I mainly do drawings of characters and crossovers that might not make a lot of sense // You may follow me on TUMBLR, INSTAGRAM, ARTFOL, OR FACEBOOK (All same name)
Hello! I didn't want to leave my account and my past art floating around all on their lonesome, but I also know that I can't totally put majority of my time into drawing as much as I did. I'll be focusing on my studies, just like I have done these past months, and will continue to focus on that and other things that could prevent me from managing everything I want to manage if I neglect them.
That being said, I have always entertained doing commissions here and there, or simple requests. And I still want to draw and share my niche ideas with all of you! So I will be posting irregularly or regularly depending on which is more doable at the time - fan art and maybe even some original art, no matter how niche or nonexistent the fandom is or how late I am. Drawings from now own might be more on sketches than full illustrations, so I hope that's fine.
Thank you to those who have been checking around! I really appreciate you taking a bit of your time to look at my creations.
Depending on every books of TS, who is written and developed the best?
I have only read the Scholastic English translated books, and from what I have seen the others on Tumblr talk about, they apparently cut down the content from the original Italian books, which was a shock to me when I first found out about that. It seemed to have also affected the main characters themselves and their development or characterization, like trivial but charming information about them that are in the original books and that are retained in other translations from what I could find, like the Spanish translation.
Based on the books I have read so far — the main series, the Mouseford Academy series, and the specials —, I think I can say Violet is the best developed with her changing from a loner to having the friendship of all time in Pamela, Nicky, Colette and Paulina. Again, my answer is solely because of the amount of content left in :')
Colette coming in as a close second, not only because of her friendship with Violet but also due to some Mouseford Academy books that put a bit of a spotlight on her more than others like "The Missing Diary" and especially "A Dream on Ice", where it dropped lore on her being a former competitive figure skater and how it affects her throughout the plot. There are also bits of information about the rest of the girls there are retained, but not as much as with Violet. Also, I noticed that the main series is the victim of this cutting down of content and not the others, but I could be wrong. Better to ask those who have other translations of the books.
Despite all of that, I still find the books a nice read! And don't get me started on the graphic novels; simply divine, especially the earlier ones!
Who is your favorite Thea sister? Will you draw more of them?
1. Who is your favorite Thea Sister?
It's a fight (to the deat — I'm kidding) between Paulina and Violet. Not gonna lie, Violet had especially caught my eye when I was much younger, because she is, based on the two physical books I managed convince my parents to buy (yes I was that young haha), quiet and composed but also intelligent and played an instrument. Younger me was hooked on the fact she played an instrument — a violin! What I knew about it back then was that it was, and still is, a hard instrument to play and that it looked very elegant and it suited the lowkey classy vibes she gives off, but I doubt it played a factor in when I eventually got an instrument of my own (not the violin though). Maybe the fact that she is also Asian played into why she has been my favorite since getting those two books haha.
Now that I've had time and access to more of the books than before, Paulina managed to worm her way to that position, maybe even share it. I'm a fan of games, shows, or stories where the focus is on character interactions, especially family — it's why I drew so many Encanto and My Child Lebensborn fanart —and Paulina's melancholic family background and the strong family bond she shares with her younger sister Maria despite it puts a warm smile on my face. That, and Paulina is a more notably caring and nurturing character compared to the other Thea Sisters, who do have these traits, but either not as much as she does or who better embody other traits. Colette can be argued as also being equally caring and nurturing, but I suppose Paulina is more... open with it? More clear with it? I don't know how to articulate it, but Paulina is simply it. Maybe where Colette's form of caring is in a more positive self-esteem/confidence-raising way and with her own dramatic flair, Paulina's form of care is warmer, more mellow and a direct embodiment of care as a whole and in a general way.
