Tag: worlds

PHB Specials

The Poptropica Island Eras Tour 🏝️🗺️✨

Slanted Fish

Poptropica has given us a lot of adventures to go on over the years, since the game first began in 2007. To celebrate the game’s legacy, in this post we’re going to go on a tour of its island eras! 🏝️

Compilation of islands on map by idk

This Poptropica Island Eras Tour, as some of you may have swiftly guessed, is inspired by another iconic Eras Tour — the 2023 concert tour of pop queen Taylor Swift, whose music career has also spanned a similar timeframe as Poptropica over the years. An enchanting connection! ✨

Speaking of Taylor, let’s kick this off with one of her hits! The PHB came out with “Backspace”, a parody on “Blank Space”, back in 2021 to petition for the return of old islands that have disappeared from the game since the end of Flash in 2020. Enjoy:

And now, let’s meet the Poptropica Island Eras…

The Classics (2007–2013)

Welcome to the beginning! The Classics are the earliest islands to have popped onto the map. These OG islands from 2007–2013 came with small screens and almost no sound. They were built with AS2, a Flash-based programming language, and are now only playable via Flashpoint.

Bonus Tracks — these mini-quests from the Classics era were not quite islands, and a couple were released on consoles besides the computer.

Episodic (2014–2015)

After years of solid standalone stories, Poptropica decided to shake things up by introducing episodic islands, breaking up an island’s story into a series of episodes. This Episodic era only lasted a couple years from 2014-2015, but brought shorter but more frequent releases.

Flashier (2013–2016)

Starting from 2013 and encompassing the Episodic era, Poptropica used a newer (but now still outdated) Flash technology, AS3. These Flashier islands came with more sound and bigger screens. These adventures can be found in AS3 Flashpoint as well as Poptropica’s paid Steam bundle.

Worlds (2017–2018)

With the looming demise of Flash, Poptropica Worlds was introduced as a new platform for the game’s future development. From 2017–2018, Worlds brought a handful of 3D adventures. Sadly, it remained inactive until it was quietly discontinued in 2022, and is no longer playable.

Haxe (2019–2023)

While Worlds went dormant, Poptropica continued updating its original platform. In 2020, Poptropica rolled out Haxe to replace the Flash build. This current era is characterized by islands that are shorter and simpler than in years past, along with a curious trend towards Roblox.

Like Taylor reclaiming her music by re-recording her previous songs, Poptropica has also since re-released some of their old islands after they were lost to Flash. The Flashier era and a few of the Classics are recovered on Steam, but we can only hope that more adventures join them someday. Until then, we also have the unofficial Flashpoint.

Anyway, that’s a wrap for the Poptropica Island Eras Tour! We hope you enjoyed this journey through Pop’s many storytelling eras of 16 years and counting. Share your favorite era with us in the comments! ✏️

Poptropica, it was enchanting to meet you.

~ 🩵 the PHB

Poptropica Worlds

My dearest Balloon Boy, it’s a Poptropica Worlds trailer!

Slanted Fish

So, my dearest Poptropicans,

Today was a weird day. Not like talking cats weird… more like meeting a chipper little boy who takes selfies with immortal gods and hangs out with identical spies kind of weird. These bizarre antics and more are captured in this new Poptropica Worlds trailer:

Well, this video is certainly… interesting. Clearly, one of the aspects that stands out most here, for better or worse, is the running dialogue narrated by an excitable young child named Manfred who’s writing to Balloon Boy about his adventures on Poptropica Worlds. Since Poptropica has never been one to use voice acting, this change has definitely perked some ears.

From the sound of the kid’s voice, the video sets a very clear vibe of being something that hopes to appeal to children. And while Poptropica is a game targeted to kids, there is also an older player base around, many of whom grew up with the game from when they were children, for whom the attempt to appeal is lost in the childlike voice acting.

A commenter on the video, Messy Wolf (WonderfulFilms), writes that “the voice acting was a little bit overdone and catering to a much younger demographic.”

However, another commenter, Kenzie Backlin, had a different opinion, suggesting that “they should do voice acting for all characters.”

Whatever your thoughts on the kid’s narration, we’ve also got the rest of the video to look at. Something that’s more of an unequivocal observation among Poptropicans is that the animation continues to impress, in keeping with the Poptropica style with perhaps more detail than before, especially with the Worlds-style avatars. Good stuff!

dr hare shock
gif by naps (astroknightsisland) on tumblr

Another element that’s important to take note of is the actual content being displayed in the trailer: namely, the islands. We see the boy, Manfred, writing his letter on his desk in his house on Home Island, where he also spins the daily wheel and decks out his place, which he calls his “clubhouse.”

Anyway, could this letter-writing business be a sign that the currently unreleased “Inbox” feature on Worlds is soon to arrive? And that we get to send messages to Balloon Boy, who’s up in the stratosphere? It’s nice to see his presence continued in Worlds, at least.

worlds menu

We also see Manfred run through the other islands currently on Worlds, Crisis Caverns and 24 Carrot. However, he also meets Zeus on Mythology Island, which exists on Poptropica Original but not Worlds – could Mythology be the next island? And perhaps more curiously, how did he get the irritable Zeus to smile for a selfie?!

zeus selfie
gif by naps (astroknightsisland) on tumblr

Beyond that, there are a couple more that are not so familiar: in one scene, a “phantom” colored in pitch black jumps out at him from what appears to be a stage. In another, a horde of spies appears, then disappears in the next moment. The background is that of Zomberry Island with a side of a soundstage from Back Lot, but these characters don’t appear anywhere in the original game, suggesting that these will be brand new islands.

Anyway, what do you think of the new Poptropica Worlds trailer video? What islands are you looking forward to next on Worlds? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

–🐠

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Memoirs from Cars

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, it’s Slanted Fish!

Today’s post is brought to you by Disney’s Cars, which is coming out with its third movie in theaters June 16. It’s the first ever ad on the new Poptropica Worlds, and you can find it on Home Island by the wheel as well as on your TV screen inside your house! Watch the quick video, and you’ll be rewarded with a Lightning McQueen hat. (Note: This ad may not appear for all players as it appears to be region-specific.)

 

Thanks goes to Young Hippo for the images above.

If you’re lucky, you may also come across this ad on original Poptropica, right on Home Island! You can go inside and play a Cars 3 racing game as one of three characters: Cruz Ramirez, Lightning McQueen, or Jackson Storm. Avoid obstacles and get the boosts to make it to the finish line first, and if you win, you’ll get a Racing Outfit and Lightning Power!

 

Credit goes to idk, Mom on the Side, and Hyper Gamer for the pictures above.

Interestingly, Mom on the Side – whose blog post was retweeted by Poptropica – writes: “Disney is the official exclusive launch partner of Poptropica Worlds!” Well, Disney has often advertised with Poptropica in the past, but this declaration of being the exclusive partner seems to imply that they are the only ones now, and/or that they might hold some share of Poptropica. However, considering that the blogger also mentions that the Cars 3 game is on Worlds, when it is currently only on the original Poptropica, perhaps we should regard this information a little dubiously.

UPDATE: Poptropica has left a comment on this post to clarify that the quoted statement above “means that Disney is our first and only advertiser on Poptropica Worlds. No other ads will run at the same time as the Cars 3 ads.”

Back on Worlds, if you go to decorate your house, you’ll find a new Cars 3 poster waiting for you among your wall decorations. (Now if only they’d fix the problem where furniture items being purchased aren’t showing in the decor options…)

cars poster

Anyway, have fun with your brand-new red hat with eyeballs and road-ripping action poster! Ride with caution, Poptropicans, and keep popping!

~🐠