Hey Poptropicans! A new creative trend has swept the Poptropica community, and we’re here to share some of it with you. Unveiling: Poptropica character mood boards! 🤩
Mood boards are a collection of images and color schemes that relate to a particular subject (in this case, Poptropica characters). They’re common in the world of design, and the Poptropica fandom’s been getting in on them too. Check out these collages inspired by NPCs (non-player characters), from people of the PHC:
Max McGullicutty by BrittScarlet
Dr. Jupiter by BrittScarlet
Harold Mews by BrittScarlet
Octavian by BrittScarlet
Ringmaster Raven by BrittScarlet
Director D by BrittScarlet
Binary Bard by CandytheChocolateLabrador
Green scheme by ice cream
Dr. Hare by BrittScarlet
In addition to NPCs, OCs (original characters, perhaps your own player Poptropican) are also a popular subject. Check out these OC mood boards from various Poptropicans, where the pic pile might inspire your character’s next wardrobe and vice versa!
by Purple Paw
by Sporty Boa
by Gentle Dolphin
by MaryannTheConqueror (Smart Bubbles)
by Lucky Joker
by Golden Crown
by Silver Horse
Golden Moon by Capax infini
Orion by Sugar
Like a visual version of the Popsona, or Poptropica persona, where one creates a story for their Pop character, these collections sure have a lot of personality! Now, what story does your character tell?
Thanks to all the above artists for sharing their mood boards with us! You can find them on our Discord server, the PHC, particularly on our #pop-art channel. Plus, feel free to share your own creations there too, and/or in the comments of this post. We hope you enjoyed this aesthetic feast and maybe feel inspired to make your own too. 💫
As you may have gained from the title of this post, I’m here to discuss a Poptropica island that, although it had lots of great potential, is often overlooked by fans, and was even erased from the map altogether two years ago. Yes, I’m talking about Monkey Wrench.
Monkey Wrench was the tutorial island released in 2016.
It’s easy to see why this island is so frequently forgotten, as it was only a tutorial island; incomparable to greater classics such as Astro-Knights or Skullduggery. But, even though it was only invented to teach new Poptropicans how to play, I still felt that Monkey Wrench was quite a bit more than that. To better understand what I’m on to, take a look at the following reasons for why I think Monkey Wrench should be brought back.
One of the biggest things that made me get so attached to this short but sweet island is the lore it provided. You’re probably wondering what I mean; Monkey Wrench didn’t give us a full, thoughtful story to think over, unlike other islands that centered on their storytelling. But it did give us something I never expected to have a real answer for, least of all from a tutorial island; where the iconic Poptropica blimp came from.
Who knew that the great Poptropica blimp would come from a pack of monkeys?
I’m sure many of us wondered how one of Poptropica’s most well-known features, the golden blimp, came to sit on Home Island the moment we created our Poptropican avatars. And it was a big surprise when the answer to this longstanding question came in the form of a tutorial island! Besides, learning where your blimp comes from is a perfect introduction to Poptropica. In my opinion, Monkey Wrench succeeded all expectationsof what a tutorial should be.
You may still be slightly doubtful about how important Monkey Wrench really was. I know one thing that bothered a lot of players about this island was how many game controls were taught during it, interrupting the experience; but, after all, Monkey Wrench is a tutorial. If it didn’t teach you how to control your avatar, speed up the dialogue, and use items from your backpack, that would have ruined the whole point. (Although I do think it would be interesting to see Monkey Wrench expanded into a full island.)
Another reason why I think Monkey Wrench should return is the amount of design that went into it. The visual scenery, character design, and audio soundtracks were all amazing, and I don’t think such beautiful work should go to waste so quickly. A couple of my favorite scenes from Monkey Wrench include Amelia’s airplane soaring over the majestic Poptropican sea during the Flying Ace Race, as well as all of the lush tropical scenery on Crusoe’s island.
And the visual design isn’t the only ‘wow’ factor in this island; I truly mean it when I say Monkey Wrench’s soundtracks were some of the best in Poptropica. (You can listen to them on SoundCloud.) Each music piece sets the mood perfectly, with the right amount of action, calm, and fun. Not to mention that there were at least four separate soundtracks created all for this one smaller island!
And we haven’t even reached the character design yet. The Red Baroness, Monkey Wrench’s main villain, had a spectacular outfit going, and I was always very intrigued by her. If only Monkey Wrench could be returned to the map and possibly expanded on, it would give us a chance to delve deeper into her back story; and find out just where she got to when her plane crashed in the ocean! Does the great Red Baroness live on?
