Hey, guys! Slip here. Get the pun? It’s time for a new post!

There’s a new ViewMaster advertisement in Poptropica Main Streets! It previously appeared on the mobile app then, online—don’t worry, both of the ads aren’t the same. They have different prizes for players, so let’s take a look!

The ViewMaster ad features an advertisement room where you can enter and get your prizes. Simply go in and you’ll find yourself inside a place similar to a planetarium.

Now, follow the blue arrows pointing up. It’ll lead you to the first prize: the 360 Teleporter Power. When you’re using this power, your player wears the ViewMaster and travels through several different Poptropica islands, without leaving the room! (Challenge: If you can name all of the islands, you’re awesome!)

To get to the next prize, you can go to the far right of the room until you come across some asteroids and a UFO. There you’ll receive your next prize: the Island Warper Power! With this power, you will warp to an island—like Night Watch or Wild West—you’ll stay for a while and warp back to the place you’re at. Seems fun, right?

Wait, there’s more! You can even try answering the quiz about animals or even try watching their advertisement on the giant ViewMaster in the middle.

If you have nothing left to do, you can exit the advertisement through the rocket at the end. :)

—

On the other hand, there are some new Twitter tidbits from Poptropica!

Poptropica shared this vine featuring the animation of the Monster Duck Hunt Carnie. Really scary monster. (Need any help with Monster Carnival? Click here!)

Poptropica also shared a photo of their bookshelf at the Poptropica HQ! See any familiar books? Do you have some of them? Comment it down below!

Last but never the least, Poptropica also posted this photo with the hashtags: #truth and #Poptropica. Do you agree with this?

And that’s all of the news and things you need to know! Did you miss me? I hope you did! Did you enjoy this post? Don’t forget to leave a comment!

Catch up on this week’s news with the latest PHB posts:

• Mixels II: The Merry Mixening
• That’s the Ticket! (Round 1 of Sweepstakes winners)

• Poptropican Meme Face Mondays: Round 3

–Slippery

Have you felt it?

What’s popping, Poptropicans? Blake here, with a Force-filled piece of Poptropican news!

For a limited time, if you go to the Main Street of any Poptropica Island, you will find a Star Wars: The Force Awakens ad! After watching the video, and having this NPC that looks nothing like Rey ogle you for a minute and a half, you’ll receive your very own BB-8 Follower!

Woo, it’s slightly less harder-to-find than the Sphero BB-8! Anyway, whenever  you equip the item card, you have this little guy following you around. And to my nerd-pleasure, HE ACTUALLY ROLLS. Yes, all you Star Wars fans out there. He is not a stationary follower. He actually rolls. Gosh, is this the droid you’re looking for, or what?

In other news, check out the new track from Escape From Pelican Rock Island posted on Jeff Heim’s Soundcloud – “Prisoner”! Sounds ominous.

Plus, shoutout to Poptropica for giving us a shoutout on Twitter for our EFPR Island Review! Twice if you count this tweet from Creator Jen MacLean!

Anyway, stay popping, Poptropicans, and don’t forget to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this Force Friday, December 18th!

Hey Poptropicans!

Over the past week or so, the authors here on the Poptropica Help Blog have been posting their Poptropica stories – how they came to Poptropica, its community, and the roles they’ve played in it. It’s called My Place in Poptropica (MPIP), and even the Creators have been enjoying them! :D

Anyway, we’re extending this chance to tell your Poptropica story to you, dear Poptropicans of the community! If you would like to write your own “My Place in Poptropica”, contact us and we may publish your MPIP story here on the PHB! From how you found Poptropica to how it plays a part in your life, we want to hear your stories!

If you missed any of the 9 stories the PHB authors have shared so far, here’s a list to link you up:

• My Place in Poptropica: Slanted Fish
• My Place in Poptropica: Samwow5
• My Place in Poptropica: Giant Hawk
• My Place in Poptropica: Brave Tomato
• My Place in Poptropica: Spotted Dragon
• My Place in Poptropica: Blake
• My Place in Poptropica: Slippery Raptor
• My Place in Poptropica: Ultimate iPad Expert
• My Place in Poptropica: HPuterpop

What else is new? Well, the menu on classic non-SUI islands (those not colored on the map) has gotten a revamp to be similar to those on SUIs (sound-updated islands)!

