Grandpa Gideon

* Current
* Cub

**Formerly:**

* Wonderbolt
* Short-term fashion expert/designer
* Royal guard

### Likes

Sports, roller derby, exercising, racing, traveling, sewing, knitting, design and creation, running, flying fast, cricket, Grandma Galina, protecting Griffinstone, telling stories, his grandchildren, Saturday morning cartoons, spending time with his friends, coffee (especially Mocha), Gruncle Gonsod's cooking, helping others, hugs, acceptance, dancing, singing, kickboxing, hackysack, caution, unity, equality, peace, dancing, singing, parties, pictures, showing off his skills, diversity, playing buckball and football with his mates, the Blue Moon Festival, iced tea

### Dislikes

Spotlight, sports violence, entitled fans, disrespect, invasion of privacy, being called "too old" for sports, watching sports on TV (as he prefers playing them), his friends babying him, being called "the baby of the group", aggressive noogies, the stealth used on him, crashing into his friends, getting banned from competitions, using the pressure points combat to his friends, Arimaspi, Grandpa Gruff being mistreated/blamed for Arimaspi's attack, Guto's disappearance, Griffinstone in danger, The Grand Galloping Gala (as he finds it dull; mildly)

### Powers and abilities

* Speed
* Chain proficiency
* Agility
* Glyph magic

**Eponymous Skills:**

* Greyfeather Glide
* Greyfeather Hawking

### Paraphernalia

* Kusari-fundo (weapon)
* Shurikens and Kunais
* Metsubushi (blinding powder)
* Ration pack
* Glyph Magic

### Biggest Fears

Accidentally hurting someone during his sports

## Biographical information

### Cause of scars

Hit by lightning from uncontrolled storm clouds

### Status

Active

**Grandpa Gideon** is an old Griffon from Griffinstone, originally from Connecticat, one of the leaders of Griffinstone, and the youngest of the Senior Group. He's the husband of Grandma Galina, the father of Georgina, and the grandfather of Gupu, Goom, and Geem. Formerly one of the six most experienced soldiers in the Royal Griffon Guard of his time and Equestria's first non-Pegasus Wonderbolt, he's currently working as an Equestria Games team coach and lead weather patrol whose upbeat and positive traits often match his energy with those around him.

Using his enhanced speed, and with a little help from the youngsters, Grandpa Gideon manages the weather in Griffinstone. He keeps the skies free of clouds and rushing snowfalls for the Blue Moon Festival, and apparently, unless the weekly rainfall is scheduled for that day of course, makes sure that Griffinstone has nice weather.

## Personality

Energetic, spontaneous, affable, and clever are all good words to describe Gideon. The youngest of the Senior Group, he has a wild and colourful personality. Being an athlete, Gideon is confident and outgoing, and while not hyperactive, he has a lot of energy and mainly has a humorous and lighthearted nature. He is the second least mature of his friends, followed by Gilbert, however, his maturity has slowly increased over the years.

Gideon is an adventurous type with an insatiable zest for life, being a firm believer that "It's not how old you are, but how old you feel." In most of his appearances, he is often playing a sport like rollerblading, hackysack, football, basketball, softball, etc. and encourages his friends to join in. He also enjoys thrilling forms of transportation from motorboats to skydiving. His grandchildren often have fun trying to guess just how he will arrive in Griffinstone from one of his occasional jaunts.

His passion for sports means that he often ends up crashing into one (or all) of his friends or hitting them with a ball in the head, be it from any sport. Despite his immense talent and professionalism in sports, he is shown to be quite clumsy and accident-prone, often at the expense of his friends as it's usually them that he crashes into. Though he enjoys roughhousing with his friends and seems to have a good laugh when he barrels into his companions, he is generally quick to apologise after tumbling into them and immediately checks on them to make sure he hasn't hurt them.

