OK so I am getting a little obsessed with Stanley now

[birdsofshore]

but come and see if you can teach Akinator to guess Stanley the beetle from All Life is Yours to Miss. I've done it once, so with luck it should start to work, now.

If you have not played Akinator before, it is a really clever and surprising programme for guessing what character you are thinking of. For instance, it can guess if you are thinking of Draco Malfoy in about 12 questions, which is quite scary. It even asked me if I was in love with him! (for the record, I said 'probably', which was a bit coy of me, but then it's quite a personal question :DD)

However - one question it asked me about Stanley, I was not sure of the answer. It asked if Stanley could fly and I was like "oooooooh, CAN he?"
I mean, beetles do usually have wings, but not all beetles can fly, and perhaps Stanley could fly if he was little, but is not aerodynamic enough at his expanded size. Does it mention it in the fic? I can't remember.

E.T.A. quote from All Life is Yours

"Stanley hops from side to side and flaps his (non-functioning—Draco has checked) wings in a well-worn entreaty to be picked up and carried around, but receives only a stern look in response."

I now need to know HOW you check a beetle's wings are non-functioning. I strongly suspect Stanley of shamming. He can fly really. I just know it.

Comments

[eidheann_writes]

I seem to remember in one of the early parts (2?) she included a bit about excited flapping of useless wings.

But I could def be misremembering.

[birdsofshore]

ooh your memory for details is good if you are right!

poor Stanley if he has useless wings :-(

[eidheann_writes]

Aw.

Even if only for flailings, I think he's happy with them. ♥

[birdsofshore]

Ah I did a search thing.

"Stanley hops from side to side and flaps his (non-functioning—Draco has checked) wings in a well-worn entreaty to be picked up and carried around, but receives only a stern look in response."

you are clever!

but how did Draco check? Stanley might have been SHAMMING. I reckon Stanley flies around when Draco is not looking, and this is why his rooms are always a bit trashed when he comes back XD

[mab.livejournal.com]

I still need to be reading that fic! It's on my must-do list!

[birdsofshore]

Oh give yourself a treat and read it! It's definitely not a chore.

[sapphoatsunset.livejournal.com]

Lol I tried it but I picked a character from a Japanese TV show and it guessed a character from inbetweeners lol

[birdsofshore]

LOL oh dear. It only knows characters that have been played before... if you teach it by playing a character it doesn't know, it learns fast.

I just tried again with Stanley and it knew him this time, yay!

[vaysh]

I just made him guess Stanley, and he didn't know him. We need to keep teaching him about Stanley, the six-legged beetle of Draco Malfoy (a character who is not from the books). ;)

[birdsofshore]

Awww. Try again?

[vaysh]

Akinator is good. He guessed Winnetou in 34 questions. :)

[birdsofshore]

Try Stanley, try Stanley! It will learn faster if more people do Stanley :D

Ah, I see you did!

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

LOL! He didn't guess Stanley, so I had to add him. XD

DID YOU LEAVE STANLEY PROMPTS FOR HD ARTFEST???

[birdsofshore]

Gah! why is it not working! my cunning plan is failing...

I do have one prompt left...

[ashindk.livejournal.com]

I suppose Draco has checked by dangling a mint leaf over his head and seeing if he could fly up to get it.
Or maybe he's really very agile and just acting clumsy because he's a Slytherin beetle at heart. He keeps his true talents hidden.

[birdsofshore]

Ooh, do you think Stanley is a Slytherin beetle? Does the Sorting Hat *do* Beetles, I wonder? He seemed a little bit lacking in subtlety to be a Slytherin, perhaps - he's quite enthusiastic and childlike about things - but then it could be all a ploy.

I like the mint-leaf dangling explanation, very much.

[ashindk.livejournal.com]

Maybe he's acting like a Gryffindor to fool people into believing he's really just a happy-go-lucky beetle, while he's secretly plotting... something. Idk. But I think he's one of my new favourite Harry Potter characters. I don't care that JKR had nothing to do with creating him. I can't believe the talent it takes to create a character with that much personality, when the only dialogue is 'tack'.

[birdsofshore]

Yes, I love the fact he doesn't talk, but we all know a lot about him and his character?

I find it hard to believe he's secretly a Slytherin, but perhaps he's just a very GOOD Slytherin.

[birdsofshore]

Maybe Draco has to fall for a Gryffindor type of beetle so that he can learn to fall for HARRY?

[ashindk.livejournal.com]

I think you're right that he's not a Slytherin. It was just the idea of him hiding that he's able to fly that made me wonder... I think Stanley's a lot like my dog... He has a labrador type of personality :-)

[birdsofshore]

He really, really reminded me of my children when they were pre-verbal. The kind of determined cheerful insistence about getting what they wanted, the innocent chaos they cause in the pursuit of it, and the joy of getting it, even if it was something that we wouldn't personally value. I'm especially thinking of when Stanley insists on walking up and down on Harry's legs when he's in the hospital wing :DDD

[ashindk.livejournal.com]

I got him! He's only been guessed one more time, apparently. It took 83 questions, but it can be done!

[birdsofshore]

I think there might be a few different Stanleys on the go, perhaps... Depending on our interpretation of the answers to different questions!

[ashindk.livejournal.com]

I think you're right. I answered yes to the question "does your character have green skin" but do beetles even have skin? Or are they just covered in their shields?

[birdsofshore]

Now I said 'no' to that but I can see why you could argue 'yes'. I also wondered about "is he English", well technically he is Scottish I suppose? And "is he in a novel?" well, kind of yes kind of no. I settled for "is he something from the internet?" in the end, because they didn't ask "is he a fanfiction character?" !

[leemarchais.livejournal.com]

It's almost like his his personal jimney cricket.

[birdsofshore]

Hee! Stanley doesn't sing as far as I know, but perhaps another skill he is hiding?

[khalulu]

okay, I have got another version of Stanley, Draco's mint-beetle out on Akinator, and he's trained on how I answer the questions at least. He also guessed Luna, Sabriel, Piglet, and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing, so that's a good range!

[khalulu]

I mean, correctly guessed them. For Stanley he's always asking about something called Homestuck first.

[birdsofshore]

Yes, I think that's the green skin, possibly.

[khalulu]

Actually, I never say yes to the green skin, because when he was described as willow pattern I thought of him as blue and white, though the story does say Draco chose mint beetles for their stylish green color and I guess willow pattern china (like mint beetles) comes in different colors.

[birdsofshore]

I thought the same - my first instinct was that he would be blue.

[khalulu]

in fact, my first comment about the fic said something like "I loved Stanley the ming beetle", a blue&white china typo slip!

[birdsofshore]

Oh Akinator did well! LOL we will have an army of Stanleys.