the joestars of casa tidmouth, or, as they are more popularly known, ""the triple Ts""

Barrett’s Privateers and Historical Fiction

Let me begin by saying that the song “Barrett’s Privateers” by the Stan Rogers Band absolutely slaps. It has everything you could want from a proper sea shanty; a fun plot, violence,  and an easy to remember chorus that you can definitely sing while being three sheets to the wind. It is the thrilling tale of a young man’s life at sea during the 18th century that starts with his enlistment and ends with his being “a broken man on a Halifax pier”. It is the unofficial drinking song of Atlantic Canadian universities and holds a place of honour in our hearts. It is also entirely made up.

Many a Maritimer has been devastated to learn that Stan Rogers made up the Antelope and Captain Barrett. I was crushed when I was told it was fiction. I think the reason why so many of us believe Barrett really did die after being “smashed like a bowl of eggs” (who wouldn’t want to shout that line in a bar at 1 am?) is that the song sounds authentic. I don’t mean that the musicians used period-accurate instruments, the original is actually written to be sung acapella. It is the level of detail in the song that sells you its authenticity.

The opening two stanzas of the song establish the listener in time and place. It’s 1778 and the narrator wishes to be back in Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia. Already we have the historical context of the American Revolution at our backs and a general setting. The chorus reinforces this sense of place by having the narrator lament his position on a Halifax pier. The description of the Antelope lets the listener feel like they can see her ragged sails and feel the deck under feet as it lists to the port. There is a level of historical research that went into writing the song, more than one might first assume. In writing the song, Stan Rogers would have had to either know specific details about eighteenth-century naval combat, like what size the cannons would be (“with our cracked four pounders we made to fight”), or he would have had to do some research to make it accurate. And while there are some minor inaccuracies, for the most part, the details are spot on.

Despite its inaccuracies, I would argue Barrett’s Privateers does teach us a bit about our history. Even if the story of Barrett’s Privateers is fictional, it gives us a way to connect emotionally to the past and ground it in our present. Outside of the classroom, historical fiction is one of the key ways the public sees history being used. All good historical fiction requires the creator to both researches the historical fact in order to portray the events as accurately as possible and to write a good song on top of that. And if the song is written well enough, it can have a huge impact on how the public perceives history. Creative people have very real power over public perceptions. Just look at how many people fear sharks after watching Jaws. Historical fiction definitely has an impact on how we see history. Done well, it lets us learn a bit about eighteenth-century sailing while singing in a bar. Done poorly, you have people who honestly think the Middle Ages was nothing but mud and rampant sexual violence. It’s difficult to correct these false perceptions once they are embedded in peoples’ minds. Like it or not, historical fiction is part of our history even if it isn’t always historically accurate.

If you would like to listen to Stan Rogers sing Barrett’s Privateers click here.

The lyrics can be found here.

Bruce Guthro - Farewell Nova Scotia

"Farewell to Nova Scotia" is a popular folk song from Nova Scotia that is a corruption of the 1791 Scottish folk song "The Soldier's Adieu", printed in 1803 in a Glasgow newspaper and attributed to Robert Tannahill. When the song began to be adapted by Nova Scotians is unknown.In the 1930s, Folklorist Helen Creighton collected versions of the folk song from different communities along the eastern shore of Nova Scotia, such as Devils Island. She first collected the song in 1933 from Ann Greenough in Petpeswick, Nova Scotia.  The song had a resurgence when Halifax CBC TV show, Singalong Jubilee, used Catherine McKinnon's version as the title theme.The song appears in the Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs. The song is catalogued as Roud Folk Song Index No. 384.

History

The 1791 Scottish folk song "The Soldier's Adieu" was first printed in 1803 in a Glasgow newspaper and attributed to Robert Tannahill. Philip A. Ramsay's 1838 edition of The Works of Robert Tannahill. With Life of the Author printed the first stanza of the song.  Then Alexander Whitelaw published it in the 1843 edition of The Book of Scottish Song.  David Semple then published it in his 1874 edition of The Poems and Songs of Robert Tannahill.

