Webcomic / Toonatopia: The Animation Initiation

The cover.

Toonatopia: The Animation Initiation is a short (41 page) fan comic by Michelle "ToonSkribblez" Bard, originally published in 2005. Read it on DeviantArt here or on Tumblr here!

In an Alternate Tooniverse known as Toonatopia, a cartoon show's main characters must pass an initiation test before their animated series premieres. The story follows Gordon, Waffle, and Mr. Blik from Nickelodeon's Catscratch, accompanied by Lazlo of Cartoon Network's Camp Lazlo, as they go through their initiation. At first, their task seems simple enough: All they have to do to pass is bake a pie (though one with very specific ingredients they must travel in order to find) for "King" SpongeBob of the Nicktoons Kingdom. Little do they realize, however, that they've been wrapped up in an evil scheme by the king's royal adviser to conquer all of Toonatopia...

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Toonatopia provides examples of:

• Acid Pool: X-Acid, which, unlike most examples of this trope, isn't deadly... though that doesn't mean it isn't dangerous.
• Affectionate Parody: Of the entire animation industry, circa 2005.
• Alternate Tooniverse: Toonatopia itself.
• And I Must Scream: The Never-Weres, characters who don't pass initiation, are those whose shows never made it past the pilot. Their fate is absolutely tragic.
  Never-Were (O. Ratz): "With no show to remember us by, we forget ourselves as well. We fade into shadowy figures, thus becoming Never-Weres."
• And I'm the Queen of Sheba: "Yeah, yeah, and I'm Tex Avery."
• Animated Actors: Part of the premise. Raj and Clam are even shown rehearsing their lines at one point.
• Anti-Villain: SpongeBob, who's still the same innocent, naive Nice Guy he always is. The only reason he acts like a jerk to other toons before going One-Winged Angel is because of Plankton's manipulation and the effects of X-Acid.
• Aside Glance: Plankton at the very end after encountering the real Flankton.
• Author Appeal: Or rather "Author's Friends Appeal," as the artist notes that her friends being fans of Krypto the Superdog was the reason for his and Ace the Bathound's appearance in the comic's climax.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Subverted with SpongeBob. He's only acting like a jerk because Plankton is manipulating him.
• Big Bad: Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants.
• Big Damn Heroes: Bugs Bunny and other classic cartoon characters against SpongeBob after he goes One-Winged Angel.
• Brick Joke: On the very last page, Plankton's Relatively Flimsy Excuse becomes this.
• Casting Gag:
  • Lazlo knows Rocko because he "came out of the same part of the Primordial Ink Well as [he] did." In Real Life, Lazlo and Rocko not only share the same creator (Joe Murray), but the same voice actor (Carlos Alazraqui).
  • Pleakley mentions that Waffle sounds just like him. They share a voice actor: Kevin McDonald.
  • Waffle also wonders why Earthworm Jim looks familiar. They also share a creator: Doug TenNapel.
• The Cameo: Almost every TV cartoon character you can think of (that existed in 2005) appears for at least one panel, but special mention has to go to when the characters first enter Nostalgia Acres.◊
• Comically Missing the Point: Waffle hears Mr. Blik yelling "I HAVE NO BROTHER!" and wonders if that means he's a sister.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Once Bugs Bunny arrives on the scene, he makes quick work of XtremeBob.
• Every Man Has His Price: At first, Mr. Blik isn't too keen on the idea of forgiving SpongeBob, even with the promise of his show airing. Then SpongeBob agrees to let him drive his car again. Mr. Blik completely changes his toon.
• Fantastic Racism: Plankton appears to be racist to any toon that isn't from the channel he hails from, even telling XtremeBob to forget about Jenny and Danny in favor of attacking the Cartoon Network Toons instead.
• I Can't Hear You: When Mr. Blik first tries to address "King" SpongeBob, his throne is too high up for them to hear each other.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: The toons have to make SpongeBob come to his senses to stop the X-Acid's influence.
• Initiation Ceremony: New toons have to be initiated before they can officially join the rank of their fellow cartoons. For Lazlo, the popular CN characters assign him to try and catch The Powerpuff Girls, while the Catscratch cats have to make SpongeBob a specific pie. Rocko also reveals his initiation entailed him having to drink an entire fountain of slime.
• Insistent Terminology: "Cancelled" is a harsh word. Toons prefer "retired."
• Just Whistle: How Bugs summons Haku.
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Several characters from all different kinds of networks appear either as major characters or in passing.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Everyone panics upon seeing XtremeBob completely thrash Danny and Jenny, two of the strongest Nicktoons.
• Motive Rant: Plankton even lampshades how loudly he's monologuing. Good thing his secret evil lair is soundproof! It is not, however, ghost-proof.
