Fun fact: we did, in fact, hide "Aunt Arctic is the Director" in Morse code many years before the reveal. So that was actually true. Great video! Nice to see all the stuff in one place like this
This is the most legendary confirmation I've ever read in my life! The Archives were complete after all!!! Edit: I did a google search and found a forum from *2006* theorizing about the Director's identity being revealed in Morse Code. I still can't believe that a 15 year old theory *about* a theory was finally confirmed for the first time in the comment above!
I actually first joined Club Penguin during the blackout. I was really confused, and even scared that my penguin would get permanently frozen if i stopped playing for a few days. When the event ended, i just had this sense of accomplishment that i really did help save the island.
This is something that I always wondered, were you immediately drafted into the EPF? Because in the early days you had to wait 30 days or do a test to become a secret agent, how did you become one so quickly? Also, where you confused by what was happening since you didn't have any backstory on Herbert?
During Blackout, people who were weren’t agents would see a paper in the newspaper that said “Everyone on the island is now a part of the EPF resistance”, and then they could click it and immediately become EPF.
@@KeyanCarlile Ah, so that's what happened. It's nice that everyone got to participate but a little party of me feels a bit slighted that a bunch of new players got to defeat Herbert and learn the Director's identity so easily. Like when I played Operation Blackout it felt like a culmination of years of effort. I played all the PSA missions, faced off against Herbert in the shadows and theorized about the Director for years. Operations Blackout and learning the Directors identity felt like something I EARNED and it gave Operation Blackout an irreplaceable feeling of accomplishment and exclusivity. So I don't know how I feel about new players finding out the Director's identity when they didn't even know who the Director or Herbert was a few days prior. Like there is no way they could have appreciated the gravity of the secret they just conveniently learned and in my Club Penguin mind, it feels a bit unfair for new players to just learn these huge secrets when older players participated in a a story for years before they learned these bombshell story developments.
@@KeyanCarlile I played Club Penguin for a while before the operation, but I never could figure out how to pass the test to become an agent. I finally did as soon as Operation Blackout started. I guess necessity is the mother of invention, or in this case the mother of figuring out how to enter the EPF
When this event happened, I ran into Herbert. He went into another room & then I wasn't able to enter that one or get his autograph background. I sent an email to Club Penguin & told them that my computer died (which was a complete lie). They ended up checking & seeing that I had been in the room with him and gave me the background. 9 year old me really finessed
You forgot a tiny little thing: months prior to operation blackout, in one of the newspaper issues, Herbert actually LEAKED the existence of EPF to the entire island, so much so that it made the headlines and all articles were about the EPF from Herbert's perspective in some way or form. And to my child self, who was so heavily invested in the whole secret agent storyline, that was the biggest "oh shoot!" moment of my childhood. Like, in real life I knew everyone knew, but from a role playing perspective, that was huuuge
dude same, I may have been little but I was INVESTED in the whole secret agent thing. I took it so seriously as a kid, it was honestly some of the most fun I’ve had in a video game back then XD
I lived on the family PC during this. My mom would tell me it was time for bed and I'd cry bc Club Penguin needed me (which, I knew wasn't exactly true, but I couldn't stand to not be online in case something changed and I missed it lol)
Little detail that adds up to all this: it wasn't Rookie's mistake of buying so many anvils that the island tipped, it was one of the crabs that tripled the number of anvils in the order, so it was staged from the start to get Herbert out of his cage instead of an accident
Actually! If you've ever played the DS game Herbert's revenge, another possible explanation that (yes doesn't make sense) is given is that Herbert used a large death ray to melt a hole in the island. Cool fact.
@@iwakeupandboomimarat same bruh. This seems like some James Bond stuff. The missions are core memories to me. Something about them held so much substance to me.
Operation Blackout was one of the most hype things I’d ever experienced as a child Like, straight off from school I’d hop onto the family desktop, ignoring all my homework that I needed to do because it was more important to stop Herbert than to do my maths and spanish
I never read any guide back in the day, I just accidentally hit the snowball to trigger the secret agent mission so to the young me it feels like I'm actually special and get recruited by the organization. One of my best memory
Fun fact, I had a similar experience, I did not know that sucha thing as EPF existed and always questioned myself what was the point of the "Estranha Parnefenália Falante" (Everiday Phoning Facility, I am Portuguese) until one day (when my penguin was like 100 or so days old) I received a strange mail telling me to go to that place so that I could be tested. The thing is, it was not the email you could send people to recruit them it was different it came out of nowhere from no one
I was obsessed with operation blackout as a kid to the point where I threw an irl party with my friends. We decorated the house, set up puzzles to solve, turned all the lights off, and even got my dad to dress up as Herbert. It was by far my favorite Club Penguin party
I think Herbert may have the best Villain backstory ever. The poor bastard just wanted to find a warm beach and accidentally sailed all the way to the south pole! I also love how he introduces himself as Herbert P Bear Esquire and never mentions his law career again.
Herbert was the perfect villain for Club Penguin. Club Penguin was really happy place and I'm really happy the team decided to make this one character evil and imposing enough to actually be seen as a threat. I mean this guy stole, kidnapped, bombed, and destroyed whatever he wanted to achieve his selfish goals. I always took Herbert seriously and that's vital quality for any villain!
@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi absolutely! He was the only polar bear and the guy was intimidating. Also he tried to demolish the ski lodge like 3 times not to mention the popcorn incident
Well, in Britain and the Commonwealth Realms, "Esquire" is just a title that can be given to someone else, much like Mister. And since Club Penguin is a Canadian game, that explains it all.
Reminder that the “Join the secret agents” sidequest thing involving hiding from the camera and escaping the cage will forever be one of my favorite things I ever did in the Flash era of the internet, especially for a kid who was never allowed a Membership I’m also really glad a lot of things like Blackout were Non-Member-Friendly for the same reason, even if I never got a Herbert Costume hey I was able to get a Grapple Hook and a Klutzy Costume so I took what I could get lmao
Fun fact: The EPF started training Rookie to be the new director after Blackout, because Aunt Arctic's identity had been compromised. (AND HE ACTUALLY BECOMES THE DIRECTOR, IT'S REVEALED IN THE FUTURE PARTY)
I think what's awesome, is that a lot of us probably met/walked past eachother as kids in our penguin avatars. So nice to see you all again! Waddling on as ever :D
About Rookie knowing the Director’s identity before we did, how much do you want to bet that Rookie just found out by accident? You can not tell me you don’t see that happening.
Fun fact, this event was so big to 7 year old me I had my mom actually call Club Penguin's support line to ask if I could legally write a book about it. They said no but they did send me a postcard all the way from Canada that I still have. I also heavily considered writing a play about it, and asked like half the kids in my class if they wanted to star in it, leading to my first huge ego boost when I heard people asking eachother if they were in it.
When Club Penguin shut down, I cried. I specifically remember going over that ending cutscene from Blackout over and over in my head. There will truly never be another game like Club Penguin, and there's not a snowball's chance in hell that any game will ever have an event like Operation Blackout
@@normalLaSerpienteCopada Fortnite is not the same at all, it has a lot of fans but isn’t that different from other shooters. There’s not this feeling that this was all made by a handful of people who just drew and made what they could, it felt more like a corporate team which it is.
It’s so crazy to think that I was one of those one million penguins logged on all those years ago. I just remember sitting at my parents big clunky pc seeing the cutscene for the first time and actually screaming when AA was revealed. It was INSANE to my little 10 year old brain😭 soso glad I got to experience this party
i stopped playing club penguin before blackout, but i remember following the epic missions and seeing the old facility reduced to popcorn, it was so fuckin raw man.
@@benwatterson851that is the very first thing that came to mind for me😂. Besides inator, the “self-destruct” button is more or less an unlicensed trademark for doof.
Skipper: Rico, you still have the pipe bomb? Rico: *gags up the pipe bomb and button, and throws the pipe bomb into Herbert’s lair* Private: *presses the button*
And it's sad to think that we can never live these heartwarming times and memories again. It's all gone. What sucks is if something like this were to happen, the "secret" would just be shared all over TikTok and Social Media because people wouldn't show they were worthy. I miss these days, and I wish another beautiful game like this came to life. I mean, CPRewritten is doing good but it just.. doesn't feel the same y'know? I miss these days of my life and it drops a tear from my eye looking back. :)
Tbh people were blowing the secret afterwards. I wasn't one of them because I didn't want to ruin the surprise for others. Aunt Artic didn't deserve sharing it to those people.
Yeah, it really was a product of its time. It was one I cherish deeply but had to end at some point, it just couldn’t compete with the newer games that kids were playing. The difference from CPPS’s are that there isn’t that same feel of “this is made by a passionate team that makes new unique parties every month”, you know that it’s reused parties, not unique ones. I know CPR had those later on but I didn’t get to play those before it shut down.
Honestly at the end what you talked about with the crossovers was the exact reason why I had stopped playing, it had turned from a fun game with a unique story to a Disney turning it into a promotional gimmick for there popular tv shows and movies, overall the video was great and I will never forget the memories i made with it, thank you for bringing back some nostalgia
I remember loving those as a kid. At that age I never realized it was marketing, but I did think it was clever of Disney to use their different properties to give us unique crossovers we could play in for free. After a while, though, they started to all be the same "go to room, find object" model, which got really boring and repetitive. I actually remember being more annoyed by those parties than anything.
don’t forget how 90% of the game became members only, including most of the cool prizes that came with the parties being members only and non-members getting a fucking pin or tiny hat. disney really just squeezed money out of club penguin and squeezed out it’s charm and life in the process.
@@hola-gy8te I only had memberships occasionally, when I decided to use the membership cards I got for birthdays and Christmas. When I was a non-member it was still fun, but it felt like I was a second class citizen. When I was a member, I kinda forgot the non-member players existed. I don’t know what that says about society, but I definitely much preferred having a membership to not having one. And one time during the Star Wars party my membership ran out right before I got to the last mission. Unfortunately, this was also the only part you needed a membership for. Perfect timing!
