#Character: Boq

[the-patchwork-girl-of-oz]

I can’t get over Boq’s curly little elf boots like did you wittle those yourself in your little tree or are they from Santa

[just-some-guy-at-shiz]

NESSA: It’s because I’m in this chair, and you felt sorry for me. Well isn’t that right?

BOQ: No! No…

BOQ: [thinking] I came out to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so trapped right now-

BOQ: It’s because you are so beautiful!

NESSA: Oh Boq, I think you’re wonderful!

BOQ: am… am I not beautiful too? :(

[notasimpleslater]

Some Ethan crumbs from the new Wicked trailer 🙌🏻🩷💚🪓

[instantpansies]

every time i see an oz mutual mention the tin woodman in passing i'm like HRGK I KNOW THAT GUY and i have to hold myself back from tacking a thousand rambling tags on their post that only tangentially has to do with the tin woodman. literally seeing the words right now i am trying to not say the same things i have already said a million times but like THATS MY GUY HES ME HES MY FAVORITE THING EVER AUGH AUGH AUGH!!!

anyways. the masculine urge to hijack every oz post that says the words 'tin woodman' for my own ulterior motives (convince everyone to make nick chopper their favorite guy ever).

[roebeanstalk]

did some doodling of some wicked peeps~ not really how i'd personally go at designing them, just went pretty one for one with broadway.

i did want to give fiyero at least some blue diamonds 'cause i wish they kept them in his stage design

also don't ask why galinda's the only not in her first day at shiz clothes lmao

[honeydewtreacle]

I'm generally hesitant to post canon x oc stuff but fuck it right? Being a little cringe won't hurt

[toiletpotato]

the casting directors of The Wiz and Wicked have an opportunity to do the most thing imaginable

[clamorybus]

i don't wanna gripe too hard on it because i'm only a few chapters into it, but so far im not really enjoying dominic's disappearance. but that just be because im a woz fan so it's just so underwhelming

[njadastonearm]

I've seen the old MGM version of The Wizard of Oz enough times that I thought I knew the plot but lately I've been going through the books and apparently I know nothing. or rather, I know most of the important stuff from the first book but everything I thought I knew about the Tin Man is a lie. every new thing I learn about him is weirder than the last. he's the Ship of Theseus if the Ship of Theseus were a person. he's named Nick, like he's Just Some Guy. he has a brother made up of his old dismembered fleshy body parts (but with his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend's head sewn on). many such surprises.

[mastersprogram]

Guys Come Join!! My friends are I are very fun to talk to, and I promise were mostly normal! :D

join my alex brightman server

hi i just made a new discord server for alex brightman fans :3!!! anyone and everyone is welcome!!!

[the-patchwork-girl-of-oz]

(Wicked the Musical)Boq when he spends the entire musical chasing a pretty girl and having girl problems in general only to be magically transformed into one of the most queer coded characters in one of the queerest classic books:

[just-some-guy-at-shiz]

I really cannot get past the frog insults. Imagine Boq decides to just go with it, and starts showing up to classes with frog-themed everything, and now Elphaba’s back to square one on how to insult him back, because now “frog” is a fashion choice. Anyone would assume it’s an appreciated nickname because of the green sweater or the kawaii frog notebooks or the hat with a frog face or the lily pad-patterned socks or the frog patches sewn on his backpack, etc. etc. Probably overkill, but at least he’s memorable now. And hey, maybe Galinda would think it’s cute.

[roots-symphony]

okay but like veryyyy interesting to have agatha as the wicked witch of the west and lilia as the good witch

they’ve both lived the longest out of everyone (discounting rio), they’ve both watched their covens die (with one predicting it but unable to stop the outcome, and one thinking they would die instead only to be unable to control the thing that saves their life/kills their coven), they’ve both had death as their constant companion (with one embracing it [for a time] in life but doing all possible to survive, and the other hating it and yet willingly choosing it in the end [also both running from it in different ways with agatha running from her own death and lilia running from everyone elses]), they both fell back into the roles assigned to them to survive (lilia as a [fake] fortune teller, agatha as the villain), and idk probably more.

They parallel each other so nicely, and I feel like those specific characters work so perfectly for them, both in regards to the wicked witch and good witch from wizard of oz and to elphaba and glinda from wicked. Like obvi one off the top of my head and goes with the last point I made is agatha, like elphaba, accepting the role as villain after being labeled as such and being ostracized their wholes lives including from their parental figures (“you were born evil”), and the truth of it being much more complicated then anyone is willing to acknowledge (aka Agatha’s possible lack of control/euphoria that takes over), and didn’t fully recognize the consequences of their actions (elphaba trying to save fiyero, the tiger, and boq/agatha supposedly “trading” nicholas for the darkhold). And on the flip side is lilia as glinda who chooses to keep living this lie, to keep her power buried to be what people see her as, who chose compliancy over struggle.

I need to like reread wicked and rewatch the play and the wizard of oz since it’s been so long for all them in order to fully organize my thoughts but basically I just love so many of the choices being made in this show (now if only they’d stop killing off my girls..)

