A Station Eight Fan Web Site

Gargoyles

The Phoenix Gate

Comment Room Archive

Comments for the week ending April 17, 2011

Index : Hide Images

When the show first aired, I wasn't able to watch all the episodes in order. So, sometimes it was confusing for me. I know I didn't see City of Stone until the show was broadcast on USA. And I remember seeing The Gathering before I saw Avalon, so I had no idea who old Princess Katherine was. But the story was so well told, that I didn't mind being lost on certain plot points. I was also able to use the Internet even back then to help me catch up.
Richard Jackson

How is this convoluted? This is pretty straight forward.

And just because the gargoyles are living at the castle doesn't make Xanatos their buddy.

Greg Bishansky - [<--- Greg's Blog of Clue-By-Fours]

haha, that settles that
Hanal

Thinking about it now... and after watching a few episodes... i'm going to have to agree with u Hanal. And... i'm sure that the news report at the end of Hunter's Moon Pt.3 about the gargoyles escaping with Xanatos probably helped the Illuminati a lot...
Sophia

It's defineately convoluted. The Illuminati right now are playing at least 4 angles on the Gargoyle issue- through Xanatos, Bluestone, Castaway and Thailog (through Shari). Of those candidates, I'd guess that Castaway would have been the one to pass it on to them.
Hanal

Oh wow... this is all so very convoluted. How did the illuminati know that the gargoyles were there? Did Xanatos tell them? He is a member. Was that just another Xanatos betrayal?
Sophia

SOPHIA> Demona is not all knowing. And as for the gargoyles returning to the castle, well... that's hardly much of a secret. Thailog knew they were there when he attacked on Halloween (just a few days later). John Castaway knows they're there. The Illuminati knows they're there.
Greg Bishansky - [<--- Greg's Blog of Clue-By-Fours]

yea, i'm pretty sure you're right, Hanal. And, i'm pretty sure that in High Moon Demona mentioned something about not knowing where to look for the eye of odin and such.
Still i feel that Demona knows more -and sometimes less -than what she lets on. Something tells me that she might know that Goliath and the clan are now in the castle... who knows, maybe she started stalking them after Angela came into the picture because, u know, every mother wants to keep an eye on her daughter.
Hmm... You know, i've come to the conclusion that Demona is just all knowing O.o

Sophia

HANAL> That was also said in the actual episode. I thought it was pretty crystal clear.
Greg Bishansky - [<--- Greg's Blog of Clue-By-Fours]

I think I read once in Ask Greg that Demona only knew to go to the clocktower in High Noon because she was under the weird sister's spell. After that she wouldn't have memory of it.
Hanal

ok :) thnk u so much Antiyonder :)
Sophia

Sophia> I'll do my best, but as a fair warning, when we are able to post questions again, these ones are basically spoiler requests, so Greg will not answer them:

1. Details are still very vague, but I believe they meet due to some behind the scenes activity of Brooklyn, Mary and Finella.

2. No clue.

3. I'm not really sure, but one of the many business is a coffee shop (like Starbucks).

Antiyonder

Yeah. I was at SEMO for a year. I didn't graduate from there.
Matt - [Saint Louis, Missouri, USA]
"Uh, the good news is that his air supply is holding out..." "What's the bad news?" "The bad news is that he isn't breathing." - Vince Pelligrino and Avery Butler, ExoSquad

Hey everyone :) i have a few quick questions that i was hoping someone could answer for me -or help me find somewhere.

1.How did Demona meet puck?

2.Did Demona know where the gargoyles spent the days (the castle) after the clock tower was destroyed in Hunter's Moon? if so, how? I know she figured out that they were in the clock tower before in High Noon because she stole Coldstone with Macbeth from the clock tower. But how was she able to figure out they returned to the castle -if she did?

3.What exactly does Night Stone Unlimited do as a business?

Thanks a bunch :)

Sophia

Matt from St. Louis. I was reading the comment room archives and I noticed that you used to put down Cape Girardeau, MO as your city. Did you go to SEMO? I'm the class of '09.
Richard Jackson - [rickymtj@yahoo.com]

Matt from St. Louis. I was reading the comment room archives and I noticed that you used to put down Cape Girardeau, MO as your city. Did you go to SEMO? I'm the class of '09.
Richard Jackson - [rickymtj@yahoo.com]

Bought a used book today called "Clans and Tartans of Scotland", which provides a lot of information about old Scottish families. There's one called "MacBeth" [sic]; the entry comments on the difference between the Macbeth of history and that of Shakespeare, and states that the main branch of the clan lived in Moray. Another Scottish clan was called the Hunters, though they didn't come to Scotland until the 12th century (during the reign of David I, the youngest of Canmore's sons - at least, the youngest of them who became King of Scotland); they did, however, start off as the huntsmen for the Dukes of Normandy (the family that Princess Elena, Princess Katharine's mother, came from).