I swear to God, I was literally thinking about how someone should make an exact video about this topic yesterday and then I randomly found this video not because I reached for it, but because I was recommended you Milo Murphy video, what a fantastic coincidence!
thats kinda similar to how i navigate old channels and seeing them upload a new vid in many years. i just have a lot of telepathy or time travelling shit going on with me too
As someone who is now in college I can safely say Operation Blackout was a defining part of my childhood (Club Penguin as a whole was too but still). This party made me feel like I HAD to get on to save the island, without me the island would be gone. I had a genuine hatred for polar bears because of Herbert and had to do whatever possible to get the island back. I vividly remember watching the finale of finding out who the director was and having such shock and chills. This video is amazing and I am so glad it covers the topic fully
I was so obsessed with this experience, the fact that we get nods to dictatorships in the design, the ever burning fire in the phone building, the freaking lighthouse turned into a hospital! I remember roleplay aiding people who had been hurt, it added so much to this dramatic air of suspense and disaster, little me was thriving in that so much. Oh, and the camps offering food and shelter, the makeshift underground revolutionary base, every place was affected, the progression day after day made it so much more heavy, because they were real life days passing by, waiting for the next mission, uncovering more places in the base, and ultimately defeating the threat. I loved the bleak and scrappy room design in the missions, just everything about this, man.
Honestly. That’s what I remember the most. The countless hours roleplaying and coming together as a community to survive such a disaster. When I played the final mission, I cried when the cutscene showed the hopeful looks in the penguins eyes as the sun shown through the clouds. It was very heavy seeing the snow pile up day after day and you could just feel deep in your bones, how freezing the island was getting. Seeing those penguins light up when the clouds part, I felt part proud to be an EPF agent, and part proud and relieved as citizen of club penguin. If I could go back to one time in my life, it would be to go back and reexperience Operation: Blackout, just as I did as a kid.
The fact that Club Penguin concluded its EPF arc right after I stopped playing leaves me with feelings of both disappointment and fulfillment. The PSA missions were undoubtedly my favorite part of Club Penguin, and I can tell that this event would have been everything I ever wanted from the game as an 11 year old.
Same,and the dojo was definitely second to me. I was still frustrated that I couldn't win as a white belt against sensei but I quickly figured after my second try that he was pulling all the right cards so I couldn't win.
yeah i stopped playing months before the blackout and i actually returned playing some months later. its like i missed something pretty huge and was very frustrated about that. had to play it on rewritten years later lol
I always liked the more objective based parties, and Operation Blackout was pretty much the definitive modern party. Despite popular opinion, my favorite era of Club Penguin was that semi-modern era from the early 2010s, where the parties were more detailed and unique, instead of just being a color pallet change for a holiday, you could actually interact with them to the point of feeling like the player was an essential part of the party. I know that pretty much all of the private servers anymore are emulating the classic, pre-Disney era of the game, but I'd kill for a private server from this era of Club Penguin, it was freaking fantastic.
Looking back on it, I can see how this would have been an amazing era for the game. Unfortunately I was 12 / 13 and older during this time, so lost interest in the game anyway, naturally, and mainly became really salty / sad nostalgic about the art style changes. If i'd been 6-10 then, I think I would have loved it. Most people who run the current cp private servers probably remember the earlier club penguin as the best time, because they were the right age for it then.... Club penguin rewritten has actually started using a lot of art and material from 2010-2013 during it's parties... A lot of rooms I don't remember ever playing, but the art style is actually really cute and the rooms are very interactive :)
I didn't even know that this party existed until now, it looks absolutely mental... I used to get SO hyped up about the PSA missions when they were released.... If I hadn't been a teenager when Operation Blackout came out, it would have probably been a defining childhood moment...
I still remember i had that klutzy crab costume, one of the things that kind of hurts me the most about club penguin shutting down is that all of those costume, backgrounds, puffles, igloo decorations, and stamps are gone for good now, but I guess that's just part of growing up This game wasn't just part of my childhood, from 2010 all the way until it's end in 2017, it was my entire childhood
The fact that I was a 7 year-old when this party came out and I can still vividly remember everything that happened (like getting stuck on the key puzzles and asking my older sibling for help) really magnified the impact this party had. I didn't hate post-blackout Club Penguin, but it really never was the same.
I remember the days off blackout, the way the called on the epf made me feel important, we had a mission, who cared if you had membership. It was time to band together and get the lights on, and stop that mad bear once again...
club penguin taught me that stories written for kids can be entretaining and dive into the concept (like just look how expanded the lore and worldbuilding of an early 2010s mmo game was!) sadly most games kids play today are just lazy arcades with "99% of the players can't do this😜😜" ads but games like club penguin and free realms showed kids a new world, brought up intriguing stories and captivating characters among it, something that stimulates kids to be creative while it's time to be creative, not lazy. I still hope games like club penguin will be popular among kids again, their childhoods must be protected just like we protected the penguin island one day.
"99% of the players can't do this 😜😜" lmao and yes, im saddened by the fact that virtual worlds aren't as popular as they used to be, it's a great kind of gameplay, like a second life you have inside your computer. This is genius and now it's losing its place to battle royale games or those games made in 3 days you mentioned that "99% of players can't do this".
Ah yes... back in the days when Disney was cool... 😂 Edit: On a more serious note: Blackout is probably the last party I remember seriously enjoying... everything all just sort of a slowly rolled to a close for me...
@@destroyingheal3968 Yeah, I fairly regularly missed everything after the end of that dance/disco/whatever party released... basically, anything after Minecraft came out, and I was dedicating most of my time to that.
Blackout was definitely the peak of Club Penguin. I have vert fond memories of some parties in 2013 like the Ninja Party and Operation Puffle but you could tell Club Penguin was on a downward trend because nothing was ever as good as Blackout was.
Operation: Blackout was honestly one of the only parties where you were moving in-time with the game, waiting and experiencing each real day as a part of the party. This narrative was so incredibly strong, I remember doing each section with my friends after school and talking about it in homeroom the next morning. I remember sitting around the dark, snow-covered island, feeling the hopelessness and uncertainty as everything continued to grow darker. I remember freaking out when it was over, when you saved the day and were recognized AS AN INDIVIDUAL for your work. club penguin, and operation blackout, is unmatched. there will never be anything like it ever again.
I was wondering “Who’s this? Was he on Club Penguin crew?” and I audibly gasped when I looked it up and realized you’re BUSINESS MOOSE! That Blackout sneak peak video is engrained in my head, lmao.
@@KeyanCarlile Heyyy! Not only that but I also did the tour video, Herbert style and the final reveal video. All of which are my favorite videos I made while working at CP. I'm only realizing now that they are all tied into the blackout story. What a crazy time to reflect on - the energy in the office was epic! Thanks for making this awesome video!
@@johnnyajansen Thanks for making a part of our childhoods so awesome! Did you work on the Card Jitsu Snow backstory cutscenes by any chance? I rewatched those so many times
‘We’re riffing off the fans myths and rumors’ God I wish more developers/writers would do this. Too bad I had already stopped playing club penguin for years before hand
This was PRIME club penguin. Imo the two best events of all time happened in the span of a school year. Operation Blackout and the Card-jitsu party 2013 which introduced Card-jitsu snow, by far the coolest game on CP. The Co-Op, the ridiculous ammount of lore for that one game... Both of these events were monumental. Amazing video
I would get out of school onto the computer just to play Card-jitsu just so I could master EVERY element. I spent endless hours playing, such good times
god i remember playing this event with my cousins! we were totally on edge the entire time and constantly either over eachothers houses trying to make plans and theorize or talking over the phone while we played each day. it made us feel like we were truly along the ride for everything
Seeing Herbert succeed and the island become dark was so great. I was always rooting for him. One of my favourite parts of the party was the glitch that allowed you to skip to the final part of the mission early.
Club Penguin is truly something special, you had to be there to know how awesome it was, it's something that could only really be experienced fully if you were there when it was on. Sure, the private servers can be fun to remember the game with them, but they're missing so much when compared to when it was actually on! It's really something that only could have worked when it did, nowadays people are too cynical to enjoy something like it, and that's why I think it closed when it did. It's time was over, and the only regret I have is that I missed some of the events because I didn't know of it yet.
I regret not being able to play it at all, I only remember the Ninja events, it was really such a fun experience, I even bought cards of Club Penguin and were SO COOL
Yeah, i still remember when servers were all full becuase of a new party. You just never see that on any other private server. People likely could still enjoy it, it’s just that there’s a lot more competition than back then. Most kids want an action packed game, not a game that changes every month to something new that you have to login to using a computer (which not everyone has now).
Seriously why don’t you have more subscribers. I’ve been here binging episodes for a few hours now and each one is incredibly entertaining and well done!
Thank you. I’ve never really *used* this channel before. It’s mostly just been a burner side account for me to dump various projects on. But I think I’ll definitely start to use and grow it a lot more going forward.
Operation Blackout happened to coincide with Thanksgiving 2012. I remember while the grown ups drank and horsed around at my house, 11 year-old me and my cousins hopped on Club Penguin upstairs and played O.B. on the family computer. Good times.
I think the only Club Penguin event that came close to Blackout's levels of hype for me was the one that finally brought in the snow dojo. I was waiting a while for them to bring in a snow dojo to complete the trilogy of elemental dojos and I personally think they delivered with flying colors.
I remember I had hundreds of thousands of coins and would just spend hours getting power cards and made so many other players accuse me of hacking. It was so funny to me
Honestly that was the most hype event for me besides Blackout just because as someone that wasn’t allowed to get the membership I can finally play Card Jutsu water and fire for free lmao. And also Card Jutsu snow was fun as hell back then
man, you just reminded me of how epic that mission actually was, today I had some faded memories of it and I wasn't really the "Looking for secrets" sort of person back then but seeing how you mention the buildup for the party from Ghosts Just Wanna Dance to newspapers to even a secret website it just makes it more insane for me, and I completely agree Blackout has to be the best party of all times. Having played this game since 2006 has really been a rollercoaster for me.
Oh my god. This. Party. I remember playing Club Penguin during this party and being genuinely disturbed by some of the background lore. Aunt Arctic being the director was a huge, mind-blowing reveal, too. You really had to be there to truly understand the impact Operation Blackout had and just how surprisingly amazing it was.
I didn't even know they did anything after Operation Blackout. So in my mind, this mission was the grand finale for my experience with Club Penguin. This is such a great video, it brings back all the memories.
I have an interesting story for this. When this happen I was pretty young but I still knew about Club Penguin and really liked it. When this event started a snowstorm had passed and the power was out. After it was over the event was on and I logged on to see it and I was super confused yet scared because I thought Herbert took over while the power was out and no one could play so he took power. Super coincidental yet thematic.
