#ttte hc

[fanficfish]

ranch au: top five ways to tell the Scottish twins apart

(No you can't tell Bill and Ben apart, they are a hive mind their only difference is which hand they prefer to write with because ofc they're ambidexterous, all the better to prank people with)

Donald has 2% more smile wrinkle line then Douglas. Which makes sense when you consider how often he joins in on or even starts pranks.

Douglas is practical until you show him a plate of Duck's blueberry pie. Donald will instead judge it silently and wish it was raspberry.

One of them remembers he owns a comb and the other remembers but sometimes can't be bothered and just gives it a couple swipes before taking off ("It'll get messy later anyways" "Donald, it literally looks like a rat's nest" "We wear hats, what's the difference to you?")

Douglas is the one with the blackmail camera roll. Donald sweet-talks, Douglas films, and suddenly the story of Jame's' incident with some bees he was sure had been long forgotten was brought up. Toby has learned this and knows to keep mum, especially if he's recently played a small trick on the twins. Thomas has not.

Donald likes to sing but Douglas even more so. Everyone assumes Donald leads their rounds, and while it's true, it's Douglas that can pull out a song out of nowhere for almost every situation,l and he'll know all the words too. Donald just prefer songs where Douglas can chime in.

[lnwrcauli]

Before The Fleet [NWR AU]

Sorry for my lack of AU posts recently, I've been rather busy. To get things rolling again, here's a bit about some of the engines that were loaned to the North Western but didn't stay. Seeing as I'll be talking about multiple very different engines, I'll format this slightly different to my usual posts.

Brooke the Bullying Engine

Brooke was a Great Central Railway Class 1 that was loaned to the North Western in 1915. She was meant to be the engine pulling the express, but mostly found herself rostered on heavy freight work due to her size and power. Her official name was City of Lincoln, but if you called her that, you might just end up in the turntable well. She was a horrible bully by all accounts and along with her accomplices Ashley and Micah, she reigned over Vicarstown through fear and violence until her return to the Great Central Railway in 1922.

Ashley the Eastern Engine

Ashley was a Great Eastern Railway S69 fitted with experimental larger cylinders. They were loaned to the North Western in 1916 to undergo trials but ended up staying until 1922. They did the passenger work that Edith couldn't. Upon the purchase and subsequent failures of Henry in 1918, they had to pick up the slack from both engines. Being reportedly as rude and self-important as Brooke, they wreaked havoc upon Vicarstown until their return to the G.E.R.

Micah the Mineral Engine

Micah was a Caledonian Railway 600 class loaned to the NWR in 1918. He was brought in to pick up the slack in the freight work that Henry and Edith were meant to be doing. Out of the 3 horrid engines stationed at Vicarstown, he was likely the worst. He often bullied smaller engines such as Thomas, Edith and some of the other loaned shunters. He even sent an engine to the works once. Everyone on the line was glad when he was called back to Scotland by the C.R. in 1922.

Sprite the Buckjumper Engine

Sprite was a Great Eastern Railway S56 that was loaned to the North Western in 1916 to run the Ffarquhar Branchline. They took over from 2 of the much smaller TK&ELR Coffee Pot engines. They worked the line mostly without fuss or incident until 1925, when Thomas was reassigned to the branch and they were sent back to the Great Eastern Railway.

Elsie the Midland Engine

Elsie was a Midland Railway 1377 Class loaned to the North Western Railway in 1917. She took over the mantle of Tidmouth's station pilot from Wellsworth & Suddery Railway No.1. She worked the role without fuss for quite some time, becoming a favourite target of Micah's due to her small size and relatively low power output. She was sent back home in 1925 when the North Western Railway bought Percy.

Kirtley the Old Engine

Kirtley was a Midland Railway 700 Class loaned to the North Western Railway in 1914. She did short-distance freight work and other odd jobs. She was reportedly very kind-hearted and surprisingly strong-willed despite her age. She left the island in 1947 after 3 years of inactivity when the L.M.S. recalled her to Derby Works for scrap.

Jenny the Banking Engine

Jenny was a Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Aspinall Class 30 loaned to the railway in 1914. To start with, she worked the railway's heavy freight services but was reallocated to the Suddery Junction banker siding in 1918 when Micah was purchased. She worked through the 10s, 20s, 30s and 40s pushing trains up the gradient, during which time her northern bluntness and hospitality rubbed off on some. Sir Topham Hatt I had made plans to buy her from the LMS, but they came too late as she was recalled to Horwich Works for scrap in 1946.