2. Will you draw more of them?
WHAT AN EXCELLENT QUESTION!—
I will draw more of them, it just so happens that I have other fandoms I draw for and imagine crossovers with. For example, my Wick's Pizza AU where John Wick, after the 4th movie, gets reincarnated into the Good Pizza Great Pizza universe and takes the place of the player protagonist in its story. What if Miles Morales, prior to Across the Spider-verse (Sequel of Into the Spider-verse. I absolutely LOVE the series despite that tidbit of drama with the voice actor of Miles Morales. Can't wait for Beyond the Spider-verse!), gets into another multiverse problem, but instead of more spider-people getting sucked from their universes into his, it is characters from other fandoms this time? Imagine Paulina examining Miles' web shooters or Nicky giving everyone heart attacks by actually trying to shoot out webs and swing using them? Interacting with other characters from different universes like Steve from Minecraft (No, not Steve from the Minecraft Movie), childhood classics such as Henry Stickmin, the Madrigals from Encanto, universes as new as K-Pop Demon Hunters... my crossover-loving self would absolutely eat. It. Up.
If you scroll to my very first two posts on this blog, you will find that I have decent enough writing skills to even make a fanfic if I wanted to, whether it is a oneshot or a whole story — and I actually have two AUs for the Thea Sisters already!
The first AU is the recently-posted Loose Ends AU, a Treasure Seekers Trilogy AU based on the infiltration arc of the third book, but instead of what canonically happens after Violet rejects Luke von Klawitz's offer to become his partner, he and his paranoid self conclude that she is a loose end (he thought the thing!) and ends up shooting her somewhere in the abdomen and jamming the control panel in the control room before he flees via helicopter. With only less than 10 minutes to spare and with her own countdown to deal with (the continuous bleeding), Violet now has to look for a different way to rescue the other four Thea Sisters and flee the base before it self-destructs.
The second AU is... one that can effortlessly raise a lot of eyebrows due to its heavy themes. If put in the right hands, I believe it can be a melancholic but hopeful hurt with comfort + whump AU, but in the wrong hands it can maybe cause a stir to a lesser degree or similar degree of intensity as the Mouthwashing debate about whether or not Anya would have kept the baby if the Tulpar Crew were rescued or made it back to Earth somehow... scratch that, even in the right hands there would still be talks about this particular Thea Sisters AU in this small but chill fandom. It's not something I view weirdly like a fetish (good God...), I genuinely want to see what would happen in this tragic scenario, and I want it to be done properly and with care. Until I think that I can post more about it here, my second AU will be kept for myself and my mutuals who know and have made discussions about it.
What I am willing to say, however, is that it focuses on Paulina before, during and after the formation of the Thea Sisters.
Shout out to @e-adlirez for discussing and letting me ramble about these two AUs in length! Greatly appreciated it.
I can see why some romantically pair the girls with each other (or all of them together) or don't. I'll just be here playing around with either concept.
Thea Sisters Treasure Seekers Trilogy, Book 3 AU: Loose Ends
There was less than 10 minutes left if Violet could still recall. 10 minutes until self-destruction.
I may or may not have been influenced by a combination of some angst posts I've seen in this fandom and from watching Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning with family.
That being said, I don't know if the Thea Sisters could hear each other (apart from where Violet was) if one were to yell loud enough, but let's just say that the distance and the thickness of the walls could not overpower the power of friendship and angst.
If they still manage to escape is up to interpretation.
Geronimo Stilton and the Legend of the Chocolate Hills (in the perspective of a Filipino)
GUYS WE DID IT WE’RE IN A GERONIMO STILTON BOOK :DDDD
Context here the Philippines has finally appeared in a Geronimo Stilton book and I’m here to clock in and perform my obligatory Pinoy Pride duties as a certified pipino
By rambling about the cultural shit that happens in this book and giving my review based on a Filipino cultural perspective :D
So without further ado, OY TARA HETO NA UNG JEEPNEY
So for the mild preamble, in spring Geronimo is called by his old History professor Robert Burrata (after having the world’s least relaxing totally-relaxing morning ever) to the Chocolate Hills in the Philippines to help with a mystery he’s caught in the middle of. Yes, the professor is paying Geronimo’s ticket… And yes, Hercule has been dragged along for the ride.