It’s now a chest like the one on SUIs and opens up in the same way, but it’s on the left instead of right, and the options are still different from SUIs. Cool, but will take some getting used to. :P

Also, there’s a new ad on Main Street of Escape From Pelican Rock! Watch the video for Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, and you’ll get an Alvin Outfit.

Over on the Daily Pop: could these sneak peeks be hinting at a personal home feature where we can show off all the island medallions we’ve earned and kick up our feet in cozy fireplace spaces? Hmm…

Catch up on sneak peeks from months and years past with our Daily Pop archive!

Anyway, that’s all for this post! We’ve had lots of posts recently, from news to MPIP stories to this year’s PHB Christmas Special, so be sure to catch up below and share your My Place in Poptropica with us!

Stay popping, Poptropicans. :D

MIXELS

EPISODE III: THE SEQUELNING

It is a period of endless Mixels ads. The cunning BLAKE POPWALKER, striking from a secret base, has gained a victory over the cruel MIXELS AD EMPIRE.

During the battle, Blake managed to steal the post for yet another ad, this time offering new prizes. Pursued by the Empire, Blake races home on his slightly-outdated Huffy ’79 bicycle, custodian of the stolen ad which can save his sanity, and restore freedom to the galaxy…

What’s popping, Poptropicans? Blake here, with another Mixels ad. Yes, remember when I did the first one? And then when I did it again? Well, the Creators have done it again! They’ve released a third Mixels ad, this time focusing on the Weldos tribe!

I think my expression in that photo says enough. Anyway, once you enter the ad, you are immediately greeted by two of the Mixels, who usher you to the prizes with signs on either side. Heading up the stairs, you can take a quiz, as well as claim your two item cards, this time being the Dribbal Run Power and the Kramm Drill Power!

There are also various signs that you can click, showing off the various aspects of the three tribes.

In other news, Poptropica tweeted this sketch of Manny from Wimpy Wonderland Island showing the various thickness levels of his various parts! Neat.

They also shared this awesome Dr. Hare cake with us. Well, just a picture of it, but we’ll assume it was delicious. For more cake pics, click the link in their tweet!

Okay, is there anything else? No? We’re done? GOOD.

Well, that’s all for now! Stay popping, Poptropicans.

(Heyo! This guest post is written by a friend of the PHB, Spencer, with app pictures by Slippery Raptor. Thanks for the tip-off goes to Maroon Cheetah. Enjoy the post and the ad prizes! –SlantedFish 🐠)

Hey Poptropicanos, it’s Spencer! Alas, I have returned! Get your beautiful Poptropican self some candy, some popcorn, an extremely overpriced soda (or pop, shall I dare make a pun?), and let’s get ready to watch Norm of the North. Well, it’s not exactly the movie we get to watch. But, it is yet another Poptropica advertisement!

This ad is sponsoring the upcoming Dreamworks movie Norm of the North, in cinemas January 15th, 2016! From what I read, Norm and his friends wind up in New York City! Hey, that’s where I live! ;)

Anyway, you’re confronted by Norm the Polar bear to come into this peculiar looking building. (Remember kids, you shouldn’t always listen to strangers telling you to follow them if your parents aren’t around! ;) ) There are two different versions of this ad: one for the mobile app and one for the web. Let’s start with the app.

Once you enter the building, you get to play a mini-game! Lucky you! (I admit, it’s a lot better than usual Poptropica watch-the-trailer ads.) Glad Poptropica stepped up its game this time around!

You’re presented with the quest of catching a bunch of anthropomorphic rodents in a condensed amount of time to win clothes. I can’t make this stuff up. Basically, you have to run around New York City collecting the three lemmies! They look just like they do in the picture, can’t miss ’em. :D (I noticed that this was incredibly similar to the mini-quest Don’t Be an Energy Hog, available in the Poptropica Store!)

