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The Graphic Novel
In a parallel world with action figures, a shy kid traverses unfamiliar territory to find his missing father and fights against an evil villain determined to rule all empires.
A Rubicube brings Sterling and Sai into Miniature City, a hub connecting different realms, including an entrance to Figure Nation. As Sai chases a monkey into a mythical world, Sterling finds clues in Figure Nation that lead to his missing Father.
Sai/Yoga returns to Miniature City with a new friend, Charna, the daughter of mythology legends. They unite with Sterling to help rescue his father from evil action figures.
STERLING (10) - A shy kid struggles with his father's mysterious disappearance. Sterling's experience with good and bad action figures lends to an awareness and understanding that transforms him into a real-world champion.
SAI/YOGA (10) - Sai always worries about the future, so he can't handle matters arising. The school bullies call him Yoga, a name he assumes while on a fantastical journey. His encounters in a mythical place force him to be present to succeed.
CHARNA (10) - The daughter of prominent individuals in Hindu mythology tasked with passing traditional knowledge from previous generations. Charna uses this information to help Yoga find important gems and conquer a fierce army.
ADAPTOR - Sterling's favorite action figure, much to the chagrin of Darknel. While Sterling always feels out of place, Adaptor fits in everywhere (e.g., his clothes change in each environment).
DARKNEL - He is a deplorable action figure full of ego and can't imagine being wrong. Since evil courses through his plastic veins, Darknel delights in unscrupulous behavior.
ZEMA - A female martial arts master chomping for payback. Darknel enslaved her people to work in the cube mines. When they rebelled, he set off a cave-in.
EVA - Zema's arch-enemy - both once owned by Charna. Darknel relies on Eva for backup while he's away conquering kingdoms.
HAWKEYE - Team reconnaissance expert, assisted by a hawk called Scout. With a jutted chin and clenched jaw, Hawkeye maintains a proficient mindset in all directives.
RAPTOR - The mirror image of Hawkeye but without color. He has a half-crow / half-vulture named Wren. It's his primary mission to imprison Hawkeye.
BOXTROT - A boxer whose jab malfunction causes him to punch sporadically. Boxtrot is in constant motion with an all-over-the-place personality.
STONE - A rock golem made of one solid piece of granite - unlike Boxtrot's wiggly, always-moving body, Stone is slow and deliberate.
WRECKS - An all-black tyrannosaurus rex from Dino Shore. He comes to Miniature City through a giant set of double doors covered in vines.
WGAw registration: 2228604
CHAPTER ONE—
A beam of multi-colored light shoots out from a Rubicube and hits Sterling and Sai/Yoga. A moment later, the boys stand beside Sterling's action figures. It takes a few seconds for them to realize they're in the town square of Miniature City—clued in by Sterling seeing his dad's multi-tool tucked inside a house.
As they get their bearings, a mischievous monkey snatches in, snatches the Rubicube, and runs. Sterling is already moving toward his dad's tool and yells, "Don't let him get away!" Sai/Yoga gives chase with two action figures.
Sterling takes the multi-tool and examines it—one of the "blades" in the tool glows, but Sterling is distracted by his favorite action figure, Adaptor, before he notices. The action figures look for guidance. Sterling isn't engaging.
Adaptor asks Hawkeye what he found on the mission. Hawkeye, a team reconnaissance expert, whistles, and a hawk called Scout flies in to land on his outstretched arm—Scout caws, which snaps Sterling out of his reverie. Sterling says, "What? Oh, sorry. I didn't think I'd ever find my dad—and now this!" He holds the tool up. Another glint of light comes from inside the multi-tool, which we later discover is a Digi-key.
Sterling looks at Zema, "What happened to my friend? Where's the Rubicube?" Zema says, "The monkey used it to open a portal, and the small human followed him. When we caught up, the portal had shrunk too much for us to enter. I'm afraid he's on his own now."
Sterling falls back into deep thought, and the action figures descend into discord, with Adaptor trying to pull them together. Adaptor turns to Sterling. "Commander?" "COMMANDER?!" the second urging gets him to return to reality.
"Right! Sorry. Look, this tool was my dad's. Which means he was here. He never went anywhere without it, so he likely left it there for us to find—like a trail of breadcrumbs!" He tells them to look through the house, behind or around it, maybe in a ditch, to see if his dad fell somewhere.
Sterling looks intensely focused and turns to Hawkeye: "What did you find? Did you see my dad? Do you have any idea which direction Darknel went?" Hawkeye says, "Away from the unmoving sun." He means the streaming light from the lower basement window in the real world.
