Monday DE

[bjornwilde]

 All the recent activity with t-minus has me wondering, what does your pup's t-minus handle signify? How about their icon?

For those who don't have it but might be thinking of it and are having trouble coming up with a handle, post in with the pup and see what suggestions you might get. 

Comments

[a1enzo]

Enzo regularly interacts with Users, plus I felt like as a sprite he should have the handle-initials O and I (0 and 1), so he's outsideInterface.

He doesn't actually have an established T-Minus icon yet, since I just use Minus here. I suppose his would be either an icon (in the ReBoot sense) or a golden spiral to match the nautilus (which I did choose as being the most mathematical of molluscs, after all).

[camwyn]

All of the ones my characters have were chosen after long discussion with John, as I wanted to get things right or reasonably close to right.

Gordon's, crowbarAnticitizen, meets the DNA letter standards for trolls and most of the humans in Homestuck. It was chosen to mark Gordon's weapon of choice, the fact that he was denounced as Anticitizen One in two separate universes (his own and the Marvel 1602verse's future, where he, Rojhaz, and Sir Nicholas Fury managed to piss off the Purple Man's dystopian government rather nicely in a series of OOMs). The color is his suit's orange.

Ellen's, vicarialVisitor, as an indication of her traveling status- she is, canonically, the Lone Wanderer- and of her status as a member of the clergy- she's a Brotherhood of Steel chaplain, after all. Not exactly a vicar in the Church of England sense, but close enough, and anyway when one acts as a representative of a larger organization (which she often does), one is acting vicariously. The colors are Vault-Tec gold for text and Vault-Tec blue for background because yellow or gold text on a white background is hard to read. The icon itself is the Vault-Tec emblem.

Fawkes is eloquentAdam because he's an extremely well-spoken mutant, and because one of the derogatory nicknames for the supermutants in the Capital Waste is 'Frankensteins', and Frankenstein's monster refers to himself as "the Adam of your labours" when addressing his creator. The color is indicative of his skin color.

And Shephard's was originally tiwazRotorhead and then became tiwazRegulator. The original was an indicator of his status as a helicopter pilot, however unwilling; the T-Minus system changed it on him after he lost his right hand, since one can't really pilot a helicopter with only one hand, and anyway tiwaz is the rune of Tyr, the one-handed god of war and treaties and law- hence, Regulator. Also, his font is color 660C2A because that's Tyrian purple. There is no connection between Norse Tyr and Tyrian purple, the color is named after the city of Tyre, but it does make for a nice stupid pun- as does the fact that the Tyrians were Phoenicians, which is thisclose to Phoenix, which is the bird Shephard intends to use to replace the eagle in the eagle, globe and anchor symbol of the revived Marine Corps.

Worth noting also that while the trolls he knows in Bar have generally indicated that they think Shephard is a troll in inconveniently human form, the one time Bar gave him a trollish shape option for Cubefall, his blood color did not come out in Tyrian purple but in ultramarine.

[bjornwilde]

What are the DNA letter standards anyway? I'll likely spin off in my own direction but it'd be nice to know where to start.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

I'm pondering having Yamato and Hawke (fate_or_chance) get it, but have no idea what their usernames would be.

(Although icons, at least, are easy - Yamato's would be his Crest, Hawke's presumably some manner of bird.)

[crabbycustomer]

For Yamato, I would suggest:

ordinalCalamity

Ordinal for its resonance with ordained as in destined, its references to numbers/data, its opposition to terminal (per preventing apocalypi), and meaning first, as in the first generation of digidestined/an older brother

Calamity as in, calamity, for the typical ominous implications of these names and the crises he's destined to face, also because it can be broken up into Cal + amity. Amity is friendship, and Cal is a PREfix associated with, uh, evil puppets, per Gabumon's mythical background.

[bringspeopletogether]

The gryphon is a symbol of the Grey Wardens; Alistair left the Wardens to become King of Ferelden; hence, quondamGryphon. That's also where his text/icon colors come from -- blue and silver are Warden colors.

As for the rose? In Origins, once Alistair's approval rating is high enough, he'll give your Warden a rose. And after all the requisite jokes, he says:

"I picked it in Lothering. I remember thinking, 'How could something so beautiful exist in a place with so much despair and ugliness?' I probably should've left it alone, but...I couldn't. The darkspawn would come and their taint would just destroy it. So I've had it ever since. I thought that I might...give it to you, actually. In a lot of ways, I think the same thing when I look at you."