Anyway, once you win, you get to have these fabulous prizes!​

Oooh, incredibly fashionable Lemming Rider! Wearing this rat on your head is definitely socially acceptable behavior, in my book! This stylish cap is not the only thing your Poptropican gets to obtain: now, you get to impress all the hunnies with these designer sun Glasses. I love all the NYC references, by the way! :P

If you’re playing on the web, it’s also the norm! (Do I seriously make a pun every paragraph?) Hop onto any SUI, and the building looks about the same. Except, it’s a common room! Hop directly up, and you can snatch this rad Norm the Polar bear costume.

Hop up again, or click anywhere it asks you to, and you can play Lemmy Launcher, which is different from the game on the app. Hit 8 tourists with your awesome lemmy aim and win! No prize, though.

High up in the left corner, you can grab a Tumbling Lemmies power. When used, a bunch of lemmies will roll on your screen.

Well, I guess my time is up yet again! Take it easy Poptropicans!

What’s popping, Poptropicans? Blake here, with another piece of Poptropica news! This time, it’s for the new ad on Main Streets everywhere for Dreamworks’ new movie, Kung Fu Panda 3!

…Okay, Poptropicans, can we talk for a second? Who exactly ASKED for this movie? I mean, I thought 2 were enough, but.. I guess we need another..? Anyway, once you log in, you will immediately be given the Baby Pandas Hat and Smash Attack Power!

But wait, there’s more! If you watch the video for the ad, you will receive a Po Costume (boys) or Tigress Costume (girls)! I guess you could say that makes us… Po-ptropicans.

Anyway, that’s all for now, Poptropicans! Stay tuned for more, and I’ll see you soon! Stay popping, Poptropicans.

Hey guys, my name is Brave Tomato and here’s my first update post since… Pelican Rock was revealed to be surprise-released later that day… okay, sorry I haven’t posted much. Being a senior in high school is fun.

Well back to the point of the post. As of Tuesday, the Photo Booth is now available on the iOS Poptropica app! Now, anywhere you can get decent reception in the world, you can put your mobile characters and other well known characters on a screen together making up poses, props, and all sorts of hijinks. Sorry, the update is not available for Amazon and Android users yet, but it will be soon!

In other news, something interesting had been found in the past two Daily Pops:

… And all of a sudden I feel like a bunch of eyes are looking right at me through the computer screen. Don’t worry, the “Olympus has Risen” one is not what you think, evidenced by the next day’s “Bloon” Daily Pop. This feels like it would be an updated version of an Island Tour video or clip or whatever, giving close-ups of island icons and such. There are comparisons to storyboards not too unlike when they were preparing the Shark Tooth animation. (Speaking of which, what happened to Poptropica TV?)

Finally, the Creators are using their social media connections to create a different kind of advertising – for Kung Fu Panda 3. Players are encouraged to go into the Home Island arcade (common room) wearing the Baby Pandas headpiece, and Pop Creator Skinny Moon will be grabbing screenshots and posting them on Poptropica’s social media. Here’s a tweet with several of the pics she took:

You can find more pics like this on Poptropica’s Twitter feed now, and keep an eye there for if/when Skinny Moon announces when she’ll be in the common room! If you’d like to get in on the action, just know she’s been practicing her head-to-head gaming and has so far achieved a 2-star battle ranking.

So that’s just about what’s new in Poptropica! Smile with those cubs for the camera, snap a Photo Booth pic, and get ready to see another new perspective on the world of Poptropica!

BT out! 

Hey guys, Slip here!

February is already here! Deadpool and Valentine’s Day are coming too! Speaking of Valentine’s day, looks like we guessed it right, Poptropica has a brand new Valentine’s Day-themed booth and is now available in the Poptropica app!

Once you open the photo booth, Poptropica gives you a heart-warming card greeting! (Aw, we love you berry much Poptropica!)

Moving along, there are new Valentines related props, backgrounds and characters on the app! This includes the Heart, Cupid, some UFOs, candy hearts and teddy bears! Check them out in the gallery below. Don’t worry guys, it’ll be added to the desktop version and KindleFire version next week!

On the other hand, Poptropica also released the promotional website for the Mystery of the Map graphic novel (coming 3/1) and features a slide and video about it!

You may have also seen the new advertisement in Home Island regarding the graphic novel, which also directs to the site above. Are you excited for the graphic novel?

