Calculator-tans?

[Alex S]

I've seen game console -tans, file type -tans and even HTTP error page -tans but there are no -tans for an important branch of technology: handheld graphing calculators, like the TI-83 Plus.

I would like to see personified calcu-tans, but I can't draw well enough yet. For profession ideas, they could be mercenaries with no ties to any OS group, though with ties to their "family" (i.e. TI-83 Plus-tan would not fight TI-84-tan.)
For personality ideas, they could like gaming (since most graphing calculators have games on them) and be quite intelligent. They would have to be short, though, since they're calculators (albeit one that's over 7 inches long, larger than most cell phones.)

I think this would work, and would love to see this idea in action.

[Aurora Borealis]

Welcome to OSC, Alex S!

You bring up a very good point as calculators have a diverse history, as much as computers and do have good potential for personifications as well.

I like the idea of the calculator-tans as mercenaries. However them being gamers would only apply to the graphing calculator-tans like TI 83/83 Plus-tan (who I also imagine would be a programmer who also always strives to be faster, stronger and fancier: the 83 Plus has flash memory, the Silver edition has ~9x the memory of the 83 Plus and 2.5x the processor speed and comes in a flashy silver case!)


To get started, a few preconcepts:

TI-80-tan: has good memory but is by far the slowest of the TI family and suffers feelings of inadequecy, especially considering that she is slower than TI-81-tan who was introduced in 1990! (TI-80 was introduced in 1995)

TI-108-tan: Appears as a very young girl (about 7 years old), wears a bright red+white+blue and old-fashioned school uniform. Is very friendly but childish and simple-minded compared to her sisters. She is still highly successful (the TI-108 is the least expensive, most basic and widely-used TI calculators designed for early elementary school students). But being the highest-numbered model, she tries to act advanced and intimidating like her more high-end sisters although this often fails.

TI-30-tan (represents all of the TI-30 series): Introduced in 1976, she is one of the oldest TI calculator-tans. She is a revolutionary, making scientific calculating much more affordable to the masses with remarkable success possibly being the best-selling calculator ever. Although modern, she still has some old-fashioned mannerisms and attire. And aside from her work, she is strongly interested in fashion (many different-looking models under the TI-30 name have been released over the past decades).

[Alex S]

Arigato, Aurora-san.

Well, the gamers would only be the graphers.

The "Silver Edition" doesn't tell me much. TI-84 Plus SE-tan or TI-83 Plus SE-tan?

What about TI-73-tan, TI-85-tan or TI-82-tan? They should be drawn at least once.

The leader of the TI calcu-tans should be TI-89-tan or TI-92-tan, due to them being the most powerful of the TI graphing calculators.

I'm also thinking of having TI-83 Plus-tan or TI-84 Plus-tan being the pilot of a small space fighter that woul be the transport for the TI calcu-tans, due to the popularity of the game Phoenix on those two platforms.

TI-80-tan and TI-81-tan could be mentors for the rest of the TI calcu-tans, due to their age.

There should also be tension between the main calculator brands: TI, HP and Casio. That could be an interesting plot for background stories of the calcu-tans.

[Aurora Borealis]

The Silver Edition I was referring to was the 83 Plus Silver Edition. I guess I should have clarified that! ^^;

TI-84 Plus-tan: She would be very flashy and always has been (compared to the 83 Plus which were the basic TI calculator colors until the 83 Plus Silver Edition was released in 2001). She is the pilot of the TI family space ship (TI-83 Plus-tan could be the mechanic because the 83 series was the first to have built-in assembly support). She also carries around a time piece, being the first to TI calculator to have a built-in clock.

TI-73/TI-73 Explorer-tan: I don't have many ideas for her yet, but she used to have a rivalry with TI-80-tan (whose feelings of inadequecy worsened greatly with TI-73-tan's debut. This is because the TI-73 is the greatly enhanced successor of the TI-80) but their rivalry died down when it was revealed that TI-73-tan was not very successful.

TI-73-tan does not see her family much anymore, she is usually elsewhere traveling and exploring. She is dressed as a sailor in a blue uniform (with hints of red and white) and has a pet mallard (referencing the Mallard assembly shell released for the TI-73 in 2005)

TI-85-tan: She is an engineer (designed primarily for engineering and calculus courses) and a programmer. However she is scatterbrained and gets intimidated by large BASIC programs, enough to crash! (TI-85 can crash from writing large BASIC programs. But breaking down the program into smaller programs that work together is not a problem). And although unsupported, the TI-85 can also run assembly programs through a hack. A hacker type too? ;012

TI-82-tan: Being a stripped-down and user-friendlier variant of the TI-85; TI-82-tan is TI-85-tan's apprentice. She is child-like, more stable than TI-85-tan, is very friendly and outgoing.

