End Of The Line – Retirement of Ugly New

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Ugly

Addressed to the Army of Club Penguin

As of December 21st, 323 days after induction, I Ugly will be stepping down from my Commander in Chief position.

I still remember to this day when I first joined armies and how insignificant it was to me at the time being this little troop with no experience not knowing anything or no one or what the hell was going on. Fast forward 4 years later and I became a leader for the biggest army in history.

It’s funny because back then I used to look at armies like ACP and feel intimidated and even build the courage to just join the server. I thought that major armies were literally impossible for me to join at the same time (let alone become the leader in one of them). I realized at that very moment that this community is very special in a way, and I did what the non-average person would do and stay. Little did I know the next 4 years of my life would be one of the craziest.

I won’t make this post 10 pages talking about my army history, I moreso just wanna talk about my journey in this community, the Army of Club Penguin community. This community has given me so much that I would have never asked for in years, a place where I can feel appreciated.

Rocky Start

My journey in ACP has really been one of a kind, it’s hands down been one of the toughest things I had to take on in the past few years. I very much anticipated becoming a leader at one point but certainly didn’t expect it to be so soon, and once I got passed on the torch my entire vision changed. One of the most difficult things I had as a leader was the fact that I had to solo lead almost right off the bat, I didn’t wanna show it at the time but I really did feel lost. I had to learn a lot of stuff on my own and surprisingly pulled quite the risky moves for example war the Water Vikings where they just had won a major tournament. We then fought hard in the World Cup tournament and even went to the finals but sadly also lost. My next big project was the Legends Cup, and I knew there was a possibility of us winning as the triumvirate returned to the ranks and I promoted Roxy into leadership. A lot of things didn’t go our way in the tournament and while we still were able to defeat the Water Vikings and take revenge for the previous war, we fell short and were knocked out similar to the last tournament. By that point I started thinking about retirement and calling it quits, however, something extraordinary happened.

The Uprise

Right after the Legends Cup, the Elite Guardians declared war on the Army of Club Penguin and began something that I would have never predicted. Them warring us definitely put a nail in my coffin, as I wasn’t ready for another war and no one else on the team was. I felt disappointed at the time because the only reason for war was EGCP’s ego and greed, regardless I accepted the challenge not expecting much. The first battle concluded and we won. The feeling I had at the time was almost bittersweet, knowing this is only the start to something very long. I was also contemplating that the war would be as long as the previous ACP-EGCP war, and at the time it was seen as a very long war. I remember I think around the 20 battle mark they started gaining a lead on us, and I fell into a bigger dilemma, as I kept thinking I’d bring ACP another war loss that it wouldn’t handle and the option of surrendering was appearing larger to me by the day. I remember the very moment something snapped inside me, and I knew that very moment I was not gonna surrender to an army like the Elite Guardians and bring dishonor to my army.

Despite everyone being away at the time, I continued leading on my own most of the battles in the first half of the war to buy everyone enough time. Once it reached mid-August we began a massive uplift that we even started winning US events, a massive hype train emerged that kept everyone going and I could really see the determination of all troops and staff to win the war. It was definitely one of those moments that you just had to be there to see it. I understood something very valuable during this tournament, and that is to never give up and always fight and strive for greatness no matter the circumstances. The amount of records that we broke was unimaginable, some were going crazy over 30 battles and we just had over 100 like it was nothing.

September turned out to be the most successful month of the year, despite it being named the ‘September Drop’. A lot of old veterans returned and our maxes were surpassing the 40’s regularly. It turned out that all the work paid off at the end. While I redeemed myself in winning a war, I felt as if I should also redeem myself in terms of tournaments. October came by and ACP participated in the Project Conquest: Blood Bowl, the tournament where if you can’t handle 2 battles per day then you won’t win and our biggest rivals were the recently revived Secret Service. There was a lot of bad blood right off the bat with SS seeing as they were heavily anti-ACP and using that agenda to build off of it, and seeing they’re fresh out the oven we knew defeating them wouldn’t be easy.

A lot of back and forth later and a whole lot of drama, we were able to grab the trophy and be crowned the victors of the tournament. After 8 months of leadership, I finally felt that I accomplished everything I wanted.

I kept ACP as the number #1 army, breaking most Top Ten records

I won the biggest war in history [Most official/documented battles]

I earned the Silver Medal Award

I was inducted as the best major army leader in CPA, with ACP also being inducted as the biggest army

I won the tournament with the most amount of battles hosted ever

I hosted about 6 successful themed weeks [Ally Ambush, Superheroes vs Villains, Operation Army Drills, Operation Clovathon, Anniversary Week, Operation Insurgency]

I broke 5 different max records, holding the highest ACP size in the last 3 years [74]

I held the most amount of events in one month in history [77]

I fully revitalized the staff system, assessed the army economy, established a war division, and renovated the Shamrock Bulletin

And most importantly, I became a leader in one of the best communities out there.

I decided to stay at the time out of my own will because I didn’t wanna be the guy who only left after things got better, I wanted to stay to continue supporting and helping the army by all means necessary no matter if it ended in good or bad. Doritos quickly rose after their revival and it was clearly seen that my goal to win Christmas Chaos was gonna be a tough challenge.

Despite ACP losing Christmas Chaos, we defied all odds of being easily defeated and put up easily the biggest battle of the year, only losing by 1 room and tying two. The message was clear, if ACP is going down It’s going down with a fight. The reason for my stay wasn’t only about Christmas Chaos, I figured the best possible transition from leadership was a nice fresh change for the year 2025, and I continued to set off ACP for a good ride for that year.

I’m not gonna do the cliche naming everyone important to me, though I am gonna shout out Austinfraud, a good friend of mine who is quite literally the only reason I’m here. He has been there for me since day one and has continued to support me, mentor me, and guide me into a path of success. Thank you my friend for everything and I will never forget you trusting and believing in me no matter what, sincerely.

Now is as good a time as any for me to pass the torch towards Roxy, as I believe she will carry on the legacy of ACP in the utmost way possible. The year 2025 is gonna be full of successes, achievements, history, and domination for ACP. Thank you all for always believing in me, my ambitions, goals, and ideas. This has been the greatest and craziest online journey I’ve ever been on, and thanks goes to all of you for making it so special.