Morphing and Braces...

[TobiasMasonPark]

     This has always bothered me. I mean, I guess it's irrelevant, seeing as how neither one of the characters given the morphing power (Animorphs, Andalites, Auxliaries, etc) have braces. But let's think hypotheticals for a second.

     Imagine a world where one of the Animorphs (Marco, most likely, since Tobias' uncle is too cheap, Rachel is aparently naturally beautiful and perfect, Cassie would probably criticize the orthodontist) has braces. How would they morph? Would they braces morph with the person, like the skin-tight clothing? Is there an orthodontic practice set up somewhere in Z-space? And what about the permanent retainer?

[sublime88stang]

Wow something i would have never thought of.. I would assume it would be something like the skintight clothing. But its not a material its an actual peice of metal, so maybe it would end up like shoes? The same could be said if anyone had a (and i know there young so not likely) replaced joint or plates and pins/screws to hold bones together.

[warren_bearclaw]

There is another thread where people are currently discussing this stuff... here.

There's also another one that went deep into all of it, but I can't seem to find it....

[Phoenix004]

Intriguing question, and not an easy one to answer. On the one hand, we know they can morph skin-tight clothing, most likely because the morphing technology is somehow tricked into treating the clothing as an extra layer of skin. Logically it is possible that braces would be transferred along with clothes during the morphing process, particularly as braces are actually inside the body instead of outside like clothing.

However, there is evidence against this theory. In #15 Marco and the others temporarily have chips implanted inside their heads while morphing Sharks. When they demorphed and attempted to morph insects, they nearly killed themselves because the chips were still inside them. Obviously this means that the chip was not moved into Z-space like their clothing was, although this could be because they weren't aware of the chips at the time. If they concentrated on morphing away the braces like they did with their clothes, then maybe it would work.

[Coal Kropotkin]

they also killed themselves

Somehow I don't seem to recall that....

[Phoenix004]

Ha ha, I meant nearly killed themselves! Typing fail!

[BaronConall]

There is another thread where people are currently discussing this stuff... here.

There's also another one that went deep into all of it, but I can't seem to find it....

I think this may be the other topic you were talking about here.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     Hmmm, interesting responses. But I can imagine that simply "willing" the braces into z-space, or "non-existence" would undo months--perhaps years- of orthodontic work. Imagine trying to explain to mom and dad why you "have to have another set put on, because you morphed them away

     "Yea...I'm sort of an Animorph, mom and dad."
     "Yea, well, insurance doesn't cover that."

[Gyt Kaliba]

This is an interesting question too. Especially in regards to like the auxiliary Animorphs from the end of the series. Some of them could well have had something inside of them, a pacemaker or something. What happens there?

[BaronConall]

I think it may be like [spoiler]when they had chips planted in their skull while in hammerhead morph[/spoiler].
They seemed specifically designed to maintain the same form and mass, regardless of morphing as an "anti-andalite bandit" measure. Maybe morphing stores that mineral-location data for later reference, unless it's specifically told not to.

[Tim Bruening]

     Hmmm, interesting responses. But I can imagine that simply "willing" the braces into z-space, or "non-existence" would undo months--perhaps years- of orthodontic work. Imagine trying to explain to mom and dad why you "have to have another set put on, because you morphed them away

     "Yea...I'm sort of an Animorph, mom and dad."
     "Yea, well, insurance doesn't cover that."

But couldn't you use morphing to fix up your teeth?

I assume that by morphing, you could at least fix your cavities!