The Lone Gunmen (characters)

From Fanlore
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Character
Name: The Lone Gunmen, "The three Stooges", "Cinderella, Mickey Mouse and Goofy"
Occupation: Publisher, hacktivists
Relationships:
Fandom: X-Files, The Lone Gunmen (series)
Other:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
from left to right, Byers, Langly and Frokike in a 1997 illo of The Lone Gunmen by PJ from Mulder's Spooktown Cafe.

The Lone Gunmen are a trio of characters from The X-Files. Their names are Melvin Frohike, John Fitzgerald Byers and Richard Langly. The trio quickly became fan favourites, since many viewers identified with the technology adept, nit picky geeks.

They starred in a 2001 short-lived television series called The Lone Gunmen.

Fanon

  • Ringo Langly is often called Ree in GunFic. This was started by Gizzie, Goddess of Gunmen, in her Messenger series.
  • Frohike as a Vietnam vet seems to have been started by Dierdre, and by Joyce McKibben, which was then picked up by Martha and Gizzie in their interlinked universe, the Time/Tercet/Messenger series. This theme has been continued by a large number of other Gunfic authors and would explain a lot about his attitude. He's often seen as a friend of AD Skinner's, being a fellow Nam vet.
  • Ringo Langly as an alcoholic or former junkie was also started in the Martha and Gizzie universe. This is also often used by other GunFic authors. Considering his background from the LGM series, this is actually fairly unlikely.
  • In Sally's massive Gunmen saga, Byers is closet chocoholic. This has been hinted at in other authors' GunFics as well.
  • Sally also raised the possibility that Frohike was married before and has kids, and this, once again, is used by other GunFic authors. Tom Braidwood, in an interview, suggested it would be interesting to learn that Frohike has a kid.
  • In several stories by different authors, the Gunmen know Max Fenig. Max was the UFO chasing member of NICAP from XF Fallen Angel, and may have been an early attempt to introduce a Gunmen-like character.
  • Fan canon includes three basic explanations for why Byers wore a wedding ring for so many years (between 1993 and 1998 or early 1999). Some suggest that he married Susanne after XF Unusual Suspects, but this theory was blown later, when we see in XF Three of a Kind that Byers hadn't seen Susanne again until he met her in 1999 in Las Vegas. Others suggest that Byers had a wife but (a) she's dead or (b) he's divorced. A third, less common explanation is that he wears it as part of his paranoid 'cover' so people won't know everything about him. Bruce Harwood's explanation is that Byers had married after Susanne disappeared, but his wife left him because he spent too much time hanging out with his friends.
  • Byers the redhead is Fan canon, but not reflective of real life. The lighting in the XF series usually was just the right color to bring out a bunch of red highlights. In person, Bruce has a chestnut (red/brown) beard with some gray, but his hair is medium brown. In natural light, he doesn't look at all like a redhead. [1]

Slash 'canon' is all over the map. Everybody seems to universally agree that Byers is the total slashboy of the bunch, and he's usually paired up with Langly. In most L/B slash, Byers was the one who has the least experience with guys, and often tends to be the recipient of Langly's affections. Byers also tends not to be the one who initiates the relationship or the encounter, although that varies from author to author. I think it's just that Byers tends to be seen as the most emotionally sensitive of the three. Pet names like "Hairboy" for Langly, or "Suitboy" or "Princess" for Byers show up now and again in L/B slash (apparently from Dawn Pares and Te's slash GunFic). Frohike tends to be the least slashed of the three, primarily, I suppose, because everyone knows how much he lusts after Scully, and his involvement with such fine literature as 'Celebrity Skin'. Slash has long speculated that Frohike was the little furry bear of the bunch, since borne out in LGM Eine Kleine Frohike -- definitely a little fuzzball. [2]

Pairings and Relationships

Fanfiction Archives

Sample Fanfiction

Fan Art and Crafts

Meta

Webrings, Webpages, Fan Clubs

References

  1. ^ from What do I need to know to write Lone Gunmen fic? by Erynn (2001)
  2. ^ from What do I need to know to write Lone Gunmen fic? by Erynn (2001)
Retrieved from "https://fanlore.org/w/index.php?title=The_Lone_Gunmen_(characters)&oldid=2641976"