The Penguinpocolypse: Recalling The Final Hours of Club Penguin

The+Penguinpocolypse%3A+Recalling+The+Final+Hours+of+Club+Penguin

It’s over. After over a decade of game play, featuring bizarre pets called puffles and tricked out igloos, a piece of everyone’s childhood has officially shut down its servers and crushed teenagers and young adults hearts across the globe — those who remember the “glory days” of the famed site. That’s right, Club Penguin officially shut down on March 29, 2016 with one final message of “Waddle on.” That’s it, childhoods are destroyed and the internet has gone to ruin. But fear not! A mobile version of the game has since been released for those who want the magic to continue. But that’s not what this article is about. Rather, this is about the final days of the site, and the memories that are associated with it.

Club Penguin officially opened its iceberg on October 24, 2005, and was quickly bought by our mouse-worshipping overlord, Disney, for just over 350 million dollars. This, according to some loyal users, signified the beginning of a slow downfall. Things seemed fine at first in the world full of puffles and karate fighting penguins, with some odd themed parties here and there. And then membership took over. At first, it just helped you access special items and buy unlimited puffles, but then it escalated. By the sad final days, you quite literally couldn’t do anything without a membership. You want a shirt? You have to have a membership. You want to buy the elusive rainbow puffle? You have to buy a membership.You want to walk down a particular street? You have to have a membership. The game was run by a privileged elite, decked out in offbrand Coachella outfits, followed by a horde of creepy puppy looking puffles.

The themed parties also started to get out of hand. What once were simple Holiday themed parties, with the occasional weird Puffle or Pirate party or two, soon became Disney themed marketing ploys. And everyone knows what that means: Frozen. Everywhere.

But the site was reminiscent of when teens played in the mid 2000s. Memes were still everywhere, ranging from “FAKE NEWS” to, surprisingly enough, Rick Rolling. Classic questions that plagued all of us in our youths, such as “do u wanna be my girlfriend?” and Junior Samira Benkhallouk’s favorite, “boy or girl?”, reminded everyone that some children still do play the website on a regular basis. There was still the joy of getting yourself banned from the site, a phenomenon that even sparked its own subreddit back in the day. And who can forget the legitimate Trump protest in November of 2016, screenshots of which went viral. The bizarre culture of Club Penguin still thrived well into its final hours.

While the hours dragged on, the atmosphere of the site shifted. Penguins old — who came back on just the watch it burn — and new slowly started to get more crazy. Everyone began to act like it was a real apocalypse.Or as Junior Kate Schneider put it, “A Penguinpocalypse?”

As a gift to satisfy the dissatisfied masses, membership was bestowed upon all of the penguins. But no one cared. Penguins were too busy screaming, “SAVE CP!”, singing to the 2003 alt-rock hit, “Bring Me To Life”, and chanting satanic rituals in a last ditch effort to save the beloved site.

And a myth that has plagued the website since it’s beginning finally came into fruition. Who knows who started the myth, but all that I know is that the rumor of the ability to tip the iceberg has been around since the beginning of the site. After twelve years of trying, the iceberg was finally tipped by a gathering of navy blue penguins equipped with jackhammers. Actually it was flipped, revealing a dance floor, speakers, and free hard hats.

The site officially shut down at 12:01 P.S.T, and it genuinely was sad. Sure, true fans can always pick up the new mobile game but reports have indicated that it does not match the level of its predecessor. And as a fun little corner of the internet shut down, it can easily be said that it will be missed.