Second is the Best Halloween Party, with its several scary celebrations. The overall winner of this category is Speedy Knuckle! He made a super awesome party with some awesome quests including a few creators and famous monsters. I especially love the crowd-surfing vampire. The Creators are totally down for these parties:

Judging by the entries we received in this category, Poptropicans know how to get down! Please invite us to all of your future parties. Our winner was Speedy Knuckle, whose composition and character poses made for a rockin’ good time.

Special mention to the runners up, each of whom brought a fun twist to the idea of a Halloween party.

Funniest Photo

  • Winner: Tall Kid
  • Runners-up: Fast Lizard, Fast Lizard (yup, he won two spots!), Popular Flyer, Spotted Sword, Super Snowball

Funniest Photo - Halloween Photo Booth Challenge

Tall Kid brought home the top spot in the Funniest Photo section, which in itself has heaps of hilarious happenings. Tall Kid created what I can only assume it’s of some sort of condiment battle. A few monsters are chasing a guy in a hot dog costume with ketchup and mustard. I have to say it did make me chuckle. 😛 The Creators appreciated the sense of humor, too:

Tons of hilarious entries in this category. In the end, we had to give the top spot to Tall Kid, who gave us three monsters (and two bats) chasing a poor Poptropican in a hot dog costume. We always knew that would get you in the end.

You’re not seeing double in the runners-up. Fast Lizard placed twice, and with good reason!

Most Creative Photo

  • Winner: Smart Glove
  • Runners-up: Blue Monster, Brave Pear, Loud Chicken, Moody Jumper, Tall Flipper

Most Creative Photo - Halloween Photo Booth Challenge

Next up is the Most Creative Photo filled with innumerable imaginative inventions. The winner of the category is Smart Glove depicting a little Halloween get-together that seems to have been interrupted by Mr. Silva from Shrink Ray. It’s a pretty cool photo, if I do say so myself. The Creators enjoyed looking through everyone’s creative entries:

Every photo we got was creative. Smart Glove zoomed out to show Halloween from a perspective we hadn’t really seen before.

Check out the runners up for some clever and fun storytelling, too.

Scariest Photo

  • Winner: Maroon Bird
  • Runners-up: Brave Panda, Fast Lizard, Neat Hopper, Noisy Bones, Trusty Leaf

Scariest Photo - Halloween Photo Booth Challenge

The final category, Scariest Photo, shows off a certain type of terrifying talent. The winner of the most frightening of submissions is a work by Maroon Bird. The scene shows DJ Saturday Night and Aphrodite on walk with a zomberry peering in through the forest of trees. It is quite creepy. The Creators say it may even be too scary:

The Jersey Devil found his way into a lot of the scariest photos, but it was Maroon Bird’s contribution to the Slenderman tale that earned top honors in this category.

Pretty much all of these are a little too scary, though. Maybe you should scroll back up to the funny ones.

By the way, the winners of each category get to have their avatars and their photos added to the Photo Booth for the next week, so you can play around with them in the Photo Booth!

Well, that concludes the winning submissions from the Creators’ Halloween Photo Booth Challenge (wow, long title)! As for the PHB’s Halloween contests (Costume & Photo Booth), we’ll be announcing the winners tomorrow on Halloween, so stay tuned! Prizes include some Poptropica memberships, and it’s not too late to enter, so check it out!

What did you guys think of the winners and runner-ups? Comment below.

• Ultimate iPad Expert •

Escape from Pelican Rock Island, New Islands

Escape from Pelican Rock – Poptropica’s next island!

Brave Tomato

Quick post time! Hey guys, my name is Brave Tomato and… we apologize. We told you the next island is going to be Prison Break Island but… turns out we got that title wrong. Oops.

Well anyways, just in time for approaching Halloween, the true name of Prison Break Island and its island icon are now revealed on the map: Escape from Pelican Rock! (Thanks Popular Wolf for telling Fishy, and thanks Fishy for letting me know… and allowing me to let out a fangirling squeal.)

prison island

Besides this name and island icon, unfortunately, the island’s official info page has yet to be published and give us the scoop on this perilous pelican prison pandemonium. If anything, I assume it’ll be released tomorrow, and this post will be updated when the info page is released.

While we’re here, since I can’t come up with a full story yet without the main synopsis, I’ll just predict what might happen myself in the meantime.

Remember that one scene from Counterfeit Island where you are asked to protect the Scream painting, and when you do, you end up being assumed to be responsible for the crime?? Luckily there, you just got released after passing a lie detector test. However… this time isn’t going to be so lucky. So… remember these safe Daily Pops?

Safe T: Crack the code.
The Digits: It’s all about proportionality.

Behold your one way ticket to jail. You probably try to interfere with a thievery caper only to be assumed by the cops to be the thief itself. This time, though, for reasons unknown, you’re thrown right into the slammer. With the real thief still on the loose and you, a innocent Poptropican, locked up in a place you don’t belong, you have to get out of there and set things right!

As more information is revealed, I can probably expand upon this synopsis, but in the meantime it’s something. Stay tuned to the PHB for more info, and check out our Daily Pop Sneak Peek Archive for more “Escape from Pelican Rock” sneak peeks!

BT out!