Contests, Poppies

Welcome to the Poppies!

poppies nominations

UPDATE: Hey guys, thanks for nominating your favorites! The nomination round is now officially closed. The voting round has begun, so cast your votes now! 🙂

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to The Poppies. That’s the Poptropica Community Awards, hosted by the Poptropica Help Network (PHN), which includes this blog (the PHB).

This popping, stellar event is the first of its kind, and will include a week for nominations (starting now!), followed by a week for voting (check back next week for the polls!), and finally, we’ll be announcing the winners as we celebrate the PHB’s upcoming 7th birthday on July 26th, 2015.

First up is the nomination round. How this works is we’ll announce each award category, followed by a brief description (see below). Then, in the comments section, you let us know who or what you feel is worth that award! You can nominate for as many or as little awards as you like.

Without further ado, the awards up for grabs are:

  1. Best Creator: Who’s your favorite Poptropica Creator? Is it the nommable Captain Crawfish, or perhaps the lost-to-time Shark Boy? Check the PHB’s Creators Database for a list.
  2. Best Dialogue: What is the all-time best, wittiest line of dialogue ever spoken by any Poptropica character?
  3. Best Dressed NPC (male): Who’s the handsomest of Poptropican characters? This category is for the guys. (NPC stands for non-player character, so please do not nominate your friends.)
  4. Best Dressed NPC (female): Who’s the prettiest of Poptropican characters? This category is for the girls. (Again, this category is not for players!)
  5. Best Island (overall): What’s the greatest island of all time, from plot to characters, artwork to soundtrack (if applicable), and everything in between?
  6. Best Poptropican Name: What Poptropican name combination sounds the best? For a list of possible Poptropica names, click here.
  7. Best Soundtrack: Which music soundtrack from any of the SUIs (sound-updated islands) tickles your fancy? For some possible nominations, you can listen to and get the names of soundtracks on composer Jeff Heim’s soundcloud.
  8. Best Storyline in an Island: Of all the islands, which one has the greatest plot? Which storyline did you most enjoy?
  9. Best Villain: Who’s your favorite Poptropica villain?

In addition to Poptropica-specific awards, there are also categories for those in the Poptropica community/fandom that you know and love!

  1. Best Current PHB Author: We’ve got a host of staff members here who regularly deliver news and other improvements to the PHB, but everyone’s different, even down to their senses of humor. The current staff are Brave Tomato, Blake, HPuterpop, Samwow5, Spotted Dragon, Slanted Fish, Slippery Raptor, and Ultimate iPad Expert – and all of us are automatically nominated!
  2. Best Fan Art: Poptropican artists the world over have created many pieces of fan art, but which pieces have you seen that might deserve the title of ‘best’? The PHB magazines are a good place to start scouting for fan art!
  3. Best Fansite (outside of the PHN): The Poptropica Help Network includes this blog, the PHC (chat), our Twitter, videos, and wiki, but outside of our network lies a realm of other Poptropica fan sites as well. Nominate your favorites – just to be clear, this is for sites that aren’t included in the list mentioned in the previous sentence.
  4. Best PHB April Fools’ Prank: We’ve done a lot of April fools’ pranks over the years, but which one got you good? Was it the ‘Club Penguin Help Blog’ of 2009? Sending in Agent Chicken Wing in 2010? Reverting to Scary Tomato’s old header in 2011? Gamer Guy’s Mega Fighting Bots, Poptropica-bashing fan site in 2014? Or perhaps this year’s Omegon takeover?
  5. Best The POPCORN Magazine Issue: Which PHB magazine issue had all the best stories, fan art, and so on? Read them on our Magazines page and nominate your faves.
  6. Best Wiki Article: Over on the Poptropica Wiki (part of the PHN), we’ve got over 800 articles for islands, scenes, items, characters, and so on. But which article is the best?

Now for some undesirable awards! We’re not that mean, though, so we’ll only be giving a few, and it’s just for fun – no offence intended. 😉

  1. Worst Island: Poptropica is full of great islands, but not every island was a winner. Which, in your opinion, was the worst of them all (and why)?
  2. Worst Poptropican Name: There are plenty of decent Poptropica names out there, but not every name is created equal and there’s potentially some pretty disastrous combinations as well. Nominate as you see fit!
  3. Worst Poptropica Moment: What’s the worst thing that has happened in your Poptropica experience? Anything unfortunate is fair game, from glitches that made you restart an island to the time the Jersey Devil on Cryptids Island made you cower under your chair in fear.

