Ask Julian

[JulianR94]

So, I've just noticed there is a little AMA section here...

Well, gotta use what's given! If you guys and gals have any questions, whatever you would actually like to hear from a casual dude like myself, feel free ask ahead! I should always be able to reply on the same day or at least in the same week.

[rhombus]

It is nice to see you in the Ask Me section.   I actually had a somewhat odd question concerning your story: if you had decided to make Specter an omnivore instead of a Utahraptor (for whatever reason) which omnivore species would you have made him transform into, and why?

[JulianR94]

It is nice to see you in the Ask Me section. I actually had a somewhat odd question concerning your story: if you had decided to make Specter an omnivore instead of a Utahraptor (for whatever reason) which omnivore species would you have made him transform into, and why?

Thanks for the warm welcome, yet again.

I have actually never really planned on doing this other than giving it an afterthought (which you can read in Chapter 9), simply because most omnivores are a bit boring. Don't get me wrong, I love all the omnivorous dinosaur species but I felt like the "big change" from a human wouldn't be there in most cases. "Big change" in like: Being forced to kill and waking up as a walking weapon.

In any event, this is certainly an interesting question.

So, if I had made Specter an omnivore, I would have made him one of three (four) species.

(X). Gallimimus / "Rainbowface": I really like the nature of those sprinters. Extremely fast, skittish and clever. But wrapping a dark story around that would have been difficult, I believe. Also, I think they are depicted as herbivores in LBT. This is why I would not even list them as a choice I could have made. Still, they are among my favorite dinosaurs, and I could imagine Chronos and Logos would have had less problems trusting him.

1. Troodon / "Hidden Runner": Pretty much a raptor look-alike but way smaller and more reliant on its large brain (for its time). Would have been highly interesting to start his journey with the Hidden Runners, as the first feathered one of their kind then. Would have been fitting to the cleverness of his past self, too. I could imagine the story panning out so much differently... But then again, meeting the pack of Seeker would probably take ages.

2. Oviraptor / "Fastrunner": Self-explanatory, I believe. Again, more like the runaway type and not exactly a fighter. I do like them though, and it would have been yet another path for Specter, had he woken up as one of them.

3. Gigantoraptor / "Large Runner" (?): Now THIS one would have been interesting. This is certainly an omnivore which I believe could take on even a Utahraptor in a one-on-one. Standing over 3m tall to its back and being 8m in length, as well as having three dangerous claws on each forelimb... yeah, I would say that would be a capable fighter and hunter, should the need arise. Also, it would have been a species that does not exist yet in the LBT universe. Which is something I plan to change, on a side note.

But in the end, Utahraptor was the most obvious choice. A fast, agile and powerful close-combat hunter, standing just under 3m tall and being around 10m in length, Utahraptor Specter is how I wanted him to be. Though as you already know, nobody is born a master.

[rhombus]

A bit of a random question: how much of the LBT television series have you seen?  And, if you have seen any episodes, which episodes were your most and least favorite?

[JulianR94]

A bit of a random question: how much of the LBT television series have you seen?  And, if you have seen any episodes, which episodes were your most and least favorite?

I have actually seen every single one, pretty much a straight run from movie 1 to 13 and then the series last summer, before I started writing. That's how I got back into the fandom, and of course FanFiction.

One of my favorites definitely is that with Guido and Swooper, "The Hermit of Blackrock", as I always liked Guido as a character, partly because he's a Microraptor and I love me my raptors.
Though I have to say, apart from his feathers, they really messed up on his design. They could've at least made him look a tiny little bit like a sharptooth, give him an actual snout and tail, if they already wanted to avoid the sickle claws. But oh well, I like Guido, still.

"Search for the Skycolor Stones" was also quite deep, as it showed forms of obsession and addiction. I was actually surprised to see how borderline insane the dinosaurs went over those geodes.

"Lonely Journey" as well, showing Chomper's struggle to fit in with herbivores, though I found the message just stupid. "They're not yet ready to be friendly.", of course adult carnivores are not and will never be friendly.

"Lone Dinosaur Returns" I liked very much, Doc making peace with Chomper was nice to see.

"Days of Rising Water" where especially Chomper helps out a lot, saves Volant's life (yeah I use your name for Petrie's mother ).

"The Big Longneck Test" showing off Littlefoot's growing leadership skills.

"Return to Hanging Rock", too. Nice to see Ruby's family.

I pretty much liked 90% of the episodes, because most had returning characters from the movies such as Guido, Mo or Doc, but my least liked would have to be the very last.

