I don’t know how this happened but I think I got vaguely interested in the Candyland fandom, and I was thinking ‘Wow, this is great, I wonder what a show would be like if it took place in this universe?’ And then I was thinking that the two human children would be pretty boring from my perspective, since it generally feels like the journey through Candyland has been done a million times before, because it has been, when I played it a million times as a child. So then I thought the four gingerbread pieces could be the main characters, and I don’t remember how they actually looked, but on that Windows Candyland computer game, there was a red, blue, green, and yellow gingerbread for a four player game, so I made up a few little personalities for them in my head. And I was going to drop it there, but then I got carried away and started to search through the Candyland wiki, and I saw there was a ‘Cookie Patrol,’ and so I thought ‘Yes’ and then decided the four gingerbread pieces would be a batch of Cookie Patrol officers, so these four are siblings.
Green Cookie is the leader because he was the first out of the oven, and also because he has the lollipop. It’s not actually important but everyone agreed on that point anyway since he has a way with words. Blue Cookie is happiest when they get to do acts of community service and nothing else, she doesn’t like to leave her comfort zone and she doesn’t like when their unpredictable job gets unpredictable. Red Cookie hates boring things like ‘diplomacy’ and is the first to go on the defense, or play bad cop to the other cookies good cop. And Yellow Cookie cares the least about their job, they are just there because they like to be around their siblings. They enjoy what they do, but if they get the chance, they like to do different things too, otherwise they get stifled and start to hate their job. Current nicknames I have for them left to right is Lolly, Sugar, Crumble, and Sprinkles.
1983 Raggedy Ann and Andy (Circus Version/Tim Mason Version) synopsis:
DISCLAIMER: We only have very scattered materials from this show, so this is my best attempt to piece the plot together from multiple sources and writings from different points in rehearsal. Song names also may not be 100% accurate (or just never had an official name in the first place). We are respecting our agreements with those involved to not share specific materials, but we're doing our best to provide all the information we can about what the plot looks like!
It's long so click below to read it:
Act 1
Marcella’s family is moving from their home in Maple Plain to a new place in Apple Valley. Marcella’s older sister Stella tells her to pack and complains that she is too old for toys. Marcella reluctantly packs up her toys in their box (Movin’ Along), but after she leaves the dolls come to life and climb out. All but Raggedy Andy, who is still asleep, as Raggedy Ann has planned a surprise party for his birthday. The dolls worry that they overheard Marcella’s mother saying she’d throw them away, and when Ann tries to calm them, they counter that Marcella loves her and Andy best and even took them to the carnival. Ann describes what it’s like out in the real world (I Look and What do I See).
When he wakes up, Andy doesn’t care about the party or Ann’s present of candy hearts and paper flowers. He’s tired of living in the nursery and wants to get out to see the carnival (I’m No Girl’s Toy). Uncle Clem and Raggedy Ann tell him the tale of how all dolls come to life (Meg of Galloway), in which the doll named Meg was brought to life to rescue her sick little girl, and how that’s why all toys have been alive ever since. But after the rest of the dolls go back into the box, Andy rewrites over the packing label to send them to the carnival instead of their new home.
The movers take the box of dolls to Cornelius J. Tinker's World-Class carnival and Traveling Medicine Show (The Carnival Song), where we meet the owner Cornelius Tinker and his wife Tina Tinker. She complains that she had a shot at being a big star before her husband convinced her to join his run-down carnival as the bearded lady (Worst Little Carnival on Earth).
The box is left at their door, and all the dolls climb out. They’re confused, and angry at Andy for getting them lost, but all Andy cares about is joining the circus. Cornelius consults the carnival’s fortune teller, Fatima, who tells him strangers are coming into his life. At that moment, Andy sneaks into the tent to pitch his new show. Cornelius is amazed by the talking doll with no mechanics or puppetry, and immediately agrees to give them the headlining act (A Miracle). The dolls berate Andy again for revealing their secret of life to “the big people”, but all but Ann are swayed by his promise of fame and fortune, and go off to practice for the show.
We see Marcella and her sister, now in their new home, as Marcella is upset her dolls are lost. Stella says her parents will buy her new ones, but Marcella refuses.
