WCPedia: What's to be done with this Carl LaFong?

[Bandit LOAF]

For the last several days I've been doing prep work for the necessary 'timeline' to get started on the Wingkipedia's Wing Commander I section. That means working closely with the Ultimate Strategy Guide to Wing Commander I & II. It's a necessary, if frustrating, document when all the later sources are taken into account. We'll deal with the whole thing in the coming weeks, but for now there's one point we need to 'decide' before we move forward... Carl "Prankster" LaFong.

Carl LaFong, the Heather Sinclair of Wing Commander I and II. He can't simply *be* Blair... after all, Star*Soldier mentions him separately (along with Armstrong - we'll deal with that someday) and the hint book itself is his memoirs, written as a 73-year old long after Prophecy.

So, how do we do this? Is he just another Tiger's Claw pilot mentioned in passing? What stories do we atribute to him and what do we leave for Blair? Obviously, Blair flies the missions (right?)... but what do we do with the rest of it? My proposal is to separate the mission descriptions from the rest of the book. The Academy stories, the 'future Hollywood' stuff, the attempts to deal with Maniac between missions and so forth will all belong to LaFong... but the specific action sequences describing the WC1/2 missions will apply to Blair.

Thoughts?

 

[Vinman]

That sounds like a good arrangement. I wish I had the book so I could see what we're talking about for myself, but from what I've heard, the story of Carl LaFong seems to diverge sufficiently from that of Chris Blair.

 

[Wedge009]

If there was sufficient similarity between Blair and LaFong, my feeling was that LaFong could be some sort of 'pen name' for Blair, which may have been useful following the stigma of his highly-public trial following the Tiger's Claw destruction.

...but if Star*Soldier already makes him a distinct character, then I suppose that throws that idea out the airlock.

 

[Dundradal]

If there was sufficient similarity between Blair and LaFong, my feeling was that LaFong could be some sort of 'pen name' for Blair, which may have been useful following the stigma of his highly-public trial following the Tiger's Claw destruction.

...but if Star*Soldier already makes him a distinct character, then I suppose that throws that idea out the airlock.

I suggested the same thing yesterday on IRC but had also forgotten about the S*S reference.

The guide is also written post WCP so it would be a little late for any stigma concerning the Claw to still be around.

It does seem like the best path is to leave the memiors to LaFong and the missions to Blair.

 

[Houkiboshi]

So... LaFong is the one who meets everyone on the Claw in WC?

That would clear the "Meeting Maniac" thing... Right?

 

[Haesslich]

I think that works. We can assume he was discussing those missions Blair flew for non-pilots and Academy readers alike in a way which injected some commentary to explain why Blair did what he did. After all, every one of those missions was logged on the flight recorder... although, given how long he'd known Maniac, he may well have been a classmate, as one of those pilots who went with Blair to the TCS Formidable towards the end of their Academy term.

It's either that, or LaFong was writing Blair's biography for him, given that Blair obviously wasn't around to write it by that time...

 

[Iceman16]

if LaFong was writing Blairs biography, he would've used Blair's name instead of his own. It'd be like John Doe writing a biography on Sir Isacc Newton, but using the name 'John Doe' instead, and attributing Newtons discoveries to himself.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

That is most definately very difficult.

I like the Pen name idea and if the S*S reference you mention is only the one in the Maniac ad then I think it's still possible to use it. The WC1/2 book was published under the name of Carl LaFong and so Michael Gallagher just used that name. Blair was maybe shy.
Ah no, I forgot about the part that the book is supposed to be written after WCP, when Blair should be missing. Maybe someone published Blair's memoirs under his name?

I personally think seperating the missions from everything else a bit arbitrary but I guess there is no perfect solution.
My cheap proposal: just state honestly how it is. In the entry about Carl LaFong, just state that it's the name of the author of a book published after WCP and that it's oddly reminiscent of Blair's story and that we don't know what to do about it. Though that may break the in-universe perspective. Still, I think that's the least disfiguring.

 

[Houkiboshi]

That is most definately very difficult.

I like the Pen name idea and if the S*S reference you mention is only the one in the Maniac ad then I think it's still possible to use it. The WC1/2 book was published under the name of Carl LaFong and so Michael Gallagher just used that name. Blair was maybe shy.
Ah no, I forgot about the part that the book is supposed to be written after WCP, when Blair should be missing. Maybe someone published Blair's memoirs under his name?

I personally think seperating the missions from everything else a bit arbitrary but I guess there is no perfect solution.
My cheap proposal: just state honestly how it is. In the entry about Carl LaFong, just state that it's the name of the author of a book published after WCP and that it's oddly reminiscent of Blair's story and that we don't know what to do about it. Though that may break the in-universe perspective. Still, I think that's the least disfiguring.

I don't think it would break anything... Maybe it could add some realism to the historic part of WC... Like saying it was “lost in time”

It’s not unheard of in human history to find some parts of history are “forgotten”

 

[frostytheplebe]

I have a copy of the WC Ultimate Strategy guide and let me tell you sir, you have your work cut out for you in terms of separating Lafong from Blair. Armstrong might be a bit easier to separate I suspect. But you still have Lafong being blamed for the destruction of the TC, and then ten years later being rescued from ISS exile by the Concordia.

Impossible? Nothing is impossible, but you better have one helluva spin doctor.