I learned from this book that the name "Malcolm" originally meant "Servant of Columba" (St. Columba, who appeared in the Stone of Destiny story - Chapter Eight of "Clan-Building", to be precise).

Todd Jensen - [merlyn1@mindspring.com]

Antiyonder > I have picked up Clan Building, Volume 2, so I know about the connection between Constantine and the Hunter. My point is that that connection seems to have been hinted at even back in "Avalon, Part 1," which was written some fifteen years prior.
Paul - [nampahcfluap@yahoo.com]

The steadily growing number of Gargoyles characters on Formspring never fail to amuse me. Once Nashville mentioned jalapeno peppers, I HAD to ask if he actually meant everyone's favorite word. Gnash told me to watch my mouth. Heh.
Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!

GregX: lol, maybe you'll have a small appreciation for it again come summer when you'll need your VHS copy of TGC to prop up your air conditioning ;)

(That image you linked to here -- or it was posted in the GargWiki, I forget -- last summer still cracks me up) d:

Phoenician
"The suspense is terrible, I hope it lasts" -- Willy Wonka

I dunno, I guess after all these years I'm just sick of TGC. So, if I'm harsh when it comes up, well... I hope you understand.
Greg Bishansky - [<--- Greg's Blog of Clue-By-Fours]

RICHARD JACKSON - I didn't mind your speculating about "The Goliath Chronicles"; while the basic premise (that Eric Lewald was influenced by his work on the FOX "X-Men" animated series) wasn't new (I'd speculated on that before), the theories about specific episodes were new to me. (I've sometimes wondered if "Genesis Undone" was loosely based on the Double Date story - Thailog, the Clones, Sevarius, and securing the clan's genetic material for a new Sevarius project - even the cry "Send in the clones!" Of course, the Double Date story was a lot better than "Genesis Undone".)

For that matter, I recall that the FOX "X-Men" series ended with Xavier being taken away by the Shi'ar, leaving the anti-mutant hysteria problem unresolved, a bit like the original plan for the end of "The Goliath Chronicles", to have the gargoyles run away from New York, leaving the anti-gargoyle histerica problem unresolved.

Todd Jensen - [merlyn1@mindspring.com]

OK, I'll talk about some canon Gargoyles episodes and comparing them to another series.

I noted on the Garg Wiki and I asked Greg Weisman about it, because some Batman episodes are similar plot wise to Gargoyles. I won't discuss "Avatar" and "Grief", because I know that's been discussed to death.

The first two episodes that I found very similar were Batman's "What is Reality?" and Gargoyles' "Legion." I was struck how they both dealt with virtual reality and both episodes were written by Robert Skir and Marty Isenberg. This is what I asked Greg about it: http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=12832

The next two episodes are Batman's "Tyger Tyger" and Gargoyle's "Metamorphosis." Both stories feature a mad scientist mutating a young woman (Selina Kyle and Maggie Reed, respectively) into orange/brownish orange cat mutates. The lead, Batman/Goliath battles a male mutate Tyger/Talon. Michael Reaves was credited with the story on "Tyger Tyger" and he was the story editor on "Metamorphosis." His wife at the time, Brynne Reaves co-wrote "Metamorphosis." Frank Paur directed both episodes and probably had a hand in designing mutated Selina and Maggie.

Before Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition bursts in, I'm not going after the conceptions (meaning I'm not attacking Greg Weisman, Michaels Reaves, Frank Paul) but rather the executions of how both episodes were brought to the screen. Virtual reality and mutating people are common plots of many sci-fi television shows and movies. And I know about Cat-Scan. It makes sense to mutate a character into a cat, since cats are strong and agile.

But when we get into the writing and art of these episodes does anyone else see the similarities? What do you think of it? I slightly prefer "What is Reality" to "Legion", but I think "Metamorphosis" is a million times better than "Tyger Tyger" because of its sad, realistic ending.

