Where Are They Now?

In my last Comics I Read entry, I mentioned a book on the history of Spider-Man.  At the same time I reread some of my Scarlet Knight stories.  I got thinking that the Scarlet Knight series is like Spider-Man or Superman or one of those others only if they never had rebooted or soft rebooted or had any Crises or Secret Wars or any of that stuff.

Then I got thinking of how if that had continued, where would the characters be now?

The Scarlet Knight stories ended in 2010, so it would have been over 12 years since the last story.

Dr. Emma Earl:  When the last book ended, Emma was about 30 years old.  So today she would be 42 as her birthday is on Halloween.  By the end of the series she was the director of the Plaine Museum of Natural History - North Branch.  So after 12 years she would probably have advanced to the director of the main museum, which is her dream job.  And barring a significant injury she would also still be the Scarlet Knight, though probably not as agile as she once was.  And she has two daughters, her biological daughter Louise and her adopted daughter Joanna.  Her longtime boyfriend is Jim Rizzard, aka the Sewer Rat.  They probably aren't officially married but still in love with each other because they have a unique understanding of each other.

Louise Earl:  Since Louise was 2 at the end of the series, she'd be about 14 now.  And since she has the same level of intelligence as Emma, she'd be enrolling in college about now.  In Book 6, Future Shock, Emma went to the future and met her grown daughter, who had studied Egyptology and had sort of a one-sided rivalry with her mother.  But that was when Louise didn't know her biological father or that her mother was the Scarlet Knight and she didn't have a sister.  Since at the end of the series she does know her father and her mother's secret, she would probably have a healthier relationship with both of her parents and study some other scientific field.  She would also explore her more artistic side inherited from her father.  Still, Louise would have a more rebellious nature than her mother and be more of a handful than her adopted sister.

Joanna Reed:  At the end of the series, Joanna was 8, so she'd be about 20 now.  It would be obvious by now that Joanna is a clone of Emma from a different universe.  In that universe, Emma was 10 years older with a husband who was a physicist who died in an experiment.  When he died, versions of him across the multiverse began to hear each other's thoughts.  The other side effect was that the baby Emma carried inside of her was overwritten with her DNA, so essentially a clone.  Like the main universe Emma, Joanna would already have her doctorate, only in physics instead of geology.  She'd probably be starting a job at some high-tech firm or something like that.  She can't, however, be the Scarlet Knight because she can't use magic items.  But she does have her own psychic abilities, especially the ability to talk to alternate universe versions of herself.  She can even send people from one universe to another.  This usually took a lot of effort for her, to the point she actually died for a minute once, but as she's gotten older, it's gotten easier for her, and would allow her and others to explore the multiverse.  Maybe she'd be gay or maybe she'd be straight, but she'd be a little less inhibited about that stuff than her adopted mother.

Jim Rizzard aka The Sewer Rat:  I never said how old exactly he is, but he's older than Emma, so by this point he'd probably be close to 50.  I'd like to think that being reunited with his girlfriend and daughter at the end of book 8 would lead him to making some changes so he isn't living in a sewer.  At the same time he would probably maintain some contact with the tribes of mutant rats in the sewers.  It's not really important to him or Emma that they get married, but they would still be together.  He'd probably work on art of some sort that while it might not make a lot of money helps to satisfy him.

Becky Beech:  Becky is a year older than Emma, so she'd be 43.  At the end of the series she turned down a job in Washington to stay in Rampart City.  Probably by now she'd be on the city council or maybe even the mayor.  In the 7th book she was shot and had an emergency hysterectomy, but some of her eggs were saved, so Emma or someone else could be the surrogate mother to a son or daughter.  And that son or daughter is probably a good friend of Louise--maybe they start becoming more than friends?  She and Dan Dreyfus have probably been married for a while too.

Dan Dreyfus:  Dan is probably about the same age as Jim Rizzard, so around 50.  He used to spend a lot of time digging in Egypt, but has probably settled into more of a family guy mode to do more teaching than field work.  Somehow he still doesn't know Emma is the Scarlet Knight.

Amanda Murdoch:  I don't think I said how old she was, but she was in college in Book 5, so she'd be in her mid-to-late-30s.  In book 7 she became a cop and by now would have risen to a lieutenant or captain of detectives.  She'd have basically taken over the role of Lottie Donovan in the series as the Scarlet Knight's contact in the police.  And like Donovan she's a cynical loner type but also a good, honest cop.

Megan Putnam:  In book 5, Megan is a student of Emma's who goes missing after a bad date leads to her being humiliated.  For part of the book Emma actually thinks she is Megan before Jim brings her back.  At the end of that book, Megan returned to school to study architecture.  Like her former roommate Amanda, she's in her mid-to-late-30s.  By this point her serious asthma is more under control and she's more confident than she used to be.  She's probably a successful architect and married and maybe even has a kid or two.  If any of the characters would take up the Scarlet Knight mantle, it would be her because she has Emma's temperament and goodness, plus she could use magic and isn't a child.