The villain, Darknel, and his bobble-headsmen are in a large courtyard with various portals. Each has a customized entrance that connects to a specific realm, as in a Kabuki door that leads to a Samurai/Ninja world, an aged wooden door opens to a World of Whimsical Magic, and through a stone door offers a Dungeons & Dragons-like labyrinth. Most doors are translucent, indicating they don't fully connect to this plane of existence. The door that looks like the entry to a fantasy castle and one other are "solid" in appearance.
Meanwhile, in a vast mythical world where all the color is gone, the evil action figures move toward a door in a large plot of dead grass. Eva, Stone, and Raptor "beam" through the portal into the Courtyard. These action figures are the mirrored opposites of the good ones, with no color.
Darknel asks about finding the Digi-key. Eva holds her head down, "Not yet, sir." Darknel instructs her to take care of Sterling while he and his bobble-headsmen retrieve the Rubicube from "the monkey and that blasted kid." He turns to a portal that looks like a door in the Taj Mahal and uses a key shaped like a trident to enter what leads to Charna's mythical world. The bobble-headsmen follow.
Continued in Yoga To The Rescue
CHAPTER TWO—
The action figures help Sterling search for his dad. Traveling through Miniature City near the Courtyard of Doors, Adaptor says, "This site reeks of evil." Hawkeye remarks that Scout has spied on Darknel and knows this place is essential. Sterling doesn't recognize this area but surmises that each door leads to another world.
They move onto a street that Sterling notes is not part of the City he and his dad built—he's never been here before. They turn on a road that gives way to Figure Nation proper.
In Marshmallow Cove, the sea serpent Beatrice shakes her head, "No, I haven't seen him." At Monstrocity, a three-headed monster holds up his four arms like being "empty-handed" with an "I don't know" expression. Then they're in Screenland, which resembles 1920s Hollywood. A crew is filming an old Charlie Chaplin-style movie. One of the actors shrugs. In Rock Gardens, Shine sings on stage with actual rocks as the audience. They talk to the soundman, who is annoyed by their questions as he tries to do his job running sound for the concert.
Hawkeye guides the team to a giant comic book store. Across the front, on top of the building, is an oversized flashing neon light that reads "COMICOPIA—A UNIVERSE OF POSSIBILITIES!" They enter the store with massive aisles, like in a Walmart, filled with comic books, toys, and brand merchandise. At the back is a considerable roll-up door, presumably used for deliveries. But there's a flame glowing around the edges that we've come to know is an indicator of a portal. It looks like the cover of the famous Fantastic Four comic book but with original characters—
Sterling walks up to the door in awe. He slowly reaches for a push-button box on the wall beside the door. The box has a green button with an arrow pointing up that says "OPEN," and underneath is written, "to endless possibilities." Below is a red button that says "CLOSE," and downward is scrawled, "minded." Sterling opens the door and gets bathed in blue light.
Eva, Stone, and Raptor are now in the town square. Raptor whistles, and Wren lands on his outstretched arm, just as Scout does with Hawkeye. Eva wants to know where Sterling went, and after Raptor and Wren do some low whistling, he leads them deeper into the City.
The Evils make their way to the comic shop. Raptor says, "Wren saw them enter here." Eva kicks in the front door.
Sterling and the action figures are in Comicopia, a 2D comic book world with a distinctly different art technique—an old, dot matrix printed-looking comic book style with mid-20th-century architecture, vehicles, and technology. The Golden Age of comic books come to life!
They observe superheroes defeat bank robbers. The police arrive and put the bandits into an old-school wagon. Sterling points to a handkerchief that was his dad's. He wonders if the police mistakenly took him to jail. As they drive away, Scout takes to the sky and relays directions to Hawkeye.
Adaptor prepares to search for leads. He grabs some odds and ends from the alleyway to make himself into a beat reporter. Zema comments it looks like a cheap homemade Halloween costume. Adaptor laughs and says he has to adapt to the circumstances, then follows after the superheroes.
Eva tells the Evils to stay put as she goes to track Adaptor.
On the way to the police station, Scout alerts the team of suspicious activity at an abandoned building. They change course and travel to an old paint factory.
Adaptor comes to the same conclusion, and Eva relays that to the Evils, "If we play our cards right, they'll take themselves into the building—then we just show up and close the door behind them!"
