Welcome to: I rate designs of Scraps in different Oz media
Specifically the designs, comparing to her original description, not what I think of her characterization in that media. That will be a different post, I promise. That said some discussion of it will still probably come out anyway.
I will discuss a comparison to her description in the books then my own personal thoughts on it.
Please note I am harshest on him as he was the official illustrator for the books when they were coming out. I will not be as harsh on the others.
Compared to her novel description, absolutely awful. None of her described Patches on her face are correct, the clothing is wrong, she also does not have gloves, she has a lot more hair, as y'all have heard many times from me she is repeatedly described as plumb and round, however you interpret that this ain't it.
And this is the iconic illustrations that he created. For official illustrator designs for the books, absolutely terrible.
I do acknowledge they are iconic and obviously you can see I've used some as my pfps, so I don't hate them as much as it may seem. But very disappointing for the iconic illustrator's official designs that have then become how she is mostly veiwed.
I promise everyone else is given a lot more grace.
My biggest issue is I think the mask makes her look a little stiff, I wish they hadn't used Neill's a few strands of hair, but otherwise lovely and very Return to Oz character design. Cute and creepy, as she should be, very much looks like a stuffed doll brought to life.
Very well done and good design, even if clearly Neill's illustrations inspired.
A shame she was only an Easter egg background character, even if I understand why.
3. Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz
And why I'm putting them next to each other, is I feel like she was inspired by Return to Oz's Scraps design more then anything. Just cuter, which makes sense as this is, well, a show for pre-schoolers.
While I wish she had more book based details I have no major issues for this design. She's very cute, very chibi Scraps, I appreciate they allowed her to have more hair though I don't know why it's red, she definitely fits exactly what she's for. Which is a cute cartoon aimed at pre-schoolers.
4. The Rainbow Road to Oz
Link for the YouTube video of when they showed some of the footage for it: Here.
Personally I just skip all the stuff with Walt and get right to the clips.
Before I get into it, it is worthy to note this picture is colorized, this was going to be a black and white movie. We do have pictures of her dress in color, and I was originally going to put one of the black and white images but the best quality ones are the colorized ones.
So, to be fair to it and because it's a mute point I won't put too much focuse on the colors, other then I do appreciate them putting a lot in, unfortunate that it being black and white doesn't show that. But that's the time it was being made in, so again it's kinda a mute point.
Okay, about the design, here's the thing...I love it. She is very much disney-fied (?) And made to be cuter, but also is a little creepy, particularly in the black and white version. Which as I said in Return to Oz, as she should be if Scraps were really real. She gets more grace for being live action rather then a drawing.
They started with a more Neill like design, then based a few details more off the books.
I actually really like it. Not perfect, but one of my favorites. Very cute and Scraps like.
Also while this post about designs, forever saddened this movie never got made. It would have been cheesy and have a lot of Disney tropes but a movie starring Scraps as a main character, as well as Ozma, forever saddened it was never made for I promise you it would be one of my favorites now. Anyway.
Now we start getting more obscure and based in the comics.
One of the thing about Caliber's Oz is their angles are near always so awkward, this one is awkward for her face. Anyway the reason I used this picture over the Romance and Rags covers is, there is slight differences in the design, and this is what she actually looks like in the comics. Also worthy to note, the comics themselves are black and white, only the covers are in color.
She gets a little grace for being in, very purposefully a full re-imagined world and everyone has a different design (you can actually read about the design process).
Okay so, in comparison to her original description, absolutely awful. And they were, most definitely trying to make her look like a much more conventionally attractive human woman rather then an Oz doll.
Okay but here's my thing, I don't hate it. I have a weird fondness for Caliber's Oz in that, it has a lot of issues and kinda sits in a "So bad it's good" and I only really care about Scraps, Scarecrow, Stitch, and Dorothy and Ozma when not in the main group, but I do enjoy it. But that's all about the story itself.
Caliber is kinda infamous for their Oz designs. They're not great but I feel you can kinda get used to them. (Except for Jack who lives in my nightmares). I promise you she is one of the better ones though.
You can tell she's a doll, she does fit the overall designs and looks in place, I actually, and hear me out, weirdly like how, if they must make her look more human, they also gave her plenty to the doll design which ended up giving her a little bit of a creepy uncanny valley feel. Which, if Scraps is put in a Dark Oz media to look more human, I do think it's the best way to do it.
I'm never really fond of Scraps' designs that make her blonde, I'm still not particularly fond of it, but it's worthy to note that the doll and Scarecrow creatures are considered similarly created to near same in this world, and I believe they were going for the idea of straw hair as they did with some of the other characters.
I like that they made her main color purple, which is different then a lot of other Scraps media designs. While still keeping a lot of her Patchwork.
Not perfect by any means but not the worst for what she's being made for. And I do like it.
6. The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles comics
Also worthy to note Scraps' design changes a few times in this comics and I have different feelings on it. I kinda considered not putting this here and having a separate break down for her designs in this comic. Some I like better then others, this one is probably my favorite out of them.
