Hello, Water Vikings! As part of our month-long anniversary celebration, we’re launching a limited edition column that looks back at the currents that shaped the Water Vikings across the years. Each piece will spotlight someone who helped steer the army during a different era, letting us trace how their decisions pushed the tide forward. While this series continues, one of the Media Committee’s members, Noa interviewed Dino and Mabel, who led together from 2022-2023. Dino and Mabel are both current members of the HCOV, but during their leadership in 2022-23, brought WV to some of its greatest heights, winning March Madness and Christmas Chaos, among other great achievements which we will learn about in this interview. Keep reading to check it out!
How long did you lead the Water Vikings?
Dino: I led from September 13th, 2022 to June 8th, 2024. That is approximately 634 days (nearly 2 years) consecutively, only really bested by Bepboy and I think Claire and Rye.
Mabel: I got promoted on September 9,2022 and left February 2nd, 2024. Soooo a good year and a half maybe two if you wanna round it up 😁😁
Are there any accomplishments you are most proud of during this era of leadership?
Dino: Too many, I suppose. I was very proud and grateful of every single day, because I was a mid-tier S/M leader prior to that and even my first go at leading WV was very rough. I was very happy that even though mine and Mabel’s (and later Cabin’s too) WV had so little staff compared to now, and maxed less than WV does currently (we’d be very happy to even get 25 at an event ngl), we worked harder than anyone in this community and won two tournaments (Christmas Chaos and March Madness), made it to another final (AUSIA Arena), a semis (Legends Cup), and a strong World War campaign. We were quite literally the community’s underdog through and through. We smashed WV records and got somewhere. Really, I’m just proud of that fact rather than the specifics.
Mabel: The AUSIA generation. Water Vikings has always had a bit of a struggle when it came to sizes in general during our time of leading, but especially the AUSIA portion where for awhile, me and Dino both stopped hosting AUSIA events considering we both didn’t have time to host them so early in the morning with Dino still in school and me having work in the mornings so often. With the unfortunate controversies that happened with Ice Warriors, we had a splurge of AUSIA members come in and we were actually able to host more events, later making it to the finals against Help Force who themselves were notable for having a strong AUSIA. Also, winning two tournaments (CC and MM) when not even that long ago Dino and I were struggling so hard to get a decent max, and we did what Water Vikings had struggled to do years before? That is something I’m really proud that we both managed to accomplish. There were so many people doubting us (outside of CPA and some WV vets), and we managed to prove them wrong that we could bring the Water Vikings out of a dark situation, just that it was going to take a lot of time, and effort from everyone included.
What is the biggest challenge you faced?
Dino: As said before, WV for most of my leadership had like maybe 6 mods and 4-5 HCOM at a time. Only regular recruiters and welcomers for some time (pre-Dec 2023) were Jojo, Chey, Claire, Aurora, Mei, Lunita, Disha, and like Cait (and again, I led a long time so this is spread throughout). Modern WV has an annoying entitlement wanting extreme sizes that are unrealistic and will kill WV. Me and Mabel had it harder than anyone of these people have currently yet we worked so hard and it paid dividends.
Mabel: Picking up what was left for me and Dino to rebuild. When it came to us, there was so many things already going wrong that me and Dino physically had to take days to actually figure out what’s going right for the army, and what’s going wrong. Down the line, we later had so many wonderful people in our staff team (Jojo, Claire, Chey, Aurora, Disha, etc.) that helped out with struggles such as recruiting and welcoming. I thought I could handle it on my own for awhile, but I definitely needed assistance as it got to me and these amazing people helped us out so much.
What skills did you learn from your leadership?
Dino: Problem-solving. WV was a mess when me and Mabel inherited, esp staff communication wise. Within 2 months after our winter lockdown in 2022, we improved staff communication significantly and boosted our community. That was prob another thing too: I became more versatile and a community-builder as WV leader. I was previously strictly the diplomatic hand of the army but came to do a lot more.
Mabel: Unlike Dino, this was my first army I had led. A skill that I learnt for sure was handling issues inside and outside the army. There was so many issues going on inside the army itself, and we were also having issues with our affairs, which I definitely helped rebuild our relationships with armies that weren’t even our allies in the first place.