In the 1930s, Folklorist Helen Creighton collected versions of the folk song, now entitled "Farewell to Nova Scotia", from different communities along the eastern shore of Nova Scotia, such as Devils Island. She first collected the song in 1933 from Ann Greenough in Petpeswick, Nova Scotia.  Another version of "The Soldier's Adieu" was also recorded in the 1940s in Quebec entitled, "On the Banks of Jeddore".

The song had a resurgence when Halifax CBC TV show "Singalong Jubilee" used Catherine McKinnon's version as the title theme.

Renditions

Both the tune and lyrics are public domain, and many artists have released recordings of "Farewell to Nova Scotia", including Tommy Makem, Gordon Lightfoot, Stan Rogers, The Irish Rovers, Ryan's Fancy, Harry Hibbs, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Wolf Creek Session, Anne Murray, Touchstone, Stompin' Tom Connors, the Celtic punk band Real McKenzies, Schooner Fare, Wicked Tinkers, Battlefield Band, Alex Beaton, Aselin Debison, Donner Party Reunion, Dan Zanes, Moist, 70s/80s Irish band Oisin, Sons of Maxwell, as well as the Gaelic folk trio Na h-Òganaich on their album Scot-Free. It was recorded by the Czech group, Asonance, with the title of "Nové Skotsko" (New Scotia) on their album "Čarodějnice z Amesbury" (The Witch of Amesbury). The Halifax CBC TV show "Singalong Jubilee" used Catherine McKinnon's version as the title theme. Sid Meier's Civilization VI uses the song as an ambient theme for the Canadian civilization in the expansion, Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm.

“The Negroes Farewell to America”

During the run-up to the American Revolution it was not lost on British Tories that many leading Patriots advocated “liberty” while adamantly defending their right to own slaves (Perhaps the most memorable phrase in this regard is attributed to Samuel Johnson: “Why do we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of negroes?”) The slave trade and slavery itself were yet to be outlawed in the British Empire—the former was banned in 1807, the latter in 1833—but the Somerset decision of 1772 certainly gave the Tories the moral high ground. The case concerned the fate of James Somerset, a slave purchased in Boston then brought to England, who then escaped, was recaptured and threatened with shipment to the sugar plantations of the West Indies. The court found in favor of Somerset, ruling that there was no basis for slavery in English common law.

While large numbers of African Americans ended up fighting on the Rebel side thousands of others cast their lot with the Empire. Many of these were slaves freed by the British Army during its occupation of large parts of the South, while others had self-emancipated, lured by proclamations promising freedom to escapees. A small number of the freedmen entered service in the British Army, most famously in the “Ethiopian Regiment” established by Virginia Governor Lord Dunmore in 1775. Many more sought refuge behind British lines, particularly in the headquarters cities of Charleston and New York.

At war’s end thousands of these freedmen and -women were given transport out of the Colonies. The vast majority were sent to Nova Scotia, where most settled to the south of Halifax at Birchtown, which became the largest North American community of free African-Americans. A far smaller number, probably in the low hundreds, were sent to London.

Yankee Doodle. Or The Negroes Farewell to America This remarkable piece of sheet music highlights the hypocrisy of slaveholding patriots, makes none-too-subtle digs at the primitive conditions of American life, and seems to anticipate the exile of freed African Americans. The lyrics open with a gloating farewell to “my Massa my Mis-sey,” “[No] More blows or more stripes will me e’er take from you / or will me come hither or thither me go no help make you rich by de sweat of my brow.” The following three stanzas recount the many travails of a slave’s life in America,

“Farewell all de Yams & farewell de salt Fish / De Bran & Spruce Beer you all me cry Pish….

“Farewell de Musketo farewell de black fly / And Rattle Snake too who may sting me to dye….

“Farewell de cold Winter de Frost & de Snow / Which cover high Hills and de Valleys so low.”

The final stanza contrast these conditions most unfavorably with the exile’s life in England, where “Me feed upon Pudding Roast Beef & Strong Beer” and “where Liberty reigns / Where Negroe no beaten or loaded with chains.”

