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TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise, also known simply as TOME, is an American animated web series created, developed and animated by SVA graduatee and anime voice actor Chris Niosi. This series serves as a reboot and revival to Niosi and co-creator Mike Luckas' previous popular animated web series, TV Tome Adventures which lasted for 73 episodes and a movie.

Unlike it's predecessor, which was mostly animated with altered sprite animations with minimal hand-drawn visuals and voice acting, the series is fully animated with an all-star voice cast and consisted of frequent anime talent as guest voices such as Kyle Hebert, Mona Marshall and Yuri Lowenthal. Like it's predecessor, the series debuted on Newgrounds and Blip from November 11, 2011 up until December 28, 2013, where the second season transitioned to YouTube from June 26, 2014 until the final episode was uploaded on July 7, 2015.

A five year anniversary short was uploaded to Niosi's YouTube channel on November 11, 2016. A Kickstarter for an RPG video game adaption is currently in the works.

Premise
In the year 2020, Netking Software released a virtual reality game called the Terrain of Magical Expertise… TOME. Within this expansive, interactive world, players of all ages, gender and race from across the globe unite together to a single community of social networking and gaming. With an unprecedented level of customization, you can create a personal avatar character to interact with friends and battle foes…and Netking Software’s unparalleled and renowned virtual reality system dictates your thoughts and actions instantly to create an incredibly realistic sense of life, making it the most immensely popular and sought-after game title in the world to date.

The world of TOME is divided into three regions on a gigantic floating island: Sanctuary, the eastern region, a lush, green haven safe from all violence. This area is dedicated entirely to social networking, Mechcity, the central region, a bustling concrete jungle for both socializing and gaming. Battles can only take place in specified areas and if a challenge is accepted mutually by two or more players and Lavendera, the western region, an expansive and dangerous land where battles are constantly happening. Combat between players can happen at any time in any place.

Our story begins one day in Lavendera, where a pair of rambunctious hackers are wreaking havoc by demolishing the environment and terrorizing other players with their souped-up characters models. Their goal is to locate a mysterious item referred to as “The Forbidden Power”. Unbeknownst to the trouble making duo, a certain group of friends take notice and form a resistance against the hackers to try and stop them from disrupting the game…but our heroes are about to wrapped up in something far bigger than just them.

Production
The idea for TOME and it's pre-cursor was based on the experiences Niosi and Mike Luckas had while visiting the defunct television forum website, TV Tome. Luckas moved away while Niosi was in high school but the two reunited and managed to keep in touch in the site. Inspired by .hack// and Mega Man Battle Network, Niosi constructed a fan-fiction idea with concept sketches and designs based on various users in the website, due to the site's limited ability on user profile pictures. After obtaining and experimenting with a copy of Macromedia Flash, Niosi animated and developed the series, TV Tome Adventures which was uploaded to Newgrounds on August 25, 2004. TV Tome Adventures was known for it's sprite animation, character development and as the series progressed, the hand drawn visuals and use of popular anime talent such as Lucien Dodge and voice talent that debuted in online projects but later took a professional career in voice-over such as Kira Buckland. The series lasted until April 1, 2007 with 73 episodes and a movie, as Niosi wanted to focus on other projects and continue his artistic endeavor of traditional animation.

In 2009, while attending San-Diego Comic Con, Niosi was reminded of his work on TV Tome. Inspired with a thought of an RPG game adaption, Niosi created concept designs which were later implanted into the reboot series years later. The first episode of TOME was finally released on Newgrounds on November 11, 2011. This reboot features original material, redesigns and reimagines of the TV Tome characters, music provided by Weston Durant and Yoav Landau and done in full Flash animation with occasional "machinima"-esque movements. The majority of the animation was done by Niosi himself, along with occasional lip-sync help from Jan Animations, additional animation by TwistedGrimTV and background designs by David Smith. Blake Swift, who is the leading role of Alpha, contributes sound editing for the series, under the alias "SwiftSound Studios". The show also features an extensive all-star cast consisting of Newgrounds regular/frequent talents, anime voice actors such as Kyle Hebert, radio personalities such as Jon St. John and YouTube personalities such as Martin "LittleKuriboh" Billany and Jon Jafari.

The first few episodes were endorsed and uploaded to Newgrounds as well as Blip. The episodes were later re-mastered into full HD with minor adjustments to include improved graphics and new voices. The first two episodes were also uploaded on MatPat's The Game Theorists' channel in hopes of getting more exposure and giving the show more attraction. Selective episodes, later removed, and the "Minigame Madness" short were later uploaded to the Channel Frederator YouTube channel. According to Niosi, the episodes were uploaded to the channel and he was given a cut of the revenue each month because he wasn't able to earn money from Google AdSense on his YouTube channel. Within two months, the show was pulled from the channel and the episodes were removed. Niosi stated that the reason behind this was because it didn't perform as well as projected within the first two episodes. Niosi later set up a GoFundMe campaign with some additional eBay auditions for voice-over parts in the cartoon, to produce the second season of TOME. The series made a permanent transition to YouTube where the second season, all of the shorts, bloopers, commentary and re-mastered episodes were finally uploaded on Niosi's YouTube channel. Unlike the majority of the series, which was animated via a Gateway Tablet PC, the final three episodes were animated via a Cintiq. The series concluded on July 7, 2015.

A five-year anniversary short was uploaded to Niosi's YouTube channel on November 11, 2016 featuring live action appearances of Niosi and Luckas.

Currently, a Kickstarter for an RPG video game adaption, set for a Steam release, is in the works.