• Mutagenic Goo: X-Acid, the liquid which causes the existence of reboots. According to Word of God, its effects change depending on what's currently trending in animation. While the results are usually bad, this isn't always the case, as there is the occasionally good reboot. The real question is whether or not it's worth the risk.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After getting restored to normal, SpongeBob is horrified by all the damage he caused due to being tricked by Plankton.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Clam and Raj are seen rehearsing their lines for "Dosey Doe" at one point in the comic.
  • Cosmo having the title of Rice President and the mention of Super Toilet are references to two episodes of The Fairly Oddparents.
  • Bugs says he "had a bad experience with that X-Acid stuff" while his shadow takes the shape of Ace Bunny.
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: What Gordon and Waffle initially assume about SpongeBob thanks to Plankton making him act like a Jerkass.
  Waffle: He seemed a lot nicer on TV.
  Gordon: Aye.
• The Nose Knows: Clam manages to figure out the Catscratch cats are Nicktoons just by smelling them.
• Old Shame: In-Universe, Bugs feels this way about Loonatics Unleashed.
• One-Winged Angel: SpongeBob becomes the horrifying "XtremeBob" after eating the pie filled with X-Acid.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Danny, Timmy, Cosmo and Wanda suspect something's up with SpongeBob because he isn't acting like himself.
• Pretending to Be One's Own Relative: Plankton is able to convince SpongeBob to make him his royal adviser by telling him that he's not actually Plankton, but Plankton's long lost, nicer twin cousin Flankton.
• Puppet King: King SpongeBob is really just Plankton's figurehead.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: According to the comic's creator, the inspiration for the story came from how Camp Lazlo and Catscratch premiered the very same weekend: Friday, July 8th, 2005 and Saturday, July 9th, 2005 respectively.
• Reboot Snark: X-Acid is a dig at Darker and Edgier reboots. Drinking it transforms Mr. Blik and SpongeBob into more monstrous pointy-lined versions of themselves. There's also a small Take That! towards Loonatics Unleashed, which was apparently caused by Bugs Bunny ingesting X-Acid.
• Related in the Adaptation: There's an offhand line from Jake Long stating he's Juniper Lee's cousin.
• Sadistic Choice: After learning about what X-Acid does to toons as well as what happens to Toons that fail their Initiation Ceremony, Gordon, Waffle and Mr. Blik are left with a choice: either give SpongeBob the pie he ordered them to get, which, if he eats it, will turn him into an edgy monster, or don't give it to him and become Never-Weres. Due to them crashing into SpongeBob's throne room, Plankton makes the choice for them and force feeds SpongeBob the pie.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable.
  Gordon: Awww, isn't that sweet, Mr. Blik?
  Mr. Blik: If by sweet you mean it makes me wanna throw up every organ in my body, then yes.
• Shout-Out: When Lazlo is nowhere to be found, Waffle suggests "He must've sprouted wings and joined the Witch of the West!" Mr. Blik gives him a Dope Slap.
• Suspicious Video-Game Generosity: Non video game example, but compared to what Lazlo and Rocko had to do, the Catscratch cats only having to make a pie is oddly easy. It's because Plankton is using the pie as a vessel to trick SpongeBob into consuming X-Acid to turn him into a monster that he can use to destroy the other channels.
• Take That!:
  • Hurricane Eisner is a jab at former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
  • Bugs Bunny treats his own experiences with X-Acid as an old shame of his, calling it a "bad experience".
• Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: The climactic battle against XtremeBob features Danny Fenton, XJ9, Samurai Jack, Juniper Lee and The Kids Next Door, just to name a few... and then Bugs Bunny shows up.
• Unwitting Pawn: Poor SpongeBob...
• Visual Gag: Several. One in particular standout is Cosmo looking like he's typing something important, but the laptop's screen just shows him playing Pong.
• Visual Pun: The "toe (tow) truck" drawn by Rudy Tabootie, a joke very much in the vein of the show he's from.
• Wham Line: When Rocko is explaining X-Acid.
  Rocko: Your show needs to be running for at least a few years for X-Acid to work. Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... or...
  Gordon: Or SpongeBob SquarePants.
• Wild Take: How Rocko reacts to the mention of X-Acid.
• The Worf Effect: Danny Fenton and Jenny Wakeman are the first to stand up to XtremeBob. He swats them away like flies.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: As SpongeBob is frantically apologizing for everything he did while Plankton was tricking him, he explains that the fame he was getting went to his head and that he thought he had to act like a jerk to make people like him. Danny, Jenny, and Cosmo all assure him that they like his normal Nice Guy self perfectly fine.