#tintin asks

[illegally-blind-and-deaf]

Tintin ask thing 2,7 and 23 :)

Gosh these questions are really going to ruffle the fandom's feathers, oh no-

Friendly reminder that we are all entitled to out own opinions and that's okay as long as we don't bully each other about it

2. Fave ship?

Honestly don't have one. There's no one in the Tintin characters who I ship together. Idk why, but I just... don't?

(However, I can get my head around Ramo Nash/Haddock and Castafiore/Calculus. There the only ones that makes sense to me. Do I personally ship them? No.)

7. Least fave ship and why?

Oh dear, here comes the controversial take...

Haddotin.

IM SORRY OKAY PLEASE DONT KILL ME-

It's just, I've always viewed Tintin as a teenager for my whole 11 years of reading the comics, and Haddock has always been 45+, so for me... It's just weird. I completely understand that it's a lot of people's favourite, and to you I say "be you! Fulfil your haddotin dreams! It's just not for me." I personally prefer Daddock, because even though Haddock isn't the most fatherly, he still has that fraternal vibe about him. More of a disgruntled uncle dealing with his stubborn teenage nephew, if you get my drift. I just... I don't see it. I don't see the haddotin.

I also don't like Sakharine/Tintin, even if it's one sided possessive because it just gives me the ick. I love Sakharine as a villian, but I see him as someone more cold and psychologically manipulative, not lustfully controlling if that makes sense. However, I also respect that we all have different opinions and that some people love these ships, and I love how much time and effort they put into fics and fanarts. You keep on sharing what you love because there are people who love it too. I just pereonally do not, and that's okay.

Sorry if I have offended anyone

23. A relationship between two characters that you really like?

Chang and Tintin. They're like brothers and I absolutely love it. They're two very independent people who care for each other with such unadultured love and it's so precious. Even when they clearly haven't talked in a long while, they're still willing to risk everything they have for each other. They're the epitome of found family for each other and I love their interactions. I would have loved to have seen more Chang in the comics because he's such a pure chatacter. If Tintin is the sun, being a golden ball of warmth and energy and sudden emotion, Chang is the moon in his gentle, soft manner and quiet comfort. I love them both so much.

[daftydill]

Not sure if this has been asked yet but can you do question 41 for the Tintin asks? :D

x

41. Any Tintin OCs?

Nope, none, unfortunately OC making isn't really my thing I guess? Unless you count that journalist I had a dream about that Tintin kept answering all his questions with "maybe"? But I just saw him in a dream

Yeah I wish I could've said more but uh yeah I've got nothing lol

[ilovewigglyworms]

hi i love you you're the best big brother best friend ever (that was a my little pony reference)

SOBS I LOVE YOU LITTLE GUY!!!! you're the bestest little brother and best friend ever!!! (i don't get the reference but i love you and i hope i also applied the reference correctly)

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

when I look at western media depictions of Chinese things I always look for gay lions

so lion statues have a male and female lion pair, male lions have a ball to play with and lionesses have a little baby to take care of (lion patriarchy)

Lot of westerners don't know this so they accidentally draw Gay Lions

look at them. love wins

[queenmelancholy]

I'm boggled. This isn't the same thing as in the letter, is it?

Thank you so much for the ask!! Good job on spotting the difference!

Posting the letter again for reference:

So you're right, on the rock it reads 張仲仁 (Cheung Chong Yan in standard cantonese romanisation), while on the envelope the name is 張仲文 (Cheung Chong Man). Hergé’s real life Chinese friend is 張充仁 (Cheung Chong Yan), so the romanisation would be the same as the name in your ask. 

HOWEVER, those are just romanisations (which are less accurate but easier for foreigners to pronounce). Their actual pronunciations in cantonese (spoken in Hong Kong) / mandarin (spoken in mainland China including Shanghai) are different:

張充仁 = Tcheung Chong Yun* / Zhang Chongren

張仲文 = Tcheung Tchong Mun / Zhang Zhongwen

張仲仁 = Tcheung Tchong Yun / Zhang Zhongren 

* 'Tch-' is similar to J sound; '-ong' is OW-ng; '-un' as in under

As you can see, there’s a bit of a mix and match. But I think it makes sense to change the first word in his given name into 仲 given that the story says Chang is from HK, because we seldom use 充 in our names (perhaps more common in mainland China, not 100% sure). 

