Wapsi Square Forum

KnightDelight wrote:Don't know if Atsail will be flattered the twins are taking on her facial features or insulted they are mocking her.

Are they mocking her, or are they ... unaware of the mimicry?

NOTDilbert wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote: ...is this "human form" an ability accessible to all paranormals? Obviously, shapeshifting paranormals have access to this capability, and apparently sphinxes, sirens, jaguar girls, whatever nudge and tsilla are, and Whatsits.

Well, Nudge wasn't very good at it at first; for all her being a Trickster, she started out having to study shapeshifting in the Library (and under Phix's dubious 'help'). I don't know the ep's address, other peoples archive-fu is stronger than mine.

Nine To Five

They want to go to the same school as Atsali!Yay! I think that realization will floor her more than the morph.

jwhouk wrote:

NOTDilbert wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote: ...is this "human form" an ability accessible to all paranormals? Obviously, shapeshifting paranormals have access to this capability, and apparently sphinxes, sirens, jaguar girls, whatever nudge and tsilla are, and Whatsits.

Well, Nudge wasn't very good at it at first; for all her being a Trickster, she started out having to study shapeshifting in the Library (and under Phix's dubious 'help'). I don't know the ep's address, other peoples archive-fu is stronger than mine.

Nine To Five

Nudge had some trouble with clothing, too.

shadowinthelight wrote:OK, people. Just remember no matter how cute they may look in human form, they are ursa minors.

Yep. They both have little dippers as well. But they could change that if they wanted to.

They look similar to Sali but not identical. At that age certain types look a lot alike. They still have a bit more growing up to do for real differences appear. For one Sali has much fuller lips and slightly different eyebrows. Nuff said.

MerchManDan, jwhouk, and NOTDilbert: (can't do a quadruple-quote, so this is what I came up with... If I'm breaking a rule, sorry)
I realize it isn't always an instinctive ability for some and thus must be taught. What I'm trying to figure out is if all paranormals have access to the ability to "take a human form" at all. Is there some kind of magic/tech going on that all paranormals just so happen to have? If not, how do the paranormals who can't take human form get groceries? Do they need to wear some kind of magic/tech... amulet/device... Thingy?

Or has Paul already said something along the lines of "don't look at it too closely"?

GlytchMeister wrote:MerchManDan, jwhouk, and NOTDilbert: (can't do a quadruple-quote, so this is what I came up with... If I'm breaking a rule, sorry)
I realize it isn't always an instinctive ability for some and thus must be taught. What I'm trying to figure out is if all paranormals have access to the ability to "take a human form" at all. Is there some kind of magic/tech going on that all paranormals just so happen to have? If not, how do the paranormals who can't take human form get groceries? Do they need to wear some kind of magic/tech... amulet/device... Thingy?

Or has Paul already said something along the lines of "don't look at it too closely"?

Some learn a spell to do it. Nudge does. Some just have the ability Tsailla(I know I can't spell) does. Others it appears to come with their powers like BIA or the Golem Girls. Surpising it appears Teopez does not have that power. Monica is NOT incontrol of her changes as they come from being the Jaguar Girl and appear tied to her anger. Some have many forms, others only a few. Sphinx appear to have only two forms, human and sphinx but can change their age appearance, Phix was her sons childhood friend. So far no rules have been found that explain who can and cannot. Nor has the means ever been talked about, at least that I know of. lol.

zachariah wrote:Sphinx appear to have only two forms, human and sphinx but can change their age appearance, Phix was her sons childhood friend.

I interpreted that comment as being a sudden topic switch back to Bia -- Phix was told to stay out of his life, Bia turned into a child to create a pretext for growing up with him.

zachariah wrote:For one Sali has much fuller lips and slightly different eyebrows.

The lips I took as the boobs: Duh, Siren!

The slight difference in eyebrows I put down to different angles. Comparing eyebrows, the silent one's looks like Atsali's in panel 2, while the speaker's looks like Atsali's in panel 3.

If they were not meant to look like Atsali, Paul has been ... inattentive to what his own hand has wrought. Sheesh, with those freckled faces and shoulders, he ought to notice.

zachariah wrote:Phix was her sons childhood friend.

I believe that it was Bia who shapeshifted into the form of a child, and played the childhood friend of Phix's son... and eventually married him and bore his children (Shelly and her brothers). All part of her "selective breeding" scheme.

