About Bubblepops (Bubbalo)

Bubblepops are the last belongings of the former island Bubbalo. They pop up anywhere.

Before Bubblepops existed there was an island named Bubbalo, named as it was built on natural gases that caused a bubbling effect where the surrounding water would bubble up (and be too hot and dangerous to enter). Unfortunately, these gases would also lead to the eventual erosion of Bubbalo.

Today, all that remains of Bubbalo are bear-made Bubblepops (which are like a big zorbing ball with a door entrance that float and roll around the sea), which were invented to help Bubbalo inhabitants escape with their belongings to safety, as they were protected inside from any harmful gases. Although, not everything went to plan and many Bubblepops drifted off in different directions than their owners and became lost at sea.

However, even though Bubbalo eroded a long time ago today we can still find Bubblepops ‘pop-up’ from time-to-time in any place around The Bearlagos, but not as many as there used to be. Just like with the ‘Truelips rush’, bears also went searching for some Bubblepop treasure when word got out. They would hope that a Bubblepop would pop up near them on their islands, or they would go diving deeper to try and find some ‘old relics’ within lost Bubblepops underwater. When a Bubblepop was found it would either be empty (if others had got to it first), or lucky ones would find some interesting content or treasure still inside it.

It’s a bit of a lucky dip though, as today the treasure would either be required by new bear law to be returned to the previous Bubbalo bear owner (who are now inhabitants on other islands around The Bearlagos), or be ‘open’ treasure for bears to keep if the owner can’t be found. Maybe some of these objects could help the Bearventurers on their journey to find Meeso?

The gas is long gone now as the bears dreamed up a solution to get rid of it, and with no external gas the Bubblepops can sometimes have an oxygen overload inside and pop, hence the name, which is why sometimes you might find some random treasure on the floor of the waterbed of the Bearlagos, in particular around the Mave Reef.

The originally released gases had an unexpected underwater effect that still exists today. They ended up creating special currents underwater, such as the one between Bearington and Magnetic Island, Mave Reef and Unknowland (and possibly others).

Bubblepops today have a new, special meaning for new year resolutions. Bears now put their dreams and aspirations into a Bubblepop and set it free on New Years, and if someone happens to find it on their travels then it means the dream is more likely to come true. The original idea for using Bubblepops for messages came from Bubs, an original Bubbalo inhabitant who thought of using them as ‘spirit bubbles’ to send positive messages to other bears who had lost their home to keep their ‘spirits up’. However, not all messages and contents found in Bubblepops seem to be positive, and it seems someone has manipulated some of the Bubblepops and is sending messages of an ulterior motive.

FUN FACT: On Bubbalo everything seemed to add up to have zero at the end, like 0, 10, 20 etc.

Bubbalo Backstory:

How did this once heavily inhabited island turn into nothing more than large bear-made bubbles that float all around The Bearlagos?

The gases were once at a manageable level and not harmful to the bears living there, yet something happened to change this and, like a balloon deflating, Bubbalo was slowly oozing out gas too quickly to be contained by their safety Gasometer. There was a time when bears used to come here and have fun floating slightly in the sky, going to the natural hot springs, and growling at really high frequencies (like inhaling helium from a balloon), but as the gas produced more and more toxins, the islands started to break down. Lots of the landscape of Bubbalo was shaped in circle-like bubbles, where the design was influenced by the gas bubbles. However, the structure of bubble designs wasn’t very strong and lots of things on the island started to react with the leaked gas, ‘pop’, and slowly erode away.

At the time the bears thought it was just an unfortunate natural disaster, but over time they learned more about how it could’ve been manipulated and has a darker truth behind it, and it coincided in times of ‘The Event’. It became too dangerous for bears to live there anymore so Pensa got involved (how does he have so many good invention ideas? Dreamback’s dream mallows certainly has something to do with it!) and created a smart bubble (along with its islanders), called a Bubblepop. This invention managed to save most of the inhabitants and help them get to land for safety, yet lots of Bubblepops since disappeared all around The Bearlagos.

Bassventures – Bubblepopped:

A fast search for Bubblepops is on, as one is getting away that's in sight. Can the bears get it in time?