Well the things on his legs are presumably as he was meant to be a disabled god, while the rock hands are because he handles molten metal all of the time.
I think that he's meant to kind of look like a bald Morlock, which kind of makes sense considering they both live underground and make things for privileged idiots who live on the surface. Don't think that 'Phestus ever ate anyone though.
The calipers will be because Haephestus is using them to walk. According to myth despite being the son of Zeus and Hera, he was a sickly child (As a god of fire it was held that a great fire starts from a tiny spark), and either because Hera threw him from Olympus for being so weak, or Zeus did much the same for later siding with Hera against him in an argument, his legs were permanently injured from the fall and he was... and I'm trying very hard to think of a synonym for "lame" here, though it is meant in it's literal rather than perjorative sense for the rest of his existence.
He's sometimes shown just as having malformed legs, sometimes using a crutch, sometimes using a leg brace.
Oh indeed, calipers is a term I haven't heard used in a while (and it's apparently a British term). I think most people just say leg braces these days.
Eh, Love Gun wasn't that good--the most notable song on it was "Shock Me", both because they let Ace sing and because it was based on a real incident in which Ace was almost electrocuted on stage. I liked it OK when I was a teenager, but now "Christine Sixteen" just seems skeevy (as does Gene generally) and it's certainly no Destroyer.
I only got into Kiss about.. Ten years ago? And I still only own the first eight albums, plus the two first Alive! ones. And Love Gun's probably where they start going downhill, even just from reading the liner notes it's obvious something's off. But I still like it. I Stole Your Love (creepiness of the title and some lyrics aside) and Love Gun are great songs, Ace singing is a highlight as you point out. But as you also suggest - when is Gene Simmons not skeevy? I personally find Plaster Caster worse than Christine Sixteen, although both are pretty dumb, really. But to be honest, there's actually more songs I genuinely like on Dynasty, as much as it's the Disco album, than Love Gun. Charisma with Gene is just hilarious.
I don't know from KISS, but the first thing my brain did after absorbing that Eros had guns was to start playing "Shot through the heart, and you're to blame, you give love a bad name".
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Also, I'm genuinely surprised I've seen no-one make a joke about the title of a certain KISS album when it comes to Eros and his choice in weaponry.
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I think that he's meant to kind of look like a bald Morlock, which kind of makes sense considering they both live underground and make things for privileged idiots who live on the surface. Don't think that 'Phestus ever ate anyone though.
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He's sometimes shown just as having malformed legs, sometimes using a crutch, sometimes using a leg brace.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Outsi
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Oh, and that'll be because, Haephestus is the god of fire.
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