Gumball Saga

The Main Cover for the Saga

> "*The rein of the Mawgu has begun!*"
> ― The Mawgu
>
>

The Gumball Saga is the second arc of the Toon Wars fan-series, and an introduction to Cartoon Network characters and more Nicktoons not seen prior. It was published on Deviantart and Fanfiction.net right after the end of the Nicktoons Saga and centers around the character of Gumball Watterson brought into the now escalated Syndicate war. It was released on February 1, 2018, and re-released on Wattpad on November and Archive of Our Own on January of 2019. The rest of the Toon Wars continues into the Samurai Jack Saga following this arc.

## Plot

Following the end of the previous Nicktoons Saga, Jimmy Neutron recruited Kitty Katswell and Plankton and Karen as new members of the steadily growing Toon Force. Plankton expresses that he's only joining since he doesn't want to have his world put at risk again after the Morphoid invasion (*Globs of Doom*), though others believe its because he has a soft spot for Spongebob, which he denies. Manny Rivera, AKA El Tigre, returns from *Attack of the Toybots* as part of the team, though is typically standing guard in Retroville. Others like Jack and Maddie Fenton have also stepped in to assist. Kitty herself mentions that the T.U.F.F headquarters was suddenly bombed earlier by an unknown assailant, and is joining the Toon Force in hopes of finding out who did it.

Using a device known as the Dimensional Monitor, Jimmy reprogrammed the Universe Portal Machine to travel to the new dimension the Syndicate discovered and found that one of the worlds had been attacked by their forces. Karen and Plankton warp the Toon Force to Elmore (the main setting of *The Amazing World of Gumball*), only to find that the city is completely empty. Only a limp doughnut officer, which Timmy starts eating, mentions with his last breath that they must find a Watterson. Believing them to be out in the city somewhere in hiding, the Toon Force split up and eventually find Gumball hiding in his locker at his school. Nervous and jokey, he introduces himself to them and the Toon Force temporarily invite him to the team, though he states that he may not be the Watterson they're looking for. Suddenly, Vlad Plasmius attacks the group at the school gym with the intent of killing Gumball believing him to be the one who attacked Crocker and Calamitous during their invasion of Elmore. However, Gumball denies this and the team engage in a fight with Vlad that's ended when Penny Fitzgerald, shape-shifted into several different forms, defeats him. Plasmius retreats to the Syndicate's secret base while the Toon Force, with Penny and Gumball, separate from Danny and Jenny back to Retroville to track the villains down. This leads to Jimmy explaining the story of why the Toon Force are together and what they're trying to do to end the war.

Eventually, Karen and VOX detect that the Syndicate's secret base is actually in the thought-to-be destroyed Volcano Island. The team teleport there with the UPM and find that the entirety of the island had been completely taken over by the Syndicate's forces and used as a refinery for their Morphoid and Mawgu Ooze. Before they could go any further, more rogue characters show up along with Tuesday X from the past arc ordered by the Syndicate to attack them at the Ooze Vaults. But the Toon force defeat their old friends and Jimmy accidentally kills Trudy X, much to Tuesday's dismay as she retreated. At the right time, Vlad and Crocker incapacitate the heroes with hidden stun guns and takes everyone but Penny to the Mawgu Lair's prison sector. Meanwhile, Jenny and Danny find in Elmore that Gumball's Mother, Nicole and her partner/rival Yuki were the ones who attacked the Syndicate earlier, and were scouting around to try and find their family, who've been captured and taken to Volcano Island's prison along with the Toon Force. Knowing the stakes, the four of them immediately warp to the island undetected by the Syndicate to set the prisoners free while Jimmy sets himself free with help from Goddard, who was still in Retroville in case of an emergency. Jimmy reaches the Mawgu Lair computer while the Syndicate are gone and reprograms it with a backup drive to warp everyone from Elmore back to their homes. While doing so, Danny, Jenny, Nicole, and yuki arrive to tell him what's been going on, and Jimmy explains that the Syndicate had a new -likely temporary- partner who told them all about Elmore and Gumball, revealing how they knew about it in the first place. Meanwhile in Gumball's cell, his own arch enemy, Rob, meets him and reveals that he had allied himself with the Syndicate in order to get revenge on him for past episodes and making him the way he is. Despite his protests, Gumball falls asleep in boredom and Rob begins to reconsider killing him and his people.

