By FLINXER ONE on Sunday, May 31, 2009 - 12:02 pm:

I sure hope they don't look like the Sleezaks(?) from the original Land Of The Lost Saturday Syd and Marty Krofft show.

By adf@alandeanfoster.com on Monday, June 01, 2009 - 08:22 am:

Sleezaks...that would be funny. I've never seen a good illo of an AAnn. Plenty of Flinx and Pip, and thranx (the cover of the SFBC edition of the 3 Founding of the Commonwealth books has a great thranx). Envision a raptor with opposible thumbs, shorter muzzle, and a Machiavelli complex....

By FLINXERONE on Monday, June 01, 2009 - 06:00 pm:

Do you suppose if I hooked up a fan drawing I could post it up using your description? I can draw when I will myself to. Wouldn't you think there would be a site with tons of fan illustrations?!?

By adf@alandeanfoster.com on Tuesday, June 02, 2009 - 07:46 am:

I never googled the possibility.

By FLINXERONE on Tuesday, June 02, 2009 - 07:39 pm:

[embarrassed] I didn't realize I was in communication with you, Mr. Foster. Ha ha ha! I thought it was another fan, damn, I feel stoopid-ha ha ha! Um....I just finished my attempt at the space faring empire seeking Aann. I will not post anything without your permission. However, you decide, it's all good. I don't want to offend. I google and I get NOTHING. It's very odd. I would think somewhere on this planet that there's another male or female (no matter the age) that is dying to show off, don't you think?

By Finn on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 02:05 am:

I've not seen any AAnn, though the occasional Thranx shows up now & again. (Browse any major art site) Though I'm pretty much certain that someone out there has made a few AAnn fan depictions prior to FLINXERONE. Even if it was just a sketch at a 'con. The numbers there are sadly lacking! Unless you want to count all those hits that reference the name, but use it as something else entirely ;)

By LukeH on Sunday, June 07, 2009 - 06:47 am:

I could be wrong but I think I've seen an illustration of the AANN. I think the cover art of an English version of one of the books. If I remember correctly it was really cheesy. I'm going to have to do some looking.......

By FLINXERONE on Sunday, June 07, 2009 - 07:07 pm:

Looking forward to it, you may be the first to break out a visual as far as anyone knows. I'm putting up an email address that I can be contacted by by anyone, especially artists *amateur or pro* to check out artwork if you don't mind. I think that would be great, since there doesn't seem to be a fan site to showcase art work.

By FLINXERONE on Sunday, June 07, 2009 - 07:08 pm:

mostspectacular1@yahoo.com That's me: FLINXERONE.

By FLINXWERONE on Saturday, June 13, 2009 - 10:23 am:

Well, LukeH, turn me on to it if your hunt proves successful.

By sneville on Sunday, June 14, 2009 - 12:04 am:

I wasn't surprised to find a nice section in wiki about the Aann and the rest of the ADF world.

By FLLINXERONE on Sunday, June 14, 2009 - 11:08 am:

But why the bias against drawings? I can't find a damn thing on it.

By Thranx 21 on Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 11:37 am:

I know there are some pictures in the GURPS Humanx Commonwealth supplement, and I remember finding a couple off of google but I can not find the site they were on any more.

By Thranx 21 on Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 05:26 pm:

I managed to find an image of a Star wars species that is VERY similar looking to the AAnn....the Barabel. Here is the link: //starwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:Barabel_GG4.jpg

By Thranx 21 on Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 05:27 pm:

Forgot to add the http to it:

By FLINXERONE on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 05:36 pm:

Hey! Thanks for the tip off, Thranx21, I just checked out two illustrations and the one on the right looks interesting. But you mention that there are actual drawings of the Aann. I definitely do not picture them looking like the lizard man in The Last Starfighter. I keep thinking of The Creature From The Black Lagoon, did you know, that the actress upon her first sight of the creature she was actually terrified. That's how I picture the Aann.

By Aqua on Sunday, June 21, 2009 - 11:48 am:

I'd love to see art of a lot of the species in the Commonwealth books, myself, including the Aann. I can imagine them looking something like this, though, only less "iguana" and longer tail: 2.bp.blogspot.com/_6zauHO1pJ1k/SYSm05cQaBI/AAAAAAAAASs/wa9QLb6z0Mk/s1600-h/Wayne_Barlowe0011.jpg

By FLINXERONE on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 - 06:51 pm:

Ah, yes, Mr. Barlowe. Maybe you know that his conceptualizations of the market in Hellboy II are his. Mr. Foster gave description of the Aann, but what I'm imagining is more terrifying and powerful, that's why I had an uncomfortable skepticism about Flinx actually combating them.

By adf on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - 08:06 am:

Flinxerone; Just like humans, there would be varying degrees of aggresion among the the AAnn; from the Tier of Saaiinn arists to...well, imagine an intelligent raptor with the personality of Hannibal Lecter. Really, really smart and really, really murderous. It's the combination of intelligence with unpredictable ferocity that makes Lecter such a frightening character. All really terrifying bad guys are smart. It's what Lugosi brought to Dracula, and Morbius to the Monster from the Id. Never trust a smiling AAnn.

By FLINXERONE on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - 06:19 pm:

Thank you, once again, Alan, for taking your time out of a busy life (I'm sure )and I certainly don't wish to bother you. That's, oddly, very pleasing to learn about the Aann description and characteristic. Great. It still knocks me out that an author that I grew up reading the works of is typing to us fans. Damn.

By Finn on Thursday, June 25, 2009 - 04:54 am:

My interpretation of the AAnn was that they were more Authoritarian\Cunning than Terrifying. Not quite evil, but the desire of advancement for rank and status leads them to conflict with "Humanity" (scare quotes required) and what we would consider good and lawful. That attitude itself is what makes the various individuals scary, no matter what specie.

By JSG on Sunday, August 02, 2009 - 11:46 am:

A good insight into the AAN is in FT and the conversation between the Emperor and Flinx. Without giving anything away, it gives an insight into their mindset and what they function on. The Emperor being who he is, is what I find telling.

By Kuza on Friday, September 18, 2009 - 12:18 am:

I allways invisioned them like the alien in enemy mine.

By adf on Friday, September 18, 2009 - 07:54 am:

Kuza; The alien in ENEMY MINE is too human. With modern cgi it's now possible to do really alien aliens.

By jeff the sith on Friday, January 29, 2010 - 07:44 pm:

True, the CGI is now awesome. The only trouble is, most aliens represent different aspects of human nature without the daily diversity of mood, emotion, etc. We need an alien that can't be stereotyped as a race and operates on a whole different level of motivations and purposes from our own. It's like the way STAR WARS has a desert planet, the ice planet, a forest moon, and so on ad infinitum. Where is a world like ours that encompasses all the immense diversity of Earth?