Magical Adventures in Space

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Magical Adventures in Space
Author(s)	Jeffrey Rowland
Website	http://wigu.com/archive.php?date=20050206
Launch date	February 2005
End Date	April 2005
Genre	Science fiction satire

Magical Adventures in Space was a webcomic by Jeffrey Rowland, launched in February 2005 as a semi-sequel to his earlier strip Wigu (the strip still used the domain name http://wigu.com/ , although its archive has now been moved to a sub-domain.) The title was originally that of a television series and related video game enjoyed by Wigu Tinkle in the earlier strip. These starred the "heroic" Topato Potato and his sidekick Sheriff Pony who sometimes found themselves in the "real" world, influencing events involving Wigu's family. In April the same year the strip was replaced by the revived Wigu.

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The new story takes place in Topato and Sheriff Pony's homeworld, Butter Dimension³, previously established as the setting for the MAIS TV series, and also stars Princess Dongle, another character originally established in Wigu. Storylines involved Topato's whirlwind romance with Annaba Banana, which included a brief excursion to destroy the Space Terrors who wiped out Annaba's homeworld; and Princess Dongle's struggles against an arranged marriage and her addiction to "intoxihol". Almost all of the dialogue is in a very formal, mannered style which is often deliberately at odds with the chaotic events of the story.

The April 8, 2005 strip depicts the heroes watching their favorite reality television show The Tinkles - starring (of course) the Tinkle family from Wigu. Following a "commercial" parodying Super Mario Bros. the original Wigu storyline was resumed on April 18, spelling an end to M.A.I.S in this form. Topato and Sheriff Pony appeared in future Wigu comics, as did Princess Dongle, and the king, although he appeared for only one episode. No other characters appeared.

[edit] Characters

Topato Potato: a flying potato whose primary defense consists of being made of poison. He appears heroic but is actually egotistical and often needs to be restrained by Sheriff Pony.

Sheriff Pony: a small blue pony whose moral purity is in stark contrast to Topato's selfishness and the Princess's immaturity.

Princess Dongle: the green-haired daughter of Butter Dimension Quad's royal family. Her behavior is far from regal. She has threatened suicide in protest against her arranged marriage to Nos Woggleby, attempted to seduce Sheriff Pony (who resisted heroically), and stormed out of a rehab session for her intoxiholism.

Annaba Banana: a flying banana introduced as Topato's girlfriend at the beginning of the series. She quickly becomes the last of her kind when her homeworld is destroyed by Space Terrors. After wiping out the Space Terrors in retaliation, Topato becomes bored with Annaba and prepares to dump her.

Nos Woggleby: a cyborg, betrothed to Princess Dongle against her will. The engagement was ended when it was revealed that he was having an affair with his car.

Space Terrors: nightmarish space-dwelling creatures of pure hatred, possessing huge fangs and bloodshot, upward-staring eyes. Immune to Topato's poison, they can only be destroyed by glee.