this is crazy because i haven’t actually read them yet but the original wizard of oz books. i really want read them because the characters stylize the most whimsical and grotesque or even downright disturbing aspects of americana in a way that i can see in homestuck. i mean there are straight up wizard of oz references in homestuck. but the more i learn about woz the more i see how much more its true because a recurring theme in wizard of oz is kinda like the sometimes terrible power of imagination. like this kid is just screwing around and brings a pile of garbage with a pumpkin head to life, and then that being starts calling the kid dad and looking to it for guidance and purpose and the kid is like man…

theres lots of insane characters. the wheelers, the queen who wears the decapitated heads of many women, the scary fucking wooden horse whose life is pain, the bump man and potentially infinite more. also in return to oz the inciting incident is dorothy is in a fucking insane asylum for going to oz jkgsdhjgdhjsvhmshjvdshj