Our Gryphons Are Different: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:bird gryphon types by ayem 7733.jpg|frame|[http://ayem.deviantart.com/art/Bird-Griffins-of-the-World-150168282 Fearsome, majestic], and... [[Record Needle Scratch|wait]], what's #5 called again?!]]

 

[[Our Monsters Are Different]], dealing with [[Mix-and-Match Critters|bird/mammal hybrids]].

 

May overlap with [[Giant Flyer]] should the gryphon have wings. The wingless opinicus never flies, being seemingly not as magical as [[Our Dragons Are Different|eastern dragons]]. In contrast to their formerly benign religious symbolism, an example being the Gryphon in Dante's [[Divine Comedy]], which represents the mingling of the human and divine natures in [[Jesus|Christ]], modern gryphons often appear as dark if not demonic, though [[Dark Is Not Evil|they might still be good]]; or [[Light Is Not Good|they may be light-themed but evil]]. They are sometimes used as [[Horse of a Different Color|flying steeds]]. If gryphons are used as part of the [[Furry Fandom]], one may then expect a [[Winged Humanoid]] to be present.

 

See also [[Call a Pegasus a Hippogriff]] and [[Hold Your Hippogriffs]].

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime and Manga]] ==

* ''[[Digimon]]'' has Gryphomon, a truly awesome-looking Mega-level Phantom Beast Digimon who has sadly only made brief appearances thus far. He's the version that has a snake for its tail. However, it's the ''front end'' of the snake, meaning his tail should be just as capable of killing you (assuming it's poisonous) as his front end. There's also a hippogryph Digimon. [[All There in the Manual]] says he's Gryphomon's previous form, but {{spoiler|in the actual show, he was a disguise for a bad guy}}.

* A gryphon can be seen among the various mythical creatures (the others being a dragon and a unicorn) that were mocking the animals as they were boarding [[The Bible|Noah's Ark]] in [[Fantasia|''Fantasia 2000'']], and presumably drowned in the flood.

* Like the book series, the compressed adaptation of [[The Spiderwick Chronicles]] included a griffin but only halfway through the movie, whose only purpose was to fly the heroes to the [[Land of Faerie|Secret Glade]].

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* Edward Ormondroyd's ''David and the Phoenix'' features three different species, each with a [[Phantasy Spelling|slightly different spelling]]. The reader encounters the lazy, [[The Ditz|thick-headed]] '''gryffens''' and vicious, territorial '''gryffons'''; the amiable, red-feathered '''gryffins''' remain off-screen.

* Griffons are used as artificial soldiers by the [[Genius Loci|Gaian entity]] in [[Robert Reed]]'s short story, ''Aeon's Child''. The griffons have claws adapted to be compatible with high-powered laser rifles, and have beaks made of hyperfiber; a nearly indestructible compound. They are sentient ([[Hive Mind|sort of]])

 

== [[Live Action Television]] ==

* In the miniseries ''[[Merlin (TV miniseries)|Merlin]]'', Merlin and Arthur are attacked by creatures that [[Call a Pegasus a Hippogriff|Merlin calls "griffins"]]. They look a little like monkeys with the patagia of a flying squirrel and the heads of hawks, and they ''act'' an awful, awful lot like the "raptors" in ''[[Jurassic Park]]''.

* Goldar from ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' is something of an odd example, as his leonine features include a muzzle. This, along with his fur colour and the shape of his forward fangs have lead some to assume he's a gorilla or wolf-man, but he is in fact an anthropomorphic griffin. This is backed up by his ''[[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger|Zyuranger]]'' self being named Grifforzer.

 

== Other Mythology ==

* [http://humon.deviantart.com/#/d4u7nvx Europe really had very different gryphons].

* It has been suggested that the myths of the gryphons are connected to the sphinx and the mesopotanian shedu and lammassu (which also influenced the origins of [[Our Angels Are Different|cherubs]], other lion bodied creatures generally depicted with wings.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has griffins as a creature type.

** The plane of Innistrad has gryffs, which are like hippogriffs, but instead of a bird of prey, their head and wings are those of herons, and they appear slimmer and sleeker than most hippogriffs.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** [http://blood-phoenix.deviantart.com/art/Necrotic-Gryphon-113246742 Necrotic gryphons].

* [[UniCreatures]]' Khet, a gryphon [http://www.unicreatures.com/creatures/Khet/khet.png on fire].

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* An episode of [[Garfield and Friends]] had Orson and his friends [[Separate Scene Storytelling]] themselves in their own version of Camelot called "Hamelot" where they must bypass a hungry talk show host griffin who was obviously a spoof on [[Merv Griffin]].

* A few episodes of ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]: [[The Animated Series]]'' involved griffins. One episode had Aladdin and his friends try to return an egg stolen by Abis Mal to a rampaging mother griffin, another had the group encounter one of a bunch of mechanical monsters piloted by a grumpy insect, among them a mechanical griffin, while another had a clumsy thief transform himself into a griffin from the Stone of Transformation given to him by Mozenrath. This was an appalling move on his part since the claw of a griffin was needed to transform Jasmin's father back to normal after magic powder turned him into a golden statue. Although this is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the transformed griffin had [[Frickin' Laser Beams]].

 

{{reflist}}