Like the other members of the Senior Group, Gilbert is a brave and fierce Griffon, who is committed to defending and protecting the Griffon kingdom, using his experience and skills from previous occupations to his full advantage when in combat, facing a problem, or other situations. Numerous times, he's shown to have an intellectual side, which comes in handy both in and out of the battlefield. He regularly uses his enhanced speed to temporarily disarm or distract opponents, giving his teammates enough time to find an opening to quickly retreat from a crisis. Like with everygriff, the clouds on which Gideon sits on mirror his mood, such as darkening into a rain cloud when he's upset; he uses this as a weapon by having tufts of cloud hidden in his armour that he can control to electrocute enemies. He also uses clouds as makeshifts for different things, such as using cumulus as stress toys or snow clouds as ice packs when his teammates are frazzled or injured. Aside from Gideon's broad knowledge and skills of sports, he's remarkably cultivated in weather patrolling and meteorology. He's implied to be quite good at math, making equations he uses for flight theory flying feats, and being able to measure someone's wing power quickly. He's also implied to have some knowledge of aromatherapy, as he makes an effort to decorate his house with lavender, in hopes that the scent will help his wife sleep well. Gideon's intelligence and creativity is also on display in his movements as a fighter. While most Griffons move as they do in everyday life, Gideon has found all manner of creative ways to move his half-eagle, half-lion body. As no actual traditional kata exists for his weapon of choice, the kusari fundo, Gideon has developed his own way of forming a kata out of it, combining his natural sports and martial arts skills. He is also highly dedicated to practicing and honing his flying skills, and helping others to do the same. Having spent decades in the royal guard with his friends fighting off monsters seems to have hardened Gideon, as well as his friends, to an excessive degree, being subsequently more confident and courageous, and less cowardly, to the point where he literally has no fear and isn't afraid of anything that would otherwise petrify others, thus making him unable to feel any sort of fear, terror or even any intense anxiety. Even when he is scared, he is capable of quickly suppressing said fear and staying calm as he normally is. As a result, he's often left utterly unphased when coming across genuinely creepy and horrifying imagery or creatures.

He is noted to have some annoying habits; he dislikes watching sports on TV, unless he's watching a tournament with his friends as he prefers to play them instead of watching the games on TV. Due to this, he won't stop pointing out every mistake the young players make, something that his friends consider to be his most annoying habit, aside from (albeit accidentally) crashing into them on a regular basis.

Gideon is so engaged in his life of physical activity that he does parkour just to get from place to place—even doing acrobatic flips just to get from one side of the kitchen table to the other—and his friends and wife have to instruct him on how to relax. The aforementioned is linked to another one of his flaws: sometimes, much like his wife Galina, Gideon has trouble controlling himself, especially when it comes to intense sports; usually when playing a sport he particularly likes, he gets so excited that he gives it his all without warming up, often resulting in him completely knocking himself out. To help him out, his friends have shown him a few strategies that he uses to help with self-control.

Having probably picked it up from crashing into others for years during his sports, Gideon has a habit of constantly apologising, even if he hasn't done anything wrong. This could indicate that he's secretly worried about losing control of his energy and accidentally hurting someone during one of his activities. Words have the ability to slice into him like knives, and he will ruminate over and internalise any accusation or insult hefted at him by a person whose opinion he holds in high regard. It seems that disappointing others is something Gideon also fears greatly. Disappointing and upsetting someone he cares about could plunge Gideon into a melancholic state. By far, however, the biggest trigger for his depressive episodes is anyone he is very close with pulling away from him. However, he is also relatively laid-back and easygoing, and as long as there are no immediate stressors, his emotional state remains fairly stable.

Gideon also suffers from low self-esteem, feeling the need for everyone's constant approval to feel accomplished. His self-deprecating tendencies stem from his relationship with his brother, Gordon. Since childhood, Gideon has been ignored in favour of his older brother, Gordon. Though, thanks to his friends' encouragement, he has started to take initiatives and not relying on others’ comments to know his worth.

He is also shown to be slightly uncomfortable when placed in the spotlight, most notably demonstrated during his Wonderbolt career. Although able to endure certain entitlement by "fans", he draws the line when it has a negative effect on his family and friends, such as invasion of privacy or disrespect of boundaries.

Aside from his love for sports, Gideon has a knack for sewing and knitting, and often gives fashion tips to his friends. While giving fashion advice, although he can come off as rather rude, naggy, and stern, he never wishes to discourage anyone and tries his best to help others learn and improve their craft, quickly apologising if his critique goes too far.

For all his friendliness, Gideon shows a very sassy side when interacting with people he doesn't like or whose behaviour sets him off.

All in all, Gideon is a very positive and optimistic individual who shows strong camaraderie with his teammates, doing his best to support them. He is always grateful for his friends’ help in battle, is loyal to them, and does not wish to disappoint them.