I agree with TI-80-tan and TI-81-tan being the mentors of the younger TI-tans, but when they need help, they turn to TI-30-tan who was their mentor!

And I found a TI model with an even higher number than the TI-108, the TI-1726 (I have one!) but it is also extremely low-end like the TI-108, although more professional-looking!

I agree with the rivalries between the different calculator-tan families!

[Alex S]

Seems odd that TI would use such high numbers for such low-end calculators...maybe there's decimal point in there somewhere...

Those are good ideas for calcu-tan personalities. What about these?

TI-89-tan: She would be the leader of the TI calcu-tans, being one of the best calculators ever produced by them, and the most powerful one that can be used on the ACT/SAT. She would be an excellent strategist, able to come up with attack plans in seconds, and would have an enormous memory, remembering almost everything that happens to her. She would also be the best gamer, due to the fact that the TI-89 can play games like Pokémon Red and the original text-based Hitchhiker's Guide game.

It would be interesting to see some of TI's discontinued programmable non-graphing calculators, but it's not as important as the main calcu-tans. (Those programmable calculators puzzle me. Why would TI create 6 calculators that you could program, but had screens only two or three lines high?)

It would also be interesting to see the graphing calcu-tans with apps like Cabri Jr. on them. It'd be interesting to see how different apps would change the personality of the calcu-tan.

I think that there should be two TI-30-tans. One older one who, as you said, would be the mentor of TI-80-tan and TI-81-tan, and a modern one who is Ti-30 Elder-tan's apprentice.

[Aurora Borealis]

I agree with your ideas for TI-89-tan! I imagine she would dress like a military general and have titanium accessories.

Why TI uses very high humbers for low-end calculators is baffling. Same goes for making programmable non-graphing calculators! Those must be really limited!

Normally I wouldn't agree to there being two seperate TI-30-tans but given how many models there all in the whole series and how much they have changed in looks over the years, having two seperate characters could work (and make things easier)!

TI-30-tan (the elder one) represents all the models from either 1976-1990 and the younger one (a TI-30X-tan) represents the whole TI-30X series starting in 1993-present.

Check out how much the TI-30 series has evolved!: http://www.datamath.org/Story/TI-30_Birthday.htm

[Alex S]

Well, in TI's defense, the TI-50 and so on were removed from their product line around 1989/1990.

TI-83 Plus-tan and TI-84 Plus-tan would be able to "upgrade" to Silver Edition occasionally, giving them heightened abilities.

I wonder which apps, when installed into TI-83 Plus-tan or TI-84 Plus-tan, would cause personality changes, and what said changes would be.

Just had an odd thought...
How would the calculator-to-calculator link cable work?

Which TI calcu-tans would be part of the "main" lineup that would be seen most often? I know TI-83 Plus/TI-83 Plus SE-tan, TI-84 Plus/TI-84 Plus SE-tan and TI-89-tan, but who else?

What weapons would they use?

[Aurora Borealis]

Hmm... I like the idea of TI-83 Plus-tan and TI-84-tan having the ability to temporarily upgrade themselves to their Silver Edition counterparts! I originally had in mind their Silver Edition counterparts being them current selves but your idea allows for their standard and Silver Edition versions to be showcased in the present!

I'm not able to answer the app question at the moment because I am not familiar with what apps they have though

And for how the link cable works... Tough question! The best I can think of is that each of the calculator-tans are part robotic and have cable ports on the back of their necks (like the robotic characters from "Ghost in the Shell") and the link cable connects there for both calculator-tans involved.

The TI calcu-tans in the main lineup I imagine would be the ones that  are still current (as well as TI-83 Plus-tan due to her popularity) so that would be TI 83 Plus-tan, TI-84 Plus-tan, TI-89-tan, TI-30 X-tan and maybe also TI-73-tan.

[C-Chan]

Fufufu... is this the birth of a new something-tan subset?  ^^

Sorry to say I don't think i can contribute much to the discussion.  Aside from the fact that I can barely keep myself afloat with operating systems, I also didn't use a calculator of this complexity during my school years.  Math was never my forte -- and even when a scientific calculator was required in some college courses, I borrowed one.

