It is time for this blog to rise again from the ashes. Yes Blogger still exists and I still have some blogs on there that I have not update for several years. I recently posted some character collages on a facebook album but their algorithms don't get much traffic so I am going to post them here too.
I will be posting character collages from many different story ideas I have had that I hope to finish one day. We will begin with my science fiction retelling of The Wizard of Oz.
THE PLANET OF OZ
Somewhere in the future, when humanity has spread to the stars and set up farming colony on distant moon. On this moon lives a young woman named Dorothy and her dog Toto. One day a 'wizard' technician comes to upgrade the colony environmental system. Soon after a climate control malfunction threatened to cause the colony ecosystem to collapse. The entire colony had to be evacuated through wormholes to a place on Earth called Kansas. Dorothy entered her escape pod like everyone else but the wormhole she entered suddenly became unstable and she was sent to unknown coordinates.
Dorothy and Toto found themselves on a strange alien planet called Oz. Dorothy finds herself caught in the middle of a 'War of Witches' that threatens to engulf the planet. Dorothy must make her way to the Emerald City, the one place that might be able to help her get home. On the way she befriends 3 unusual beings each looking for something to make them whole.
Lets look at the characters.
DOROTHY
Dorothy is just another worker on the farm colony. Toto is a genetically enhanced herding dog and her closest companion. When the emergency escape wormhole became unstable they ended up in space above the Planet of Oz. The pod was able to make a landing but it accidentally collided with a transport ship along the way and Dorothy ends up with a strange alien symbiote attached to her legs. She must make her way to the Emerald City to get it removed and meets some friends along the way.
The first few images used in this collage came from dress up games you can find on the internet at places like dolldivine.com or azaleasdolls.com. The image I used for Toto is just a stock image of a herding dog. And yes there are a few AI generated images in there. No, AI generated images are not real art, but if there is anything redeemable about them it is as fodder in a collage like this.
I don't want Dorothy to wear the same outfit the whole story. She starts off in her hot farm girl outfit. Then once she is on the Planet of Oz she gets a new traveling outfit for her journey. And once she arrives in the Emerald City she would try out some of their fashion.
SCARECROW
On the Planet of Oz, the Scarecrow is a biological robot made from living plant matter. He was assigned to watch over a farm field and keep it pest free. During the war, the field was abandoned and Scarecrow was left behind. He has been left without maintenance long enough that his nervous system has begun to degrade. He joins Dorothy on her journey hoping to be rejuvenated in the Emerald City.
TINMAN
On the planet of Oz, the Tinman is a cyborg lumberman. He has had more than a few work accidents that have left a great deal of his body replaced with cybernetics and he opted to get the full body armor treatment. He still has most of his own bones, nervous system, and internal organs, but his synthetic heart needs to be replaced before it breaks down.He joins Dorothy on her journey hoping he can get a new heart in the Emerald City.
THE LION
On the Planet of Oz, the Lion is a disgraced military commander. In an early battle during the War of Witches, he chose to retreat from battle to save the lives of his soldiers rather than risk them by pushing forward. He was branded a coward for this and stripped of his rank. Since then he spent most days drinking and brooding. He agrees to join Dorothy on the slim chance he might reclaim some of his former glory.
THE GOOD WITCH
The Good Witch leads the forces of Oz defending the planet from the Wicked Witch's invasion. She homed in one Dorothy's escape pod distress signal and sent her on the journey to Emerald City.
THE WICKED WITCH
The Wicked Witch was exiled from Oz many years ago for carrying out inhumane and abominable experiments on intelligent life. She built a stronghold on a distant moon and returned to invade and conquer, so began the War of Witches. The transport ship that Dorothy's escape pod knocked off course was carrying a valuable symbiotic weapon that could win the war for whoever possesses it. Now that the symbiote is stuck on Dorothy, the Wicked Witch hunts her to get it back.
THE WIZARD
The Wizard was an inventor trying to sell his latest invention to the farming colony. However it malfunctioned and he was quick to make his escape. He also ended up in an unstable wormhole and landed on the Planet of Oz long before Dorothy and managed to set himself up nicely in the Emerald City. Dorothy's appearance will force him to confront his past mistakes and help save The Planet of Oz.
There they are, all the major character from The Planet of Oz. I made each collage with a combination of dress up games from Doll Divine and Azaleas Dolls, as well as Heroforge.com, and a few AI generated images. I don't know if this is the only redeemable way to make use of AI images, but I liked putting these together and I will be posting more soon for other story ideas.