## Appearance

Grandpa Gideon has dark grey fur, slightly lighter colored underbelly, and black wings and tail. He has light golden talons and beak, and bangs and two-tufted ears with tips of grey. He also has light blue eyes.

## Background

Gideon was born and raised in Griffinstone to his mother and father, alongside his older brother, Gordon.

At an undefined point in time in his past, though most likely during his adolescence, Gideon began training to become a royal guard, along with the rest of his friends.

At some point in the ensuing years of his and his friends' training, Gideon ate some bad hors d'oeuvres at a fancy restaurant before the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot and then vomited all over his date during their first slow dance. While he admits that it felt like a huge deal back then, he now views it as just one more thing in life that didn't quite go as planned.

Gideon and Galina married when they were both pushing 20, partly because Galina's family wasn't sure of his 'intentions' towards her. While slightly annoyed with his in-laws attitude, he still considers his and Galina's wedding the happiest day of his life, and the two are cheerfully married to each other. Years later, the couple had a daughter, Georgina, together.

At least in his early sixties (contrast to his friends, who all did so at least in their late forties), to his surprise and delight, his daughter had children of her own, and he became the grandfather of triplets Gupu, Goom, and Geem, who both to him as "Paw-Paw".

## Relationships

### **Grandpa Gruff**

Grandpa Gideon acts like a baby brother mostly with Grandpa Gruff and Gruncle Gonsod, as they are Gideon's oldest friends and they both act like the oldest big brothers mostly with Gideon, such as being overprotective and not getting very annoyed with Gideon's antics unlike the other three if their group. Grandpa Gruff is the more free-spirited older brother figure to Grandpa Gideon, unlike Gruncle Gonsod, who is more protective, but not not quite as teasing as Grandpa Gilbert. He is pretty amused with Gideon's craziness and they consider each other great companions in doing hardcore stuff and extreme sports, though Gideon's passion for sports means that he often ends up hitting Gruff while rollerblading or with a ball in the head, be it from any sport.

### **Gruncle Gonsod**

Grandpa Gideon acts like a baby brother mostly with Gruncle Gonsod, much like he does with Grandpa Gruff, as they are Gideon's oldest friends and they both act like the oldest big brothers mostly with Gideon, such as being overprotective and not getting very annoyed with Gideon's antics unlike the other three in their group. Gruncle Gonsod practically ends up babying Gideon at times, mostly in their youth, unlike Grandpa Gruff and Grandpa Gilbert's more teasing-like approaches, much to the latter's often annoyance. Despite his protection of Gideon, Gonsod values him just as much as his other friends. Despite this, they work well together and are pretty close.

### **Grandma Galina**

Grandma Galina and Grandpa Gideon love each other dearly. Despite his daring and enthusiastic personality highly differing from Galina's, Gideon doesn't mind his wife's more serene and easygoing personality at all. In fact, he adores that about her. Considering the calm, patient, and laid-back air Galina gives, Gideon is more comfortable confiding in her than in any other Griffon (with his friends being a slight exception). The two balance each other out wonderfully; Galina can stop Gideon from getting himself in trouble with his crazy enthusiasm and Gideon can put Galina on the right track when she's over her head and not thinking things through well enough. Gideon also seems to be the playful teaser in their marriage and enjoys to poke fun at Galina occasionally. He especially loves crashing his wife in sweet, soft cuddles and finds it adorable how it always leaves her as a blushing mess.

### **Gupu, Goom, and Geem**

Grandpa Gideon really enjoys the company of his grandkids. He loves telling them stories about his travels across Equestria.

## Cause of scars

During a performance in his Wonderbolt career, he lost control of some storm clouds and got hit by their lightning, which left him with a scarred arm and tail.

## Skills

**Martial Arts:** Like his friends, he is an extremely skilled fighter with a great knowledge of martial arts, able to make quick turns while running or flying at full speed, leap over rooftops, and avoid attacks from enemies, including gunfire, weapons, and punches and kicks. His training as an athlete and royal soldier has helped to balance and improve this.

**Healing Power:** Much like his friends, in addition to his natural martial arts and ninjutsu skills, Gideon eventually developed the strong innate ability to heal via an enchanted mantra known as "the healing hands." By chanting the incantation and making the right hand seals, Gideon is fully capable of revitalizing his inner strength and counteracting even the most lethal of poisons and venom of "the healing hands." He doesn't use it as much as the other Senior Group members. He and his friends show great gifts as healers and being at the edge of their life has given them "a power that few martial artists can tap."

