Fulminata
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Joined: Mon 01 May 2017, 08:31

Hemenway Walmart

Mon 01 May 2017, 09:14

I realize that the game happens in an alternate universe, so not everything is going to be the same as it was in ours, but it seems that the idea is to make it as much like the real 80s as possible outside of the big tech changes.

With that in mind, I want to point out that the Hemenway Walmart described in "I, Wagner" would never have existed. Walmarts in the 80s were not grocery stores, they were discount stores. No Walmarts even sold groceries until the late 80s (Supercenters) and Walmarts that exclusively carried groceries didn't appear until the late 90s (Neighborhood Markets).

A better choice for an iconic American grocery brand from the period and region depicted would be Safeway. Unfortunately, it wouldn't resemble the grocery in the book at all. It would be much larger and a single story. The kind of grocery depicted in the book didn't really exist in the US anymore by the 80s outside of corner groceries in the inner cities, at least not as part of a chain.

So, if you want to use the information in the book with as little change as possible, while still maintaining an historically accurate feel, then it's best to not make the store part of any chain, and instead have it be "Welch's Family Grocery" or something similar. A holdover from an earlier age. Otherwise you'll need to change the physical descriptions.

This isn't the only anachronism I've found in the US localization of the adventures in the book, but it's the one that stood out to me the most. I'm guessing that Matt Forbeck just wrote the chapter on the US Loop, and didn't localize the adventures as there's things in there that anyone who grew up in the US would likely catch as being out of place. Like Public Libraries here don't close during the summer, they actually tend to get busier as they ramp up summer reading programs for kids, including those 10 to 15!
 
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Björn Hellqvist
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Joined: Wed 07 Dec 2016, 20:41
Location: Sweden

Re: Hemenway Walmart

Mon 01 May 2017, 10:17

I'm guessing that Matt Forbeck just wrote the chapter on the US Loop, and didn't localize the adventures as there's things in there that anyone who grew up in the US would likely catch as being out of place. Like Public Libraries here don't close during the summer, they actually tend to get busier as they ramp up summer reading programs for kids, including those 10 to 15!
Matt Forbeck was born in the US and entered his teens in 1981...
But yeah, details like that can throw things a bit for those who remember it. One of Simon's illustrations show a small robot with a Domus store in the background. It should be a Konsum grocery store, as Domus were department stores. I'm a detail nut myself, forever getting caught up in research, when I could wing it and get on with the writing.
My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos, ruined dreams, this wasted land.
 
Fulminata
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Joined: Mon 01 May 2017, 08:31

Re: Hemenway Walmart

Tue 02 May 2017, 15:50

I'm guessing that Matt Forbeck just wrote the chapter on the US Loop, and didn't localize the adventures as there's things in there that anyone who grew up in the US would likely catch as being out of place. Like Public Libraries here don't close during the summer, they actually tend to get busier as they ramp up summer reading programs for kids, including those 10 to 15!
Matt Forbeck was born in the US and entered his teens in 1981...
I realize that, that's why I'm assuming he wasn't involved in localizing the adventures to the US. He surely would have caught some of the things that immediately jumped out at me as being off if he had been involved with that.

Fortunately, there's not that much that feels off. The Walmart and the Library were the two big ones that I noticed.
 
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Björn Hellqvist
Posts: 133
Joined: Wed 07 Dec 2016, 20:41
Location: Sweden

Re: Hemenway Walmart

Tue 02 May 2017, 19:41

I'm guessing that Matt Forbeck just wrote the chapter on the US Loop, and didn't localize the adventures as there's things in there that anyone who grew up in the US would likely catch as being out of place. Like Public Libraries here don't close during the summer, they actually tend to get busier as they ramp up summer reading programs for kids, including those 10 to 15!
Matt Forbeck was born in the US and entered his teens in 1981...
I realize that, that's why I'm assuming he wasn't involved in localizing the adventures to the US. He surely would have caught some of the things that immediately jumped out at me as being off if he had been involved with that.

Fortunately, there's not that much that feels off. The Walmart and the Library were the two big ones that I noticed.
There was a rather long open proofreading process, but it's possible that the adventures were added too late for those errors to be caught. The worst error IMO is the scale ruler on the Mälar Islands map, which should show 2.5 km, not 5 km.
My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos, ruined dreams, this wasted land.
 
senjak
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu 28 Sep 2017, 19:56

Re: Hemenway Walmart

Thu 28 Sep 2017, 20:18

My group has had a great deal of fun watching Stranger Things as background material.  Three of us were around in the 80s and one of us grew up, well since the turn of the century.

It has been interesting to discover all of the things we took as normal when growing up that the youngster was like, 'H*ll no, you can't do that!" followed by the rest of us responding, "In the 80s you could..."
 
Harper
Posts: 143
Joined: Mon 11 Sep 2017, 20:17

Re: Hemenway Walmart

Fri 29 Sep 2017, 12:31

"Poetic License" people, 

"The play is the thing"

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