My Final Message

KLONDIKE, Kingfunks4’s Office – It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to retire this week, for the final time, from CP Armies. The Chief Executive Officers of CP Army Hub have kindly allowed me to put my final post on their website, where I discuss my return this summer, what I have learnt and the final advice that I wish to pass on.

I never thought I would again be in this position, announcing another retirement from CP Armies. Nobody expected, least of all myself, that I would be involved in the media and army leadership scene once again – I thought I had moved passed it, but lockdown gave me that one more opportunity. It was an opportunity that I have enjoyed so much, and am incredibly grateful that I had one last chance to be involved in this community again.

I continued to say that I was not ‘officially’ back involved, but I slowly got dragged in and could not help myself but to get more and more involved as time went on over the past few months. Sure, it was probably mainly out of nostalgia, but I have enjoyed myself so much again, speaking to people that I have not heard from for over three years, and meeting new people that I have gained an incredible amount of respect for. It has also been great to see how some people have progressed since I was last here. I decided to split this post up into my involvement in CP Armies before 2017, why and how I decided to return, leading the Water Vikings once more and my final messages.

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Original CP Armies

I am not going to write a massive section for this part of my post, seeing as I have covered that in my previous retirement post. I did feel that, however, for my final ever post I did need to write a bit about my involvement from 2009-2017. The Army of CP formed the initial part of this, where I worked my way up to leader. It was no doubt the least successful major army that I have led, but I am proud to say that I did lead the Army of CP. I was perhaps too inexperienced at the time, and certainly would feel capable now to lead the army to the heights that they expect. However, it was the most rewarding army to receive leader in after years of working my way up the ranks.

My next big experience was to be Chief Executive Officer of CPA Central, first partnering Bluesockwa2 in 2012. It was so much fun to form the website the way that I wanted it to be, to create and lead tournaments and to post the Top Tens every week. Through my four spells as CEO, at various points in 2012-2017 with Jodie, Zakdude, Sammie and Bluesockwa2, I managed to form my own style of headship. I gained valuable writing skills that I could transfer into my education and personal life, and as time went on I got better at running the website. It was a massive job, as people expected a lot of CPA Central, but I am glad that I was one of the longest serving staff members at the website and had the opportunity to shape the community for the better.

Following my second spell as ACP leader, I moved onto the Ice Warriors, who took me in at 4ic. Within months, I worked my way up to 2ic and was eventually promoted by Tes7 following IW’s dip from the Top Ten. Together, alongside some great owners (Regan would’ve wanted me to include that part), we managed to rejuvenate the army and push them to the very top. This success was confirmed when we won the Legends Cup V, beating the Nachos in the final. Leading the Ice Warriors was one of the first real successes I had as a leader, and it made it such an enjoyable experience. I would lead the Ice Warriors again after a power struggle with Andrew24, and even after leaving them for the Water Vikings they have been a key part of my CP Army history.

witty even in defeat

Apart from the obvious other highlights, such as leading the Puffle Warriors to greatness (and other armies, including: Federation and Pretzels), the final major part of my time in CP Armies was the Water Vikings. It brought me the greatest satisfaction to lead the Water Vikings, as we bought an army from relative obscurity to one of the most dominant armies from 2013-16, to become the 10th most significant army of all time. The Water Vikings were for years known as a medium army that had brief spells in the Top Ten, but from 2013 the army started to make its mark. Leaders such as Bepboy, Change, Buddy, Zakdude, Dashing Snow, Pjayo, Jack283, the other Jack, Katie and others were all incredible and pushed the army to the very top. It was unfortunate that we controversially lost in two legends cup finals and a christmas chaos final, but we showed our strength – highlighted by the formation of the NDA (five major armies), all declaring war on the Water Vikings. Above all, leading this army was enjoyable for the fun that we had, the atmosphere in the chat and the relationships that were built. I am glad that this was the final army that I led before leaving CP Armies. I retired for what I thought was the final time, as I announced CPA Central’s closure in 2017 – I would not even check in for three years.