Awesome video! You did a pretty good job of breaking down both the lead up to and the events of the party, especially with the perspective of how impactful it was. The inclusion of Herbert Style made me laugh lol
As a kid I only found out about Blackout from Disney Channel marketing, but I remember what it felt like playing. You'd get home from school, rush through your homework, and immediately jump on the computer to wait behind a crowd of other penguins in a small room on an overcrowded server until you finally reached the door to the next stage of the mission. When it was finally over and you had saved the island and learned the directors identity, you waddled on feeling as though you were the only agent who'd defeated Herbert and everything you did saved the island.
I had completely forgotten about herbert having been captured prior to blackout. When you showed that picture of the big TV in the EPF HQ of herbert having escaped containment, it brought back some nice memories of me at 8 years old larping as an EPF agent, sitting at the conference table discussing herbert's whereabouts with other players. Good video 👍
Just came across this video today. I was one of the clubpenguin beta testers. By the time blackout came out I was a freshman in high school and grew out of the game. Glad you made a video on this event because I never experienced it for myself. The game though has such a special place in my heart, it was my obsession in elementary and middle school :)
The big reveal was so crazy. It felt so amazing experiencing it with everyone in the final level even if I could only express my excitement through chat bubbles. I think I cried!! Haha. Operation Blackout was a treat.
This was amazing! As someone who left shortly after the PSA blew up, it's really interesting to know all the things that happened after I left. I'd love to see more of this
omg yes. the blackout song was so amazing to me as a kid. still is tbh. it gives me chills. i was so in love i nearly wrote a fanfic based off the blackout event. this was probably the last time i was really into club penguin and im so glad i didnt miss out on it.
This might be a bad question but did you post the fanfic anywhere? I wanna see it XD Sorry if you think it would be cringy or whatever, but as a former player, I can relate and be comprehensive XD
Man, I remember thinking that the Director was secretly the brown penguin you help in ever mission. Seriously, he's there almost every time. In the Missing Puffles, he had the telescope, he was at the ski lift when we had to rescue the sledders, we later fixed his telescope when we were placing the trackers to find Herbert, he was in the nightclub when the power went out, and we fixed his glasses when the PSA exploded.
there is a speculation that he was sent to ask for help during missions on purpose and that he was Aunt Arctic's (aka. The Director) test to see if we were really good agents and if we would do more than our obligations. And when we received the Spy Goggles as a prize from the last PSA mission (The Veggie Villain) There's a note from Dot that says she gave this to us as thanks for helping a "friend of hers", which makes it practically obvious that she knows that penguin and that we don't help him for nothing.
OH MY GOODNESS, THE MEMORIES ARE KILLING ME! I was just an eight year old kiddo who couldn’t really understand what was going on and didn’t read any of the text, but I remember most of this vividly and how I still had all the stuff on my profile years later. I’m tearing up from the memories, man!
I still cant believe this was 9 years ago, i was only seven, but remember every bit of it, and the cutscene also make me very emotional to this day, even tho it didnt even have voice acting in my language, i remember being excited about every new update to this event each day, oooh the memories :,)
Dang, 2012... I was in high school at this point and I had stopped playing Club Penguin long before then, but watching this video makes me sad that I missed out. I started playing in 2006. I only had membership for one month throughout the game's life. I still have the card for it sitting in my wallet.
Ah yes, this video really even helps those who haven't been there in 2012 for it or even just recently heard of Club Penguin and just wanted to do research on it. Your representation on the party was truly epic and well... explaining its background truly rounds it all up very well.
No lie, Operation Blackout was the first time I got immersed into a video game. Yeah I played games like Mario, Donkey Kong Country, and Kirby on my Wii at the time. But this game actually got me immersed and started me down the path of really lengthy daydreams that had this overarching story. It was insane. Now that I'm older and looking retrospectively, I can thank Club Penguin for that since I tend to immerse myself a lot in video games as it helps the experience. And even as a writer, this shit is what I have to thank for my stories and such. I totally forgot about it, and Holy shit do I regret forgetting about it.
Club Penguin has and always will be a staple of the 21st century. It was wild and I’ll always remember the best time of the missions, especially this event
I think I was in maybe 2nd or 3rd grade when Operation Blackout was happening. I remember the sheer amount of anticipation I felt after seeing the trailers for it, I'd go to school and talk to my friend who also played Club Penguin about it, then come home and immediately getting on the family computer, ignoring any homework I had been assigned. Club Penguin was such a integral part of my childhood and I'm glad I got to play it for so long before it's servers shut down.
How you can tell this event made such a lasting impact on the kids of this generation: I've had the EPF Blackout theme stuck in my head for YEARS without being able to remember where it was from.
Oh man, now I feel bad for leaving CP after the pop corn incident. The only thing I enjoyed was the secret agent stuff and truly believed that there would be no more missions and nothing left for me as a Non-Member to enjoy. Now I can see that I missed out big time. Thanks for doing this video!
This blew my little child mind, lol. I was in a small school and everyone sorta knew each other, so this was all anyone in my grade would talk about- when we had computer lab free time all of us would go on club penguin during this event and we'd practically take over servers. It was pretty sick.
Unfortunately, I was unable to take part of this event, but it still gives me a sense of nostalgia. I find it amusing that the entire event happened because someone leaked a photo of a schedule that basically said that the devs were taking a break. It's crazy how one misunderstood thing lead to the most popular event in the history of the game. I miss club penguin.
This was such an exciting watch, I literally clapped at the Director reveal bahaha. I wasn't online by this time (I must have joined around 2014) but any and all memories created on the Club Penguin island are ones that I appreciate deeply. Thank you for a good chunk of nostalgia and an exciting retelling of these events. I think I might watch those Club Penguin TV specials now just for the love of it.
I played club penguin, for at least 6 or 7 years, I’ve seen it’s many highs and lows, but I cannot think of any other high that has matched operation blackout, the stakes, the atmosphere, the music, just everything about it was amazing, it really did a good job at being serious while not feeling like it was trying too hard to be edgy. It was just a phenomenal event, there’s a good reason that so many fans look back at operation blackout with fond memories, including myself. That cutscene where the directors identity was revealed blew my mind so hard when I was 12 and I will never forget it.
I was 12 back then and this was the last event I participated in CP since I felt I was getting too old for it. Seeing the director’s identity confirmed was a very satisfying way to end my childhood.
@@bananafone1414 ThirTEEN. 13 is a teenager lol. It's literally in the name. So their feelings were valid...their next birthday they would become a teenager. Not trying to be rude, just saying that 13-19 is the official definition of a teenager.
I remember being grounded through this whole event until the last day, when I was allowed to play 20 minutes of it, it was probably the first time I completed anything with an online guide
MAN, i remember this party, as a kid i was absolutely obsessed with the EPF stuff, had both the ds games and had every stamp for the tower defense mission. watching it all grow from the old blue walkie talkie to this was an absolute ride as a kid, and while i knew it wouldn't be forever it's a shame so many won't Quite know what it was like doing this one live. As someone who played from year one, props to you, OP, and props to the Club Penguin team for making something that's truly stuck with so many folks. Waddle on, my dudes!
I love imagining what club penguin would be like if it was designed for more mature audiences. Operation Blackout would be guerilla warfare between the remains of the EPF and Herbert's followers. Small scale operations, strikes on weapons depots, etc. Imagine how many stories are waiting to be uncovered - like war stories that are never told. People tend to only remember the EPF, but you need to also think about what the ninjas would do, what acts of bravery the Rescue Squad would commit. Dark days, pitch black nights, avalanches, fire, penguins being hunted down, etc.
