If a character is a one-time character, its name starts with a *. These characters are not mandatory (not even in the xapp field).

If an indexer thinks it is not worth the effort to list all the appearing characters of a story, (s)he should use [app:] in stead of [xapp:].

The following text was written by Brix Lichtenberg (in March 1999), on my request.
The HTMLisation was done by me --Harry.
Changes: most references to FTP removed. HF, 13.10.1999
Changes: some new insights about appearances in pictures etc. added. HF, 27.04.2005 (and edited 13.12.2006) Changes: again edited HF 2007-06-21

XAPP FAQ v 1.2 *)

Q: What's this FAQ about anyway?
A: Read the title! About xapps of course!

Q: Meaning?
A: O.k., o.k., sorry! Just suffering a little from the effort to finally overcome myself and do this piece of text. Xapps of course are those fields like [xapp:DD,MM,GO] you encounter in the Inducks. This text intends to explain the purpose, rules and syntax a little bit.

Q: What does "xapp" mean exactly?
A: It's an abbreviation for "eXact Appearances". In those fields the Disney characters appearing in a specific story are listed, usually abbreviated.

Q: And those [app:] I'm also seeing in Inducks?
A: Those are the precedessors of xapps. We're currently eliminating and replacing them with xapp.

Q: What's the difference between [app:] and [xapp:]?
A: Well, like the name says [xapp:] is more exact than [app:]. For [app:] there have been very loose rules. So we try to replace all [app:] with [xapp:].

Q: Why do the effort?
A: Since Inducks continuously is growing in size, detail and contributers we simply changed our mind. Keeping track of the exact appearance helps us identifying new stories for Inducks, is of better use for statistical purposes and should also help users of the Inducks to find specific stories they might be looking for.

Q: Where do I find explanations for the abbreviations of the characters?
A: On this place you find a file heroes.txt, where all characters and their abbreviations are listed.

Q: I've never heard anything about a lot of the characters in xapp or in the legend file.
A: That's not a question, is it? But anyway, since we index almost every Disney character appearing in a story there are a lot of obscure ones, too. Also Inducks is an international database of the stories appearing in the whole world we had to decide which names we assign to the characters. We ended up using the name of the character it has in the country of its conception. The bulk of it of course is of American origin and well-known worldwide. But there are Disney productions in other countries as well, most notably in Italy, Brazil, France and Denmark. For instance the character known in the U.S. as "Duck Avenger" (or "Superduck", Donald's superhero alter ego) is of Italian origin and is called "Paperinik" there, so its abbreviation is "PK". Characters created by Egmont (Denmark) have English names though since the stories and characters mostly are conceived in English.

Q: So I can be sure now that a xapp contains all characters appearing in a story?
A: Almost. Remember that I said xapps are more exact than apps. We hardcore indexers kind of agree to index every character in a story anyway, so you can almost rely on that. But the rules for "xapping" are a little less strict. You may rely on the characters listed in an xapp field appearing in a story (aside human inaccuracies of course). You also may rely on Disney characters we consider as important not being in a story if they aren't listed in xapp.

Q: Which characters do you consider important?
A: Well, over the years we list more and more characters, even the ones that only occur in one story. So it's not that important anymore to know which characters are important.

Q: What do those numbers behind some abbreviations like "HDL1" and "BB2" mean?
A: HDL (Huey, Dewey and Louie) and BB (Beagle Boys) are characters we consider as "group characters". Others for instance are MF,AMJ,BBB,SIB (look the abbreviations up yourself). Normally those group characters appear together. We consider it noteworthy if not all of them appear in a story. So "HDL2" for instance indicates only two of Donald's nephews appear in the story. This goes only for interchangeable group characters though. Meaning those characters looking alike so they can't be differed by their visual appearance. Even if one of HDL appears in a story and is called by a name it's indexed as "HDL1" since it may vary in translations.

Q: How comes I've seen a HDL4 but never more than a BB2?
A: Those are special cases. There are a few cases known where some artists (for instance Carl Barks and Vicar) accidentally have drawn an additional fourth nephew in a panel. This "additional nephew" commonly is called "Phooey". But xapp-wise we index him simply as HDL4. The BB case is different again. You might be aware of the fact that the exact number of Beagle Boys isn't known. So we consider every appearance of three or more BB as normal appearance indexed as "BB" only. Only appearances with less than three BB are indexed as "BB2" or "BB1".

Q: But what if I want to list that a story has 12 beagle Boys?
A: Simply list the number of characters in brackets: BB(12).

Q: Not all group characters are interchangeable, aren't they? How are those indexed?
A: Right! There are other characters regularily appearing as groups though not identical in appearance. Examples are TLP, SD, CD, just to mention a few. If characters from those groups appear individually they're indexed with their individual names in xapp. Don't confuse it with group names only used for the hero column.

Q: Group names in the hero column?
A: Yes, hero is the name of the character appearing in the title of the story. Some group characters are only used there while they have to be indexed individually in xapp. Examples are M+D, D+D, AR, DT. You can see those in the heroes legend file as well.

Q: What does [xapp:MM(1st)] mean?
A: Well, it's pretty obvious. (1st) indicates that this is the story this specific character appeared for the first time in a Disney comic. The brackets after an abbreviation of a character are a general means to provide information for an xapp. Apart from "1st", there are some others like "MM(cameo)", and the "BB(12)" that I already mentioned before.