Thanks for reading, I hope to see you all in the next one.

Cheerio!

[raiku44-tttecatter]

A little lore from a picture that I got from @just-sittin-on-a-fence, And I just slapped face on them cause I'm too lazy to make the whole art Lol

The engine: So they deemed you problematic ey?

The diesel: Yes, they're going to scrap us all. I just hope 5702 can make it through

The engine: 5702?

The diesel: You know The No Where railway? He's in there and accepted as part of the fleet of the island filled with good ol kettles

The engine: That's one lucky diesel, Im going to bet that he's your brother

The diesel: Yes, he is......

The Diesel and Engine: ........

The diesel: I'm sorry

The engine: Pardon what?

The diesel: *sighed* In sorry, for my actions, attitude, and anything I do bad. Now I understand why you steamies feels threatened.

The engine: It's alright, I understand.

The engine: Also, I never got your name, do you have one?

The diesel: No I don't, but I do have number it's D5710. Yours?

The engine: I see, and my name John's Steam. You don't mind if I called you Betty?

'Betty': Well I see no problem with that John, Say do you also have relatives in there too?

John: Well more like half relative, you heard about the flying kipper?

'Betty': Yes, especially the crash and the steamie who got that accident having a rebuild. Don't say if that engine IS your half-relative?

John: Yup, he is. Half Stanier and Half Gresley and Half something else.

'Betty': 'Something else'?

John: I've met him once at the Furness, he said he's just a stolen failed Blueprint Gresley build with some modifications to make him at least move.

'Betty':...... So your half-relative is technically an illegal build, representing 2 class that were build by completely different builders and 1 builder who is a robber..... If the No Where Railway doesn't exist or your half-relative never being popular I would probably calling you out as a liar.

John: Believe me you're not the first one to say that to me, he's just an amalgamation of builds just like you said. Yet he was somehow stronger than me

'Betty': Come to think of it, what is your half-relative other half build is?

John: It's an A1 build

'Betty': Amazing, great just great.

--------------------------------

Say hello to John and 'Betty', Henry and Boco's relative Respectively :)

[hellokittyshinkansen]

My most intense TTTE headcanon is one that barely relates to canon. It is as follows:

"Well-adjusted newbuild" is an oxymoron.

Some do better than others, sure, but when you're playing resurrectionist, some sort of trauma to someone is almost inevitable. The little narrow gauge lads who are basically just a new [x] in the family tend to take it better, 'cos they're in this little preserved bubble where the inter-engine culture hasn't necessarily changed that much- there's been a great and terrible upheaval, and everyone bears those scars, but there's a comfort in running routes that have stayed the same for centuries. the likes of Tom Rolt (Talyllyn no.7) and Corris 7 tend to have a bit of time to get their bearings before they're eased into knowing about The Horrors.

Straight replicas of a specific engine have it harder, even if there's still classmates knocking about, especially if there's only ONE classmate. They're effectively imperfect clones, and while that's not as uncanny-valley as it would be to a human, I think a lot of their relatives still wouldn't like it. Perhaps a stronger effort would be made to find common ground there, to let the personality of the newbuild make them distinct from the original in one's memories, but the oddness would probably never quite fade.

And then you have your full on Jurassic-park situations, your Steam Into History no.17s and T1s (pending completion) and Tornadoes. Those are... divisive. Opinion varies from "spit in the face of the originals" to "resource-draining leech taking time and money from restorations" to "Vapid showboat with no culture or common sense" but are rarely good. They're also brought into the world pretty much alone- no railway, no classmates, no nada. Thus begins an unwinnable and inevitable process of "proving" themselves, which happens one hard-won opinion at a time rather than as a general shift in culture. There's the constant need to perform to several different expectations at once, AND the under-socialisation from essentially lacking a family, AND the obvious angst of being physically part of a group you're culturally outside of. Healthy!

[cleothebeo]

Ttte head canons!! :

Tw: Mentions of 4b0se, bruises, angst, bullying.

