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Gargoyles

The Phoenix Gate

Comment Room Archive

Comments for the week ending November 17, 2013

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Anonymous> You can still access the site with its old format if that's what you prefer. Just go to 'old.spring.me'. Everything's still there.
Ross
"The future is in the past! Onwards, Aoshima!"

Okay, not really jazzed about what's going on at the "new" spring.me right now. (Not going to complain about lack of content from the SpecGargs players, though. I KNOW they have personal lives and things going on there, I understand. Still gets me anxious though.) The format as it is? Yeah, just bugs me. Let's count the ways:
-can no longer see any video responses, just the urls.
-also, no way to know how many responses when you go to your followers/following tab; have to go to the actual page to see!
-and now, for some reason, everywhere you go you're redirected to the photos tab instead of the main; what's up with that?

I know I'm griping but I need somewhere to vent. (Yeah, kinda wish spring did go the way of the dodo if this was the direction it was gonna go!)

Anonymous
I WAS The Man Of Many Logins!

Me again
Algernon

ESG> An interesting notion but I'm not sure I totally buy the Queen Florence Island setting, what with scarecrows being primarily European in origin. And there are various crow and raven themed deities in Indo-Eurpean mythology. Odin himself and the Morrigan Irish myth, just off the top of my head.
Anonymous

So according to Wikipedia (the most trustworthy site on the interweb) scarecrows have been around the world for years with with different names. Also there's a Shinto god by the name of Kuebiko that stood for agriculture and knowledge and took the form of a scarecrow. Now if were tying in all the world's mythology to the Children of Oberon, could it be that scarecrows are all based around one central figure, perhaps one of Oberon's children?
Matthew
"Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be!"-Puck

Perhaps the first scarecrow originated a thousand years ago, on Queen Florence island, just after Oberon's children had been banished. Raven saw the island and wanted it for his own, so he sent birds to devour the farmer's crops. The farmers tried to keep them at bay, but they couldn't patrol their fields all night. The town gathered to decide their course of action. An elderly woman spoke, suggesting that the people make men of straw then whisper into their ears at night "We wish to reap what we sow, protect these fields and scare crow." The town thought her mad but humored the old woman, figuring it couldn't hurt. And each night, once all had gone to sleep, the straw men came alive and scared off the crows. And so word of the Scarecrow's effectiveness spread across the country, and Raven began to resort to more subtle tactics.
ESG

They wouldn't need physical strength.

Personally, since Weisman loves Wizard of Oz so much and Oz HAS come up, if the Gargoyles Universe scarecrow can't just be the Scarecrow, it seems logical that the scarecrows are beings of different purpose.

Gargoyles are natural protectors, standing sentinel over their protectorate because that's what they do. Scarecrows are golems created by humanity to protect HUMANITY'S protectorate, the isolated crops that form the backbone of civilization. They were created by mages to evoke the purpose of the gargoyles, but in a way more befitting the cunning and innovation that come with being human.

The creators of scarecrows know they can't effectively recreate gargoyles, so they specifically design creatures that're easy to throw together but their merit is how they mentally psyche out their opponent. They're trickster golems.

Harlan Phoenix
The enemy is clever. We're smaller but whatever. When we put it together, I'll form the head.

Well, maybe there was something particularly nasty that regularly stole people's crops, and they had a magus create some sort of straw golem-like thing to protect the crops against such a predator...

But I would think that an animated scarecrow wouldn't have much physical strength.

Paul - [nampahcfluap at yahoo dot com]

Uh, yeah, "Straw by day, warriors by night" is definitely the comment of the week so far. That made me laugh.

Personally, I'd think scarecrows were some sort of magical construct, not unlike the golem. Of course, it begs the question of why someone would go to that much trouble to protect a field from crows. Unless, that isn't the whole story with scarecrows. All things are true, few things are accurate.

Matt - [Saint Louis, Missouri, USA]
"For science, which, as my associate Fang indicated, must move ever forward. Plus there's the money... and I do love the drama!" - Sevarius, "Louse"

Matthew> "Perhaps scarecrows are possessed by the spirits of old soldiers that defend their homeland while the living sleep at night. Just think of it...Straw by day, Warriors by night."

...That sounds AWESOME.

Sold.

Ross
"The future is in the past! Onwards, Aoshima!"

Perhaps scarecrows are possessed by the spirits of old soldiers that defend their homeland while the living sleep at night.
Just think of it...Straw by day, Warriors by night.

Matthew
"Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be!"-Puck

Pedals the exiled ruler of Oz in hiding on Earth, but I think more likely I would have to go with a magically controlled inanimate scarecrow.
Brack

REBEL - I had a creativity demon once that brownies and other household sprites were gargoyle/Third Race hybrids (inspired by brownies being said to be nocturnal - and with the looking after the needs of the house being a variant of protecting - brownies don't have the fighting ability of regular gargoyles, so they find other ways to look after their protectorate than battle).