Speaking of Poptropica, did you know that they have a giant Back Lot poster in their Headquarters? You can also have one here! (This was posted on their Facebook page and Instagram account.)

And that’s all of the updates we have today! What do you think of the recent updates? Leave a comment below! Oh yeah, here’s a Valentines card for all of you.

-Slippery 

Hey everyone, Spotted Dragon here! Did you like all that alliteration in the title? Eh, I tried. :P

Anyway, there are just a few Poptropica updates that you should know about! First off, when you log in to Poptropica you will be greeted by two cool prizes. One of those prizes is a Charlie Brown Shirt and the other is the Pig Pen Power prize (which also just gives you the costume shown on the card, including the dust).

In other news, the Photo Booth has finally been updated for the desktop version of Poptropica! It now includes the Valentine’s Day items and props mentioned in a previous post that first appeared on the app.

Well, I hope you all have a great Valentine’s Day weekend whether you’re taken and not mistaken or just single and ready to mingle. ;)

~SD

P.S. Be sure to check out Part 1 of Blake’s Valentine’s Day Special! So far, both Sam and I have been shipped with a cactus… who knows what will happen next? :D Stay tuned for Part 2 coming on Valentine’s Day!

Greetings Hawk-tropicans! This is Giant Hawk speaking, and today, I have quite the variety of animation-related news for you all!

And what better way to start off then a gif of everyone’s favorite Greek god Zeus? ‘Nuff said.

Okay, yeah – that’s pretty cool and all, but what other animations have the Creators thrown at us? Turns out, there’s also currently an ad on Home Island for the upcoming animated film Zootopia, with two games. Thanks to Hyper Gamer for the tip and picture below!

In Catch the Weasel, you are to race Judy to the finish line. You get the Flash Follower prize for winning. And in Save Nick, you control Nick and have to control him to not hit obstacles. You get the Judy Patrol prize, when is an animation of Judy riding her police car.

By the way: This is the first ad to be in the SUI (sound-updated island) format!

We’ve also gotten two new trailer videos for the print version of the Mystery of the Map graphic novel! Check them out:

I don’t know about you guys, but I would suggest preparing your wallets for the graphic novel’s upcoming release on March 1st!

And speaking of upcoming releases (see what I did there), Poptropica’s mysterious new tutorial island seems to be right around the corner, as indicated by this photo of some kids at the Poptropica Headquarters testing it out.

So I assume that these kids are the children of the Creators… lucky kids.

Nonetheless, there is one more thing I should mention. If you visit any pre-sound updated (classic) island,  you’ll find that Poptropica has implemented a new map icon.

Once again, thanks to Brave Dolphin for the picture!

What do you all think of the new map icon? And which are you more excited for – the Mystery of the Map graphic novel or the new tutorial island?

Until next time…

— Giant Hawk

Hey Poptropicans! :D

It’s been an unusually busy week in Poptropica, particularly with the release of the new tutorial, Monkey Wrench Island! If you need a helping hand, or just want to see what it’s about, check out our new Monkey Wrench Island Guide, complete with pictures. 🙊🔧

Did you know? If you previously won the Home/Hub Island medallion from doing the old tutorial, it stays in your medallion collection but can no longer be won, making it a rare extra medallion that adds to your total medallion count! (There is only one other like that: 24 Carrot BETA Carrotene.) Playing the new tutorial gives you the new Monkey Wrench Island Medallion.

–

Over on the Daily Pop, we’re seeing some pretty interesting sneak peeks! Several of them feature some puzzle/arcade (?) games or environments featuring meandering zombies and a cap-wearing character. There’s also a pic of a jukebox (perhaps a feature for the Skydock/Home Island update?), and an animation-in-progress that contains the building from PoptropiCon.

What are your theories on these sneak peeks? :P

–

There’s currently an ad for We Bare Bears on Home Island, and watching the video will award you a Bear Stack that you can wear on your head! That is, if you can bear it. ;)

That’s not all! On Mystery of the Map Island, there’s an ad for Capri Sun Organic, which awards two prizes: Rocket Skateboard (an animation with you riding said skateboard) and Ball Storm Power (animation of balls falling)! Thanks to Hyper Gamer for the tip and picture.