Alone on the midway, Ann meets Sydney, the photographer’s prop camel who used to be a toy, but has been abandoned for years as a prop. Raggedy Ann and Marcella (still at home) share his sadness (Blue).
Tina has invited her brother, the gangster Big Frankie Malone (followed by his henchman Nickie) who has offered to take her back to the Big City and make her a star actress again. Cornelius promises Tina that their luck is about to turn around, because he has a brand new act that is sure to get people’s attention. Frankie, intrigued by the supposedly living dolls, forces her to stay. The dolls continue to rehearse for the big show (My Turn Now Part I) which is an all-out dancing revue (My Turn Now Part II). Frankie buys the act and the dolls are sent to pack up before the show goes on the road, but Ann has regrets and misses Marcella (Rag Dolly).
Act 2
Time has passed, and Frankie has taken the dolls on a grand tour all across the country. Radio reporter Walter Winchell describes their resounding success and how their popularity has inspired fashion styles, Clem look-alike contests, they got to meet Shirley Temple and the Teddy Bear was given the key to the city of Fargo. Scientists have begun to experiment on dolls, trying to determine if all dolls are alive and how. In an interview, Cornelius, who is the only one the dolls have talked to directly while not performing, tries to explain but is silenced by Frankie. Frankie appeals to the crowd that he doesn’t care about money or fame, only entertaining people (A Man With a Dream). Their next stop is the Big City, where they will play at the Bijou theater. Marcella hears the news over the radio, and plans to run away to find her dolls.
The dolls are waiting in the train car on their way to their next show, slightly disheveled from their time on the road. Raggedy Ann is growing tired, and Sydney tells them it’s because she has been away from Marcella for too long, without fulfilling their purpose as a kid’s toy they loose what makes them alive. Ann gets weaker and weaker, and Andy sings to her to cheer her up (Candy Hearts Part I) before deciding it’s time they went home. He stops the train, which draws the attention of the Big People in the car ahead. The rest of the dolls escape to the back of the train, but Andy and Ann are cornered by Frankie, who grabs them and threatens the Tinkers when they try to intervene. Nickie returns, having captured the others and locked them in the next car, and takes the lifeless Ann away with him (Candy Hearts Part II).
Marcella takes a train alone to the Big City, and tries to get help as she looks for the Bijou theater. Two porters carrying the doll box (which she does not recognize) refuse to answer her questions. Fatima arrives to tell Marcella her dolls need her. Fatima shares her life story and how difficult it was growing up as a child who always knew what was coming next (No Surprises), and offers to take Marcella to find the toys.
At the theater, Frankie is telling reporters again that the dolls don’t use mechanics or strings, they are alive and so are all dolls. Nickie throws Ann into a backstage trash can. Ann misses Marcella and laments on their situation (Somewhere). Andy, finally regretting everything he’s done, admits it’s all his fault (Where Do I Go Now?). He hatches a plan to get them all free, and convinces Cornelius to give him his large ring of keys. Andy sticks a key in each of the dolls’ backs to make them appear like wind-up automatons. Marcella drives at the theater and tells Frankie to give her back her dolls, but the gangsters threaten her and tie her up backstage.
Ann, feeling better but not knowing it’s because Marcella is nearby, climbs out of the trash to find the other dolls, and tells Andy she feels well enough to perform with them. The curtain rises on the all-doll revue, and the dolls begin to act mechanical and jerky. Cornelius runs onstage mid-song to “wind them up” again, and in the finale they all turn their backs to the audience, “revealing” the act to be a fraud (My Turn Now Wind-Down). The audience turns against them, and the dolls run off as the curtain closes. Fatima unties Marcella, and she reunites with her dolls and carries them off towards the train station. Fatima stops Ann, telling her she still needs to deal with Frankie, and handing her a large cream pie. Frankie appears on the false stage, booed and heckled by the crowd, and Andy shoves the pie in his face much to the delight of the audience. Ann and Andy rush to catch up with the departing train. Nickie appears and threatens them, but the Tinkers tackle him.
