Mystery of Monster Carnival Island

and six years after the mystery first appeared…

Monster Carnival Island has finally become a reality.

~

What is Monster Carnival Island? The legend goes way back…

In early 2008, Monster Carnival Island appeared on the Map as “coming soon.” Plenty of Poptropicans were excited until it mysteriously vanished with no explanation one day, only to be replaced by the release of 24 Carrot Island. It’s been one of Poptropica’s biggest mysteries for six years…

Monster Carnival on the map

The above picture, taken by Codien on February 4th, 2008 shows Monster Carnival (MC) on the map, along with Time Twisted – the name of Time Tangled Island before it was released. MC was expected to release as well, but never did. Though we don’t know why for sure, here’s what we do know.

In mid-2008, there was an “leak” of strange monster-like customizable parts, which are assumed to be from Monster Carnival. Codien (a former PHB author) investigated the leak and got the following response from a Poptropican called Legoless:

Ok, firstly, these items are all but impossible to get now. There was an ‘item leak’ in the multiplayer buildings. Someone managed to get their hands on unreleased items that somehow happen to be on the servers (I am guessing they came from Monster Island). So, obviously enough, they spread like wildfire.

But when the creators finally got around to fixing it most people lost their items. If you logged on in the following 2 weeks (I don’t actually know the precise amount of time this went on for) they were removed. I hadn’t logged on in that time so, oddly enough, I got to keep the items. – Legoless

Dragon wings
The dragon wings were the same colour as your hair.

Monster Carnival leak

The types of costume parts leaked included: unicorn horn, scrawny wings, face polka dots, dragon spikes and tail, dragon wings, bubble brain, dragon wings, goat horns, dragonfly wings, body stripes, body dots, and devil horns.

You may notice that many of these are now a regular part of Poptropica. However, this was before even the release of Nabooti Island, which you may know is where the bubble brain helmet comes from, for example. (Type “411” in your Nabooti cell phone.)

While these items were still rare, the PHB had a competition in the summer of 2009 in celebration of one million hits on the blog. As for prizes, we gave away many accounts with the rare monster collectibles. This was still before the opening of the Poptropica Store.

monstersoutfits

Two years after the leak, in October 2010, Poptropica released a variety of different “Furry Monster” costumes in the Store, and they are still available today. Each costs 75 credits, and members can access them for free. Apparently, that’s what the Creators decided to do about the leak!

Here’s what the girls get:

The boys get different Furry Monster costumes. Here’s what theirs look like:

In February 2011, there was a Daily Pop image titled “The Wayback Machine” with the caption “an early sketch for a long-rumored, never-completed Island,” likely a reference to MC Island considering the carnival setting depicted. It also suggests that perhaps we never got to see the island simply because it was never finished. Thanks to Poptropica Secrets for the image and insight!

The Wayback Machine

On April 1st, 2012, the Poptropica Creators’ Blog posted about adding noses to all Poptropicans. Don’t worry, it was just an April Fool’s joke. However, Captain Crawfish did write this:

Not since the introduction of the Costumizer or the removal of the Monster Carnival map icon have we made an update this momentous.

That’s the first time the Creators have ever acknowledged Monster Carnival Island and its mysterious disappearance by name! The second official-Creators-mention came just a week after that – the trailer for Poptropica Friends was released, and from seconds 0:12 to 0:14, we’re given a subtle hint for “MonsterCarnival2012”!

MonsterCarnival2012

When you type in that username in the Avatar Studio or on your friends list, you’ll get a character with the name Monster Carnival! Curiouser and curiouser…

MonsterCarnival2012

Since the video was only posted in April, we had hoped for Monster Carnival Island to be released sometime later in 2012. However, that year has passed, and we still haven’t seen the island return!

Poptropica has bought some web domain names based on their islands (such as VampiresCurse.com) which redirect back to Poptropica.com, and a Whois lookup on MonsterCarnival.com shows that Poptropica did in fact create this URL on May 16, 2012, which means that they may have had plans for the island then.

At the beginning of 2013, a sneak peek captioned “Carnival of Costumes – maybe not quite a circus of values” surfaced on the Daily Pop. It later turned out this was for Night Watch Island.