Sterling and the team arrive at the paint factory. Adaptor comes a moment later and says the superheroes know of Darknel, and he's the mastermind behind this world's villains!
They sneak in the back door and search the factory but find nothing. They're about to give up, but Sterling notices his dad's cuff bracelet on a window ledge. They head down that path, look around, and see they're on the opposite side of the wall from where the color was running off. They notice a big tank of swirling black and grey paint splashing out, and the color disappears everywhere a drop lands.
Adaptor pulls out a cheesy Sherlock Holmes Detective Hat, uses a magnifying glass, and spots a trap door. They go through it down a spiral staircase. The stairs start out looking industrial and turn into what is like dungeon stairs.
They enter a dungeon full of jail cells; Sterling sees his dad, Anthony! He starts to tell Sterling about "the key," but the Evils pop out and surround them before finishing.
CHAPTER THREE—
In the ensuing battle, the good action figures are captured. Anthony tells Sterling to flee. The Evils pursue Sterling. He runs, speeds on an old skateboard, and then a bike—the multi-tool glimmers for a second to "hint" that he already has the key.
Sterling watches the Evils rush past his hiding place and waits a few minutes. He steps out as the Evils go around a corner in the distance. He turns to move toward the Fantastic Door and comes face-to-face with Eva. She monologues, and we learn of Darknel's plan to take over Comicopia and all domains. She explains her hatred of Zema, alludes to Charna (whom Sterling has never heard of), and says she can't wait until Darknel rids all the realms of the retina-searing colors.
Eva takes Sterling by the collar, yanks him in, and says Darknel wants him alive since his father hid "the key" somewhere, and Sterling will be good leverage. Eva notices the multi-tool and sees a flash from the key inside.
She pulls the tool from Sterling's shirt pocket as the Evils return. She triumphs it up. "The Digi-Key! Well, well … maybe we don't need the whelp or his insolent father either." Eva turns back around to see that Sterling is gone.
Sterling frantically runs through a few superhero/villain fights, ducking and jumping over SFX (POW, SMACK, KABLAM) to escape Eva and the Evils.
The Evils appear from the alley and corner Sterling in another passage. Eva leaves and mentions taking the key to the Courtyard to wait for Darknel.
Sterling has no way out, and just as all hope seems lost, the four superheroes come behind the Evils and demand they leave the kid alone. Stone, Raptor, and Monocronies turn to the superheroes, and there's another battle (1960s Batman visuals inserted here). Sterling slips away.
Eva is back in Miniature City, heading for the Courtyard, where the various doors lead to other realms. She tightly clutches the multi-tool.
Sterling returns to the comic book store and rushes out the front door. Wren and Scout are in the air, engaged in a fight. Wren notices Sterling emerge onto the street. He runs for his life as a swarm of Monocronies chases him while Wren dive-bombs.
Yoga and Charna have returned from Yoga to the Rescue: Worlds Discovered. Sterling rounds the corner to the town square. He yells to Yoga, "There you are! You have the Cube!? Let's get out of here! Hurrrrrrrry!!!" Yoga quickly twists the Rubicube, and a beam of light zaps all three kids into the basement, regular size.
CHAPTER FOUR—
In the basement, Sterling leans over, hands on knees, to catch his breath. "My Dad! I found my Dad—Darknel is holding him captive—we gotta round up more action figures and go back to save him!"
Yoga introduces Charna. Sterling calls him Sai, and Charna asks, "Who is Sai?" Yoga says to Sterling, "Yeah, I go by Yoga now."
Sterling expresses the importance of getting the key back from Eva. He heard she was heading to the Courtyard of Doors but is baffled that he doesn't see that area now.
They gather supplies. Sterling reaches for a box off the shelf, but it's empty. "Wait, where did the rest of my action figures go?" Charna comments she's lost action figures, too. It sucks, but she asks if they have time to look or focus on the task.
There's no sign of the Monocronies. Yoga slides the squares of the Rubicube, and they "beam" back into the town square. They run to the Courtyard, and where the model ends in real life, they spot Eva fiddling with the tool—she can't figure out how to get the key out of the handle.
The Monocronies appear out of nowhere, capture the kids, and take them to Eva. She demands that Sterling show her the secret to pulling the key. Sterling tricks her into handing him the multi-tool. He flips the key out and uses it to escape through a giant set of double doors, made of rock and covered in vines, to Dino Shore.
The kids step through the door onto slippery vegetation and tumble down to the bottom of a hill, landing by an idyllic pool with a waterfall emptying into it from high above. It looks like paradise.