And now they book a flight to the Philippines and so they land in Panglao International Airport on the aforementioned Panglao Island off the cost of Boho--
i’m sorry what am i looking at
Yeah uh, the book cites the island of Catanduanes as the place where the famous Chocolate Hills are at. Now uh, as a certified Pipino with certified completion of mandatory Pipino fourth grade geography in Social Studies class, I can confirm that this is absolutely incorrect :D
The Chocolate Hills are known very clearly to be in Bohol, an island in the Central Visayas Region (actually map-wise it’s just above Mindanao, the big island down south on a map of the Philippines); while Catanduanes is an island in the Bicol Region, and is considered part of Luzon, which is the big island up north. This is a peak "I should've taken that left turn at Albuquerque" moment
And I think I know why they took this liberty, and I do mean “took this liberty” instead of “made this mistake”. I will get into it later on in this post, but for the time being, I will refer to the island Geronimo goes to in this book as Bohol or Bohol-Catanduanes interchangeably (depends on which is funnier at the time). Just know that the Chocolate Hills are in Bohol, if you look up Bohol you will straight-up get the Chocolate Hills, those two are inseparable in terms of geography and tourism. Tho I will say Catanduanes’s also trying to step up its tourism game and it is a pretty place, so both are good :D
Anyway so Geronimo and Hercule experience some turbulence on the way down onto the Bohol-Catanduanes-Tanglao Airport, which is to be expected because they arrive in early spring, which is around the eve of wet season in the Philippines, which I imagine causes some turbulence. Once Geronimo is able to manfail his way through the airport, he and Hercule find their tour guide Olivia Colby, who is very cute and very much dressed like a bona fide Bisaya probinsyana (province girl)— simple t-shirt up top, a cute modernly-patterned patadyong or traditional Bisayan wraparound skirt, and blue gemstone dangle earrings and necklace pendant to let people know that that tour guide salary is paying you good (/j). She’s cute, literally just down to vibe and help the boys get around, and in both instances where I read the book to Filipino friends on vc, they took a second to gush over how cute Olivia was haha.
First vehicle in the Philippines is a—
Ahhh, I see the localizing crew in Treasure Seekers 3 was also the same team in charge of localizing this book. Yeah uh, so this has absolutely happened before, but for some reason the current writing team really wants to make sure that people who aren’t knowledgeable of the culture really understand what a thing means, in the “nothing beats a jelly donut” kinda way. So uh, they’ve localized all the Filipino terms, which I have mixed feelings on, but at least it’s not entirely a jelly donut situation, like with Treasure Seekers 3’s description of a hakama, geta and kimono. (It’s just really weird because they have pictures to illustrate what the thing means and we in the Philippines already use English terms for these things, but I guess they insist on calling them something else?? Might be a localization telephone from the original Italian trying to localize English terms and then Scholastic having to deal with that, though don’t quote me on that— I don’t have access to the original Italian book.)
So first vehicle in the Philippines is what they call a “minibus”, but it’s actually called a jeepney. And lemme just say, this is the cushiest double-decker jeepney I’ve ever seen in my life. Like, a railing and implied seats on the roof?? Goddamn those jeepney drivers are comfortable with the tourism money they’re getting /j
This is an unbelievably posh jeepney for someone like me, a city kid from a mainly local-inhabited area that doesn’t really have to glam up for tourists, but from what little research I’ve done the proper railings on the roof is absolutely a thing, mainly for luggage storage, but tbh I’ve seen locals work with so much less on the roof. If it even remotely has two firmly grabbable things on either side that won’t creak off its bolts, you can bet your ass people are gonna make a second floor out of that roof with roof luggage/jeepney cargo and grip strength alone. Other than that, though, everything they said is in fact accurate— you pick the jeep based on the route it’s going (where the jeep is going is painted on the front or side of the vehicle), and make note of when it’s passing by your area. Then you tell the driver to stop when he passes by your area, you pay him the fare, and you hop off.