Oliver is actually taller then Duck, the reason why I did this is because.. : in the model era, Oliver seemed to be taller then duck, by a inch. And that inspired me to make Duck, the shortest of the great western crew :D

The Scottish twins used to be very introverted, and quiet in Scotland, And if your asking "oh why cleo?? Why you make the scots like that?" It's because: I researched on google, and it said 'Twins are most likely not social.' So yeah! I wanted to add that in.

Edward used to act like Bill and Ben in his younger days, when he had his scottish accent, he used to trick the bigger engines A LOT. By hiding their coaches, trucks, and even tricking his old controller into thinking he did nothing wrong, now that he's older, hes more matured now.

Bill and Ben are Irish twins(Irish twins are twins that are not born on the same day!) Ben being born first, and after two days, Bill was born.

The flying Scotsman is sometimes called Scott.

Gordon is older then the Scotsman, Scott just likes to tease him a lot.

Duck gets a weird nostalgic feeling when someone calls him 'Montague'

James used to adopt stray cats, mostly kittens.

Douglas is the older twin and Donald is younger, so Douglas sometimes calls Donald ‘Little brother.’

Thomas actually likes Ryan, but he doesn't realize it yet, so whenever Ryan is near him, and starts talking to him, Thomas would get visibly nervous.

Toby sometimes makes snow angels, he finds it comforting somehow.

Percy is actually not the youngest, he's just age regressing.

Duck acts more mature then he's supposed to, since he's younger then Percy and the Scottish twins, and Duck somehow acts more mature then them.

Ryan is very clingy, and since Thomas is his '#1 idol', Ryan talks to him and helps him a lot, he doesn't show his clinginess much tho.

Henry actually hates loud noises, sometimes, when no one is paying attention to him and there's fireworks, he would run into the forest, and then just watch the fireworks from afar.

Rheneas likes to age regress a lot, he sometimes age regresses to 13-16, even if he's like a year younger then Skarloey, he doesn't shows it to others tho.

Skiff acts like the 4b0se of Sailor John didn't affect him, but it did, he flinches a lot to people near him lifting their hands up, he genuinely terrified by loud noises, and he has tons of bruises.

Duck has autism, most of the people on the railway know he's autistic.

Duncan acts rude because he used to be mistreated in the past, the bullying affected him so much, that he thinks, being mean is the key to stop people from being rude to him, and he used to be very kind, happy, and shy in the past too.

Skarloey finds it hard to focus sometimes.

[raiku44-tttecatter]