Unfortunately, they're in a world like Jurassic Park—a tyrannosaurus rex roars in the distance. Charna asks where they are. Yoga comments that it looks like "the island from that dinosaur movie." Sterling says that stuff doesn't exist, which sets off a "nerd war." Charna tries to get them to stop while increasing the edge of her voice until she manually turns Yoga to look at what she's seeing.
They encounter Wrecks, an all-black T-Rex. Wrecks' roar scares them so much they attempt to get up the hill, scrambling to grab hold of vines, weeds, roots, whatever to pull themselves back to the door. Wrecks gets around the waterfall and advances toward them.
Sterling fumbles with the key as Wrecks roars again. Wrecks' shadow looms over the kids.
CHAPTER FIVE—
At the Dungeon in Comicopia. Adaptor wears stereotypical black and white stripes with Boxtrot, Zema, and Hawkeye in one cell. Another has Anthony. Darknel gloats about how easy it was to capture them. They all speak up, with Anthony saying he knows his son will save the day. Darknel laughs, "Your hero son is dead after stupidly feeding himself to a hungry T-Rex." This news crushes Anthony.
In Dino Shore, Wrecks is about to eat Sterling, Yoga, and Charna. Sterling spins around, jams the key into the lock, and opens the door. The kids jump through as Wrecks bites the air where they just were.
They land in the Courtyard and sigh in relief, but Wrecks bursts through the door. Panic ensues, and they run to the comic shop, losing Wrecks.
Once in Comicopia, they discover Darknel's baddies guarding the paint factory. Sterling suggests getting the T-rex to cause a commotion and returns to the comic shop to draw him in.
Wrecks chases the kids down the street in Comicopia and corners them in a back alley. Wrecks leans in, snarling, drooling, and they recoil in preparation for the end. But nothing happens. Sterling opens one eye and is amazed. Wrecks has turned around and is chasing Scout, who darts around Wrecks' personal space.
Eva and the Evils run behind Wrecks outside the paint factory as he chases Scout. Eva shouts that they can't let the bird get away and tells Raptor to gain control of his lizard.
The Monocronies scramble in response to Wrecks' havoc. The kids duck into the paint factory. As they reach the jail, Sterling notices his missing action figures, who are imprisoned. Then there's a father-son moment. Yoga suggests he use the key to free them before the Evils return. Sterling opens his dad's cell. But as he steps out, a blue glow surrounds him, and he vanishes backward through a portal that suddenly appears inside.
Sterling freaks out. Yoga consoles him. Zema explains that Darknel left a "portal trap," so he couldn't escape. Charna gently takes the key from Sterling and lets out the action figures. Adaptor says the trap likely sent his dad home so he couldn't interfere with Darknel's plans.
Sterling finds the courage to say, "I guess that means it's up to us to end this once and for all!"
CHAPTER SIX—
The kids and action figures start to leave the paint factory but face Eva and the Evils, plus an entire squad of Monocronies. Eva announces that it's over for them. Zema pushes through the door and accuses Eva of being hard-hearted—a flashback inserted here to realize Eva, Zema, and Charna's earlier life together.
Eva gets furious and yells, "Get them!" The bad guys rush forward, and the good guys charge out of the factory to take the battle to the street.
The action figures fight their counterparts. During these one—on—one matches, we learn more backstory about each of the Evils. Yoga and Charna teach Sterling how they fought the Monocronies in the mythical world.
Boxtrot, Hawkeye, and Zema lose to their counterparts, leaving Adaptor and the kids against the Evils and the Monocronies. Sterling tries to reason with them as Darknel rides in on Ravenous, a black raven the size of a Clydesdale (introduced in Yoga to the Rescue).
Eva and the Evils crowd Adaptor and Sterling up the steps to the paint factory while Yoga and Charna back up the steps away from Darknel and Ravenous. Sterling attempts to open the door, but now it is locked.
CHAPTER SEVEN—
The action figures are tied up and held captive by their evil counterpart. Yoga tells Sterling that he and Charna know how to vanquish Darknel. Before Sterling can react to dissuade them...
A Monocronie lobs a black grenade at the kids but hits the wall of the paint factory—the color goes away. This colorless spot grows outward as the battle continues. More "no color grenades" are thrown by the Monocronies.
Sterling tells Adaptor to find a way to free the figures and conveys a plan. Adaptor disguises himself as a GI Joe to enter enemy territory.