Richard Jackson - [rickymtj@yahoo.com]

The GargWiki situation is close to being solved, I think. I can't make any statements about it until it's official, but it will be back soon.
Greg Bishansky - [<--- Greg's Blog of Clue-By-Fours]

Hanal> I see. I'm not sure how we can get it online without the wiki.

To answer some specific questions you raised, Maol Chalvim I had three sons: Duff, Kenneth II (from "Avalon"), and Prince Malcolm (of Castle Wyvern). The Grim (aka Kenneth III) is Duff's son, and Bodhe is the Grim's son. Gruoch is Bodhe's daughter.

Gillecomgain is the son of Mail Brigti, who is the illegitimate half-brother of Findlaech (Macbeth's father). Macbeth and Gillecomgain are therefore cousins. Both Macbeth and Gillecomgain married Gruoch at various times (which made the family tree quite complicated in their corner). Macbeth is also descended from Kenneth II through Kenneth II's son, Maol Chalvim II (from "Avalon" and Clan Building 2), and Maol Chalvim II's daughter Doada (Findlaech's wife).

I realise you probably wanted to see it all out visually, and I'm willing to share the image if you can think of somewhere to put it, but I'm not generally very good at that.

Supermorff

Greg Bishansky> Well, first of all, I have nothing but disdain for "The Goliath Chronicles." Perhaps I failed on my part, but I was only trying to mention how someone involved with X-Men did work on Gargoyles (albeit non-canonical) and I took shots at what I perceived to be Lewald's cutting corners method of storytelling.

I wasn't even attacking your essay, which was quite good. I kind of used it as a springboard for my own tangent. Perhaps I'm naive, but I thought the comment room existed to talk about Gargoyles or Greg Weisman related media. Mine was just one post in the thousands of posts in the comment room every year. Anyone can disagree with me or ignore me, but there's no reason to act like I've committed some kind of Gargoyles blasphemy.

Supermorff> Now that you mention it, I do see Demona and Angela as stand ins for Mystique and Rogue, respectively on the TGS. There were plenty of X-Men episodes where Mystique would try to lure Rogue back. The Proeteus episode of TGS, "Seeing is Believing" reminded me of eps of the X-Men where the shapeshifter Morph who was under Mister Sinister's control tormented the X-Men for awhile. If there was ever a Magneto character, I guess the TGC version of Xanatos would serve, since Magneto became a good guy and somewhat emasculated in the 1980s in the comic. ;)

>>Jade. Thanks for coming to my defense.

Richard Jackson - [rickymtj@yahoo.com]

Nothing specific, just wanted to look at the line overall- see who the "grim" is, how Bhode fit in, and Gillecomegain. My perception from the show was that he was just a farm boy but it appears he has royal connections after all. It can wait til the wiki is back up.

I was so excited to see the old Scotland portion of Avalon continued in clan building 2... to see what happened after Constantine took over was a treat.

Hanal

Greg Bishansky: "To bring some more conversation to the CR, I thought I would share an essay I just posted in my blog."

It brought some conversation to the CR, did it not?

In regards to TGC, it will unfortunately be forever linked Gargoyles. Therefore, instead of being annoyed that someone brought it up, perhaps you should be grateful for fact that you started a discussion in the CR – even if said discussion touched upon an area of Gargoyles that you do not much care for.

I suppose that what I am saying is that you obviously desire for conversation in the CR as evident in your quote above, but yet your statement of "We kind of know all that. I'll be honest, when I wrote that essay, I didn't expect anyone to bring up TGC. I'm a little bit annoyed that you chose to" is quite frankly a conversation killer. Furthermore, one could state that the tone used is somewhat, well, rude on your part.

By stating this I am by no means trying to start a fight with you, but having lurked this CR for over ten years I noticed that you have a tendency to be somewhat condescending towards others.

Jade

Hanal> I think I've got it, although I'm not sure I've still got the code I used to make it. What needs straightening out?

Richard Jackson> Didn't Lewald play up 'Demona as Mystique'? TGC Demona essentially revolved around her failed relationship with Angela and X-Men Mystique had that thing with Rogue. Again, it's such a tenuous connection, but here are two characters that look superficially similar so why not assume they must have similar personalities as well? Ugh.

Somewhat tangentially, I did like an image that was entered for the Monthly Gargoyles Contest when that was still running, featuring Gargoyles women in costume as X-Men characters. I think Demona was playing Mystique in that too.