Operation: blackout was such an amazing event. It had to be the first time a kids game had a total mood shift to be all serious and moody, at least in my eyes. The enviroment was dark and desolate, certain events were blocked off because of hubert, and literally everything was becoming under his control, at least whatever wasn’t already piled on my mounds of snow. My only gripe, and it’s rather small, was just that the security puzzles were rather simple, or moreso that they were all just the same, but at varying levels of difficulty. It’s a bit late to say, but maybe instead of a simple sliding puzzle for each one, they’d be different kinds of puzzles that were designed by hubert, so they’d be themed after him, like a “follow the numbers” drawing puzzle that was in the shape of klutzy, or a crossword puzzle that spelled out his name. Stuff that was all centered around him, but made you feel like a secret agent from solving them. Also, i kinda wish the final mission was more impactful than just solving a puzzle. Here’s what i think would’ve ended it. Like, when you reach the solar laser, hubert was there in your way, and he has a device that shoot cryogenically charged snowballs that’ll freeze you solid when hit. He says that it was all his plan to let you infiltrate his headquarters and lure you and the other agents out to him. He fires a snowball right at you, but before it hits, a shadowy figure appears in front of you, taking the snowball in your place. It’s the director, now with ice crystals embeded on their body and rapidly growing further out. They tell you that you are club pinguin’s last chance and to take the device they have, a makeshift blaster with a hot sauce bottle attached to it. The director drops the blaster before their entire body is frozen and as you rush to grab it, hubert laughs triumphantly, saying that now that the director was dealt with, they only thing left to deal with was you. As he says that, he pushes a button on the desk and the giant laser device suddenly starts extending towards the sky, leaving a rather large and long pole attached to it and a stairwell on top of that. Hubert, who was on the laser before it went off, says that the laser was now set for ultra-climate suspension, stealing bot only any remaining light from club pinguin, forcing it into a perma-freeze state, but also broadening the effect to the rest of the world, leaving the whole world in a state of absolute zero, all except for him and his lair. The device was not fully charged to completely do it, but it only had mere minutes until it would. He also thanks you for breaking through his defences, saying that when this is over, he’ll upgrade them to where not even the director themselves could break in, if they weren’t already caught. Hubert laughs as the laser heads towards the sky, leaving you nowere to go but up. This part would take you to the final minigame if the event, where your pinguin rushes up the staircase towards hubert and the laser. Using the hot sauce blaster, you shoot away freezing snowballs as they fly towards you, any that hit you freezes you instantly, before the hot sauce blaster’s heat thaws you out enough to break out, and you only have minutes to reach the top. Once you catch up to hubert, a boss battle begins, unlike the snowballs, hubert is unphased by the hot sauce, and all you can do is blast the snowballs that he shoots at you away. If you dodge enough, hubert gets frustrated and charges up his snowball blaster to fire a freezing ice ball at you. Blasting it a couple of times, you are able to redirect it’s momentum to have it fly towards hubert, allowing it to hit him instead. Each time he’s hit by an ice ball, more of him starts to get frozen, first to his legs, than his waist and finally to his arms and chest. With hubert frozen in place, you rush to the console controlling the laser, and mash every button in a panic to deactivate it. You don’t notice it, but hubert manages to break from the ice and aims his blaster at you. He hots the trigger and the blaster gets jammed. All that ice really frosted up the barrel to the point where the snowballs get stuck. Hubert then gets mad, hitting the trigger multiple times and shaking the blaster violently, until the blaster begins beeping and flashing wildly. It starts shaking wildly until, BOOOM! Snow and ice rain around you and you duck and cover from the blast. You look up from tour huddle to find hubert gone, the only remaining is just snow and a rather large pile of snow in his place, that is, until it starts to slip off and reveal that he had been encased in a thick layer of ice, himself, along with klutzy, who was on his shoulder during the fight. Your a bit mesmerized by the rather humorous sight, until you hear a blaring alarm behind you. When the blaster blew up, it. Shot ice shrapnel into both the console and the laser, breaking them in the process, and shutting the laser down. However, before you have time to celebrate, the console begins displaying a message, saying that the damage the laser was too great and will begin a meltdown, with a countdown afterwards. Not wanting to be around when it hits zero, you rush towards the staircase, which seems a bit more difficult to run down from than run up, though it might of been your determination of stopping hubert fueling you to go up, and the determination to run from a self-destructing machine isn’t that much of a motivator in comparison. As the console reaches zero, the laser explodes in a mass of metal and smoke, you reached far enough not to be effected by the blast, but you can feel the staircase shaking from the explosion, and you see it all start to break apart as you run further down, until the large pole breaks underneath you, taking the stairs, and you, with it. You may not be in the clouds any more, but you were still pretty high before you began falling, and even with all the accumulated snow that’s appeared around the island, no amount would be enough to make it a soft landing. But, before you get closer to the ground to start seeing details in the trees, a familiar voice is heard, and a loud vrring noise accompanies it. You suddenly feel something grab hold of you and you feel as though you came to a stop in the air, like an angel catching you. But, to your surprise, it wasn’t an angel, but jetpack guy, grabbing hold of you as you reach closer towards huberts lair. Jetpack guy quips that while he’s carried bags of puffle food heavier than you, you aren’t making the trip any easier. Before you reach the ground, though, you notice something flying through the sky, trailing smoke and it rushes off. It’s hubert! And klutzy, Still incased in ice, rushing away to an off-shore part of the island. Jetpack guy takes notice, as well, but says to just let them go, as they need to see of everyone is all right, besides, we’ll get him next time. As you and jetpack guy reach the ground safely, you see all the agents are safe and unfrozen, professor saying that hubert’s machine must have taken all the power from the system and caused the cryogenic pods to shut down. The agents begin to congradulate you, before noticing the clouds parting from the sky. The mission ends like the original, the clouds parting, the director’s reveal and the words of congradulation that they give. Like i said, i know i’m very much late to this, but this would’ve been a really cool way to end off the greatest club pinguin event, in my opinion.
Okay buy why isn't anyone freaking out about this awesome alternative ending??? Like, I think I need a fanfic or something now, idk you guys but can you imagine how many times I would imagine stories with those characters like this back then?? This is another level of nostalgia and hype on top of the video itself
My dude, I really want to read this comment but could you please leave some line breaks to organize it into paragraphs? It's just a block of text and that's too difficult and confusing to read.
I never played Operation Blackout when I was younger, but this video has an excessive amount of charm. You managed to portray your emotions rather vividly. It almost got me to the point of tears despite never playing during that era, ahaha. Amazing video :)
I remember me and a few members would glitch into the door that wasn’t available just yet and it was such a cool moment when we got to play the final mini game a few days earlier
I’m happy this exists. When I was younger I guess I was a visual learner and I never actually read any of what was happening. I just saw, and didn’t comprehend. I didn’t realize how absolutely awesome of an event this was as a kid, since I could never complete it or understand it. And I also just love video essays in general, thank you!
Honestly having them give tables a clothes to nonmembers was a big thing for me. My penguin never went without it bc it was the only full clothes I would ever get. The table was my favorite furniture and I love it. It was my favorite event and I will never forget it
I'm glad I've came across your channel and this video. Club Penguin has a really special place in my heart, since it was most of my childhood, and watching this brings me so many good memories. Thank you for this, I'm loving your content so far. Keep it up!
You asked how Herbert could have gotten the materials for the sun absorber, and I’m pretty sure that’s why Gary was targeted first, G was the scientist with an almost endless amount of materials (Given he makes a ton of machines in the PSA missions) and would definitely have what Herbert would need to create the machine.
This party happened before I joined but I remember really enjoying Operation Puffle when that one happened. Probably my favorite party I was around for
Can we all agree that herbert style is one of the biggest songs they did? It's on their top 10 in terms of visits... of what's left of their youtube channels.
This was peak gaming, I never experienced something that gave me the same sensation as this operation, I legitimately felt more patriotism to this island than to my own country. It makes my heart heavy just thinking that I will probably never go back to the island, see my puffles and experience something that was so exciting. Sometimes I go watch UA-cam videos of walkthroughs of this operation, and honestly it still rocks to this very day.
Fun fact: we did, in fact, hide "Aunt Arctic is the Director" in Morse code many years before the reveal. So that was actually true. Great video! Nice to see all the stuff in one place like this
w-what? seriously?! whoever came up with the idea deserves a medal
This is the most legendary confirmation I've ever read in my life! The Archives were complete after all!!!
Edit: I did a google search and found a forum from *2006* theorizing about the Director's identity being revealed in Morse Code. I still can't believe that a 15 year old theory *about* a theory was finally confirmed for the first time in the comment above!
years ago i saw a youtube video showing aunt artic as the director in the newspaper. blew kid mes mind.
I really miss club penguin
@@TauGeneration or a raise
I actually first joined Club Penguin during the blackout. I was really confused, and even scared that my penguin would get permanently frozen if i stopped playing for a few days. When the event ended, i just had this sense of accomplishment that i really did help save the island.
This is something that I always wondered, were you immediately drafted into the EPF? Because in the early days you had to wait 30 days or do a test to become a secret agent, how did you become one so quickly? Also, where you confused by what was happening since you didn't have any backstory on Herbert?
During Blackout, people who were weren’t agents would see a paper in the newspaper that said “Everyone on the island is now a part of the EPF resistance”, and then they could click it and immediately become EPF.
@@KeyanCarlile Ah, so that's what happened. It's nice that everyone got to participate but a little party of me feels a bit slighted that a bunch of new players got to defeat Herbert and learn the Director's identity so easily.
Like when I played Operation Blackout it felt like a culmination of years of effort. I played all the PSA missions, faced off against Herbert in the shadows and theorized about the Director for years. Operations Blackout and learning the Directors identity felt like something I EARNED and it gave Operation Blackout an irreplaceable feeling of accomplishment and exclusivity.
So I don't know how I feel about new players finding out the Director's identity when they didn't even know who the Director or Herbert was a few days prior. Like there is no way they could have appreciated the gravity of the secret they just conveniently learned and in my Club Penguin mind, it feels a bit unfair for new players to just learn these huge secrets when older players participated in a a story for years before they learned these bombshell story developments.
@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi I was just like you and I feel the same tbh but I had a lot of fun regardless…man I miss Club Penguin
@@KeyanCarlile I played Club Penguin for a while before the operation, but I never could figure out how to pass the test to become an agent. I finally did as soon as Operation Blackout started. I guess necessity is the mother of invention, or in this case the mother of figuring out how to enter the EPF
When this event happened, I ran into Herbert. He went into another room & then I wasn't able to enter that one or get his autograph background. I sent an email to Club Penguin & told them that my computer died (which was a complete lie). They ended up checking & seeing that I had been in the room with him and gave me the background. 9 year old me really finessed
What a determined9 year old
We finally found her! You’re going away for a long time
Charisma 100
I never knew that you could even do that lmao
@@dragondude7107 oh cool a doppleganger
You forgot a tiny little thing: months prior to operation blackout, in one of the newspaper issues, Herbert actually LEAKED the existence of EPF to the entire island, so much so that it made the headlines and all articles were about the EPF from Herbert's perspective in some way or form. And to my child self, who was so heavily invested in the whole secret agent storyline, that was the biggest "oh shoot!" moment of my childhood. Like, in real life I knew everyone knew, but from a role playing perspective, that was huuuge
Don't blame you, i was like: Oh no everyone's gonna know!!! And i was in 3rd grade xD
dude same, I may have been little but I was INVESTED in the whole secret agent thing. I took it so seriously as a kid, it was honestly some of the most fun I’ve had in a video game back then XD
YES UGH THE DETAILS AND WE WERE ALL SO INVESTED LIKE WE LIVED THERE😭 nothing will ever compare
I went to a small primary school, I really thought it was our little secret, we were so invested 😂❤
I lived on the family PC during this. My mom would tell me it was time for bed and I'd cry bc Club Penguin needed me (which, I knew wasn't exactly true, but I couldn't stand to not be online in case something changed and I missed it lol)
Little detail that adds up to all this: it wasn't Rookie's mistake of buying so many anvils that the island tipped, it was one of the crabs that tripled the number of anvils in the order, so it was staged from the start to get Herbert out of his cage instead of an accident
Why is Herbert unironically such a kickass villain?
@@juliogomesdesouza9035 Seriously
Ohhhhhhhhh!! So it actually is all masterminded! Damn, the effort that goes into this game.
Actually! If you've ever played the DS game Herbert's revenge, another possible explanation that (yes doesn't make sense) is given is that Herbert used a large death ray to melt a hole in the island. Cool fact.
@@Real_Moon-Moon I remember that mission. It was awesome and funny. It also explained why Herbert never fled the island, he can't swim.
This was really a “you had to be there event”. It felt personal, it had weight, it was great
Honestly, I wasn't there, and I totally got it.