(The Scarecrow didn't last that long as the ruler of Oz, I'm afraid; he was overthrown by an ambitious young woman named General Jinjur, who took advantage of the fact that the Emerald City was poorly defended - presumably it had been banking on the Wizard's reputation to defend it, that and both Wicked Witches had been disposed of by Dorothy and her house. Its army was down to just one soldier, who kept his gun unloaded so that it wouldn't go off by mistake; when Jinjur and her forces showed up at the city, he asked them if they wouldn't mind delaying their attack long enough for him to locate his shot and powder. Jinjur's response: "Oh, so the gun isn't loaded, eh? CHARGE!" Which was how the standing army of the Emerald City became a running army.)

Todd Jensen
Hufflepuffs are really good finders

Gargoyle / Third Race hybrid, maybe?
Rebel - [rebelfornea at gmail dot com]

Please let it be Scarecrow while he was ruling Oz.

That would be the best.

Harlan Phoenix
The enemy is clever. We're smaller but whatever. When we put it together, I'll form the head.

MATT> Possiblities off the top of my head... Third Race, a ghost bound to a scarecrow ala the Coldtrio's body, artificial magical construct ala the golem, or even THE Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.
Algernon

Meant to post last night: http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=370493&page=5

Dread has covered Eye of the Storm & The New Olympians.

Antiyonder
"Remember, this is Demona Classic. Tenth century and... Still the traitor who caused The Wyvern Massacre!" (Brooklyn reminding himself and the audience that Ancient Scotland Demona isn't a total Angel.)

Clearly he's a Child of Oberon who mocks gargoyles by turning to straw instead of stone.
Harlan Phoenix
The enemy is clever. We're smaller but whatever. When we put it together, I'll form the head.

You gotta wonder what a scarecrow would even be in the Gargoyles Universe. Third Race? A gargoyle?

Hey, very neat and quick countdown this week, everybody. I like that we all were on one style.

Matt - [Saint Louis, Missouri, USA]
"For science, which, as my associate Fang indicated, must move ever forward. Plus there's the money... and I do love the drama!" - Sevarius, "Louse"

I was watching the "Human Nature" two-parter of "Doctor Who" today (if you've seen it, you won't have much difficulty understanding why I'd chosen to watch it today), and a bit near the end reminded me of "Gargoyles" - or, more accurately, of one of Greg Weisman's remarks about "Gargoyles" at "Ask Greg".

[SPOILER] The Doctor imprisons one of the antagonists permanently inside a scarecrow; the narration (from the imprisoned character) states that he's to watch over England and protect it in that state. It reminded me of Greg's remarks about how he thought that scarecrows had a gargoyle-like quality, and wanted to incorporate them somewhere in "Gargoyles", except that he couldn't find a way to make them distinctly different from the Scarecrow in "Batman". [/SPOILER]

Todd Jensen
Hufflepuffs are really good finders

For those of you with family in the Navy:

IN WATERS DEEP

In ocean wastes no poppies blow,
No crosses stand in ordered row,
There young hearts sleep… beneath the wave…
The spirited, the good, the brave,...
But stars a constant vigil keep,
For them who lie beneath the deep.
'Tis true you cannot kneel in prayer
On certain spot and think. "He's there."
But you can to the ocean go…
See whitecaps marching row on row;
Know one for him will always ride…
In and out… with every tide.
And when your span of life is passed,
He'll meet you at the "Captain's Mast."
And they who mourn on distant shore
For sailors who'll come home no more,
Can dry their tears and pray for these
Who rest beneath the heaving seas…
For stars that shine and winds that blow
And whitecaps marching row on row.
And they can never lonely be
For when they lived… they chose the sea.

by Eileen Mahoney

Battle Beast - [Canada]
Lest We Forget

In Flanders fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky,
The larks still bravely singing fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe,
To you, from failing hands, we throw,
The torch: be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow,
In Flanders fields.

R.I.P

Battle Beast - [Canada]
Lest We Forget

10
Anthony Tini

9
Comet
Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

8
ESG

7
Chip - [Sir_Griff723 at yahoo dot com]
Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.~~C.S. Lewis

6
SomeGeek

5
Phoenician
"The suspense is terrible, I hope it lasts" -- Willy Wonka

4
Ross
"The future is in the past! Onwards, Aoshima!"

3
Masterdramon - [kmc12009 at mymail dot pomona dot edu]
"You're my Blue Sky, you're my sunny day..." - The Allman Brothers Band

2
Matthew
"Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be!"-Puck

1
Matt - [Saint Louis, Missouri, USA]
"For science, which, as my associate Fang indicated, must move ever forward. Plus there's the money... and I do love the drama!" - Sevarius, "Louse"