Anyone that has played both Club Penguin and its successor, Club Penguin Island, will know that the two games are vastly different. Not only do they take place on completely different islands, but they have different art styles, narratives, and even coin systems.
But while it’s easy to see the dissimilarities and declare the two games separate, this doesn’t actually seem to be the case. In issue #564 of the Club Penguin Times, Aunt Arctic revealed that a new far-off island had been discovered—the same island on which the spinoff takes place.
This shows that Club Penguin and Club Penguin Island take place in the same world, but I think there’s a bit more to it than the two islands just coexisting. Perhaps the penguins that inhabit Club Penguin Island are the exact same ones that used to inhabit Club Penguin.
The best place to start for this theory is the Club Penguin Island Party (2017). While you may think that this party was simply advertising the new app, this is actually about as far from the truth as you can get. Throughout the entire party, the game wasn’t mentioned even once. Instead, the party had a prominent travel theme and Club Penguin Island was continually advertised as the ideal holiday destination. Even the party’s tagline followed this theme.
Perhaps the most pointed of these is the back page of the interface. This page asked if the player was packing for a trip while advertising the holiday-themed items in the Penguin Style. Given the context, this implies that it is not only possible, but an option for regular penguins to travel to Club Penguin Island, despite how far away it is.
Club Penguin Island seems to encourage this idea, opening with your penguin approaching Club Penguin Island for the first time aboard the Migrator. It’s never stated where you’re coming from, but considering you’re sailing with Rockhopper it’s pretty obvious that you’re probably coming from the original island of Club Penguin.
It’s important to remember that the reason the mascots look different is purely due to an artstyle change. They are extremely reminiscent of their Club Penguin counterparts and act as we would expect them to, so it is reasonable to assume that they are one and the same.
The one exception would be Rory who obviously has a royal history on a different island and hardly resembles his Club Penguin counterpart in looks or manner. As far as I can tell, he is simply another penguin with the same name.
This would also explain why issue #566 of the Club Penguin Times was such a big deal. We see at the Future Party that the Club Penguin Times continues to be written up to at least issue #104449, so it makes no sense for Aunt Arctic to get all choked up over this being the last issue. Instead, this isn’t the last issue of the Club Penguin Times but, as she says herself, the last one she will ever write.
But there was one mascot that never made it to the island with us: Herbert P. Bear. As Herbert was the number one cause of problems on the original island, it makes sense that we would leave him behind. Angered, Herbert would construct his iceberg base (in homage to the iceberg that he originally sailed the world on), to fly after us and destroy our island in revenge. This finally explains Herbert’s motives to attack the island in the first place, something that was never explored in game.
But if this is he case, then what happened to the original island? We know from issue #565 of the Club Penguin Times that, presumably in preparation for leaving, PH planted many O’berry bushes all around the island. By the time Captain Rockhopper had finished delivering all the penguins to the distant island and returned to Club Penguin to pick up the puffles, these O’berry bushes had grown over the whole island, transforming it into lush jungle.
This wasn’t the only notable change to the island. By enhancing the Mascbot 2999 (which already was capable of perfectly mimicking a penguin’s personality), Gary created a perfect robotic version of himself to manage the island in his absence. This robot, known as Gary 3000, would run the island for at least two millennia, eventually creating Robos and the Extra-Planetary Federation. Just like issue #446 of the Club Penguin Times states, Gary 3000 truly was “Gary in the future, but different” as he would look and acting just like Gary would, despite not actually being Gary.
But what do you think? Are Club Penguin and Club Penguin Island in the same world? Is Gary 3000 a robot? Let me know your thoughts and theories in the comments below and, until next time,
Splosh Jnr Guides 
Hello there, great blog you have here, I have been in a cp rewind since march and finding this made me discover things I didn’t even imagined as a kid, much apreciation for the work you have been doing.
I didn’t play so much of cpi but I’m nearly sure that gary or rookie talks about naming this dimension (pretty sure it ends up called box dimension, but…), as if they never had seen it before
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That’s an interesting point you bring up. One thing to keep in mind is that the discovery of the Box Dimension occurred around April Fools’, and weird things happen around that time. Entire buildings can turn into two-dimensional doodles, gravity can be shifted and real mountains can open up to reveal mechanical cogs. I would suggest that it’s entirely possible that this phenomenon could also cause Gary and Rookie to forget about the Box Dimension. This is even hinted at in the article you mentioned as Rookie states that he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been there [in the Box Dimension] before, deciding that it must have been in his dreams.
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Great theorizing. I always assumed Club Penguin Island was indeed canonically an island the inhabitants of Club Penguin moved to, although questions remain- I’m sure the Box Dimension question mentioned by the other commenter isn’t the only apparent contradiction between Club Penguin and Club Penguin Island. Here’s the big question, though: what happened? What compelled the entire penguin population to pack up and leave their home? Are there any hints in either of the games as to what could have caused them to take such drastic action? I know Club Penguin Island was billed as an exciting new place and an ideal location and all that, but was that really enough on its own to make everyone leave Club Penguin? Seems to me like there should be more to it.
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Excellent thoughts! We know that there was already a community on Club Penguin Island before the migration occurred, so it seems plausible that the move may have been an attempt to rejoin the two societies. Due to the rich Penglantian history on Club Penguin Island, as well as Herbert’s looming presence on the original island, it was the preferable option of the two island.
But I think that I may still be missing something big. While these act as incentives on their own, it would probably take something bigger to initiate the migration. I am certain that we will be able to figure it out though!
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