Franklin the Turtle

Origin

Franklin was created by the Canadian author Paulette Bourgeois and the illustrator Brenda Clark, debuting in 1986 with Franklin in the Dark, a book about a turtle who is afraid of small dark spaces, which is to say his own shell. The series ran to tens of millions of copies and a long-running animated adaptation, and the character's brand is unambiguous: patience, reassurance, learning to share. That is the exact quality that made him useful on 30 November 2025, when Pete Hegseth posted an AI-generated parody of a Franklin cover to X. The image showed Franklin leaning out of a military helicopter with a bazooka aimed at boats below, and the caption read for your Christmas wish list. The reference was not obscure. Since early September 2025 the US had been striking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that it described as narco-trafficking vessels, and the Washington Post had reported roughly 80 people killed across 21 strikes, including a 2 September follow-up strike on survivors that legal scholars and members of Congress described as a possible war crime. The post took over 166,000 likes and 24,000 reposts in two days.

Spread

The format was instantly obvious to everyone and both sides used it. Critics answered in the same fake-cover style within hours: Franklin Goes to The Hague, posted by @oelayat on 30 November 2025, took more than 35,000 likes in two days, and Franklin is Prosecuted for War Crimes and Murder on the High Seas, posted by @whstancil on 1 December, took 9,500 in a day. Franklin Learns About LOAC, named for the Law of Armed Conflict, joined them. Supporters produced their own, including Franklin Defends the Border With Force. On 1 December 2025 the publisher Kids Can Press issued a statement condemning the unauthorised use, calling Franklin a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy, and inclusivity. Gizmodo, and then the general press, covered the whole thing as what it was: an argument about extrajudicial killing being fought with a picture book turtle. Both House and Senate committees had already opened inquiries into the strikes themselves.

Legacy

Franklin is the cleanest recent case of a wholesome children's character being conscripted as political shorthand and then immediately turned into a market. The image war lasted about 72 hours. The first tradeable contract appeared inside 24 hours of the original post, on the same morning the publisher issued its statement, and secondary coverage reported it running to roughly a 13 million dollar market cap during December 2025 before falling back to well under 100,000. What is left is a community takeover, a Telegram, an Instagram and a landing page kept alive by people who were early to a news cycle that ended before Christmas. Nobody involved in making Franklin was consulted at any stage, and the publisher's objection changed nothing, which is now the standard outcome when a forty-year-old character is fed to an image generator.

The Chain Trail

The OG token for this meme is Franklin The Turtle ($Franklin) on Solana, launched 2025-12.

Key facts

• Franklin was created by author Paulette Bourgeois and illustrator Brenda Clark, debuting in 1986 with Franklin in the Dark, published by Kids Can Press.
• On 30 November 2025 US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth posted an AI-generated parody Franklin book cover to X showing the turtle firing a bazooka from a helicopter at boats, captioned for your Christmas wish list.
• The post took over 166,000 likes and 24,000 reposts within two days.
• It referenced US strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which the Washington Post reported had killed about 80 people across 21 strikes since early September 2025.
• A 2 September 2025 follow-up strike on survivors of an earlier strike drew war-crime allegations and congressional inquiries in both the House and Senate.
• Franklin Goes to The Hague, posted by @oelayat on 30 November 2025, took over 35,000 likes in two days.
• Franklin is Prosecuted for War Crimes and Murder on the High Seas, posted by @whstancil on 1 December 2025, took 9,500 likes in a day.
• Kids Can Press condemned the use on 1 December 2025, calling Franklin a beloved Canadian icon standing for kindness, empathy and inclusivity.
• The first Franklin the Turtle contract of the meme wave was minted on Solana on 1 December 2025 at 11:17 UTC, the day after the original post.
• A second Solana contract, Franklin the Based Turtle, opened its pool about four and a half hours later the same day.
• Secondary exchange coverage reported the lead token peaking near a 13 million dollar market cap in December 2025; MemePedia has not independently verified that figure.
• Neither Paulette Bourgeois, Brenda Clark nor Kids Can Press has any stated connection to any Franklin token.