Which is why the joke about Geronimo wanting to get off in this book is so, so funny to me. That’s genuinely how you stop a jeepney, so the poor poor manong behind the wheel stopped thinking that this was someone’s stop when Geronimo was just having an anxious meltdown, and I probably would’ve shriveled up and died of embarrassment if I were in Olivia’s position and had to explain that it was a false alarm haha.
That and uh, thankfully Geronimo isn’t claustrophobic, because jeepneys on the inside are super-cramped and don’t have enough space to justify putting railings to separate passengers. Him accidentally ending up on someone’s lap, as cartoonish as it is, is something I can imagine happening in the Filipino GS universe here because yeah no, people have to squeeze in pretty tight in a jeepney— you’re basically thigh-to-thigh.
The one thing I don’t find realistic (/lh) tho is the fact that everyone in that jeepney had instant ops with Geronimo, I like to think that the moment he’s out of earshot they’re gossiping about him like “oh my god that poor guy barely survived the road just now and that was one of the smoother ones” “bro I heard he’s riding the tricycle next” “OMG WITH THE ROAD UP AHEAD HE’S GONNA HURL POOR GUY LMAO”
Speaking of the road ahead, the next mode of transport is the “smaller minibus with a sidecar”, or the “motorcycle with a sidecar”, or the Filipino tricycle. If you hear that word and think of the toy, fair, but also consider: a motorcycle MacGyvered such it has an extra wheel and a passenger carriage. Say hello to the tricycle, one of the most common modes of public transport in the country! I will say that the one Geronimo rides in is incredibly posh, like four wheels? Fully cushioned seats? That carriage? The full roof and windshield for that motorcycle?? Holy hell, that is posh. Like normally over where I lived in the Philippines, tricycles mainly look functional enough to do their thing without crumbling like a house of cards (though it may feel like it sometimes with the lack of suspension in the passenger carriage), the seats are either barely cushioned or look like a pack of rats got to the seat linings, and you just hop in and hold onto something with nary a seatbelt at the ready.
BUT first of all that’s a rental tricycle, which is very explicitly for tourists and is thus absolutely glammed up for their pleasure and Instagram reels
And second, a bestie of mine who lives in Visayas (hi @loreaccuratemice :D) did bring to my attention that regional variants of tricycle designs are a thing, and lo and behold, the pictures I’ve found of Bohol tricycles are a really close match to what we see in the book! :D
(Bohol tricycle is the center image, NCR/Metro Manila tricycle is the rightmost image)
So hell yeah cultural accuracy :D (still think the four-wheel design is a bit sketch tho)
But now we come to the part of the story that I have mixed feelings on: Professor Robert Burrata’s camp. Don’t get me wrong, I get the idea of him camping out, and camping out here makes sense! What I do have a problem with when it comes to the concept is the fact that because they’re in a campsite in the middle of Chocolate Hills proper, it means that besides Olivia, Geronimo doesn’t have to get fully involved in Filipino culture. 80% of culture is the people who were raised in and live it, so the fact that he doesn’t have to interact with locals (again, besides Olivia) means he misses out on most of Filipino culture! And he’s an introvert so you know that man’s missing OUT!!
Like okay walk with me for a second here. Imagine if instead of a campsite, Geronimo got to be accommodated by someone in town. Maybe it’s a rental house, or the professor knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy in town who is kindly offering his place or a place he owns for Geronimo to stay in. For one, it’s a roof over his head that’s made of more than just tarp, but also it means that he ends up having to interact with the people in town! Majority of Filipinos know English, and the odds of people being fluent in English is directly proportional to tourist influx.
