Web Development

Happy Birthday, PHB!

Slanted Fish

[^Slight Header Fix – Happy Birthday PHB From Codien]

Hey Poptropicans!

I managed to find a computer at the hotel I’m staying at, so here I am posting! 😀 The Poptropica Help Blog has just become one year old! Happy birthday, PHB!! A very loyal PHB reader, Blooberry95, sent us an awesome e-cookie:

PHB's _1 Anniversary cookie

A big thanks goes to everyone who has visited our blog, whether you came from the very beginning or just found our site today. Thank you to all our readers, and to those who regularly check the blog for updates and make comments here. And thanks to all our staff for keeping this awesome community up and running!

This site was founded by Scary Tomato on July 26, 2008. Click here to see the first post!

On October 6, 2008, Smockers joined the staff crew and started his journey to awesome posting. Click here to see his first post!

Fourteen days later, Codien the graphics man also decided to pitch in. He also gave our site the name Poptropica Help Blog. Click here to see his first post back in October 20, 2008!

And on April 30, 2009, Grumpy Wolf became part of our Poptropica Help Team. Unfortunately, he recently resigned from Poptropica and the PHB, because he was no longer interested. Click here to see his first post and here to see his last. We wish you the best, GW!

The Poptropica Help Blog has 1,560,656 hits at the moment, as well 15,764 approved comments and 5,610 spam comments! O.o Have a great summer, everyone! 🙂

Store, Web Development

My head is on fire!

Slanted Fish

Lighten up, lad!
”Arghh! Yeowwwww! Help me! Save me head… oh!” The little boy’s cries of agony echoed through the underground temple of Shark Tooth Island. He knew his parents had warned him not to play with fire, but he just couldn’t resist! Unfortunately, a ”small accident” had caused his whole body to go up in flames, and he was burning fast now. His head was the first part to catch on fire, and in a few seconds had melted his hair away, leaving him bald. He now wore a nice crown of fire on top of his head, and the rest of his body was glowing orange from head to toe. Oh, will he ever be saved, or will this poor kid be left to —

Oof! A purple dungeon bat knocked him down into the water below the ledge he was standing on. It was terribly salty and dirty water, and the little boy also remembered being warned by his parents not to go swimming down there (whoops, too late!). But amazingly, the horror of the flames were gone! He was saved! The boy vowed never to mess with fire again. As should all of you Poptropicans! 😀

Blog Post Title: Lighten up.
Description: Is it just me, or is it hot in here?
Image URL: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AkTCxo8C1Ys/SmclnLkbppI/AAAAAAAAAGg/PpwfMT1AnJc/s1600-h/lightenup.jpg
Image Name: lightenup.jpg
Posted by: Dr. Hare

Thanks for this update, Incredible Fish. We don’t know much about this fire-body power, but it’s most likely going to be a new Poptropica Store item coming soon in the Cool Stuff section. Don’t forget, there will also be an astronaut suit coming to the store next week! (See the post below for more information.)

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Apparently, a day or so ago, prices in the Poptropica Store had gone down just after they had gone up. Thanks for the update, Green Seal. When the store first opened, costumes were 75 credits each and Cool Stuff items were 250 credits each. However, on July 15 they had gone up: costumes had become 150 each and Cool Stuff things were 325 credits. A day later they were back at original price. But apparently, they were lowered by a lot recently: Cool Stuff was 175 and Special Costumes were 25 each!

Golden Eagle suggests that they were probably testing out prices to see if they got a surge in sale, but maybe normal was getting the most profit for them. They have now returned to the original price, Cool Stuff being 250 each and Special Costumes are 75 each.

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We have moved the ”Commenting Rules” from the About page to a seperate page, which you can find here. Recently, we have also added a ”Contact” page, where you are able to learn new methods of keeping in touch with updates at the PHB. You can find the Contact page here.

By the way, due to going through too much work, our Poptropica Links site will not be used anymore. Repeat: The PHB’s Poptropica Links WordPress blog will not be updated any longer. However, we will continue to update the Poptropica Directory on the PHB – but we won’t be adding new directory listings into our blogroll sidebar, sorry. As a matter of fact, we have now reached over 40 listings in our directory, so click here to check out all the cool webpages!

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Blog Notice
Scary Tomato will not be active on the PHB from July 24 to July 28, 2009. I’ll be on vacation and won’t have Internet access for those five days. Hopefully, the rest of our staff will still be posting news updates and stuff! :mrgreen:

Unfortunately, I will not be available for the one-year anniversary of Poptropica Help Blog, sorry! But while I’m gone, please don’t wreak havoc and spam the whole site! Smockers and Codien will still be around to catch y’all and send you to prison with Crusher, Ratman, Betty Jetty and the rest of their evil gang. Just kidding… but be safe, readers! 😛

Wallpapers, Web Development

Moon magic

Slanted Fish

That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind. –Neil Armstrong

It’s been 40 years since the first man has landed on the moon! To show Neil’s great achievement for all humans, the Poptropica Creators have put together an awesome ”Moon Scene” wallpaper. To set it as your desktop wallpaper, right-click on the image below and select the ‘Set as background’ option. To see the wallpaper in full size, click here. Thanks for the update, Cool Wing.

moonScene

Like what you see above? The Creators are also going to be adding an astronaut costume (probably like the one you see in the picture) to the Poptropica Store next week, so have your credits ready! It’s not likely, but I hope the ”special action” for this costume will be flying! And maybe when you fly, you’ll have that white streak following behind you, as seen in the wallpaper.

