13 Things You May Not Know About Lemon Witch
After reading takes by @LadyTerror about Superman, Spider-Man, Thor, and Batman, I felt compelled to do a take about a much more obscure superhero - one I've personally had a stake in creating (but I'm not the only creator.)
That is Lemon Witch from the in-development series Camelorum Adventures - based on The Tale of Emily Barnes and the Two Jens by DeviantArt quasi-star Prodigal-Gamer. I've mentioned her in another take as well, where she was being portrayed by Romanian model Mihaelia Voicu:
Keeping to LadyTerror's format, I've decided to list some trivia details about this much-lesser-known heroine, and see whose fancy is tickled.
Quick recap of her origin story
Her origin story is real simple to recap: Candace Dixon Mason was a high school graduate living in Dromedary Heights, Delaware. She wanted to be a nutritionist...with some fantasies of being a mercenary. She was definitely leaning toward nutritionist. She also wanted to run a citrus farm. And marry her high school sweetheart Patrick Pitterson - who had moved away to become a corrections officer. (More on that later.)
When the evil alien Xiboruty started causing all sorts of mayhem in town, that included colluding in a criminal conspiracy with the CEO of Purview Labs - the shady science firm that employed Candace's father, Eddie Mason. Eddie was put in charge of the division that disposed of old, failed experiments. He knew too much. So Xiboruty kidnapped Eddie and put him in suspended animation. And then plotted to destroy the city eventually. But first, he wanted to create mind slaves with powers. Purview Labs, of course, tried to cover up his activities.
Xiboruty decided to cover his tracks by pulling an Ariel Castro on garnering the sympathy of Amelia Mason, putting on an air of being charming and concerned. However, Candace saw through the deception and confronted him one day when Amelia wasn't around. Xiboruty responded by attacking Candace in her bedroom when she was alone, and face-sucking her with tentacles that came out of his mouth. She fell unconscious.
He was about to give her powers by bonding her to the XomiaFaeCore on the planet Xomia (where he came from), and make her a mind slave. But one of his previous attempts, Johnny "Lightning Hobo" Geriwall, showed up and interfered. Xiboruty quit mid-procedure and fled the scene. Candace awoke and noticed that every living thing around her was turning into either a June bug or a fruit at random. And some things would change back at random. Little did she realize she survived the 50/50 odds, and how easily she could've died from being Xomified.
Terrified she was now a monster, and wanting to protect her family, she ran away from home to meet up with a friend at the mall and discuss what to do about her condition - as well as how to find her father, and exact vengeance on Xiboruty - and stop him from hurting anyone else ever again!
However, her new powers malfunctioned at the mall as well. When her friend was mistaken for a shoplifter by an overzealous mall cop, Candace put out a hand to prevent a fierce blow from hurting Jessie. But unfortunately, she turned Roger Sanders into a talking lime.
A robbery started happening in a different part of the mall, and everyone was terrified of the crazed gunmen. Jessie, at her wit's end, decided to give Candace a pair of yellow gloves she had in her purse. Inexplicably, Candace found that the gloves allowed her to control her power!
She wasted no time using her controlled bursts - and other fighting skills learned in school - to make quick work of humiliating and defeating the robbers. She was instantly loved the mall over as "the Lemon Witch," with her name being cheered and everything as she left a now-half-squash gang leader with nothing better to do than wait for police to arrive for him and pray they didn't bake him and mash him and eat him with pork chops.
However, her effort to restore the mall cop was imperfect. And...he decided to press charges. In a show of good faith, Candace accepted. She knew that Stan Woudean's extremely weird Camelorum experiment would be able to help her with adapting to her new life as the Citrus Wonder of Dromedary Heights. And could even help her with defeating Xiboruty and finding her father.
She didn't know how right she was. Just one catch: it meant that she had to go to jail. And since Sanders was a cousin of the town's mayor - who was quickly annoyed with 19-year-old Candace's smart mouth - it meant that the judge was more than likely going to throw the book at her! When being forced to take her gloves off in court nearly blows up the courtroom (to the tune of "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong,) it doesn't take long for her to get sentenced to 3 years + labor.
However, Stan Woudean, the warden at Camelorum, takes pity on Candace's unfair situation. He promises her that he will use it to both their advantages. She'd get community service assignments from time to time, and they'd milk those to achieve their common goals. Thus were born Candace's increasingly-bizarre and cartoon slapstick-y adventures as an inmate at Camelorum Correctional.
In time, she'd find herself working as a mercenary, a detective, a dimension-hopping savior, a treasure hunter, and more.
Friendly Competition: Because the two sides are merely arguing over a zoo or a homeless shelter getting built first, and can't be bothered to hate each other enough to make it a civil war.
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But, you wanted to know some odd trivia about her? You could read the long article about her here. But you want the GAG-friendly version? Well, here you go:
Without further adieu:
13. Her origin story is inspired by the life of SSSniperWolf
Yep. That particular YouTube quasi-celebrity. Love her or hate her, I'm sure many of you know who she is by now.