**Glyph Magic:** Gideon was trained as a cub alongside his friends in studying the art of magic. While he possesses passive forms of magic, such as firebreath and cloudwalking, like other Griffons, he lacks the same magical anatomy that ponies have, and therefore can't actively perform magic on his own; instead, he casts spells by drawing glyphs found within the spell circles unicorns tend to use.

**Kyusho Jitsu (Pressure Point Combat):** Along with his friends, Gideon has mastered another martial arts maneuver known as Kyusho Jitsu. By hitting the specific nerve-clusters/pressure points, Gideon is fully capable of incapacitating an opponent and rendering them temporarily unconscious or incapacitating them through uncontrollable spasming without causing unconsciousness. Aside from combat, he uses this technique to subdue his friends' quarreling without harming them, though he doesn't seem very thrilled doing so.

**Kusari Fundo:** Gideon's weapon is a kusari fundo chain with which, like his friends with their chosen weapons, he is highly skilled. By swinging or throwing the weights at target areas, he is able to deliver heavy strikes at opponents, while he uses the chain to block and trap/entangle an enemy or their weapon. On rare occasions, he uses the chain to choke or restrain an opponent. In reality, no actual traditional kata exists for the kusari fundo. However, it seems Gideon has developed his own way of forming a kata out of it, combining his natural sports and martial arts skills. Given Gideon's unpredictable nature, he is able to make extensive use of his chain in rather uncommon but effective ways in a fight as well as mix his attacks with the capoeira fighting style.

**Shurikenjutsu (Shurikens and Kunais):** While not his primary weapon, Gideon wields Shurikens and Kunais like the rest of his friends and is shown to be knowledgeable about techniques with the use of said weapons, able to throw them both with remarkable accuracy.

**Enhanced Strength:** His sports and martial arts training has helped to improve and condition his strength. He isn't quite as strong as Gruff, but he is able to throw barrels over his head against enemies, as well as disarm them while weaponless. He is notably a lot stronger than an average Griffon.

**Enhanced Speed:** He is the fastest member of his friend group and is shown to be able to run and fly without any type or sign of being exhausted. Even so, he was proven to have limits like other elderly Griffons and needs to rest if having pushed himself too much and has no energy left. The Magic of the Kings has also primarily enhanced Grandpa Gideon's speed, as well as several of the required secondary powers that complement his speed and allow him to take full advantage of it in almost any situation. Gideon's speed affects his entire body, allowing him the ability to throw super-speedy punches and kicks, even while flying/ running at speed. He also has the ability of changing direction, running in circles at super-speed, stopping on a dime, and rapidly dodging. Despite this, his friends seem to manage it somewhat, though this may be due to Gideon running slower for their benefit. He can also spin his chain at impressive speeds during battle.

**Fire Breath:** He has the normal ability of a Griffon to breathe fire.

**Stealth:** Gideon and his friends are all able to be one with darkness and hide and move within the shadows without being noticed. He is very stealthy, can hide in the shadows, sneak around without being detected, and use hand-to-hand combat, but does not enjoy it when stealth is used on him.

**Stamina and Endurance:** Gideon possesses a great stamina and much more than Olympic-level athletes. His sports and martial arts training helps improve this, as he is able to withstand attacks and hits from enemies that might otherwise incapacitate someone, showing his endurable body. However, he will lose to true strong opponents and can become unconscious. He rarely shows signs of fatigue, not even after sustaining his super-speed for long periods of time.

**Healing Factor:** He was able to take numerous hits from monsters like Arimaspi and the Hydra, seriously injuring himself, and was still able to fight.

**Intelligence and Communication:** He's got a great knowledge with sports and weather patrolling, making him the perfect choice for Griffinstone's Equestria Games team coach and weather patrol. Gideon is an immensely skilled athlete, fighter, and flyer in almost every sport and has a ton of experience in manipulating and controlling the weather and performing complex flying tricks from his time as a Wonderbolt. Much like Gruff, he has found a lot of creative ways to move his half-eagle, half-lion body. Additionally, he is expertly familiar with sewing, designing, and general fashion knowledge, able to tell the difference between different accessories and fabrics and point out things such as uneven pleats or machine stitching. He also seems to have good knowledge about making stuffed animals and puppets, having made a few for his and his friends' children and grandchildren. As part of their training, all the Senior Group members have also learned to read lips. Like the other Senior Group members, it's shown that he can understand the hand signals Gruff uses to instruct the team. He also seems to know a few words when it comes to Gilbert's Spanish, though he does often need translation.