And that brings us to 18 awards, in celebration of our recent milestone of 18 million hits (well, 18.4m now) – and also, of course, the upcoming 7th birthday of the PHB.

Nominations will take place starting now, so sound off in the comments who you think deserves the awards! Please limit your nominations to a maximum of three per award. To strengthen your nomination, you can also include a quick reason why you think they (or it) deserve(s) the award.

If no nominations for a certain award are made, the PHB authors will use their own judgment to come up with some options. Next week’s poll options will be based on the most popular nominations, so check back then for the next round and cast your votes then! Plus, stay tuned for the PHB for details on birthday parties and winner announcements. 😉 But for now…

Start nominating in the comments below!

Stay popping, Poptropicans, and pop in for the Poppies. 😀

Daily Pop Sneak Peeks, New Islands, Sneak Peeks, Timmy Failure Island

Timmy Failure Island is coming this September!

Hey guys, BT here to try and bring in some good news after the downer of the 7 sponsored members-only islands news.

Timmy Failure Island is officially announced, in, I shall say, in a unique way. Instead of the standard YouTube trailer, we’re given a short gif revealing an approximate release month for the island: September 2015.

There is an emphasis on the fact that this island is going to be in full color, similar to how Wimpy Boardwalk was advertised to be (as opposed to Wimpy Wonderland). Captain Crawfish also notes to keep an eye out for more “news, giveaways, and other great stuff” on the Creators’ Blog. I’m particularly curious about the giveaway part.

Although I have never personally read the series, I’m still semi-curious. HPuterpop told me it was about a kid who solves mysteries. I can see that working in a Poptropican environment. Can’t judge a book by its cover, so I’m willing to give this island a chance.

While we wait till September, please enjoy what I assume to be the product a bored Creator who must’ve been playing Silent Hill lately. And then decided to show a Poptropican version of a gore-free Pyramid Head off on the Daily Pop because why not.

pyramid head poptropican

BT out!

Big Nate Island, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Island, Great Pumpkin Island, Membership, Nabooti Island, Red Dragon Island, Wimpy Boardwalk Island, Wimpy Wonderland Island

Seven Islands become members only!

Okay… so I got some bad news, guys. Remember the whole Nabooti demo thing and how Nabooti Island is only for members now? Well, more islands have joined the members only club.

7reasons

There may be over 40 islands, but now 7 of those islands are exclusive for members. The seven islands are all sponsored islands (islands that are based on a franchise/not completely original), with the exception of the more recent Galactic Hot Dogs Island, which isn’t on the list:

Non-members can still play a demo of each island, but nothing beyond that. With Timmy Failure Island coming up, we have to wonder if that will eventually be locked to members only as well, since it’s also a sponsored island.

Yes, what we have feared is true. I just hope Poptropica won’t become completely membership oriented. 😦 Let us know in the comments what you think!

~SD

Advertisements, App, Creators, Popstorms, Realms

Pop App Tablet/Phone promo code, Wings of Fire ad, & more!

Hey Poptropicans! Here’s the latest on what’s up in the Poptropica community –

First, there’s a new promo code for a not-so-new item: enter POPANYWHERE in the Store online to get a free Poptropica App Tablet/Phone!

2015-07-08

Meanwhile, PoptropiCon Ep. 3 has been released to the Android app.

If you log into Poptropica, you’ll automatically receive two new ad prizes for Wings of Fire: a set of light blue Dragon Wings (press spacebar to fly), and Fire and Ice Breath (press spacebar to breathe fire)!

wings of fire ad

Poptropica also tweeted a couple of remarkable Realms you can visit with the Realms sharing feature: Fast Catfish’s Arabian palace (code: 9wqm9) and Serious Bird’s rendition of New York City, ‘New Pop City’ (code: 47z7x). Check out our Poptropica Realms Guide for tips on playing with Realms!

