Hey everyone! Now that the winner and top ten runner-ups of Poptropica’s CYDI (Create Your Own Dream Island) contest have been revealed, each with their own post on the Creators’ Blog as well as here on the PHB, I’d like to give my own personal review on each of the winning ideas.
In my opinion, there were some great island ideas, and some bad ones. Some I felt were too common or even plagiarized, but overall, I thought the ideas were pretty cool! So without further ado, here’s my list of the winning island ideas in order of (again, in my opinion) best to worst:
- House of Cards Island
- Symphony Island
- Space Bar Island
- Shakespeare Island
- Pharoah’s Fantasies Island
- Prehistoric Island
- Stormchaser Island
- Arabian Nights Island (winner of CYDI)
- Fashion Crisis Island
- Golden Mustache Island
- Bikers vs Boards Island
There’s my list, everyone! Now, I’m going to explain it in greater detail why I put them in that order, starting from the bottom…
#11: Bikers vs Boards Island: This island… was just plain plagiarized from Disney’s Teen Beach Movie. This was my least favorite island idea by FAR and I was actually mad the creators even considered this as the winner of the whole contest… and, well, I’m too mad to say any more. 😛
#10: Golden Mustache Island: I really don’t have anything against this island – I just thought the idea, plot, and name were very corny. I felt this island was way too childish for Poptropica. Before anyone gets mad at me for saying that, I know Poptropica is a kids’ game, but this island sounded like it was for 5 year olds – like, come on, Creators!
#9: Fashion Crisis Island: The idea here isn’t that bad! But being a sports guy, I’m just not really into fashion… I can’t really have fancy clothes or they will be torn when I play sports. xD
#8: Arabian Nights Island (WINNER): Now, this one… to tell the truth, I wanted to put this one 10th. This soon-to-be island sounds very lame; from the very little detail the Creators gave us about the island, it sounded like another Nabooti Island to me, and I wasn’t too fond of Nabooti. This should not have been the winner, in my opinion.
#7: Stormchaser Island: I was impressed by the quality of this idea, but I don’t know how Poptropica really could’ve made this into an island. It would’ve been a lot of work, and maybe confusing for younger players too.
#6: Prehistoric Island: When the Creators said “dinosaurs are coming into the 21st century. Poptropicans must reassemble the time portal and send them back” – I was hooked, but as I continued reading on, it sounded like any other entry about dinosaurs and their existence. So, I feel like the Creators shouldn’t have considered this as a winner because it doesn’t really stand out to me as a unique dinosaur story.
#5: Pharoah’s Fantasies Island: I have the same opinion of this island as the Prehistoric Island idea. When the Creators said “Poptropicans would enter the mind of King Tutankhaman, and defeat the gods of Egypt…” I was like, cool! But, like I said, many people must’ve sent in this kind of ancient Egypt/Pharoah idea…
#4: Shakespeare Island: It gets down to the tough ones – I could’ve easily put this second because this, I thought, was a great idea. (But Space Bar and Symphony were better – but let’s get back on topic.) The plot was that “Players help Shakespeare put on a Romeo and Juliet play. Players sign up to be an actor, backstage organizer, or costume designer. But during the show, another actor gets stage fright and players will have to dress up and sing the song.” When I read that, I immediately fell in love with this island idea. This was GOLD, I thought. If you didn’t know, I love poetry and Shakespeare so I would have loved to play this island. I wish I could pick my top 4 of these ideas to be made into islands, because I think this one was definitely one of the better ones.
#3: Space Bar Island: I loved this island from the start! A computer-based island would be so cool to play! The way Naomi used clever wordplay for the villain’s name (the Mother Board) blew me away! The plot was this: “On Space Bar Island, you’re trapped in the newest computer, the “Lap Life,” and you meet who’s really running the internet.” That sounded so cool to me! I would have loved to play this island too!
#2: Symphony Island: I love music, so this is probably why I love the island. 😛 In my opinion, the Creators saved the 2nd best island idea for last. I loved the plot: “Karl Notune hates music — and has an evil plan! It’s up to you to save the music before it’s too late!” Now, that sounds like a fun island idea! There’s more: “…be able to play many different instruments — including piano, saxophone, and drums — and gave us a funny villain in ‘Karl Notune’.” That’s a lot of the instruments I love! This island idea rocked! Great job, Erika!
#1: House of Cards Island: I don’t know where to start with this island idea! Before Joel sent me the in-depth look into his island idea that I published on the PHB (where Joel describes the suits and kingdoms), I already thought this island idea should’ve been first! The plot that the Creators showed us blew my mind so much that I had a dream about it. 😛 The in-depth look was just the icing on the cake for this island idea. Joel, I really appreciate that you sent me that in-depth look! This island should’ve won by far, in my opinion!
Anyway, that’s it everyone! I want to hear your opinion too and see your personal rankings of the CYDI contest winners! Comment below and let’s see if we agree or disagree on this! 🙂
~SW5~
🦄 Ponytropica 🦄 