A̛̫̜͎̣͎̠̥̻̺̙͉̭ͮ̂̋̓̇̽̉ͩͬ̉ͪͫ͗͗ͧͩ̓͆ͨͨ͌ͣ̏̌̈́̓̕̕͡͡ͅͅA̶̡̧̨̨̱͕̠̟͓͖̻̬̖̐̈̒͋͑ͫͨ̎ͧͤ̊ͮ͌ͯ̔͌̚͜͠͝_̶̼̻͆͆̓ͯ̑͝͞A̶̷̛̛̛̜̙̮̻̯̱͇͖̞̺̱̞ͫͧ́̽͂ͥ͛͛̆̊͐̽ͩ͐̇̊̚Ą̵̵̢̨̹͈͈͇̦̲̫͕͚͓̟͎̺̬̬͎̂̂̉̔́̈́ͭ̏̑ͪ̑͘̕͜͜͠ͅẰ̡̢̫̪͈͓̫̱̬̠̙͓̗͙̈́ͬ́̔ͥ̐ͭ̋́̅ͧ̎ͦ̈ͭ͊ͯ͒̇̄̍͛̊̑͢͢͞͞ͅA̫̿͛̒̓_̤͜͝_̛͔̫̫̜̫̙͍̹̞̻̞͇̠̣̯̎ͬ̿͌͛̏̈́ͪ̉̒̈́͘͜͡A̴̧̩̭̪̜͈̻͉̰̳̺̜ͨͮ̓͂ͮ͌̔ͫ͋ͥ̃̐̋͜Ả̶̷̡̛̛̱̯̥̦̠̘̤̼̥̮̝͕̘͍͙̞̽́̋͑̌ͦͤͯ̈́̾ͭ͗̓͌ͫ̎ͦ̾͘̕͞Æ_̸͙̤͂ͯ͆̏��̷̛̳͖̠̤͚̪̟̯̰̥̻̼̹͕̅̓̀ͧ͐́͛̅ͧ̆̊ͭ̃̀ͨ̿̕̚͝͠Æͯ͂Ä͚͖͉̮̂̇̽͒͠Œ͚̏̂Œ̷́Œ̷̵̴̸̛͉̺͈̭̱̗͍̠̠̩̰̭̯̳̥͍ͫ̇͑̑͛̌̈̋̌͌̏ͫ̈́́̈̋͐ͨ̀͢͡Õ̷̶̭̹̻͕̖͍̳͖̆̓͆ͪ̂̑̂̎̀̅̌ͧ̀ͥͪͮ̒͆̓͐͘̚_ͦ̎A̸̵̛̞̩͈̤̤̝͍͑͂̈̌̏ͨ͛͆̇ͨ͟͢ͅA̡̜͚ͤ̊̔͂̊̐̓̂͋͢͡͝_̷̡̡͍͓͇͈̥̘̥̱̼̓ͯ͑̎̃ͣ̂͋̋̈ͧͮ̍̆͊͢A̪̟͈̤̿̇̒ͨA̴̷̶̶̴̴̢̢̢͉͓͖͍͕̥̤͚͍̳̮͈͍̒͊̉̊̒̾ͧ̓͒̔̕͜͢͢͡Ǎ̮̗̖̥̍͊̾̾͑́̈͌͂͘ͅĄ̵̴̶̢̛̛̞̫̙̳͙̜̙̖̯̯̣̲̲ͭ̎̑̇̍̄̓̇̏ͬͯͤͪͯ͛͒̕͘͞͡A̵̡̢̡̛̲͚̪̻̱͍̤̻̲̜̬̖͍̎ͤ̍ͭͪͤ̌̄̓̇̆̆̉̕͡A̷̴̡̨̛͍̞̹͉̤̹̤͉̖̠̖͓͍͙͊͂ͪ͂̓̐͐̿͂ͥͭͧ̂̀ͥ̆͛͑ͣͤͪ̚͘͟͡͝͡A̶̦̟͚̙̰̞ͤ̇̓̊̉̊̔ͣǍ̵̧̬̖͚̗͕̺̰ͪ̑̈̌̊̒̉͗͢ͅÀ̴͉_̠̫̊̎ͤ̉̈́͠_̢̜̇ͣ̔͗͞͞͞À̷̦̖̻̖̳̥̥͕̺͕͉̤̗̘̟̘͖̙̦͓̦̙͕̦͈̌̈̒̎̅̈́̑͜͝͝A̵̸̶̢̢̞̪͔͍̺̯͇̭̝͖̘̻͓͇̣̎ͤͤ̑ͫ̿͆̎͐́ͤͤ̎̈́A͎A̛͓̲͎̻̽́̈́̍̈́͋̾̂͜A̶̶̡̟̼̳͕̱̞͓̝͎̖̱͓̲̩̠̩̿̌͆̒̉ͮ̔̅̒́̓̎͂̆̇̈ͮ̊̀̚͠A̖͌̓Ā̸̛͇̮͖̼̼̫̯̖̠̈̂̀̀̾́̀͋ͤA̷̴̵̺͙͇̲̝͙̾̒ͭ̈ͯ̀̚͠A̡̩͈ͫ̌͆G͔̐͗̿̏̆̋̌ͬ̐͜͝͡H͕͖̯͓̖͂̇͞D͖͔͊̎̓̏ͨ͗̃͠͡_̷̷̛͕̝̝̥͙̝̗̹ͤ̃̇ͭͫͧ͋̂̽͒̆͂ͥͭͮ̂̑͒͗̂̚ẞͯA̡̪͑̾͒ͧĀ̷̴̴̦̩̞͕̠̲̫̗͖̭̻̔̆͗̐̿̇̏̌̉̀͠͡_̷̮̣ͮ͜͞A̵̷̷̢̢͉̪͚̱̟̪͈͇̹͋̄̃̂̾̎̃̓̑͛̋ͬ͊͌̽͞ͅͅA͍̠̩͈͔͊ͩ̎̓ͪ́͑͂͠ͅͅA̴̲̮̘͔̝̠̙ͬ̉̌ͮ̿̌͊̿ͅ_̢̗̼͔͓̜͔̻̘̅̃́ͪͦ͛̆͑̍ͧͅA̪̝͖͂̉Æ̶̞̭͗̽͡

