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Peter Martin
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Posted: 16 January 2021 at 9:59pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

"I don’t think anyone is suggesting that the Thing is literally shaped like a starfish, so I don’t understand this argument. I thought the starfish thing was just a guide to avoid drawing the Thing with human or simian proportions."
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This stems from Adam's suggestion that the Thing is more like a starfish than a human.

The argument of whether the legs are more or less like human legs than a starfish's appendages is therefore directly pertinent, isn't it? There is no question of whether he literally looks like a starfish, but a question of which he is closer to: human or starfish.

And quite clearly he is much closer to human than starfish.

Most depictions of the Things  -- including those by Kirby and Buscema -- have his limbs narrowing at the knee and at the elbow. Quite unlike a starfish.


Edited by Peter Martin on 16 January 2021 at 9:59pm
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Matt Hawes
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Posted: 16 January 2021 at 10:11pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

It's definitely been a long period of quarantine when people get into heated matches over whether or not The Thing is shaped like a starfish. LOL!


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Peter Martin
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Posted: 16 January 2021 at 10:20pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Matt, this is important!!! Don't deny me!

:)
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Michael Roberts
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Posted: 16 January 2021 at 10:29pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

It's definitely been a long period of quarantine when people get into heated matches over whether or not The Thing is shaped like a starfish. LOL!

———

A heated match would imply that there’s anyone in this thread as invested as Peter. :D

Adam’s statement is easy to nitpick, but I think most long-term posters know what he was referring to. The starfish thing isn’t literal, so arguing all the ways that Thing isn’t literally a starfish is just... extra. 
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Peter Martin
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Posted: 16 January 2021 at 10:51pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

We can agree he doesn't have a neck...

Forgive a simple man for interpreting a statement of 'He's shaped more like a starfish than a human' as meaning 'He's shaped more like than a starfish than a human' and for thinking that any attempt to interpret it otherwise is a case of special pleading.


Edited by Peter Martin on 16 January 2021 at 11:19pm
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Peter Martin
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Posted: 16 January 2021 at 11:16pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Deleted as it was a double post.

Edited by Peter Martin on 16 January 2021 at 11:20pm
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Michael Roberts
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Posted: 16 January 2021 at 11:22pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

We can agree he doesn't have a neck...

Forgive me if I file the argument that his statement of 'shaped more like a starfish than a human' doesn't actually mean 'shaped more like than a starfish than a human' as a case of outrageous special pleading.

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The shaped like a starfish comes from JB, and he didn't mean it literally. It's a guide to avoid drawing the Thing like a gorilla. I understood what Adam was referring to and so should a lot of long-term posters. If you understood the reference, you could either A) shrug it off because you knew what he meant, or B) lightly corrected him about taking that literally.

Instead, you bust out the starfish pictures and say, "SEE! HE'S NOT A STARFISH! YOU'RE WRONG!"

It's really weird energy. Have a Snickers.
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Shawn Kane
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Posted: 17 January 2021 at 6:42am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

I see Adam's point because I don't feel many artists at Marvel can draw the Thing. 

I also don't think anyone can draw a consistent Peter Parker anymore. The "interpret the characters any way you wish" attitude of  many of Marvel artists nowadays takes me out of a lot of stories.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 17 January 2021 at 7:17am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

I made the starfish analogy decades ago, noting how people were starting to draw Ben like a gorilla in a Thing suit.

My go-to model when figuring out how to draw the Thing had been this page:

Note how his arms join his torso with about the same circumference as the tops of his thighs. Spread eagle, he would, indeed, have the approximate (tho not literal) shape of a starfish.

And while we're here, his rocky "plates" resemble a dried up riverbed, not cobblestones.

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Eric Sofer
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Posted: 17 January 2021 at 9:20am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Ms. Jansen - you were slightly off with your Yiddish. "Kvetching" means to complain about something, which can indeed refer to Ben Grimm. ;)

But if you meant "hanging around" or "lurking", it's not quite right. I'm not entirely sure there is a translation besides the English transliteration.
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Bradley Dean
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Posted: 17 January 2021 at 11:21am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Would you consider redrawing your  Beyonder pages now? It would be so nice to see the story as originally intended. 
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John Byrne
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Posted: 17 January 2021 at 12:01pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Another time.... another place.....
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