#ozma tries to introduce dorothy to her family

[just-an-enby-lemon]

I know Wicked is not going to make Dorothy a young kid like in the books but I really like when dark versions of childrem literature do keep them as kids.

Not in "it's more fucked up" light but in this is also a metaphor for kids growing up in a weird scary world while most adults never actually explain anything and either expect them to already know or to be forever oblivious. And so the kids have to figure it out. To make themselfs the decision to remain kind, to learn to love the new world or at least the people in it.

And I do think being a kid is part of the reason Dorothy reacts to Oz so diferently than the Wizard. Yes, it is also because she is a good person. But Dorothy is a kid she is used to things that make no sense. So she goes to an insane new world and her first instinct is to learn. She is quicky to accept that animals talk and scracrows walk and tin man have life. Because she is open minded yes, but also because kids know they don't know everything in a way most adults don't.

But Dorothy also killed (she didn't but you get it) someone and was praised for it. And she is scared and she wants to go home. And everyone keeps teeling her she did the right thing and that all she needs to do to go home is meet this amazing all powerfull guy and kill the horrible mean witch. And every fairy tale has evil witches. So maybe it's okay. And she takes it. Because she is a child and she is new and they are adults.

But she is kind. She befriends all this traumatized adults with backstories and connections she does not know (just like real kids don't know the past of the adults they trust) and she just wants to help them. And she notices that the Tin Man already has a heart and the Scarecrow has a brain (Fiyero was likely lying from the start but Dorothy does not know that) and that the Lion does have courage. And she decides it also means she has to do the right thing so (and I'm going Wicked books here) when she meets Elphie all she wants is to apologize. She knows what is like to lose family and also she knows the witch protects the animals and Toto is her best friend, so anyone that protects animals cannot be that evil specially when the animals here are really just people but different shaped. She doesn't know if she will ever be forgiven but she wants Elphaba to know it was an accident, to know she is sorry, to know someone else is mourning her sister, to know that it is scary and unfair. To give her the shoes back if she can finally just take them off.

She is brave and when she discovers the Wizard is a farse she shows it to everyone. And it's not planned in any way because she is a kid. She doesn't have the maturity, the trauma nor the context Galinda has. Hell she must have noticed Glinda loves the witch and it might be the one reason she does not call Glinda out as well, not any strategy just thinking love can fix all cause she's a young kid.

[I also just think baby Dorothy would make everything funnier. And of course I have the personal fix it that Glinda and Elphie make amends post cannon as them (and Fiyero) find about Tip and raise Ozma as the polycule they should've always been (and also try to fix Oz from very different angles). Only as the Oz books go Dorothy and Toto come back (with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em this time) and she and Ozma fall in love (homoerotic best friends and co-princess wich is the same). And I think Ozma going to present Dorothy to her low key parents only to learn Dorothy has very diferent forms of history with them is golden.]

P.S: This was edited so I will add that in the original I made the point that I consider the three girls that best follow this lost child in a world of horror and wonder having to figure it out by themselfs with a but of an allegory for growing up and the expectations unfairy placed upon them as queer and neurodivergent even if unintented so (it's also accidentaly about gender in my head). The girls being of course Dorothy, Alice and Wendy.

P.S2: I know in the books they just die and in the musical they run for our world but it's my fix it and let's be honest Oz is in shambles and a very traumatized Glinda will not fix it all by herself and she deserves some support.

[witchesoz]

After Oz: Journey back to Oz

Journey Back to Oz is a 1974 animated movie, "meant to be the official sequel of 1939 The Wizard of Oz" and "very, very loosely based off The Marvelous Land of Oz". Talking about this movie is weird... It may be because I watched it on Youtube, and on Youtube there are several parts missing but here's what I can say...

  The first thing I noticed was that the animation is off. The animation of this movie is quite strange and weird at some moments. Once you get into Oz and you have witches and talking animals and the like you actually forget about this bad animation, but in the beginning, when you only have humans around, it is hard not to notice how... weirdly the characters move and talk. Especially Dorothy. Another big flaw of this movie for me is an overdose of song. Oh by heavens, there are songs everywhere in this movie! Every time a character is introduced it will have a song - EVEN A BLOODY SIGNPOST THAT APPEARS FOR JUST ONE SCENE AND HAS NO INFLUENCE ON THE STORY WHATSOEVER!

    I think this overdose of song is explained by another flaw of this movie... It tries too hard to be a Disney movie. It doesn't feel like an Oz movie honestly. When Dorothy arrives in Oz, the movie becomes eerily similar to Alice in Wonderland. The long dreaming/hallucination sequences with music reminds one of the Pink Elephants of Dumbo, or of the many early Disney animated shorts. And a lot of the backgrounds look a lot like they would fit in Sleeping Beauty. But as a result it feels more like a Disney movie-rip off than an Ozian adaptation. Especially given that, for exemple the main villain here, Mombi, looks like your typical, traditional fairy-tale witch, (and they also completely changed Glinda's design, for whatever reason). As I said earlier it is basically The Marvelous Land of Oz, but without Tip/Ozma and without Jinjur, just Mombi and Pumpkinhead (that is now Mombi's servant, kind of replacing Tip). Also no Wogglebug, and the Sawhorse is now a merry-go-round horse lost in Oz (according to my research this was due to having the Sawhorse being mixed up with a character from "Merry-go-Round in Oz", the last of the Famous Forty. As a result the story feels a bit too simplistic at time, and the movie too long - they padded it with songs and dreaming sequences and flashbacks a bit too much.