I think "The Great Egg Adventure" started off too rash, had too many cliches, and was just overall pretty damn boring. I mean yeah, it was nice to see some little raptors hatching and their eggs not getting crushed by the three bullies, but I just felt like it was the wrong finale. It felt pushed out, not thought through one bit.
I know that "Through the Eyes of a Spiketail" is supposedly the actual finale, but I disliked this one just as much.

I just felt like they were seriously running out of ideas, instead of doing something cool with Red Claw, Thud and Screech as a finale. Those are supposed to be the bad boys, after all.

So yeah, these are my thoughts on the series.

[jorrdy12]

(This may seem something like painful which i do not consciously do)

If you were able to live in the LBT universe for a year (which only 1 second passes irl) would you do it? Note: you cant go back for that year.

Would your answer change if it was till the end of your life?
(You do age in there like irl and however you look will go over)

And note that even thought it seems like 1 sec for them you will get older


Sorry if it's a painful question    

[JulianR94]

(This may seem something like painful which i do not consciously do)

If you were able to live in the LBT universe for a year (which only 1 second passes irl) would you do it? Note: you cant go back for that year.

Would your answer change if it was till the end of your life?
(You do age in there like irl and however you look will go over)

And note that even thought it seems like 1 sec for them you will get older


Sorry if it's a painful question    

Don't worry, I'm fine with dark stuff, and I actually like this one and don't find it to be painful at all. But I'm afraid I don't quite understand to the fullest.

"If you were able to live in the LBT universe for a year (which only 1 second passes irl) would you do it? Note: you cant go back for that year.

Would your answer change if it was till the end of your life?
(You do age in there like irl and however you look will go over)"

If I understand this part correctly, I basically go there for a whole year while in the human world only a second passes.

Honestly, I've heeded these thoughts in some way already. Would I trade in my human life for a new one in a different world? This is one of the reasons I've started writing, and my FanFiction, The Eighth Hunter, is partly the answer already. There are obviously a lot of factors to account for, but if I was to stay there for one year, one second in my human life, and death wouldn't be a problem, I'd do it. Without hesitation.

Would I do it for my whole life? Probably not, since I believe it would be too much to handle as a human. I think it would be physically impossible to stay alive for so long, no one to understand and help you. If you would let me choose to be... let's say... a raptor instead, however, I think I just might go for it.

I'm curious, I love dinosaurs, and I dislike a lot of things about the human society. It would be hard leaving everything behind but... I'd take my chances. Now, I'm saying all this while lying in my bed, typing on my iPad, connected to the whole world over wireless internet, of course, so let's say I'd at least consider it.

[jorrdy12]

Okay, so i saw you didn't exactly understand what i meant with 'Until you die' so what i mean with it is if you die in the LBT world you also die in the real world. (It seems very dark)

So let me ask another question that goes further into the one i asked before:

If you were able to be born into one of the Land before time families (Littlefoot, Cera, Ruby & Chomper, Ducky & Spike, Petrie or perhaps the Clubtails? Or with Guido.) would you do it? and if you want to know: Yes, you will still have all your knowledge , intellect , memories , abilities from this world however you can't use them all because maybe you don't have 2 legs and 2 arms.

You can't go back to the human world though, it would be strange: A dinosaur just walking around humans like nothing happened

I wonder what your answer will be to this one

You can also be born into one of your favorite fanfiction families.

[JulianR94]

Okay, so i saw you didn't exactly understand what i meant with 'Until you die' so what i mean with it is if you die in the LBT world you also die in the real world. (It seems very dark)

So let me ask another question that goes further into the one i asked before:

If you were able to be born into one of the Land before time families (Littlefoot, Cera, Ruby & Chomper, Ducky & Spike, Petrie or perhaps the Clubtails? Or with Guido.) would you do it? and if you want to know: Yes, you will still have all your knowledge , intellect , memories , abilities from this world however you can't use them all because maybe you don't have 2 legs and 2 arms.

You can't go back to the human world though, it would be strange: A dinosaur just walking around humans like nothing happened

I wonder what your answer will be to this one

You can also be born into one of your favorite fanfiction families.

Ah, I see...

Well, in this case, and only under the circumstance I keep my memories, I'd definitely choose to be a theropod. I would never trade my arms in, though I guess I would be alright with two or three less fingers and decreased flexibility. So, Ruby & Chomper if it would have to be a LBT family, preferrably Chomper's as I can't imagine myself liking to have no real teeth and a beak, as it would be the case for an Oviraptor. Then again, Tyrannosaurus, even though it is one of my favorite dinosaurs, would be just too big and clunky, not to mention the tiny arms...

As I said before, something in the direction of Utahraptor or Dakotaraptor I'd be more willing to accept, which is the case in my FanFiction.