The final episode of Arabian Nights Island (Ep. 3: Careful What You Wish For) released to members last week, and it’s expected to release to everyone mid-July. Our written walkthrough is up on our Arabian Nights Island Guide, so if you need help, check that out! 🙂

arab3 members

Poptropica has also posted another Popstorm: #32, titled “Land of Mullets”.

CJbIivlUEAANwd8

The PHB’s unofficial Poptropica Creators Database was recently updated to re-organize the information we had, making it more readable and adding new relevant information. While there is some speculation in there, Poptropica has commented that telling us what’s right and what’s not would take the fun out of it, and that we should “embrace the mystery”! 😛 Check out the updated database!

popcreators

Finally, if you haven’t already, go check out the latest issue of The POPCORN, our pop-pop-Poptropica fan magazine made by fans, for fans! For the first time ever, it’s available in PDF format, which means a better viewing experience. We would love to have your entries for the magazine (stories! fan art! and more!). If you’re interested, you’ll find instructions on how to send things in on our Magazines page – where you can also enjoy past issues of The POPCORN.

popcornLogoSmallStay popping, Poptropicans. 😉

Legendary Swords

Mystery of the Battle Arena

popmysterybattlearena2

Note: The original post can be found on Slippery Raptor’s Blog, which frequently features new mysteries, reviews, and other Poptropica thoughts – check it out!

The battle arena — a feature promised in the Legendary Swords mini-quest that never made it to the game. Is it another Monster Carnival? Will we see it again on Poptropica? We may never know, but I’m here to investigate on that case!

Warning: The post includes slight spoilers.

Background

Back in November 2011, Poptropica released a mini-quest different from other mini-quests: Legendary Swords. It mainly focuses on swordfighting (hence the name) and robots. This is also the first time your player decides to take a “vacation” to outer space. As your player gazes the vast galaxy, he/she notices an explosion coming from a jungle planet (not to be confused with the one from Astro-Knights) and decides to investigate the explosion. He/she comes across evil robots headed by Dr. E. Vile, who plans to take over Poptropica.

After defeating the final robot in the game, your player speaks to Dr. E. Vile and hopes to find the mastermind. Back in the early days of the game, players would see this familiar “coming soon” banner of the feature at the end of the game, but some time ago, it was removed – a promise that didn’t get to see the light of day.

battlearena9

Similar to Monster Carnival, the idea of a Legendary Swords Battle Arena has appeared a couple of times around the game, becoming another Poptropica mystery. While Poptropica hasn’t made any news regarding the feature, some hints have surfaced – let’s take a look.

Mocktropica trash bin

In 2013, Poptropica hinted at the Battle Arena in the trash scene on Mocktropica Island. Since it’s in the trash, is it officially scrapped?

Along with this tidbit is a “Monster Carnival” script with a “NOPE” on it, which caused many players to lose hope over the island that almost never was. But months later, Monster Carnival debuted on Poptropica! Could the same happen with the Battle Arena?

battlearena

Another rumor before Mocktropica launched were the sneak peeks of battle bots seen in the Daily Pop possibly being connected to the return of Legendary Swords. Sadly, this was proven false as they turned out to be part of the Mega Fighting Bots game on Mocktropica!

PoptropiCon atrium displays

More evidence that the Battle Arena had not been forgotten appeared in the second episode of PoptropiCon’s common room, the Atrium. The room is filled with displays of Legendary Swords references and concepts around the mini-quest. There’s also a statue of Dr. E. Vile as a Poptropican, and statues of the robots that appeared in-game. Will we ever see it again? Check out the pictures:

Verdict

For this case, I think Poptropica doesn’t have plans to continue this for now and that’s why they removed the banner on Legendary Swords (and also to end the mystery, at least for now). I suppose Poptropica is kind of busy with the new features and upgrades back in 2011, they did say that they always “poke around” and they do their best to make Poptropica better than ever so, that’s why they didn’t have time for the feature.

It’s understandable why this happened and my verdict is that it won’t come around for now; maybe in due time, or maybe it never will. As the Creators like to say to questions on Twitter, they “never say never“! What do you think?

CaseClosedBattleArena

If the Battle Arena happened, what would it look like? Leave a comment! 🙂

-Slippery