After all that, Poptropica’s current tutorial island, Snagglemast, pales in comparison to Monkey Wrench. While Monkey Wrench provides story, suspense, scenery, music, and even an explanation for Poptropica’s iconic blimp, Snagglemast gives us a much shorter quest of collecting coins from across the small island. Let’s not forget that the tutorial is also very important because it’s most new players’ first impressions of Poptropica. If the tutorial island is made carelessly, than new players probably won’t want to stay around for long.
Although I had already played Poptropica for a time before Monkey Wrench was released, I would have been glad if Monkey Wrench were my first impression of the game, because it truly shows what Poptropica is all about; storytelling. Even though Monkey Wrench’s story is short and doesn’t reach as deep as other, bigger islands, it still has a small amount of lore, and that’s what counts. Whereas if a new player plays Snagglemast as their first island, they would most likely think Poptropica was nothing more than several short fetch quests.
To conclude: if the Creators are reading this post, I hope you’ll take into consideration what I’ve said. Monkey Wrench will always hold a special place with me, and it would be all for the better if it returns someday.
Hey guys, my name is Brave Tomato, and I have returned from the post-making dead to bring to you some miscellaneous items and assorted goodies from within the Poptropica files, shared courtesy of Pop glitcher idk.
This collection is all about icon designs for Poptropica Worlds, some of which we’ve seen multiple times, and others that are never-before-seen. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Among the first batch, there’s a strange lightning bolt symbol and crystal symbol. There has not been anything associated with these symbols in menus of Poptropica before, which makes their presence here curious. The closest thing I can associate with the crystal is Realms, but there is a likely chance I’ll be wrong. Only time will tell.
Here we also find what appears to be costumization button. This begs the question of whether the Creators are going to implement a Costumizer feature any time soon. After all, it has been a highly requested feature for Poptropica Worlds since day one, and already, players are missing the ability to steal that nice-looking shirt from some random guy on Main Street. How soon that will be is still up in the air.
There are also some icons that appear to have originally been planned to be used for the home decorating aspect of Worlds gameplay, including an ability to rotate or flip objects. We do have a rotate option in player homes that looks similar, but it’s only two-dimensional: we can’t, for instance, make a couch face the TV.
I feel like the flip aspect would have been very useful for any of the furniture, and the rotate would be cool for pictures hanging on the wall or anyone looking to make a topsy-turvy house. Whatever the case is, what else will come of this completely new aspect of gameplay?
Finally, among a collection of items from the new new24 Carrot Island, the files also show some unused items. Among these are the curiously absent teleporter to the outside of the factory that was in the original 24 Carrot, and a post-it note with “Command: Eject” on it. The cinema ticket also looks different.
Why these were not included in the game is probably a matter of refining during the creative process of making the island, but it is still cool to see what might have been.
So with these findings, we not only get a high-definition look at some of the icons and symbols within Poptropica Worlds, but we also get to see stuff that did not make it in the game. From there, it allows us to draw our own conclusions on what could have been, or what might become in the future. Although things in Poptropica have been more… spontaneous than usual, there is still an instinctive curiosity to make guesses based on what we know.
Speaking of icons, we’ve recently had a makeover with the one that represents our Poptropica Help Blog site! Taking the iconic Poptropica blimp design to fit the letters “PHB,” Slanted Fish put together this new one, hoping to capture the Poptropican spirit of adventure. Although we’ve been using our classic blue-circle, white-lettered icon for years, it felt like time for a change, and we hope the new one tells a better story!
Nate Greenwall isn’t the only one posting his Poptropica illustrations – I recently stumbled upon the site of Chris Goodwin, an illustrator/designer working for Poptropica, whose online portfolio can be found here. This post comes in three parts. As always, click to enlarge the pics!
Perhaps the most interesting section is character design: designs for E. Vile’s robots from Legendary Swords (as well as some props seen in P-Con: Ep. 2), a huge collection of characters (including several unreleased ones – some possibly for Ep. 3 of PoptropiCon!), unused flying ace designs (the corner suggests they were for the Virus Hunter minigame, Nano-Combat Training), ideas for Max McGullicutty’s look in Survival: Ep. 5, and finally, rough drafts of robots for Game Show Island.
Lastly, there’s a section devoted to scene illustrations – most of these are already in the game, though the one of the cabin is not (but it seems to belong to the unnamed geological park island).
The rest are: the tutorial island in the Poptropica app, Ephraim University (both exterior and interior) from Mocktropica, Soundstage #1 on Back Lot, the Hemlock Herald newspaper room on Ghost Story, a hallway door and post office common room on Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, and the bonus quest on Twisted Thicket. Seeing them each as one big scene makes it all the more awesome. ❤
Poptropica sure is beautiful, and Chris has made some really creative contributions to the game we know and love. Enjoy the Chris Goodwin collection, and stay popping, Poptropicans! 😀
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