Another fun fact for you on the meanings of those given names~ 

充 = full of

仲 = still be (only in cantonese)

仁 = love for all beings/ benevolence

文 = cultured/ gentle

Both 仁 and 文 are commonly used here across different generations and genders. So I think both translations are pretty nice!!

Also, I just spotted that the stamps in the top right corner are of Queen Elizabeth II and King George VI:

Not so good at maintaining consistency but good attention to detail, I must say :)

[edorazzi]

I’ve followed you for a long time and your tintin stuff always looked so cool so I’ve been curious is tintin a book or a show if someone wanted to get into it where do you think they should start?

It's Tintin Day again, and an EXCELLENT question from a poor unsuspecting soul who fell right into my trap!!! >:3c

I've compiled a basic Tintin menu with some ways the character differs between depictions - not fully comprehensive but a nice selection of flavours! 🍦

Personally I'd recommend the 2011 Spielberg movie as a starting point; it's the most standalone piece of media and a real love letter to the whole franchise. Plus it's breathtakingly gorgeous, whether you enjoy the plot or not it's worth it for the visuals alone!!!

If you choose to continue - I'd pick either the comic books (the source media!) or the 1991 Ellipse/Nelvana cartoon series, which closely retells many of the same stories but shuffles the timeline around and generally sanitises things for a young audience. My late paternal grandparents rented the VHS tapes from the library whenever we visited - it's so very, very cute and has a real soft place in my heart! 💖

The 60s live-action movies are lovely; but less accessible and probably better with preexisting knowledge of the franchise. The 50s Belvision cartoon... exists. And we don't talk about 1929 Tintin, he isn't real and he can't hurt us.

I hope this is helpful, or at least fun! And it's important to remember that while the comics do contain period-typical racism, xenophobia and other outdated views; part of the joy is watching Hergé's deeply conservative stance change as 50 years of research took him around the world meeting real people and learning about their experiences. He shared his own education through Tintin and that's such an important thing!!! 🌎✨

[lianmilanesa]

Genderbend Tintin cast

[merricatblckwood]

Me : please can we have a cool giant ofmd billboard like in Los Angeles and New York?

My city : we have a giant ofmd billboard at home

[bleubeurre]

Requests:]!!

[juicy-beetle]

I love your artwork so much. It’s so heartwarming. My ask: what if Tintin became a ghost and met Beetlejuice? Happy New Year!

aww! You are so sweet, Thank you! This was such a fun ask- this could be a series. Poor tintin finally drowned. Woops. Also tintin that is the least of your worries and... LOOK AT YOURSELF-

[ask-reportertintin]

Do it for Tintin!! ✨

[illegally-blind-and-deaf]

You’ve still got the Tintin ask pinned so can I ask for 39? :)

*blinks*

AHHHHH YAY I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG!!!!

39. Least favourite character in the Tintin Comics?

Oh boy... that's a good question. I have characters who I despise because they're villains who are well-written (or I have decided to give them more flair in my head) so I do like them because they're supposed to be liked.

However, I think it's safe to say that I despise Jolyon Wagg because he is an earworm of an insurance dealer. I find him so infuriatingly annoying, which is precisely his role in the comics. I also find Abdullah quite annoying at times, however he has a bit more leeway because he is a child and is also spoilt beyond reason.

To be honest, I quite like all the characters (except the racist pricks and the above mentioned) because they all add something to the story and while they may have loud and vibrant personalities, I think that helps add to the beauty of the stories because they feel a bit more real than just copy-paste 2D characters.

Anyway, Jolyon Wagg of Rock Bottom Insurance is your answer.

[daftydill]

For the tin tin asks:

2. Fave ship?

x

The Karaboudjan is where we meet Haddock so I guess I'd go with that

[ilovewigglyworms]

^ gabe

omg i’m sooooo happy his masectomy went well!!!!! <3 trans rights <3

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

pls make tintin and chang kiss already :(

unfortunately they'd need milou's permission first

[aboardthescheherazade]

is it true that they removed mentions of tintin journaling/actually mentioning his job/etc when they redrew some of the older tintin comics? i swear i remember seeing examples of that once but i have no clue where to find them again

I definitely know which post you're talking about, but I can't find it either. I'll try to compile what I remember and/or know about offhand...

