Rant: Poptropica in 2016

NOTE: This is just my opinion. I have no interest on offending anyone, so please try to understand. If you disagree with anything I’m writing in this post, I don’t mind, as long as you’re mature about it. By the way, I didn’t draw the graphic below. I just used a special effect.

Hey there, Clawtropicans! It’s me, Purple Claw!

2016 ended a few days ago, and that gave space for 2017 to come (if you didn’t know that yet, you’re even weirder than me; get a doctor). Anyway, I was really happy when the new year came, not because I can be a better person or try to fulfill my dreams and all that stuff (time is an illusion, right?), but because I am looking forward to what Poptropica has to bring this year, because last year wasn’t anything we expected. Now, let’s get started with the rant. I sure hope I don’t go nuts. 😛

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I, personally, though that 2016 was going to be like the past Poptropica years. With new islands, fun updates, store items etc. Well, we did get fun updates and awesome store items, but we didn’t get new islands. The only ”island” we got was freaking Monkey Wrench that smells like a monkey covered in mud. I’m not kidding; I cringed when I played it. Our predictions about 2016 were a total different thing than what truly happened; just check out Tall Cactus’ predictions, and you’ll understand.

A lot of great stuff happened in 2016, but we were looking forward to other stuff. Now, let’s list what happened in the world of Poptropica in the year that just passed away…

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January- Well, not a lot of stuff happened in January, but the ”Island Hopper Sweepstakes” winner was announced. Besides that, we only got a sneak peek about my favorite island, Monkey Wrench (you know I’m kidding).

February- The Poptropica Realms went down, because the Creators had to fix tons of bugs. That almost made me cry, because I never finished my giant mansion. Monkey Wrench was also announced, and that made me to literally cry. 😛

March- The Mystery of the Map graphic novel hit the bookstores, but I gotta admin that the book wasn’t so well written. And, to celebrate the release of Monkey Wrench Island, (I freaking want to stop mentioning this dumb quest) the Creators released a few monkey followers and they placed them in different islands. We also had to say goodbye to Black Widow, since she was replaced with Skinny Moon on the Creators’ blog. On March 11, 2016 the Creators announced March Madness, and we could vote to unlock a members-only island to everyone. Poptropica Realms came back, and Monkey Wrench was on the app.

April- The March Madness winner turned out to be Red Dragon Island, Captain Crawfish announced the ”Wimpy Kid month” and they opened the Wimpy Kid Islands for the rest of April, to celebrate the 9th anniversary of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. They released some awesome sneakers for each week. These sneakers only work on SUIs, though. On April 25, the world of Poptropica was never going to be the same; Skinny Moon announced a NEW POPTROPICA. That was something no one expected, since we didn’t even get sneak peeks about it.

May- On May, we got a new map. Yes, a new SUI map. I didn’t this update, but I’m going to talk about that later. Also, it was reveal in this PHB post that the Creators were working on a new island, Crisis Caverns, which was unfortunately cancelled.

June- Skinny Moon announced a new contest, the #PoptropicaArt contest, where you could draw whatever Poptropica related thing you wanted, and then post it on social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by using the #PoptropicaArt hashtag.

July- The Creators released a new trailer for Poptropica, and made a spinning wheel to win Pop credits. Besides these updates, nothing pretty much happened.

August- The second Poptropica Graphic Novel hit the bookstores and we could vote what type of house we’d like to have in the New Poptropica.

September– The IotM thing was announced, and even repeat finishers could get credits by beating islands. The Creators also released some birthday items to celebrate Poptropica’s 9th Birthday.

October- The #PoptropicaArt contest winners were announced, and boy there sure were some really creative people out there!

November- The Poptropica Costume Contest was announced.

December- We didn’t get major news in December.

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Ugh, that was long. I didn’t say too much stuff about 2016, since I’m not talking about Poptropica’s history. Anyway, below you’ll find another list about the tragic flaws of Poptropica in 2016.

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The removal of the map that each island had.

That was one of the dumbest things that the Creators have ever done. Why would they remove a useful tool anyway?

No new good islands

I don’t even consider Monkey Wrench an island. It’s just a freaking tutorial with a bad storyline. No offense. I wanted real adventure, true challenges, and beautiful storylines. I’m really disappointed…

Skinny Moon taking over

I personally, like this creator a lot. The problem is that she has taken over on the Creators’ blog and Poptropica’s social media. I mean, her Poptropican is everywhere. On SnapChat, she changed her username from Poptropica, to PopGirlJess which happens to be her username on Poptropica. Poptropica’s social media pages aren’t a place for Jessica to put details about herself everywhere. No offense, Skinny Moon. You’re cool!

The SUI-only sneakers

I loved the running sneakers- they were just that I asked for! The problem is that they didn’t work on non-SUIs. And I was really mad about that fact. Most of my favorite islands are classic ones and I barely visit SUIs anymore because they’re too glitchy and they remove the closed eyes effect. Sigh…

The new Poptropica 

No, no, don’t get me wrong; I’m super pumped about the new Poptropica and I really want it to release. But, the Creators didn’t keep their promise that it would be released in late 2016. That’s okay, to be honest. Developing a game isn’t an easy job. I’m mad because the Creators didn’t tell us that it was delayed. They can trust us; we’re their lovely fans.

The new map

Well, it could be a LOT better. The islands look so random, and why the heck is Poptropica Realms in the fourth page of the map?! Also, the island logos don’t appear, unless you click on one of the islands. Besides these little things, everything else about the map was okay.

The cancellation of Crisis Caverns

Well, I wanted this island to come out so bad. I’m just really disappointed and angry… 😦

What about the sneak peeks, the ”Hall of Fame” contest, the Daily Pop and other fun updates?

The Creators might be busy, but that’s no excuse for not updating the Daily Pop everyday. Just read this PHB post and you’ll understand! We didn’t get a lot of sneak peeks this year either, and we didn’t get a lot of fun updates in-game. Compared with other years, 2016 has too be my least favorite one.

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Anyway, even though 2016 didn’t turn out the way we expected, there were a lot of fun stuff too! Two contests were held, and a new Poptropica was announced, and that’s a good thing, because browsers are kicking Flash out. Also, 2016 was a bright year for the Poptropica fandom; a lot of blogs were made, the PHC moved to Discord, and the community grew a lot! 😀

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Anyway, thanks for having time to read this huge post! I hope 2017 will be a fun year full of awesome Poptropica updates! This was Purple Claw, signing out ’til my next post!

-PC out!