Is there anything you would have done differently or changed?
Dino: Too many things. I warred more than the leaders after me frankly but I also wish I just did more. I over-thought war and it cost me my motivation.
Mabel: I wish I had more time for everything. In real life, I struggled (and still do) with a lot of mental health and physical health issues that affected the way I could lead for awhile. I wish there was a way that I could’ve gotten help for those said issue a lot faster just so I could help out even more with the army.
Did you achieve the goals you had set for yourself? If so, what were they?
Dino: If I named all of them, they’d stretch on for a mile. I set myself small goals first, because I realized quickly (thanks to our brilliant advisors Leo and Cot) that shooting for the moon doesn’t work. I always had a goal in mind long-term, like prepare to win the next tournament or work to achieve like a higher TT spot, but I also focused on what was going on in the moment with small goals. I made sure specific tasks were done in advance like a checklist, I made sure regular announcements were done, I set up size goals that gradually increased and higher incentives (not just nitro/robux too!) as we advanced, etc. I knew WV didn’t automatically have a legitimate chance at winning it all, so it was taking things one at a time. Modern WV should learn from this because I seldom had HCOV tell me how to do my job.
Mabel: For goals that Dino and I set, we have definitely achieved many of those. There are too many to name, but definitely being able to win a tournament was one of our goals, but managing to win two was something that we never fully expected that we could pull off.
If you could bring back one thing from your era of Water Vikings into the current one, what would it be?
Dino: Non-money incentives and unlocked chat for general. Modern WV events are extremely boring and won’t work in the long-term if WV wants to grow a community, esp outside of Club Penguin/CPA. Seriously most troops don’t care for battle trainings lol. Doesn’t mean DON’T do them. In fact those trainings are why my smaller WV was so good tactically, but we also made sure that we only locked if it was for battles or for speed trainings. Troops love when you interact with them. It’s why ACP and RPF are so appealing, and it’s ridiculous how modern WV has became so dull and cookie-cutter. It’s why WV isn’t winning anything. And even with the locked chats, modern WV is so lazy that we’re not actually TRAINING except when advisors step in to do that. They don’t rehearse or do shit with their size, it’s just dress up and slop. It’s a disgrace.
Mabel: No offense, but actual fun events where it wasn’t so boring to just sit at your computer and repeat the same thing over and over again for weeks. I joined an event for the first time in a few months, and asked to VC lead which I think brought back some light that was missing for awhile, but most of the time I dread attending a training event just because to me it feels like the same thing is repeated all the time. There needs to be more creativity when it comes to events, make every new event different from the last.
What is one thing that Water Vikings does now, that you wish you had thought of back then?
Dino: The committee system, but to be fair that was my idea that I pitched to Cobra and he later developed it fully. The modern version of Viking Academy too (DrQ started the OG VA under me but it was much smaller).
Mabel: The committee system. It is such a smart system on helping staff get out of their shell and actually get to do something. I know Dino pitched the idea awhile when we were leading, but seeing it now, I wish we had actually been able to do so.
What was the biggest emotion you felt when you retired from your leadership?
Dino: Burnt out because I was forced to stay longer than I wanted to, resulting in all my peer stabbing me in the back when I went on break due to an IRL emergency in early April after all I had done for the army. Literally didn’t care anymore and still miffed about it.
Mabel: Definitely relief. I was ready to be an adult and proceed with my life, especially after getting a promotion at my job at the time, and starting a relationship with someone during that time too. I joined armies when I was still a sophomore in high school iirc, and at the time I was leader I had just graduated. A majority of my time was spent online during the covid lockdowns, and I wanted to spend more of my personal time with those I knew in person.
When Dino and Mabel led, there were various issues in WV that caused many to doubt that they could do well. Even with a somewhat small staff team, however, they managed to make waves in the CPA community by winning March Madness and Christmas Chaos, as well as making deep runs in other tournaments. They powered through a very hard time to lead, and set new WV records as the underdog of the community. Because of their various achievements, they were both honoured with being WV Legends. Who will we see in the next post of Vikings Through The Ages?
<><><><><><><>
Interview by:
Noa
Viking Guard
Post by:
b2
Viking Lord