Tag: create your dream island contest

Fairy Tale Island, Sneak Peeks

The magical designs of Fairy Tale Island 🧚‍♂️🎨

Gentle Dolphin

Once upon a time (a few months ago, to be exact), a Poptropica fan named Perfect Crab had an idea for a fairy tale-themed island called… well, Fairy Tale Island. The Creators of Poptropica loved the idea so much that they selected it as one of the three winners of the Create Your Dream Island contest.

Many fans such as Perfect Crab awaited the arrival of the winning islands, yearning to go on more adventures in the great wide somewhere. Suddenly, the Creators shared some concept art for some of Fairy Tale Island’s many characters. Now let us take a look at what stories are awaiting us in this magical adventure!

The first image shows some character designs for the cast of Little Red Riding Hood. Our human characters are a modern Red Riding Hood(ie), a sweet grandma, and a hairy woodcutter. Of course, you cannot have Little Red Riding Hood without the Big Bad Wolf and his many expressive faces. While this isn’t the only modern adaptation of the story, this will definitely be an interesting take regardless.

Next, we have six of the seven dwarves from Snow White. It’s interesting that the dwarves are drawn in a different style from normal Poptropicans; they even have noses and fingers! Why are the dwarves drawn this way? Why are they wearing a human disguise like the gnomes from Gravity Falls? Where is the one other dwarf? Some of their secrets will be revealed shortly.

Moving along, here are some costumes fit for royalty. Amongst the kings and queens, we can easily spot Cinderella thanks to her iconic glass slippers. Interestingly, Cinderella also has a wild hairstyle and punk rocker outfit. Is that her normal attire before she goes to the ball, or perhaps her disguise at the ball?

There is also a lady dressed in purple accompanied with a note which says “Modify Kira scrub outfit and props”. We currently have a named character who is likely a medical professional. Could she be Cinderella’s fairy godmother?

Finally, here is concept art for the island’s possible villain: Rumpelstiltskin. His longer limbs and devilish features help him stand out from Poptropica villains of the past. Perhaps he has something to do with the fairy tales going awry? What is this sinister imp’s master plan, and is he working alone?

All of these character designs give us a lot to think about regarding the island’s story and tone. The modern takes on classic fairy tales are reminiscent to 2000’s fairy tale parody movies like Shrek, Hoodwinked, and Enchanted. Wouldn’t it be interesting to defeat Rumpelstiltskin and celebrate with a dance party?

Now these designs are a taste of what is to come. The full story of Fairy Tale Island is set to be told before this summer, so keep one eye on the Creators’ Blog and another on the Poptropica Help Blog. We cannot wait to see what Perfect Crab and the Creators have in store for us!

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin 🐬

My Dream Island

Introducing: My Dream Island ⛅️🏝

Sporty Boa

Hey all, Sporty Boa here! As you may know, Poptropica’s Design Your Dream Island Contest has come to a close with the creators announcing the highly-anticipated third and final winning submission a couple days ago. Secret of the Jade Scarab Island took this special spot alongside Fairy Tale & Goofball Island as the winning ideas, but the these were no easy choices. The Poptropica Creators stated that they reviewed all the submissions not once, not twice, but TWELVE TIMES to determine the final winner of the Dream Island Contest!

If it hasn’t already been made apparent, this community is truly brimming with creative ideas and concepts for islands they wish to see in Poptropica. We here at the PHB would love to grant the opportunity for you to share those ideas with our new series: My Dream Island!

Similar to our long running series, My Place in Poptropica, My Dream Island allows for you, the community, to share you own island ideas here on the Poptropica Help Blog. If you are interested in this opportunity, let us know by writing for the PHB!

My Dream Island: Sporty Boa

I’ll go first to kick of things off! Like several PHB authors, I entered Poptropica’s Dream Island contest. Although ours weren’t selected as winners, our island ideas remain dear to us. I for one would love to share my Cretaceous creation: Prehistoric Peril Island!

Story

Millions of years ago, all of Poptropica’s dinosaurs went extinct. Or did they? Adventurer-seeking millionaire Harold Mews has found evidence that begs to differ: A super-secret remote island where dinosaurs continue to roam free! He recruits your Poptropican for the mission of a lifetime: To travel to this mysterious island and obtain sufficient evidence of living dinosaurs! Thankfully you won’t be on your own, a team of Poptropica’s biggest and brightest minds join you on this epic escapade, with high tech gadgets at your disposal. However, no amount of tech or expertise can prepare you and your team for the challenges that lie ahead. On Prehistoric Peril Island, surprises await around every corner as you encounter creatures lost to time, and if you’re not careful, you may become one of them!