The train departs with Ann and Andy hanging precariously off the back, and disappears into the steam. When we cut forward, Marcella and the others are safe in Apple Valley, but Ann and Andy are nowhere to be seen (Movin Along Reprise). Suddenly, a kite flies in with them hanging on to the tail, and Marcella is reunited with all her dolls at last (Finale/Rag Dolly Reprise).
Because I saw a lot of confused posts by people who seem to think that the Trans Lars headcanon has sprung out of nowhere after “The New Lars”, when in fact this episode only further completed a picture that has been in the making for a long time. Don’t believe me? Here’s everything I could find to indicate that Lars is a trans boy, from the very beginning.
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First of all: From his looks to his mannerisms, Lars is someone who adheres to a quite strict code of hypermasculinity that is, apparently, self-imposed. If you look at his environment and at the people he associates with, it does not seem likely that he picked up that kind of behavior from direct outside influences. Sadie is totally chill and also doesn’t give much of a hoot about stereotypical gendered presentation. The cool kids are also chill, and actually surprisingly in touch with their not so stereotypically male sides. Ronaldo? – Nope. Now we met his parents, and they also don’t seem the type for toxic masculinity. But Lars draws the need to be perceived like that from somewhere, and if it’s not from the pressure and the standards of masculinity coming from the people around him, then where?
I mean, this is almost a caricature of “manspreading”.
Sometimes – ok, pretty often – he takes it too far and comes off as simply a jerk (though I feel like I need to mention that Lars has some very real emotional issues and this is by no means all related to him being trans!), but as it always is with over-the-top behavior in a certain direction: it’s mostly just there to distance yourself from something else that you really don’t want to be associated with. In Lars’ case, the way I see it, the most distance from being seen as a girl is achieved by playing up his masculinity, and as he’s still young and insecure about himself, he tends to overdo it.
In Lars and the Cool Kids, Lars takes center stage for the first time – and takes off his shirt. Some people have used this to discredit the trans theory, because his chest is flat and he doesn’t have any surgery scars that we can see, but actually, I beg to differ. It is unlikely that Lars at his age would have had top surgery done anyway, but surgery is not the only possibility here. He could be on puberty blockers. He could be on T. Additionally, he could just have naturally small breasts – you know, those exist. And if you look at Lars’ build (barely discernible upper chest fat, no hip fat, skinny as a stick), it seems that he has just always had a very boyish figure anyway, no matter what gender he was assigned at birth. (EDIT: For those who don’t want to discount surgery completely: there is such a things as Keyhole or Periareolar Surgery, which is perfectly suited for naturally small-breasted people and leaves little to no noticeable scarring. Thank you @papercrane for pointing that out!)
And looking at him in this episode, he is definitely not completely flat-chested.
A boy that skinny has no business having that much muscle/fat in his upper chest area, and yet he is consistently drawn with that slight outward curve of his chest and the line in the middle of it. You can often even see it while he has his shirt on. This is not character design happening on accident; this is very much intendend.
And I believe Lars is aware that he passes very well, but maybe not entirely upon close inspection. It doesn’t seem like going around shirtless is something he is accustomed to, and his reaction when he sees the Cool Kids all undress for going swimming is the opposite of enthusiasm: shock, maybe a little bit of fear.
He then turns away to take his shirt off and visibly steels himself, taking a deep breath and a sort of “I can do this”-moment before turning around again, ready to face them.
EDIT: Thanks to @missthornbirds who let me put in her tags about this part:
#regarding the taking off his shirt scene LOOK AT HIS STANCE! #before he turns around to face the cool kids he makes sure to puff out his chest and get rid of the obvious curves there #to smooth them out by stretching them
which I thought was a very neat additional observation!
Then, of course, they almost get eaten alive by Rose’s moss and Lars saves the day with Steven, all the while shirtless, and by the end his initial anxiety about it seems to have all but dissipated. He even initiates Steven’s “chest-high-five” that he had been fending off before; showing, I believe, both that he has bonded with Steven and that he has become a little more confident about casual touches in that area being okay.
Redraw of Scraps and the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz book illustrations :) The way I pictured Scraps originally in my head isn’t very book accurate, but I liked it so much I wanted to draw her out before seeing a picture of her
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