Otaku: Hello A-Zhai! Have you heard that Tintin is going to Hollywood? It's wonderful!
A-Zhai: What? Tintin to Hollywood?
Otaku: Yes! Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson are going to make a movie trilogy of Tintin's adventures.
A-Zhai: Unbelievable! I think YOYO-TV is the farthest he can go…
Otaku: What do you mean? Tintin is amazingly fabulous! People all around the world love him!
A-Zhai: You're exaggerating. Yeah, I admit he's been a big shot recently. Everybody has heard about "Tintin is a genius." But seriously, YOYO-TV is just the place for the Teletubbies, not Hollywood.
Otaku: Hey, you are totally mistaken! I am not talking about "Tinky Winky"of the Teletubbies. It's Tintin! TIN-TIN! He's the protagonist of a comic series created by Belgian cartoonist Herge.
A-Zhai: Never heard of that.
Otaku: Oh my, I know you are ignorant, but mistaking Tintin for Tinky Winky is too deplorably ignorant. You should go out more often, instead of just being a no-life geek and spending all your time building Gundam models at home and …
A-Zhai: Hey, don't talk as if you'd never played with your huge collection of housemaid figurines. Oh, and don't forget Mermaid Melody. I remember your favorite is the Mermaid Princess Nanami Lucia, right? Last time at the cosplay fair you won much applause in her costume. Didn't you like it, boy?
Otaku: Yeah, but don't tell my mom about that. She thought I was going to put on the Naruto ninja suit… Alright, but it's still surprising that you know nothing about Tintin.
A-Zhai: Why should I know anything about this Tintin? You can ask all our classmates. I bet 90 percent of them won't know who that Tintin is. And you kept Tintin this and Tintin that, but you haven't told me who on earth this fabulous Tintin is!
Otaku: Calm down, calm down! Tintin was created by Herge in 1929. He first appeared in a Belgian newspaper making an anti-communist journey to the Soviet Union. From that on, Herge had drawn 23 books of Tintin's adventures throughout the world. He's been to Egypt, Tibet, China, the Arctic, and even the Moon, years before Neil Armstrong set his foot there. Isn't Herge's prescience admirable?
A-Zhai: … Sure …
Otaku: You don't seem interested. That's only because you've never read Tintin's adventures yourself. The 23 booklets are translated into 70 languages and sell about 3 million copies each year. So far it has sold 200 million copies worldwide.
A-Zhai: … I wonder how many copies Dragon Ball has sold as yet.
Otaku: This year is the centenary of the birth of Herge. Tintin fans around the world are celebrating it with all kinds of activities. Spielberg and Jackson's new film plan is but part of the celebrations. There will be two Tintin musicals, a Tintin museum, an exhibition at the Pompidou center in Paris. There will also be commemorative stamps, coins, chocolates, and even learned academic seminars!
A-Zhai: Very good. It's undeniable that there are quite a lot of Tintin fans like you around the world. But still, I don't get it. I don’t know where his charm lies. Wait till I see Tintin's adventures myself.
Otaku: You'll definitely love him!
A-Zhai: I will, if this Tintin is also a genius.