Welcome back, Poptropicans! You’ve nominated your favorites for our Poptropica fan awards, and now it’s time to vote for this year’s Poppies winners. You have until Tuesday, July 18 to submit your votes, so choose wisely! 🗳️
Join us in the PHC Discord server as we reveal the winners on Friday, July 28 @ 7pm EST. If you live in a different time zone, you can use a time zone converter to see what time it’ll be for you. We’ll be launching a video to announce the awards, so stay tuned!
After the ceremony, we’ll hang out in the Arcade on Poptropica (accessible via the menu in the corner of the game) for a Pop-tastic afterparty. Dress your best and join us in the PHB’s birthday celebration! Here’s to 15 years of Poptropica news and fandom fun! 🥳🎂
Greetings, Poptropicans! We at the PHB apologize for the lack of news coverage these past couple of weeks. We have been preoccupied by Poppies planning and your fantastic fanfictions. Luckily, we uncovered some juicy updates and memes. Here is what we found:
We began our investigation on Home Island. While we didn’t see anything new outside, we found that Adventure Outfitters had changed its display for July. This month’s display features the return of old costumes (including Maryann-favorite Acidic Dinosaur🦖), as well as some summer clubhouse decorations. 🏖️👕🏡
We then took to the skies and surveyed the islands below. Some quick investigating revealed that Survival Episode 3: Distress Signal is now available to all players! 🏔️📻 There are two more episodes that have yet to reappear on desktop, but you can play them now on Steam or with AS3 Flashpoint.
That can’t be all, right? We turned our focus to social media and found a few notable posts. The first post is a news report covering how a brave Poptropican named Courageous Bean thwarted the hare-brained scientist, Dr. Hare, who is now in prison for treason and tax evasion. We reached out to Courageous Bean for more information, but they unfortunately never replied to our message.
How about Dr. Hare? Our only clue is this image of him writing messages to music sensation Taylor Swift. Perhaps he is convincing her to bail him out of prison? Poptropica’s police department might want to keep an eye on the situation.
This next bit of news resonated with us detectives. July’s member gifts give members the ability to become private eye investigators. Members can now don a stylish Private Eye outfit, wield a magnifying glass, and ride around on a scooter. 🔍🛵
Our last discovery might be the juiciest of them all. It has been suggested that Zomberry Island‘s blueberry smoothies might have predicted McDonald’s Grimace Shake. Pop Creator Jonathan Pitcher shared his fondness toward Grimace, so there is a connection between these deadly drinks. 🫐🥛
Haha…I remember when I wrote the story for this on Poptropica. Grimace was my favorite McDonalds character when I was a kid. 😄 Makes sense. https://t.co/Z4X3x9yXLg
— jonathan pitcher (@jonathanpitcher) July 1, 2023
And with that, our investigation has come to a close. We hope you appreciate what we found. We will always cover Pop news as long as Pop keeps going.
Hey there, everyone! Welcome to my first participation in Pop Places IRL. Bid adieu to sunlight, because today we’ll be exploring the deep, dark jungles of Twisted Thicket–and its counterparts in real life (IRL). Let’s get started!
Although its country is never stated, Twisted Thicket takes place in the European region of Scandinavia, encompassing Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Not only is this shown through the various Scandinavian mythological creatures introduced, but in the quaint seaside town we land in. The colorful, narrow architecture accurately resembles Scandinavian villages IRL. As for the names of the buildings, a smorgasbord is a traditional Swedish buffet, and the Fjording is actually a real shop at Epcot in Florida that offers authentic Norwegian souvenirs.
Smögen, Sweden (look photo.com)The Fjording (wdwkingdom.com)
Scandinavia’s rich with dense, fantastical forests, similar to this island’s main event. Just the kind of place you’d expect to find fairies flitting about…
Kinn, Vestland (commons.wikimedia.org)
…but unfortunately, the swarm of dryads we meet aren’t friendly. Poptropica definitely took some liberties portraying these little forest fairies, but they’re very common in multiple mythologies. Dryads are often visualized closer to the appearance of the Elf Queen, as humanoid women rather than firefly-size stingers.
The elves and trolls are also notable creatures in Norse mythology–enough to elicit three whole realms for themselves, known as Alfheim, Svartalfheim, and Jotunheim, respectively.
Trolls (fineartamerica.com)
Next up in our woodland-traversing trials is the Nøkken in the Bioluminescent Bog. This may be the creature that differs most from its mythological counterpart, being shown as a distinctly wolf-like animal rather than a shapeshifter, and having its original powers of alluring song swapped for invisibility. Its glowing eyes and malicious intent, however, remain the same.
As for the Nøkken’s naturally lit home, bioluminescent plants and especially fungi aren’t uncommon in dark, marshy places.
Bioluminescent mushrooms (thoughtco.com)
After outrunning the goblins–who stay true to their roots as tiny, cap-wearing creatures–we’ll land in front of an enormous tree whose branches aren’t visible. This tree parallels Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life and heart of the Nine Worlds in Norse cosmology.
The five runes needed to enter this tree in-game are named after relevant terms in Scandinavian languages, such as nackrosor meaning “night rose” or “water lily” and dokkalfar (“dark elf”).
Yggdrasil (worldhistory.org)
After absorbing the powers of our newfound forest friends, Burt Diamond and his ruthless construction crew are defeated. This deforestation, unfortunately, is a very prevalent issue IRL as well. Let’s save the real woodland dwellers next!
And with that, we’ve come to the end of today’s tour. It’s worth noting this isn’t the only time Norse mythology’s been referenced in Pop: it serves as the basis of Realms as well! Were you already familiar with Scandinavia and its mythology? Better yet, have you been there before? Let me know down in the comments below!
At the lunchroom. DR. HARE and CRAWFISH are sitting in their own corner, set up specifically for the “higher security” villains, both with bowls of food that probably just barely pass FDA standards. While they were allowed into the main kitchen area for a while, it seems this is being done after the two “escapees”. None of the food has been eaten, and the two just sit facing each other, heads slumping from sleepiness.
DR. HARE finally flops to the table, his ears touching his food, although he doesn’t seem to care.
Smile and wave, Poptropicans… here come the Poppies! 🥳🏆😍
The Poppies are our annual Poptropica fan awards, hosted here on the Poptropica Help Blog for all to join in the fun. From nominating to voting to the blue carpet party, it’s going to be a full month of celebrations — marking the ninth year of the awards and the PHB’s 15th birthday! ✨
To kick things off, the nomination round is open for one week from now until Saturday, July 8. We’ll be waiting for your noms in the comments!
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