One little spark.
Figment is a comic book published under Marvel's Disney Kingdoms imprint, based on the first incarnation of Journey into Imagination. It details the origin story to Epcot's beloved characters Dreamfinder and Figment. It ran from May 19, 2014-to-October 1, 2014.
Originally known as Blarion Mercurial, the story of the Dreamfinder begins at the Scientifica Lucida, a science academy in Edwardian London. When experimenting with a device that brings thought into form, he brings Figment to life from childhood memories. Wanting to tap into the power of the imagination further, the two end up creating a portal to an alternate realm, taking their first journey into imagination. While they are gone however, something emerges from the portal in the form of a sinister robot known as The Singular, who plots to bring absolute order to London and the rest of Earth with his Clockwork Control armies.
Figment was enough of a breakout hit that it received a sequel series, Figment 2: Legacy of Imagination, running September 2015-January 2016. Picking up where the first story left off, Figment and Dreamfinder find themselves at the Academy's new Florida campus about a century after their original adventure. Besides having to adapt to the modern world, the duo are confronted with quite the legacy they have left behind on the academy. Soon a new threat emerges from Dreamfinder's doubts of his own relevance: A shadowy nightmare known as the Doubtfinder. Figment's left on his own to go find help in the form of a young girl inventor and Dreamfinder's great-great-great grandniece: Capri. Now they must brave the twisted academy and exorcise the Doubtfinder before things get much worse.
There were originally plans for a second sequel, but unfortunately, it would be cancelled as a result of the Disney Kingdoms imprint becoming defunct.
The comics contain the following tropes:
Tropes found in Figment
- Adaptational Attractiveness: the Dreamfinder is a lot more youthful and slender looking in the comic compared to his more plump Santa-like appearance in the ride and promo art. Justified in this case, since the comic is intended to be a prequel to the ride.
- Adaptational Nationality: It's not really known or explained where the Dreamfinder came from in the original ride (though he has an American accent courtesy of Chuck McCann and Ron Schneider). In the comic though, he is established to be from England as part of his backstory.
- Adaptation Expansion: The comic fleshes out Dreamfinder greatly, expanding on his personality and giving him a proper backstory, as well as a name (Blarion Mercurial).
- Adaptation Personality Change:
- Downplayed for Figment. He mostly acts like he does in the original Journey Into Imagination ride but has a few traits from its third incarnation's version of him, mainly a sharp wit.
- The Dreamfinder is much more insecure, awkward, doubtful and vulnerable in the comic than the cheerful, eccentric and wise man he was in the ride and his relationship with Figment is a bit closer to the Straight Man and Wise Guy dynamic Nigel Channing had with Figment in the third incarnation as opposed to the friendly teacher/student relationship the duo have in the original ride. Justified as he is younger in the comic than his ride counterpart and he becomes more like his ride counterpart over the course of the comics as he confronts his insecurities.
- Adaptation Species Change: In the original version of Journey Into Imagination and interviews related to it, it's implied that Dreamfinder is an Anthropomorphic Personification of creativity. Here, he is human.
- Added Alliterative Appeal: How the Sound Sprites talk. Anything that doesn't speak in that matter is deemed cacophonic.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Fye's plotline revolves around this. He's considered "defective", so instead of creating music with his wings, he creates a loud buzzing that breaks things. He's been isolated and imprisoned for creating "bad audio", and is concerned he won't fit in with the others of his kind. His "defect" comes in handy in the final battle.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: What happened to Blair's father is never revealed due to him being unmentioned as well as unseen.
- An Aesop: Trying means you might fail, and that's scary, but not trying at all means you'll never succeed. You have the power within yourself to create and achieve, even if you don't know it yet.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Figment has the curiousity and attention span of a young child, much like in the original ride.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Chairman Illocrant calls for order when attempting to shut down the mesmonic converter, but when this brings forth the Singular and the Clockwork Control army, it's not the type of order he had in mind and he regrets his wish.
- The Bus Came Back: Meta example. This is the first appearance of the Dreamfinder in any Journey Into Imagination-related media since the original attraction closed back in 1998, as he would be replaced by Dr. Nigel Channing in the second and current incarnations of the ride.