S̸̢͂T̴̟͝F̶̪͊U̷̼̿ ̴͔͐Ḯ̸̙D̵̞͊C̶̩̉ ̴͍͋I̸͉̎F̴͙̕ ̵̝͛Y̵̮͘O̵̫͊U̵͈̅ ̸͈͐S̶͖̈́A̸͚͒I̶̛͚D̵̬̏ ̸̬͗Ï̷̟T̵̝̃ ̵̞̌W̷̩̎I̵̢̾L̵̫̒L̴̮͒ ̵̢͂B̴͚́E̷͔͆ ̵̤͆N̶̹̚Ó̸͚T̴̩͒ ̴̝̔F̷̉͜Ḭ̶̔T̵͚̍ ̴̯̉I̵͉͑N̴̩̈ ̸̱͋Ẅ̶̝Į̸͝T̶͍̾H̶̥̊ ̷̢̄T̵̹́H̴̰͊O̸̱͌M̴̖̏A̶͈̾S̷̲̈́ ̸̫̾Ù̵̦N̷̠̒I̵͇̐V̸̲̂E̷͚͑R̶̹̕S̵͖͆Ĕ̸ͅ,̶͎̍ ̵̯̊M̷̱͌Y̶̖̋ ̷̥̔Ã̵̹U̶͓̔,̸͍͋ ̷̤͋M̷͇̎Y̷̤͝ ̴͙̿A̵̛̩U̶͍͑!̷̚ͅ!̴͇̈́!̷̱͌!̷͈̓!̸͕́!̴̈��!̶͖̊

I LOVE THIS WAYYY TOUCH TO SAY NOOO 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

YOU DONT HAVE TO COOK T H A T HARD

Illustration for my TTTE X Polar Express Crossover.

Fanfic here; Hope you enjoy!!!

[putuponpercy]

Updated Gordon

Thomas | Edward | Henry

As usual some AU lore/headcanons under the cut for those who are interested (or not you can ignore them if you like)

Previously married - now widowed

Cut off all ties with near enough all other Gresleys after they showed little to no compassion after his loss

The slit in his brow came from a fight with his brother Scot a few days before Gordon left for Sodor

Which was also the last time Gordon and Scot saw each other for however many years

Years of being deemed as "not good enough" by the higher ups in his family lead Gordon to project a sense of self importance once he arrived on Sodor to mask his fear of failure

Keeps the information about his late wife a secret from the others - the only other person to know is Spencer (and Scot obvs)

Puts on a hard exterior but is a softie at heart

It takes an extremely long time for him to consider the others as friends but is fiercely loyal and protective in later years despite not always showing it

Opened his spare room to Henry during a time of need - who then later convinced him to let James stay with them too as he was also without a place to stay

Is autistic

Heavy smoker - is always extremely mindful about smoking around Henry even after his respiratory issues were mended

Roughly around 36 - making him younger than Thomas by only a year - Thomas won't let him live it down when he finds out

[brendamfireworks]

A friend suggested me to draw them fighting.

When he said that he meant mentally not this.

[bruhstation]

do you ever wonder what it's like to date the most mentally repressed bachelor of sodor but also want to prepare yourself for what's to come? for casa tidmouth's valentine's day special the author filled out this handy dandy chart so you can see if you're lucky for fitting all the criteria or for not fitting any of the criteria

(template by mythir on twitter)

[mavibonghostexpress]

Besties

[ladychandraofthemoone]

Happy 9/9!🦆🖤💙

Have a engine and his duck 🦆

(Please ignore the date haha but hot take I really like Aeg! Mole and chipped tooth Donald so let’s go!!)

Bonus RWS:

And a Dilly.

[sugarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr]

Hey snookies I drew lady :D also if it ok if I hc lady as Thomas’s mom *sweats profusely while violently shaking*

[lorainedoesthings]

BDHSHZHSHSH LMFAOOOO

oh my god that’s hilarious

Even better than the engines using their own swears? The railway workers adopting their swears. I could totally see a driver off work talk to their friend and have an interaction like 

“yeah I broke my arm the other day”

“Cinders and ashes! Are you doing alright?”

“?????”