Speaking of the awesome powers of the moon, did anyone hear about or see the sun eclipse?

Sun Eclipse

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Also, Poptropica Help Blog is almost going to celebrate our one-year anniversary, which will be on July 26! Last year on July 26, 2008, Scary Tomato created this blog to help others with the game Poptropica. PHB is now nearly one year old, so get ready for an awesome celebration of cookies!

In other news, the good old WordPress smilies are back! Thanks to Shaggy Tornado for spotting this. Head on over to our Typing Tricks page if you need help with using smilies in your comments!

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However, yesterday we suffered the loss of one extremely helpful and kind staff member, Grumpy Wolf. He has retired from writing on the PHB and from playing Poptropica. His Poptropica account will be given out in a contest hosted by the Poptropica Help Blog, which we are going to do soon. Thanks for all your great contributions, Wolf!

In GW’s last post, which spoke of his resignation, there has been some confusion for why he is leaving. In truth, Grumpy Wolf told the PHB on Gmail that he would be leaving the PHB and Poptropica. He says he’s not sure why exactly, but some part of his mind just wants to. As Angry Berry said, ”He doesn’t have to tell. Let’s give him privacy.” Click here for more information.

According to a PHB commenter, x aka moody skull, people had been making fun of some PHB staff for being inactive in the Poptropica Help Forum chatroom. The PHF chatroom was not made for this reason, and if anyone is seen being rude to other people, or making mean comments there, they will be blocked from using the chatroom.

What Moody Skull saw has been confirmed by a post on another Poptropica blog, which says:

We’ve recently received shocking news that says that Grumpy Wolf  hasn’t been very active on the PHB lately! Some people are saying, and I qoute, “R.I.P Grumpy Wolf “. I am here at the PHF chatbox to investigate. Here I am with 2 anonymous members and I asked both of them “Do anyone of you think that Grumpy Wolf  is leaving the PHB?” They both said yes! So there you have it folks. If you want to see for yourself then ask around or ask Grumpy Wolf yourself.

Apparently, Drummer3290 was the one who had ”thought of this first”, according to Drummer’s comment on that blog’s post, which you can read by clicking here. The people who made fun of our staff may have been anonymous users, but making impolite and unkind comments will not be tolerated anywhere.

Another rumor spotted by x aka moody skull was about a user in the chatroom named ”GrumpyWolf”, who claimed that he would come back next year. As much as we’d like for this to happen, the so-called ”GrumpyWolf” was most likely an impersonater, or someone who is faking (a fraud). Impersonation of another person can lead you into serious trouble, so please don’t try it.

We hope that this clears up some of the confusion about our great friend Grumpy Wolf. Grumpy Wolf, we’ll miss you, but we wish you a happy life! 🙂

Hellos & Goodbyes, Web Development

Resignation Note of Grumpy Wolf

Grumpy Wolf

Yes, it’s true. Grumpy Wolf is resigning. It’s been a good run here on the PHB. I posted only few things here as a blogger, but as a commenter, I’m sure many. I’m very sorry I have to leave the Blog. I wish you can have fun without me here. I’m also leaving Poptropica itself for good to. But there, is good news, as there will be a contest to see who gets my Poptropica username and password! Well, I bid many a good day to all of you guys, including Scary Tomato, Smockers, and Codien.  Farewell commenters!

~Grumpy Wolf~

Reality TV Island, Sneak Peeks, Store

Pretty bugs in the forest

Slanted Fish

🙂 Well, that was fast! Poptropica Help Blog now has 1,500,000 (1.5 million) hits! In the time of just 5 months, we’ve gained one million hits. Click here to read about our first 500,000 milestone! Bright, glowing, magical cookies for all! 🙂

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Comic Kid not only likes comics and taking/drawing pictures, he also collects bugs! Thanks for the update, Obiwan2324. That is one awesome and sparkling butterfly in the strange enchanted forest! Look at Comic Kid oohing and waving his hands excitedly in this sneak peek:

Blog Post Title: Bug Collecting
Description: While I’m traveling the world of Poptropica taking pictures and drawing cartoons, I also search for rare bugs to add to my bug collection.
Image URL: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_q9BePaDQLzI/Sl-ltRKNRVI/AAAAAAAAAFE/AMXW9auebLk/s1600-h/forest.jpg
Image Name: forest.jpg
Posted by: Comic Kid

Notice how the butterfly seems to be slightly transparent – maybe it has the Phantom power from the Poptropica Store! Speaking of the Pop Store, the prices have gone back down to normal, as noted by Lazy Feather, who also took the following pictures shown below. All items have gone back to their original prices (a look at the post below would show that earlier, the prices had skyrocketed up to 75 more credits than before)! Sweet!

 ImageImage

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In other news, we’re still evaluating the winners for the ”Poptropica’s Best Dressed” contest. According to Incredible Fish, Macey909’s family made PHF accounts to vote for her, so they may not have been her own accounts. However, Shaggy Tornado and many others are still unsure, so no prizes have been sent yet. Motionman95, host of the competition, is considering just randomly picking the winners. More news will follow soon!