Setting

The bulk of the story takes place on the enigmatic Dino Island, where vegetation shrouds this wild world and vibrant life surrounds you. Dino Island hosts various terrains home to various dinosaurs, you must be able to traverse them all in an effort to survive.

Notable Locations

  • Cretaceous Coast – Helicopter landing site
  • Paleozoic Plains – Location of Research Site A and the locus for your team’s Biological and Historical field studies
  • Dino Desert – Location of Research Site B and the locus for your team’s Paleontology and Geological studies
  • Jurassic Jungle – Dense and dangerous rain forest area, home to a mysterious and somewhat familiar face
  • Archaic Caves – These caves reveal secrets of the past… well, present. Time is weird on Dino Island!

Characters

Prehistoric Peril Island marks the return of a handful of classic and beloved characters (marked with *) along with some new faces to add to the ever-expanding world of Poptropica!

  • Herald Mews* – Owner of the Mews Foundation; A kind, adventurous explorer keen on pushing the boundaries of science. Loves cryptids and never-before seen creatures.
  • Dr. Alima – Poptropica’s top paleontologist and paleobotanist, leader of the expedition team
  • Professor Hammerhead* – 100 year old explorer, expert in ancient civilizations and island survival
  • Shark Guy* –  Professor Hammerhead’s protégé and caretaker
  • Professor Pendulum* – Inventor of Poptropica’s first (and only) time machine, expert in all things time-related. 
  • Dr. Lange* – Head scientist of the Poptropica Disease Center; Medical professional and expert 
  • Medicine Man – Native of the mysterious Dino Island, Concoctor of special potions 
Return of the Medicine Man

Antagonists

  • Cave Collector – A long-time castaway and unstable thief/inventor, this cave man is desperate to escape Dino Island by any means necessary. 
Cave Man
  • Megalodon Man – Shark Guy wants to make a bigger impact on the team so he drinks a potion from the medicine man, transforming him into the monstrous megalodon man!
Want to hear some shark facts?

INSPIRATION

I approached the creation of Prehistoric Peril Island with a relatively blank slate, wishing to create a fun and unique experience for old and new players alike. While much of the story came off the dome, I combined aspects of my personal favorite islands, Cryptids & Shark Tooth, especially when it came to characters. New characters, like Dr. Alima and the Caveman, were also inspired by things close to home, like my verdant villain costume I made for the PHB’s Halloween contest. In a nutshell, Poptropica inspired me, along with my love for prehistoric life and the natural world.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my Dream Island, Prehistoric Peril! If you’re interested in learning more about my island, I plan on posting the full story/walkthrough on the Sporty Boa Blog and my YouTube channel. Its planning and creation has been something I’ve enjoyed and put a lot of thought into, and even though I didn’t win the contest, I am still incredibly pleased with my work.

If you too are inspired to share your island idea, don’t hesitate to whip up a post like this one, highlighting story, settings, characters, and inspiration, and we’ll share them here on the PHB’s My Dream Island series! I hope you all stay safe and stay awesome, this Boa’s gotta bounce!

~SB 🐍

Clubhouse, Creators, Store

A very bright clubhouse and store update 🎇

Smart Bubbles

Hello Poptropicans! Maryann here with a rundown of the latest updates to the clubhouse items, store, and Creators’ Blog!

You have no clue how hard it was to get Denali to pose for these with me.

Many of these new items take on a more modern style, including neon lights and a small vending machine. There’s also some gamer oriented decor, including a gaming chair and a neat little wall sign.

All we need now is a gacha system and I can replace my Genshin Impact addiction with a Pop one!

This recent store update included new outfits as well as the return of some familiar ones, including the Heart Astro Knight (a hint at the creators remembering the objectively best much-loved island?), as well as more Winter Girl/Boy sets. New additions include some cute t-shirts!

Along with a clubhouse update post, the Creators’ Blog made another soon after discussing the future of Poptropica in 2021. This post recalls the game’s creation by Jeff Kinney, as well as plans for “new islands… player requested updates to features, launching new side-quests and mini-games, and even giving Home Island a makeover.”

The post ends with dubbing 2021 the “Year of Stories” and hinting at another guest blog post about Paradise (Airport) Island. It also included this really pretty art!

That being said, mentions of new islands have encouraged a pressing question: Where is the news on the Dream Island contest? The most recent addition to the line-up was Goofball Island about a month ago. While outfits and accessories are fun, what makes Poptropica unique are its stories and islands, and it would be nice to have some idea of what is planned for the future, as well as what fan ideas can be achieved through the contest!