[jasminesanriofan]

Here's James Compilation

AKA; TTTE, but it's just James' vocal stimming (ft. Edward on All In Vain).

[cerenemuxse]

ryan human HCs because i said something about him a while ago-

Ryan Grover (omg the blue guy from Sesame Street-)

Ryan seems like a pushover but the guy has his boundaries. He just exists. 🧍‍♂️

Scots-Mexican! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇲🇽 (born in Scotland)

Most of his cousins from his mama's side are Mexican, born in England, whereas Ryan's dad is Scottish (where Grover is taken from). (maybe i'll make a separate post about the "Gresleys." maybe)

In England, Ryan's mother's family is well-known in the neighborhood a lot of them are piled up in. Ryan's family sticks out for being the only ones in Scotland but also because his mother didn't marry in Mexico and left, whereas the others did, then left.

He's the cousin at family reunions who prefers hanging out with the non-dramatic ones, aka the ones playing video games or chatting with cousins his age, and far away from the family gossip.

(Gamecube, Nintendo 64. Nintendo Wii, and Gameboy type of guy)

yeah he plays Minecraft. others are SMG (1 and 2), SM64, SM Sunshine, and games within the same type of genre. only mario kart he has is double dash and wii

speaking of which, he is a Wii Rainbow Road enjoyer 🌈💫

Ryan's parents hold him up to high standards. The only ones he does reach are his academics but its because he wants to, not because of his parents. His parents care but their priorities aren't set straight. Sometimes his parents get overbearing so he prefers to chill at his boyfriend's (Thomas) more welcoming home, bringing along their girlfriend, Ashima. Or at least have a space where he can do his work calmly. Only way he's able to keep his academics high

Bikes to and from school since its in the same town. this is what it looks like! :D

(CW/TW: Near car collision)

Despite the lack of car drivers in Sodor, they have the occasional wreckless driver. One of them nearly hit Ryan right as he was about to cross the street. The air force caused by the driver speeding by mixed with the shock was enough to startle Ryan and knock him over. He turned ok, thx to hall monitors being nearby and his bike helmet. The only reason why he even stopped was because Thomas noticed, and had he not called out for him, Ryan could've been struck. This happened at the end of his first week at the new school. (also new to Sodor in general)

Ryan wears beanies, and he likes leaving tufts of his fringe sticking out. His parents do this which he's just used to at this point. He wont say anything, but when Gordon (14 years older AND an assistant principal at his school) does it, he does get noticeably irritated. He will just leave. Gordon may be his older cousin, but Ryan does not need another parental figure like his parents. He prefers his own parents to nitpick, thank you very much.

Ryan loves Fiji Blue (//projecting). His fav songs from them are "I'll Never Change" and "Only When You Look Into Your Eyes." Also likes the album "Sin Frenos" from "La Quinta Estacion" (//projecting). fav from that album is "Quiereme Mucho."

Speaking of Thomas, because of that first week, he has respect for Thomas, despite how Thomas tends to act from scoffing to straight up ignoring him (you bet Edward gave him an earful when he eventually found out. "I raised you better!!!"). He just brushes it off because he is fully aware of why Thomas is like that. He may be slow at picking up signs but he isn't oblivous, being very aware about everything around him. Ryan hates that this is why he can't get along with Thomas at the time, but again, he brushes it off and continues to be friendly, hoping they can become friends.

One of his favorites pass times is going to the park on his bike, finding a tree with good shade, and lying down while listening to his music with earbuds on.

He plays the acoustic guitar and ukulele!

"wavy" (ends tend to curl up A LOT), dark red/ginger hair coming from both of his parents

Also bad at respecting personal space as in he will peak over your shoulder if you're someone close *cof*Thomas*eep*. Its a habit that wasn't corrected by his parents because that's usually who he does it with, including his siblings!

speaking of siblings, he's one of the older ones!

HE DECORATES HIS BIKE HELMET WITH STICKERS !!! TRUST !!! It's green, completely covered in stickers about memes, musical artists, or random things. mostly the first two hehe-

I HAVE RYAN DESIGNED (somewhat) but the outfit's uh- questionable :/ better than the first one i gave eugh- SO HAVE HIS HEAD

[oldirontender]

local old man falls in love with the meanest most terrible person alive. what happens next over the course of a century will shock you