Rewritten was pretty good until around 2020
Literally the best thing. So glad I got to experience it.
i wish i was playing the game at that time 😭😭 i remember the missions but i think i missed blackout
@@iwakeupandboomimarat same bruh. This seems like some James Bond stuff.
The missions are core memories to me. Something about them held so much substance to me.
Nothing like Club Penguin would exist today. It was a once in a lifetime entity.
So glad I was there to experience it
I had club penguin in a period when I had no friends at school. It holds so many happy memories
Not counting club penguin rewritten, cuz thats just club penguin
I wish I was there
I am so depressed I didn't experience it
Operation Blackout was one of the most hype things I’d ever experienced as a child
Like, straight off from school I’d hop onto the family desktop, ignoring all my homework that I needed to do because it was more important to stop Herbert than to do my maths and spanish
I feel that, haha. Good times.
ME TOO lmaoo
You had your priorities straight lol
valió la pena?
@@Jeremias3191 Eso mismo me estaba preguntando 🤣 pero para mí sí 💕😭.
I never read any guide back in the day, I just accidentally hit the snowball to trigger the secret agent mission so to the young me it feels like I'm actually special and get recruited by the organization. One of my best memory
Same here, it was great
YES, same here, is one of my core memories I think, lol
Same, it felt so amazing tbh. I felt so cool
IKRRR
Fun fact, I had a similar experience, I did not know that sucha thing as EPF existed and always questioned myself what was the point of the "Estranha Parnefenália Falante" (Everiday Phoning Facility, I am Portuguese) until one day (when my penguin was like 100 or so days old) I received a strange mail telling me to go to that place so that I could be tested. The thing is, it was not the email you could send people to recruit them it was different it came out of nowhere from no one
I was obsessed with operation blackout as a kid to the point where I threw an irl party with my friends. We decorated the house, set up puzzles to solve, turned all the lights off, and even got my dad to dress up as Herbert. It was by far my favorite Club Penguin party
Damn, sounds like the best party ever
THAT'S SO CUTEEE 😭😭😭
I think Herbert may have the best Villain backstory ever. The poor bastard just wanted to find a warm beach and accidentally sailed all the way to the south pole! I also love how he introduces himself as Herbert P Bear Esquire and never mentions his law career again.
Herbert was the perfect villain for Club Penguin. Club Penguin was really happy place and I'm really happy the team decided to make this one character evil and imposing enough to actually be seen as a threat. I mean this guy stole, kidnapped, bombed, and destroyed whatever he wanted to achieve his selfish goals. I always took Herbert seriously and that's vital quality for any villain!
@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi absolutely! He was the only polar bear and the guy was intimidating. Also he tried to demolish the ski lodge like 3 times not to mention the popcorn incident
Well, in Britain and the Commonwealth Realms, "Esquire" is just a title that can be given to someone else, much like Mister.
And since Club Penguin is a Canadian game, that explains it all.
@@Obi-Wan_Kenobithe protobot is even more evil
I'm gonna question smth- Did he TECHNICALLY do attempted genocide? Curiosity boutta kill me today
Reminder that the “Join the secret agents” sidequest thing involving hiding from the camera and escaping the cage will forever be one of my favorite things I ever did in the Flash era of the internet, especially for a kid who was never allowed a Membership
I’m also really glad a lot of things like Blackout were Non-Member-Friendly for the same reason, even if I never got a Herbert Costume hey I was able to get a Grapple Hook and a Klutzy Costume so I took what I could get lmao
Dude this comment. I remember that minigame so well it was so creative
Same here. Non members being included always made me so happy!
That shit scared me so bad as a kid. When that door locked behind me I literally closed the browser because I thought I was really trapped
I had a lot of trouble doing that mini game! It was so challenging at the time, now I just laugh at the happy memory
Fun fact: The EPF started training Rookie to be the new director after Blackout, because Aunt Arctic's identity had been compromised. (AND HE ACTUALLY BECOMES THE DIRECTOR, IT'S REVEALED IN THE FUTURE PARTY)
That's so fucking wild
Honestly I thought it was him the whole time. A Tobi from Naruto situation, only good.
@@zachanikwano fax
there was a future paty??? i seriously dont remember
Oh shit! That’s amazing 😭
I think what's awesome, is that a lot of us probably met/walked past eachother as kids in our penguin avatars. So nice to see you all again! Waddling on as ever :D
don't say this im gonna cry
Waddle waddle
I was always more afraid of the crab rather than Herbert. Herbert coulda easily been defeated, but that mfing crab always had to pull something
Me too
His name is Klutzy. Man was a menace.
the taliyah profile pic is chef kiss
Klutzy is an annoyance, to say the least. But then again he's just that silly emotional support crab.
Hey, you don’t need to fear klutzy. He’s not entirely bad.
About Rookie knowing the Director’s identity before we did, how much do you want to bet that Rookie just found out by accident? You can not tell me you don’t see that happening.
so true queen
Fun fact, this event was so big to 7 year old me I had my mom actually call Club Penguin's support line to ask if I could legally write a book about it. They said no but they did send me a postcard all the way from Canada that I still have.
I also heavily considered writing a play about it, and asked like half the kids in my class if they wanted to star in it, leading to my first huge ego boost when I heard people asking eachother if they were in it.
can i steal your ideas?
@@someguy7777 Lol, sure.
@@AnaLeeBR well. i have a theater club so It might be cool
@@someguy7777 pog, lmk if anything comes out of it
@@AnaLeeBR btw. tell me more about your play!
When Club Penguin shut down, I cried. I specifically remember going over that ending cutscene from Blackout over and over in my head. There will truly never be another game like Club Penguin, and there's not a snowball's chance in hell that any game will ever have an event like Operation Blackout
and then the biggest mission ever tip the iceberg... and we did it
Probably the closest I could ever think of was Fortnite's black hole event way back in 2019.
@@lukethekuyaI wish more kids games did more of these dark, apocalypse style events.
Wdym bro? Fortnite events are bett- **gets shot down**
@@normalLaSerpienteCopada Fortnite is not the same at all, it has a lot of fans but isn’t that different from other shooters. There’s not this feeling that this was all made by a handful of people who just drew and made what they could, it felt more like a corporate team which it is.
"This island is doomed"
I mean, he's not wrong the island along with the entire game WAS removed
"Enjoy it before I destroy it" hits harder than it should nowadays
@@jettash0720 I can run fast but not fast enough to enjoy club penguin for very long
@@jettash0720 Written by Disney themselves...
@@albond Aw nawh 😭
@@jettash0720THEORY: HERBERT IS A REPRESENTATION OF DISNEY??? HUHHHHH???
It’s so crazy to think that I was one of those one million penguins logged on all those years ago. I just remember sitting at my parents big clunky pc seeing the cutscene for the first time and actually screaming when AA was revealed. It was INSANE to my little 10 year old brain😭 soso glad I got to experience this party
i stopped playing club penguin before blackout, but i remember following the epic missions and seeing the old facility reduced to popcorn, it was so fuckin raw man.
Omg Sawtooth! Didn’t expect you to be here, so much childhood colliding
more backstory about the real life sawtooh waves is revealing one by one
same
Same
What? _WHYVARE YOU HERE-_
Fun fact: Operation Blackout began on my BIRTHDAY, you can't imagine how shocked / excited I was. I almost felt as if it were meant for me
Aww
lmao same!! I remember going to bed the night before being like ''...Tomorrow is operation Blackout ... oh and also my birthday i guess''
@@doot1doo1 I didn't know anything about Operation Blackout, so I can't stress enough how much of a surprise it was
What a rad time. Happy Birthday btw!
Best Birthday Present of all Time!
This was right around the time I stopped playing a lot, but WOW I didn't expect all that lore
Verified with no likes? What black magic is this
Impossible, verified with 5 likes.
I love this party this was the best party ever
Don’t say it don’t say it
@@mualiffstudio13 amogus
Why Herbert programmed his massive sun-blocking laser to have a self destruct sequence is still unknown to this day
If someone steals his ray or stolen heat and uses the heat for themselves, he knows how to permanently shut it off.
He learned all he knew from his mentor doctor doofenshmirtz
@@benwatterson851that is the very first thing that came to mind for me😂. Besides inator, the “self-destruct” button is more or less an unlicensed trademark for doof.
Skipper: Rico, you still have the pipe bomb?
Rico: *gags up the pipe bomb and button, and throws the pipe bomb into Herbert’s lair*
Private: *presses the button*
And it's sad to think that we can never live these heartwarming times and memories again. It's all gone. What sucks is if something like this were to happen, the "secret" would just be shared all over TikTok and Social Media because people wouldn't show they were worthy. I miss these days, and I wish another beautiful game like this came to life. I mean, CPRewritten is doing good but it just.. doesn't feel the same y'know? I miss these days of my life and it drops a tear from my eye looking back. :)
Tbh people were blowing the secret afterwards. I wasn't one of them because I didn't want to ruin the surprise for others. Aunt Artic didn't deserve sharing it to those people.
I miss CpRewritten
@@fil2337 miss it too man. sometimes it just hits me 😔
@@chloenieuwsma4846yeah but social media basically didn’t exist for young kids back then so there wasn’t much of a way to expose it
Yeah, it really was a product of its time. It was one I cherish deeply but had to end at some point, it just couldn’t compete with the newer games that kids were playing. The difference from CPPS’s are that there isn’t that same feel of “this is made by a passionate team that makes new unique parties every month”, you know that it’s reused parties, not unique ones. I know CPR had those later on but I didn’t get to play those before it shut down.
Honestly at the end what you talked about with the crossovers was the exact reason why I had stopped playing, it had turned from a fun game with a unique story to a Disney turning it into a promotional gimmick for there popular tv shows and movies, overall the video was great and I will never forget the memories i made with it, thank you for bringing back some nostalgia
I remember loving those as a kid. At that age I never realized it was marketing, but I did think it was clever of Disney to use their different properties to give us unique crossovers we could play in for free. After a while, though, they started to all be the same "go to room, find object" model, which got really boring and repetitive. I actually remember being more annoyed by those parties than anything.
@@hunterlawrence3573 that is like 90% what happened to me
don’t forget how 90% of the game became members only, including most of the cool prizes that came with the parties being members only and non-members getting a fucking pin or tiny hat. disney really just squeezed money out of club penguin and squeezed out it’s charm and life in the process.