None of this implies that British Tories were free from the stain of racism, any more than their Abolitionist brethren in 19th-century America. Indeed, the crude sentiments and faux African-American language of the Negroes Farewell lyrics anticipate the vile “Bobalition of Slavery” broadsides that appeared in Boston in the 1820s. Due in no small part to the deeply-ingrained culture of discrimination—though harsh climate and economic factors surely played a role—the freedmen’s communities in London and Nova Scotia failed to prosper. Many ultimately accepted a British offer of transport to Africa, where they were settled in the new colony of Sierra Leone.

It is worth noting that, despite the similarity of title, the tune on this song sheet bears no relation to that of the Yankee Doodle made famous during the American Revolution.

The broadside is undated, but the partnership of Charles and Samuel Thompson was active between 1763 and 1776 or 1777. The content certainly suggests that it was issued during the Revolution. It is also extremely rare: Though I find numerous references in the literature on the African-American experience during the Revolution, all illustrate the same example, from the collections of the Boston Public Library. The only other impression I have been able to locate is held by the British Library.

Author Bios #10

Brian Bartlett (poet, editor, and English professor) was born October 1st, 1953, in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. His publications include six collections of poetry; The Watchmaker’s Table (2008), Wanting the Day: Selected Poems (2003), The Afterlife of Trees (2002), Granite Erratics (1997), Underwater Carpentry (1993), and Planet Harbour (1989); and five chapbooks: Being Charlie (2009), Travels of the Watch (2004), Cattail Week (1981), Brother’s Insomnia (1972), and Finches for the Wake (1971). Bartlett has also edited three compilations: The Essential James Reaney (2009), Earthly Pages: The Poetry of Don Domanski (2007), and Don McKay: Essays on His Works (2006).

Though born in St. Stephen as the third of six children, Bartlett moved to Fredericton in 1957 with his parents, Lester and Marjorie (Wills). While attending the University of New Brunswick for his Bachelor of Arts degree (English with Honours), Bartlett encountered renowned poet and creative writing teacher Fred Cogswell, who called his work “kaleidoscopic” (qtd. in Compton 139). Cogswell’s sentiments were later echoed by Clark Blaise at Concordia University in Montreal, where Bartlett obtained his MA degree. He then attended the Université de Montréal for his PhD, where he wrote a thesis on the work of A.R. Ammons, a principal and sales executive who, like Bartlett, wrote a personal poetry that transcends the personal viewpoint.

After graduating with his PhD, Bartlett lived in Montreal for fifteen years while teaching at Concordia University. In 1990, he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia to teach English at St. Mary’s University. He still (as of 2010) resides in Halifax with his wife, Karen Dahl, and their children, Joshua and Laura.

In an interview with Mark Medley for the National Post, Bartlett said that he finds inspiration in a wide variety of poets: Don McKay, P.K. Page, Don Coles, and Don Domanski are his favourites among Canadian poets, while A.G. Bailey, Alden Nowlan, Bob Gibbs, Bill Bauer, and M. Travis Lane —all New Brunswick poets— made an impact on Bartlett in his youth.

Along with the critical acclaim that his work has received, Bartlett has also been honoured with national and international fellowships and awards. These include the 2009 Acorn-Plantos People’s Poetry Award, the 2004 Atlantic Poetry Prize, the 2000 Petra Kenney Poetry Award (a British award founded by Canadian Morgan Kenney in memory of his late wife, Petra), the 1991 and 1998 Malahat Review Long Poem Prize, a 1996 Hawthorndon Castle International Writers’ Fellowship, and a 1993 Banff Writers’ Studio Scholarship.

Bartlett edited The Collected Poems of Alden Nowlan and will be presenting it at Fog Lit Festival 2017.

The Collected Poems of Alden Nowlan (summary):

Alden Nowlan (1933-1983) once wrote of a desire to leave behind "one poem, one story / that will tell what it was like / to be alive." In an abundance of memorable poems, he fulfilled this desire with candour and subtlety, emotion and humour, sympathy and truth-telling. For many years, Nowlan has been one of Canada's most-read and beloved poets, but only now is the true range of his poetic achievement finally available between two covers, with the publication of Collected Poems of Alden Nowlan.