Supermorff

Hi Gargoyles Community,

Many of you have been riding the copyright line with stuff like fan fiction, websites, fan art, etc for some time.

Where do you guys think an amateur fan made game would fit in to Disney's tolerance? Too big a risk? Has that ever been talked about?

Hanal

RICHARD JACKSON> We kind of know all that. I'll be honest, when I wrote that essay, I didn't expect anyone to bring up TGC. I'm a little bit annoyed that you chose to.
Greg Bishansky - [<--- Greg's Blog of Clue-By-Fours]

Anyone know where I can find that scottish family tree graphic? Just was reading Clan Building 2 and wanted to straighten some things out.
Hanal

I'm surprised that Eric Lewald didn't play up Demona as Magneto, since he turned Goliath into Charles Xavier and the Quarrymen into the Friends of Humanity. Of course, many have observed that he was concurrently story editing X-Men and The Goliath Chronicles that year and a lot scripts for TGC seemed like rejected scripts for X-Men, slightly re-written. And not always rejected scripts, since "The Dying of the Light" was a reworking of a season two episode of X-Men, "Beauty and the Beast." The Beast and his blind friend are at a hospital that is attacked by the Friends of Humanity. And "To Serve Mankind" could be a re-working of "Weapon X, Lies and Videotape", a season 4 episode.

I've kind of wondered why Lewald was the producer/story editor on two shows at the same time. Did he think that Gargoyles was similar to X-Men that it would be an easy gig? And aside from the few episodes written by Cary Bates, Greg Weisman, and Lydia Marano, all the other episodes were credited to X-Men staff writers, Mark Eden, Len Uhley, Brook Wachtel, Steve Cuden, Len Wein, and Julia Lewald. I know "Ransom", "Runaways" and "And Justice For All" were Greg Weisman's ideas that were horribly twisted beyond recognition, but the others I really believe were X-scripts in a drawer that Eric Lewald story edited (ghost re-wrote it) to make it a Gargoyles story and story credit went to the original X-Men writer.

Richard Jackson - [rickymtj@yahoo.com]

THANK YOU, JADE!!!!
K7OP

K7OP: It's nice to hear that Gargoyles starting airing again on Italian television. As long as the show is on the airways, we can always hope that one day it will be recognized for the masterpiece that it really is.

As for your questions, the last thing I heard is that Disney still has no real intentions to release the rest of Gargoyles on DVD for the American or Canadian fans. Thus, I do not see Disney releasing the DVDs to other countries anytime soon.

If you want to contact the Italian headquarters for Disney, however, I think that this can only help matters. After all, you would be informing them that there are people out there that would like to see the release of Gargoyles on DVD in Italy. I don't think that one letter will cause Disney to release the DVDs in Italy, but if you can get a bunch of Gargoyles fans to write letters then hopefully Disney will give some thought as to releasing Gargoyles on DVD in Italian.

I hope that I answered your questions, and I wish the best of luck to you in your quest to get Gargoyles on DVD in Italian. Also, keep up the great job that you are doing learning the English language, for learning a second language is never an easy thing. I know this from firsthand experience in my attempt to learn German.

Jade

Thank you, and I hope so!!!!
K7OP

K7OP> If we could answer your question, we would.
Antiyonder - [antiyonder@yahoo.com]
Algernon's comment about Norman Osborn: One of the neat things about Dark Reign is that it gives Osborn the chance to expand his horizons beyond tormenting a twenty nine year old who still lives with his mom.

OPs, none wants answer me?
K7OP

Sorry if I very very bored, but now wants answer me?
K7OP

Does anyone else want to know the story of how Xanatos and Fox met?
Xera

So did anyone else get the Darkwing Duck Classics Volume 1? After waiting for it, my comic store finally got a copy of it.

Upon getting it, the trade was a mixed bag as I was hoping to get some stories I've never read before (aside from the last one titled "The Found World"). But they are favorites of mine just the same.

Especially Liquid Diet which has Liquidator operating on his own, and Darkwing Duck briefly being turned into a watery being like Liquidator.

Paul> Funny you should ask that question. Go pick up Gargoyles Clan Building Volume 2.

Antiyonder - [antiyonder@yahoo.com]
Algernon's comment about Norman Osborn: One of the neat things about Dark Reign is that it gives Osborn the chance to expand his horizons beyond tormenting a twenty nine year old who still lives with his mom.

