History NightmareFuel / Poptropica

At first glance, ''Poptropica'''s style does not give off the immediate impression of its capability to be scary. However, the game can have its islands go into a variety of genres, and with those genres arrives a variety of ways they can spread fear...

* Whatever happened in the BadFuture on Time Tangled Island is [[NothingIsScarier never explained.]] But judging from the terrifying damage and the fact your character, now 50 years old, is the sole survivor, ''something'' happened.

** In light of, um, ''[[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic a certain event]],'' Virus Hunter can be even scarier as you’re probably more aware of what a global outbreak-and the illness that caused it-can do than you were in 2013.

* The main characters Mya, Oliver, and Jorge (who can't be older than the age 13) are put in many life-threating situations throughout the series, such as:

** Being severely hurt/killed by several adults (Vikings, Octavian, Lieutenant Rogers

* In the Graphic Novel, Octavian is forced to watch Paulla die in the lava.

* Virtually everything about Steamworks Island, being a perfect storm of NothingIsScarier, BotanicalAbomination, and ApocalypticLog.

* The first two parts of Monster Carnival Island, where you set up the carnival games and try to win them, are rather tame, but things take a creepy turn once you beat all the carnival games. You navigate the dark woods and see a cloaked figure transform the carnival workers into monsters. The carnival then turns nightmarish, with scarecrows with glowing eyes, the message in the duck game spelling out "GORY," and a floating puppet monster invading the Haunted Lab.

* Ghost Story Island has one of the seven instances of sound in the [=AS2=] islands. (The others being the bell you can ring in the comic book shop on Super Power Island, the phonograph on Time Tangled Island, the Chupacabra breaking out of the box and the information videos on the cryptids on Cryptids Island, the lightning on Vampire's Curse Island, the post-production sound effects on Back Lot Island, and the videos on Game Show Island.) When you look through a telescope in a creepy, boarded-up house, Fiona [[JumpScare suddenly appears behind you]] and asks "Are you looking for someone?"

* Ghost Story Island has one of the seven instances of sound in the [=AS2=] islands. (The others being the bell you can ring in the comic book shop on Super Power Island, the phonograph on Time Tangled Island, the Chupacabra breaking out of the box on Cryptids Island, the lightning on Vampire's Curse Island, the post-production sound effects on Back Lot Island, and the videos on Game Show Island.) When you look through a telescope in a creepy, boarded-up house, Fiona [[JumpScare suddenly appears behind you]] and asks "Are you looking for someone?"

** In light of, um, ''[[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic a certain event]],'' Virus Hunter can be more scarier as you’re probably more aware on what a global outbreak-and the illness that caused it-can do than you were in 2013.
* Ghost Story Island has one of the seven instances of sound in the AS2 islands. (The others being the bell you can ring in the comic book shop on Super Power Island, the phonograph on Time Tangled Island, the Chupacabra breaking out of the box on Cryptids Island, the lightning on Vampire's Curse Island, the post-production sound effects on Back Lot Island, and the videos on Game Show Island.) When you look through a telescope in a creepy, boarded-up house, Fiona [[JumpScare suddenly appears behind you]] and asks "Are you looking for someone?"

* The video on Virus Hunter Island shows what the CC13 Influenza can do. The virus can infect ''whole organs'' and eventually the whole body. Soon, the infected can infect everyone else. The scariest part is that it mentions that the virus can easily make everyone extinct. The creepy music does not help either.

At first glance, ''Poptropica'''s style does not give off the immediate impression of its capability to be scary. However, the game can have its islands go into a variety of genres, and with those genres arrives a variety of ways they can be scary...

* The main villain of Survival Island, Myron van Buren, is one of the darkest characters in ''Poptropica'' history. [[spoiler: ''He [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunts humans.]]]]''
** What makes Myron stand out from most of the villains is how much his villainy is directly connected to your player character. The other villains are only after your character because you’re thwarting their plans, ranging from illegal mischief to world domination. If your character weren’t there, those villains wouldn’t have bat an eye at them- they’d have just been another person affected by what’s being done. Myron’s goal? [[spoiler: Hunt and kill your player character, as well as Max Mcgullicutty. His goal is to make you a hunting trophy,]] and all you did was crash land in the wrong place from a storm. This goal wouldn’t have existed if your character wasn’t there. This goal specifically revolves around your player character’s harm. Although the overlord wannabes can have frightening power with them, the harm your character may get from those baddies is more due to the meddling. The personal nature of Myron’s villainous goal therefore makes him stand out as one of the darkest characters in Poptropica’s history.

** In light of, um, ''[[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic recent events]],'' Virus Hunter is much more scarier as people are probably more aware on what a global outbreak-and the illness that caused it-can do than they were in 2013.