[ichiwashername-o]

Sorry to bug you, but I had a question: as someone who's full extent of knowledge re: Oz and Wicked is "I have seen the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie, and I've been told both that the books are super crazy and Dorothy's actually gay as hell, and also been told Wicked is the secret sad gay backstory of Glinda and Elphaba." I'm surprised to learn a) that Scarecrow was a real guy, b) he and Tin Man knew each other pre-Oz movie's story, and c) he apparently dated Elphaba, so my question is: is he a "her boyfriend until it turns out she was gay and the romance was doomed" boyfriend, or was I lied to about the nature of the story of Wicked being a sad lesbian backstory?

Oh boy, a lot to unpack here so let's see if we can break this down XD

Without getting into spoilers, it's important to know the book Wicked is a very, very different thing from the musical Wicked. I admittedly had never read any of the original Wizard of Oz books beyond the first one so I don't know anything about the whole "Dorothy is gay" thing but apparently that's true? I'll leave it to others who've actually read the series to verify on that.

My comics are solely focused on the musical adaptation of Wicked and such major plot points and characters are very different from the book, and if you'd like a break down, I'll post it under the spoiler below. Although I would recommend either waiting in eager anticipation for the movie to come out this November or find a Wicked bootleg slime tutorial on Youtube if you'd like to see the theater adaptation yourself. I highly recommend doing so.

Ok, so to break it down: Yes, both the Scarecrow and the Tin Man were actual people before they become the iconic figures we know and love (at least as far as the musical is concerned) And yes, Wicked is gay as hell, and though the musical isn't nearly as gay as the book, the relationship between Glinda and Elphaba that can absolutely be read as gay.

The Scarecrow, whose name is Fiyero, was a prince who initially dated Glinda but then things happen and he falls for Elphaba instead. He breaks off his engagement to Glinda to run off with Elphaba. The two have a steamy sexy duet together but tragically the relationship is bitterly short; the Wizard's guards take Fiyero prisoner and try to torture him for information on where Elphaba is hiding. In a desperate gambit to save his life, Elphaba casts a spell on him, which turns him into a scarecrow.

Also Fiyero and the Tin Man (who in the musical is Boq) went to university together so they sort of know each other. In fact, all four of them went to school together, which is where the majority of Act 1 of the musical takes place.

The book is very, very different: Tin Man (Nick Chopper) keeps his original backstory of getting his limbs chopped off by an enchanted axe and Fiyero dies (I can't remember exactly how but probably somewhere along the lines of "Wizard's guards capture him and beat him to death"). Obviously the musical changed these things to tie all the characters together and give it a bit of a happier ending.

I do not blame you if you are now more confused than before.

[that-ari-blogger]

Wicked's Existential Crisis

Deception is a big theme in Wicked. I don't think this is news to many people. The wizard is a wizard, truth is truth, happy is what happens when all your dreams come true.

Galinda embodies this pretty heavily, but so does Fiyero, although they do so in similar ways. They both lie to others, and realise that they have been lying to themselves later on.

But, you need a baseline before you get to character development. You need a benchmark for everyone to either move up or down from, depending on the genre.

In my opinion, Dancing Through Life establishes that benchmark, while asking a few more philosophical questions as it does.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD

"Dancing through life, Down at the Oz Dust If only because dust Is what we come to. Nothing matters, But knowing nothing matters, It's just life So keep dancing through"

Fiyero, buddy, friend, pal... are you ok?

Dancing Through Life is the introduction of Fiyero, and there is a enormous difference between what he is saying and how he is saying it.

That dust line is actually a biblical allusion, with various Judeo-Christian books and prayers claiming that G-d created humans from dust, and that when someone dies, they return to that dust. Hence the "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" saying (source). So, Fiyero is nihilistic.

"Nothing matters, so why bother trying" is such a morbid idea, and its usually associated with emo music, either lots of drums and raw emotions, or quiet and sad. So, when Fiyero sings it as a musical theatre, bombastic full orchestra song, his message flies under the radar because it is so dissonant with the style.

That's the key here. Most of the time, people are nuanced, and stereotypes do not encompass the human experience at all. The emotionally confused or depressed or spiraling person isn't the one who sits in the moonlight writing sappy poetry, it's the person who manages to hide it the most easily because they've been doing it for the longest.

Fiyero is putting up a mask to hide his insecurities, and he is doing it by... not wearing a mask?

Lampshading is the practice of softening elements in a piece of media, letting the audience know that something is out of order or farcical, and turning it into a joke. Overly Sarcastic Productions (@comicaurora) has a video explaining the trope in detail.

In a weird way, this is what Fiyero is doing. He is turning his own crisis into a joke. He doesn't have to hide it if he can poke fun at it. He becomes self-referential, and tells people to move on past the words he is saying and focus on the fun dancing and music.

I see where Fiyero is coming from, here. Purpose is difficult to find in this world, and it definitely seems like neither good or bad are rewarded, and luck will do what it will. But I would like to present a counter point.