(We're pausing for a moment to go "awwwww"...aaaand we're done.)

So anyway, yeah, there's a lot going on in that one symbol: his tenderhearted nature, his tendency to look for goodness in terrible situations, the fact that his Warden's been on his mind a lot lately, etc etc. Also, all the pictures I could find of the Theirin coat of arms didn't translate well to T-minus icon format, so. *sheepish*

I've considered changing all of those things -- name, color, and icon -- once he settles more comfortably into his role as king. But right now, that's where his mind was at when he picked up a T-minus handheld, so that's what he's got.

[just_cant_lose]

Jim's handle is aPosteriori. There are a number of definitions and reasons for the term a posteriori, one of which is not existing in the mind prior to or independent of experience, which fits Jim because no one knew he existed until he turned up and left a bunch of dead bodies around as a hello to Sherlock. You can't prove him until he's already up in your grill, and even then he gets away with everything and disappears at will.

And another definition is from effect to cause, which I like because Sherlock's always left with the effects of what he does, and works backwards to the cause - which is invariably Jim.

[varadia]

X's is autonomousArmament, because she is a weapon but she is also her own weapon, doing what she chooses to do instead of what other people choose for her to do. The color is because purple is her favorite. She doesn't have her own T-Minus icon, though, so suggestions are welcome!

Ysalwen's is amaranthineIdeopraxist. Ideopraxist is because she is an idealist and basically devotes a large swathe of her life to pursuing the causes she deems important and wants to change the way the world handles mages and templars and elves and international relations. She doesn't think small. Amaranthine because Amaranthine is her arling, and the largest city in her arling, and also because it means unfading/undying symbolically, which made me laugh, because yeah her idealism will never die. And the color of the text is a darker version of the amaranth color, because the real color made my eyes hurt to read. Her T-minus icon is a color-flipped symbol for the Primal mage school in Origins, which is where all her elemental spells come from.

[crabbycustomer]

Karkat's canonical handle is carcinoGeneticist. His default color is red, but he chose a grey to hide his mutant blood color; the carcino refers to Cancer, his sign, but also, uh, cancer. His name is constructed to parallel the leader of the human session, ectoBiologist, but suggesting the supernatural cloning that Karkat did was more sinister, which it turned out to be.

In general, it's a pretty discouraging username, because it reminds Karkat whenever he uses it that when they created the human universe, they fucked up--he fucked up--and built in an irresistable corruption that would eventually kill it.

Karkat's handle in Milliways is chirurGeneralist, which is a subtly different color; 696969 instead of 626262, because it's easier for me to remember! And I wanted to indicate a subtle break with canon. Eventually that extended to a full new user name.

ChirurGeneralist refers to an old term for a surgeon and a modern term for a general practitioner; it's meant to represent an aspirational role as the opposite of something that causes cancer. Karkat hasn't figured it out yet.

[manofbusiness]

For the two of mine I'm intending to get T-Minus for in the near future, Saph came up with the names.

umbralPrometheus for Childermass, because Prometheus means foresight and he has his beloved cards to channel his second sight, because he plays a part in giving magic back to England (magic standing in for the original Prometheus's fire), and umbral because he's the shadowiest figure in the book except the Raven King himself. The icon, when I make one, can only be a raven and the colour will probably be grey.

liminalIlluminator for Athelstan. Liminal because he's been perpetually caught between two worlds since the day Ragnar kidnapped him, Illuminator for the obvious reason and the more metaphorical one. No idea about colour or icon.

[sunbaked_baker]

umbralPrometheus, possibly? (#262626) umbralPrometheus? (#161d16)

liminalIlluminator, for the gold associated with illuminated manuscripts and Athelstan's arm ring? (#ffcc00)

[mightbeagoodone]

My only character with a T-minus is this fella, scrutinizeElucidate. I wanted a play on "observe and deduce" for his name; "scrutinize" is fairly obvious, and "elucidate" is for his penchant for letting people know what he's observed.

Purple because it just feels like Sherlock's color. See icon.