–

Are you going to be in Massachusetts on Thursday, March 10th? Jeff Kinney’s bookstore (An Unlikely Story – 111 South Street Plainville, MA 02762) will be hosting Kory Merritt (illustrator of Mystery of the Map, Poptropica’s graphic novel releasing March 1st) that day from 4:00pm to 5:30pm EST! If you plan to go (and if you are in the area, it would be awesome if you did), it’s free but you should probably register. Kory will talk and sign book copies, and Jeff Kinney will be there too!

If any of you PHB readers out there are lucky enough to get to go, say hi to the Poptropica Creators from the PHB for us! (Plus we would love to hear any details of your experience! Pictures are a plus.)

–

Don’t forget: This week only, you can win twice the amount of credits for finishing four science-themed islands (Steamworks, Lunar Colony, Shrink Ray, Virus Hunter) for the first time in honor of Engineers Week! Offer ends Saturday, February 27th. Get ’em while you can!

–

Lastly, check out this picture Poptropica posted on social media! You can find all sorts of fun images and more by following Poptropica’s social media, or at least glancing over at our Twitter timeline to the side of the PHB from time to time. :)

Which Poptropica emoji would you rate this post? :D

–🐠🐠

Hey guys, BT here with a quick post to notify you all that Mystery of the Map, Poptropica’s first graphic novel, is now available in in book stores!

Just in case you cry foul in that it’s going to be the same thing as was published a year ago online, don’t worry – Skinny Moon confirmed to us – right in the comments of this blog – that this is different from the original version!

(As for the bookstore event, see this post for more details!)

I’ll be getting a hard copy of this book in a few days, and I’ll be happy to share any new or interesting information to those of you who can’t get a copy of the book! If you can get the book, it would be a helping hand to the Creators to go ahead and buy it. ;)

In case you haven’t seen it yet, though, the second graphic novel’s title and description was uncovered a few days ago as well, so check that post out too!

This post will be updated in the future with any new information I obtain when I get the graphic novel.

In other news, if you log into Poptropica, you’ll receive two Zombie Goldfish ad items: Zombie Transform (power) and Zombie Eyes (costume part)!

That’s all for now, but check back on this post in a few days for possible updates about noteworthy things in the book!

BT out! 

Hey Poptropicans!

There’s currently a Lalaloopsy ad on Main Street of Escape From Pelican Rock, and it’s a common room building. At the top, you’ll find two dummies of doll costumes you can costumize from!

Interested in more free stuff? A website called TechSavvyMama is giving away a prize pack of Poptropica stuff to one lucky raffle winner, in celebration of the release of Mystery of the Map! This includes the print copy of the graphic novel, a 6-month Poptropica membership, the Poptropica blimp toy, and Dr. Hare plush toy. Follow the link in the tweet below to enter.

Also, in addition to the MotM book event in Massachusetts on March 10 (details here), there’s also another chance to meet the author (Jack Chabert, the alias of Max Brallier) at the Barnes & Noble in Rochester, New York’s Pittsford on March 26!

There’s also some monkey business going on at Night Watch Island…

But we’ve got more news and sneak peeks on these escaped Monkey Wrench lackeys coming to you in another post, so stay tuned! In the meantime, be sure to get your very own Night Watchmonk follower outside of Bananabee’s on Main Street. (Note: Mysteriously, the booth is not showing for some people – but hang on, they’ll probably fix it soon!) 🙊🍌

Stay popping, Poptropicans!

–🐠🐠

Heyyo Poptropicans, it’s Ultimate iPad Expert here with a post that’s not PMFM!

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started, shall we?

You may recall, last Thursday when the Creators released a special Night Watch Island-themed monkey follower. Well, the Creators hinted at more of these, which we have some sneak peek images of.

I really like this idea the Creators are going with. I’m hoping to see a monkey for every island, that’d be super cool, in my opinion.

Tune in during the next few days and weeks for news on when more of these are available.

–

In other news, with their new “Mystery of the Map” graphic novel recently released, the Creators are holding a few publicity events in the Greater Boston area.