I don’t want to end this on a sour note though! So, what are your favorite of these new items? And what are your hopes for future Poptropica islands, both reboots and newcomers?

Castori honorem ~ Maryann/Smart Bubbles

Uncategorized, Video of the Week

Arabian Nights and YouTube Spotlights 🧞‍♂️

Purple Paw

Heyo, Poptropicans! Big news: the Creators recently announced that Arabian Nights will be coming to Haxe in less than a week! And, unlike many islands before it, it’ll be available to all players—non-members included—right from the release! Pretty awesome, huh?

Arabian Nights was one of the most popular islands.

It’s not clear yet whether the Creators plan to remaster Arabian Nights (like they did with Mythology Island) or if they’re keeping it relatively the same as the Flash version. Most players, myself included, weren’t very happy with the lack of challenge in Haxe’s Mythology; but who knows what’ll happen with Arabian Nights? A new island port is progress in itself, and the most we can do is hope that the new version turns out as awesome as the original Arabian Nights!

Speaking of Arabian Nights, this fun island trilogy was the winner of the 2013/14 Create Your Dream Island Contest! It’s not a coincidence that the Creators decided to release Arabian Nights at this time, to commemorate the current Dream Island contest happening right now. (There’s still plenty of time left to submit your island entries!)

Arabian Nights (as seen on the mobile app)

In other news, a second Creators’ Blog post appeared not long after the Arabian Nights announcement, this one sharing a Halloween Poptropica fan video by Invisible Ring (inspired by the Zomberry Hero special event)! Though the post is quite late for Halloween, it’s never too late to be zombified. 🧟‍♀️ Check out the spooktacular video below:

There’s something in the title of the Creators’ post that caught my eye: “Video of the Week.” Hmm… is this another weekly promise? The store rotations that were planned to change every week don’t always live up to the promise, but it would be pretty great for the Creators to recognize their (very creative) fans with weekly videos. Between their showcasing of fan art in place of ads, social media spotlights, and now fan video features, the Creators have definitely been giving the Poptropica fandom lots of recognition lately!

Welp, that’s all for this one! What are your hopes for the new Arabian Nights? Thoughts on the Creators’ fan interactions? Let us know in the comments!

~Purple Paw 💜

Contests

Design Your Dream Island contest is back! 🏝

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans—contest alert! 🚨 From now until December 18 at 11:59 p.m. PST, you can submit your own original Poptropica island idea for a chance to have it made into game reality!

The next Poptropica island could be from your imagination.

Some of you might remember that Poptropica hosted this contest back in 2013. The winning idea added to the game? Arabian Nights Island. 🐫

Fans have been hoping for another chance at the contest ever since the massive success of the first one. More recently, the question was put forth in the PHB’s Q&A with Poptropica’s CEO, who answered, “How about after this interview gets posted we start the contest?” And true to their word, here it comes now!

📝 The Pop Creators have put together a brand new submission form (poptropica.com/submissions) which allows anyone to share their island ideas — as well as fan art and letters outside of the contest’s purposes! The form is simple: you enter your username, write a message, add an optional attachment (which can be a jpg, png, gif, or pdf file), click a checkbox captcha, and with the press of the submit button, your submission is sent to Poptropica.

Share your island idea on Poptropica’s new submission form.

Fortunately, there are no geographical or age restrictions like the previous Dream Island contest, but children under 13 do need a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. Your island idea should only be entered once.

As the Creators shared on the official blog, they’re looking for the following in a successful island idea: an original and exciting story, key characters, and setting (don’t copy from other brands or people!). Not only will the winning idea become a real Poptropica island, its inventor will also win a one-year Poptropica membership!

⛅️ For some inspiration to get your creative wheels spinning, you can take a look back at some of the most successful entries from the 2013 Dream Island contest. In addition to the winning Arabian Nights Island, the Pop Creators named these as their top ten runners-up last time: Bikers vs Boards Island, Fashion Crisis Island, Golden Mustache Island, House of Cards Island (with in-depth look from its inventor), Pharoah’s Fantasies Island, Prehistoric Island, Shakespeare Island, Space Bar Island, Stormchaser Island, and Symphony Island. (Plus, check out one former PHB staffer’s personal opinion reviews for each of those ideas!)

What ideas do you have for a Poptropica island? Start dreaming, maybe bounce some ideas with our PHC Discord community, and remember to submit your idea before the December 18 deadline!

And stay tuned — the winner will be announced December 28. Whatever it is, we’re excited to see, and eventually play, another fan-invented island! 😄🏝

— the PHB —