Welcome back to Behind The Scenes, the column where we look into the day-to-day life of a community member. This time, we will look into the life of Izzy, who currently serves as a Community Committee member.
Designed by Gabgeirl/Edu
Izzy began their journey on Club Penguin at a very young age. Despite being young, this did not stop her from getting online to play the game nor begging for membership cards. Whilst playing the game she came across mobs of penguins from armies. Yet, she never joined an army. Instead, she continued to play and enjoy the game.
When Club Penguin closed down, more alternatives to the game started to appear. It was in November 2017, on one of these alternatives, CPPS.me, that she came across the Club Penguin Crew. This later went on to become the Club Penguin Crew Empire. Before rebranding, the Crew went on to achieve second place in the Christmas Chaos tournament. As most armies do, the army had some troubles along the way, leading to the rebrand.
Izzy left the army after a change in leadership occurred in the new year (2018), leaving them to look elsewhere for a home. Some of the armies that they briefly joined are Water Ninjas, Underground Mafias Army, Romans, Rebel Penguin Federation, Templars and Dark Knight Empire. However, despite the amount of armies they helped, they did not quite find a home in these armies.
Izzy during their time in RPF
Mid-2018 they took a step back from armies, only helping the Elite Guardians out now and again in events. In early 2019, they reverted back to the army scene, joining The Royal Family (also known as Royals). She managed to settle into this army, doing her best to help it succeed. In August, the army made it through to the semi-finals of Club Penguin Online’s Summer Bash tournament. They beat out Hurricanes to qualify for the semi’s. However, they were taken out of the tournament by Light Troops. Despite their exit from the tournament, the army stayed strong and even secured 5th place in the Top Tens at the end of September.
However, the whole world soon turned on its head as a global pandemic hit in early 2020. It was because of this pandemic that Izzy took a step back from Royals. However, to this day, they are noted as a ‘Loyal Veteran’ of Royals on their website. In March 2020, they were approached by Darklink to join Special Weapons And Tactics. At this point, the world was starting to lockdown to stop the spread of Covid19. This allowed them to take Darklink’s offer of Third-in-Command.
Once she joined the army, she started to climb the ranks, climbing to Leader-in-Training. However, disaster soon struck as the army was defaced. This was not the end of SWAT though. Sweater soon approached Izzy, offering them a chance to lead alongside them. The army was able to reach a max of 100+ in April. However, on May 16th Izzy retired from the army to focus on their real-life responsibilities. Following their retirement, SWAT was soon merged into Doritos of Club Penguin.
SWAT during a defence in April 2020
This was not the end of Izzy’s time in armies nor in SWAT. Once Ganger90 heard of the army’s merger, he planned to bring it back, once again. Izzy was just one of the leaders who spearheaded its revival as a leader, in late May. However, she soon stepped back from leading, once again. She also created the One Direction Army alongside Aubz, Crunkk and Mare. Two of them also became SWAT leaders in 2020.
Life often was at the forefront of Izzy’s mind as her real-life responsibilities kept coming in between her and armies. This led to her disappearing from the spotlight and yet armies still called to her. Upon UMA’s revival in November 2020, Dino approached Izzy and offered her a place in their High Command. The army soon closed down, approximately a month later. This left Izzy without any attachment to and responsibilities in armies. This meant that she could finally take the time that she needed to focus on her responsibilities in real life.
One moment that shocked the entire community, earlier in the year, was the revival of EGCP. Before their revival, Edu approached Izzy, offering them a chance to rejoin the upcoming revival. Originally they joined for the role of advisor but were soon persuaded to join the ranks. Once EGCP revived in May 2023, they quickly obtained Captain and became Ausia Leader.
A war soon struck, shaking the very core of the community. This war is known as World War IX. The Elite Guardians quickly rose within the army community, gaining great power. During that time they had wars with multiple armies. Yet, on June 1st, they combined their forces with Water Vikings and Rebel Penguin Federation to form the Blue Sunset Alliance to take on the Army of Club Penguin. Allies soon came to the aid of ACP, leading to the creation of the Sapphire Concordat, leaving the community split. During this time Izzy managed to help the army quickly achieve Major status in June. They also gained a promotion to Third-in-Command in the same month as their meteoric rise.