Safe to assume that basically all the people there can speak English besides the older folks, but it means that Geronimo gets to see how Filipinos are as a people :D and this would be the chance for the book to subject the reader to 500ccs of Filipino culture (compared to the generous 25ccs one gets from a tourism brochure and the 30ccs the book contains /hj)! Can you imagine this man manfailing his way through the palengke (marketplace) and accidentally endearing himself to all the nagtitinda (stall/shopkeepers)? Can you imagine all the lolas (grannies) gushing over him and spoiling him with our very goated Filipino cuisine and specifically pastries? Can you imagine him getting ice cream from the sorbetero (ice cream vendor) to cool off and learning about the beautiful world of dirty ice cream (not actually dirty, it just means homemade) and ube and keso ice cream? We don’t need him to have a whole chapter that’s just loaded with culture, it can just be offhanded little mentions of him getting them as he’s going about the plot and we Filipinos would literally die happy.
I guess it’s kinda justified because of the professor sending Hercule and G out as incognito tourists, but eeehhhhhh,,, it just feels like it’s awfully convenient for the rest of the plot.
Speaking of which, The Plot
… it’s mid ngl -m- Like as a mystery it’s shit because the culprit is not the mystery so much as the motive and the method, but no one likes screaming at their medium of choice about “IT’S THIS CHARACTER YOU DUMBASS”. The mystery revolves around the local legend of the Chocolate Hills’ creation (which has a lot of versions but the one in the book is right about the general strokes :D) and the fact that the giants who threw hands and accidentally made the Chocolate Hills in their scuffle miiiiggghhttt be squaring up to throw hands again, judging from the giant footprints and the sudden destruction of patches of jungle that’s freaking out the poor local tarsier. Ignoring how that rumor is probably gonna confuse the hell outa the people who grew up hearing that the giants’ battle ended in a double kill, there are rumors of giant sightings going around, and the professor’s enlisted Geronimo and Hercule to figure out the truth behind the giant sightings since his assistants have been trying to figure it out and uh
Yeeaaaahhhhh I trust them about as far as I can throw them, and I’m pretty sure I can’t throw the big guy very far at all.
So G and Hercule do a bit of tourist spywork (an elaborate excuse to speedrun doing tourist-y things in Bohol-Catanduanes), plot shenanigans happen and eventually they find out that, shock of all shocks, the culprit has been the totally-not-suspicious research assistants this whole time! Who could’ve seen this coming???
And of course Rocky Monterrey, the very trusted assistant of the professor, is actually a businessman disguising himself as a research assistant so he can sabotage the professor’s research and the local tourist industry with the giant rumor, which would hypothetically unnerve the Filipino government enough about Chocolate Hills to sell it to him, so he can build his SM City Cebu Megamall competitor in Bohol-Catanduanes with the Chocolate Hills as scenery to flex. Again, let’s ignore the legal impossibility and environmental abomination this Ayala wannabe is attempting to pull off, and look at how uh, this would not work :D
For one, Rocky you’re clearly too broke to bribe the very corrupt Filipino government into giving you a bit of Chocolate Hill land, skill issue /j; but mainly, “supernatural” sightings are happening all the time. Filipino manananggal sightings (the local equivalent of Bigfoot sightings) make their rounds enough that sometimes the news covers it and that’s basically the end of that. Yeah it spooks the locals, but with the scale, there’s a good chance it’ll show up on GMA News and TV Patrol, maybe international news, and next thing you know, reporters will be flocking over to see what’s up (which will be easy for them considering a good handful of Bohol’s revenue is tourism and we’re firmly in the era of influencer tourists (for better or for worse)), so wouldn’t this whole giant sighting thing just backfire on the endgame plan? More people will be coming to the Chocolate Hills to DIY Mousefeed Unsolved the weird giant sightings, and if finding the machine Rocky used to make the footprints was easy enough to find that Geronimo literally stumbled upon it, then how much easier would it be for random tourists (or even locals whose mobile data passed the skill check) trying to get close-up shots of the footprints to find the truck and the other little clues Geronimo and squad found? I haven’t even gotten into the fact that all of Bohol is a UNESCO Global Geopark and is on the tentative list of World Heritage Sites, which means UNESCO is actively working with the local governments to keep Bohol environmentally preserved, thus reducing the odds of being able to bribe the government for it! The plan is already falling apart Rocky ,’:|
So they catch Monterrey and his goons, and it escalates into Geronimo and Olivia having to chase him via tricycle, which when I first read, I wasn’t sure about. As I said before, tricycles are modified motorcycles, but tricycles can’t go all that fast and aren’t designed to. They gave up those speed skill points in exchange for an extra passenger and storage compartment, so while I get it being the closest vehicle on hand, you’d better be hoping that Rocky isn’t able to hitch a ride on literally anything else. That and uh, you don’t wanna push the limits of a MacGyvered machine you’re entrusting your life with.