Carnival Costumes

However, on closer inspection, you’ll see “Mardi Gras” on one of the costume posters:

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras, according to Wikipedia, refers to Carnival celebrations. Yes, maybe even like Monster Carnival, whatever that might be about! A few days after the sneak peek above, another image showed up on the Daily Pop with the caption: “Mardi Gras – These folks are ready for Fat Tuesday.” Again, however, this is actually from Night Watch Island, not Monster Carnival.

On April 30, 2013, Captain Crawfish posted this old notebook page of long-forgotten ideas for a Poptropica island dated late 2007 or 2008, around the time when Poptropica was just getting started. The blog post says, “As we developed it a little more, the “Haunted Amusement Park” took on a slightly different form (and name), but it didn’t end up becoming a real Island.”

The “different name” for Haunted Amusement Park, as we know, is Monster Carnival. This post gives us some insight into what the island might have been about, with ideas on the right like “ringmaster has cursed/enslaved zombie carnival workers,” “horror-themed park infiltrated by real zombies,” “the ringmaster has lost prized possession and is withdrawn, moody,” “prized possession is bullhorn,” etc. On the left is a list of carnival elements which mentions things like funhouse mirrors, bear on bicycle, trapeze artists, etc.

At the end of his Creators’ Blog post, Captain Crawfish adds, “You never know, I guess.” Could this be a hint for Monster Carnival seeing the light of day in the future?

On December 17, 2013, the PoptropicaCreators channel on YouTube uploaded a new Poptropica Tour video. At about the 1:10 mark, the video shows the process of saving your game, and “monstercarniv” is typed into the username box! Now they’re just teasing us.

monstercarniv

Mocktropica Island, which parodies Poptropica and its creative process, was released on December 19, 2013. Among the many things to explore on the island is this old page with a drawing of a monster and the words “Monster Carnival” scratched out with a big NOPE:

monster carnival nope

In January 2014, some Daily Pop images hinted at the possible return of Monster Carnival, featuring sneak peeks of fun house mirrors, monsters, etc. We’ll just have to wait and see where this is going!

On January 17, 2014, about five years after the great mystery first appeared, Monster Carnival Island was finally announced as the next Poptropica island. Dreams do come true!

And here’s the official island description:

In the dead of night, a caravan rumbles into town. The traveling carnival has returned! But this is no day at the park. Behind the lights and the laughter, the carnival harbors a dark secret. Buy a ticket if you dare, but beware — once you enter, you may never be able to escape the Monster Carnival!

In early February 2014, Captain Crawfish made a post on the Creators’ Blog coming clean about “the long, strange journey of Monster Carnival”. As it turns out, the island was simply never finished (until now!). Here is what he wrote:

Longtime Poptropicans know that Monster Carnival was supposed to be one of our earliest Islands. It was announced in 2008, and even added to the travel map with a message that said “Coming Soon.” Then it disappeared without notice.

Why?

There have been a lot of explanations over the years. Some were closer to the mark than others. Frankly, we’d like to let the conspiracy theories go on, because they’re more interesting than the truth. But it’s time we came clean.

Monster Carnival was removed from the Poptropica travel map because it wasn’t finished, and everybody was too busy with other projects to give it the attention it needed. That’s all! We really just announced it too early, got onto other things, and never came back to it.

But as Monster Carnival continued to live on in the imaginations of our players, we couldn’t let it go. What a great name! Every year, when we discussed what new Islands to make, somebody would say “Monster Carnival!” and everyone else would nod. Then we’d pick a bunch of other Islands to do instead.

Maybe we were intimidated. We all know what happens when something becomes anticipated for too long. Better to leave it as an unrealized dream, rather than risk not delivering.

Well, every dog has his day, and the same is true of a great idea for a Poptropica Island. Monster Carnival is very real this time, and we hope it is worth the wait.

Leading up to the release of Monster Carnival Island, PHB author HPuterpop wrote up some “Monster Carnival Files” to analyze what we knew about the actual island thus far. Check them out:

Finally, at long last, the island debuted for members on February 21, 2014, with a demo for non-members. Public access for Monster Carnival finally opened on March 20, 2014.

monsterc for all

If you need help on this island, check out the PHB’s Monster Carnival Island Guide, a written walkthrough with pictures. Also, if you’d like to listen to the jaunty and spooky tunes of this island and more, our Behind the Scenes page has Poptropica music listed. We’ve also got trivia listed on the PHB’s info page for MCI. See you at the carnival! 😀

Case closed!