Great post! Besides, Demona just cant be talk to. Magneto is reasonable.
GB

Thanks for your thoughts, Bishansky. I especially liked your remark about how Demona places revenge on humanity over the well-being of gargoyles; I think that her choosing revenge over giving the slaughtered gargoyles a Wind Ceremony in the Timedancer story in "Clan-Building" demonstrated that most of all. (And that's just three years after the Wyvern Massacre! Think of what she must be like after over nine more centuries.)

The Stone of Destiny story, incidentally, with the light it threw on Macbeth's activities between 1057 and the present-day, showed how different Macbeth is from her, for that matter. We learned in that story that Macbeth fought alongside his fellow Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn against the English, and that he participated in the 1950 theft of the Stone of Destiny, both acts of Scottish patriotism. He'd clearly kept his love for his homeland alive during that time, and hadn't pursued revenge above all else, as Demona had - even if it was there on some level over the centuries.

Todd Jensen - [merlyn1@mindspring.com]

From "Avalon, Part One," I caught a few more tidbits that are either a lucky coincidence or some brilliant foreshadowing: When Maol Chalvim says about Constantine "He hunts me even now," and when Katharine says "He will hunt me to the ends of the earth," it makes me wonder if Greg W. already had a plan to link Constantine to the Hunter?
Paul - [nampahcfluap@yahoo.com]

To bring some more conversation to the CR, I thought I would share an essay I just posted in my blog.

***

A Pond of Similarities; An Ocean of Differences

As most of you know, two of my favorite all time characters are Marvel Comics' Magneto, and Disney's Demona. Throughout the years, both characters have often been compared, even the Nostalgia Critic described her as "sort of a female Magneto." Some have even debated what would happen if the two ever somehow crossed paths. I figured I would bring my perspective on this match up. Are Demona and Magneto soul mates from different universes, or are they really too different to work with one another.

Let's look at their origins for a moment. Magneto was born Max Eisenhardt to a Jewish family in Germany. During the rise and reign of Adolf Hitler. To flee persecution, they fled to Poland just in time for the Nazis to invade. After spending some time in the Warsaw Ghetto, young Max's family was killed before Max himself was shipped off to Auschwitz where he survived working as a sonderkommando before escaping with a young gypsy girl named Magda who would eventually become his wife. Later on, they had a daughter named Anya who was killed in a burning building, and when the mob refused to allow Max to rescue her, his powers manifested where he killed everyone in the village. His wife fled in terror of him, calling him a monster. There were other events that took place before Max Eisenhardt (now calling himself Erik Lehnsherr or Magnus) became Magneto, but let's take a look at Demona.

The gargoyle who would become Demona hatched in the early tenth century. Years and years of bigotry made the young gargoyle paranoid and fearful of the humans they shared living space with at Castle Wyvern. But having always been driven to power, she studied magic under the Archmage who treated her cruelly, and even pushed her mate, the young second in command who would be named Goliath to wrestle leadership of the clan. While Goliath refused, their mentor and leader stepped down and Goliath became leader and his angel of the night became second. But the humans continued to treat the gargoyles with nothing but contempt, and when a band of Vikings started raiding the castle, Demona made a bargain with the Captain of the Guard to betray the humans of the castle and allow the Vikings to sack it, and take the humans away as slaves. Goliath, unintentionally screwed up her plan and before sunrise, Demona got nervous and fled, leaving her clan to the mercy of the Vikings who shattered them while they slept. Most of the clan had been killed and Goliath and the surviving gargoyles were cursed to stone sleep for the next thousand years.

Demona herself wandered for decades, gathering together a makeshift clan of gargoyles, and just barely surviving. Eventually, she allied herself with Macbeth, and helped him defend his people from King Duncan, overthrowing the king and allowing Macbeth to take the throne. Seventeen years later, when Duncan's son Canmore invaded Scotland with the English, Demona paranoid that Macbeth would betray her, abandoned him and allied herself with Canmore. Only for her new clan to be destroyed, and Demona (now immortally linked to Macbeth) spend the next ten centuries alone and wandering the world.

Both Demona and Magneto have very tragic pasts. But while Magneto has legitimate reasons to be angry at the world, and humanity at large, he is not at fault for the things that happened while Demona's own misery is largely self-inflicted. It wasn't Magneto's fault that Hitler wanted to exterminate the Jews.