After freeing the prisoners, however, Rob reaches the Mawgu Lair during the Toon Force's confrontation with the Syndicate and shuts down the warp drive, leaving only Gumball, Anais, Darwin, and Penny alone from the sector. The Wattersons confront Rob and demand he reactivates the warp drive while the Syndicate corner the Toon Force with their Toybot troops and explain their grand plan to free the villainous Mawgu from the Rip Zipper created by Jimmy Neutron to seal him away at the end of *Battle for Volcano Island*. This way, with a mix of both his corruptive ooze and the essence of the Morphoids, he can unlock ultimate power. This reveals that the Syndicate were only using the citizens of Elmore as a ploy to get the heroes to the island so the Mawgu could destroy their worlds while they're away. And Penny is corrupted by the Ooze Vault and ordered to attack Nicole and Yuki. With no time to waste, the entire Toon Force fight against the Toybots to get to Vlad before he reopens the Rip Zipper with his powers, while Gumball fights against Rob to turn the warp drive back on. Meanwhile, Nicole and Yuki manage to incapacitate and restore the corrupted Penny using the island's water to rid of the ooze after a long and hard fought battle. However, one of the blasts from the fight makes its way to Gumball at the balcony of the Mawgu Lair, and Rob pushes him into it, seemingly killing him until it was quickly revealed he absorbed his mother's energy onto himself, using it to turn the tide of battle for everyone. Defeated, Rob pleads with the Syndicate over the Mawgu's arrival and realizes his plan for revenge had gone too far, now seeing that without Gumball, he has no purpose. However, Vlad managed to open the Rip Zipper at the nick of time and kills Rob now that their use for him had been fulfilled.

With the interdimensional prison reopened, the Mawgu is freed and now seeks to destroy all of the Nicktoons' worlds with his newfound power thanks to the Syndicate as they retreat to parts unknown with a new plan set in mind. His first target being Timmy's world, which he instantly annihilates without effort when opening portals to everyone's worlds. Fortunately, Amity is shielded with Ecto-Shields, and the Wise Old Crab (AKA Shelly) is revealed to have survived the Syndicate's attack and was held captive at the Mawgu Lair. He tells the heroes that there is a way to defeat the Mawgu despite all his unfathomable power. To do this, they must activate an ancient weapon hidden at the planet's core known as the Planetary Cannon that will shoot from the Volcano to the Mawgu while he's still in sight. However, the intensity of the blast will cost all of the planet's resources and energy and instantly destroy it from the inside out. Luckily, Anais was able to re-energize the warp drive and she and Darwin return to Elmore while the rest of the team make their way to the core of the planet. Penny is tended to by Maddie and Jack in the meantime while Gumball, Nicole, and Yuki travel with the Toon Force and are told about the Nicktoons' adventures on the island and how much it means for them to lose it. This is soon interrupted when an avatar of the Mawgu spawns from the ooze in the planet's core to guard the cannon and attempts to steal Nicole's energy. But her essence overtakes his own and destroys him while Gumball successfully activates the cannon. Tucker then commands the warp drive to send he and everyone back to Retroville while the planet of Volcano Island destroys itself and kills the Mawgu; who like in his debut began to laugh for an unknown reason. After the long and hard fought battle, the Toon Force had lost the coordinates to Elmore from an overload in the Dimensional Monitor when the team destroyed the island. Thankfully, a restored Penny reunites with Gumball and Jimmy vows to return them back to their homes anyway he can. In the meantime, Gumball's group decide to stick with the Toon Force until they can get the coordinates back and have since become fantastic members of the team.

Back in the ruins of Dimsdale following the Mawgu's attack, two red eyes shine through the cracks, hinting that he may still be alive.

## Chapters

1. Chapter 1: The Debut - February 1, 2018
2. Chapter 2: The Shapeshifter - February 2, 2018
3. Chapter 3: The Truth - February 3, 2018
4. Chapter 4: The Lair - February 5, 2018
5. Chapter 5: The Villain - February 6, 2018
6. Chapter 6: The Prison - February 7, 2018
7. Chapter 7: Nicole the Mighty/GB vs. Rob - February 9, 2018
8. Chapter 8-9: Goodbye Volcano Island - February 12, 2018

## Characters

### Nicktoons

* Jimmy Neutron
* Danny Phantom
* Jenny Wakeman
* Timmy Turner
* Kitty Katswell
* Sam Manson
* El Tigre
* Maddie Fenton
* Spongebob (mentioned)
* Jack Fenton
* Tucker Foley
* Plankton
* VOX
* Karen

### Gumball

* Gumball Watterson
* Penny Fitzgerald
* Nicole Watterson
* Yuki Yoshida
* Rob
* Darwin Watterson
* Anais Watterson

### The Syndicate

* Professor Calamitous
* Vlad Masters/Plasmius
* Denzel Crocker
* The Mawgu

### Corrupted Worlds

* Tuesday X
* Shelly (Wise Old Hermit Crab)
* Trudy X
* Bessie
* Mr. Blik
* Chum Chum

## Settings

* Retroville (Jimmy's Lab)
* Elmore (Streets and Middle School)
* Mawgu Lair
* The Summit
* Volcano Planetary Core

## Time Placement

While it is never specifically stated in-story, its implied through its own content and Toon Wars: Shorts that it takes place around a few months after the Nicktoons Saga as it still occurs within the first year of the war before the 5-year gap following the Samurai Jack Saga. In the perspective of Cartoon Network's universe, this occurs after *CN Crossover Nexus* but is never brought up until Toon Wars: The Final Days. Gumball himself was one of the frozen victims of Strike in the special, but is instead one of the main heroes of the Toon Wars while the ones from the special (besides K.O.) become corrupted in the last saga, which Gumball jokingly points out. By the time of the arc, Rob is still enemies with Gumball, but Julius is mentioned later in Toon Wars: The Final Days suggesting he wasn't the only rival at this point. *The Fury* and *The Shell* also occur before the Gumball Saga as Yuki and Penny are among the main cast.