    But this movie has some good things to it, I will admit. Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse for exemple are really good sidekick characters, lovable and funny (not like Dorothy, who's just as blend). The other big plus of this movie is Mombi. On one side, yes, she disappoints a bit as a villain - she is your traditional fairy-tale witch (and even said to be the "cousin" of the Wicked Witch of the West, to reinforce the idea of witches being one big family), she has a pet talking crow that never reappears, her design isn't inventive at all, and she lives in a house that can't be more cliché... And yet. And yet she manages to be a very entertaining villain: the scene where she thinks of all the things she could inflict to the travelers, walls of fire and floods, is fascinating, for example. She is well "played" if I may say, but even more than that, it is her master plan that really makes this movie. Because you see, Mombi's plan is to attack Oz with an army of green elephants created by magic. And it works, it works very well. It feels strongly Ozian (elephants are quite common in Oz), and it allows for many wonderful pictures - Mombi riding the elephant at the head of the stampede, for exemple ; or my favorite picture, Mombi "cooking" the elephants in a pot from which wriggle all the elephants trunk like tentacles or snakes, in fact Dorothy thinks they are snakes and the crow adds mischievously "They're not quite cooked up yet"... These are the kind of fantastic picutres and imagery an Oz movie need. It also allows to reuse one of the most troublesome plot points of the Land of Oz: in the book, the heroes use mices to defeat the army occupying the Emerald City because they are a bunch of *girls* and *girls* are of course afraid of mices... Long debate opened here. But in this movie, the mices logically make the elephants afraid, since everyone knows elephants are afraid of mice. It is a brilliant re-using of the original book!

    In fact, it seems in this movie that everyone fears the Green Elephants - when Dorothy goes to her friends Tin Man and Lion, they are all the more ready to help her, but at the mention of magical green elephants invoked by and controlled by a Witch they start having hallucination sequences and refuse to help Dorothy... almost as if the green elephants were Ozian boogeymen or fabulous monsters dreaded in all the land, and I absolutely love this idea. And yes, in this movie the Tin Man and the Lion both refuse to help Dorothy in the end, and prefer to stay in their own kingdoms, safe. I was expecting that to simply prepare their final arrival at the end, triumphant, here to vanquish Mombi... but no. They never come. In this movie, they now become cowards ready to let their friend the Scarecrow die by the hands of Mombi. Some like it, others don't... I'll let you judge. (But at the same time it allows more ground to help develop Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse).

     *spoiler part* This movie also introduces an interesting idea - when a witch die, all of her magic dies with her. Which means of course that the death of Mombi (because the rose trick Mombi used in the book is reused here, for dreadful effects), all of her curses and her army of elephants disappear. But it also means that Pumpkinhead, who was born out of her magic, also "dies" - and I love this idea, I loved this scene where they discovered that Pumpkinhead couldn't survive past Mombi. It was a really clever and almost *realistic* take on the magic and the rules of Oz. Of course, it all got ruined in the end by Dorothy's tears magically awaking Pumpkinhead, because apparently "faith" is stronger than magic... Which has some fair ground, but should be developped in another way.

         Anyway so as a result... I am mixed. As an adaptation of Oz, it isn't faithful to the Oz books and it feels too far away from the original aesthetics, with too many cliches. As a movie, it is not a great one - animation off, padding problems, too many damn songs. But it has a good voice acting, a very good one - and it is logical given that a lot of the voice actors are actually famous stars. It has some striking imagery, as well as some good and interesting ideas - and a good villain. So yeah, it can be worth watching, but it can be tiresome to watch, so if you do, hang in there.

[littlemisssquiggles]

I think ruby is the one who represents dorothy given that while in the movies her slippers were ruby slippers in the books the magic slippers were SILVER and dorothy had a dog like rubys zwei. and the wicked witch also captures the cowardly lion who she tries to force to serve her so maybe jaune will be captured as well

Well for me anon-chan, I actually believe that Ruby and Oscar bothshare inspiration with Dorothy Gale.Oscar shares similarities with Dorothy in the sense that similar to her, Oscarlived most of his life on a farm with his aunt (and possible uncle). However Ido think Rubydraws the most influence from Dorothy asopposed to Oscar who most RWBY theorists, including myself, believe torepresent PrincessOzma.

Idisagree that Jaune will be taken captive by Salem. Jaune’s inspiration stemsfrom Joan of Arc. Not to mention that Jaune doesn’t have a target on his backby Salem. While Tyrian Callows did mention that Jaune interests himfor some unknown reason back in V4, that more foreshadowed Jaune sharing aconnection with Tyrian, not Salem.