He doesn't have an icon yet. I'm thinking some iconic Sherlock symbol would be fun, like the pipe or the deerstalker. No rush, though; I'm waiting to see if he actually ever uses the T-minus or not. So far he's more suspicious of it than seeing its usefulness.

[i_am_your_host]

I really doubt any of my current pups would have any practical use for a T-Minus. It would be a mistake to give one to Emcee because he'll only sext everyone and/or reply in sex puns. His icon would probably be a black bowtie or a red kiss print. But I'm curious if anyone has suggestions for what his handle might be! (Heh...handle...)

[sunbaked_baker]

I dabbled briefly in the thesaurus for plays on "Welcome", and it seems all I saw were easy sex puns...

[bjornwilde]

Right now, Izana is the only one of mine who officially has a t-minus and they are prescientRigger. Their color is steel blue, which I pulled from the color of their eyes, and their icon is the star of Sidonia recolored to the steel blue. Their handle refers to their future when they gain the ability to interface directly with their garde unit and, while interfaced, their perceptions of nearby space become greater than anything Sidonia or other garde units can manage.

Ahsoka is likely to be luminousPivot with her icon being something like this (I might flip the colors when she gets to the Rise of the Empire era). Luminous refers to her future role in the galaxy as well as the fact she once was going to be called Ashla, which is what Lucas was calling the Light Side of the Force for a while. It might also be suggesting she's an avatar for the Light Side. Pivot is the best I could think of as a means to say Fulcrum without saying fulcrum. Oh, and white is her color because her future lightsaber color and which in turn are a statement that she is not aligned to the Jedi or the Sith. I am tempted to go with green until the end of the Clone Wars but that might be too much work.

Sabine is the next likely to get a t-minus and her handle will likely be "polychromaticSaboteur" while her icon will be her starbird. I'm still working on a purple/magenta that's bright enough but not too bright. The magenta in the link is based on the official pantone they use for the model of her armor, but it's looking too dark at the icon size, imho. I don't think I need to explain the user name do I?

Hank is still a tempting person to give a t-minus to. "mutantPolymath" is a likely name and I think his icon would be a blue lowercase beta character, which looks like a B with a long tail.

[bjornwilde]

Oh, and I think Amelia should get one sometime. I might wait until August when the next book in her series comes out to see if she's in it. Possible name would likely be something like "bibliophileWyrm" or something to do with magic+dragon. Not to sure. Also not sure of color scheme or symbol, though I can see it being something to honor her grandfather, Quetzalcoatl. I could also see working with the name of her planer fairing ship, The Wind Jewel, which again, is named in honor of her grandfather,

[leeshajoy]

Alyx Vance is aadiTelmatologist, which is a fancy way of saying her Combine codename "Vance Prime." "aadi" is Sanskrit for "first," and a telmatologist is someone who studies swamps and marshes, referencing the surname Vance's meaning of "dweller by a fen or marsh." Her chat icon is one of the symbols of the Hindu goddess Durga.

D0G is custodialConstruct. I wanted something with "construct" in the name, and John suggested "custodial" since D0G's function mimics that of the lusii in Homesuck canon. He doesn't have a chat icon, since he has limited icon space and doesn't use T-Minus very often.

Vanellope von Schweetz is regicideError. It's both a pun on "registry error" and a reference to how she came to be a glitch through Turbo's failed attempt to delete her source code in order to take her place. Her chat icon is a zoomed-in picture of Missingno from Pokemon, one of the most infamous game glitches of all time.

Amethyst doesn't have T-Minus yet, and I'm open for suggestions on her username and chat icon!

[crabbycustomer]

...I don't have a full idea for Amethyst yet, but I kind of think the phrase stonecold should be in there (or an allusion to) because of a) her pro wrestling background and b) the association of amethyst with sobriety.

Throwing that out there in case you/someone else can build off of it. I am trying to find a good polysyllabic word for latecomer or reckless.

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine's T-Minus handle is solarGastronome, referring to her sunlight elemental affinity, that she is powered by the sun quite literally, her skills in the kitchen, her efforts when it comes to vampires' eating habits, and her user name's use of "sunbaked." It uses color #ff6600

I've been wondering if her handle shouldn't change sometime soon, but I'm not exactly sure to what.