But the big question remains, of course. Would I seriously do it if I could not go back?
And this is just impossible for me to answer honestly and straight away, as it is just too complicated. I have friends, I have family, and it would be incredibly selfish to throw all this away. In my opinion, this would be basically the same as committing suicide. I mean, I'd be gone from the human world forever, even though I might live on in this dinosaur world. Not to mention that I wouldn't want anything happen to my family and friends because of my presence in another world/time.

Again, in the case this impossible scenario really happened, I would at least consider it. But this would be a decision I could ponder for years.

[zero-point]

Hey, Julian! I've read your fanfiction, it was really good, I liked it very much

My question is that if you found the Stone of Cold Fire, would you touch it? And if you chose to touch it, what would your wish be?

[JulianR94]

Hey, Julian! I've read your fanfiction, it was really good, I liked it very much

My question is that if you found the Stone of Cold Fire, would you touch it? And if you chose to touch it, what would your wish be?

Thanks for the praise, I am glad you liked it thus far. I will try to be more active on it, but at the moment time for that is a bit sparse...

Now, to your question:
You know, I somewhat answered this already, in response to jorrdy12. Somewhat, as in: if the wish were to be (or at least the outcome) like in my story.
However, let's assume I was aware of the powers of the Stone, and I was calm, collected, and by myself. Well, to be completely honest, I wouldn't know what to do. Not a satisfactory or interesting answer, eh?
But, you see, with such tremendous consequences following even a single "wrong" word, I wouldn't want to be spontaneous at all. Now, I do not want to burden you with examples. I'm sure we all know the stereotypical human wishes of money, happiness, peace, power, various abilites (flight, strength, etc.), wisdom, etc.
Ultimately, though, all of these have to be earned, in my opinion, and them just appearing at a command kind of devaluates everything. Also, they can just as easily vanish in a heartbeat, given bad circumstances. Imagine becoming a billionaire only for conflict to break out.
Well, all of these except any superpowers... But that'd be a peaceful life over.

To cut it a bit shorter: I'm not very daring when it comes to such things. In fact, as you might have noticed by now, I am very ponderous and philosophical about such, ostensibly simple topics..
Sure, it would be awesome to have any of these things listed above, and let's assume the Butterfly Effect didn't exist so that the world stayed relatively safe. But, I really cannot imagine living a normal life ever again.

So, this would be my answer: If anything, probably to visit the time of the dinosaurs for a "lifetime that takes 1 second in the real world". Read my answers to jorrdy for perhaps a few more details. I really do feel like that this would be an experience I could die happily with.

[zero-point]

Hey, Julian! I've read your fanfiction, it was really good, I liked it very much

My question is that if you found the Stone of Cold Fire, would you touch it? And if you chose to touch it, what would your wish be?

Thanks for the praise, I am glad you liked it thus far. I will try to be more active on it, but at the moment time for that is a bit sparse...

Now, to your question:
You know, I somewhat answered this already, in response to jorrdy12. Somewhat, as in: if the wish were to be (or at least the outcome) like in my story.
However, let's assume I was aware of the powers of the Stone, and I was calm, collected, and by myself. Well, to be completely honest, I wouldn't know what to do. Not a satisfactory or interesting answer, eh?
But, you see, with such tremendous consequences following even a single "wrong" word, I wouldn't want to be spontaneous at all. Now, I do not want to burden you with examples. I'm sure we all know the stereotypical human wishes of money, happiness, peace, power, various abilites (flight, strength, etc.), wisdom, etc.
Ultimately, though, all of these have to be earned, in my opinion, and them just appearing at a command kind of devaluates everything. Also, they can just as easily vanish in a heartbeat, given bad circumstances. Imagine becoming a billionaire only for conflict to break out.
Well, all of these except any superpowers... But that'd be a peaceful life over.

To cut it a bit shorter: I'm not very daring when it comes to such things. In fact, as you might have noticed by now, I am very ponderous and philosophical about such, ostensibly simple topics..
Sure, it would be awesome to have any of these things listed above, and let's assume the Butterfly Effect didn't exist so that the world stayed relatively safe. But, I really cannot imagine living a normal life ever again.

So, this would be my answer: If anything, probably to visit the time of the dinosaurs for a "lifetime that takes 1 second in the real world". Read my answers to jorrdy for perhaps a few more details. I really do feel like that this would be an experience I could die happily with.

Thank you for answering my question. To be completely honest, based on earlier answers, this is exactly the kind of answer I was expecting. It wasn't unsatisfactory, I found it rather interesting and I completely agree with most of the points you made. I am a huge fan of philosophical questions myself, and I mull over and speculate about questions like this too sometimes.

Again, thanks for the answer