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[boston_bruiser]

Now 100% less forgotten! imeanwhut

From gavin62truck:

What have you done in real life that has helped your understanding of your character, their experiences, or aspects of their day-to-day existence?

(As one simple example, in Tommy Gavin's case, I've handled real firefighting gear at the NYC Fire Museum.)

Comments

[yakalskovich]

I've been to Verona and Ravenna and seen places that the actual historical Teja must have known and been at. Yes, especially for Teja' sake. Also, I bought a replica battle ax and sahs knife.

[pastrydeity]

Oh man, I forget who all I still play.

For Weyland, I used to be a blacksmith apprentice aaaaaaages ago (and like Skaði, did not get to progress very far with it because our group was definitely a man's world). protip: real blacksmithing does not involve nearly as much blood as he uses

And anybody who saw me at Dragon*Con this year got to see my Jack Half-a-Prayer costume, complete with giant mantis-claw arm. His isn't removable like mine was, but I have a greater appreciation for how uncomfortable, awkward and difficult-to-hide it is.

[ceitfianna]

Heh, there are a lot of these for me since I love to research and try new things.

Demeter came about because I studied Classics for a while.

When I was in elementary school, I had a quarter staff because I was Will Scarlett one Halloween. That staff lived in my room until college if not after.

Charles gave me an excuse to talk with my father about psychiatry in the 1960s, which was a great conversation.

Edit to add more. I've held a sword thanks to friends who did reanctment work and loved it. I also used to ride when I was younger and that's been helpful for William though he's made me miss riding.

When I was studying archiving, I got a chance to see Thomas Edison's original patent models which was great for Sameth.

A lot of my pups are readers like me, so I love figuring out what books they might read.

[bjornwilde]

I grew a beard to sort of see how it would feel to have fur like Hank?

I cook like Ben though I aim for more healthy fair as I don't have his metabolism.

For Palamedes I did a bit of research to see what the medieval Middle East was like. I still have lots to do as I've mostly just done time lines. There was also a museum exhibit on the technology and science of the medieval Middle East I went to.

[baptizemyself]

I started training to be a teacher, which was certainly an eye opener. It made me realise that if you want to be a superhero, then having your day-job be 'teacher' is an utterly appalling idea and you'd have to really love being a teacher to stick at it.

[lunamystic]

I started riding when I was a kid and competed all through high school, which has helped me a LOT with Alanna, Thayet, Jim and Grace. Archery was always a favorite of mine, and I've tried out a sword a time or two. Not well, but I did it. XD

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

I've been on board the USS Growler, a late-Fifties era cruise missile submarine on display at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space museum, which gave me a much better idea of what it must have been like to live in a Vault. (Although the Vaults were amazingly roomy and capacious compared to the Growler and probably smelled better- men on board the Growler got one two-minute shower every few weeks, tops.)

I've been to Hook and Ladder #8, the Ghostbusters firehouse, so I could get a good idea of the neighborhood. The interior is nothing like the one in the movie, though.

I took a round of shooting lessons that included small-caliber rifles and twelve-gauge shotguns to get a better idea of what my various firearm using characters were experiencing. (And because I wanted to see what it was like myself, but I specifically went for the shotgun lesson because I was thinking of my Fallout pups.)

I was already doing traditional archery when I added that to Adrian's repertoire, but I did research flint knapping, bow tillering, and bowstring making for his sake. And I already had some training in the basics of hazmat incident response thanks to the Red Cross, which is what I'd generally assumed the HECU did before aliens came into the picture.

[gavin62truck]

I think only the exterior of Hook and Ladder 8 was used in the movie, and a completely different firehouse was used for the interior? In any case, when I went there, I tried very hard not to ask the nice firemen if I could see the containment unit.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

I seem to recall the interior shots are all in Los Angeles somewhere. Mostly I went there to get a look at the outside, take a bunch of pictures, and buy a souvenir T-shirt. These days I think they mostly sell 9/11 memorial T-shirts, since they lost a few guys that day, but there was still a Ghostbusters 2 design available at the time I visited.

[jjprobert]

I have tried Scuba Diving! This will be a thing <.<

I also went to Kenya, though that was planned before I joined here. But, it will be relevant. And I think I paid more attention to the countryside on the journeys, than I would have done otherwise.

