The Italian Plot
Trivia
-The original names of the Ying-Yang Boys were Vincent Cartwright and Benson Thesiger.
-Tintin's undercover name is taken from the actor who portrayed him in the live-action films, Jean-Pierre Talbot.
-Originally, Tintin's "new American name" was going to be "Jamie Bell" (who portrayed him in the 2011 film). It was later changed to "Solomon Goldstein", his double in the early editions of the comic.
-This fanfic was developed first. "The Circle of Paris" and "Tintin in Mexico (version 1)" came later. How ironic.
-The original antagonist for this fanfic was supposed to be Dmitri Sakharine (who is modelled after Spielberg's Sakharine). It was dropped since it was going to be pretty freaking obvious. That's why the character was made a paralytic with arthritis (he was originally going to have Tourette's Syndrome, by the way). However, there were a few faux hints given in the fanfic: Dmitri's special instruments, his ability to disguise himself (as a supposed older version of him), and his hate towards Dan Rawlins. These were added just to fool the reader.
-The painting about the Egyptian Spirits is an allusion to the weird hallucination/dream sequence seen in "The Cigars of the Pharaoh" (thanks Hergé for telling us drugs are so bad they screw the brain up).
-Harold Doppler's image is based from Napoleon Dynamite's. His I.Q. was 198. However, he was so lazy he didn't care about how he looked.
-Luciano DiLeo was supposed to be Gérémi Bonilla's alias. He was made later into a separate character.
-Originally, Detective David Keenan was supposed to be the corrupt character. Lieutenant Bertotti was written as it instead. In an early draft for the epilogue, Commissioner Anderson revealed it was Detective Keenan who set Fiennes free back in France. How he managed to sneak to the prison is still unknown.
-Real-life people who had a cameo in this fanfic: Daniella the Muggle and Commander Pinkie Pie. This was because they won a mini-contest hosted on one of the chapters.
-Dorian was hinted to be alive in a scrapped part of "Tintin in Mexico".
-The years in the tombstones were omitted to prevent time-continuity errors. Harold Doppler was 22 years old when he died and Remy van Kuifje was 50 years old.
-Tintin's daughter is named after Hergé's second wife, Fanny Vlamynck.
-The airport scene is a reference to "A Day at the Airport".
-A chapter titled "The Man behind the Walls" didn't make it to the fanfic. It focused a lot on Gérémi's background, how he raised Allan, and how he met Luciano. This chapter also revealed he was gay and how he treated Tintin's Father. The ending of this actually managed to get published (the ending of "Black Vibes Optional").
-Captain Haddock is still a bachelor.
This is all the trivia.
By the way, if you loved my fanfics, I'm sure you'd love Daniella the Muggle's "Tintin and me: The Hollywood Affair". Go and read it! (and for Daniella, thanks for being such a 'badass old lady' ;) )
Stay tuned for my Tintin fanfic, "The Beginnings of a Young Reporter". There are already 2 chapters up!
See ya later!