Post by Baar Baar Jinx on Apr 4, 2017 14:57:18 GMT
(I debated posting this on the "What species is Eurasia Toft" or "Is Gladstone a goose or a duck?" threads, but was afraid it would be considered off-topic. I wonder if we should have a consolidated "character species" thread.)
Did Barks ever specify what species Gyro is supposed to be? I've heard him described by others as a "chicken" but he doesn't really look like one. His beak is more parrot-like than chicken-like. Have any other authors clarified his species? IIRC, there is some allusion to his being a chicken in the "Thinking Box" story, but I don't have it readily available for confirmation.
I'm sure that Barks specified that Gyro is a chicken (I believe it was in Donald Ault's "Carl Barks Conversations", that Barks described Gyro as "a six foot tall red headed chicken!").
Post by Scrooge MacDuck on Apr 4, 2017 18:13:18 GMT
Barks did think of Gyro as a chicken, but Don Rosa has established that he was actually a cockatoo, which fits with the shape of his beak, his wild puff of colored feathers on the head, and his white body feathers. This is the Word Of God most people on the Internet have accepted; that's what we use on the Picsou Wiki.
Post by Baar Baar Jinx on Apr 4, 2017 19:29:29 GMT
To be honest, I never thought Barks meant Gyro to be any particular species; he always seemed to me to be a generic "bird-person" with a mish-mash of avian and human features mixed together, like a lot of secondary Barks characters. But I guess at some point Barks decided Gyro was a chicken, despite the fact that he bears no resemblance whatsoever to a chicken. When did Rosa say Gyro was a cockatoo? Admittedly, he looks more like a cockatoo than a chicken, but again, it's something of a stretch.
" What do you mean? First of all, my Gyro is not a parrot -- he's a cockatoo. Much friendlier and smarter than a parrot. Meanwhile, Barks' Gyro Gearloose is white, has a hooked bill and is very friendly and *very* intelligent. Chickens might be white, but they have straight bills and are quite unfriendly (fearful) and *very* stupid. Cockatoos are white, have hooked bills, are very friendly and very intelligent. They can even talk and sing like people!
Gyro Gearloose is obviously a cockatoo.
(Or I should say, a human parody of a cockatoo.)"
Someone else on that thread suggested that Gyro might actually be an eagle, which, to be honest, is the best suggestion I've heard so far.
" What do you mean? First of all, my Gyro is not a parrot -- he's a cockatoo. Much friendlier and smarter than a parrot.
Just to clarify this point: when he says "my Gyro", he is not referring to his portrayal of Gyro Gearloose, he is referring to his cockatoo which he named Gyro. Here is Disney scholar Frank Stajano holding Gyro while visiting Don Rosa's place:
Meanwhile, Barks' Gyro Gearloose is white, has a hooked bill and is very friendly and *very* intelligent. Chickens might be white, but they have straight bills and are quite unfriendly (fearful) and *very* stupid. Cockatoos are white, have hooked bills, are very friendly and very intelligent. They can even talk and sing like people!
Gyro Gearloose is obviously a cockatoo.
(Or I should say, a human parody of a cockatoo.)"
This quote is from 2009 like you said, but there are earlier messages where Rosa expressed the same idea. For example, this 1994 DCML message:
Actually, what IS Gyro? I always thought he was a sorta cockatoo-stork judging by his beak, his intelligence and his lankiness. Even though he doesn't have a chicken-beak, I understand most people have always thought of him as a chicken. But if he IS a chicken, that would explain that tuft of reddish hair -- I'd need to check the encyclopedia for the name, but there is a species of chicken with a tuft of fuzzy reddish hair on its head (and no strap).
Last Edit: Apr 4, 2017 20:15:19 GMT by drakeborough
Chicken or Cockatoo is the actual answer, but tbh, I'll forever think of him as a sparrow, since that's his literal name in Portuguese- translated, "Professor Sparrow".
And because of that "cockatoo" remark, Gyro and all the "generic bird persons" on the Picsou Wiki are classified as cockatoos. Which is a bit of a stretch.
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He bears very little resemblance to the other contender, a chicken, either, though. I'm sticking with eagle.
He's tall and skinny. A marshbird is more likely. But, then, he should have a long beak, like a crane or loon. Barks just made Gyro a slightly birdlike Human, and didn't really have a bird species in mind when he drew him. Then, he was grasping at straws when coming up with "a chicken".
I really think it's funny for me, as a Brazilian reader, to know that Gyro is a chicken or a cockatoo! The reason is simple: his name in Portuguese is Professor Pardal, wich means, literally, Professor Sparrow! So, can you imagine how fun is this question for Brazilian readers? "What kind of bird is Professor Sparrow?" "A sparrow, of course!" Even knowing he doesn't reassemble a sparrow at all!
To be honest, I never thought Barks meant Gyro to be any particular species; he always seemed to me to be a generic "bird-person" with a mish-mash of avian and human features mixed together, like a lot of secondary Barks characters. But I guess at some point Barks decided Gyro was a chicken, despite the fact that he bears no resemblance whatsoever to a chicken. When did Rosa say Gyro was a cockatoo? Admittedly, he looks more like a cockatoo than a chicken, but again, it's something of a stretch.
" What do you mean? First of all, my Gyro is not a parrot -- he's a cockatoo. Much friendlier and smarter than a parrot. Meanwhile, Barks' Gyro Gearloose is white, has a hooked bill and is very friendly and *very* intelligent. Chickens might be white, but they have straight bills and are quite unfriendly (fearful) and *very* stupid. Cockatoos are white, have hooked bills, are very friendly and very intelligent. They can even talk and sing like people!
Gyro Gearloose is obviously a cockatoo.
(Or I should say, a human parody of a cockatoo.)"
Someone else on that thread suggested that Gyro might actually be an eagle, which, to be honest, is the best suggestion I've heard so far.
I think it's a bit strange that Rosa said he thinks of him as a cockatoo, because he refers to him as a chicken in "The Duck Who Never Was", at the part where the brainy wolf said he wanted roast duck in the originial timeline, in Gyro's flashback in this story, the wolf said he wanted roast chicken, referring to Gyro.