wherein i rant forever about canonmates and my lack of them
I've been threatening a post like this for a long time but you know what, people have made noises that they'd actually want to see it so here we go, I'm doing it. Gird your loins, people:
I WANT CANONMATES
As I said in my Plurk about the subject, it STUNS ME that I still can't find a single person who doesn't suck that's interested in playing from this canon with me. Especially amongst the people I KNOW who are really smart and educated and interested in SJ themes and feminism and that kind of thing (not hocave, guys i'm not like... going to jam a bunch of characters into your hands and force you at knifepoint to rp with me, that's weird) but it's just STRANGE TO ME how especially in the last few years there's been this dearth of fairytale-or-fable characters in general much less an utter lack of this canon. Is all.
So here's some stuff about WHY THESE CHARACTERS ARE INTERESTING TO ME.
I have to start with Ozma, because she's one of the most interesting characters EVER, IMHO, you don't have to agree but I'm going to try to convince you anyway. UH SO the beginning of the story is that Ozma was born when her father was ruling Oz, way way before the whole deal with the Wizard and all that nonsense. Ozma, being the heir to BASICALLY FUCKING EVERYTHING, gets abducted by this minor wicked witch named Mombi as a tiny tiny infant and to hide her, she transforms her into a boy. She calls him Tippetarius, or Tip for short. And she then proceeds to raise this boy until he's about ten years old, except in Oz time that could be anywhere from ten to SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS.
The thing is that in the meanwhile, the king dies, there's a power struggle for the throne in the Emerald City, and the Wizard shows up in a balloon from Omaha or somewhere and they crown him because they think he's a Wizard and THEY AIN'T SEEN NONE OF THEM IN THESE PARTS FOR A LONG WHILE, so he must be powerful enough to rule, whatever. The point is that all the shit that goes down in the first two books or so is done before Ozma even gets changed back from Tip. She spends ALL THIS TIME genuinely believing she is a boy, having always been a boy, having no idea he was ever not a boy. So eventually shit goes down and Ozma becomes Ozma again and takes the throne back from the Scarecrow (...long story) and everything is gravy.
Except I HAVE A HARD TIME BELIEVING SHE WOULDN'T HAVE SOME PROBLEMS ADJUSTING, DON'T YOU?? Don't you think that would be a really fucking interesting thing to explore?? Exactly what that would do to a person? To a ten year old child, who not only has to deal with suddenly being a different gender (and being told that this is "the right one" for them, despite having had no problems being the opposite one for their entire life), but ALSO now has to run an entire country! A country full of magic!! Which is constantly being threatened by crazy people!! FUN STORY.
And then there's her relationship with Dorothy. In the books, they meet in Ev when Ozma literally rescues Dorothy from being locked in a castle tower where an evil Princess with a COLLECTION OF OTHER PEOPLE'S SEVERED HEADS WHICH SHE WEARS is holding her captive, and Ozma basically goes "oh wow another person my age, you are now my best friend ever", and when Dorothy proves herself to be really capable in a difficult situation, Ozma responds by crowning Dorothy a Princess of Oz.
That's all canon. Just think about all that for a second. Ozma seems REALLY ATTACHED TO DOROTHY REALLY SUDDENLY, to the point where she makes her part of the Royal Family. The rest of Ozma's real family is long gone. If something were to happen to her, Dorothy would be next in line. At this point they've known each other for like two weeks, MAX. Do you think there's something else going on here? I think that's a really interesting avenue to explore IN RP, DON'T YOU.
Lots of people ship them, by the way, and I totally kind of do too. The way I've set up this Dorothy's AU is that Ozma is actually in love with her, and basically identifies as male. And I mean... people know me, they know I don't go out of my way to change stuff around for shipping or whatever, I chose to go in that direction because it's all possible going off of, if not suggested by, canon. That's pretty friggin progressive for a series of children's adventure novels begun in 1900.