Q: Cameo?
A: I'll adress this later on in this FAQ.

Q: I keep noticing Goofy and Super Goof in the same story. Aren't they the same person?
A: Yes, Super Goof (SG) is an alter-ego of Goofy (GO) (like Clark Kent and Superman). But SG stories as super hero stories are "another kind" of stories than normal GO stories. So we decided to differ and treat them as "different persons". This is valid for other Disney characters with superhero identities and alter-egos as well, e.g. DD/PK, DA/Paperinika, GiL/Super Gilly, FE/Paper Bat. Also HDL/JW.

Q: Huey, Dewey and Louie are different from Junior Woodchucks?
A: Not really of course. But we treat them again as "different persons" because JW stories again are another kind of story than "normal" HDL stories. So essentially we index JW if HDL can be seen with their JW cap and HDL if they can be seen in their "normal" outfit. If they appear in both outfits in a story it's indexed as [xapp:HDL,JW].

Q: What about other Junior Woodchucks than HDL?
A: Well, the character "JW" also includes all other JWs not mentioned separately in the heroes legend file. So if there's an officer or JW comrades of HDL they're not indexed aside "JW". This also means that "JW" might be indexed if HDL don't appear as JW but there are other JW character in the story. This should occur not very often though. Not included in JW for instance is the "Mogul", the duck-like JW officer known from Carl Barks, Tony Strobl and Kay Wright Junior Woodchucks stories. Also some characters of the new Italian JW stories are indexed separately. As I said, have a look in the heroes legend file if you're interested.

Q: There's a story with Phooey appearing as Junior Woodchuck. How's this indexed?
A: That's almost a little too specific for this FAQ and should only interest you if you want to index xapps yourself and come across this incident (which I doubt). But for the record, I probably would index this as [xapp:HDL4,JW] even if HDL don't appear as "HDL".

Q: Hey, I might want to index xapps. What do I have to mind?
A: Well, apart from reading this FAQ and studying the heroes legend file not that much. You can't go wrong if you index all characters listed in the heroes legend file regardless if mandatory or not. If you're not sure you got all right, then call the field only [app:]. Be warned, the rest of this FAQ is more or less specific and only interesting for those who indeed want to index xapps themselves.

Q: Does a phone call of a character count for xapp?
A: Not if he doesn't appear visually in the story elsewhere. A character "appears" only in a story if he can be visually seen by the reader. So it also doesn't count as xapp if a character is talked to "out of the panel", is heard in the radio, has written a letter and so on.

Q: And if only a part of the body of a character appears in a story?
A: That's a tough one. But yes, if only a leg or another part of the body of a character can be seen in the story and it is clear who the character is it counts for xapp.

Q: I have a case where Goofy is covered by a blanket, he also is talking, but never seen.
A: Goofy is visually in the story and should be xapped. It's similar to Goofy as the Invisible Man where he isn't "seen" as well and is/should be xapped, too.

Q: What about pictures of characters in a story?
A: Xapping of pictures is recommended (but not mandatory). It should always be accompanied by something between () like (picture), (dream), etc.
We also like to have "Cornelius Coot(statue)" in our xapps.

Q: But on covers, the characters are very often in "pictures"!
A: Ah, yes. We make an exception for covers (and illustrations). In other words:
- for normal stories, you xapp them, but you must add "(photo)" etc.
- for covers, you xapp them, but you don't add "(photo)" etc.

Q: What about dream appearances?
A: We consider those as taking part in the story. So it's a xapp. The same goes for appearances in thought balloons, appearances on TV etc.

Q: And what about appearances only in one panel?
A: You mean cameos? They count as a normal appearance. It's not about the importance of the role the character plays in a specific story but its "overall" importance. So if a character appears even only in one panel in the background without any action or speech it is indexed in xapp. As I mentioned above this might be indicated as "DD(cameo)" for instance.

Q: Suppose I want to list a cameo of 12 Beagle Boys (yes, that would be a strange story...). How do I do that?
A: Ah, you mean you want to combine BB(12) and BB(cameo). In cases like that, use BB(12;cameo). Remember to always put the number first, then a semicolon and then the rest.

Q: Is there a special sort order in the xapp fields?
A: No. They are sorted alphabetically by our processing programs. But it's not really necessary since there are also intelligent programs to compare the contents of the fields without the need of having them sorted.

Q: Back to the alter-ego stuff. Aren't those BB in Ducktales different from normal BB?
A: Well, you can see it this way. So is GO from Goof Troop, Baloo from Talespin, CD from Rescue Rangers and so on. But even if the outfits and roles are a little bit different we don't need to differ in abbreviation or with brackets since the different universes and series are indexed elsewhere, so it can be seen.

Q: Do you really think anybody reads this crap to the end?
A: Actually I expect at least Harry Fluks - whom you have to thank for pressing this FAQ out of me - to read it. Also the rest of the Inducks gang will have a look at it. Everybody else who gets here exceeds my expectations, but of course is welcome.

Q: But aren't you Harry yourself, at least partly? I know I am partly Brix and partly Harry, since Harry edited this text heaviliy after Brix wrote it.
A: Uhm... Next question please!