## Original Statistics

### **As an Athlete**

* **Communication: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐** (5/5)
* **Dedication: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐** (5/5)
* **Perseverance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐** (5/5)
* **Teamwork: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐** (5/5)
* **Discipline:** ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
* **Experience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐** (5/5)
* **Popularity: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐** (5/5)
* **Reputation: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐** (5/5)

### **As a Soldier**

* **Attack: ⭐⭐⭐** (3/5)
* **Defense: ⭐⭐⭐⭐** (4/5)
* **Agility: ⭐⭐⭐** (3/5)
* **Range: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐** (5/5)
* **Speed: ⭐⭐⭐** (3/5)
* **Power: ⭐⭐⭐⭐** (4/5)
* **Lynx-eyed: ⭐⭐⭐⭐** (4/5)
* **Dodge: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐** (5/5)

## Trivia

* He is based on Bees Meliss' uncle, who's also a retired athlete (artistic gymnast) and Olympic champion.
* Gideon has two flight patterns named after him.
	+ This is similar to how Bees' uncle has two vaults named after him.
* He is exactly half-a-millimeter shorter than his friends, as well as the youngest of the Senior Group.
* Gideon was the first Griffon and non-Pegasus Wonderbolt known in recorded Equestrian History.
* Wonderbolts are noted to each have an embarrassing nickname. Gideon's Wonderbolt nickname is "Claw-Clum" because, on his first day, he misjudged his speed, tripped on a cloud, and crashed right on the captain. He declares that he swallowed so much mud while sliding on the road, he sprouted weeds out his beak.
* Gideon's wing power is 31.7, which he claims is thanks to his decade-long experience in flying.
* After part of the Royal Magic was transferred to him, Gideon leaves a gold thunderbolt streak behind him when he flies fast, similar to Rainbow Dash's rainbow streak and the Wonderbolts' trail of lightning clouds, which is most likely an effect from the magic.
* In the original draft of The Gruff Family, his original name was "Gawain".
* He was able to fly before he could walk.
* He is shown to have some sort of immunity to a certain level of electric shock, which most likely comes from Gideon's experience as a Wonderbolt.
	+ The fact that Gideon's scars from the uncontrolled storm clouds are *few* could further indicate to this.
* According to his friends, Gideon has "tennis elbow, soccer ankle, climber's knees, lifter's back, and buckball butt."
* According to Gruff and Gareth, he once performed a total of 216 barrel rolls after doing a "cobra maneuver" during a flight show, before vomiting.
* There may be two interpretations for why Gideon is shown at every meal helping himself to larger plates of food than most members of the group. The first is that because, as he gives it his all to his physical activities and workouts, he becomes hungry quickly (as feeling hungry after a workout is a normal, healthy biological response). While the second is because both his sports and his duties may tire him physically, he may end up needing a lot of energy.
* According to Gonsod, he eats two lunches.
* He appears to need the most sleep out of the Seniors -- he will sometimes take a nap after a lot of activity and is usually the only one visibly tired whenever all of them meet/stay up late.
	+ He tends to fall asleep face-first into his breakfast when he's *extremely* tired.
* Gideon works out every morning and evening; he does reps, lifting a pair of heavy-looking, round dumbbells, is shown to do sit-ups, and uses his chains to do battle ropes and jump rope exercises. Art by Bees also shows him using smaller regular dumbbells, as well as using a grip strengthener while asleep or simultaneously doing other things (multitasking).
* Gideon is bisexual.
	+ This was shown when he appeared with Galina on a Pride Month image uploaded by creator Bees Meliss in 2023.
	+ One of the pins on his gym bag is of the bisexual flag.
* In his youth, he didn't know what a helmet was until Gareth brought it up.
* He sometimes calls fruits and vegetables "sports candy".
* Gideon may have a minor allergy to walnuts as he burps after eating them.

## Notes and References

1. ↑ Gideon and Galina Pride (June 26, 2021).