Chapter 294: Obvious Stares II

Alexander found it obvious that he is being given some mixed stares of curiosity, shock, and disbelief.

He could also see the people staring at those staring people. They seemed much knowing and had expressions of gloat and enjoyment.

A group seems genuinely shocked while a group was expecting that group to be shocked. Kind of like a pranking dynamic of prankers and prankees.

It was weird and it was clear that something was afoot.

Alexander has visited a film production before but this kind of situation seems to be a new one.

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Of course, it isn't anything new. Just an escalation of the previous one.

The Back to the Future crew did know that he was the kid "writer" of picture books that was eventually adapted into the back-to-back-to-back movie production.

That was that though. A kid making a cool story and has a grandfather that was motivated enough to make something more from it.

'Alex Creed' was there. It was even some sort of typo. Bob Gale kind of thought that it was the kid's real name because that's how the grandpa addresses his grandson.

Well... that was all the production matters and some of the BttF cast didn't even get to meet the boy ever since.

When the film has finally been released, their reaction and attitude towards that picture bookmaking boy should have pretty much changed.

As of recent date, just BttF part I was already dominating the cinema screens of the world.

The kid's credentials have been pegged up a notch and it was even more so with the reveal of the said kid's other credentials.

The 'Alex Creed' and 'Alexander Creed' news in the newspapers were overshadowed by Reagan and other matters. However, it still worked well with comic book fans and casual readers of the funny pages.

Of course, it was also glossed over by the BttF cast and crew members that previously dismissed the kid's achievement.

There's no doubt that those people would react differently if they saw that little kid named Alexander Creed again.

In any case, the Top Gun cast has a much clearer heads-up compared to BttF people at this moment.

Granted, comic books didn't really matter much to most of the people in this set.

They were in the film business and they were more interested in film-related things.

The military on standby was even more so. They were the "big boys" and their deployment and stations didn't really allot them time for something as mundane as comic books.

The lot of them may have glimpses of the funny pages and saw Alexander Creed in 'Calvin and Hobbes' but that's that.

The successful Back to the Future credits and the creator credit for this 'Top Gun' film they're making is something very impressive though.

It became even more impressive when you add in the fact that these deeds fall under the capabilities of a ten-year-old. Nine if you consider the timeline of things.

Some of them couldn't even remember what they were doing when they were at that age. However, they were sure that their ten-year-old selves weren't even able to do anything remotely close to what this special ten-year-old has done.

Of course, Un-Ratty Pettigrew also connected some dots along with the others and he finally had someone to blame for all the ridiculousness of Top Gun scenes.

The one to blame seems to just be a ten-year-old though... and he really can't confront a boy for that.

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The knowing people can't help but find the scenario funny. Creed Pictures employees were the majority of these knowing people.

It was quite fun for them to join along with their old boss's tricks. The novelty of their little boss is really something!

On the not-so-strictly Creed employee side, the Top Gun director and lead female actress were also in on it.

James Cameron can't help but snicker at the reaction of these recently enlightened people while Courteney Cox's thoughts were a bit more ambivalent.

Her initial meeting with THE Alexander Creed was so awkward and probably something that is hard to top. Wooing the boss, then wooing the dad, then it turns out that she was wooing a little kid all along!

Although her initial Alex experience was hard to beat, it was just fun to watch people go through that coping process.

Old Sullivan was probably the one that's enjoying these people's stalled reactions the most.

Building mystery of a grandson. Building the mystery of screenwriter 'Alex Creed'. Then, when the grandson finally visits and when 'Alex' gets thrown around... these intrigued people connect the dots.

The old man found that it was more fun for people to find out on their own than outright telling things himself.

Of course, he found it more fun to be able to orchestrate and nudge things to be this way.

All he needed was to coordinate with everyone that already knew Alex's capabilities and then collectively playing a trick on those that are clueless about his grandson's greatness.

All in good fun. It was even more so when Alex himself seems to be unclear about what was happening.

The kid is the central reason for this weird circumstance they are in but he may be even more clueless than those that are in the clueless group.

Of course, his grandson was always quick on the uptake.

It didn't even take long for the boy to stare at his old self and that stare is conveying an accusation that is better interpreted as a 'what did you do?'

Or maybe that stare is something along the lines of 'why even bother with this ridiculous nonsense?'

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"Alright, everyone. Stop with the staring! We still have scenes to film so ready yourselves for it." Old Sullivan voiced out and dispersed the staring stuff for a bit.

The cast and crew went on with that but plenty of people were still keeping a close watch on the intriguing novelty that just arrived.

Of course, Milla and Miss Galina took that as a chance to mingle around. Filming stuff was always of interest for the both of them.

