Tistle Announces Retirement From Help Force

ZIPLINE, Help Force Empire – As summer ends and a new semester approaches, the community bids goodbye to Help Force leader Tistle who announced his departure from the leadership. He plans to remain until August 31st for his retirement event before leaving armies permanently.

Tistle first joined the Help Force on June 24th, 2019, at first only interested in acquiring more stamps. However, he quickly found a warm community to thrive in, rising through the ranks to moderator by August and getting leader by October. Although he took a five-week break in January 2020, he came back at the start of the fifth generation, where many of his accomplishments lie.

At the start of Generation 5, the Help Force was at a vulnerable stage. The retirement of Ayan, the creator, left Help Force in a weak position, with maxes dropping to below twenty and fewer and fewer events hosted. This led to general despair among the staff, as well as the removal of Spotty and Lottie from leadership. From there, Tistle, Juanita, and Moon were inducted as leaders and given the task of reconstructing the Help Force. Under their leadership, they remodeled the server, and recruiting resumed at a much greater intensity. Their work paid off–eventually, the Help Force’s sizes returned to the 30s and 40s, and they placed third at a CP Army Media tournament.

The Helpers facing ACP in the CPAM tournament

The army continued to grow under Tistle’s leadership. In the spring, the Helpers fought two wars, one against the Recon Federation of Club Penguin and the other being World War Rewritten. After these wars, Tistle was the only commander remaining. However, he still performed incredibly well. In the following months, Help Force ranked highly on the Top Ten, and, most impressively of all, placed in the finals of the Legends Cup X in June. In a surprising power move, 71 Helpers, a record battle max for the Help Force, were able to beat the Doritos in the quarter-finals with a score of 1-0. Following that, they beat the Dark Warriors in the semi-finals, finally facing the Rebel Penguin Federation in the last round. Although the Rebels won, the results were still incredible for the Help Force. They had stunned everyone completely with their stellar performance.

Help Force facing DCP in the Legends Cup

Following the Legends Cup, Tistle kept the Help Force on good terms with everyone, avoiding war. They instead opted to focus on practice battles and recruiting. By August, the Help Force Discord server hit 5k members and they beat both the Army of Club Penguin and the Special Weapons and Tactics in practice battles. They also took victories against the Ice Warriors and the Doritos, as well as hitting a record AUSIA max and ranking third on the Top Ten.

The Help Force took a 2-0 victory against the Ice Warriors in this practice battle

After these victories, Tistle announced his retirement. In his post, he voiced his reasons for retiring, stating:

My reasons for retirement:

1. School. Just like the majority of retirements these days, mine is partially connected to the real life demands of school and exams. My new term is starting in early September, which was earlier than anticipated thanks to Coronavirus. With this major hurdle, I won’t be able to juggle both my education and my leading duties both at once anymore, and my real life must always come first.
2. Armies. It’s rare that you find an army leader, a solo first-in-command, that doesn’t really like armies very much. When I joined Help Force, I only wanted to collect the hard stamps to complete my stamp book, not really knowing what armies were at all. I enjoyed the community enough to remain active and rank up, but I had never intended on leading. I feel by now, after being staff for an entire year, that I’ve endured enough about armies and how they work, and it’s time to try something different.
3. My Contribution. Over the 10 months that I have been administrator of the Help Force, I’ve been constantly working on making the server and overall experience of Help Force better for new members. My creativity has allowed many of the roles we see today to exist, some as reward roles, or as promotion roles. When I returned off leave in February 2020, I was meant to support the 5th Generation return to power, not to lead it completely. I feel that for this reason, I have completed my goal and can safely pass the baton to the next generation of Helpers.

Reasonably enough, Tistle wishes to end his eventful career on a high note so he can focus on school. CP Army Hub reached out to Tistle for an exclusive interview on his retirement and what his thoughts are moving forward.

You’ve already detailed in your retirement post your reasons for leaving. What are your plans in the future? Do you foresee a possible comeback?

I can’t see myself returning to lead or be staff in Help Force or any other armies simply because there’s a part of me that doesn’t massively enjoy them. It sounds weird that a solo first-in-command would feel that way but that’s just how it is. I may help the Force by attending future battles if I’m free but otherwise my time in armies has come to an end.

Understandable. This community does take a toll on people after a while. Have you been planning your retirement for some time now, or did the timing feel right?

Truthfully, I’ve had retirement in the back of my mind for the past few weeks or so, but I knew if I was to leave Help Force I had to leave it when it was in a strong state and after making sure my successors are fully equipped to take on the task of leading the army forwards. After PB in the past week and my school term just around the corner, I feel this was probably the perfect time to hang up my boots and pass the baton of leadership to the next generation.

Leaving on a high note is always good! What do you expect the Help Force to achieve in the future? How do you think they will fare having just lost an excellent leader?

Help Force has that killer instinct that lots of armies don’t have. On average, it’s just a normal group, not always peaking in regular events. But when there’s a tournament or a battle the hype is magnified so much that you can almost fully expect Help Force to pull a surprise. I don’t think that without me that Help Force won’t be able to recreate this. They will be in the hands of two exceptional leaders who have both learnt a lot in recent months and I believe are ready to continue where I left off. I expect Help Force to pull off more big results in the future, perhaps even working their way up the Top Ten even further and pushing for that #1 spot. Only time will tell…

Awesome, looking forward to it! What piece of advice might you offer to the current and incoming leaders or staff?

Don’t get too stressed and don’t try to take on too much stuff at once. Focus each week and each battle at a time and never underestimate any armies in this league. Just focus on yourselves and what you’ve learnt, and don’t let results and pressure weigh you down.

Great advice, applicable to real life too. Finally, is there anything you’d like to say to everyone, one last time?

I wish everyone well for the future in whatever they’re doing, and remember to stay safe. Remember, Person > Penguin, and Protection > Everything. Help Force has given me an experience I will never forget and I hope many more people in their respective armies will be able to reach the heights they aspire to achieve too. Help Force Best Force.

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Although all good things must come to an end, it seems to be a happy ending for Tistle. This leaves us with only one question: How will the Help Force fare in the future under leaders Barnito and Hannah? Perhaps, like Tistle says, only time will tell!

What do YOU think? Will the Helpers continue to rise under their new leadership? Or will Tistle’s departure strike a devastating blow on the Force? Let us know YOUR thoughts in the comments below!

Sophie

CP Army Hub Reporter