## Reception

Being the first to introduce Cartoon Network characters to Nicktoons in Toon Wars, the Gumball Saga was given far more attention than its predecessor, becoming the first story Frozarburst made that garnered 100+ views in a span of a week. Magiswords Fusion Wars also soon achieved the same feat after the first few chapters of the saga were posted. While some fans asked why Frozarburst hadn't bothered to use other well-known cartoons such as Steven Universe or Loud House over Gumball, he felt as though it would be much more unique to use TAWOG instead as many crossovers already use the latter two to a huge extent. This decision would quickly prove to be a great one at launch, as more and more views were steadily growing as a result. Fans of the original show and Toon Wars following the Nicktoons Saga grew to love the dark tone of the series and the storyline surrounding the war and its effect on other cartoons. Others have also enjoyed the inclusion of characters from other shows that hadn't been present in the past arc, such as TUFF Puppy, or the change of heart from Plankton who works with the heroes to protect Bikini Bottom. However, some closest to Frozarburst also noticed midway through the arc that certain scenes either didn't present Gumball as accurately as in the show, or that some scenes could have been extended or shortened for time and consistency. The first critique would later be met with a fix, as Frozarburst was just starting out once again after a few years since How to train your Hero with character accuracy, which he felt was sorely lacking in the previous crossover from 2014. Regardless of any complaints, more fans were being attracted to Toon Wars with the release of the Gumball Saga, and would continue to grow with the Samurai Jack Saga and future fan-made stories.

## Trivia

* This saga marks the debut of Cartoon Network characters and other Nicktoons not present in past games.
* The theme color of the saga is blue in homage to Gumball.
* The Universe Portal Machine makes a reappearance in the saga, though it's not especially named. This was the warp gate Jimmy used in the past *Nicktoons Unite* series to travel to other Nicktoon worlds, and has since reprogrammed it to travel to other universes.
* Unlike the other cartoons featured in Toon Wars, there is no definitive continuity for Gumball other than the fact that Rob is a rival to Gumball, Penny is un-shelled, and Yuki is around. There's also the events of *CN Crossover Nexus*, which predates the Toon Wars chronologically prior to the Syndicate's return but isn't mentioned as the special only aired a year after the saga was introduced.
* This is the first time anything major that would be in the Final Days Saga was brought up. It's also the first time practical online effects were used, using a glitch-text generator to emulate the feel of someone malfunctioning like a computer. This was inspired by *Doki Doki Literature Club* which uses the same effects.
* During Toon Wars' development, there was never originally going to be an arc centered around Gumball and instead skip straight into the Final Days. Another choice was that it would include an arc centered around the Nicktoons and Steven Universe. But neither of these ever came to be. For the Steven arc, this was rejected in favor of making the crossover seem less predictable in terms of what show appears.
* Gumball wasn't originally meant to be a member of the Toon Force. Instead, it would've focused solely on the Nicktoons' point of view.
* There was also a much different draft for the arc in its early stages of development that had a few similarities to the final version but ends with Gumball and his family returning home. The decision to have Gumball, Nicole, Penny, and Yuki stay with the Toon Force was meant for a plot point that would be addressed later on in the Final Days Saga
* Yuki and the anime aesthetic of the Gumball characters were inspired by the show's actual episode, *The Fury.* Although Gumball would not be shown in this style until after the **Gumball Saga** and would remain that way for the rest of Toon Wars.
* This is the second time anyone has powered up beyond their limitations presented in any series. The first was Tak using up all his magic to shield the Nicktoons. This and future transformations would come into play heavily in Toon Wars: The Final Days.
* Rob was never meant to be a part of the saga but was added in later to better explain why and how the Syndicate attacked Elmore, and give more depth to he and Gumball from the cartoon.
* A reference to Shirley taking away Jimmy Neutron’s genius in *Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3* can be found in the last chapter when the Mawgu takes away everyone’s abilities before Gumball uses the Planetary Cannon on him.
* Gumball’s brief transformation wasn’t in any prior drafts up until this point, but was hinted at multiple times throughout the arc regardless. This was meant to pay homage to Goku’s Ultra Instinct transformation in *Dragon Ball Super*. Later on, this was altered to explain the anime-aesthetic Gumball inherits from then on.
* Volcano Island would’ve become a second Toon Force base thanks to the Mawgu Lair, but the idea only came into fruition during the earliest version of the series where the Volcano was destroyed by enemy forces along with the island.
* Earlier drafts of the saga showcased the Toon Force distrusting Gumball in fear that he'd betray them like the rogue worlds did. But this was cut out in favor of a more lighthearted tone towards him, often labeling him as "Cute."