Poptropica Shop ’til you drop – now with personalized clothing!
A whole new section of Poptropica goods are now available for purchase – Poptropica personalized clothing with your unique avatar printed on them! Plus your Poptropican’s name! It’s every Poptropican’s dream! (Well, unless you’ve got a weird name like, hm… “Sleepy Peanut”? I don’t know.)
Anyway, to check out this gear, just visit the all-new Poptropica Shop page, enter your username, and you’ll be brought to Ty’s Toy Box, where you can select from lots of different shirt designs and hoodies of various colors! There’s hot pink, royal blue, gray, and a few others of similar tints, so maybe you’ll find one you like. Shirts are US$17.95, hoodies are $24.99, and zip-up hoodies are $39.99. Remember to order to the right size! Also, it seems like they’ll only ship within the States.
For a list of all the options, as well as Poptropica’s other merchandise, check out the PHB article Merchandise: A Guide to Poptropica Shopping. They’re listed under “Personalized Clothing.”
Are there any you’d like to buy? Which one(s)? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Virus Hunter Island confirmed
Well, we were right, and having known this for a while now, it’s pretty anticlimactic. But whether you knew or not, the Creators have now confirmed the existence of Virus Hunter Island!
I think the logo looks kind of weak, but that may just be me. Comment below and tell us what you think! The Creators have given us the plot summary as well:
Somewhere in Poptropica, an unknown citizen harbors within his bloodstream a dangerous new virus. Your mission: locate Patient Zero, and eradicate the disease before it spreads. Prepare for a perilous journey to the most far-out place of all — inside the human body!
(Patient Zero is most likely Joe, who I predicted would be a big character in this adventure.)
Next the Creators say, “It’s the biggest and best (or maybe smallest and spiffiest?) Poptropica Island ever!” That’s probably a reference to the entire adventure taking place in one person.
The PHB’s Virus Hunter Island page has also been updated accordingly, with links to the island extras (including witty postcards regarding body parts!) and info on the members’ stuff (including the bonus quest, where we’ll be helping a sick dog).
That’s all for now; there’s not much more to say, as we already knew about the island, but remember to check our Virus Hunter Island page for more sneak peeks and trivia.
Adios!
5 reasons Poptropica is the best virtual world for kids
While surfing through the waves of the web, I came across an article called Five things learned from five years of Poptropica, which you can click to read if you’re interested. It’s written by Director D – I mean James Lema, the director of product development at Poptropica.
Anyway, onto the good part! Here were 5 reasons James cited as what makes Poptropica a better kids’ virtual world than any other game:
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We are not building a game. Let’s create a collection of narrative driven quests.
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Ask for age and gender. If they want to register, ask them after they have played around for a while.
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2D is faster, cheaper… and none of us know 3D.
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We will use pre-scripted / random chat.
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We are NOT Facebook for kids.
Interestingly, Poptropica started out with a staff of just two artists, one of them being Lema, and Poptropicans spend an average of 30 minutes per session on the site! If you’d like to read more, check out Lema’s Poptropica article on Dubit, which explains the 5 things more in-depth.
Want to know what we at the PHB think about Poptropica? Check out our Poptropica: Game Review article in the Cool Stuff section!
Now the question is, why do YOU think Poptropica is awesome? Let us know in the comments! 
To Max Steel and moms everywhere: it could get ‘harey’
Earlier this week, PHB author Angry Wing found “Max Steel” mysteriously listed in green at the top of his item inventory. This has now disappeared, though the new “Closet” (leading to one’s costume closet) above the [also new] dashed line is still here. Subtle indeed!
Last week on Poptropica, there was a video ad on Main Streets for Max Steel, a new Disney XD TV series. Watching the video awarded viewers with a costume and super power of Max McGrath’s tech alien, Steel. Sadly, I don’t have pictures, and all I could find of this ad was a blurry YouTube video.
What could this mean? Will there be more Max Steel in Poptropica’s future, or was this just a glitch? What if we get to keep all advertisement items in the future?! That would be awesome, especially considering the Creators disabled the Poptropica Ad Transporters a while back.
UPDATE: PHB commenter Abigail informs us that “Scholastic Summer” (a book-reading challenge) now takes the top spot in the items dropdown menu. Once again, clicking on it will tell you “You don’t have any items for this campaign yet. Explore Poptropica to see what you can find!”
This could mean that we’ll only get to keep our ad items until a new ad replaces the previous one, as commenter Fruitbat7777 speculates. Perhaps they’ll release this ad soon!
On a different note, the Creators blogged about this Dr. Hare fan art they received from Poptropican Cool Crown, complete with a Dr. Hare plush toy. Watch out… it could get “harey”!
Lastly, this Sunday (as are all other second Sundays of May) is Mother’s Day! The Creators have posted a lovely Tribute to the Moms of Poptropica on their blog (featuring the likes of CJ’s mom on Shrink Ray, Katya’s mom on Vampire’s Curse, and more).
But there’s another definition to “Poptropica moms,” and that’s all the mothers whose son or daughter is a Poptropica player! If that’s you reading this, happy Mother’s Day!
What’s New in Poptropica
The battle bot in the cheese factory.
And yes, that is a Bones reference. From time to time we get a reminder of some of the great little things that Poptropica offers. One of those things is the abundance of free Mini-Quests that are available. Good ol' Captain Crawfish is giving us a … (Read More...)
Little Evil Genius – Dr Hare Wallpaper
Dr. Hare's LEGO CUUSOO project has reached 6,000+ supporters, and as promised, the Creators have released a brand-new Dr. Hare drone-head, carrot-laden wallpaper for you to deck out your desktop! The little evil genius in the pink rabbit suit … (Read More...)
PHB Sunday Special: Bazinga!
Welcome to another PHB Sunday Special! Here we are at the comic book store with an engineer, theoretical physicist, blonde waitress, experimental physicist, and astrophysicist - ie. the main cast of the TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory! Here's how you … (Read More...)
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Logo-motive: Back Lot Island
We've probably all seen the iconic clapboard for Back Lot Island (and if not, it's in the current header and sidebar, which also lists our Back Lot Island Guide if you need it). Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of making the … (Read More...)
The Mystery Revisited
Not everybody knows it by name, but a lot of long-time players know it very well. It's a something. It's a forgotten something. It's a wonderful something. It's a curious something. It's a spooky something. It's a festive something. It's a … (Read More...)
A Contagious Prediction
Hey, everyone; it's me again! I'm sure when you're flipping through the sneak peeks on the Daily Pop, all you're seeing is stomachs, livers, and all sorts of stuff inside the body. But occasionally you see something like this: This is the kind of … (Read More...)
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