And that’s when the book pulled the rug out from under me, in a good way :D
Earlier I mentioned how sketchy it is to try to make a tricycle go very fast, and how sketchy the four-wheeled tricycle feels (it’s unnecessary at best and an engineer’s headache at worst), and turns out that was not a throwaway detail, but in fact a Chekov’s sketchy tricycle
Because the tricycle’s passenger compartment comes loose mid-chase with Geronimo in it :D
Fortunately Geronimo’s not hurt, and neither is Rocky, who wound up in it as it was tumbling down the hills, but goddamn talk about living my worst tricycle nightmare on the absolute worst terrain it could possibly have been lived in amirite :D at the very least I can get behind this tricycle design liberty, because it actually came into play when it counted. We love intentional creative liberties that come into play in the narrative ^^
Tho speaking of intentional creative liberties, Bohol-Catanduanes.
I think I know why they took this liberty, and I do mean “took this liberty”. See, I genuinely don’t think the people in the writing team could’ve possibly made such an obvious mistake in the year of our lord 2018, when this book was first written in Italy. Looking up and verifying information is just way too advanced and not-AI-tainted for anyone to look up “Chocolate Hills” and scroll down for two seconds without seeing Bohol on there. Bohol not only has its own ethnic group to its island name, but it also has so much tourism going into it that the Bohol-Panglao International Airport was built and opened in 2018 to replace the Tagbilaran Airport so they could better accommodate the tourists coming into that area… wait a minute.
Coincidence? I think NOT--
(Italian GS and TS are actually very up-to-date with current events irl and tend to make books in correlation to something happening on the international scale (i.e. Ghost of the Shipwreck releasing the same month the Beijing National Center of Performing Arts opened with a production of Turandot, and Race for the Gold (whose plot involves Olympic tryouts) releasing a few months before the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 took place), I'm just saying that with news as big as Panglao International's opening especially for Bohol's tourism game, it's not entirely unrealistic that they thought to release this book around the time the airport would've released :}c)
Anyway, in comparison to Bohol, ngl Catanduanes doesn’t really have much going for it. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s got a lot of nice sights to see and its tourism game is growing pretty quickly, but it’s only got 200k-ish people living there (steep contrast to Bohol’s population of 1.2 million), you need to land in Bicol Airport and then take a boat to get there, and when you compare it to Bohol Chocolate Hills, it’s a lot more niche in comparison. I kid you not, I asked my dad what he knows about Catanduanes, and literally the only thing he could recall about it on the spot was that there was one time a snake crossing a road held up traffic there for 45 minutes straight. (I can’t find evidence of a news story of that anywhere, so uh hopefully other more knowledgeable Pipinos can either confirm or deny this story’s validity). You may be wondering why they didn't move the snake instead, but I’ll leave you to ponder the implication of a snake crossing a road taking 45 minutes before traffic could resume while we move on to my point of why I think the Bohol-Catanduanes mix-up happened.
