These images and the main part of the text were created by ChatGPT, with a healthy dose of revision, addition, guidance, recombination, and of course, laying out the basic story elements by… some silly person. That said, GPT absolutely did the lion’s share of the heavy-lifting here, and I’m quite impressed by the results(!) Note: the other two “Tintin” images are simply earlier models that I was unsatisfied with; just thought I’d include them for fun’s sake.
TBC-- this little exercise was conceived as an answer to the challenge posted here.
EDIT: For those downvoting, could you explain why you just did that? The reason I ask is mainly because I’ve busted my arse on this community for well over a year, with hundreds of my best content and mini-review posts shared for what I thought was the public good.
Indeed, have you read the side-bar and do you understand the mission of this sub? Thanks for explaining, if you choose to.
The Case of the Vanishing Vintage
The morning sunlight filtered through the antique windows of Marlinspike, catching on rows of mismatched gadgets cluttering the Professor’s workshop. The Captain paced the drawing room, clutching his hat as if it might float away. “Gone! My last bottle of 1927 Herringbone Reserve!” he bellowed. “Do you know what that means, lad?”
Tintin adjusted his cap, surveying the Captain with calm curiosity. “It means someone here has suspiciously good taste in whiskey,” he quipped.
“No, it means calamity! It means treachery!” The Captain leaned close, his voice dropping to a whisper. “And it means I’ll have to drink… gin,” a look of plain contempt on his face.
The boy detective sighed. “I’ll find it, Captain. Start from the beginning.”
Before the Captain could stammer out a reply, the Professor bustled in to the room, holding what appeared to be a metal umbrella with a whisk attached to the tip. “Ah,” the Professor exclaimed. “I’ve just solved Cutts’ problem of pigeons on his chimney. All it took was a spot of clever engineering!”
“What kind of engineering?” asked Tintin, tilting his head.
“Oh, nothing special—magnets, gears, a bit of wire…” The Professor trailed off and tapped the umbrella’s handle thoughtfully. “And a vessel of a certain, shall we say, vintage quality to balance the structure.”
The Captain, oblivious to the implication, waved a hand. “Yes, yes, but what about my whiskey?”
“I’m sure it’ll turn up,” the Professor said cheerfully. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a blueprint that needs refinement.”
The boy detective watched the Professor leave, his brow furrowed. Then he glanced at Snowy, who cocked his head expectantly. “Hmm…” the lad muttered.
It wasn’t long before Tintin and Snowy were on the cobblestone streets of the nearby Belgian town, weaving through bakers, bicyclists, and buskers. They found Cutts standing outside his shop, eyeing his roof with a mix of awe and terror.
“Cutts,” called the boy detective, “where’s the Professor’s invention?”
“Oh, it’s up there,” Cutts replied, pointing to a rotating monstrosity on the roof. The umbrella whisk twirled energetically, flinging breadcrumbs into the sky at intervals. “Thing scares off pigeons but attracts swans. I’ve got three nesting in my chimney now.”
Tintin tilted his head, observing the contraption as Snowy barked sharply. His eyes darted to the base of the device, where a faint glint caught his attention. “Great snakes!” he exclaimed.
Scrambling up the drainpipe with Snowy close behind, he finally reached the mechanism. Wedged in a tangle of wires, unmistakable amid the absurd construction, was the Captain’s whiskey bottle.
“Got it!” he shouted triumphantly. Snowy gave an approving yap, his tail wagging.
But just as he reached to grab it, the mechanism sputtered and roared to life, flinging the bottle skyward. Snowy barked furiously, and the boy detective muttered under his breath, “Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.”
Just then, a despairing, spine-chilling wail met their ears from the street below, as it seems Captain Haddock had been surreptitiously following the investigation, finally understanding what had happened and what had just occurred.
EDIT: Days later and damn, I see I made a major ‘fox paw,’ here. As in, the professor would be nowhere near able to communicate so easily with the others. Also, it seems like the ending’s just a little inadequate. Hmm…
Thanks for the explanation! <3
As for me, the reason I pinned this specific one is because we’ve been having recent server issues, and many posts have been unfortunately not ‘seen’ as per the usual idea. So, when I post here sometimes feels a bit ‘weird’ in terms of common engagement, which is when I occasionally ‘feature it’ that subject as a post. If that makes sense…?
But, also-- dude…? I did, myself, not just found this sub, but also put in hundreds & hundreds of hours upon content upon the last one and a half year, and now you’re here scolding me because you didn’t get exactly what you wanted…?
Would it perhaps be better for you to cease your whining, hopefully growing up one day…?
Server issues are always fun to deal with, so pinning important posts makes sense.
Dude. With that response, I don’t think it’s me that needs to grow up. I have made it a rule to block accounts and communities that promote generative AI content. I thought I’d hold off because you seemed open to discussion, but I think I’ve heard enough. Thank you for all the work you have put into the community to this point.
If I created a community focused on traditional art though, and then pinned an ai image to the top of the community, I wouldn’t be shocked at the negative response. People come to the community for one thing, and you are presenting them with the opposite and granting it pride of place.
Well, good for you. And to be clear, dude-- every time I’ve ever come close to sharing AI art here, I’ve made a big point of marking such things up, asking the community to weigh in on the merits of such. You can see that across the… sum total of three times I’ve ever indulged in that here, across 400+ posts.
(go ahead, look it up)
Pretty much everything else I’ve posted has been an attempt to shine a light on BD creators, with my own art being featured a *single time*, as a personal indulgence.
In this particular case, I thought I’d explore GPT’s potential to create a silly story as a cautionary tale (the context fully-explained, I might add).
What I wasn’t prepared for was the load of pitchforks and blazing branches to be thrust in my face over that trifle.
I feel what the downvoters are strongly telling me in this case is that I should focus my efforts upon Reddit, and other places. Honestly, that kind of breaks my heart in some ways, but… people do speak through their actions and inactions, mais non?
Go ahead then-- let’s see what BD content you all can produce over the next few weeks, here. Let’s put your words to the test!
The world is a hostile place for artists.
You’ll get used to it ;-)
Thanks, Valmond, appreciated. <3
And how are things on your end? Got those server problems under control? What’s going on with your Moeby community? (feel free to message if that’s best)
Crazy year, but I’m starting to get the hang of it.
The server is up but I had to clear out everything :-( the database alone was 10GB and made everything just crawl.
So I’m abandoning the Moebius part, I think it’s better if I post here right away, what do you think?
Ach, sorry to hear that. :S
But it was nice while it was up, so thanks for running that community for a while. I did have fun finding stuff to post there.
Anyway, yes please to posting Moeby content here. It is always welcome, and people enjoy it. ^^
Thanks!
So what do you think, should I restart the series of cards, or go from where I stopped?
Well, whatever you feel like of course. But as for the card series, I personally think it’s better to post them when you have the back sides, containing all the extra info. That is, I think they help give a better understanding of the ideas and character behind the individual creatures, and the loss of such usually made me feel like I was missing something important.
Btw, we seem to have trouble making thumbnails and lead images work after the latest software upgrade. I haven’t quite figured out the issue yet, and it may hinder you in trying to make your own posts on this instance.