Nowlan takes us from nightmarish precincts of fear and solitude to the embrace of friendship and family. Delving into experiences of violence and gentleness, of alienation and love, his poetry reveals our shared humanity as well as our perplexing and sometimes entertaining differences. Nowlan's childhood and adult years are colourfully reflected in his poetry. These autobiographical threads are interwoven with fantasies, an astute historical consciousness, and a keen awareness of the shiftings and transformations of self-hood.

Nowlan wrote with formal variety, visually shaping his poems with a dexterity that complicates impressions that he was primarily a "plainspoken" poet. His varied uses of the poetic line — his handling of line-lengths and -breaks, stanzas, and pauses — show him to be a writer who skilfully uses the page to suggest and embody the rhythms of speech. This long-awaited volume enables readers to experience his poetic genius in its fullness and uniqueness.

WEBSITE

sede: Galleria Nicola Pedana (Caserta); cura: Marco Tonelli.

“In un certo senso infinito – sottolinea nel suo testo Marco Tonelli – vuole essere un titolo di una mostra, ma anche una provocazione intellettuale, un modello visivo, una comunicazione estetica, un’affermazione che sollecita domande. Cosa si nasconde nel certo di un senso infinito? Certo come certezza o, al contrario, come modo in(de)finito e vago di esprimere un significato? E senso allude all’aspetto sensibile dell’esperienza, quello appunto dei sensi, o al significato, alla direzione? Come se esistesse un senso dell’infinito, una direzione infinita? Tutto dipenderà appunto da come interpreteremo l’infinito compreso nel titolo. Concetto di per sé impensabile nella sua interezza, proprio perché senza fine e quindi senza limiti per esseri finiti e limitati come noi, l’infinito lo possiamo solo dire o scrivere, simboleggiare, avviare in sequenze numeriche (1…3…5…7…11…13…), ma mai fisicamente contenere. Vittorio Messina è un artista a cui piace sfidare inafferrabili e sottili inquietudini, praticando installazioni che vogliono spingersi oltre la loro pur oggettiva materialità costruttiva. Le sue opere sono tentativi di uscire dalla gabbia del pensiero razionale, dalle ovvietà dei dati sensibili, dai dogmatismi del trascendente, anzi ambiscono in un certo senso a fondere razionalità-sensibilità- metafisica nell’opera d’arte. Oltre la metafora, oltre l’analogia, forse l’opera di Vittorio Messina è da sempre in cerca di un’estetica basata proprio sull’in un certo senso, essenza stessa dell’Arte, che è a sua volta un concetto inafferrabile, non delimitabile, illimitato. Ovvero, in un certo senso, infinito”.