Old Sullivan took this chance to discuss some stuff with his grandson. "With my little fun being achieved, how is HQ by the way?"

"It's steady." Alexander didn't like the stares he was being given but he did like discussing things with his grandfather.

"What about the teddy bear thing?" Old Sullivan had been busy with filming but the stuffed toys phenomenon hasn't been missed by him. "I still find it hard to believe that your Hobbes toy has overtaken something like that Teddy Ruxpin toy."

"Well, we're still tanking Teddy Ruxpin unit sales and Miss Marker's graphs may have some deficits but it doesn't lie."

"Even with that fancy schmancy title that Worlds of Wonder' had gotten for it?"

"Yeah, Teddy Ruxpin being the "Official Spokesbear for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children" is something but they're still out of reach for most households." Alexander reasoned. "Hobbes may not have a fancy title or fancy engineering but its simplicity and relative cheapness are more than enough."

For its first 30 days, 41,000 units of Teddy Ruxpin had indeed been sold but 100,000 units and counting for Stuffed Hobbes is still the more ludicrous achievement.

Two September-debuting toys had indeed done that but Old Sullivan has his suspicion. "I still find it hard to believe that we're just lucky with timing that."

"When you're in luck, you're in luck." Alexander shrugged with that. Masterminding the whole thing was great but his information sources are too fantastical to brag about.

Old Sullivan didn't look into that any further and was more interested in other things. "What about our October projects? I've been able to get some grasp of it from reports that have been sent to me but what about things that couldn't be included in those formal reports."

"Costumes are about as successful in small terms as we expected it to be."

"Back to the Future Day was a success and all other things involving BttF is a guaranteed good news." Alexander had hesitation but he still continued. "Even the royal family was quite supportive of the film's UK showings."

"Royalty and their ways of trying to stay relevant. Tapping into popular things just because they aren't anymore is a signature move." English nobility and royalty were pretty much the same in the eyes of Old Sullivan. They are to be scorned and nitpicked for what they had done to his family and family business.

"Anyways, the shirt sales are still restricted as we planned but BttF toys cars are more attainable and sought after." Alexander just moved on before it could become a long rant. "More attainable and high selling than the real ones... to the point that that John DeLorean guy made a call to HQ. It wasn't some publicized thank-you letter this time around."

Old Sullivan can't say that he was even surprised. "He asked for something, didn't he?"

"We both expected him to do that, so a re-reading of our contracted deal was all that he got." Alexander added. "I even had Mr. Legalities do it for a more legal effect."

"Haha! That should be quite effective." Old Sullivan felt that he should use that strategy a lot more.

"Honestly, I hoped that we could have legal-ed our way to owning the whole DMC company but going in the automobile just drains money." Hopes would always be dashed with certain things. Besides branching to extreme businesses like automobiles don't sit well with Creed's current priorities.

"As for Prey... well it's on the same sales track as our other Volume Books." Alexander was quite relieved on this one. "I kind of thought that the Native American move was going to be controversial but that controversy seems to just do good in terms of sales."

"Anything of note that you'll be doing this November." Old Sullivan asked.

"New product releases or special projects are on hold this month since we're building momentum for December." Alexander reasoned. "By then, we'll be spreading out the remaining toy lines for the Christmas season. Although, I'll be holding off on Dragonball and TMNT-themed stuff for when the time is right."

"Just in time for the airing of the shows." Old Sullivan nodded in understanding and can't help but feel pride when he realized how far they have come.

Of course, he was also looking forward to what things could be. "I wonder how much money we'll have made by then and how many people would tune in to watch the shows?"

"I don't know." Alexander answered but it surely wouldn't be as many as the stares that are coming their way.

"What's this I hear about you're little deal with Lucasfilm's Graphics Group then?" Old Sullivan also took note of his grandson's unexplained business decision as well.

"I'll tell you about that later."

Old Sullivan always keeps an eye for Alex's intent and this Graphics Group should be pretty important. "Why later though?"

"Because of those." Alexander pointed at the unabashed stares towards the both of them.

He kind of got lost in the reporting groove that he didn't realize that those obvious stares were back again.

This time, it seemed more intense.

The stare-rs can't be blamed though. An old man and a little kid were talking about their booming business and that was a novelty in itself.

The eavesdropping crowd kind of accepted the fact that the kid was someone impressive but this new revelation just takes the cake.

Of course, there was also the old producer that they've been hanging around with as well. What kind of grandfather leaves those kinds of things for his grandson to do?

Suffice to say, this grandfather-grandson duo was just something else!

In fact, they deserved to be stared at!