Demorphing = Everything goes back to "default"?

[Ari]

Hey guys, I'm a newbie here, but I'm a long-time fan of the series. For the most part they're pretty well orchestrated, but there's one thing about morphing that always bugged me. Figured I'd post it.

It's obvious that morphing and demorphing can set someone's body back to default mode, getting rid of disabilities (like with the auxiliary Animorphs and Loren...) and injuries sustained while in morph. Basically, it reboots the genetic code or whatever. But what about someone who got surgery? I had really major kidney surgery a few years back, and if the problem came back I'd be in a lot of trouble. And the disabled Animorphs - any surgeries they got, did they disappear after morphing?

This goes for tattoos, earrings...basicall y any alterations to your body. Do you think they'd stay the same or reset after demorphing? Sorry if this has been asked before. Give me your opinions, please.

-Ari

[goom]

hey, welcome to the forum!

i think it would reverse surgical processes. you weren't born with it, so it shouldn't stick around.
i'm sure there's a few KASUs around this topic.

eye (laser) surgery, circumcision,  pierced ears, pretty much any modifications would be defaulted back, i assume.
not sure how haircuts would play into that.

speaking of which.. would the animorphs never have to shower? (just morph and demorph when needed?)

[musicman88]

Things like hair length, nail length, and stuff like that stay though. 

[Phoenix004]

Well based on what we know we can assume that demorphing puts you back to the state you were in before you morphed (minus injuries), which means that your hair and nail length won't be affected (Rachel tried and failed to reverse a bad haircut in #2).

None of the Animorphs got tattoos (that we know of) but we know for a fact that Rachel had pierced ears (she dropped an earring in #32) so morphing obviously didn't heal those, even though they probably should have. I'd guess this might have something to do with the demorph returning them to the same amount of mass they were before they morphed, but then how would you account for injuries being healed? Or maybe Rachel just went and got her ears pierced again everytime she morphed? 

For things like surgery, I imagine the surgery should be reversed, but the reason for the surgery probably would be as well (eg. morphing away a bullet wound forces the bullet out and heals the wound). I suppose this means that most infections are "cured" by morphing, except for genetic conditions. Might be hard to explain to your doctor if your appendix or tonsils mysteriously reappear though...

I'm pretty sure you couldn't morph instead of showering though, as things like blood have often stayed with them when they've demorphed so dirt would too.

[DinosaurNothlit]

My own personal theory on the matter is that the morphing technology has some kind of rudimentary 'decision engine' built into it.  Like, maybe it accesses your memories and determines which things are "injuries" that need to be gotten rid of, and which things are necessary parts of who you are.  I mean, if everything was reset every time you morphed and you were rebuilt purely from genetic code alone, you would go back to being an embryo.  A lot of things about you are determined only after you start growing, after all.  Height, weight, and things like that are all affected by environment, and can be different even between two people who have the same genetic code.

Andalites are geniuses with computers, so it makes sense that they'd come up with a decision engine like that.  And it explains haircuts, pierced ears, many Andalites' scars, etc.  And Rachel could not trick it into giving her a different haircut because it would use memories, not current thoughts.

Anyway, the point I'm leading up to is, under my own personal theory of how it works, your surgery would be preserved.    Buuuut a lot of people could argue things differently, since my theory is pretty much not supported at all by canon.  For one thing, you'd think, if I'm right about the way it worked, Ax would have bragged about it a little.  Andalites are, after all, insanely proud of their computer skillz.

[adeon222]

Yeah, despite the many possible applications and opportunities that morphing presents, more or less the Andalites seem to be almost shy about it... Which doesn't really jive, considering their known tendency for self-publication...

So, either it's the pinnacle of their technology, and they just really prefer not to talk about it, or it's really not that impressive an advancement for them... ???

[Phoenix004]

Or maybe KA figured that if she'd spent all this time trying to explain it there wouldn't have been room in the books to save the world from alien slugs?

I like your theory though Dino. It seems a little far-fetched even for the Andalites but I suppose it's possible. I briefly considered the possibility that the technology interpreted recent changes (such as a cut you received two minutes ago) to be injuries and preserved everything else, but that wouldn't make sense because the auxiliaries and Loren had long term injuries that were healed.

[Ari]

About the Andalite technology, they seemed pretty proud of it, which was why they were so against sharing it. Ax called it "the crown jewel" of their scientific advancements. Just that no other species was good enough for it.


Ditto; I really like your theory, Dino.

[anijen21]

For things like surgery, I imagine the surgery should be reversed, but the reason for the surgery probably would be as well (eg. morphing away a bullet wound forces the bullet out and heals the wound). I suppose this means that most infections are "cured" by morphing, except for genetic conditions. Might be hard to explain to your doctor if your appendix or tonsils mysteriously reappear though...

that's not true though, in #17 a couple of birdshot pellets stayed in Ax after he was shot as a Northern Harrier.

I think the series is inconsistent, and actually, it's kind of hard to imagine exactly how it works. There might be some kind of "residual self-image" stuff going on, that is, the morpher has some control over the modifications between morphs. It SEEMS like anything internal just stays the same. I mean, they can morph clothes, so I assume if you got like stints in your heart or tubes in your ear, those would stay. But if you had any kind of organ removal--eg, appendicitis, or that tria gland stuff in #29, as soon as you morph you've got a gall bladder again, you know?

[Fwahm]

The bullets stayed in Ax because he was shot in a smaller form than his natural one.

When Jake was shot in Rhino morph, they fell out because he shrunk when demorphed, making the bullets' position outside of his body as a human.

[Green armadillo ette]

Morphing also includes Z-space. Ax said that when you morph your mass goes to Z-space. So if you have pierced ears they would stay the same because the mass you put in Z-space would not be enough to close them. Same goes for a any missing body parts; inturnal or a limb.  I think the reason the auxiliary animorphs were not healed because they were missing an organ or limb. James, Erica, and Chirs were healed because they were the only ones who didn't have a genetic mess up or missing an organ.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Morphing also includes Z-space. Ax said that when you morph your mass goes to Z-space. So if you have pierced ears they would stay the same because the mass you put in Z-space would not be enough to close them. Same goes for a any missing body parts; inturnal or a limb.  I think the reason the auxiliary animorphs were not healed because they were missing an organ or limb. James, Erica, and Chirs were healed because they were the only ones who didn't have a genetic mess up or missing an organ.

Nah, because haven't they lost limbs before?  Not to mention all the blood they lose every battle.

If morphing didn't somehow replenish lost mass, I'd say any given Animorph would survive maybe three battles MAX before they died simply from blood loss . . .

[goom]

if it worked, wouldn't morphing be revolutionary for transplants?!
anyways, my thoughts:
when you morph, all your mass is put in z-space; so when you demorph you get that specific amount of mass back.
ear piercings (small hole), missing limbs, stuff like that wouldn't come back (as armadillo pointed out).
your body would try to be restored to the way it was right before your morphed.
i'm sure there were a few beneficial goofs along the way (eyesight, disabilities etc.), but for the most part it seems consistant.

from the point where you acquired an animal, any injuries attained would be removed after a re-morph.
they could regain lost appendages only this way. (even with a human morph; wouldn't that make a good magic show?)

seem reasonable?

[Fwahm]

No, because James's legs were tiny and weak before he could morph, due to him not using it, but after he morphed, his legs were fit and strong.  He got back more mass than he started with.

[adeon222]

And then there was Tobias' broken wing in MM2... That was just like, "Huh? What exactly is going on here?"