Talk:Manticore/@comment-37076256-20181102222158/@comment-25396609-20181103011447

That's what I said, they are definitely restricted by the effects of atmospheric friction.

Grimm are essentially formed from smoke and/or magic goo, I suspect the largest grimm have a reduced effective mass; especially the ones like Nevermore, Griffins, and the Sphinx/Manticore which are built for flight. They would not be weightless, they would simply weigh less than their size suggests. If they weighed as much as an organic being with the same body plan, they would be outright incapable of flight due to their sheer bulk; the simple conclusion being they do NOT weigh that much. A good example of this is actually the Nevermore again:

The fact that what should by all accounts be a 2-3 ton bird can land on the roof of a (wooden) house without smashing the whole thing.

I can't really link any good shots of the Sphinx to demonstrate what i mean about the "less recognizable spikes", that'll have to wait until the episode comess out. They are visible in the sneak peaks but it's hard to get a good angle and we'll have better quality screenshots of them in the morning.

(fun fact about the "no known laws of aviation thing" by the way, bees and most other insects can fly because they actually generate tiny cyclones around their wings that pull them around in the air, as compared to birds and bats which generate downward thrust)

You got me on the scorpion into snake thing though, been trying to puzzle it out myself. I mean an argument could be that it is an evolution of the scorpion tail being in and of itself a delivery system for venom much like a snake's fangs, but even I think that's a pretty fuckin' big stretch.