Mystery of the Map illustrator, Kory Merritt, will be at the three events to talk about his illustration and animation experience and more. Dates, times, and locations are below, in case you’d like to go to any of them:

March 11, 4:30 PM – Blue Bunny Books & Toys
(111 South Street, Plainville, MA 02762)

March 10, 4:00 PM – An Unlikely Story
(577 High Street, Dedham, MA 02026)

March 12, 4:00 PM – Barnes and Noble at the Prudential Center
(800 Boylston Street, Suite 179, Boston, MA 02199)

–

In similar MotM-related news, the Creators are going to be holding a Q&A on their Periscope for their new Mystery of the Map graphic novel. As a part of this, they’re asking the community for questions to ask Poptropica creator Jeff Kinney and Mystery of the Map illustrator Kory Merritt!

People who decide to send in a question are entered into the “Mystery of the Map Sweepstakes.”

The grand prize winner of this sweepstakes will receive an original Poptropica watercolor painting drawn and signed by Mystery of the Map illustrator, Kory Merritt. The grand prize winner will also receive a copy of the Mystery of the Map graphic novel, signed by both Kory Merritt and Jeff Kinney.

So, if you’d like to submit a question for the Q&A, click here! And, of course, tune in this Thursday (March 10) at 3 PM EST to Poptropica’s Periscope to watch Jeff Kinney and Kory Merritt answer questions live!

–

And lastly, an update on some of the Poptropica ads.
(Thanks to Yujo_Jacy_the_Jumpy_Coyote for both the tips on these and the pics)

The first is for the We Bare Bears ad, it’s currently still a billboard video clip, but there is a different reward, which you can see here:

The other ad is Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip. If you watch the ad video you receive the costume below:

–

That about sums up the news for this post! What do you think about the island-themed monkeys? Are you going to send in questions for the Q&A? Comment below.

• Ultimate iPad Expert •

What’s popping, Poptropicans? Blake here, with another bit of Poptropican ne- WHAT AM I DOING?! No, seriously! WHAT. AM. I. DOING. Here I am again, having to suffer through another Chipmunk movie! WHO ASKED FOR THIS? So yes, there’s currently an ad for the DVD release of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip! Because EVERYONE wanted this movie… *sigh*

Hang on… What’s this, I disappeared for a month without any explanation, and now someone else has already reviewed the ad that plagues my very existence? Alright, guess I’ll just have to announce the next monkey then… (Thanks to UiPE for the pic!)

The newest monkey follower to join the pack is Charlie the Chocomonkey! Look at this guy! He’s like a little Oompa-Loompa, how cute! Pick this guy up on the Main Street of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Island, right next to Wonka’s factory! And then he’ll follow you. Forever. Always waiting.

Because of the beloved Chocomonkey, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Island is currently not marked as being members only. This means (as confirmed by Poptropica) non-members can currently play the island! This is only supposed to be for a limited time, and we’re not sure how long this will go for, so get going before it becomes members only again!

Well, that’s that! See you later, and as always, stay popping, Poptropicans!

Hey Pie-tropicans!

It’s Pi Day, 3/14, and to celebrate, you can get a free Cream Pie Toss item card just by logging in to Poptropica! If you press the spacebar, you’ll throw a creamy, scrumptious pie! Irrational yet incredible!

As you may remember from Giant Hawk’s post, this item accidentally released early over the weekend. Anyway, this item will be gone tomorrow, so cream it up while you can! 😋

–

Meanwhile on Poptropica’s Twitter, we get another behind-the-scenes look of the Poptropica HQ in Boston, MA! That is one crusty fried zombie who took the sunny side of spring break a little too far.

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Also, there’s an ad for Project Mc2 presumably for girls, on Home Island. Inside the building, there are three project ideas that you can do, and a video, but no prize items.

Thanks to Tall Cactus for the tip and pictures! 🌵

–

There’s more Poptropica news going on that you can catch up on in the posts below! Plus, the PHC can often be pretty lively if you want to catch up with Poptropicans. Stay popping, Poptropicans! :D

–🐠🐠

Hey guys, Spotted Dragon here with another Twitter roundup, as well as a Capri Sun ad, among other things (hehe, my post title rhymes)! There have been lots of things posted on Twitter that are worth mentioning, so let’s get started!