One of the battles during the World War
This war became one of Izzy’s favourite memories as they were able to VC lead and help translate commands into English. This gave them a big responsibility that they had to fulfil. They fondly remember VC leading and then making a speech before listening to music in the channel or even hosting a karaoke. They were also promoted to become an International Division Leader alongside Lass in July. Despite only being in the army for a couple of months, they became an integral part of the army and a great credit to its success, among others.
Unfortunately, they had to retire from the army in August. However, they remain an active part of the community as a Community Committee member and as a Judge. These are not the only roles they have held in the wider community. They have been a mod for Tundra Penguin, CPRemade and even CPUniverse.
Their time in armies does not define them, however. They are currently a full-time university student, studying hard to get to where they want to be in life. When not doing university work, they enjoy hanging out with their friends, going on coffee dates or finding new trendy spots to hang out at.
Reading is another one of the many things they enjoy, along with listening to music. From a young age they would often read Percy Jackson books, this piqued their interest in Greek and Egyptian Mythology. Myths can be a thing of wonder with many creative narratives. From Zeus’ story to Medea’s, these myths leave nothing to be desired. However, they do leave modern-day readers with many questions.
Zeus
As previously mentioned, they enjoy listening to music. Some of the artists they like are My Chemical Romance, Bad Bunny, Joji, Melanie Martinez, Pitbull and Young Miko. These artists are played on their Spotify daily so it is clear to see who was on Izzy’s Spotify Wrapped list this year.
To learn more about Izzy, Club Penguin Armies approached them for an interview.
So who is Izzy behind the scenes, when you’re not playing Club Penguin?
A full-time student with a full-time job who gets overworked and drinks caffeine to deal with both to be sane.
Over the years, you have often left armies due to having real-life responsibilities. Has keeping a good balance between the two been hard? Is there a secret that people don’t know to having a good balance?
Well, it’s more so if youre able to handle the responsibilities that come with being in an army. In my case, after being ID Leader, AUSIA Leader and 3ic in EGCP. I had started a new job that would take up my time during the day and as soon as I clocked out of my shift, I head to evening classes in my university. I’d rather give priority to things that can keep me afloat irl as an adult rather than being an army hcom. I feel like there could be a balance for other people ( if you can handle it as well), but for me personally, armies is something I can fill my spare time with rather than make it of something with a responsibility.
Has your time in or away from armies allowed you to explore yourself more e.g. find things you like, hobbies etc?
Well, as of recently, I’ve found myself baking little treats more often for friends and coworkers. If I’m not stressing from neither university nor work. I’m stressing about my dough not rising. (Focaccia bread is elite tho)
You mentioned that you enjoy hanging out in trendy sports. What’s trendy nowadays and why is it enjoyable to you?
I’d say any hot topic or hangout place that has been buzzing around my city. At the moment it’s a Korean BBQ place with karaoke lounges. Since my friends study abroad, anytime my friendgroup is back in town we go to all those spots that we find interesting and rate them in our scrapbook that we have. Once the year ends we showcase every place we went and rate them based on our experiences.
Do you have any plans for the future? If so, what are they?
I might transfer to a university abroad to pursue my bachelor’s and master’s degree. But in terms of CPA, there might be a slight chance I’d return eventually. That’s pretty much it at the moment
Thank you Izzy for sparing your time to talk to us. It has been interesting to explore yet another community member’s past in armies but also to see who they truly are behind the scenes. It is clear to see the impact that they have had on the armies they have helped. They have helped armies through successes and failures but never stopped coming back to aid an army in its time of need. Will Izzy return, once again, to the army scene? Or perhaps will they go on to live a successful life instead. We, at Club Penguin Armies, wish Izzy the best of luck in their future endeavours.
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Mchappy is interning at Club Penguin Armies as the Chief Executive Producer. Max held him at gunpoint to finish his biography.