Still, youz guyz seem to have a handle on things, so just keep brainstorming away.  ^^

From a practical standpoint, the names of all the calculator models sound the same.  And even though this page helped...

http://www.datamath.org/Story/TI-30_Birthday.htm

...their appearances are also a bit similar.  Maybe it's because they're all from the same company;  but if not for all the personalities you've created, they all just kinda blend together in my mind.   Do any of the models use internal company code names by any chance?

On the other hand, the same could be said of the Windows-tans and the Mac System-tans; if not for their unique personifications, I couldn't tell a Hacchan from a Secchan.  ^.^

So guess what I'm trying to say is it's time to come up with a designs for these would-be munchkins.  Of all the million-billion-gajillion ways one can turn this...

http://www.datamath.org/Sci/Modern/Images/TI-30XS_MVY.jpg

...into something verifiably swoonable, what will it be?  ^__^

[Alex S]

Well, seeing as I can't draw people very well, I won't be able to help much with this part.

I have no idea of whether the calcs have codenames, but I'll look into it.

What if the TI calcu-tans had a communication screen either implanted in or wrapped around their wrist? It could aid the calculator idea.

Like Aurora said, TI-89-tan would have titanium accessories (like arrow key hairclips), and she could have glasses.

Part of TI-83 Plus-tan and TI-84 Plus-tan's clothing could become translucent after transition to Silver Edition.

TI-83 Plus-tan would dress in all black, and would have yellow and green gloves(referencing the two main function keys on the TI-83 Plus.) She would also have an arrow-key pendant, blue hair (referencing the blue keys on the calculator) with sine-wave shaped highlights, and calculator buttons circling each wrist.

TI-84 Plus-tan would dress in bight colors and gray. She would have the arrow buttons as her hat. She would have aviator goggles, referencing her being the pilot of the TI calcu-tan's space fighter.

[Aurora Borealis]

Good ideas! Aside from the color schemes, I didn't have much of an idea of what 83 Plus-tan and 84 Plus-tan would like! When I get to drawing them, I will incorporate your ideas!

[Alex S]

Was going to upload some drawings of my ideas, but my scanner's busted.

Anyways, I think this idea would make a good comic. I can imagine a miniature spacecraft terrorizing OS/2-tan.

[Aurora Borealis]

It's a bummer that your scanner isn't working . I do want to see your ideas how you drew them out!

But if you don't mind, the next 2 calcu-tans I'll be drawing are TI-83 Plus-tan and 84 Plus-tan, incorporating your design ideas for them!

First up, here's TI-30-tan!



She wears her old labcoat that is in the colors of the original TI-30. Her blouse and bows are in the colors of the last model simply known as TI-30 (the 1990 model) and the grey and red are the colors of the 1988 and 1990 TI-30 Challenger models.

And here's a new and very tragic character concept: TI-88-tan. The TI-88 was never released (was intended to be in 1982) despite the sales brochures and manuals being printed, development completed and the first working pre-production TI-88s were produced but for some reason it was cancelled (and one of the reasons for cancellation was said to be because of HP's HP-41C.) There are only 2 surviving TI-88s left in existence so TI-88-tan is a deceased character who died young and her death was rumored to be caused by HP-41C-tan.

[C-Chan]

Ah, see, now we're talking!  ^__^

I can comfortably say I can follow along better with her than I can with this hunk of electronics...



Also very smart move in creating combination characters -- from your back-and-forth, I was starting to worry youz guyz were considering drawing a calc-tan for every model out there.  Not impossible (we kinda sorta did it with the Mac-tas)... just a little nutty.  ^^'

Was going to upload some drawings of my ideas, but my scanner's busted. [/uoe]

No matter -- the most important thing is that you made the effort to draw, and that was my other point I was going to make.  Too often we've had visitors who just parked their arses up here, and demanded that something gets drawn/written/programmed for them without so much as considering helping out with said effort (or at least offering some kind of moral incentive).

If you want something done, and follow through with some preliminary effort to do it yourself, then its bound to be done right.  ^.^

Got any questions about Anime-style artwork, let me know.  I'm always happy to help out a fledgling contributor.  ^__~

Anyways, I think this idea would make a good comic. I can imagine a miniature spacecraft terrorizing OS/2-tan.

Oh now that just peeks my curiosity for very obvious reasons. ^___^

[Alex S]

Quest for auxillary scanner.
Current status: Can't find one

Anyway, I had ideas for their weapons (they are mercenaries after all).

A round, transparent shield with perpendicular supports: Plus Sign
A long broadsword: Minus Sign
A large amount of throwing stars: Multiplication Sign
A quarterstaff/Gauss rifle (a magnet powered gun):Division sign, based off of both the front slash and division operator(bar with dots) division signs.