Everything Everywhere All At Once was easily the most emotionally powerful film of 2022, and it also discussed nihilism in detail. I don't want to get into plot spoilers, but this movie asks the question: If nothing matters, then what?

And the answer to this is clear: Everything. In a Cinema Therapy video on the film, Johnothan Decker states this:

"If nothing we do matters, then the only thing that matters is what we do."

Actions have whatever meaning we ascribe to them, and if we ascribe no meaning to anything, then everything has meaning on the same level. If nothing matters, then everything matters.

This segways into another core question of the musical and especially this song. Do intentions matter?

Galinda and Elphaba have a comedy of errors with the gift giving, specifically when Galinda sets up Nessa with Boq, and Elphaba arranges for her to receive a wand in return, contrasted with the infamous hat.

Galinda does things for personal gain, and accidentally makes someone's life slightly better for a moment, and Boq kind of does the same. Neither of the two cares about Nessarose, but they bring her happiness in the short term.

"We deserve each other, and Galinda helped it come true."

I mentioned in my post about The Wizard And I that this theme comes up there first, in association with meeting the wizard, and I think there is something else to it than just deception. Don't get me wrong, this is deception at work, Elphaba with the Wizard and Nessa with everyone around her. But that lie has a positive result here, for the moment.

It also separates the consequences from the intention. Elphaba sees the wizard and wants to improve the world, her hopes are on rocky foundations, but her actions are strong, and I have already mentioned what Galinda's actions do.

However, I would argue that intentions do matter, and that this musical agrees with me, and that is with Boq, a person whom I despise.

As a character, Boq is fascinating. He is a direct satire of the hopeless romantic of stereotypical fairy tales, think Ariel from The Little Mermaid, or Lancelot from the 1963 movie, Lancelot and Guenevere. Boq is trying desperately to court someone who does not care about him and has someone who does care fall from the sky in front of him, but he can't see past himself.

Now, pining is all well and good, you are allowed to pine, and if someone is attracted to you, there is no law that says you must be attracted back. But Boq goes a step further.

"It's because I'm in this chair and you felt sorry for me. Isn't that right?" "No! No! It's because you are so beautiful."

Boq had an opportunity to back out of the romance handed to him on a silver platter. He could have said it was just a dance, or even confessed that Galinda put him up to it, if he so desired. But Boq made a choice to keep stringing Nessarose along. He may have his reasons, but I think his actions are not excusable, and the gut punch at the end of the musical when he tells her that he never cared is a betrayal that could have been so easily avoided.

Boq and Fiyero go on to become key players in the "death" of the Wicked Witch of the West, and they do so for alternative reasons, and it reframes Dorothy's journey.

For a more nuanced explanation of what I mean, consider this: In 2019, youtuber Hbomberguy (Harry Brewis) raised $347000 for a Brittish charity organisation called Mermaids in a livestream of Donkey Kong 64, and he gave a speech in October of that year about why he did such a thing.

"I think secretly, we're always making one of two decisions, and we make that decision even if we don't know we're making it. You're either choosing to make life worse for someone you don't like, or better for people you care about. There is an actual difference, and I didn't realise I made the wrong choice until a lot of people came over and helped change the choice retrospectively."

What you are trying to do matters, because if you keep trying to do good, even if you hit roadblocks, if you are truly committed, you will eventually do some good in the world.

I actually like Brewis' definition of right and wrong here, because it isn't overly philosophical, it pertains to individual actions. You either make someone else's life better or worse.

I have been rambling around my point for a while, so let me make it concise. Dancing Through Life asks philosophical questions about life. What matters? Is it you? Is it your actions? Is it your intentions?

Final Thoughts

There are two other things I need to mention before I finish. First up, the extras are some of the best parts of this musical, and in this song, that is driven home. Everything comes across as so superficial, and not in a "that's bad acting" way, but in a "that's an actor playing a character who is acting" way. This carries over to Galinda's entire style of talking, but the extras knock it out of the park here. It means that the only sincere moments in the song hit with the relevant weight. Those being Elphaba and Nessa's conversation, and the Elphaba dance (something remarkably difficult to find images of).

That dance is the moment I see Glinda x Elphaba (I still refuse to use the Gelphie ship name) actually taking off, rather than in What Is This Feeling, because it's the first moment that the two see eye to eye, and Galinda finally understands Elphaba. She earns her friendship and trust by trying to make up for her mistakes. Galinda talks a lot, but actions speak louder than words, and that dance kicks off a love story.

Next week, I will be diving into Popular, a number that really takes apart the theming to an overt level only matched by one other song, and we will get to that one soon.

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[littlefabala]

What I think each Wicked character would do in college if it were in our current world:

Elphaba: Natural Sciences

G(a)linda: Architecture

Fyiero: International relations

Boq: Agricultural engineering

Nessie: Art hystory/History (because i read a fic where she was a art student and it made so much sense to me)

Avaric: Sommelier (i know that is not a course, but come on, make sense right?)

Pfanne and Shenshen: pedagogy (If you read Out of Oz, you know why)