@@hola-gy8te yeah i remember begging my parents for years until they bought it for me
@@hola-gy8te I only had memberships occasionally, when I decided to use the membership cards I got for birthdays and Christmas. When I was a non-member it was still fun, but it felt like I was a second class citizen. When I was a member, I kinda forgot the non-member players existed. I don’t know what that says about society, but I definitely much preferred having a membership to not having one.
And one time during the Star Wars party my membership ran out right before I got to the last mission. Unfortunately, this was also the only part you needed a membership for. Perfect timing!
I swear to God, I was literally thinking about how someone should make an exact video about this topic yesterday and then I randomly found this video not because I reached for it, but because I was recommended you Milo Murphy video, what a fantastic coincidence!
Wise words as always obi wan may the force be with you
a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one
Hello there
thats kinda similar to how i navigate old channels and seeing them upload a new vid in many years. i just have a lot of telepathy or time travelling shit going on with me too
Oh my, long time no see Obi Wan
As someone who is now in college I can safely say Operation Blackout was a defining part of my childhood (Club Penguin as a whole was too but still). This party made me feel like I HAD to get on to save the island, without me the island would be gone. I had a genuine hatred for polar bears because of Herbert and had to do whatever possible to get the island back. I vividly remember watching the finale of finding out who the director was and having such shock and chills. This video is amazing and I am so glad it covers the topic fully
I was so obsessed with this experience, the fact that we get nods to dictatorships in the design, the ever burning fire in the phone building, the freaking lighthouse turned into a hospital! I remember roleplay aiding people who had been hurt, it added so much to this dramatic air of suspense and disaster, little me was thriving in that so much. Oh, and the camps offering food and shelter, the makeshift underground revolutionary base, every place was affected, the progression day after day made it so much more heavy, because they were real life days passing by, waiting for the next mission, uncovering more places in the base, and ultimately defeating the threat. I loved the bleak and scrappy room design in the missions, just everything about this, man.
Honestly. That’s what I remember the most. The countless hours roleplaying and coming together as a community to survive such a disaster. When I played the final mission, I cried when the cutscene showed the hopeful looks in the penguins eyes as the sun shown through the clouds. It was very heavy seeing the snow pile up day after day and you could just feel deep in your bones, how freezing the island was getting. Seeing those penguins light up when the clouds part, I felt part proud to be an EPF agent, and part proud and relieved as citizen of club penguin. If I could go back to one time in my life, it would be to go back and reexperience Operation: Blackout, just as I did as a kid.
Damn, the devs put their whole pengussy into this event. I feel sad for not having been part of it back then
never say the word "pengussy" again
@@-fragment-pengussy
i said never@@TheRealJustAGuy
@@-fragment- pengussy ;3
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA@@xfirexheartx8840
The fact that Club Penguin concluded its EPF arc right after I stopped playing leaves me with feelings of both disappointment and fulfillment. The PSA missions were undoubtedly my favorite part of Club Penguin, and I can tell that this event would have been everything I ever wanted from the game as an 11 year old.
SAME
same im so sad i didnt get to experience this event
Same,and the dojo was definitely second to me. I was still frustrated that I couldn't win as a white belt against sensei but I quickly figured after my second try that he was pulling all the right cards so I couldn't win.
yeah i stopped playing months before the blackout and i actually returned playing some months later. its like i missed something pretty huge and was very frustrated about that. had to play it on rewritten years later lol
Literally the only reason I played any recreation of Club Penguin today is to keep playing those missions.
I always liked the more objective based parties, and Operation Blackout was pretty much the definitive modern party. Despite popular opinion, my favorite era of Club Penguin was that semi-modern era from the early 2010s, where the parties were more detailed and unique, instead of just being a color pallet change for a holiday, you could actually interact with them to the point of feeling like the player was an essential part of the party. I know that pretty much all of the private servers anymore are emulating the classic, pre-Disney era of the game, but I'd kill for a private server from this era of Club Penguin, it was freaking fantastic.
Yup 2009-2014 was peak club penguin
Looking back on it, I can see how this would have been an amazing era for the game. Unfortunately I was 12 / 13 and older during this time, so lost interest in the game anyway, naturally, and mainly became really salty / sad nostalgic about the art style changes. If i'd been 6-10 then, I think I would have loved it. Most people who run the current cp private servers probably remember the earlier club penguin as the best time, because they were the right age for it then.... Club penguin rewritten has actually started using a lot of art and material from 2010-2013 during it's parties... A lot of rooms I don't remember ever playing, but the art style is actually really cute and the rooms are very interactive :)
I didn't even know that this party existed until now, it looks absolutely mental... I used to get SO hyped up about the PSA missions when they were released.... If I hadn't been a teenager when Operation Blackout came out, it would have probably been a defining childhood moment...
I still remember i had that klutzy crab costume, one of the things that kind of hurts me the most about club penguin shutting down is that all of those costume, backgrounds, puffles, igloo decorations, and stamps are gone for good now, but I guess that's just part of growing up
This game wasn't just part of my childhood, from 2010 all the way until it's end in 2017, it was my entire childhood
Relatable
Considering a lot of us were kids around the time CP existed, we essentially grew up along the game 🥺
For me I played until 2013 ish. 2017 I was already in my mid teens (15-16)
The fact that I was a 7 year-old when this party came out and I can still vividly remember everything that happened (like getting stuck on the key puzzles and asking my older sibling for help) really magnified the impact this party had. I didn't hate post-blackout Club Penguin, but it really never was the same.
Even 10 years later still gives me chills.
That's how you know when something is really good.
same. i remember this event so vividly.
I remember the days off blackout, the way the called on the epf made me feel important, we had a mission, who cared if you had membership. It was time to band together and get the lights on, and stop that mad bear once again...
club penguin taught me that stories written for kids can be entretaining and dive into the concept (like just look how expanded the lore and worldbuilding of an early 2010s mmo game was!)
sadly most games kids play today are just lazy arcades with "99% of the players can't do this😜😜" ads
but games like club penguin and free realms showed kids a new world, brought up intriguing stories and captivating characters among it, something that stimulates kids to be creative while it's time to be creative, not lazy.
I still hope games like club penguin will be popular among kids again, their childhoods must be protected just like we protected the penguin island one day.
The original creators of club penguin are making a new game called box critters! I tried it out but it seems pretty early in development
Free Realms, eh?
Now that's a name I shan't heard in a long, long time...
@@Ryan_Metzelar why and how tf have I not heard of this before?? Thank you so much for sharing this info
@@Ryan_Metzelar idk while fortnite is cringe. I would say it accurately fills this void. Insane events, play with your friends, custom lobbies.
"99% of the players can't do this 😜😜" lmao
and yes, im saddened by the fact that virtual worlds aren't as popular as they used to be, it's a great kind of gameplay, like a second life you have inside your computer. This is genius and now it's losing its place to battle royale games or those games made in 3 days you mentioned that "99% of players can't do this".
Ah yes... back in the days when Disney was cool... 😂
Edit: On a more serious note: Blackout is probably the last party I remember seriously enjoying... everything all just sort of a slowly rolled to a close for me...
The rainbow Puffle party was cool though!
@@destroyingheal3968 Yeah, I fairly regularly missed everything after the end of that dance/disco/whatever party released... basically, anything after Minecraft came out, and I was dedicating most of my time to that.
Blackout was definitely the peak of Club Penguin. I have vert fond memories of some parties in 2013 like the Ninja Party and Operation Puffle but you could tell Club Penguin was on a downward trend because nothing was ever as good as Blackout was.
The pizza operation one was good
The last one I played was the Muppets 2 party.
Then I never played Club Penguin anymore
Operation: Blackout was honestly one of the only parties where you were moving in-time with the game, waiting and experiencing each real day as a part of the party. This narrative was so incredibly strong, I remember doing each section with my friends after school and talking about it in homeroom the next morning. I remember sitting around the dark, snow-covered island, feeling the hopelessness and uncertainty as everything continued to grow darker. I remember freaking out when it was over, when you saved the day and were recognized AS AN INDIVIDUAL for your work. club penguin, and operation blackout, is unmatched. there will never be anything like it ever again.
Herbert got a job at Disney, and 5 years later his plan of destroying Club Penguin succeeded :(
Some of these animations were my first ever! Such a trip back in time. Really awesome video!
I was wondering “Who’s this? Was he on Club Penguin crew?” and I audibly gasped when I looked it up and realized you’re BUSINESS MOOSE! That Blackout sneak peak video is engrained in my head, lmao.
@@KeyanCarlile Heyyy! Not only that but I also did the tour video, Herbert style and the final reveal video. All of which are my favorite videos I made while working at CP. I'm only realizing now that they are all tied into the blackout story. What a crazy time to reflect on - the energy in the office was epic! Thanks for making this awesome video!
@@johnnyajansen Thanks for making a part of our childhoods so awesome!
Did you work on the Card Jitsu Snow backstory cutscenes by any chance? I rewatched those so many times
‘We’re riffing off the fans myths and rumors’
God I wish more developers/writers would do this.
Too bad I had already stopped playing club penguin for years before hand
This was PRIME club penguin. Imo the two best events of all time happened in the span of a school year. Operation Blackout and the Card-jitsu party 2013 which introduced Card-jitsu snow, by far the coolest game on CP. The Co-Op, the ridiculous ammount of lore for that one game... Both of these events were monumental. Amazing video
I would get out of school onto the computer just to play Card-jitsu just so I could master EVERY element. I spent endless hours playing, such good times
Agreed, I was so into card jitsu snow and the event for it
@@albond the event was so good! It was such an amazing experience
Most badass club penguin has ever been. So much headcanon came from this. Miss being a kid
god i remember playing this event with my cousins! we were totally on edge the entire time and constantly either over eachothers houses trying to make plans and theorize or talking over the phone while we played each day. it made us feel like we were truly along the ride for everything
Seeing Herbert succeed and the island become dark was so great. I was always rooting for him.
One of my favourite parts of the party was the glitch that allowed you to skip to the final part of the mission early.
Same lol
I wished blackout had more impact or development to herbert’s character. To this day I still wish he won
Club Penguin is truly something special, you had to be there to know how awesome it was, it's something that could only really be experienced fully if you were there when it was on. Sure, the private servers can be fun to remember the game with them, but they're missing so much when compared to when it was actually on!