- Canon Foreigner: Outside of Figment and Dreamfinder, every other character is exclusive to the comic and its sequel.
- Cyber Cyclops: The Singular, leader of Clockwork Control, has only one eye.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Blair is intially shown to wear glasses unlike The Dreamfinder from the attraction, who is never shown to wear glasses in the original attractionnote . However, seeing as this is intended to be a prequel to the original attraction, this is subverted after he becomes the Dreamfinder, which has him lose the glasses.
- Disappeared Dad: Blair's father hence why Blair himself is the one working to support the rest of the Mercurial family.
- Down the Rabbit Hole: The Mesmonic Convertor's dimensional portal, which drops Dreamfinder and Figment far above the imaginary realm.
- The Edwardian Era: The Dreamfinder is shown to come from this time period.
- Eldritch Location: The Nightmare Nation is a swirling mass of creatures speaking with a Voice of the Legion. It seems to be the anthropomorphic representation of despair, depression, and art block.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Blair has one regarding how to escape the sound sprites' prison when Figment states that the rules for his version of knots and crosses/Tic-Tac-Toe are whatever one wants them to be.
- Extreme Omnivore: The Chimera loves eating metal.
- The Fair Folk: Sound Sprites are a band of fairies that create things from sound and imprison anything that does not follow their sense of harmony.
- The Glasses Come Off: What happens when Blarion finally makes the realization that turns him into Dreamfinder. He also gains his iconic beard with it.
- The Goggles Do Nothing: The goggles on top of his head are (seemingly) just for show.
- Goggles Do Something Unusual: The goggles on Blair's Mesmonic Converter can bring dreams to life.
- Hurricane of Puns: A literal brainstorm, musical creatures imprisoning our heroes in the "bass-ment"...Blarion, as our Straight Man, groans at these, but the rest of his cast likes to make them.
- Imaginary Friend: Figment was a character Blair came up with as a child, but didn't recognize the memory of at first.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When the sound sprites realize that they are chasing an escaped Blair, Figment, Fye, and Chimera towards the Nightmare Nation, they opt to give up to avoid getting trapped in that region.
- Mama's Boy: Blair's motivation for working at the Scientifica Lucida is to send money back to his impoverished mother and younger siblings. He also gets very upset when Chimera tries to eat his pocket watch, because it was a gift from his mother.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: One of the brief flashbacks in the first issue shows that Blair has 3 brothers and 2 sisters.
- Mix-and-Match Creatures:
- Figment has the horns of a steer and the snout of a crocodile, among other things.
- Chimera has the body of a dog, multiple sets of legs, back spines, wings, is bright pink, and is at least the size of a large bear.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Chairman Illocrant is forced to summon a portal to transport the Clockwork Control army to the Academy Scientifica Lucidus by the Singular, he can only say "Oh, no...what...what have I done?", as the horror of what resulted from him messing with the mesmonic converter sinks in.
- Mythology Gag:
- The comic's logo features the Imagination Pavilion logo as the i's tittle.
- The zeppelin from the ride makes a cameo towards the very end.
- The characters, particularly Figment, quote "One Little Spark", the Sherman Brothers-penned music from the original ride. Fans of Journey Into Imagination will most likely have it stuck in their head by the time they finish reading.
- The Nightmare Nation is based on the original ride's Literature realm, with Blair landing in the sea and pulling himself up onto a book labeled "Tales of Terror".
- Named by the Adaptation: The Dreamfinder originally did not have a name in the ride, simply going by "Dreamfinder". In the comic though, he is given the name, Blarion Mercurial.
- Nothing Is Scarier: After being reminded of her fears in the Nightmare Nation, Chimera curls up and starts sobbing. As her fears were "barked" to her rather than said in English and there are no visual clues as to what they are, one can only guess what scares her enough to cause that reaction.