Simply put, it’s one of the things Catanduanes is known for: it’s known for being “The Happy Island”. Now, look me in the eyes and tell me that that’s not the most kids’ book setting name in the literal world. Ignoring the fact that they got that nickname because the people there are tough as balls and still able to live happy lives despite typhoons kicking their asses a lot for a country consistently getting its ass kicked by typhoons (hence the island’s older nickname, “Land of the Howling Winds”), I can only imagine that while looking up possible setting ideas for a Filipino adventure, the writers bumped into the underrated but still very tourist-y island of Catanduanes, saw “Happy Island”, got excited but then realized that they didn’t really have a Very Relevant Tourist Place to anchor things together, then turned to the Chocolate Hills (also a very kids’ book-sounding place, sounds straight out of Willy Wonka) and were like “hey what if we had our cake and ate it too? :3c”, hence them deciding to have the book set in Bohol disguised as Catanduanes, so they could have the “Happy Island” bit but also have a central narrative piece for people to root for the preservation of and then look it up and see that it’s super-famous actually and really easy to go to (literally just take a flight there).
... ignoring the fact that unless the kid does some research first they're gonna end up in an "I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque" situation and the actual Catanduanes might end up disappointing them since the funny mouse man book said there were hills that looked like mounds of choccy but there's no mounds of choccy here it's just old buildings and clean lakes-- (no offense to Catanduanes ofc I'm just saying)
ANYWAY enough of that, yippee case solved, the stupid Ayala Malls founder wannabe gets arrested, and if nothing else about his trip to the Philippines, Geronimo does remember to get pasalubong (souvenirs) for his family back at home.
So that’s Legend of the Chocolate Hills :D Was it very good? Not really, for the reasons I mentioned above. But did I like it? Oh yeah you can bet your ass I did it if just to nerd out about Filipino things and be lovingly pedantic about my home country. G managed to go to the Philippines, and while I feel more could’ve been done with the idea, I am very happy :}
Besides the representation of Filipino food, like wdym Geronimo only eats pancit canton during his stay in the Philippines . . , like what do you MEAN Olivia didn't serve him some adobo at some point like whuh Olivia girlypop what’re you doing what do you mean you didn’t have Geronimo try adobo that’s like going to the US and never having a single American burger wtf I can understand no pandesal or taho or bico but girl get AWN with that my man can’t leave the country without trying adobo my sister in Crust come O--
tho on second thought she may have heard from the local marites (gossip) that Geronimo has a low spice tolerance and thus had to do away with her Bikolano adobo (for perspective Bicol is kinda like Filipino Sichuan when it comes to cuisine)--
Personally, I have not read any books from the original Geronimo Stilton series, or any books focused on Geronimo Stilton at all (just skimmed a few random pages years ago at the school library). However, just reading this entire post had me cackling and making noises of bewilderment that I HAD to draw my live reaction when I first read this — with some drawings to pair with it:
"The Chocolate Hills are right here, on an island in the Philippines called Catanduanes!"
... Ha?—
I bluescreened for twenty seconds, heavily recalling the times in elementary when we had quizzes in Civics testing our knowledge on the country, its national flower, flag, animals and significant landmarks and where they are located. I was that meme of the woman staring blankly through floating equations. It was instilled in our brains that the famous Chocolate Hills are in Bohol, that Mt. Mayon is a volcano known for its near perfect cone shape, that the Banaue Rice Terraces are one of the Wonders of the World, and so on.
Not much to say about the tour guide Olivia, but just from pictures of her she seems like chill girl. I bet one drawing of any scene in any GS or TS book that she can get loud and be a cheeky menace to her group of friends when not working. She probably has a lot to share about being the tour guide of the Geronimo Stilton... and the shenanigans he got up to in Boholduanes (it sounded funnier in my head to combine the two names of different places).
The designs of the vehicles had me staring at them for ten seconds each. The jeepney especially. I have never, and I mean have NEVER seen a double-decker jeepney — and my understanding of double-decker is like those red buses in London with seats at the 2nd floor. Natually, modern jeepneys are different from the traditional ones, coming from another city kid. A traditional jeepney with glass windows? I made a quick search after reading the whole post to see if parts of the Philippines have those types of jeepneys, and maybe I missed a picture because I found no pictures of jeepney with glass windows. Tourism in the Philippines must be booming in the GS universe. (Please let me know if there is though, salamat :D)
Update July 15, 2026: There are, in fact, traditional jeepneys with windows. My bad everybody ':D
"I have to get out of here!" I yelled. The driver slammed on the brakes.