I like the references included in solarSolanaceae to her referring to herself as "your little friend the deadly nightshade" when her blood was poisoned, and to her ability to shelter vampires from the sun (a solar night-shade). Also, despite the poisonous associations, many members the nightshade family are also very tasty and have widespread culinary uses (tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes, eggplants, chili peppers and bell peppers, wolfberries, etc.) That duality of meaning (good foods vs poisons) may also serve as a reference to the seemingly impossible alliance between her and Con, and their joint attempts to protect both vampire and human societies from mutually assured destruction.

[genarti]

Most of mine don't have one, although I've been meaning to change that with a couple of them.

Enjolras ought to get one. His color will be either red or blue -- red on a blue background or vice versa would make sense, but I find that kind of thing really hard to read so I don't wanna. His icon would probably be a simple pixelated tricolor flag. I'm pondering what his name should be; something to do with martyrdom and austerity and friendship and equality. Loading on some Christ symbolism is both accurate and 100% canonical, but it's kind of a fine line to walk between accuracy and something he'd see as pointless, irritating blasphemy. (I realize a certain amount of irritation at your Trollian handle is entirely in keeping with Homestuck canon, but going overboard would be a good way to get him to refuse to use the thing except in a real emergency.)

Kazul would be bright green, and her icon would be... uh. A dragon's tooth? A flame? A chunk of unremarkable-looking black rock? The last is the most personalized, but also the hardest to render. Still, yes, probably a roughly log-shaped black lump. chronicledWyrm is the best name I've thought of so far.

I feel like I came up with one for River, but heck if I remember what it was. I don't think she ever got a t-minus, so maybe it's that I never settled on one I really liked. Her color would be purple, though. Her icon... I don't know. An albatross, maybe.

Trowa is pseudonymousFunambulist. I barely play him these days, but back when I did, he was too mistrustful of technology he didn't understand from the ground up in general, and anything alive or AIish in specific, to get one for a long time; eventually he did get one, but only used it sparingly and at Milliways, without bringing it home. Because paranoia, and because canonical justification for it.

I'll come back to ponder Cosette and Thor after I've done more actual work...

[crabbycustomer]

For Enjolras--ordreGalatien

It is a reference to different types of pillars--Corthian, Doric, Ionic--except substituting the ancient Greek name for France, Galatia. And in Galatians, James (the brother of Christ) is referred to as a pillar of the church. He was a martyr. But an Ordre is also the name for a military honor.

[feminine_menace]

YT is still listed in the T-Minus directory as rapidRadish. I plan to reset her and get her a T-Minus account in short order with pretty much the same setup.

Her T-Minus handle, icon, and font color are all related to her job as a skateboard-riding, traffic-surfing Kourier for RadiKS (Radikal Kourier Systems), with its cybernetic radish logo and color scheme of orange and blue. I picked blue as opposed to orange for YT's don't because we both think it looks cooler. That and I could use the color value "mediumblue" instead of a hex code.

Being a Kourier is a fundamental part of YT's identity. It shapes how she sees the world and how she interacts with other people. I don't know if her handle really follows Trollian naming conventions (it probably doesn't), but it's her through and through.

[agonistes]

No icon for two reasons: first, Cullen's in a state of transition right now, whether he believes it or not, and tying that to a symbol is difficult. Second, I am lazy.

Cullen is jackbootJudex. The color is meant to match part of the templar uniform, and also the color of what he wears once he leaves the Order. One of the companions in Dragon Age: Inquisition says, when asked her opinion of Cullen, "I suppose if you want a jackboot, you get a big one so you can grow into it. Nice hair, though." (Suck on that, Alistair.)

Cullen's wanted to be a part of a military order -- one founded to protect the faith, and against magic -- since he was very young, and has been in formal training for it since he was thirteen. At this point in canon and in Milliways, he's having to work (and finding it difficult) to see himself as anything other than what he's built his entire adult life around being. People around him can separate the person from the function; he's trying.

Judex is an in-universe constellation that is also the symbol of the Templar Order, and is on the front of all their armor. However, as with most symbols like that, there's an older meaning -- the sword is associated with justice, and more frequently with the assumption of guilt (and thus execution). Cullen may not have done anything real horrible to the mages in Kirkwall as the second in command of the templars, and he might have used his influence sometimes to argue for mercy, but he let some real bad things happen under his watch. He's guilty, and he knows it.