WHY ISN'T ANYONE INTERESTED IN PLAYING THIS CHARACTER AUGH That was really long so I'm gonna do the others in other posts. OZMA IS A POST ON HER OWN. somebody play her ffs she deserves iiiiit
I WANT CANONMATES
As I said in my Plurk about the subject, it STUNS ME that I still can't find a single person who doesn't suck that's interested in playing from this canon with me. Especially amongst the people I KNOW who are really smart and educated and interested in SJ themes and feminism and that kind of thing (not hocave, guys i'm not like... going to jam a bunch of characters into your hands and force you at knifepoint to rp with me, that's weird) but it's just STRANGE TO ME how especially in the last few years there's been this dearth of fairytale-or-fable characters in general much less an utter lack of this canon. Is all.
So here's some stuff about WHY THESE CHARACTERS ARE INTERESTING TO ME.
I have to start with Ozma, because she's one of the most interesting characters EVER, IMHO, you don't have to agree but I'm going to try to convince you anyway. UH SO the beginning of the story is that Ozma was born when her father was ruling Oz, way way before the whole deal with the Wizard and all that nonsense. Ozma, being the heir to BASICALLY FUCKING EVERYTHING, gets abducted by this minor wicked witch named Mombi as a tiny tiny infant and to hide her, she transforms her into a boy. She calls him Tippetarius, or Tip for short. And she then proceeds to raise this boy until he's about ten years old, except in Oz time that could be anywhere from ten to SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS.
The thing is that in the meanwhile, the king dies, there's a power struggle for the throne in the Emerald City, and the Wizard shows up in a balloon from Omaha or somewhere and they crown him because they think he's a Wizard and THEY AIN'T SEEN NONE OF THEM IN THESE PARTS FOR A LONG WHILE, so he must be powerful enough to rule, whatever. The point is that all the shit that goes down in the first two books or so is done before Ozma even gets changed back from Tip. She spends ALL THIS TIME genuinely believing she is a boy, having always been a boy, having no idea he was ever not a boy. So eventually shit goes down and Ozma becomes Ozma again and takes the throne back from the Scarecrow (...long story) and everything is gravy.
Except I HAVE A HARD TIME BELIEVING SHE WOULDN'T HAVE SOME PROBLEMS ADJUSTING, DON'T YOU?? Don't you think that would be a really fucking interesting thing to explore?? Exactly what that would do to a person? To a ten year old child, who not only has to deal with suddenly being a different gender (and being told that this is "the right one" for them, despite having had no problems being the opposite one for their entire life), but ALSO now has to run an entire country! A country full of magic!! Which is constantly being threatened by crazy people!! FUN STORY.
And then there's her relationship with Dorothy. In the books, they meet in Ev when Ozma literally rescues Dorothy from being locked in a castle tower where an evil Princess with a COLLECTION OF OTHER PEOPLE'S SEVERED HEADS WHICH SHE WEARS is holding her captive, and Ozma basically goes "oh wow another person my age, you are now my best friend ever", and when Dorothy proves herself to be really capable in a difficult situation, Ozma responds by crowning Dorothy a Princess of Oz.
That's all canon. Just think about all that for a second. Ozma seems REALLY ATTACHED TO DOROTHY REALLY SUDDENLY, to the point where she makes her part of the Royal Family. The rest of Ozma's real family is long gone. If something were to happen to her, Dorothy would be next in line. At this point they've known each other for like two weeks, MAX. Do you think there's something else going on here? I think that's a really interesting avenue to explore IN RP, DON'T YOU.
Lots of people ship them, by the way, and I totally kind of do too. The way I've set up this Dorothy's AU is that Ozma is actually in love with her, and basically identifies as male. And I mean... people know me, they know I don't go out of my way to change stuff around for shipping or whatever, I chose to go in that direction because it's all possible going off of, if not suggested by, canon. That's pretty friggin progressive for a series of children's adventure novels begun in 1900.
WHY ISN'T ANYONE INTERESTED IN PLAYING THIS CHARACTER AUGH That was really long so I'm gonna do the others in other posts. OZMA IS A POST ON HER OWN. somebody play her ffs she deserves iiiiit