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Returning In Lockdown & The CPAC 5

As with many, the lockdown resulting from covid-19 sucked so many veterans back into the community for one final run – with so much spare time I thought I might as well throw myself back into the game. Initially, it began as an ‘advisory’ role at CP Online Army League, which turned into a board role assisting Atticus run the website. It was great fun to be involved in running a news website once more, and that was all I wanted at the time. However, I was not aware of so many things going on. Mainly the controversy surrounding CP Online and the issues with how controlling Epic101 was. While all of this was occurring, my new attempts at trying to unite the community were all in vein. The issues with Epic101 and Andrew24, as well as the CPO moderators, would prove too much and the newly formed ‘CPAC 5’ (Atticus, Orange, Superoo, Zing, Myself and Supa Em) would move to CP Army Media. That did leave Luciferstar, who was by far the best staff we had, left at CPAL alone and I felt bad about that for quite a long time. Lucifer has done a fantastic job so far at CP Army Hub, and I hope that continues. 

Was Bluesockwa right in 2016…?

While I was only CP Army Media CEO for a week or so, I feel that we helped to shape so many things that they, and then CPAH, would go on to use. The Legends Cup, Universal Top 20, the Summer @ CPAM programme and boosted activities were all priorities of ours, and that was effectively achieved very quickly. I had great fun working with Atticus and Zing, and will forever respect them as individuals and also as people that supported me. They are great journalists, and also are effective at running a news site. However, that being said I did need to eventually distance myself from the CPAC 5 because of the toxicity that they could not seem to unfortunately put behind them (apart from Orange, who has been great to check in with). The instance on closing down CPATG, the posting of Ayans Facebook, amongst other things, was not something I wanted to be involved in. I could see why this caused the CPAC 5 to eventually be removed from CPAM. It took me time to understand the way in which Emcee and Pookie work, but I have the upmost respect for the job that they have done, they have proven how great they actually are at their role. 

Our first ‘universal top 20’ on CPAL.

I am glad that I returned as an advisor when CPAM and CPAL merged to become CP Army Hub, and played my part (however small) in my ultimate goal in uniting the community while I was back. We have been so much better for being together as one, armies can all battle eachother, work as one and coordinate everything so much better. In the short space of time I have been involved again in CP Armies, we have moved forward so much for the better, despite all the challenges that we have faced. Its been a good opportunity as advisor of CP Army Hub to pass on some of the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years, and to pass this on to try and develop our community for the better – I also enjoyed writing the Top 50 Armies Of All time series.

There are a lot of people that have helped me to adjust to the new way in which CP Armies operate, and guide me back into my return. The two most notable people were Max and Regan, two people that I have known before 2017, and who I even ‘mentored’ a bit. They have been incredibly supportive of me on my return. I can not thank these two people enough for their continued support and I know that they will both continue to make an impressive mark on CP Armies – I am so proud of them both. Other people who I have gone to for guidance have been Iceyfeet, Mchappy, Emcee, and Orange, amongst others. Without people around to help me adjust to the new community, to advise me on how things may now be different, I would have ultimately failed to be involved as I am today, and could not have had the platform to then pass on my advice to the wider community.

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Leading Water Vikings

The Water Vikings, as you may already know, reformed this summer as they rebranded from the Golden Guardians. As I was already heavily involved in CP Armies, just off the back of my unfortunate removal from CP Army Media, I felt like I could offer my services to lead the army (for a seventh time…). I had the opportunity to be a part of the ACP HCOM, or even the Ice Warriors leadership, but it felt right to return to the Water Vikings, the army that had been my only home from 2014. So many of the people that meant the most to me before CP’s closure were around this army, and it was the only natural fit for me to go back to.

I had so much to learn as a returning leader, I felt like I had to rebuild vast amounts of my knowledge to adjust to the new ways of the community. Using discord was challenging enough for me, let alone the new ways that tactics were judged, the speed of other armies and how to recruit in this modern era. It wasn’t easy, but we slowly managed to make the Water Vikings a consistent major army. Even with some brief periods of depression, we managed to pick the army back up and I am glad that they finished in the Top Five.

There are so many people I need to thank that I have been a part of my experience in this generation of the Water Vikings. Of course, top of that list is Buddy, who has been the person I have been with to consult about everything – he is an incredible leader and does not receive enough credit. Even though I bully him, Buddy has been one of the best leaders in modern CP Armies and without him this generation would not have been a success. Other leaders have been incredibly supportive, including Pjayo, Tymatt, Adden, Zoomey, Fedd, Change, Thomas and Bluey. I did not get the chance to lead with Manu and Cliff in an official capacity, but as 2ic they were incredible and they both have the potential to be two of the best leaders in CP Armies. I know that my army is in more than capable hands with the leadership that is left.

