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UNQUESTIONS 2016-09 (Sep)

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Domenic writes...

In Gargoyles, did you have any other Disney characters make any cameos?

Greg responds...

Um...

Well, there was Donald Duck. And of course, Elisa likes to dress as Disney Princess's on Halloween. She was Belle one year on the show, and Jasmine in the comics.

Nothing else pops to mind.

Response recorded on September 09, 2016

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Adrian writes...

which person you would like to talk too, for one day what would you talk about with that person?

Greg responds...

As frequent readers of this site know, I'm not big on hypotheticals or on lists that rank things. It's just not how my brain works. So picking out my number one hypothetical person to talk to, and then figuring out what we'd talk about is (a) not too interesting to me and (b) incredibly difficult for me to get my head around. Sorry.

Response recorded on September 08, 2016

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Harlan of Ash and Foam writes...

I wondered this a while ago but only remembered to ask just now.

Being what seems like one of the few fans who enjoys both Gargoyles and Power Rangers (it's never seemed too contradictory to me to enjoy both a fun, Shakespearean adventure romp and a serialized MST3K movie), it's always felt rather bittersweet that one of my childhood loves contributed to the downfall of another. I can't blame your, heavily implied if not often directly stated, reservations about the show.

But I don't really want to confront you about that as much as I wanted to ask: given the history, it really stuck out to me that Aicaya was directly described in Spirits of Ash and Foam as a "Mighty Morphin' manatee." It's not jarring in the book's isolated context, but does seem odd coming from you. Not bad, exactly, quite the opposite: I thought it was amusing that Opie would adopt something like Power Rangers into his shorthand and was a really fun instance of characterization.

But because I feel like asking questions only I could reasonably care about,

1. Does Opie like Power Rangers, or was his word choice based more on the influence that might come from reading the thoughts of Rain, Charlie, et al.?

2. If he does, what about it do you think appealed to Opie?

3. Was Maq's Batman joke an intentional correlation to Opie's reference, them sharing some shared affection for superheroes as some characterization point, or were they both just coincidental larks?

Greg responds...

1. I think it would amuse him.

2. The goofiness.

3. Two separate references.

Response recorded on September 08, 2016

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Anonymous writes...

Hey Greg. First off, thanks for answering my Oberon and Dr. Fate question (And for using a superhero analogy, to).
I just had a few questions regarding magic in Young Justice (Sorry for any spoiler-questions):
1. Do supernatural creatures (Like vampires)exist, or is what we see what we get in regards to magical beings?
2. Do you regard Young Justice's magic as following the same "rules" as Gargoyles's, or did you right it differently?
3. Is magic known to the public or government, or is its knowledge restricted to practitioners and associates?
Thanks again!

Greg responds...

1. What you see is what you get until or unless you see something more. Which is a fancy way of saying: NO SPOILERS.

2. More or less.

3. Everyone knows about magic. Whether they believe is another story.

Response recorded on September 08, 2016

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RexBlazer1 writes...

Hi Greg,

I'll try and keep this short, as I'm sure your busy and having things to do, but basically I would like your honest opinion on something. And no, don't worry, it's not about ideas for any of the things you've worked on, nor anything that I or others have written.

Anyway, I'm an aspiring writer who wants to make his own series, and there's an aspect of storytelling that I can't seem to decide on. You see, I have always felt that there are, primarily, two types of villains:

1. The kind who do bad things and don't care
2. The kind who believe that their actions are justified

Summarily, I can't seem to decide which one is worse, as it could really be argued either way. I've asked some friends what they think, and have gotten back different answers.

Admittedly, the self-justifying villain tends to fall under a trope that I have a disliking towards:

Knight Templar - a villain who is convinced that he/she is the hero.

And, after thinking about it, there is at least one thing to appreciate about the "bad and don't care" villains; at least they have no illusions about what they want or what they're doing. Plus, we've seen a lot of the self-justifying villains in recent years, to the point where I think it might be overused. Which is why I think a balance between the two needs to be met, as too much of one can get old fast.

But anyway, I mainly just wanted to ask which type of villain you think is worse; the "bad and don't care" kind, or the self-justifying kind?

Greg responds...

I take some issue with the reductive nature of your question. And so I think you're going about things the wrong way. It's not about which is worse. It's about what fits your character. Take, as an obvious example for this website, GARGOYLES.

We have two rather unique and memorable lead villains, DEMONA and XANATOS. I suppose you could reduce Xanatos to your definition of a type one villain. And I suppose you could reduce Demona to your type two. But there are moments when Xanatos thinks what he does is justified, and moments when Demona does a bad thing and just doesn't care. There are also moments when each has done truly heroic things.

The point I'm making is that a great villain is nothing more or less than a great CHARACTER. Write a character with consistency, backed by consistent motivation and history and I don't really care if he or she is type one, type two or type three. (Because, among other things, I doubt that there are truly only two types.)

Response recorded on September 08, 2016


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