Otherwise, things that help me: I'm a Physicist (according to the Degree I'm due to get in July) and the project I'm doing is helping on that field, if only because I'm interacting with Post-Docs and my mentor so much more.

I live in Britain, I've been to plenty of large old houses. This will be relevant for Alfred, I feel :D

[bjornwilde]

Just in case you haven't seen this, here's Michael Caine revealing details of Alfred's past.

[battle_butler]

Oooh, most interesting.

I'd read what he says there before, somewhere (Can't remember, though I think I have it bookmarked (*checks* Apparently not)).

Personally, I'm taking him in a slightly different direction, primarily because, to me, Alfred (and Caine generally) doesn't move like someone who's received a significant injury that's taken him out of service. So, I need some other story to it.

[12goingon113]

I, like the guys who created the turtles, am a native New Englander with a very poor grasp of New York City geography. So...that kind of helps. I think.

Short of that? Not a whole hell of a lot. I mean, I am very guilty of attempting to act out as much of their movements as I can to make sure I have the wording and spacial reasoning as good as I can make it.

But that's probably about the bulk of it.

[the_seafarer]

Like Caspian, I am an avid sailor -- at least, of the small, day sailor variety of boats. I have not, as yet, attempted to command any naval forces.

YET.

I have a basic understanding of and experience with small firearms (up to scoped rifles) and horseback riding. I've tended bar, and Danny and I share a bad knee (though I was never forced to use a cane). He and I still disagree strongly on the subject of Newark and whether or not it is, in fact, better than Honolulu. (I'm going to say he is WRONG on all counts, but he doesn't listen to me).

I also plan to take surfing lessons in the summer.

[misslucyjane]

Aside from the usual "looking stuff up", not much that I can think of. Unfortunately there aren't many warlocks, supersoldiers or tree gods I can question. I suppose I could speak with one of my WWII veteran uncles about their war experience but our sides of the family aren't close, so it's a bit awkward.

There are a lot of places I'd like to visit, to see the environments of my characters for myself, but that's not in the cards right now.

[inlovewithwords]

For many if not all of my characters, I was once an overly inquisitive, vocal, slightly too bright for my own good child, with an interest in both history (especially Greco-Roman) and mythology/folk lore/etc. Not a boy, though, so dunno what's up with that majority.

For Tavi, I used to ride horses (not half badly) and fence (not brilliantly). My local LARPing group is very heavy on the scheming and backstabbing and assassinations. I've learned a lot more about how he'd handle politics. For both Lois and Tavi, I've done a little martial arts. I want to do more of all of the above. Oh, and I've seen some awesome Roman ruins.

I have eerily similar speech syntax as Lois and sometimes even body language, her personality and mine line up rather closely, and I have considered (and sometimes still do) going into journalism. And I utterly fail at cooking. So 'living' might count.

[lady_mary]

Um, I've been to London once?

And there was that time I got hit with radiation and suddenly was able to fly. Oh, wait, no, that was just me falling out of the top bunk when I was a child. Nevermind.

Yeah, there's not really much in my experience that's all that relevant to my characters. There day to day lives are really nothing like mine.

[gavin62truck]

The New York City Fire Museum is the best in providing visitors with up-close and tangible firefighting equipment, so it was definitely cool to relate everything that I'd seen on "Rescue Me" to the real stuff.

Also, I've developed a taste for Guinness. But not to the extent that it's made me a lush. I'm not that hands-on.

[boston_bruiser]

For Voodoo, I try to PT daily, but nowhere near as hard as he would. I also box, and I'm taking a military conditioning class that starts at 0630 Mondays and Wednesdays next quarter. I've also fired rimfire and black powder rifles, and am relatively well-versed in squad and fireteam tactics his team would be likely to use.

John and Mako? lol nope

[hey35andholding]

i learned about medieval cooking for another character, and housekeeping as well. I deliberately haven't done the research for Clem, at least as far as police work (she's SUPPOSED to be incompetent). I've researched burlesque for she and Dixie both. Pinkie is the one, ironically, I have the most hands-on experience with; I went to culinary school once upon a time.