World is an imaginary friend who appeared as the main antagonist in the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends movie Destination Imagination. He is voiced by Max Burkholder.
He is originally known as the "Tyrant King". World only appears to only be a pair of eyes and a mouth who has the ability to possess and control only one thing at any time he wants by latching onto it, but is actually the entire world in the toy chest and has complete control over it, even destroying it in a fit of rage. He had been living in a toy box and was causing trouble for his creator's parents and was forced to live at Foster's in the attic until Frankie, refusing to let an imaginary friend remain locked in a toy chest, decided to open the chained-up toy box. When Mac, Bloo, Wilt, Coco and Eduardo discovered she was missing, they fell into the toy chest, where World took on many various forms in order to get rid of them. He cannot possess anything with a face of his/her own. As an example: When Mac grabbed him as he was an apple, World couldn't stop possessing the apple, because Mac was alive and had a face already. World is an extremely strong imaginary friend. In his toy box world, he is in maximum control. World also is one of the first imaginary friends to be classified as a child; his voice, the look of his face, his personality are all of a resemblance of a child. He is very emotional, such as when Frankie went to hide, he had a mental breakdown, but when Frankie showed herself, he started crying, though he does have very sudden mood swings. One minute he could be sad and crying, and then next, he is happy and joy. Though it is not smart to tell him he will be alone, or else he will be extremely angry.
There are a list of World's many forms:
- A purple puppy
- A superhero
- A Weeble-like policeman
- A squirrel
- A flower
- A bee
- A tree
- A leaf
- A spider
- Fire
- An ember
- Wooden animals on a totem pole
- A glass cup
- A teapot
- A plate
- An orange
- A pear
- A bunch full of bananas
- A bunch full of grapes
- An apple
- A horse
- A griffin statue
- An archer
- An arrow
- A "living" sock monkey
- Some portraits and paintings
- A guard
- A bird/robin
- A bearded wizard
- A unicorn
- A grass griffin
- A grass giraffe
- A grass mammoth
- A knight in armor statue
- A water fountain
- A castle
- A flag
- A storm of rage
- A dragon-like monster with a triceratop's upper head, a digger lower jaw, a wire neck, a gumball machine underbelly, a dragon's back and tail, a crab-like right arm with cybernetic shoulder, humanoid body, cybernetic claw-like left arm, pterodactyl wings, a dinosaur's right leg, and a monkey's left leg (after collapsing his own world due to Mr. Herriman getting him upset)
- The toy box used to access his created world
- A stuffed doll made by Frankie (his current form)
Only Frankie understood what he wanted, a real friend, and he turned Frankie's friends small and tricked her into nearly killing them in a scale model replica of Foster's. Only after learning what had happened about why Frankie wanted to get away from her overstressed job, they became friends until Mr. Herriman gave his opinion about Frankie, and World's castle melted and crumbled, and he became angry, and Bloo responded that Mr. H. had "peeved him off", destroying everything and turning into a monster made from various parts. As the friends escaped, Frankie tried to distract him and managed to escape after calming him down. World got an apology, and became friends with everyone at Foster's after Frankie created a doll to have as his body. Now, all of the residents share the chores, and he allows them to visit his magical toy box. It is possible that Frankie adopted him.
It can be said that World's possibly the most powerful known imaginary friend. He can possess nearly any inanimate object and take them over, and he has almost god-like reign over his box world. However Eduardo showed to be able to match his merged form, him relying on dirty tactics, and it seems his control over the toy box world was because he became the inside of the box for so long, and was inclosed. His desperation to make sure Frankie did not leave the confines of the box may hint that his power is far more limited outside of it.
Personality
World can be best described as happy and rather enigmatic due to his many different bodies and a bit of a prankster but well meaning most of the time. However if upset he can become quite monstrous and clingy especially when he thinks he might be abandoned (where the abandonment issues came from the fact that his creator's parents took his creator away from him). This is most notable when he plays hide-and-seek with Frankie, panicking and crying when he thinks he might have lost her (Frankie was really only hiding in a bush behind him), thus establishing his moments of instability that reappear in the movie. For example when Frankie discovers that he shrunk Mac and the others, he starts to get angry causing the world to shake and he begins to rant that Frankie is going to leave him just like "they" made "him" leave him all alone, with Frankie quickly figuring what he means and calming him down. He even morphs into a giant monster due to the fact Mr Herriman was telling him, he was going to be alone, that was something that really shattered his heart, and made him burst into rage.
Trivia
- World's monster form bears a strong resemblance to Ultimasaurus, an unreleased hybrid dinosaur toy from Jurassic Park.
- His personality is very similar to Berry, as both of them are willing to do anything to keep the one they care about all to themselves, even if it means destroying their friends.
- World has an uncommon yet common scenario in Destination: Imagination : he was alone for a long time, and tries to keep the one person he finds who actually understands him, with him forever.