Vittorio Messina Vittorio Messina compie gli studi all’Accademia di Belle Arti e alla Facoltà di Architettura di Roma, città nella quale vive e lavora e dove, alla fine degli anni Settanta, esordisce nello spazio di Sant’Agata dei Goti – punto di incontro e luogo di sperimentazione della giovane arte di quegli anni, con “La Muraglia Cinese”, una mostra articolata intorno all’omonimo testo kafkiano. Già con la “Muraglia” e con le mostre alla galleria ‘La Salita’ di Roma (1982) e alla galleria Locus Solus di Genova (1983), il lavoro di Messina è orientato verso una forma di scultura ambientale dove scompare progressivamente l’uso di materiali organici e naturali. Così, passando per le mostre alla galleria Minini di Brescia (con Garutti nel 1985), al PAC di Milano, alla mostra ‘Il Cangiante’ curata da Corrado Levi (1986), Messina espone le prime “celle” nel 1986 alla Moltkerei Werkstatt di Colonia e alla galleria Shimada di Yamaguchi (Giappone), veri e propri edifici costruiti con materiali seriali di uso edilizio, di solito autoilluminati con lampade industriali. Nella sua ricerca l’artista ha elaborato ripetutamente questa iconografia come unità di riferimento, sinonimo della “stanza”, elemento base dell’architettura e in specie dell’edilizia urbana. Dalla metà degli anni Ottanta Messina, utilizzando i materiali e i modi, ha messo in evidenza l'”abuso” consumato dall’arte in rapporto al degrado e alle tematiche ambientali e sociali in atto nelle periferie metropolitane. Nel 1987, a Palazzo Taverna in Roma (Incontri Internazionali d’Arte), all’interno di un ciclo dove si succedono gli interventi di Maria Nordman, Bruce Naumann e Luca Patella, Messina costruisce una ‘cella’ e pubblica un testo, ‘Paesaggio con luce lontana’, dove affiora la tematica heisenberghiana dell’indeterminazione, già presente peraltro nella mostra ‘Spostamenti sulla banda del rosso’ di Villa Romana (Firenze 1985). Da questo momento il lavoro di Messina si svolge con stringente continuità visionaria nel grande ‘Krater’ esposto alla mostra ‘Europa Oggi’ del Museo Pecci di Prato (1988), nell’installazione totale alla galleria Oddi Baglioni di Roma dello stesso anno, fino alla mostra ‘Aetatis suae’ alla galleria Tucci Russo di Torino (1990), dove uno schermo televisivo fuori sintonia fa da contrappunto a una serie di cinque grandi nicchie, che svolgono con una sorta di ‘scrittura plastica’ il tema della nominazione. Successivamente, dalla ‘cella’ della galleria Minini di Brescia (1991), a quella del Kunstverein di Kassel (1991) e della galleria Victoria Miro (Londra, 1992), ma anche della ‘Stanza per Heisenberg’ (opera notturna per Edicola Notte, Roma, 1991), come nelle 24 finestre della mostra ‘Lux Europae’ di Edinburgh (1992), fino ai lavori del Castello di Girifalco, Cortona (con Thomas Schutte, 1993), l’opera di Messina si configura, con l’imprevedibilità e il disincanto di un vero e proprio cantiere metafisico. Un’idea, questa, che si sviluppa a partire dagli anni Novanta, nelle mostre al Kunstverein di Dusseldorf, alla Villa delle Rose di Bologna, alla National Galerie di Berlino, al Museo di Erfurt, al Museo di Leeds, fino alle grandi installazioni nei “Dialoghi” (Maschio Angioino e Castel dell’Ovo, Napoli, 2002), integrando una forma di mobilità e di precarietà radicali all’immagine della città come organismo improprio e artificiale. Nella mostra “A village and its surroundings” (H. Moore Foundation, Halifax, 1999) alcune installazioni includono l’uso di film-video nella prospettiva del ‘tableau vivant’, della ‘segnalazione’ e del ‘controllo’. In ‘La discrezione del tempo 1′ (Museo Ujasdovki, Varsavia, 2002) e in “Una città visibile” (chiesa di San Paolo, Modena, 2004), e poi ancora nelle “Cronografie, o della città verticale” (Cavallerizza Reale, Torino, 2006), e in “Momentanea Mens” (DKM Foundation, Duisburg, 2009), lo spazio-tempo dell’habitat umano tende a espandersi ulteriormente, fino alla dilatazione estrema di “Hermes”, un’opera della durata di 72 ore, divisa in 9 “Capitoli”, nata dall’elaborazione di un film di 42 minuti primi, in formato 8 mm del 1970 (Insel Hombroich, 1970/2008). Nelle opere esposte al MACRO (“Eighties are Back”, Roma, 2011) e poi nel confronto con Thomas Schutte alla Villa Massimo (Roma, 2011), Messina rafforza la componente tautologica del suo lavoro e avvia una nuova riflessione sulle forze e le dimensioni dello spazio reale, come nel 2013 al Museo delle antiche Mura Aureliane di Roma, dove si rapporta ancora con un ambiente fortemente segnato dalla storia e dagli eventi. Nel 2014, con le due grandi mostre al MACRO di Roma e alla Kunsthalle di Goeppingen, sul tema di “Postbabel e dintorni”, i nuovi “Habitat” evocano temi profondi, dove il soggetto della città riemerge come riflessione sull’origine del linguaggio e della stessa forma dell’arte come tensione e portato culturale della comunità umana. Una complessità, questa, che pervade i nuclei plastici di “Teatro Naturale prove in Connecticut” della grande mostra all’Albergo delle Povere di Palermo (Museo Riso, 2016), che segna, insieme all’originario recupero kafkiano, l’impervia proiezione nel sistema della incompiuta modernità della globalizzazione.