For the most part, the most references to Tintin being a reporter come early on in what are considered the "newsprint editions" of the comics. The first nine albums were serialized in Le Petit Vingtieme and Le Soir Jeunesse, and these pages were later re-collected and coloured (and occasionally cut down/rewritten) for what are now known as the "Casterman editions".

Tintin being a reporter is all over Land of the Soviets, and it's introduced as early as page 1. It's the silliest album, but it's also the only album thoroughly revolving around Tintin going on a reporting assignment.

(Soviets pg. 4. By God, look at that guard in the upper right. He looks like the RESPECT! butler)

Tintin is still a reporter in Congo, but it's scaled far back in the redrawn Casterman edition. In the latter, it's kept to one mention in the very first panel, which was also turned into the first appearance of Dupont and Dupond:

(Congo pgs. 1)

Meanwhile, the newsprint edition has a scene where newspaper agents try to scout Tintin as a reporter, I guess because his stories are just that good. He ultimately declines, claiming Petit Vingtieme is paying him way more than what they offer.

(Congo pg. 17)

Now, I'd had a theory that the series just became too plot-focused to keep pausing for references to Tintin's writing, but Reddit user XenophonOfAthens made a good point about Herge being forced to pause discussion of the press and current events after the nazis shut down Le Vingtieme, thus moving Hergé and many of the same staff to the nazi-overseen Le Soir and Le Soir Jeunesse. Tintin had been introduced as Le Petit Vingtieme's boy reporter who child readers could follow along with, but now with a new (heavily monitored) publication, mentions of the "boy reporter" slowly phased out.

One of the more significant edits to Tintin's reporting comes in Cigars of the Pharaoh. Sheik Patrash Pasha originally says he's followed Tintin's adventures for "several years" and presents a then-new Vingtieme publishing of Tintin in America.

In the colour edition, he instead presents Destination Moon. This album was in production at the time of the redraws, and it was one of the first albums to be published outside of Europe...but now Tintin's reaction is especially visceral, since that album involves him going to the moon with two people he hasn't met yet.

(Cigars B&W pg. 39, Casterman pg. 15. I also gave the Sheik's servant in the latter a quick edit because it was somehow worse than the 1933 version)

The last reference to Tintin's reporting for a long while was in The Broken Ear. We are now in the Soir era:

(Broken Ear pgs. 2)

This line never made it past the newsprint version. Tintin hears the news about the museum theft, and originally, he remarks that it'll make for a nice report...but in the reprint, he's just declaring that he'll go to the museum. I feel like the wording in the original could have referred to something specific about the comic's run in Le Soir Jeunesse, but it also could have been removed under the assumption that the reader would be going into this book knowing Tintin is a reporter. He does have a notepad with him through the rest of the page, but without that context, he just seems like a busybody.

I feel like there were a lot more references to his reporting in Le Journal Tintin, which is where the comic moved its publication to. This adds credence to the possibility that readers would be picking up these books knowing Tintin was a reporter, thus it being less of a focus within each album's plot. There do seem to be little hints throughout the albums about Tintin being a reporter...one of these is a moment in Explorers on the Moon where Tintin describes the moon's surface to ground control, and as a writer myself, this to me feels like him gathering his words for a future story:

(Explorers pg. 24)

However, Tintin's reporting is brought up in an album one more time, decades later, in Picaros. Tintin is referred to as a reporter on televised news, so this is at least some confirmation that he does submit journalist work, at least off-camera or between albums:

(pg. 47)

In short, Tintin's reporting started to fade off suspiciously during an era where nazis were breathing down Hergé's neck, then got a little lost in translation, and then ultimately came back.

My theory for Tintin's reporting slowly becoming less important in the albums happened either due to 1. Hergé and co. becoming more interested in writing about other things, 2. the series being moved to a vanity publication that discussed Tintin being a reporter outside of the canon comics, or 3. it got phased out during the Le Soir era because Hergé's supervisors didn't want to promote a gonzo journalist as a hero during a time with heavy political censorship and turmoil. It's completely up in the air.