- Oddball in the Series: The comic and its sequel are the only comics in the Disney Kingdoms imprint to not be based on a Disneyland/Magic Kingdom attraction. Rather, they're both based on Journey into Imagination, which is an Epcot attraction.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Subverted. Everyone else thinks this is the case for Mrs. Mercurial due to Blair (and Figment) disappearing through a portal after defeating the Singular; the readers find out that this is not true.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Chimera, the only major female character, is pink, while Fye, the Bishounen Sound Sprite, is blue.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: When Blair becomes the Dreamfinder, he grows his iconic beard before bringing Figment back into existence.
- Prequel: The comic is focused around Dreamfinder's younger days and how he first created Figment.
- Saved by Canon: As both this series and the second one act as a prequel to the original version of Journey Into Imagination, Dreamfinder and Figment have to overcome the antagonists of each series and survive.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Blarion Mercurial, as in the original ride.
- Shoulder-Sized Dragon / Shoulder Pet: Figment perches this way on the cover of Issue #1.
- Shout-Out: Mathmagic Land gets a shoutout in Figment #3 as one of the other locations in the Imaginary realm.
- In this same scene, the Color Wheel gets mentioned.
- The Singular describes Dreamfinder as an "Imagineer" when seeing his talent for creating imaginary portals.
- The ending finds Dreamfinder and Figment sailing off to the strange land of EPCOT, where the "Journey To Imagination" ride is placed. Spaceship Earth (aka "The Golf Ball") is even seen in the distance.
- Signature Headgear: Blair's requisite top hat with goggles.
- Steampunk: Part of the aesthetic of Figment, inspired by the ride's Dreamcatcher vehicle.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: Dreamfinder and Figment.
- Tears of Fear: In the Nightmare Nation, Chimera curls up and starts sobbing after being reminded of her fears (which are not revealed to the readers).
- Waistcoat of Style: Blair wears one.
- The Wonderland: The Imaginary realm. The grass that Blair and Figment land in feels like hair, one resident is a dog like creature that eats metal (Chimera), then there's the sound sprites, who, barring Fye, are unfriendly, and the Nightmare Nation, an Eldritch Location that taunts those who wind up in it by reminding them of their fears with the Voice of the Legion.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: Blair realizing this lets him and his friends escape from the Sound Sprites' prison.
- Zeppelins from Another World: Somewhat literal when Dreamfinder creates a portal to jump into and create the attraction's iconic flying machine.
Tropes found in Figment 2: Legacy of Imagination
- Accidental Time Travel: In the first issue, Dreamfinder and Figment realize that they have done this after talking to Fye for the first time in a little over a century.
- Alliterative Name: As seen in a signature at the end of Capri's rejection letter in the third issue, the Academy's current chairman is named Austin Auckley.
- Always with You: Before leaving at the end of the final issue, Dreamfinder tells Capri that he and Figment will always be with her in her dreams.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: As was the case with her 3 times great-grand-uncle's father, Capri's father is never mentioned in addition to not being seen, leaving the reason for his absence unknown.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Capri and Figment's journey to free the Dreamfinder has them helping Dreamfinder at different ages against twisted memories of his past.
- Big "NO!": The Doubtfinder does this just before it is destroyed for good.
- Blowing a Raspberry: In the final issue, Figment does this after getting the Mesmonic Converter away from a possessed student only to run into a possessed Chairman Auckley.
- But Now I Must Go: Dreamfinder turns down an offer to become a professor at the Academy as he and Figment still have adventures to go on before settling down, including finding the lost Spaceship Earth.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Chimera does not appear in the story and is not mentioned. As a result, what happened to her after the events of the previous series is never revealed.
- Cool Old Guy: Fye has become one of these.
- Demonic Possession: The Doubtfinder possessing Dreamfinder and controlling the staff and students of the school.
- Enemy Within: The Doubtfinder starts as a nightmare parasiting itself on Dreamfinder's fear and self-doubt until emerging in a failed presentation and possessing Dreamfinder when he attempts to trap him.
- Expy: Chairman Auckley is one for Dr. Channing in the sense of being too much of a stickler for rules and control but loosening up at the end.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: The Edwardian era Dreamfinder and Figment accidentally end up time traveling to the present day. Dreamfinder's trouble adapting with the changing times and technology sets the story's conflict into motion.