Like this page? Check out more at our Pop Plus collection!

182 thoughts on “Mystery of Monster Carnival Island”

  1. Thanks for reading the PHB article Mystery of Monster Carnival Island. Hope you enjoyed exploring the history behind the mystery of Poptropica’s forgotten island! 🙂

      1. I remember getting hyped up about upcoming Monster Carnival Island, And then being devastated about the disappearance. Maybe it went underwater like Poptropolus Games!

    1. I have been playing since 2007, and yes, saw this island!! I was like, “This is the 3rd/4th island, it looks amazing, can’t wait!” Then one day, its gone!! I’m like, “Where IS it!?” our calender was still on April, and thinking it was 1st April I thought “Hahaha real funny guys, real funny, bring it back :(” and Then, 6 years later, BAM!! “Where have I seen this before?? Oh yeah, 6 years ago -_-. Anyway, finally its here 🙂

      1. Same. I feel like people lie these days just to sound old and rare. For some reason, you seem legit because I was thinking the exact same thing that day. Lol. You don’t know how happy I was when I found out it was back. I almost shed some tears 😀

    2. monster carnival should have come out in October. Not in Feburary with all the love and March with all the leprechauns.

      1. Slanted Fish, why was the Poptropica team not wanting to do Monster Carnival at that time? Were they scared?

      1. lol my cousins said hey didnt want it and gave me a video game… ahh your right sticky clown deals are bad xD

      1. yes it is a mix sort of i dont really know… but what i do know is i just played night watch island and saw carnaval costumes room on night watch island is this just a trick from the creaters to make us confused so they work on monster carnaval island? duh duh duh we will have to wait

      1. Personally, I’m hoping for another island jump. Like the one from Counterfeit island where you had to go to Early Poptropica island. Maybe if Monster Carnival comes out, we’ll have to speak to someone in the mall at Night Watch island.

      2. Maybe if that’s true, we could be in the circus? Not that I want to, anyway. Yuk yuk

      3. I just added MonsterCarnival2012 and for the name it said Poptropican! Is it a glitch or what?! I also got the brain hat thanks for telling me it dose not even say it in *Poptropica: The Official Guide Book! anyway, sad that it didn’t come out… cuz a CARNIVAL+MONSTERS=FUN!

    1. As Legoless said in the message, someone managed to get these unreleased items (we don’t know how exactly) and spread them around multiplayer rooms. The leak refers to obtaining these unreleased monster parts that the Creators had not intended to make public (yet).

    2. On some other website there was this theory: Some creator was testing MC Island and costumized some of its things. Then they went into a common room and some people got their items. The creator was then banned and Monster Canival Island removed. This creator may or may not be a large ocean mammal in need of a drink.

      1. Also, that same creator appeared on Time Tangled Island which first appeared along with Monster Carnival (MC’s 1st appearance.) as Edmund Hillary. AND he hasn’t been heard from on the blog since around then! I really love that theory aline!

  2. WOAH!!! You really got behind the scenes and almost cracked the mystery! Hmm.. maybe this is leading up to.monster Carnival! I mean it vanished and maybe its coming back up near poptropolis games!! And the next island is a mall mystery, it could all be crammed together to form one BIG island!!

    1. well Tallspider, let us see if your prediction is true, The Poptropolis Games are Now on The RISE! Let us all cross our fingers and hope…all in Favor say Here here!

  3. This is pretty interesting. Poptropolis, MC Island,and all the Daily Pops. What if MC is like RTV Island? Being developed early but released late? What if the mall island is actually MC Island, and we’re seeing retails near the Carnival? Poptropica is strange….. So many mysteries to unlock. Maybe the Mystery of Monster Carnival Island will never be unlocked. Maybe it’s just something that was removed. We may know soon, we may never know.

    1. Yea! its suppisus :O What if this whole thing has to do with Poptropilis? What if its coming back and we don’t know things about it? it sorta like cryptids island it was realesed and we saw it then it wasnt there but it came back? Maybe it IS coming back and the Creaters are giving us clues to find? We may know soon or not know at all.

      1. What do you mean, cryptids appeared, disappeared, and reappeared again?!?

      1. CoolCop, they said it comes up once every HUNDRED years. Most of us will be dead by then! The creators will be dead too.

