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It was foretold....another Guardians Journal + Feral Armor?
15 years ago
General
Sorry...that Echinda was amusing :) Anyway, yet another Guardians journal post. Thought it was a pretty good movie, and will probably have to hunt down the books it's based off of and see just how different the plot of the movie was from the books. I liked the variety of owls used, for some reason i'd been expecting only a few species, beyond the main group. Got a kick out of Mrs. P (the snake, though not sure what species she's supposed to be) Makes me wonder a bit that she and the Echinda shaman were the only other speaking animals besides owls. Another reason to hunt down the books, see if any other species makes an appearance.
What got me thinking though was the way the owls used armor and weapons. There were different fighting styles as well. Watching them, i have to wonder if the helmets at least were a bit too much. I don't know what the weight limits are for owls to fly, but putting a large (seemingly anyway) chunk of metal on their head seems a good way to make flying a whole lot harder. Now granted they probably train to build their strength in order to wear the armor, but still..the helmets used in the movie just seemed too big. I also wondered a bit that they didn't use breastplates, but again, there are weight limits to take into account. Was also kinda cool seeing the wing blades the bats sported, rather good design overall there, i think they clipped on over the arm bone for added protection.
I guess my main thought/question is just how much armor would a flying creature be able to wear and still be able to fly. Realistically speaking here, standard physics, no magic or anything like that. I know some birds can carry quite a bit of weight for their body size, but that's carried by their feet, not covering parts of their bodies. How would armor affect their flying ability? their center of gravity? how much of their feathers need to catch air currents to keep them flying and so on? I know I'm over-analyzing this a bit, but i can't help it.
I know horses can be outfitted with quite a bit of armor, but that's a land based creature, while they can be overloaded, it's not as much of a burden to their movement and abilities as I'd think armor would be for a flying creature.
And...just because.... It was foretold....that this journal would come to an end :)
What got me thinking though was the way the owls used armor and weapons. There were different fighting styles as well. Watching them, i have to wonder if the helmets at least were a bit too much. I don't know what the weight limits are for owls to fly, but putting a large (seemingly anyway) chunk of metal on their head seems a good way to make flying a whole lot harder. Now granted they probably train to build their strength in order to wear the armor, but still..the helmets used in the movie just seemed too big. I also wondered a bit that they didn't use breastplates, but again, there are weight limits to take into account. Was also kinda cool seeing the wing blades the bats sported, rather good design overall there, i think they clipped on over the arm bone for added protection.
I guess my main thought/question is just how much armor would a flying creature be able to wear and still be able to fly. Realistically speaking here, standard physics, no magic or anything like that. I know some birds can carry quite a bit of weight for their body size, but that's carried by their feet, not covering parts of their bodies. How would armor affect their flying ability? their center of gravity? how much of their feathers need to catch air currents to keep them flying and so on? I know I'm over-analyzing this a bit, but i can't help it.
I know horses can be outfitted with quite a bit of armor, but that's a land based creature, while they can be overloaded, it's not as much of a burden to their movement and abilities as I'd think armor would be for a flying creature.
And...just because.... It was foretold....that this journal would come to an end :)
But in all honesty, the actual practicality of the armour and weapons of birds and bats is pretty low. One could almost think of it in DnD terms, where armour gives you a penalty on all things to do with dex. Flying would be based on dex, of course, so there would be a hit with wearing the armour. Sure, a bird COULD fly with it, but it wouldnt fly AS WELL as a bird without.
The fighting claws were absolutely wonderful, I admit. I loved seeing them in the movie, actually shown and all. Ever since I read 'The Black Gryphon' by Mercedes Lackey I've pondered and tried to imagine just how the claws would fit on and work, but seeing them done in LoG really cemented how useful and practical they would be.