The crazy cop in Alia Salesh's video from 2013 became the inspiration for Roger Sanders - who becomes Mr. Lime when he can't be fully human again (better than dying in a car crash though, right?) Jessie became a stand-in for Lia, whereas Candace became an exaggerated take on Sausage's fate. And the confrontation happens in a mall - over a mix-up involving a third-party shoplifter with a similar bag.
From there, the details in the story deviate dramatically from Lia's claims about her own life. For starters: Jessie is allowed to run away, and only Candace (and the robbers she catches) are arrested. Also, Candace gets hard time. Sausage and Lia got probation. And obviously, there's the thing with the whole turning victims into citrus fruits thing. That's different, obviously.
12. Her father's childhood friendship with Officer Tribble is a parody of The Sandlot
If you read "The Ice Rink" on DeviantArt, taken from the 2-parter "Armed and Citrus," Candace is slowly driving Tribble crazy - Animaniacs-style. However, she gets in additional trouble for disrespecting the memory of Wayne Gretsky - the Babe Ruth of hockey.
She gets Tribble to monologue about his past with Eddie, as a way to manipulate him into giving away clues that might help her save Eddie in the future - or at least learn of his true fate. The details of Tribble's past with Eddie play out exactly like a hockey version of various events from The Sandlot. While the Cindy Windy-Boggidy subplot (which fails to mention that M.O.D.M. also inspired Stan to start up the Camelorum experiment) is more of a knock-off of Flubber, the dialog focuses relentlessly on skewering The Sandlot every way it can for cheap laughs.
11. Her prison number is the Slap-Chop phone number
Many images of her on DeviantArt bear the 800 number - or versions of it - that were the number to call to order the Slap-Chop in 2008. This is partially justified in-universe: Camelorum gets corporate sponsors to assign their phone numbers to various inmates. Said inmates become walking product placements. Like a less-dignified NASCAR, but just a number instead of a billion logos.
She is by no means the only inmate to be unwittingly selling a product. Katrina Cantina (in for vandalism) 's number, if converted to letters, reads: "Taco Bell LM" (Live Mas.) Melinda Rotinda (in for being Katrina's best friend) 's number is 877-CASH-NOW.
Barry Navoz (it's a coed prison) gets lucky: his number roughly translates to "I am Ion Boy." And later on, he becomes Ion Boy. (But that's a huge other topic for another time.) (Yes, his name is a pun on "very nervous.")
10. The original artist initially intended her to be an entirely different character
True. Chad "Prodigal-Gamer" Patterson was looking for commission artists willing to depict Emily Barnes (who would later become the heroine "Semaphore," also another huge topic for another time.)
Due to some creative differences and communication issues, the artist Shases drew the first-ever-recognized version of Candace in his piece titled "In chains." Shases at the time claimed:
I'm feeling too lazy to write a caption, so you'll just have to come up with one on your own.
When I was doing research for Sodality: Vindication (a Trump-style YUGE topic for another time!), I stumbled upon that image, and decided to write a funny caption for it. Little did I know how quickly the character would take off once I gave her a name and a backstory!
Details of her story have changed a bit since that early version (including her need to wear gloves, and the Rogue streaks as a consequence of being Xomified into a Fruit Fairy Xomified Human.) Yet, the main joke remained intact. Which leads to my next point:
9. She is named after Scarlet Witch and the "Witch" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
She turned Roger into a fruit! A fruit? He'll get (mostly) better...in 3 years' time! That's the reason her main power is chloropoeia (with a few others tacked on.) Otherwise, she was named "Lemon Witch" to be a counterpart to Marvel's Scarlet Witch.
Red touch Black...money sack. White touch Yellow...amuse a fellow.
She's based off more than just Wanda though. Her hair is inspired by Rogue, as are her gloves. Her mall situation and fascination with yellow are also shout-outs to Jubilee.
8. She's technically a type of fairy, not an actual witch
She got her alias purely because of the media. And because of the way she socially engineers others to get what she wants - both in and out of prison. Both saving the world, and just screwing around serving time for her one mistake!
However, Candace isn't studying spell books or having cat familiars (though Carly has a pig familiar...again, another topic for another time!) She is bound to the XomiaFaeCore. A reality randomization engine of untold power that resides near the core of the planet Xomia. Those who become bound to it take on bizarre expressions of its power. It bonds primarily to X chromosomes - which is why women tend to get more dangerous power manifestations and have less control over them, requiring gloves in some cases.
To be a complete fairy, she'd have to be able to shrink and assume wings. Instead, she got half the package - the ability to turn you into a June bug or a plant, or change you back. Usually on a timer. (Such as turning Barry into a horseradish for 5 hours one time.)
"Don't worry! By midnight, you'll stop being a pumpkin!"
7. She once turned Rapunzel into a paprika
In a non-canon crossover with GregTerry480's "Anna Behind Bars" Frozen fanfic on Fanfiction.net, Candace is caught in the throes of the Percolation Wave Event, which sends her to Frozen Heart Penitentiary in another dimension.