- Following in Relative's Footsteps: Capri wants to be an inventor like her great-great-great-granduncle hence her efforts to apply to the Academy despite being too young to attend.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: In the first issue, Jess calls Capri by her full name "Capricious Aloysius Harmony" before scolding her for ruining her dress due to an experiment.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Fittingly, Capri is just as much of an inventor as her great-great-great granduncle and at one point, makes a flying bike that becomes vital to saving the Dreamfinder.
- Good Parents: Jess is shown to be this to Capri; she scolds her for ruining a dress due to an experiment but also encourages her to pursue her dream of attending the Academy.
- Imaginary Friend: Capri brings her imaginary friend Spark the flying cat to life with the mesmonic converter to help her and Figment save Dreamfinder and the Academy Scientifica Lucidus from Doubt. In the final issue the destruction of the mesmonic converter brings to life imaginary friends belonging to the Academy's students and staff (and Capri's mom Jess).
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: Figment, Capri and Spark tear open a portal into the Doubtfinder and enter to free Dreamfinder from him.
- Jumped at the Call: Capri's quick to act on helping Figment save Dreamfinder and the Academy.
- Keep Away: In the final issue, Dreamfinder, Capri, Figment, and Spark wind up using this as a tactic to keep the Mesmonic Converter away from Doubt and those still under its control.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: To a Disney Parks fan, it certainly feels like Dreamfinder has been gone from Epcot for a hundred years.
- Missing Child: At the beginning of the final issue, Jess discovers that Capri has snuck out late at night via riding her bike to the Academy Scientifica Lucidus and left a note giving an unbelievable explanation as to why (needing to help Figment save Dreamfinder and others from the Doubtfinder). She then drives to the Academy to see what is going on for herself due to worrying about her daughter.
- The Mountains of Illinois: Mountains are shown in Florida during the first issue; in real life, Britton Hill is the highest natural point in the state at 345 feet above sea level.
- Mythology Gag:
- The Academy's American campus is based on Epcot, featuring Spaceship Earth (which mysteriously appeared on the campus 30 years ago) and the actual Journey into Imagination pavilion.
- Blair's birth year is given as 1882 on the plaque of the Academy's statue of him, a century before Epcot first opened.
- A Shout-Out to The Absent-Minded Professor/Flubber 's Dr. Brainard doubles as a nod to the modern attraction's Imagination Institute setting incorporating the Robin Williams version into its mythology.
- One of the lecture halls is named the Sherman Auditorium
- Many of Spark's rhymes in the last issue reference Disney songs.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Chairman Auckley is very no-nonsense, insistent on following rules and skeptical of Figment and Dreamfinder.
- Only in Florida: The Academy moved to a large plot in Florida to avoid any future legal trouble from their original London location and is powered by a Spaceship Earth-like sphere that appeared out of nowhere about 30 years prior.
- Our Founder: A giant statue of Dreamfinder and Figment is the centerpiece of the new academy's lobby.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Figment when escaping from the Doubtfinder in the second issue.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Spark does this.
- Riding into the Sunset: Dreamfinder and Figment fly off into the sunrise at the end.
- Sickly Green Glow: Doubtfinder and all those trapped under its spell.
- Shout-Out: The Academy under Doubtfinder's control takes on some Haunted Mansion-esque decor and one hallway features silhouette portraits of Maleficent, Jafar, Hades and Captain Hook.
- Sneaking Out at Night: Downplayed. Capri sneaks out during the night to help Figment but leaves a note for Jess explaining the situation.
- Teen Genius: Capri. Only thing keeping her from admission to the Academy Scientifica Lucidus is her age (13 years old). This changes at the end of the story, as Chairman Auckley decides to make an exception and allow Capri to attend starting the following semester as a reward for saving everyone from the Doubtfinder.
- Title Drop: The Legacy of Imagination subtitle gets dropped by Figment in the fourth issue.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: How Figment and Capri free Dreamfinder from Doubt's torment.
