Thursday, September 19, 2013

W.W.O.

When it comes to the land of Oz, I consider myself a monstrous buff. Anything Oz related or L. Frank Baum related, I'm all over it. Like a lot of people, I grew up with the timeless 1939 masterpiece and savored just about every frame of it. I also enjoyed the most recent journey to Oz, Disney's Oz The Great and Powerful and I hope that Disney will take this film as an opportunity to make the first ever Oz film series, leading into the tale everyone is familiar with. After all, the latest film takes place about 30 years before Dorothy gets there, so a lot more adventures can occur during that time. Plus, I'd love to see the further tales of the Wizard, the flying monkey Finley and the little China Girl. Now a few months back, I was fooling around with Hero Creator 2 where internet users can create their own fantasy characters, superheroes, enchanted creatures, etc. Since I was in the Oz state of mind, I decided to reimagine a lot of the main characters from The Wizard of Oz, making them stick out like a bunch of sore thumbs that got hit with hammers. Some of the characters didn't go through that much of a transformation, but some characters look far different from their original counterparts. So why don't we have a look at some of these classic characters reimagined through the eyes of yours truly. Hope you'll have as much of a blast looking at these characters as I did making them.

W.W.O.


This is of course Dorothy Gale and her dog, Toto. She lives in dusty Kansas with her ill tempered Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. She loves her relatives, but she longs for something more in life, something exciting. All that will change when a tornado hits the Kansas prairies and Dorothy is transported to the magical world of Oz, ruled by a being known simply as W.W.O. She sets out to find W.W.O. so
she can get back home.



Uncle Henry and Aunt Em deeply love their niece, but since they are in charge of a large farm 
full of animals, they tend to get a little cranky. Plus, Henry doesn't want Dorothy anywhere
near his motorcycle, even though she desperately wants to ride it. 


Zeenandra is the Good Witch of the North and ruler of Munchkin Country. She is the one who
gives Dorothy the fallen Wicked Witch of the East's silver shoes and sends her off to the
Emerald City to seek W.W.O.'s help. 


Groola is the Wicked Witch of the East. As you can see, she is a ghastly grotesque hag who has 
terrorized Munchkin Country for years. She was right in the middle of a duel with Zeenandra 
when Dorothy's house landed atop of her, crushing her to death. Her magic is generated 
from her enchanted umbrella and her silver shoes. 


This is one Scarecrow and Lion duo you don't want to mess with. Anagor is a surviving soldier
from a fallen scarecrow army who suffers from memory loss. He travels with Dorothy to W.W.O 
in hopes of getting his memory back. Ejo is a gallant, yet craven lion who desires the confidence 
needed to defeat a giant spider who rules over his home forest. 


Ginthitt the Tin Man is a rejected Winkie robot who was placed deep in a forest by the Wicked Witch
of the West and left to rust. He travels with Dorothy, Anagor and Ejo to W.W.O because his mechanical capabilities prevent him from showing any emotion, not to mention that he desires to 
fall in love with a human woman named Nimmie. 


The Emerald City Gatekeeper stands at the front of the city, allowing visitors permission to enter
the city and giving them a set of green glasses. 


Rizzio and L-62 serve as W.W.O.'s majordomos. They arrange for citizens to see W.W.O. 
and follow whatever orders W.W.O. demands. 


Minola is the Emerald City's droid programmer. She sees to it that all artificial intelligence is 
up and running and doing what they were programmed to do. 


The Emerald City soldiers protect the city from vicious intruders and terrorizers. They also 
serve as W.W.O.'s bodyguards and protect him from any harm. 


Nikkous is the leader of the Wicked Witch of the West's flying monkeys. He is a victim of the evil
witch's nefarious magic and is the most deformed out of all his comrades. 


The Flying Chimps are agile and swift. They can leap on their enemies and take them down
faster than a blink.


Ooam is a flying baboon who had his tail taken off by the evil Wicked Witch. He continues to 
serve the violent witch but desires to take her out someday. 


The Winkie Soldiers started out as Emerald City soldiers, but they were eventually captured by
the evil Wicked Witch and brainwashed to do her bidding. They stop at nothing to serve their
mistress and are severally punished when they fail. 


Nazortha is the cruel, cold hearted Wicked Witch of the West. Wielding an umbrella and possessing 
the ability to conjure fire with her bare hands, she sabotages all who stand in her way. She plans
on annihilating Dorothy and her comrades and retrieving her fallen sister's silver shoes. She
also has a grudge on Ejo for biting out her eye many years earlier. 


W.W.O. (Wondrous Wizard of Oz) is the ruler of all of Oz and resides in the Emerald City. He's 
a terrifying site to behold and strikes fear into the hearts of Dorothy and all her friends. But in 
actuality, he's really......


Oscar Diggs, a normal human being who descended from Omaha in a hot air balloon. He 
proves to be the master of illusion and can take on many forms for all those who come
before him.  He's really kind and wise, but also incompetent and like Ejo, cowardly.


Glinda is the Good Witch of the South and the ruler of Quadling Country. She shows 
Dorothy the power to get back to Kansas after W.W.O. unexpectedly flees in his hot
air balloon. 

As I said before, I hope you had a blast observing these characters. It was a lot of fun to put this all together and to reinvent such a classic story like The Wizard of Oz. Hopefully, I can do something like this again someday. Until that day arrives, clear horizons to all of you! 


What Is A Gargoblin?

When I first incepted this little site, I had to think of a clever title to stand at the very top of it. What oddball, outlandish, tongue twisting name would I conceive? The Winged Monkey's Territory? The Warty Troll's Cave of Astonishment? The Eccentric Elf's Incredible Plateau of Amazingness? I thought and I thought and I though a bit more, until I thought of an awkward title, a simple title. The Gargoblin's Domain boomed in my skull like a set of fireworks. It was exciting, it was different, it was just the name this site needed. I liked it.

But one question remains unanswered. One question hangs in the midst of obscurity. One question dangles from the tree of What? And that question is.....what on the blue Earth is a gargoblin?

Simple

A gargoblin is a cross between a gargoyle and a goblin. I always imagined it looking something like this.....


Or maybe this...



Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Greetings

I've experimented with internet blogs in the past. Sometimes I would spew whatever I was feeling at the time onto the computer screen, sometimes I would speak of matters and marvels that were currently lodged in my cranium. But I think it's time I create the ultimate blog, a blog where everything I love, everything I desire, everything I ponder upon can fall into place and be discussed. I have a lot in my pink brain that I think you'll find fascinating and I'll do my very best to make every single post on this blog worth while, worth all the chocolate covered pringles in the world. Strap yourselves in, we're heading to the Gargoblin's Domain at full speed. It's gonna be a long journey. Better bring a snack.