      2. (This is supposed to be under Fierce Lizzard’s comment.) Poptropolis IS coming back! Haven’t you ever noticed that Poptropolis just disappeared into the sea, and a place in the water is still labeled POPTROPOLIS Games, that nothing replaced it? By every ‘HUNDRED’ years, it probably meant every 100 ‘POPTROPICA’ years. They probably meant every 100 DAYS, that’s probably why they left its ruins there, they plan on surprising us by having it make an epic return. Besides, they keep on hinting that it will return on the daily pop. When you think about it, Poptropolis and Monster Carnival have absolutely NOTHING in common. POPTROPOLIS RETURNS!!! (And to think, I never completed Poptropolis 🙂

    2. Or, it could come back, one day……When we least expect it. It may also reveal some mysteries about the world of Poptropica itself….

      Oh, and, what if, on another island, Monster Carnival was an experiment that went horribly horribly, wrong. Poptropica may take a darker turn….

    3. (This is supposed to be under connorador’s comment.) So, what’s the deal with Reality TV island?

  4. http://drmagiconionspoptropicahelpblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/new-island-alert-2-mardi-gras/

    This is my blog’s official speculation about what happened.

    Also, on a totally, almost related note, if anyone has watched or watches Finding Bigfoot, this is the same thing: speculations theories, all part of a great slice of pizza!

    Also, I would like to ask permission to begin a cause: The Poptropica Blogs for Finding Out what Happened to Monster Carnival Island. I would like, a) for PHB to join, and b) to have permission to copy this page for the blog.

    1. Why dont you write your own thing for this instead of Advertising your Blog and trying to get PHB to join and trying to steal there page word for word?

      1. I would not be stealing their information. I would be using it with their permission. I’ve only been playing Poptropica for a year, so I don’t know all of this information. And I’m not advertising my blog, I’m trying to show my speculation. I already advertised my blog on the Poptropica Directory page.

    2. Thanks for the insight – check out the new PHB post about it here. It’s possible that Monster Carnival didn’t have a substantial enough story and so didn’t release (as explained in the article above), but now that they are working on something to do with Mardi Gras (which is the Carnival season), that could be part of “Monster Carnival” (or maybe something else entirely).

      The PHB would definitely like to know what happened to Monster Carnival, but if you want to bring readers to this page, I’d prefer that you link them to this article we’re on instead of copying it. Thanks. 🙂

  5. That is so cool! Nice detective work. Wait a minuet, theires going to be a MALL island! I am becoming more and more of a girly girl every day.

      1. What would the plot be ? Maybe they thought it was such a silly idea for an island,they were remaking it and changed it to Zomberry Island,the world may never know.

  6. You know that one creator that disappeared a long time ago? Maybe he was responsible for the leak. He couldve been testing the Island, and costumized stuff, and then he went to a common room, and someone costumized him, and he was fired for being irresponsible and MC was spoiled and the Creators removed it? That’s my guess.

      1. That’s my guess. You don’t see him around anymore, do ya? That’s two mysteries. I betcha his disappearance revolves around Monster Carnival’s disappearance….

    1. The “leak” refers to items that weren’t meant to be released somehow getting out to the public anyway. In this case, Poptropica Creators designed these Monster Carnival type costume parts but didn’t officially release them into the game, but somehow people got their hands on them when they were spread in multiplayer rooms. Later these costumes were released in the Store as Furry Monsters 1-4.

  7. Well, this is my idea.You now how Poptropolis disaperd,maybe MC and it will swich off! Then there is also the fact that the creators had this idea.They NEVER EVEN WOULD DO THE REAL ISLAND!!!!!!!! I know, wierd. Maybe they will do Mystery of Monster Carnival island. I’m just saying

  8. If someone wants to rest easy on this mystery, even though it’s fan-fiction, you can see what people have imagined Monster Carnival’s secret in “A PHB Special, The Ongoing Story Creation” We need more comments on it. Me, Sticky Clown, Super Grape, and Wild Monster are the only ones that have been commenting lately, so, go there, read the comments, (By the dates, and without the parenthesees) and then add your idea of what should happen next.

  9. I. Want. Monster. Carnival. Please, Creators. If you read through Poptropica blogs, surely you must see how much we all want this island? If you are reading this, please fulfill our wishes. Thank you.

