Summary: Someone else from Tracy Island has made a New Year’s resolution. Can Brains keep the one he makes? Will it have the desired results? And will the family let Grandma keep her resolution?
Fandom: Thunderbirds TV-verse
Characters: Hiram “Brains” Hackenbacker, Grandma Tracy, Gordon Tracy, Tin-Tin Kyrano
Rating: K+
Warnings: mild language
Original publication date: December 27, 2006
Chapters: 9/?
Status: work in progress

Notes and disclaimer: The plot here was a sequel to Resolutions. The primary character is Brains, and the story focuses mainly on his quest to cultivate a more appealing physical demeanor. There’s a subplot showing Grandma’s resolution to stop making so many fattening desserts, as well as a romantic subplot concerning Gordon and Tin-Tin. Like Resolutions, this started out as a chapter a day story which was supposed to culminate on January 1st. Unfortunately, I was unable to make my own deadlines, and of this date, the story is still unfinished. I will eventually complete it.

The friendship between John Tracy and Brains is based on “The Complete Thunderbirds Story” in Thunderbirds: The Comic. This particular page was published in Volume 55, November 13-25, 1993. Though the story says they met at Tracy College, it’s stated elsewhere that John went to Harvard. I extrapolated from that a bit and put Brains at nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Not entirely far-fetched that the two might meet considering John’s course of study.

Brains’s choice of eye surgery was prompted by my husband’s cataract surgery. The orthodontic measures he uses are from a current technology called Invisilign (www.invisilign.com). His creation of the aircraft “Skythrust” and mentions of the Skylight Roof are from the episode, “Alias Mr. Hackenbacker”. The brownies that a certain Tracy tries to make are One Bowl Brownies; I got the recipe from Holiday Desserts, Kraft General Foods, Inc., 1993. My attempt at Kiwi words and phrases are the result of diving into this website: http://www.Chemistry.co.nz/kiwi.htm. I used Eleanor as Grandma Tracy’s first name as she has none in canon.

The characters of Drs. Brisco and Rangihau, Arthur Mansfield, Dawn Pearson, Chloe, and Sam are mine. Dena (aka AmandaTracy) is herself–though she is not from New Zealand. Betareading and sounding board thanks go to ArtisticRainey, Kerrigan Sheehan, Lillehafrue, and my late friend, Hobbeth, who was on vacation at first, and then undergoing chemotherapy as the story progressed.

I didn’t create them; Gerry and Sylvia Anderson did. I don’t own them, ITV/Granada does. I’m just writing about them.

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Ch. 1: The Resolution
Ch. 2: Step 1: Clothes
Ch. 3: Step 2: Eyes
Ch. 4: Step 3: Teeth
Ch. 5: Step 4: Confidence
Ch. 6: Plateau: Mixed Signals
Ch. 7: Step 5: Interests
Ch. 8: Step 6: Follow Up
Ch. 9: Plateau: Misunderstandings