It's really something that only could have worked when it did, nowadays people are too cynical to enjoy something like it, and that's why I think it closed when it did. It's time was over, and the only regret I have is that I missed some of the events because I didn't know of it yet.
I regret not being able to play it at all, I only remember the Ninja events, it was really such a fun experience, I even bought cards of Club Penguin and were SO COOL
Yeah, i still remember when servers were all full becuase of a new party. You just never see that on any other private server. People likely could still enjoy it, it’s just that there’s a lot more competition than back then. Most kids want an action packed game, not a game that changes every month to something new that you have to login to using a computer (which not everyone has now).
It sucks that my brain capability wasn't enough back then for me to create an account :(
Seriously why don’t you have more subscribers. I’ve been here binging episodes for a few hours now and each one is incredibly entertaining and well done!
Thank you.
I’ve never really *used* this channel before. It’s mostly just been a burner side account for me to dump various projects on. But I think I’ll definitely start to use and grow it a lot more going forward.
This guy's a new channel, I *promise* that you are simply witnessing the start of a great channel. ;-)
shoutout to the penguin at 14:12 throwing snowballs at the laser
Lejend
Operation Blackout happened to coincide with Thanksgiving 2012. I remember while the grown ups drank and horsed around at my house, 11 year-old me and my cousins hopped on Club Penguin upstairs and played O.B. on the family computer. Good times.
The utter adrenaline you would feel playing that mission is unforgettable. I miss Club Penguin, I felt so cool being a spy penguin.
I think the only Club Penguin event that came close to Blackout's levels of hype for me was the one that finally brought in the snow dojo.
I was waiting a while for them to bring in a snow dojo to complete the trilogy of elemental dojos and I personally think they delivered with flying colors.
The snow dojo was my favourite, I couldn't wait for it to come to cpo but the game shut downed before it
I remember I had hundreds of thousands of coins and would just spend hours getting power cards and made so many other players accuse me of hacking. It was so funny to me
Honestly that was the most hype event for me besides Blackout just because as someone that wasn’t allowed to get the membership I can finally play Card Jutsu water and fire for free lmao. And also Card Jutsu snow was fun as hell back then
Card-jitsu Snow was basically an entirely different game.
man, you just reminded me of how epic that mission actually was, today I had some faded memories of it and I wasn't really the "Looking for secrets" sort of person back then but seeing how you mention the buildup for the party from Ghosts Just Wanna Dance to newspapers to even a secret website it just makes it more insane for me, and I completely agree Blackout has to be the best party of all times. Having played this game since 2006 has really been a rollercoaster for me.
Oh my god. This. Party. I remember playing Club Penguin during this party and being genuinely disturbed by some of the background lore. Aunt Arctic being the director was a huge, mind-blowing reveal, too. You really had to be there to truly understand the impact Operation Blackout had and just how surprisingly amazing it was.
I didn't even know they did anything after Operation Blackout. So in my mind, this mission was the grand finale for my experience with Club Penguin. This is such a great video, it brings back all the memories.
I have an interesting story for this. When this happen I was pretty young but I still knew about Club Penguin and really liked it. When this event started a snowstorm had passed and the power was out. After it was over the event was on and I logged on to see it and I was super confused yet scared because I thought Herbert took over while the power was out and no one could play so he took power. Super coincidental yet thematic.
Lol Herbert be like: shall steal your power too, not just club penguin’s! >:D
Literally the best thing it could’ve happened to a kid
Awesome video! You did a pretty good job of breaking down both the lead up to and the events of the party, especially with the perspective of how impactful it was. The inclusion of Herbert Style made me laugh lol
Thank you.
As a kid I only found out about Blackout from Disney Channel marketing, but I remember what it felt like playing. You'd get home from school, rush through your homework, and immediately jump on the computer to wait behind a crowd of other penguins in a small room on an overcrowded server until you finally reached the door to the next stage of the mission. When it was finally over and you had saved the island and learned the directors identity, you waddled on feeling as though you were the only agent who'd defeated Herbert and everything you did saved the island.
I had completely forgotten about herbert having been captured prior to blackout. When you showed that picture of the big TV in the EPF HQ of herbert having escaped containment, it brought back some nice memories of me at 8 years old larping as an EPF agent, sitting at the conference table discussing herbert's whereabouts with other players. Good video 👍
Just came across this video today. I was one of the clubpenguin beta testers. By the time blackout came out I was a freshman in high school and grew out of the game. Glad you made a video on this event because I never experienced it for myself. The game though has such a special place in my heart, it was my obsession in elementary and middle school :)
The big reveal was so crazy. It felt so amazing experiencing it with everyone in the final level even if I could only express my excitement through chat bubbles. I think I cried!! Haha. Operation Blackout was a treat.
This was amazing! As someone who left shortly after the PSA blew up, it's really interesting to know all the things that happened after I left. I'd love to see more of this
omg yes. the blackout song was so amazing to me as a kid. still is tbh. it gives me chills. i was so in love i nearly wrote a fanfic based off the blackout event.
this was probably the last time i was really into club penguin and im so glad i didnt miss out on it.
This might be a bad question but did you post the fanfic anywhere? I wanna see it XD
Sorry if you think it would be cringy or whatever, but as a former player, I can relate and be comprehensive XD
@@warfu_ unfortunately no :( but i have had thoughts about finally getting around to writing it haha
Herbert: It's way too cold here.
Also Herbert: I'm gonna block out the sun.
Man, I remember thinking that the Director was secretly the brown penguin you help in ever mission.
Seriously, he's there almost every time. In the Missing Puffles, he had the telescope, he was at the ski lift when we had to rescue the sledders, we later fixed his telescope when we were placing the trackers to find Herbert, he was in the nightclub when the power went out, and we fixed his glasses when the PSA exploded.
there is a speculation that he was sent to ask for help during missions on purpose and that he was Aunt Arctic's (aka. The Director) test to see if we were really good agents and if we would do more than our obligations.
And when we received the Spy Goggles as a prize from the last PSA mission (The Veggie Villain) There's a note from Dot that says she gave this to us as thanks for helping a "friend of hers", which makes it practically obvious that she knows that penguin and that we don't help him for nothing.
OH MY GOODNESS, THE MEMORIES ARE KILLING ME! I was just an eight year old kiddo who couldn’t really understand what was going on and didn’t read any of the text, but I remember most of this vividly and how I still had all the stuff on my profile years later. I’m tearing up from the memories, man!
Those were the days, I remember meeting Herbert during this
He was so weird-looking lmao
Oh man, listening to the "blackout" score hit me like a truck full of nostalgia
The Club Penguin devs were cool as hell. Them taking ideas from the players and putting them in due to fan theories and such was the best.
I still cant believe this was 9 years ago, i was only seven, but remember every bit of it, and the cutscene also make me very emotional to this day, even tho it didnt even have voice acting in my language, i remember being excited about every new update to this event each day, oooh the memories :,)
Dang, 2012... I was in high school at this point and I had stopped playing Club Penguin long before then, but watching this video makes me sad that I missed out.
I started playing in 2006. I only had membership for one month throughout the game's life. I still have the card for it sitting in my wallet.
this is adorable ❤️ i hope your new interests are just as lively as club penguin was
Ah yes, this video really even helps those who haven't been there in 2012 for it or even just recently heard of Club Penguin and just wanted to do research on it. Your representation on the party was truly epic and well... explaining its background truly rounds it all up very well.
No lie, Operation Blackout was the first time I got immersed into a video game. Yeah I played games like Mario, Donkey Kong Country, and Kirby on my Wii at the time. But this game actually got me immersed and started me down the path of really lengthy daydreams that had this overarching story. It was insane.
Now that I'm older and looking retrospectively, I can thank Club Penguin for that since I tend to immerse myself a lot in video games as it helps the experience. And even as a writer, this shit is what I have to thank for my stories and such. I totally forgot about it, and Holy shit do I regret forgetting about it.
Club Penguin has and always will be a staple of the 21st century. It was wild and I’ll always remember the best time of the missions, especially this event
I think I was in maybe 2nd or 3rd grade when Operation Blackout was happening. I remember the sheer amount of anticipation I felt after seeing the trailers for it, I'd go to school and talk to my friend who also played Club Penguin about it, then come home and immediately getting on the family computer, ignoring any homework I had been assigned. Club Penguin was such a integral part of my childhood and I'm glad I got to play it for so long before it's servers shut down.
How you can tell this event made such a lasting impact on the kids of this generation: I've had the EPF Blackout theme stuck in my head for YEARS without being able to remember where it was from.
Oh man, now I feel bad for leaving CP after the pop corn incident. The only thing I enjoyed was the secret agent stuff and truly believed that there would be no more missions and nothing left for me as a Non-Member to enjoy. Now I can see that I missed out big time. Thanks for doing this video!
This blew my little child mind, lol. I was in a small school and everyone sorta knew each other, so this was all anyone in my grade would talk about- when we had computer lab free time all of us would go on club penguin during this event and we'd practically take over servers. It was pretty sick.
you reminded me of thing i didnt know was so impactful to me as a kid. i remember that music and the event vividly now and man im nostalgic
Unfortunately, I was unable to take part of this event, but it still gives me a sense of nostalgia. I find it amusing that the entire event happened because someone leaked a photo of a schedule that basically said that the devs were taking a break. It's crazy how one misunderstood thing lead to the most popular event in the history of the game. I miss club penguin.
This was such an exciting watch, I literally clapped at the Director reveal bahaha. I wasn't online by this time (I must have joined around 2014) but any and all memories created on the Club Penguin island are ones that I appreciate deeply. Thank you for a good chunk of nostalgia and an exciting retelling of these events. I think I might watch those Club Penguin TV specials now just for the love of it.
I played club penguin, for at least 6 or 7 years, I’ve seen it’s many highs and lows, but I cannot think of any other high that has matched operation blackout, the stakes, the atmosphere, the music, just everything about it was amazing, it really did a good job at being serious while not feeling like it was trying too hard to be edgy. It was just a phenomenal event, there’s a good reason that so many fans look back at operation blackout with fond memories, including myself. That cutscene where the directors identity was revealed blew my mind so hard when I was 12 and I will never forget it.
