Could morphing theoretically kill you?

[Fwahm]

For example, take this scenario.

You're a human, and you're morphing, say a starfish, something that has no head.  however, the first thing that happens is your head disappears, and thus you're a human with no head in the middle of morphing.  Lacking a head would kill you basically instantly, so might you die before you become starfish enough to survive?

This scenario never happened in the series partially due to the extreme circumstances, but that doesn't make it impossible.

[DinosaurNothlit]

This is actually something I've pondered, but not with a starfish, but, say, a Venber.  Remember, the creatures from #25 that melted if the temperature got above freezing?  Could they even be acquired/morphed?  And, if you morphed one, wouldn't your morphed parts melt while you were morphing?  As in, any Venber parts that were touching human parts, would get warmed up and melt, and your body would basically fall apart in mid-morph.

I suppose that one could argue that it's a bit of a moot point, since you couldn't really acquire a Venber, anyway (since the very act of touching it might kill it).  Still, it's something I've always wondered.

To answer the starfish question, though, I think they've actually done things while morphing that are somewhat similar to that.  For example, while morphing dolphin, their wind-pipes will briefly close off when the blowhole forms.  My guess is, that the morphing happens quickly enough, that any potentially-fatal mid-morph doesn't last long enough to actually kill you.

[anijen21]

By the same logic they should be incapable of deep cognitive reasoning as soon as they lose their frontal lobe.

There's some magic that keeps their consciousness/intellect intact even when they morph creatures with brains that shouldn't be able to support it. I think it was some of ax's dialogue that got cut off lemme see if I can find it...

<Our own minds and brains are pushed into Zero-Space and maintain contact with the morph by means of a--> p 51, book 21

lol oh well

[Fwahm]

Yes, but things like the windpipe closing would not kill you in less than 2 seconds like lacking a head would.  They could easily cope with no air for the 5-10 seconds (or less) while they have no air source.

Z-space obviously keeps your conciousness connected, but what about the life-supporting parts?

[anijen21]

There's another piece of Ax's dialogue that gets cut off that explains exactly what morphing is, and he calls it "cascading cellular regeneration." key word here being regeneration. I guess my theory is that while you're morphing, your cells are in a state of flux which means they really don't belong to any one form. The second you start morphing, it really doesn't matter if you have a head, lungs, gills, a heart, or anything. You need nothing to survive because you are a member of no species. My theory is not perfect basically because of #35 and the fact you can become a nothlit during a morph, but...eh

[DinosaurNothlit]

I could be wrong, but I think they've mentioned having their heart stop while morphing, too?

In any case, the Andalites may have programmed some sort of fail-safe into the morphing technology itself, that avoids possible mid-morphs that would kill the morpher.

I've actually thought that it's possible that the Andalites built a sort of decision engine into the morphing technology, which would draw upon the morpher's memories to determine how a morph should go.  This explains things like haircuts and piercings.  It would also explain how morphing doesn't kill you.  The morphing technology can 'realize' when something's going to kill you, and so the morphing goes in a different direction instead.

Because, when you really start to think about it, there are all kinds of ways for a morph to potentially kill you.  You're morphing a fly, and part of you stays full size and crushes the rest of you.  Maybe, during a morph, your blood vessels don't line up right for a second or two, and a bunch of blood gushes into your chest cavity all at once.  The possibilities are endless.  The Andalites surely would have prepared for such an eventuality, wouldn't they?

[anijen21]

I think we may be brushing up on suspension of disbelief here. Mutations in humans are deadly. If there was really some technology that could mutate a human into another species it would be almost instantaneously fatal. People can die when they get the wrong type of blood in a transfusion. The human body relies on a lot of constants to stay alive. I think the only real answer we have is "magic," or, since it's sci-fi, "science," because there's no way were going to come up with something that's plausible in reality.

So yeah, Andalite scientists is samrt!

Boy I just killed the fun didn't I?

[goom]

how about trying to morph with a non-'morphing outfit' and strangling on the clothes?

or being crushed when you're demorphing from a bug in a tight space..

[MoppingBear]

how about trying to morph with a non-'morphing outfit' and strangling on the clothes?

or being crushed when you're demorphing from a bug in a tight space..

both are mentioned actually. non skin tight clothing typically does not form and comes out in tatters (until later books)

being crushed in tight spaces is a relatively common danger for them when they morph bugs, and was how they trapped david in a rat.

[Chad32]

Suspension of disbelieve.


Or, the body subconsciously controls the morphing process in a way that it won't kill itsself. we know that estreens can consciously control morphs, and sometimes an Animorph will slowly morph out of something as they are losing consciousness. So perhaps the body has some sort of natural control that keeps everything just functional enough to survive the two or three minutes it takes to complete a morph.

[goom]

how about trying to morph with a non-'morphing outfit' and strangling on the clothes?

or being crushed when you're demorphing from a bug in a tight space..

both are mentioned actually. non skin tight clothing typically does not form and comes out in tatters (until later books)

not quite what i meant.
think stronger, more resilient. (suit of armor, perhaps?)

[Stephquiem]

I could be wrong, but I think they've mentioned having their heart stop while morphing, too?

I don't remember ever reading about that happening to a human morphing. But it happens to Ax every time he morphs an animal from earth. Andalites have two hearts, and no earth species has more than one.

[DarkKaizer]

Someone in the series (I believe it was Cassie) morphed a Yeerk at one point. Yeerks have no heart, and thus Cassie described the feeling of her heart stopping.

I think that is what DN was refering to, but she may have been mentioning Ax as well.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Someone in the series (I believe it was Cassie) morphed a Yeerk at one point. Yeerks have no heart, and thus Cassie described the feeling of her heart stopping.

I think that is what DN was refering to, but she may have been mentioning Ax as well.

Ah!  Yes, that must have been what I was thinking of.  I knew Ax's second heart stops every time he morphed, but I was pretty sure that someone other than Ax had their heart stop while morphing.  It must have been Cassie.

Yeah, if mid-morphs could kill, how could Cassie have morphed a Yeerk and not died?  Yeerks have, like, no internal organs, or at least nothing like a human.  So there has to be some kind of safety system to stop that from happening.

Maybe all your cells are supplied oxygen and stuff from Z-space to keep them alive during the morph, so that way it doesn't matter if all your organs fail or whatnot.

[Stephquiem]

Someone in the series (I believe it was Cassie) morphed a Yeerk at one point. Yeerks have no heart, and thus Cassie described the feeling of her heart stopping.

I think that is what DN was refering to, but she may have been mentioning Ax as well.

Ah!  Yes, that must have been what I was thinking of.  I knew Ax's second heart stops every time he morphed, but I was pretty sure that someone other than Ax had their heart stop while morphing.  It must have been Cassie.

Yeah, if mid-morphs could kill, how could Cassie have morphed a Yeerk and not died?  Yeerks have, like, no internal organs, or at least nothing like a human.  So there has to be some kind of safety system to stop that from happening.

Maybe all your cells are supplied oxygen and stuff from Z-space to keep them alive during the morph, so that way it doesn't matter if all your organs fail or whatnot.

Oh, okay. XD Yeah,  I didn't think of Cassie going yeerk until after I posted. Other than that, I don't remember anything for sure.

Though, no matter what one fact remains: they can't die while morphing because they needed to stick around long enough for victory to be possible.

...Which totally ruins the attempt at logic.