I feel like the most awkward part of the design is the lips. (But then again, this is Scraps, so) I feel like this design, really, was trying to take Neill's art of her and design what she would look like if she were real. And I do, appreciate them for that.
I think because the design is so close to Neill's, I don't have any, really strong feelings on it, neither a favorite or a strong dislike. This is kinda how I feel about Eric Shanower's.
Also, for the story itself which I won't go into.
My Scraps x Jack shippers.
Y'all are gonna want to track these comics down.
7. The Royal Historian of Oz
Okay for all my rambling this one is going to be very quick.
Does she look like the book description of Scraps? No, barely does she have resemblance other then being a living Patchwork Doll.
Do I still love her design, feel she embodies Scraps' more fun loving and chaotic nature, love her hair and think the rope arms were a brilliant idea to give her as so she could cause more chaos? Yes, absolutely.
Also many of the characters had a re-design so she does get that grace.
Ah yes my beautiful wife.
OKAY, so I actually want to do a review post at some point for Zenescope, because I had avoided it for so long because of the heavy sexualization on the covers. I knew they had an Oz series for awhile, and it was the Patchwork Girl that made me read it. For yes, I love Scraps but also, Scraps is in book 7, if she's in it whoever is making it has a fair amount of Oz knowledge.
It's actually really good and a fun re-imagining, of the entire 14. There is a story and it's set up a lot like a super hero comic book, where many characters will be introduced as, fun villains. The sexualization is there in design and some poses, but, I will say it's not as bad as the covers make it seem. Back to topic.
As this is an ongoing comic series, in a way Indie comics sometimes can which is through multiple mini series, her design changes slightly. The main idea is kept, but there are little changes.
Part of how they do that though, is her characters' patches change with her emotions.
Her hair changes between brown and red, but within canon that can probably be applied to the point above.
At times she is given golden earrings which are clearly a reference to Scraps' gold ears.
She bounces between having button eyes, glowing eyes, and one button and one glowing.
Not sure what the purpose of the cloth is with the way she wears it (look y'all I actually found a fairly tame picture which is actually a cover) but the bow is cute.
Her mouth goes between having string sewn between her lips to her teeth with one or two missing. (This picture actually having both).
As a comparison to book description, she sits in the more okay category. But she does get grace as she is a full on re-imagining of Oz and not attempting to be the original characters or a re-telling. (This version was a human named Jenny Patch, accused of Witchcraft and drowned, then became the villain Patchwork Girl who has the ability to turn other people into dolls she can control).
I also, personally. I really like her design. I wish it wasn't as sexualized but unfortunately that's a given with Zenescope women but I feel they tried to use that to their advantage somewhat. She is also often used for a horror angle so they tried to incorporate her Patchwork into the design.
I love Oz, I love Scraps, I love horror, I enjoy a lot of super hero comics (I love the DC Batman Rogues Gallery) so I feel like I appreciate a lot of the angles in it for many reasons and as a re-imagining I do actually really like the design.
Here is a picture of her with a half glowing eye by the way that was clearly trying to go for the more horror angle.
I'm going to use this as a point for the last Scraps design on the list.
9. The Zombieful World of Oz
To which I feel like she looks like the love child between Caliber and Zenescope.
As she's so close to those designs I don't feel like I have to really give the comparison. But, I will say she is very clearly the Scraps character in this context and even as we are leaning into more humanized territory for the whole comic she is made of Patchwork and clearly not human still.
I always kinda hate it when they give her a flesh colored patch because I feel like it makes her look more human and part doll. But this is actually a horror comic so I suppose that was what they were going for, for all I know that's what it's going to be.
Not my favorite but I don't hate the design, it fits what it's for.
I do want to state particularly as I come to the end of this post, because I have hit the limit of how many pictures I can put in a post, no matter what I think of her design I am always excited to see any Oz Media include her.
Some others I do want to get to if I make other parts of this:
Legends of Oz: Wicked West ~ Comic
Emerald City Confidential ~ Game
Magic Merge ~ Mobile Game
Eric Shanower ~ Books/Comics/Art
There are very few more but, compared to the hundreds of media Oz there is the ones that have Scraps is actually very few, even fewer as a main character and I am determined to find everything with her.
If you actually read all of this or even skimmed through it thank you so so much I know this is a lot. I'd love to hear any thoughts you may have, either on her designs or the media itself!
Let me know if you'd like to see a part 2 to this. Or, if you'd like to see a similar review but instead of designs I talk about her character and portrayal in each media. It will knock out some that are just cameos but allow me to include some like Oz media books that have her.
Kinda like my reviews project which is being worked on in drafts, the real point of this is to talk about obscure Oz media, this or a character review having focuse on Scraps since she is my favorite underrated Oz character. I may make a poll later.
Again, thank you for reading!
pixelskylines
vaporwave
stormborns
areudirty
janainaart
ellievsbear
kaledo-art