Ruby and Oscar are the twoknown characters who Salem has illustrated wanting captured and brought to her. In V4, Tyrian wassent to take Ruby but failed due to Qrow’s intervention and by the end of V6;it was revealed that Salem is going to be sending an army of winged Beringelsto seize Oscar due to his ties with Ozpin.

Whetherthat meant Salem will also be showing up in Atlas as well, I’m not sure. I’mmore seeing it at the Beringels alone going after Oscar on Salem’s behalf,similar to how the Wicked Witch of the West sent the winged monkeys afterDorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

Eventhough Ruby shares the most influence, Ruby and Oscar were both based onDorothy. Both Ruby and Oscar have targets placed on their backs by Salem.Therefore there is a greater likelihood that they’re both going to be captured.

Eitherit’s the two of them or just Oscar alone. Since Oscar represents Princess Ozma and Ruby represents Dorothy, this still fits with thesource material because in the Lost Princess of Oz, Princess Ozma was captured and it was Dorothyas her closest friend who led a rescue party to save her.

Then there is also Glinda of Oz,the story where both Dorothy and Princess Ozma were captured by thewicked Queen Coo-ee-oh. The V6 finale after credit teaser did technically confirm a future Dark Domain Arc. There is no doubt in mymind now that we are going to be getting that at some point after or during theAtlas Arc

Myonly question is how the Writers are going to do it because the way how I see it;they can do it one of three ways:

ADark Domain Arc where only Oscar is captured by Salem and Ruby, as his closest companion, leads a rescueparty across the Dark Lands towards Salem’s Castle to rescue Oscar.

Or…ADark Domain Arc where both Ruby and Oscar are captured together by thewinged Beringels and taken to Salem but manage to escape before their arrivalat the evil witch’s castle; forcing them to make the perilous trek across theDark Lands depending only on each other for survival as they work together toescape the Dark Domain to make it back to their comrades in Atlas.

Or…ADark Domain which encompasses both of the above ideas: Oscar selflesslysurrenders himself over to Salem to protect his friends and the People of Atlas.Ruby daringly tries to save him but ends up being taken prisoner along withOscar to Salem’s castle. Ruby and Oscar successfully escape captivity beforethey make it to Salem’s castle and spend the volume journeying together acrossthe Dark Lands, combatting the Grimm and learning more about themselves in theprocess while trying to avoid Salem’s forces sent to hunt them down.

Atsome point during this version of the Dark Domain Arc, Salem succeeds in separatingOscar and Ruby. Oscar is then taken alone to Salem while Ruby manages to escapeon her end but is basically left for dead; worried for Oscar’s fate. However,in a surprising twist,Ruby is savedby JNR_WBY. We then get a flashback or exposition to explain the eventsfollowing the separation after the Rosebuds were captured. We get to learn whatJNR_WBY were up to during the aftermath and how they all managed to make it tothe Dark Lands where they have been scouring the massive landscape searchingfor Ruby and Oscar for days while fighting their way towards Salem’s castle tofind them.

With Ruby reunitedwith her teammates, she then leads everyone in a full on rescue party to saveOscar from Salem’s castle. Oscar is saved and gets his chance to reunite witheveryone. Let’s say we have another rematch between Salem and Oscar, similar toDiggs (Ozma 2.0) and Salem in the Lost Fable.

Asa matter of fact, I’d actually love it if we got Ruby and Oscar vs. Salem with the two working together. As a team, Ruby andOscar manage to weaken Salem long enough for them to make their escape witheveryone. The two then leave Salem alone in her crumpling castle and the lastsight Oscar sees is Salem’s angered face glaring daggers at him before hercastle caved in on her.

Salem’scastle is destroyed. The heroes managed to score back the Relics of Knowledgeand Creation. Rubyand Oscar escape together riding on the back of a winged Beringel in Oscar’sdominion (to tie into my theory of Oscar becoming RWBY’s version of the Golden Capwith the power to take control of the winged Beringels from Salem).

So together withtheir friends again, the heroes venture from the fallen Dark Domain and maketheir way towards their next venture---returning to Vale and Beacon Academy.

Here’swhat I’m thinking: My hunch is that thestandalone DarkDomain Arc will be a volume set as part of the Atlas Trilogy. I havea feeling the CRWBY might make Atlas the main setting for V7 and V8 while V9 is the Dark Domain.

V7will probably focus heavily on dealing with Weiss and the Schnee Family Affairs,Mantleand the Crimesof the SDC with the Faunus abuse while introducing or reintroducing usto the important characters that will play pivotal roles in the Battle of Atlassuch as Ironwood, Penny Polendina and/or Penny’s dad, etc. 

V8,on the other, will be the chapter with the actual battle which will result inthe Fall ofAtlas. I do think Atlas is going to fall by the hands of Salem andher forces of evil in more ways than one. This will then lead into V9 as the standaloneDark Domain Arc showing the aftermath of the Fall of Atlas while focusingprimarily on the journey through the Dark Lands.

That’swhat I’m thinking but you know, this is all just my personal best guess.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)