Sterling tries to stop Yoga and Charna from confronting Darknel, but he's too late. Darknel is ready this time and shoves a Monocronie between himself and the Rubicube, who takes the blast and disappears. Darknel seizes the Rubicube from Yoga and orders other Monocronies to capture them. Sterling manages to escape.
Adaptor pulls back his left sleeve, revealing a Batman-looking gauntlet with a pencil-thin light emitter. He aims it at the side of a tower, and a giant superhero symbol appears on the building. Moments later, Lass-O, Thadeus, Grunther, and Mehicle come onto the scene.
A set of Monocronies drag Charna and Yoga into the factory and tie them to a chair. Charna kicks one who staggers backward, hits a vat of chemicals, and knocks it over.
Sterling and the superheroes battle the Monocronies, the Evils, and Ravenous. Adaptor, almost getting captured, maneuvers to release his fellow figures.
Adaptor describes Sterling's plan to Hawkeye. He whistles loudly, and Scout flies around the corner. Soon after, Wrecks comes barreling down the street, still chasing Scout. Wrecks crashes into the Monocronies like a bowling ball through pins.
Adaptor locates Charna and Yoga while the two Monocronies are flat against a wall, avoiding the ooze of chemicals. Adaptor climbs a ladder, ties the end of a cable to an anchor, and flings it across the room into the wall. He swings a pully over what is now a zipline, rides down at an accelerated pace, and scoops up Charna and Yoga.
Darknel tells Sterling that he may as well give up! "That's right; you have trouble deciding on anything because your father never taught you to think!" Sterling crumbles under the weight of self-doubt. The superheroes begin to lose the battle, like an extension of Sterling's will; when he doubts, they fail.
Sterling remembers the encouragement from his Dad, Yoga, and then Charna, which gives him a new resolve. He recalls the superheroes saying Darknel is like all villains—so full of ego that they can't imagine being wrong.
Sterling pretends to be terrified of Darknel, cowering. He suckers the villain in, and Darknel leans into Sterling and hurls vile insults. Just as Darknel is at the height of egocentricity, Sterling nabs the multi-tool and Rubicube. He flips the key out of the tool, and a magic keyhole appears in one of the gem faces of the Rubicube.
Darknel demands Sterling not put the key into the Rubicube—it will unlock the full power of the 'Cube, which he couldn't handle. Sterling says, "Nice try," and pushes the key into the keyhole. The Rubicube clicks, and a blast of color erupts in all directions like an explosion of iridescence. The shockwave knocks down Darknel and the Evils. The Monocronies fade out, as does Ravenous. Wrecks lets out a whimper and scampers away. This onslaught of color reverses the growing black-and-white spots "leaking" off the building from the grenades.
At the police station, Darknel is inside a cell. The superheroes shove the Evils into another cell, but Eva is nowhere to be found.
The citizens from all territories gather on Main Street in Figure Nation. The kids are on a stage like a parade float. Sterling pins a medal on Boxtrot, Hawkeye, and Zema. Adaptor is introduced and announced as the nation's ruler.
Cut back to the dead, magical location we saw in Chapter One. But now the world is alive, with rainbows, unicorns, fairies, and all the stereotypical "girly" charm—like My Little Pony meets Chronicles of Narnia.
Over in a dark forest is a place that looks like where Hansel and Gretel would get eaten by a witch. We zoom into the woods and see a creepy old cabin—two kids are at the door. The girl says, "They say a witch lives here—we mustn't disturb her!" "Nonsense!" says the boy. "Don't you know there's no such thing as witches? They're just people who need love like the rest of us!" He opens the door and barges in.
Eva is inside, holding the key to Darknel's cell. "It's not over, Charna!" she whispers, putting the key in her pocket. She turns to the kids and says, "Welcome, my pretties…"
To be continued… in Charna to the Rescue
Sterling to the Rescue: Uncovered Realms - ACT ONE scripted
Sterling's best friend breaks from Miniature City and chases a mischievous monkey to a surreal place. Yoga meets the daughter of mythological legends and undergoes an epic battle to keep an essential artifact.
Sterling's room
Grunther
Boxtrot
Rototwang
Sterling and Action Figures
Terry John Barto is an award-winning author and screenwriter. His story is being adapted for an animated feature film at arx anima, an international studio in Vienna, Frankfurt, Madrid, and Gran Canaria.
He is an accomplished creative director and show director with consistent professional results. AEA, SAG-AFTRA, SDC
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