Werewolf, That's Neither Here Nor There Wolf

    It's almost Halloween, and this means that it is time for decorations.  I know that I reuse many of the same things year after year at my store.  Many people do the same.  However, I have been noticing some trends.  I have seen plenty of scarecrows, pumpkins, skeletons, ghosts, zombies, witches, vampires, and various other monsters of note.  Plenty of animals too, ranging from cats to giant spiders, with teeny bats in between.  There is one monster/animal trope that is missing, werewolves/wolfmen.  Over the years, I have only seen two or three werewolf representations, and no wolves whatsoever.  For goodness sakes, I've seen more representations of Frankenstein's monster than I have of werewolves.  I've even seen a dragon skeleton that was later repurposed for Christmas by donning a Santa hat!  Now, I get that both werewolves and wolfmen are hard to present, as it is the transformation part that is both the best to enjoy but the hardest to duplicate.  Yet, this year, I've seen an inflatable vulture roosting on a tombstone that can move its head from left to right and maybe even flap its wings.  There's even a tiny light at the tip of its beak.  Surely there is someway to make something that would have a lupine creature seem to move.  Now, I get that there are actual wolves in some parts of the country, or at least coyotes.  (They are really everywhere now.). So, some people might not want to have a similar type of decoration that could attract the real thing.  The wolfman could be a bridge for such people, but I think I've only ever seen one small figurine or banner with one in the past two decades.  Werewolves should not be ignored for Halloween decor like this.  On a similar point, a werewolf-based game I like is coming back with a new edition. Unfortunately, the current holder of the intellectual property (IP) has decided that the new edition will not be a direct continuation of the older editions.  Instead, it will use many of the same themes and terms, but it will almost be an entirely new game.  Now, there were parts of the old game that were problematic, mostly on a cultural level.  Many of those parts needed to be changed.  However, many fans, me included, feel that the IP could have been salvaged without having to start over from scratch.  Some of the changes that were just announced a few weeks ago don't even make sense.  While some fans are optimistic and whole-heartily accept these changes, there is a strong undercurrent of distrust about how changed the new edition will be.  These fans have already said that they will stay with previous editions, instead of working with the new.  For my part, I am still undecided.  Within an hour or two of the latest announcement, I was able to work out many of the changes into the story of older editions that would make sense while still keeping the old game alive.  If I could do something like that without having access to almost thirty years of products, then a development team (the second one hired, if not third) with almost two years of lead time could do the same.  I will probably get the first book when it comes out in the next year or so, but I don't know how much more of the new line I will get.  The weird thing though is I don't really like werewolf movies/shows or books that much.  I just like the folklore and legends part.  Especially the ones with other animals.