First up, have you met all these Poptropicans? The whole Shark Boy to Shark Guy cover-up was pretty smooth.😎 Also, you may notice that Master Mime is now female! Not sure when that happened… Anyway, tell us who your favorite Poptropican is in the comments below!

Next up, we have a behind the scenes look at some more decor in Poptropica HQ! Obviously this related to Legendary Swords, even though that entire arc has been abandoned. However, Jessica does say “Well, you never know!”😉

Coming to an end with this Twitter roundup, a pro tip for Poptropicans everywhere: no need for bribes in any contest. Yep, apparently someone sent in a very tempting $5 when entering a recent Poptropica contest. No need to worry though, the money was sent back.😄

Oh! And one more thing! If you live in Rochester, you have a chance to meet Kory Merritt! Saturday March 26, 2016 2:00 PM at Barnes and Noble!

Well, that wraps up the Twitter roundup, but this is not the end of the post! Another ad has been *spotted* on Poptropica.

Specifically this ad is for Capri Sun (thanks to Spencer for the pics btw). By clicking on the ad, you will earn Spring Shoes and can then press space bar to jump! Sooo, yep, have fun with that. It’s not often Poptropicans get to wear shoes.

In other news, Monkey Wrench Island, previously just on Home Island, is now on the map!

If you get stuck, be sure to check out our guide.😛

That’s all there is for now, but be sure to keep checking in for more updates!

~SD

Hey folks, Cobalt here!

Once I got home from school I decided to check Home Island, being the default place I leave my Poptropican when I sign off. I noticed an ad for something I’m really hyped for…

The Powerpuff Girls reboot.

Cobalt, you’re a fifteen year old boy and you’re hyped for the Powerpuff girls?

Yeah, and I think you will be too once you see this ad! I’m not ashamed, I have pride!

Let’s listen to Blossom and join the party! It’s a common room, and you can battle and chat with other player Poptropicans, so I guess they really made it a party!😀

Here are the inventory item prizes. Cell phones and the power of flight, three colors each corresponding to the Powerpuff girls – pretty nice complementary gift bags if I say so myself. Press space bar to use the powers.

It’s really neat that you get to select the flight color and phone you’d like. I picked Bubble’s items because pastel blue is totally my aesthetic.

If you click the bronze Bubbles statue, those eyes appear on every Poptropican in the room! It’s pretty neat, and got a laugh out of me, mostly because I was creeped out and wasn’t expecting it.😉

There are also some videos and images about the girls’ personality, but I’d leave that up to you to find for your viewing pleasure!

So, I’m actually quite curious here, what do you folks think of the new Powerpuff Girls? Contrary to popular opinion, I think the animation is fine – but the only thing that bothers me is that the original Powerpuff girls actors would have voiced the new ones, but for some reason I can’t comprehend, Cartoon Network didn’t let them.

Until next time Poptropicanos!

-Cobalt

// flies away majestically

Hey folks, Cobalt here. Ohoho, do I have a rant for you.

So, I went on Poptropica today, as I do almost daily. Here’s the news: both Wimpy Kid islands have been opened to all (Wimpy Wonderland and Wimpy Boardwalk), and first-time finishers get 300 credits (instead of 150). And there’s a Wimpy Shirt prize for going on one of those islands.

But there’s a bigger issue here, and it’s glaring right in our faces. This update truly is wimpy.

I thought, well, it is Wimpy Kid Month, and Jeff Kinney is the author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. So I didn’t have any doubts at all they would advertise it at some point. Despite me not personally enjoying the book series after the trillionth release, I logged on anyway. It’s not like it was going to ruin my Poptropica experience for me.

Oh wait, it did. It really did. Look at this. Literally look at this. This is such a pitiful, cluttery, tacky, poorly made mess that it feels as if the person orchestrating this mind-numbing catastrophe opened up MS Paint and just played around with it for two minutes. On top of all that, April has become “Apriil”.

There are six different fonts in this. Six. Are you guys aware that HPuterpop and UiPE from the PHB do design work for free? Hire them! WHAT IS THIS.

The prize card that Poptropica so obnoxiously and cringingly shoves in our face is also poorly made. They couldn’t even make good what they advertised so heavily.