She meets Anna, and discovers that Rapunzel is taking advantage of Anna. When Rapunzel gets territorial, Candace loses her patience and turns Rapunzel into a paprika. Tiana threatens to eat Rapunzel, but Larry-Boy from VeggieTales intervenes. Somehow. With help from the Annoying Orange. Candace reveals that she's being stalked by Pippi Longstocking across the multiverse, and Pippi terrifies Merida with a show of strength. You can read it all here.
6. SCP-811 is somehow still 4-1/2 times as popular as her on Mod the Sims
In an 8-month period, Candace has been downloaded for The Sims 4 approximately 172 times. By contrast, Ae has been downloaded 762 times. Both were made for Sims 4 via DzMD. Dockty has kestins indeed!!!
5. Lemon Witch is the fourth-most-popular Dozerfleet character
In spite being downloaded more than Semaphore, Semaphore is technically more popular on DeviantArt. This has a lot to do with Emily being one of Chad's most-commissioned OCs.
"Take that, Shakesbear!"
However, neither Camelorum girl has the top spot. The by-far most popular character associated with the brand at present is Xira from Adam-00's Cagegirl graphic novel.
Xira's mother, "Suncore," is the 2nd-most-popular character to be documented on the Dozerfleet Database.
Hat's off to Adam-00: he found a winning combination!
4. Candace has been in more crossovers than any other Camelorum character
She is in "Cagegiggles" (a crossover with Cagegirl,) "Confusion of the Oranges" (a parody of Orange is the New Black,) the GregTerry crossover, and even been proposed as a sprite for Marvel: Avengers Alliance. (Though, that didn't last.) And Disney Infinity. (That didn't last either, obviously.)
Her role in "17 & Amphibious" is basically her invading a parody of The Aylum's Jailbait and completely destroying the plot. (M.O.D.M. finishes it off, by accidentally triggering Mammothquakes in the spirit of Lavalantula.) And due to Carly getting involved, she unwittingly turns Anna Ford (rather than Nix) into a talking bullfrog! (But that's okay: Stan needed a new secretary! Frogs Rules!)
3. There's a Lego design for her
No, really!
While I doubt Lego will ever put this exact design of the Camelry into production, hats off to the Lego Movie SigFig Generator for making it all too easy. The others in this shot include Lightning Hobo, Laney the Laughable, Maddening Rod, Gummibabe, Luin Kim, Beatrice Index, Ion Boy, Semaphore and Janet "the Glob" Joblin.
She's also been depicted as a Disney princess. And a Barbie doll.
2. She once had to beg her fans to stop rioting on her behalf
After her role in saving Dromedary Heights from Xiboruty, Candace becomes extremely popular.
Several kids in "The Price of Fame" go a bit too far in their protests demanding she get early parole. Olivia here was dancing on the mayor's car. The mayor made up his mind long ago that even if it cost him re-election, he'd keep Candace locked up as long as possible. Which makes things very awkward when he has to call on her to help calm her supporters down. (To be fair, even she found the shirts rendering her Che Guevara-style a bit creepy!)
1. Her future husband is actually named after one of her creators
Patrick Pitterson is named after Chad Patterson - the real-life name of Prodigal-Gamer (one of the three artists responsible for her even being a character at all.)
If you'll recall, Patrick was that guy she fell in love with in high school - and then failed to make a move on in time. He moved away to become a corrections officer. And by various quirks of fate, he wound up landing a job at Camelorum Correctional: where other quirks of fate landed her as an inmate! (Awkward!)
Camelorum doesn't forbid them to date; it just (halfheartedly) frowns on it. However...just because there are certain things they can't do together, doesn't mean they don't make the most of every moment. And once Candace is transferred to a halfway house in season 3, Patrick doesn't hesitate to pop the question. He knows he'll have to wait until she is free to go home. But he doesn't care. He's her prince, and she his princess.
He'll never be as cool as she is; and he's totally fine with that. Because together or apart, they have each other. And he has done his own share of cool adventuring even without her.
Bonus fact: Her favorite song is "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz. When you see her approach and hear the opening chant, and you've been bad...run!
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If this take has demonstrated anything at all, I hope it has demonstrated that you don't have to belong to a multi-million-dollar franchise that has decades of history and world recognition, to still be a rich character capable of entertaining (and maybe even edifying) countless readers/viewers - if only said are willing to take that plunge into the lesser-known gems that await down the paths less-often-traveled.
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This was interesting to read. And for #5, I've actually read Cagegirl before but I didn't know that it's by Dozerfleet too. Good take!
I worked out an agreement with the author to promote his brand through my own. His characters get wiki entries through my site. He gets to use my decals, and I get traffic through him. Everyone wins. The extra work to research and read his stuff then do wiki entries on it is worth the payout in copromotion. He also gets to use anyone in my Megaverae as a cameo in any of his future work assuming he can find useful places for them that are not out of character. (Through, he's doing fine as is.). Adam is quite talented. If DC picks up a future project of his, he can print through them. He's that good, and I'm grateful to have met him on DA.
That's awesome! Good luck :)
I'm actually considering growing the brand to include more artists. I'll be adding criteria soon to my front page.