Their priorities are also quite opposite. Despite what Demona says, destroying humanity takes precedent over the welfare of the gargoyle species. With Magneto, while I'm sure he'd be willing to push the genocide button, he doesn't particularly want to. In fact, when he ruled Genosha, he allowed the human population to live there in peace, and didn't pursue any kind of persecution and allowed humans to sit in his cabinet. For Magneto, genocide is a means to an end. For Demona, genocide is the end.

The key difference is that there is no self-delusion on Magneto's part. Demona's hatred of humanity is a rationalization of her own guilt and self loathing. Magneto, by contrast, truly believes in his heart of hearts that he's doing what needs to be done. Magneto is basically what Demona likes to think she is.

Now, to answer my perspective on whether these two could ever conceivably work together, since I have seen this question come up. While I think Magneto would empathize with Demona at first, it would end once she inevitably stabbed him in the back. To Demona, mutants would just be humans who can crush tanks with their mind. She'd probably still try to manipulate him for her own ends like she did with Xanatos. But it would not last long at all.

Greg Bishansky - [<--- Greg's Blog of Clue-By-Fours]

Yikes, those are apostrophes.
Landon Thomas - [<- Gargoyles News Twitter Feed]

Young Justice #6 cover and plot synopsis (spoilers): http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/news.php/news.php?action=fullnews&id=1008 It'll be out on July 20th.

Jonathan Frakes remembers Gargoyles: http://www.ugo.com/tv/jonathan-frakes-bar-karma-interview

Frakes: I don�t know why Gargoyles was taken off the air, but that's a question that always comes up. I was at Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle and there�s always a factor of the audience who know that the show was taken off the air too quickly and I had thought that there were talks of a movie but I don�t think Greg Weisman or Jamie Thomasan are involved in it, which seems odd to me. So I�m not sure what the status of that is.

UGO: It was definitely a show that went before its time, and it's hugely ripe for some kind of reboot, or remake.

Frakes: I agree, totally. It was so literate, and filled with talented actors and writers, and the animation was great. It was very special, and it should still be on the air. Not only the mythology was great, but they had a lot of Shakespeare references, and the kids didn�t know it, but they were getting some version of education.

Landon Thomas - [<- Gargoyles News Twitter Feed]

And I forgot to say that: I really hope my english it's understandable.

If not tell me, please!!!

K7OP

Hi guys I am back!

How are you all?

Listen: Gargoyles are returned in Italy in TV every saturday and sunday at 7:00 a.m.

(I know it might be a stupid question) Do you think Disney has now intenction to release the DVD in other countries?

What do you think to contact the italian (sorry I do not remember the name in english) place of the Disney and ask them to release the DVDs in Italy, my country?

K7OP

BRAINIAC & ANONYMOUS> We're currently working on finding a solution for GargWiki. It will be back up as soon as possible. I can't talk about what's up just yet, but we're working on it.

But we're not doing anything with Grimorum. Just trying to nip that in the bud now.

Greg Bishansky - [GBishansky@gmail.com]

To clarify, the wiki being offline makes it unusable, not the wiki being the wiki. The point about wikia still stands, though.
Anonymous

Doesn't matter whether the wiki's offline or on wikia, both are equally unusable.
Anonymous

A thought came to me while checking on some info to send to a few of the Gargoyles characters on Formspring tonight. There might be a way to bypass the issues with GargWiki's current site provider. Would consolidation with the Grimorum be out of the question?
Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!

I think a lot of the speculative questions like guessing which villains are members of The Light should be tossed, since they are almost suggesting a villain and that could be seen as tossing in an original idea.
Richard Jackson

Greg B.: You misunderstand me. I agree entirely with your assessment, but what I see as the greatest danger of it is that the jerkass questions put Greg W. in a decidedly bad mood when it comes to answering genuine and intelligent questions and criticisms. As he said himself in the post that started this line of discussion, the idiots are threatening to "ruin things for everyone else," since he's only human and he acknowledges that his patience is limited.

Which is, I believe, the reason why we both agree that a tightening of the guidelines is long overdue at this point.

Masterdramon - [kmc12009@mymail.pomona.edu]
"If you start me up, I'll never stop..." Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones

MASTERDRAMON> I don't see any "knee-jerk" reaction to fan criticism. I see reaction to people behaving like obnoxious assholes. And frankly, I kind of hope the rules do change a bit. Maybe more intelligent questions will get through instead of the same old crap.
Greg Bishansky - [GBishansky@gmail.com]

Finally. Antiyonder and Matt may have forgotten to say it, but they're ninth and tenth, respectively. I guess things can "officially" begin now, huh?