Like, is this just a belated April Fools prank? The text is off-center, the image pixelated, and it all makes me wonder who thought this was okay. Honestly, if this person got paid for making this, it angers me. Not only did they recycle the redhead from the other ads, but they also recycled the prize shirt itself without adding anything new. Poptropica, you can do better than this, and you have in the past. Why deteriorate now?

Some of you may remember Smockers, the first PHB author ever, not including Slanted Fish? He hasn’t played in years. And yet, this shirt is part of his look. It’s that old.

This was an ad prize a long, long time ago that they’re passing up as something new and exciting. I’m not even joking, this frustrates me. Also, care to notice how that recycled, low-resolution lady is wearing a necklace? She’s covering up the collar above Greg’s (The Wimpy Kid) face. Why are they advertising a shirt and covering part of it up? That’s like advertising a watch and wearing a long sleeve shirt and covering some of it.

Honestly, I’d love to go even deeper into this, and why I think the quality (and quantity!) of the ads are as downright pitiful as they are, and how it’s been 50 days since the last island (and a simple tutorial one at that), and how Daily Pops are inconsistent, and getting any sort of update is slow and disappointing… but I don’t want any controversy from my viewers or the Poptropica team themselves. So, I’ll leave it at this crude joke from fellow author Brave Tomato:

I think Poptropica should really rethink their priorities, their graphic designer(s), and what kind of content they consider approved for the game.

This whole thing is really embarrassing, and I’m not happy about it. Poptropicanos, can you really tell me this isn’t honestly a complete annoyance? This is hardly the first time Poptropica has released poorly-designed promotional graphics, offered disappointing prize items, or offered a bunch of extra credits for a first-time island completion and called it news. And while it’s great that a couple members-only islands have been unlocked to the public, they should have been free in the first place, as they were before that fateful member-lock update last summer.

I honestly don’t want Poptropica to be chagrined over this, but hopefully, this is a wake-up call for them.

When community manager Skinny Moon said they may have had something planned for Wimpy Kid Month, I was expecting something better.

Are my expectations too high? Or was the delivery too low? What do you Poptropicanos think?

UPDATE: Poptropica Creator Skinny Moon left the following comment on this post in response:

Hey there Poptropicans,

We hear your concerns and we admit it — we rushed this Wimpy Kid promotion and we apologize. We need to do better. Honestly, we’re glad when you point out something that’s not our best work. All fan feedback is helpful!

We do hope you enjoy your rare Wimpy Kid shirt, though! It’s true that it’s an old-school Poptropica item. We thought you’d enjoy a little piece of history!

Also, we know you’re wondering why there hasn’t been a lot of new stuff happening on Poptropica and why we seem to be pretty quiet. All I can say right now is that we are incredibly busy working on very exciting things for Poptropica, and we’ll be able to reveal more towards the end of the month.

Please know we’re listening to your feedback — keep it coming — the good and the not-so-good!

Keep poppin’,
Skinny Moon

Thanks for hearing us out, Poptropica. We hope it gets better!

Until next time, this is your Roast Master,

– Cobalt Spinner

Hey guys! It’s a new author here bringing you some (slightly) old news!

In celebration of Kung Fu Panda 3‘s release for DVD, there are two new ad item cards available in your inventory! Po Follower is, well, a Po follower, and Pandas Everywhere makes all Poptropicans onscreen turn into pandas when spacebar is pressed.

Also, some of you may have noticed by now there is a new medallion… “Map”.

This may or may not be an excuse to show off how many islands I’ve completed.

What does this mean?! Is it a new quest where we must visit every single island? Is it another island based on Mystery of the Map? Can you receive it upon completing every island? Whatever it is, it definitely isn’t the result of classifying the new map as an island in the code. *cough*😉

Finally, Poptropica retweeted a video from EthanGamerTV, a popular child gamer on YouTube with over 800 thousand subscribers. In his video, Ethan plays Poptropica’s tutorial Monkey Wrench Island (which the PHB recently reviewed here!), for the first time. (He also may or may not be a hot dog.) If you’re interested, check it out below! It’s quite professionally made.

That’s all from me for now.

-Ylimegirl (Emily 2)