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In Captain Marvel, we see Monica doing "fashion designing" for her aunt Carol. What's strange is that how does a kid with nil exposure to Kree tech know how to operate the "designer device".

It could be said that she was doing random guesswork. But, at a point, Carol says "Let's copy your T-shirt's pattern" to Monica and in the very first try Monica is able to achieve the exact pattern. This just cannot be termed as random.

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    It's a visual display for changing the color of an object. If you look closely, the colors of the display are the same as the colors of the suit. It's not a mapping that requires knowledge of Kree programming languages.
    – Adamant
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 10:04
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    @Adamant Whilst that seems partially true, Monica does seem to swipe a lot of colours at the same time if I'm remembering correctly so there might be more to it than that.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 10:05
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    You never seen kids figure out inscrutable computer interfaces really fast? Snapchat's entire existence relies on this ability.
    – Paul D. Waite
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 11:44
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    @PaulD.Waite In the 90s, though?
    – Azor Ahai -him-
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 18:23
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    @AzorAhai Even moreso in the 90s.
    – Schwern
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 19:44

2 Answers 2

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I have tweeted Andy Park, Marvel Studios Director of Visual Development & Concept Artist, who worked on Captain Marvel and this is what he has had to say:

Andy Park's tweet which is quoted below

@CarrotLethal: @andyparkart Hello, I've got a quick question you might be able to answer. How does Monica know how to use the designer on Vers' suit? Thanks!

@andyparkart: I assume it was more Carol letting her have fun with it. The ability of the suits was for camouflage purposes so I’m sure the alien tech allows for intuitive color adjustments rather than Carol having to scroll through specific colors. So the suit can adapt to Monica’s shirt

@AH_AdamHughes: I just assumed the suit has an “I feel lucky” button, like the Google home page

@andyparkart: Woah! I never even knew about that button! But yes.. her suit has the Kree equivalent of that button

Twitter, @andyparkart

Considering this it would appear that three things were going on:

  1. The suit was intuitive enough that it was easy for Monica to see what to do.
  2. The suit had a "I'm feeling lucky" button and so Monica didn't necessarily choose the colours rather than the suit picked random ones.
  3. Monica didn't necessarily chose the final colours, rather the suit itself adapted to her t-shirt.
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    My memory confirms. It is definitely Carol who adopts the pattern and Monica is basically just randomly swiping and looking for the outcome. Yes, the device shows colours. But they are more of a confined range of, say, shades of red, and the panel more or less completely (there seemed a small part close to the hand that does not IIRC) changes colours depending on input. I remember well because I wondered how the hell this is supposed to work.
    – Philip Klöcking
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 10:54
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    No, she was doing random things until Carol asked her to do a specific color scheme(Copy your T-shirt's pattern). Then she was able to perfectly match it first try. So maybe Kree tech is just that intuitive but its a bit odd she was that good at it that fast.
    – Chris
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 14:54
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    @Chris "then Carol uses the device to copy Monica's t-shirt."
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 14:55
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    @TheLethalCarrot I remember Monica used it to copy her shirt. I also remember thinking that they should have had Carol do it because its weird Monica could be that good that fast.
    – Chris
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 15:35
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    Two random thoughts: 1) low-level psychic interface; 2) Carol does it and just pretends Monica did it because she's a kid
    – Azor Ahai -him-
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 16:48
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The designer shows a rainbow from which the colors are selected. From experimenting several times with the device and seeing what certain touches do, Monica figures out what she needs to do to select the colors she wants.

Here is a screenshot of Monica beginning to select the final colors. You can see both the colors on the designer and Monica's red sleeve (click to enlarge):

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    You might want to get a better image as that one is so washed out you can't really see anything.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Mar 26, 2019 at 10:14
  • @TheLethalCarrot I can get more images, but none of better quality right now. When it comes out on BluRay there will be better images out there and I will be able to get something better.
    – Laurel
    Commented Mar 28, 2019 at 18:20

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