If I was a passenger on that very posh jeepney I wouldn't know whether to laugh, to be embarrassed on his behalf, concerned, or all three. Leaning towards hiding my laughter. I and maybe other Filipino GS and TS readers can vouch that yes, to stop at your destination you have to tell the driver outright, either by saying to stop up ahead or to stop at approximately where the jeepney currently is or will be at in 0.1 seconds. The specific phrases vary from region, or so I assume based on stock knowledge. If the driver doesn't hear you, there is a chance that another passenger will repeat what you said loud enough for the driver to hear.
Like many people, a lot of us in the Philippines like a good gossip or just to gossip in general, or even just chat — some might just want to listen to the chika (gossip, chit-chat) and not spread it. From my experience it's not always malicious. And I agree with OP; some of those passengers are bound to share the very funny thing that happened in this random moment of their lives, and then move on and keep the story as a funny little mention in future events.
I had to remind myself that there are vehicles that are glamorized for tourists. The usual jeepney or tricycle are fairly simple but can be nice-looking. Speaking of which: a four-wheeled tricycle? Why not I guess lmao.
Now I'm at the point where, essentially, Geronimo isn't able to interact much with the locals. Man missed out on a lot of shenanigans mentioned by OP. Better get, he could have stumbled into comedic encounters with the locals who would either help him around, redirect him to a neighbor who is better at talking to tourists (or Olivia), or play tiny tricks on him once both parties were comfortable enough, experiencing one laugh trip after another. From what I know of Geronimo, he's a very passive and oftentimes an accommodating mouse, so I can see some of them finding him endearing or funnily cute, especially because he's a foreigner (and an overall polite and friendly one).
Is it weird to say that the names of the totally-not-suspicious assistants sound like names I can imagine hearing in the GS version of the Philippines? They simply just fit, especially as nicknames that they are called by more than their real names. From the plot summary... yeah, it does feel like your usual plot, though the issue is indeed prominent and still relative. I can't really judge the antagonists since, again, I have not read this book or any GS book, but it would be interesting to see them use the, frankly, well-known power of deceit — politeness, friendliness, using charisma and humor — instead of looking unfriendly from the start, and then changing their tones at the climax... but maybe that's already a well-used trope or gimmick in these books (don't know the right word for it).
Also, how does one even buy a very famous, preserved and protected landmark like the Chocolate Hills? The most detrimental flaw of the plan is literally staring at you with all of its chocolate-colored, slope-y rock formations, 24/7.
And then the passenger compartment gets loose during a chase in, what I assume, is through the hills themselves or somewhere that is simply a terrible terrain for a tricycle to even attempt speeding through. It's a miracle that the compartment did not get absolutely totaled with a passenger inside it, even if the chase was agreed upon by both Geronimo and Olivia if I am understanding the summary correctly. Can you imagine the news that would come if the Philippines, a country with diverse culture and many mesmerizing locations to visit, and generally hospitable, lively locals who know English, is the same country that a very famous, beloved editor-in-chief got heavily injured in or lost his life in? I can already hear the bells of drama and doom.
If I do start reading GS, I'll probably try to find the Legend of the Chocolate Hills just for the fun of getting bewildered and amused by the exact words written in the book.
... Also what do you mean Geronimo only ate pancit canton—
It would be kind of funny if the Thea Sisters made a brief cameo or a fanfic was made where the two parties collide and end up joining forces. Can you imagine having the Thea Sisters witness Geronimo's peak levels of being a clumsy introvert? Comedy.
Note: This is just a portion I drew of the canon divergent AU of the Treasure Seekers Trilogy. Some of the text was rewritten in this comic by me to fit the pacing. All in all, go read it if you want the whole story!
This is a series that always caught my eye at the school library but never had the time to read nor the means to collect them all. Now I do (might see more of these girls in my blog)!
The source of the key notes? TV Tropes, Wiki, and reading the books.