It was also great to meet new people through leading the army, that were not around before 2017. Some of my HCOM (like Minty, Drama, Poly, Potassium and others) have been so much fun to talk to and be involved with, they really embody the spirit of the Water Vikings. This includes legends like Tomapro (seen below) and Dragons. There have been others that I have had the opportunity to meet through allyship, such as Shinde in the Ice Warriors – if I did not mention your name I do apologise, so many people have shaped my final journey.

Templars terrified at the mighty Tomapro

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My Final Message

This post was not designed to be an overly long goodbye, where I list all the people that have had an impact on me, but rather one last opportunity to make my mark on CP Armies today. Firstly, I am more than confident that CP Armies will continue to flourish. There have been few periods of history in which CP Armies have been stronger. We have already found ways around Disney’s DMCA notices, and CP Rewritten have started trialling their HTML5 CPPS Beta, which is highly promising as we look for alternatives when flash ends in at the end of this year. Any challenges that have been thrown at us over the years, even Club Penguin closing itself in 2017, have been fought and we have managed to overcome – so I am sure we can continue to fight this in the future. Who knows how long this community will last for? What’s there to say that CP Armies will not continue to exist in 10, 20, 30 years time? There is a continuous cycle of people that have joined from 2006 to 2020, spanning an absolutely incredible 14 years. There is absolutely no reason that this can not last for another 14 years.

Waterkid and I had great fun in 2012

We need to make sure that we maintain and respect what we have got already. There is no need to be stupid and bend the rules, to form 20 colonies and make up new rules to get what we want. What you guys have in the CP Army Hub League setup is incredible, it is better than anything we had in the original CP Armies where armies would just disagree and ignore one another. You need to respect what you’ve got, and if you try to manipulate your way around that setup it will only cause division. Division is not what you need, and will put the wider community at risk. If we play fair, respect one another and work as one then CP Armies will continue to flourish. Also, make sure you differentiate between those who arent and actually are a risk to CP Armies – the Recon Federation clearly are a risk to minors involved in CP Armies. If you continue to associate with their actions you put every other army at risk.

The final part of this section is just a reminder that you need to think about the reasons for why you are here. You may be here to be top of the top ten, or to win a tournament, and that makes sense because it is actually a great sense of accomplishment and enjoyment to do both of those things. However, would I put that above the late night conversations or the weird skriblo games? No, those are what make CP Armies worth being in – if your army is not having fun then you are doing something wrong.

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I just wanted to finish by saying thank you for the respect that has been shown to me by so many individuals across the spectrum of CP Armies. It is in vast contrast to being hounded in 2012 after leading the Army of CP, I feel as if I have gained the respect of so many of you and I am eternally greatful. This does show the difference in CP Armies from 2012 to 2020, in how mature we are and how we show respect to one another. Bullying is not something that should be tolerated (unless your name is Buddy), and I like how there is a no nonsense approach to this.

I am grateful that so many people have allowed me to have a say in CP Armies, even after what happened with the CPAC 5, and trusted me to be able to make the right decisions and suggestions. I am glad that I could help and advise in the way that I have in what has been a vital summer for our community. Moreover, I am proud that we have managed to bring back the Water Vikings and make them a major army, with consistent foundations which hopefully will mean they can survive for a long time into the future. The current generation of the Water Vikings does the previous generations proud, and is only adding to the incredible history of the army – I am sure Zakdude and Bepboy would be proud.

It is time for me to move on once more, and it does feel strange for me to being saying so. Part of me wants to continue, but I know that this has only been a temporary part of a journey has shaped the early parts of my life – it is no exaggeration to say as much. I will still be checking in, unlike my previous three year gap, but my active role in CP Armies is finally coming to an end. The final thing I can say is – have fun and enjoy yourselves. Remember that this is a game, and your priority should be having fun with the people around you – otherwise what is the point? I will always be thinking about you all.

For the final time,

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Kingfunks4

CPAH Advisor & Army Legend