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Post by Vorchia on Apr 17, 2006 14:27:50 GMT -5
Ohh I KNOW we have cats without hair... They just look so piteous, so naked, so plucked of their feline dignity... Ok maybe a dragon without scales isn't AS bad as a cat without hair but a dragon with fur is!!!! Or a plucked raptor... Someone actually drew a plucked raptor once, it was hillarious! I'll have to add all those books to my booklists and watch the discovery dragon special if it ever ends up on local TV, ok? I did read a bunch of the Pern books, they weren't the best fantasy ever but if ones brain is about to explode with work overload and one needs a break, they provide amusement and read very easily. I can't believe she won a Nebula Award for them though, the books were OK but they weren't THAT good. *Is really going to need a place to hide from the Pern fans now!!!* And before anyone asks: When I get my degree in Molecular Biology I will NOT go try to clone anything prehistoric OR attempt to create a dragon...
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Katrina Rix
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Post by Katrina Rix on Apr 18, 2006 9:08:04 GMT -5
I'm terribly guilty in that aspect, then... Dinobird dragons, anyone? In fact, sadly enough, the dragons in my comic are basically (four-limbed) flying dinobirds. Well, they're cute. How about if I send you some nice, still frozen mammoth chunks?
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Buttercup
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Post by Buttercup on Apr 21, 2006 2:18:25 GMT -5
Just thought that I would mention one fact about the Pernese Dragons...Yes, I am a huge fan of McCaffrey's! Anyway, though her dragons do not have scales, they have what is called "Hide" which I assume is like a leather and it does flake and shed. I wonder if my memory serves me correctly in recalling the fact that there is a modern snake type that actually does NOT have scales either but hide in fact? Anyone know?
I know that within snakes ( which is pretty much the closest example that we have today to relate to "Dragons" that even within them, there are deviations from the norm. I know for a fact that there is a type (or several) that actually have live birth instead of laying eggs and then they hatch. I think the eggs hatch internally and then the body either reabsorbs the egg fragments or they are discarded as an afterbirth might be. I just wanted to point out that I don't feel that a scaleless Dragon would be out of the question or unnatural (if we assume to think of them as a real possibility in any sense).
My views on Dragons in mythology versus today have been pretty much stated through other's posts here but I will touch on the important parts...
1.) Dragons are cool regardless of how they look. 2.) When it comes to the depiction of mythology, current filmmakers will inevitably go with the flow of what sells instead of doing their homework and depicting other cultures actual depictions. They would rather go the easy route instead of actually having to work and so we have almost what I would call a stereotypical Dragon...Darn artistic license, it's supposed to promote imagination, not generalization! 3.) As time and society progresses, things change in a culture as a necessity for survival with adaptations appearing everywhere from foods eaten to survival techniques to stories told. Oral history of the spoken tales and myths is an important factor in the development of many cultures as it allows the young to experience situations before they actually have to encounter them and hopefully gives them advice on how to deal...well, my point is that if society for many years now has told and told stories of the current depiction of Dragons, aren't we do (by example of past progression) for a new version to stay current with the changing times? I'm am NOT saying that I think that we need a new "Dragon" ( the "old" one fits me fine!) but that by past example, we have "learned" all that we seem to be able to from the current stories and our society seems to have become stuck in a rut over the current one. If a culture has gotten to the point where they refuse to acknowledge the existence of other cultures Dragons, doesn't that say something about us? If we were to refuse to acknowledge other people's technology, where would that leave us? Eventually, in the Dark Ages so to speak. Does any of this make sense?
That's all just my opinion and a rather longwinded one at that! ;D
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Buttercup
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Post by Buttercup on Apr 21, 2006 2:22:12 GMT -5
How about if I send you some nice, still frozen mammoth chunks? WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought that we had an alliance!!!!!!! Vorchia, don't you dare accept or there won't be any more cute Baby pics or really long letters!!!!!!!
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Katrina Rix
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Del pasado al presente, vivimos en un universo encantado.
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Post by Katrina Rix on Apr 21, 2006 7:15:18 GMT -5
Meh. Chill, they'll be Siberian dead frozen mammoth chunks. One advantage of paleonotology is I don't have to chase the critters I'm studying.
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Buttercup
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Post by Buttercup on Apr 21, 2006 10:32:39 GMT -5
That makes me feel SO much better... *makes mental note to never cross Katrina*
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Post by Vorchia on Apr 22, 2006 9:47:45 GMT -5
I tend not to eat meat that is more then a century old!!! I'd probably be too busy trying to extract the DNA and proteins out of the meat to consider making lunch of of it anyway, should a piece of Siberian permafrost mammoth ever end up in my hands. Well ok if WWIII broke out and I was really startving I might turn it into stew but its been dead for millenia, it wouldn't mind. I don't think I've seen any Dino-Bird-Dragon drawings yet, where do I find them?
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Barry
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Post by Barry on Apr 22, 2006 13:58:53 GMT -5
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Buttercup
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Post by Buttercup on Apr 22, 2006 18:11:50 GMT -5
Hey Dwaggie, is it supposed to be a pic that says hotlinked picture ELFWOOD? Because that is all I pull up when I try to access the link.
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Barry
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Post by Barry on Apr 22, 2006 19:59:00 GMT -5
Sorry about that. Try it again I fixed it.
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Buttercup
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Post by Buttercup on Apr 24, 2006 5:01:44 GMT -5
There it is! I see, not bad as far as the imagination goes but my question is: are those three things hanging below supposed to be feathers, legs, or golf clubs? I don't mean to be rude to the artist especially since I certainly can't sew like that! thanks for fixing the link Dwaggie!
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Barry
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Post by Barry on Apr 24, 2006 12:35:45 GMT -5
*scratches head* I don't know… Could be both. lol.
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Post by Quickstride on Apr 26, 2006 21:49:46 GMT -5
They're tail feathers- the bird's feet are perched on the branch. And I don't mean to nit-pick, but phoenikoi aren't dragons- they're a completely seperate myth with a unique history all of their own. Sorry I haven't been able to reply, I just started a new job and final projects are starting to be due. There's some interesting stuff that's been brought up in this thread I'd like to discuss more, though, so I'll reply more thoroughly when time allows.
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Barry
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Post by Barry on Apr 27, 2006 21:00:42 GMT -5
I knew that. This is why I said the "Closest thang" to a Dino-bird-dragon. Duh!
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Post by Quickstride on Apr 27, 2006 21:21:21 GMT -5
Sorry if I misunderstood, but it sounded as though you were implying that phoenikoi were actually some type of dragon, and a pet peeve of mine is mythics that much more closely fit another archtype getting lumped under the dragon heading- serpents and large reptilians I can understand, but I've also seen gryphons, kilins (a Chinese unicorn-like beast sometimes depicted with scales but still distinct from the many Chinese dragons) and even mermaids and hippocamps labelled as "dragons." There is a point where the term becomes so broad that it becomes useless.
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