Agnes Chiostro & Akako:  Aggie was an over 500-year-old witch in her universe and Akako, her wife, is a version of Joanna's father from a universe where the Japanese colonized America and are the dominant superpower.  At the end of book 8, they both moved to Joanna's universe, which is a universe without magic and superheroes and crazy stuff like that.  When they moved there, they were both in their early-to-mid 20s so they'd be about in their mid-30s.  Aggie was a college student so she'd probably have some normal-ish job and Akako was a tattoo artist so maybe she's still doing that.  Otherwise they try to look after their daughter Renee and maybe they've even adopted another kid or two.  

Renee Chiostro:  Renee was 1 at the end of book 8, so she'd be 13 now.  In her birth universe she has the ability to siphon magic and then use it as her own, which is why her parents took her to a universe where there is no magic.  So they've been trying to raise her as a normal kid.  But still she probably feels kinda alienated for reasons she doesn't fully understand and there have probably been attempts to kidnap her because of her potential.  At some point soon she'd need to learn the truth and start learning to handle it.

Tim Cooper:  Tim was from Emma's universe, where he worked for an Elon Musk-type douchebag who tried to use one of Tim's inventions to start World War III.  Tim went to jail for a couple of years and was paroled shortly before the start of book 8.  With Akako's help, he traveled to another universe to gather weapons to help topple the evil goddess Isis.  There he built sort of like an Iron Man suit to replicate some of the Scarlet Knight's abilities.  At the end of book 8, he returned to that alternate universe to be the Scarlet Knight there.  He'd be about 40 there and his ally in the police force is also his wife, an alternate universe version of Aggie's sister Sylvia, who died in book 5.  Tim also has a job working for a tech company founded by his genius partner, Renee Kim.  Tim's mechanical Scarlet Knight was never as agile as Emma's magic armor but he and Renee have probably made modifications so he can keep fighting, but for how long?  That's what he and Sylvia argue about.  Maybe they have a kid or two, though I think Tim would be more into that than Sylvia, so maybe not.  Or maybe they adopt.

Renee Kim:  This Renee is from an alternate universe where the Swedish founded Rampart City (calling it New Stockholm) and there are other differences like they have something called Olga's instead of McDonald's and Tennessee Chicken instead of KFC and IKEA is basically their Walmart.  Anyway, Renee was only about 11 at the end of book 8 so she'd be about 23 but like Emma she's a genius who was already going off to college at 11, so by now she's got a PhD in mechanical engineering and made a fortune starting her own tech company along with Tim Cooper.  She helped build Tim's original mechanical Scarlet Knight and has been helping him to keep it upgraded with tech she and Tim have created for their company.  While she had a crush on Tim when she was 11, by now she's probably moved on to someone her own age.

(If you're confused, Renee Kim and Renee Chiostro are not the same person or even different versions of each other from other universes.  Renee Chiostro was actually named after Renee Kim when she helped Aggie and Akako get back to their universe in book 5.  Plus Renee is a French name and Aggie is originally from France.  Does that all make it clear as mud?)

And there's also the time-hopping Marie Marsh, who died in the original version of the second book but survived the rewrite, so she's out there too.  I thought it'd be cool to have Joanna and Marie team up to explore time and space since once can time travel and the other go to parallel universes.  I doubt there'd be any interest in a series about that but maybe if I spun the characters off and just used the concepts without all the backstory.

So that's the main characters from the Scarlet Knight series.  What about Chances Are?  That series was written in 2011 but really it probably would have ended about 2015-2016 because it takes place over about 5 years.

Stacey Chance:  When it started, Stacey was a 50-ish guy named Steve Fischer who turns into an 18-year-old girl.  So chronologically she'd be about 30, though at the end of the last book she was basically rebooted so her body would be more mid-20s than 30.  In Another Chance, she has a cameo that indicates she's a singer and still sometimes works at the Second Chance boutique.  She'd probably still be singing and maybe doing something else on the side and married to Dr. Robert Macintosh.  Maybe by now she has a child--or not.  It's kind of complicated for her.

Madison:  Madison is Steve's biological daughter.  She was Stacey's friend and surrogate sister for the first two books and then in the last one found out Stacey is her father.  She married her lover, Grace, who got pregnant with Stacey's husband.  So 5-6 years from then she'd also be around 33 and struggling to raise the kid and maintain a career as a reporter.  With how that industry is, maybe she has a podcast or blog or something instead of working for a newspaper.

Grace:  In the first book we say Grace is about 29, so by now she'd be about 40.  She has her own psychology practice and lives with Madison and their child (or children).  As Grace has struggled with adulting in the past, she's about due for a midlife crisis.