  10. Actually back when mystery train was released, Monster Carnival (it still said coming soon) was on my map but its gone now .-.

      1. I had thought of an old abandoned amusement park island. So once I figured out that this was a real thing, I’m like, ARRGGGGGH! So I started designing it.

  11. wait a sec what if the idea of poptropolis was from monster carnival wouldn’t that have had carnival challenges

  12. I never even knew about this cause that was when I was young and now I found out and I know it never came out D’:

  13. I hope it comes out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it sounds so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      1. Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thx Poptropica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      2. Does anyone watch Thinknoodles? Cuz he knows who you guys are (PHB).Congrats!!He’s a popular youtuber and he has a link for you guys here at PHB on his think peek video for mc island.Now alot of people will know who you guys are at PHB!I know its geeky but its also a big deal(for nerds of him like me)and for you too!!!!Are you excited?

        Slanted Fish: That’s awesome! 😀

      3. Look up “MonsterCarnival2008” that’s the year it was supposed to be released right? I forget, and I get my years messed up, but this, it seems to be a fake to me…

        (Not the quotes d: )

  14. I really hope that this comes out soon. I’ve been waiting for 5 years for the hopeful release of MC, and it may never come out, or maybe they’ll release it in late 2013 or early 2014. ANYTHING Creators! Just give us the Island!

    1. LOL XD. I was actually right. Early 2014, nice. First time I’ve guessed right on this matter. Sad.

  15. hi. Please note that i'm made out of candy,so that means i'm ediable. PLEASE don't eat me because i'm actaully your candy god angel but you can call me magic snowball since that's my poptropican's name (add me as kkool223) says:

    24 carrot is not bad. but i think MC would have been better 😦

  16. i saw when they the island dissapeared it was in 2012 dec. 19 and it freaked me out it was really scary at first and im still waiting for mc island to come back……….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!………………!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

    ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  17. okay pplz can you plz add my poptropicans they are.. iamapoopsock, awesomeforevernoob, and free7989 thank you! and also I joined poptropica when MC came and said coming soon and I waited and wanted it to come but it never did and now after a lot of years it came back now I just am wondering WTF THEY WHERE THINKING OF GETTING ARE HOPES UP LIKE SRSLY? sorry for caps lol…

  18. I read somewhere back in the olden days of 2009 that since the person hacked into Monster CArnival, that was why Poptropica canceled it.

    Slanted Fish: That’s probably a false rumor.

  19. soooooooooo cool i thought it was never going to come out it was never going to come out so i quit potropica for 1/2 a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  20. Pingback: Adventure Time Pop
  21. cool! Mybe u authors should make a page titled “mysteries of poptropica”. You guys should put this mystery in there and the shark boy mystery!

  22. Hmm….memories….
    In 2008-2009, I started playing Poptropica. Then, I forgot my username and password and didn’t keep playing. But I do vaguely remember playing Spy Island sometime; maybe I kept playing.
    ANYWAYS back to my point. I saw Monster Carnival on the map (the one page map XD), and you can bet that I was telling everyone around me about it. Like, “OMG OMG do you know Poptropica? Yeah, it’s so awesome, right? And I’m so gonna be a boss on Monster Carnival when it comes out! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
    So I’m pretty glad it finally reappeared on the map. I just began playing Poptropica again this year, and the first island I played (and completed :D) was Monster Carnival.
    So I guess I DID boss the Carnival after all!

  23. I have 3 Poptropica accounts. I just added the 3rd one 20 minutes ago,the 2nd one two weeks ago, and the 1st one back in 2008, i am so relieved to see Monster Carnival finally in motion.

    1.Caiaccount

    2.creampuffqueen

    3.monstercarnivalobsessed

  24. I also wanted to point out that in the intro it says “In the dead on night, a caravan rumbles into town. The traveling carnival has RETURNED!” I think that word might have been a reference to the original MC island being removed!

  25. I noticed that talking to someone on the island will say, “Finally, after years of wait, the carnival is back in town!” referencing that the carnival was there years ago, and it’s come back.

  26. I really hope the pop creators bring back this one soon, it’s my favorite one!
    The pop creators 2014 be like: let’s torture our players with tantalizing hints for an island we may or may not release lol

Leave a reply to Watermelon Twist Cancel reply