Morphing Problems

[Kelran-Isthinar]

No its not wierd at all 

Well correction, define wierd, I know by alot of peoples' standards this entire conversation would classify as 'wierd'
so wierd is relative.

[morfowt]

well normally, this whole forum would be weird, but in RAF terms of weird, like say not knowing what battle morph jake uses most, would be weird.

[Kelran-Isthinar]

Precisely! 
So weird, like distance, time, color, shape, movement, and position, has been relegated to eternal relative-ness.

[Phoenix004]

I have no problem with weirdness. I like weird people, they are far more fun to be around than "normal" people.

Anyway, back to the topic. Maybe it would have been easier if KA hadn't mentioned the idea of storing excess mass in Zero Space? Then we wouldn't have had this problem. Of course, then she couldn't have done book 18...

[jtuttle]

I have no problem with weirdness. I like weird people, they are far more fun to be around than "normal" people.

Witness the existence of this forum, for example :-)

-- J.P.

[goom]

maybe you 'borrow' mass from other morphers (that have extra mass in z space)
that'd be a little awkward

[Liz]

I thought that would be logical, but what would happen if there wasn't enough mass at the time to complete your morph? xD  I picture one of those internet error messages saying "The mass server is too busy, please try again later."

I wonder how many Andalites are in the military?  They are the ones who would be using the morphing technology, and I think it said somewhere that it's only used by spies and the like.  So maybe there wouldn't be enough individuals morphing at one time to provide enough mass for others' use.

[goom]

i kind of imagine it like a torrent, if anybody knows how that works.

that would explain why the morphing process is so different/random all the time.

[zaprowsdower]

So what's a torrent?

[morfowt]

I know how to use torrents, but I have no idea what they are or how they're made...

[Gafrash]

Neither....

Hey! I always assumed that upon copying the DNA of an animal into yourself, you are LITERALLY COPYING EVERYTHING about that animal that is stored within its DNA. Like how it looks at the equivalent age (characteristics), how tall and heavy it is (mass), its senses and capabilities, its instincts (mind) and all.
So its physical AND the mental 'copy' would literally be made, 'copied' into an exact replica and 'stored' in Z-Space.
And the morphing energy is the power that changes each cell on the morpher's body into that of the animal it is going to be come.
All very abstract, I know.
But the morpher is able to focus on the animal to initiate change and thus the morphing begins. The transfer of the excess mass would be from the 'made' copy and not 'borrowed' from some other source. So I would imagine, if I was to morph a bug, ALL MY ATOMS would MORPH into that of said bug, and as my mind stays in 3-D space along with the bug body and the bug's mind, my physical form would be literally floating comatose in Z-Space nowheres, until my mind in the 3-D plane would call upon it and demorph back.


I'd like to add the topic here, that I never quite got the mechanics of the Escafil device. Supposedly a morph-capable person with knowledge of the tech can transfer the tech. But then came the ant which happened to touch the blue cube and then touched Cassie, it being a non-sentient creature with barely any self-awareness in the series, MANAGED to acquire Cassie and morph into a human.
How the heck did that happen????????!

And in book #1 (I know, I know there are a lot of K.A.S.U.s based on Michael and Katherine still establishing 'the ropes' of the whole Animorphs philosophy) Jake as Homer, smells all sorts of things and identifies dogs from down the road... the authors were trying to play with the concept of memory and didn't quite follow it up, like they were undecided after that.
But by the time Cassie morphed Rachel in  #12: The Reaction she implies something similar again. How Cassie says Rachel's brain just wants to do stupid things...
We know that instincts are stored in DNA, but could the morphing process in the series suggest that things like 'memory' and 'personality of sentient species' are also stored in DNA?! If not, this is certainly implied through the Arns' ixcilla.

So I imagine under this technology of morphing comes the components of DNA, cell transformation, inter-dimensional transference (whoa!), healing (bc the process doesn't hurt nor retain injuries), telepathy and some extra component that enables the morpher to bring in clothing, and their water and food and stuff like the Yeerk pest inside their head with them.

[Gafrash]

Maaaaaan, the more I think about it, the more I find issues with this technology.
THERE ARE LOTS OF UNEXPLAINED THINGS... Kinda wish Ax would have let us in a few more during his narrations.
Like, how the age factor is ignored. If they acquired, say, an old bird, would they morph the animal at that exact age, or at their respective teenage-hoods?!
How Marco morphed a fat man, implying that 'fat' is stored in DNA.

The issue with the clothing business is another big one. It indicates that something more than DNA is at work in the morphing business. The Animorphs only managed to do skin tight stuff, but I remember Estrid blew my mind when she managed to do full-blown clothing in The Arrival. What's with that?!

Also, (can't remember in which book) but they were once hungry and upon feeding in wolf morph, and demorphing into human, they ceased to be hungry. This suggests that even biological functions are transferred with the excess mass and all...

I am blowing my brains thinking about all this, here. NGHAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR RRRGH!!!!
Better not go down this path, guys, and just go with it.

It exists in the Animorphs Universe, therefore it is!

[estrid]

the way i always looked at this was that they acquired the DNA  from the animals rite? and that DNA pattern was being used so they could morph into that animal. well the DNA would start forming whatever needed forming, and even if the animal was bigger, it wouldn't take the excess mass from anywhere. It would just build it. think of how when a tadpole turns into a frog. its getting bigger, things are disappearing. nothing is goin in2 z-space.  or look at a developing embryo, like when  u have the developing baby getting bigger, its all the genetix coming into play.
its just the DNA codes causing the formation of the new organs and causing the frog to grow. same with morphing something large. the DNA for the trunk of the elephant 4 example would start the forming of the trunk.
damn it id make a horrible bio teacher. i know all this stuff and it all makes sense in my head, i just suck at explaining it

[morfowt]

yeah, but ax mentioned at least twice that when morphing something smaller, the excess mass goes into z-space...

[estrid]

ya i kno, but im talking bout getting bigger