Oh, and Formspring Merlin has been found and released. I plan to ask him his thoughts on the Sam Neill miniseries shortly. Heh.

Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!

Greg W, for various reasons, has always rejected our ideas for booting out questions (rude, already asked, irrelevant etc.). So with the exception of the long standing "no original ideas" booting of questions, I wouldn't expect any new guidelines be put in place. No matter how badly we might desire them.
Matt - [Saint Louis, Missouri, USA]
"Uh, the good news is that his air supply is holding out..." "What's the bad news?" "The bad news is that he isn't breathing." - Vince Pelligrino and Avery Butler, ExoSquad

Antiyonder: Yeah, that's pretty much the implementation method I was suggesting. While I do incredibly admire the dedication is must have taken Greg W. to continue answering any and all questions that come his way for over a decade like this, there's no denying that the AskGreg questioning base is currently exploiting that influence over his life, and needs limits placed upon it so that the man's knee-jerk reaction to fan criticism doesn't become severe irritation.

But hey, that's just my two cents. XP

Masterdramon - [kmc12009@mymail.pomona.edu]
"If you start me up, I'll never stop..." Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones

Wanted to comment on something last week that Masterdramon responded to, but couldn't get the words to feel right:
"On a more serious note, once the question-asking feature does come back on...Greg W. seems to consider it somewhat draconian, but I honestly don't see a problem with placing a blanket ban on rude or impertinent posts (on pain of deletion), the same way as is done for idea suggestions. If people can't express their complaints to one of the creators of the show in a calm and respectful manner, I fail to see why they should continue to have a largely unobstructed method of direct communication to him."

As I understand, the reason why questions that go against the rules don't get deleted is so that the person posting them doesn't feel like they're being singled out or ignored, but you know that pop up when you post a question/comment "You have checked the archives, right?"?

Well, I always felt another one could be added along the lines of "If this question goes against the rules (i.e. rudely spoken, asking for spoilers or already asked), then this question will be deleted on the spot". I mean an advanced warning would make said deletion fair, right?

And I'm posting this now because, well, check one of the recently responded questions.

Regardless, there probably is something I'm missing, but I've wanted to type this for a while, so here it is.

Antiyonder - [antiyonder@yahoo.com]
Algernon's comment about Norman Osborn: One of the neat things about Dark Reign is that it gives Osborn the chance to expand his horizons beyond tormenting a twenty nine year old who still lives with his mom.

Chip> I do believe all there is to say to that is...oooh, snap! Or burn. Either/or. Go Lunette.
Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!

I just loved these recent answers to questions asked of Lunette. It seemed very...in tune with some of the questions about gargoyles depictions in fanfic that came up here in the CR last week. http://www.formspring.me/LunetteofLondon/q/181842179877018688 & http://www.formspring.me/LunetteofLondon/q/181843104695879830
Chip - [<------The League of Extraordinary Nerds Here!]
"An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason." C. S. Lewis

...I just realized I accidentally quoted ZZ Top in my weekly Rolling Stones quote tag. I now feel quite silly. XD
Masterdramon - [kmc12009@mymail.pomona.edu]
"If you start me up, I'll never stop..." Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones

Oh dear...I think I'm in trouble when my time comes. I'm sure a few of you remember my questioning about Hermanubis as an Avatar and, well, I asked...

http://www.formspring.me/Djethuty/q/181804153272560192

...the Jackal God is going to take one look at me and feed my ka to Ammut, isn't he?

Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!

ATE!
Rebel

Seven
Phil - [p1anderson@yahoo.com]

**Looks down, confused**

No problem, Brainiac:

SIXTH!!

;)

Phoenician
"The suspense is terrible, I hope it lasts" -- Willy Wonka

Heh-heh-heh. I finally decided to bait Demona...though I suppose she's Dominique right now if she's still here in the States (I wonder if Ms. Destine should get a Formspring as well).

"You, Deanna Troi, and Queen Bee all walk into a bar...stop me if you've heard this joke before."

Now would some new people start posting so the second half of the countdown can get finished?

Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!

Brainiac> D'oh!
Chip - [<------The League of Extraordinary Nerds Here!]
"An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason." C. S. Lewis

Morgan Freeman? I think you mean Morgan Sheppard.

Though I'd accept Anthony Hopkins as well.

Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!