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Vittorio Messina. In un certo senso infinito sede: Galleria Nicola Pedana (Caserta); cura: Marco Tonelli. "In un certo senso infinito – sottolinea nel suo testo Marco Tonelli - vuole essere un titolo di una mostra, ma anche una provocazione intellettuale, un modello visivo, una comunicazione estetica, un'affermazione che sollecita domande.

1938 --> 1999 --> 2023

special thanks to these pez dispensers for accompanying me during my stay at the hospital. glory to canada

after studying the blade and honing my thinking skills, I've perfected the haddock/billington family tree. or as I like to call it -- the joestars of bruhstation, because Things Just Keep Happening™ to its family members. I highlighted the people who have canon appearances in their respective source materials.

a few explanations of the relationships:

zorran is zip's guardian. they don't view their relationship as strictly brothers or father-son or whatever, but they consider each other important; family. if it weren't for zip and taking care of the boy, zorran could've become an even worse person (thanks, captain zero). also, found families don't necessarily need labels. they know they are important to each other, and they're content with that.

captain zero is supposed to be zip's guardian but he's busy being both a mid father and a mid boss. so he handed him to zorran and zorran took the wheel, albeit begrudgingly at first.

zorran eventually started a family of his own. his great granddaughter is emily (theotug/stanza halifax). his grandson is diesel, thomas' coworker (see the vin diesel family tree), technically making them very VERY distantly semi-related through zip. not really important though.

after zorran moved back to sicily, italy, he still kept in touch with zip through letters. zip also managed to visit his funeral when zorran eventually passed away.

ten cents and zip moved to england and adopted three children after world war 2 ended. they're in their mid 20s by then. they passed away when the kids were young adults. without their parents, they had several disputes over money and properties. they eventually separated. margaret stayed in london while annie and clarabel moved to sodor because of how brochures, magazines, and history books label it as "unique" and "quaint".

timothy is honestly kind of a mid brother. after he and thomas' parents died, he dragged thomas to sodor (reasons same as annie's and clarabel's), shields him from the outside world, and makes thomas completely dependent on him (he did this unconsciously) because timothy didn't want to lose anyone else. then he died and became sodor's ghost. cue casa tidmouth

annie and clarabel eventually took care of thomas.

annie married graham stroudley, but they divorced when cheryl was a teenager/young adult. graham took custody of cheryl and married lucy. cheryl moved to canada and married christopher. theodore was born. by blood relations, theodore is annie's grandson as much as he is to lucy, but he has extremely little to no memories of her.

looking at the family tree. thomas is ten cents' grandson. ten cents is thomas' grandfather. theodore is thomas' first cousin once removed (vice versa) and TC's great grandson

not really canon, but entertaining the idea that ten cents and zip are watching from the skies: ten cents and zip would absolutely adore theodore. teddy is just some sweet kind polite guy who does his best and cherishes his loved ones and that's what ten cents and zip stood for. thomas, on the other hand,

I love the inter connections of family bonds between the au's but at the same time my first thought with the "Emily is Italian" was just "Zorran, pal you have gotten your family tree EVERYWHERE what have you been DOING?"

don't worry, he wasn't doing anything stupid. being a divorcee's right hand man for a long time and told to take care of a doe-eyed teenager taught him things.

emily is zorran's great granddaughter and diesel's niece. one of diesel's sisters left italy and married a canadian man, and emily was born. she doesn't know much about her family from her mother's side, nor does diesel know that emily exists. will they ever meet? one can only dream

good evening, everyone! I have updated the "about" page of bruhstation by adding fortezza bigg city's and stanza halifax's sections. there are descriptions regarding the stories and condensed explanations of the themes present. I'll add a bit more tomorrow, but I hope you give it a good read 👍

-> you can check it out here

Who is the youngest to oldest in Theodore ?