I was 12 back then and this was the last event I participated in CP since I felt I was getting too old for it. Seeing the director’s identity confirmed was a very satisfying way to end my childhood.
you counted yourself as mature at 12? i considered to be mature when i was 16 lol
@@bananafone1414 Not mature but this is the point where you turn into a teenager
@@bulb9970 um no? teen is 14 or older. 12 is still a kid.
@@bananafone1414 pretty sure 12 is the last year of kid bc after that you're thir-TEEN
@@bananafone1414 ThirTEEN. 13 is a teenager lol. It's literally in the name. So their feelings were valid...their next birthday they would become a teenager. Not trying to be rude, just saying that 13-19 is the official definition of a teenager.
This was genuinely one of the coolest parts of my childhood and I'm so happy to see someone acknowledge it in a video essay.
2012?! you're telling me this was REALLY TEN years ago?!?!
but yeah, this was my favorite party/event of all! I enjoyed it so so much.
I remember being grounded through this whole event until the last day, when I was allowed to play 20 minutes of it, it was probably the first time I completed anything with an online guide
MAN, i remember this party, as a kid i was absolutely obsessed with the EPF stuff, had both the ds games and had every stamp for the tower defense mission. watching it all grow from the old blue walkie talkie to this was an absolute ride as a kid, and while i knew it wouldn't be forever it's a shame so many won't Quite know what it was like doing this one live. As someone who played from year one, props to you, OP, and props to the Club Penguin team for making something that's truly stuck with so many folks. Waddle on, my dudes!
The reveal of the Director was the most shocking thing my younger self ever experienced.
the fact that it even took the SUN to unfreeze the snow shows just how powerfull herbert could be
I love imagining what club penguin would be like if it was designed for more mature audiences. Operation Blackout would be guerilla warfare between the remains of the EPF and Herbert's followers. Small scale operations, strikes on weapons depots, etc. Imagine how many stories are waiting to be uncovered - like war stories that are never told. People tend to only remember the EPF, but you need to also think about what the ninjas would do, what acts of bravery the Rescue Squad would commit. Dark days, pitch black nights, avalanches, fire, penguins being hunted down, etc.
Operation: blackout was such an amazing event. It had to be the first time a kids game had a total mood shift to be all serious and moody, at least in my eyes. The enviroment was dark and desolate, certain events were blocked off because of hubert, and literally everything was becoming under his control, at least whatever wasn’t already piled on my mounds of snow.
My only gripe, and it’s rather small, was just that the security puzzles were rather simple, or moreso that they were all just the same, but at varying levels of difficulty. It’s a bit late to say, but maybe instead of a simple sliding puzzle for each one, they’d be different kinds of puzzles that were designed by hubert, so they’d be themed after him, like a “follow the numbers” drawing puzzle that was in the shape of klutzy, or a crossword puzzle that spelled out his name. Stuff that was all centered around him, but made you feel like a secret agent from solving them.
Also, i kinda wish the final mission was more impactful than just solving a puzzle.
Here’s what i think would’ve ended it.
Like, when you reach the solar laser, hubert was there in your way, and he has a device that shoot cryogenically charged snowballs that’ll freeze you solid when hit. He says that it was all his plan to let you infiltrate his headquarters and lure you and the other agents out to him. He fires a snowball right at you, but before it hits, a shadowy figure appears in front of you, taking the snowball in your place. It’s the director, now with ice crystals embeded on their body and rapidly growing further out. They tell you that you are club pinguin’s last chance and to take the device they have, a makeshift blaster with a hot sauce bottle attached to it.
The director drops the blaster before their entire body is frozen and as you rush to grab it, hubert laughs triumphantly, saying that now that the director was dealt with, they only thing left to deal with was you. As he says that, he pushes a button on the desk and the giant laser device suddenly starts extending towards the sky, leaving a rather large and long pole attached to it and a stairwell on top of that.
Hubert, who was on the laser before it went off, says that the laser was now set for ultra-climate suspension, stealing bot only any remaining light from club pinguin, forcing it into a perma-freeze state, but also broadening the effect to the rest of the world, leaving the whole world in a state of absolute zero, all except for him and his lair. The device was not fully charged to completely do it, but it only had mere minutes until it would.
He also thanks you for breaking through his defences, saying that when this is over, he’ll upgrade them to where not even the director themselves could break in, if they weren’t already caught.
Hubert laughs as the laser heads towards the sky, leaving you nowere to go but up.
This part would take you to the final minigame if the event, where your pinguin rushes up the staircase towards hubert and the laser. Using the hot sauce blaster, you shoot away freezing snowballs as they fly towards you, any that hit you freezes you instantly, before the hot sauce blaster’s heat thaws you out enough to break out, and you only have minutes to reach the top.
Once you catch up to hubert, a boss battle begins, unlike the snowballs, hubert is unphased by the hot sauce, and all you can do is blast the snowballs that he shoots at you away.
If you dodge enough, hubert gets frustrated and charges up his snowball blaster to fire a freezing ice ball at you. Blasting it a couple of times, you are able to redirect it’s momentum to have it fly towards hubert, allowing it to hit him instead. Each time he’s hit by an ice ball, more of him starts to get frozen, first to his legs, than his waist and finally to his arms and chest.
With hubert frozen in place, you rush to the console controlling the laser, and mash every button in a panic to deactivate it.
You don’t notice it, but hubert manages to break from the ice and aims his blaster at you. He hots the trigger and the blaster gets jammed. All that ice really frosted up the barrel to the point where the snowballs get stuck. Hubert then gets mad, hitting the trigger multiple times and shaking the blaster violently, until the blaster begins beeping and flashing wildly. It starts shaking wildly until, BOOOM! Snow and ice rain around you and you duck and cover from the blast. You look up from tour huddle to find hubert gone, the only remaining is just snow and a rather large pile of snow in his place, that is, until it starts to slip off and reveal that he had been encased in a thick layer of ice, himself, along with klutzy, who was on his shoulder during the fight. Your a bit mesmerized by the rather humorous sight, until you hear a blaring alarm behind you.
When the blaster blew up, it. Shot ice shrapnel into both the console and the laser, breaking them in the process, and shutting the laser down. However, before you have time to celebrate, the console begins displaying a message, saying that the damage the laser was too great and will begin a meltdown, with a countdown afterwards. Not wanting to be around when it hits zero, you rush towards the staircase, which seems a bit more difficult to run down from than run up, though it might of been your determination of stopping hubert fueling you to go up, and the determination to run from a self-destructing machine isn’t that much of a motivator in comparison.
As the console reaches zero, the laser explodes in a mass of metal and smoke, you reached far enough not to be effected by the blast, but you can feel the staircase shaking from the explosion, and you see it all start to break apart as you run further down, until the large pole breaks underneath you, taking the stairs, and you, with it. You may not be in the clouds any more, but you were still pretty high before you began falling, and even with all the accumulated snow that’s appeared around the island, no amount would be enough to make it a soft landing.
But, before you get closer to the ground to start seeing details in the trees, a familiar voice is heard, and a loud vrring noise accompanies it. You suddenly feel something grab hold of you and you feel as though you came to a stop in the air, like an angel catching you.
But, to your surprise, it wasn’t an angel, but jetpack guy, grabbing hold of you as you reach closer towards huberts lair. Jetpack guy quips that while he’s carried bags of puffle food heavier than you, you aren’t making the trip any easier. Before you reach the ground, though, you notice something flying through the sky, trailing smoke and it rushes off. It’s hubert! And klutzy, Still incased in ice, rushing away to an off-shore part of the island. Jetpack guy takes notice, as well, but says to just let them go, as they need to see of everyone is all right, besides, we’ll get him next time.
As you and jetpack guy reach the ground safely, you see all the agents are safe and unfrozen, professor saying that hubert’s machine must have taken all the power from the system and caused the cryogenic pods to shut down. The agents begin to congradulate you, before noticing the clouds parting from the sky. The mission ends like the original, the clouds parting, the director’s reveal and the words of congradulation that they give.
Like i said, i know i’m very much late to this, but this would’ve been a really cool way to end off the greatest club pinguin event, in my opinion.
Okay buy why isn't anyone freaking out about this awesome alternative ending??? Like, I think I need a fanfic or something now, idk you guys but can you imagine how many times I would imagine stories with those characters like this back then?? This is another level of nostalgia and hype on top of the video itself
Seriously wish this was higher up..
My dude, I really want to read this comment but could you please leave some line breaks to organize it into paragraphs? It's just a block of text and that's too difficult and confusing to read.
@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi you must really hate books with no pictures, don’t you?
@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi read more books then my dude
I never played Operation Blackout when I was younger, but this video has an excessive amount of charm. You managed to portray your emotions rather vividly. It almost got me to the point of tears despite never playing during that era, ahaha. Amazing video :)
I remember me and a few members would glitch into the door that wasn’t available just yet and it was such a cool moment when we got to play the final mini game a few days earlier
I’m happy this exists. When I was younger I guess I was a visual learner and I never actually read any of what was happening. I just saw, and didn’t comprehend. I didn’t realize how absolutely awesome of an event this was as a kid, since I could never complete it or understand it. And I also just love video essays in general, thank you!
Honestly having them give tables a clothes to nonmembers was a big thing for me. My penguin never went without it bc it was the only full clothes I would ever get. The table was my favorite furniture and I love it. It was my favorite event and I will never forget it
I'm glad I've came across your channel and this video. Club Penguin has a really special place in my heart, since it was most of my childhood, and watching this brings me so many good memories. Thank you for this, I'm loving your content so far. Keep it up!
You asked how Herbert could have gotten the materials for the sun absorber, and I’m pretty sure that’s why Gary was targeted first, G was the scientist with an almost endless amount of materials (Given he makes a ton of machines in the PSA missions) and would definitely have what Herbert would need to create the machine.
Plus, maybe Herbert forced Gary to build the ray, and when Herbert didn't need Gary anymore, he decided to freeze him.
This party happened before I joined but I remember really enjoying Operation Puffle when that one happened. Probably my favorite party I was around for
Can we all agree that herbert style is one of the biggest songs they did? It's on their top 10 in terms of visits... of what's left of their youtube channels.
This was peak gaming, I never experienced something that gave me the same sensation as this operation, I legitimately felt more patriotism to this island than to my own country.
It makes my heart heavy just thinking that I will probably never go back to the island, see my puffles and experience something that was so exciting. Sometimes I go watch UA-cam videos of walkthroughs of this operation, and honestly it still rocks to this very day.