It is not a nice name. Cullen ignores it, for the most part; it doesn't tell him anything other than what he already knows.

[varadia]

. . . was I actually the nicest of the Thedosians when it came to names for T-Minus?

[crabbycustomer]

I should have thought to post this earlier in the day, but the blank bubble template is here:

http://s1117.photobucket.com/user/jaltum2/library/T%20Minus?sort=3&page=1

Along with some other generic icons and a mock-up of the Chumproll.

[bjornwilde]

BTW, I just want to say thank you for the tutorial thread you had with Ragnar. Nothing against how you've described the devices before but I was having trouble picturing them and would also kind of see this isopod iPhone case (warning for large insect) whenever I tried to imagine them. =D

[ceitfianna]

I would love ideas for T-Minus names for Sameth, Quentin and possibly Ivan. I don't think the others are as likely to pick one up unless someone gives it to them.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

For my somewhat unhelpful suggestion before I rush off: For Sameth, maybe something that plays off the idea of a charter being a document of authority, in a way that ties that to his status as a prince?

(I have no idea what that would be, though.)

[bjornwilde]

Selina is being pushy and insists she get her own comment so folks might see and add their options for names.

I'm thinking of either "malkinDefalcator" (which is nice and obscure, basically a thesaurus' mix of cat + thief) or enigmaticPurloiner (which seems very Gotham Selina and can ever be a nod to the 60's Batman's Catwoman with the audio pun. I could even push it farther by going with "Purrloiner").

ETA: And I'm 80% sure I will go with enigmaticPurrloiner, unless someone has a better idea.

Icons:
or

[bjornwilde]

Actually I think I will do something with shifting loyalties since enigma already belongs to someone else in Gotham.

[cameoflage]

Aradia's a canon Homestuck character, so her handle wasn't up to me. It fairly straightforwardly reflects that she played a key role in bringing about Alternia's apocalypse by tricking Sollux into compiling Sgrub, but also refers to the way she was reborn in god tier from the destruction of Derse. (The colour is just her blood colour.)

Dr Thurlow is incendiaryAcademic; the green isn't especially significant to their canon, I've just made it a big part of their color palette. It refers to both their study of the Correspondence -- an extremely flammable language -- and their habit of embracing controversy and stirring up trouble.

[cook_the_rude]

Ragnar recently got one (which seems to have been generally noticed, considering this post and Write's shoutout on Sunday), and his user name is corvineVenturer -- for the raven, which is his symbol / primitive coat of arms, and the fact that he ventures forth to explore. His colour is RoyalBlue, which stands both for the intense blue colour of his eyes, and the fact that by the end of the season we're in now, he will be king. He got the T-Minus just so he can stay in connection with Athelstan in their world, but might eventually learn to enjoy other aspects. I need a raven on his icon, but have no GIF skills, so will make a non-bouncy one.

Hannibal Lecter is rhymingImago; his colour is #4A0000 for the oxblood of that one wall in his office. Rhyming, because of 'Hannibal the Cannibal', and Imago both for the image he projects, and the fact that by that time in his canon, he was still at a stage in his canon where he existed in that cultivated cocoon of niceness. Oh, and of course the iconic butterfly from the 80s movie. He has a generic icon in a fitting colour that I took, rather than trying to make one with the moth from 'Silence of the Lambs'.

Saph came up with both of these, she is really excellent at finding trolltags!

The others that I have, or used to have, are simpler: Margolotta is abstemiousCountess, which more or less explains itself, and Poins used to be fieryTrigon, which is an astrological reference somebody calls him in canon, in connection with his position relative to Prince Hal.

[chanter1944]

Sariel is not getting a T-minus, as organic technology gives her the (understandable, given the presence of the Borg in her universe) shivering crawlies! if she were to ever get a T-minus, her trolltag could be one of a few things. I thought of interstellarAcacia, the first word being obvious and the second a Lucian flora reference, but it doesn't quite fit. interstellarLavandula would just be too obvious. :) I'd honestly say interstellarEsperance, the latter word being the French for hope. That's the closest I can get to the sense of wonder she retains despite the situations canon has landed her in. Colors... text color lavender, or possibly leaf green. Her icon would be a Starfleet delta in the colors of the Lucian flag.

But again, no T-minus for her, because she honestly finds the organic tech disturbing.