Dr. Robert Macintosh:  I never said how old Dr. Mac is, but he's obviously older than Stacey.  He's closer to Grace's age, so probably in his late 30s or early 40s.  He's a child psychologist with his own practice and has a nephew named Darren that he and Stacey take care of.  And maybe they have a child of their own or at least he'd want one, which could be a source of tension.  He's also the father of Grace & Madison's child, though he tries not to get too involved in that.

Jake & Tess Madigan:  Jake is Steve Fischer's former partner and Tess is Jake's wife.  Stacey stayed with them until she married Dr. Mac.  Madison stayed with them sometimes too.  Since they were in their 50s at the start, they'd be in their 60s now.  Jake would be retired from the force and maybe he and Tess move to Florida or something like that.

The one I've thought about but haven't settled on much is Where You Belong.  The book ended in 2008 and so it'd be about 15 years later.

Frost Devereaux:  Frost was born November 26, 1973, so he'd be 49--almost 50!  When the book ended, he had broken up with both of the Maguire twins and was moving with a friend to Washington DC.  So if I did another book it'd be about what Frost does with his friend and friend's kid while living in DC during the Obama administration.  Then whatever he does when Trump took over and after that.  I haven't really thought all that much about it.

Frances & Francis Maguire:  They were pretty much the same age as Frost so they'd also be going on 50.  Frank would be picking up after the 2008 market crash.  Then whatever happens during the Obama years and then things might get interesting for him with Trump being gay and more of a Republican.  His sister Frankie would probably have hope for better things when Obama takes over and be a big Hillary booster even though she wasn't a fan of her husband.  She would probably get radicalized again when Trump takes over.

Roble Madobe:  I don't remember if I said how old Frost's friend the Somalian writer is.  After a bestselling, award-winning book, Puntland, he'd probably go to work for the Obama administration.  Then things would probably get dangerous for him with Trump's xenophobic rhetoric.  Maybe some dudes string him up or something if we want to go in that dark direction.

Abby Kapanen:  Abby is a reporter whom Frost went to DC with at the end of the book.  She was pregnant with a baby that I'm pretty sure I didn't say if it's a boy or girl.  So she'd work for the Washington Post or whatever for a little while.  Then maybe she'd get laid off.  Maybe she'd get embroiled in some "fake news" and stuff.  Meanwhile her and Frost would be raising the kid.

Kid:  Since the kid wasn't born yet, it would be 14 now.  The situation at home would be weird sometimes since Abby and Frost aren't married and Frost isn't his/her daddy.  With the Roe v Wade repeal, if the kid is a girl maybe she would get knocked up and they'd have to deal with that.

Anyway, I haven't give it a lot of thought.  I'd really need to figure out what the point of the story would be and then all the things that would spin out of that.  And then it'd take a long time to write and probably no one would care.

Of course if we were doing this like The Force Awakens or stuff like that we'd have to make everyone sad and miserable.  I wouldn't really want to do it that way for any of these.

Sims vs AI Art: The Most Pointless Post

 I'm sure no one will care, but when my "friend" Al Sirois mentioned an AI art generator called Wombo, I decided to try it.  You can pick different styles of art and put a picture to use as a reference.  It seemed to work better than Stable Diffusion or another one.

Since you can load a picture, I got the idea to try feeding it Sims I made in Sims 2-4 and see how they'd look.  Some look pretty awesome.

Here's Stacey Chance from Sims 3:

And here's Stacey Chance in AI Art:

Pretty cool even if there's some uncanny valley.  I'm sure other people would like these other ones better:

Here's the Sims 4 Stacey:

And here are the AI Art ones that maybe aren't quite as good as the Sims 3 ones:

I tried a few other filters for a few of them too:

For some reason, the AI Art really struggled with Emma Earl.  It seems to struggle with glasses in general, like it doesn't actually know what glasses look like.

Anyway, here's Sims 2 & 3 Emma:

And here's AI Art Emma:

Not a great improvement.

Here's one of my favorites:  Geek Girl Val in Sims 2:

And here's the AI versions:

Here's my cougar from Transformed Into a Cougar in Sims 4:

And here she is in AI Art:

Here's the purple-haired Goth girl from Transformed into a Goth Girl in the Sims 4:

And here she is in AI Art:

That last one I used the "Comics" filter instead of a more realistic one.

Here's a blonde bimbo in the Sims 4:

And here it is in AI Art:

I forget which story this Asian girl is from, but I made her in the Sims 4:

And here she is in AI Art:

Here's Hitter from Girl Power 3:  League of Evil in the Sims 3:

The AI Art made her look about 8 years old for some reason:

I tried a real picture I used for My Wife Changed Me Into a Pinup Girl just to see what it'd do.  Here's the picture:

And here's what Wombo did:

Pretty good except for the weird hat thing.

Here are versions of the SDF-1 from Robotech in AI Art:

And an armored Veritech robot:

And the Autobot Grapple:

Pretty fun stuff.  In a few weeks I answer that age-old question:  what if you take pictures from one AI generator and use them in another AI generator?  The results are...disappointing, really.