What era does it take place in?

theodore: 24

hank: 25

george: 28

emily: 29

foduck: 31

the dispatcher: 37

stanza halifax is set in the modern era, around 2023. since the canon story has no worrying feeling of dieselization, being at the mercy of those higher than you, the unstable and changing economical climate, or if we take casa tidmouth into consideration — the gold dust and its aftereffects, I’ve been set on making the story set somewhere and sometime more peaceful. think of it as something ten cents dreamed of and something thomas needed

[<- Remembered Stanza Halifax takes place around this year] Foduck did not handle the pandemic well, did he?

how could he? too many people running around without wearing masks, george insisting that it’s okay to touch the railings of his boat without using hand sanitizer, too many crowded groups on the harbor that foduck kept spotting…. it’s out of his control! if you ask emily, she’d tell you about the time foduck had to chase down hank with a disinfectant spray machine

Is there any significance behind Emily and George’s last/middle name(s)?

hoffman is a jewish surname. annapolis is emily’s canonical middle name. orlando is a name of italian origin and is also a character in dante alighieri’s divine comedy. I picked these names mainly because I think they sound cool but there is definitely some significance to them!

Ok this is such a niche prompt but it entered my head and won't leave and I think you might enjoy it.

Which of the characters, Canon or Casa Tidmouth interpretations (your choice), do you think would best fit into the roles of the TF2 Mercenaries

Feel free to ignore btw this is an "I can't sleep" kind of random idea.

Also autocorrect almost made that Canada Tidmouth and I only just noticed before hitting send. Something something au where everything is the same but the story happens in Canada instead of England.

you think I might enjoy it? damn right‼️ took some days for me to think about this …..as a tf2 fan of 5 years I GOT TO answer…‼️

scout — thomas awdry billington himself. kind of a smartass, (one of) the youngest of the cast, is involved with much of the story’s surface while lots of other characters are working behind the scenes… also has the highest chance to get a misspelled tattoo of his favorite song

soldier — …..duck? soldier is a huge american nut and that could parallel casa tidmouth’s duck and his great western schtick. though duck’s much smarter than soldier and would read the manuals on how to use a rocket launcher at least eighty times and checking every nook and cranny before firing it. also imagine duck reciting soldier’s speech from his character video

pyro — as much as some of the characters are involved in denpa-esque situations and experience some level of delusion I don’t think there’s anyone that could match pyro’s. hurricane and frankie could fit because of their thing with heat and fire and them being crazy but that’s a bit stretching

demoman — donald and douglas? because they’re scottish and have a knack for jokes? lol ….. I think henry could fit too because both him and demoman gets involved with supernatural occurrences out of their will but they just laugh it off

heavy — maybeeeee gordon. his taunts like “run cowards” “tiny baby man” and them both being the tall big strong guys drew me to this connection. but heavy is more reserved, calculating, and doesn’t boast too much about himself while many of gordon’s accidents came from his own hubris

engineer — victor methinks….. both dell and victor have degrees in engineering and considered the smartest in the cast. also the more amicable ones yet has the ability to lose their patience once in a while. also I literally only drew him once. have to draw him again because he’s like if tf2 engineer is a cuban man and much more sane

medic — either lady or d10. both lady and medic share the same morbid curiosity towards humanity (though lady is milder and more of an observer rather than a doer) and are amicable and polite. both d10 and medic conduct body altering experiments that could put them in the national watchlist and have little to no regard for the safety of people around them. so diesel 10 it is the cheerful and friendly aspects of medic remind me of edward for some reason????? probably the glasses

sniper — cranky. just think about it. perched on something tall. thinks everyone around them is an idiot. just wants to get the job done but also cracks some morbid if not slightly sharp jokes

spy — I’ll say diesel because this comparison has layers upon layers of joke.

also your phone autocorrect 🤣 casa tidmouth but it’s set in canada? that’s scott pilgrim vs. the world stanza halifax