Have you ever played Lego Dimensions? In case you are unfamiliar with such things, let me enlighten you. Lego Dimensions is a video game in the so-called toys-to-life category. Unless I’m missing one out, the first of these was Skylander, followed by Disney Infinity, Amiibo, and then Lego Dimensions. What defines a toys-to-life game is that you can buy physical toys – and lots of them - to place onto a plastic portal that plugs into the game. When you do this, the character appears in the game and you can play with it; not quite life, but you get the idea.
I’ve played two of these and my favourite by far was Lego Dimensions. It has this crazy Multidimensional Intellectual Property thing going on, where Doctor Who, Scooby-Doo and Sensei Wu can all appear on-screen together. When you buy the starter pack you get a pretty cool game, the portal, a bunch of Lego bricks and three minifigures; Gandalf, Batman and Wyldstyle (who is definitely not a DJ). This means that right off the bat you can visit their three Adventure Worlds too; Lord of the Rings, DC Comics and The Lego Movie. But if you want to visit the others – Harry Potter, Ghostbusters, The Simpson et cetera – you are going to need a few more minifigures. And want to visit them you will.
Why do I bring all this up? Because in today’s picture Claudia is wearing a lime-green backpack that is usually worn by the Finn the Human minifigure that comes with the Adventure Time Level Pack. Got it? I agonized for some time over what Latin word to use for backpack. My German dictionary suggests pera wich the Oxford Latin Dictionary defines as a bag worn slung over the shoulder (for carrying the day’s provisions, etc.), satchel. So, other than the number of shoulders it was worn over, it seems kind of perfect.
On a side note, I looked up adventurer in the English to Latin section of the Collins Latin Dictionary and it suggested vir audax (bold man), which just goes to show that something as seemingly innocuous as a Latin Dictionary can sport a sexist world view. eheu!
‘Goodbye,’ both amicae said. Claudia, wearing her pera, went to the airport, Miranda [went] home. A pera, if you do not know, is a suitcase worn on the shoulders.