Brainiac> And Morgan Freeman for Odin. Thoth surprised me though...
Chip - [<------The League of Extraordinary Nerds Here!]
"An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason." C. S. Lewis

Chip> Yeah, a few of the old gods are on Formspring as their Oberati forms. In particular:

http://www.formspring.me/Djethuty
http://www.formspring.me/Yinepu (just imagine every answer in the voice of Tony Jay)
http://www.formspring.me/OdinofAsgard

Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!

Brainiac> Thoth? Must have missed that one.
Chip - [<------The League of Extraordinary Nerds Here!]
"An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason." C. S. Lewis

Just want to prove my point with a little fanart.

(NOTE: This is not a comment on the art itself, only the concept it's portraying. I follow this artist on DA, I think they're a great artist, I'm just picking these pieces because of the subject.)

This kiss ( http://fav.me/dmvrsj ) looks quite natural.

This kiss ( http://fav.me/dmfran ) does not. It looks like they're biting each other to me.

I just don't think it's possible.

Aldrea

Chip> Yeah, submitting a question doesn't necessarily mean it will get answered (or answered quickly, for that matter). I also sent Shari an explanation for why I asked her about siblings that'll probably never get posted (for obvious reasons) and I asked Arthur if he saw a multi-limbed frenzied swordsman while helping the Ishimura clan. I don't expect every question to pop up.

Frankly, if I do set up a Sevarius account, I'm gonna have to set up a more standard one as well (I think I even have the perfect icon for it). I've been making several references and comments on a few of the accounts that, if I continue, I'd like to start concentrating into a single account, but they're things Sevarius would never say (or care about). Case in point, I asked Djethuty (Thoth) his opinion of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!

If you don't mind me continuing from last week's topic, here's another human thing that gargoyles picked up in fanfiction/fanart: KISSING.

At first, this didn't really bug me because we see gargoyles kissing in the show and in the comics: Goliath and Elisa, Angela and Broadway. These are explained by the fact that Elisa is human and wouldn't get the same thrill from hair brushing as a female gargoyle would, Angela was raised by humans and probably saw her human caretakers kiss a few times, and Broadway is young and easily influenced by the human world. But then I started really thinking about it. All these kisses have been from gargoyles with human faces. Once again, this leaves out gargoyles with beaks! There's no way they can kiss. And yet, fanfiction writers and fanart artists write and draw kisses between beaked gargoyles anyway.

But why?! Gargoyles were perfectly content with brow/hair brushing. As Greg W has said, that's the gargoyle version of kissing. This probably came about from the fact that beaked gargoyles (or the animal-based gargoyles of the London clan) can't kiss. Can you imagine Leo and Una trying to kiss? Or Brooklyn and Katana? How would Griff kiss anyone with a bird beak?

I don't care how the fanartists draw it or the fanwriters write it, I don't think that it's possible for beaked gargoyles to kiss and get any pleasure out of it. Snuggle and nuzzle, sure, but kissing is where I draw the line.

Does this bug anyone else?

Aldrea

Brainiac> Never mind XD something just clicked.
Chip - [<------The League of Extraordinary Nerds Here!]
"An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason." C. S. Lewis

(5th)Fifth!!!!!
Vinnie - [tpeano29@hotmail.com]

In the hallowed names of Plant, Page, Jones, and Bonham, picks up Four Sticks!
Masterdramon - [kmc12009@mymail.pomona.edu]
"Start me up, 'cause what you got is oh-so-sweet..." Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones

Okay, this cracked me up. I was flipping through the old contests on the Monthly Gargoyles Contest website (something I didn't find until near the end of its run) and I found this contest from Dec 1999:
http://mgc.gargoyles-fans.org/result.php?topic_id=22

New Threads for gargoyles! It fit with what we were talking about last week so... yeah :D

Aldrea

Brainiac> Lunette hasn't seemed to answer your question. Are you sure she got it? I think the new players on Formsping have been really fun to watch too. I hope that some of the "old" twitter players decide to revive their accounts and join formspring. The interactive nature of the site makes it far more interesting than Twitter. And maybe you should set up a Sevarius account. Especially if the twitter players don't come back.
Chip - [<------The League of Extraordinary Nerds Here!]
"An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason." C. S. Lewis

Third!
Chip - [<------The League of Extraordinary Nerds Here!]
"An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason." C. S. Lewis

Second?
Aldrea

And...first!
Brainiac - [OSUBrainiac at gmail dot com]
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!