Based on Phix's reaction when Nudge deliberately spilled the beans about this, Phix hadn't known this until then. Since Phix had reluctantly agreed to give up her son for human fostering, on the grounds that it was better for him to have a human upbringing free of the paranormal, Bia's scheming really pissed Phix off.

So, Bia is definitely a shapeshifter, but we don't know if she can (or does) shapeshift into any non-humanoid form. Since she's a full Titan, her shapeshifting ability may well be inborn, but I don't think we even know that for certain.

Glytchmeister: I think the answer to your question is "No, not all paranormals can take on human form." The day that Phix chewed out Monica and Shelly for breaking cover and doing "paranormal parkour" in public view, she referred to some paranormals who were unable to move freely among humanity. The implication I take from this, is that there are at least some paranormals who don't have the ability to take on a convincing human form, and for some reason can't use an effective spell / glamour / cloaking device.

A paranormal weighing, oh, a ton or so, who was unable to mass-shift, would have serious problems... even if a convincing light-illusion could be projected, his/her sheer bulk would make the masquerade very difficult to sustain in public.

A two-girl country bear jamboree!

NOTDilbert wrote:Too bad they didn't pick THESE country girls as a pattern:

Rural UFO sightings explained.jpg

*edit* Although, they might make Atsali feel bad again......

Who says that this is not the future for the Ursas??

Mark N wrote:

NOTDilbert wrote:Too bad they didn't pick THESE country girls as a pattern:

Rural UFO sightings explained.jpg

*edit* Although, they might make Atsali feel bad again......

Who says that this is not the future for the Ursas??

If so, the MIB uniform code will be somewhat more relaxed by then.....

kingklash wrote:A two-girl country bear jamboree!

High on a mountain top and what do I see?
girl track, girl tracks, looking up at me.
Better move your shadow before it's to late
They've got a head start and headed for the gate.

Sung to the tune of 'Ole Slewfoot'.

ActionKermit wrote:

zachariah wrote:Sphinx appear to have only two forms, human and sphinx but can change their age appearance, Phix was her sons childhood friend.

I interpreted that comment as being a sudden topic switch back to Bia -- Phix was told to stay out of his life, Bia turned into a child to create a pretext for growing up with him.

It can be interpreted it that way. It can also be taken as a subject change with the slight pause from Phix to Bia. If looked at that way Phix spent all the effort to grow up with him and then Bia came along and became his wife. Without Phix knowing it was Bia! Actually either way can work.
Somehow I can't see Bia going to that much effort. It would be far easier to wait till the son was grown and then moving in on him with a changed appearance. She is cold enough to do that as well. She wants results, not to have to put a large amount of effort into some of the details.

Eh, when Nudge starts out praising "the way you helped keep an eye on Phix's son on Earth", and ends up with "after all that time with him, you become his wife", both obviously referring to Bia, I'm pretty sure the intention was that "going through all the work to change form to be his childhood friend, then 'grow old' with him" was also referring to Bia.

My2Cents wrote:

Mark N wrote:It seems to me that Atsali is in shock because she is looking at her not so well endowed mirror images.

Yep, they both have her face and freckles, that's likely to cause questions/problems. They looked like twins before, now they are triplets, from two different families. I wonder how tall they have shifted to?

Triplets from different families? -- you must mean "identical cousins"

The real reason for the 'Paranormals Only' mall shutdown. The cuteness overload could cause serious damage to a normal nervous system...

At least they're keeping the same general hair shapes. That makes things a bit easier for telling them apart.

GlytchMeister wrote:(if I decide to have kids)...

Adopt a Whatsit!

GlytchMeister wrote:...is this "human form" an ability accessible to all paranormals? Obviously, shapeshifting paranormals have access to this capability, and apparently sphinxes, sirens, jaguar girls, whatever nudge and tsilla are, and Whatsits.

Perhaps it's not limited to just taking on human forms, or just to paranormals.

Though a normal human learning to take on his/her normal human form might be a tad underwhelming. For all we know, the normal humans in this comic are doing that all the time!

jayessell wrote:Man, I can't imagine being a teacher in a room of teenaged shapeshifters!

They'd have a dress code AND a face code.

Not only that, but you'd also potentially have the problem of who is actually who. You might walk in to a whole classroom full of Atsalis. Though I'd imagine that taking on another individual's form might be considered something of a social faux pas (or bear pas, in the case of ursamorphs). Things could get too confusing otherwise.

KnightDelight wrote:Does the half arm on one indicate her arm is behind her back, or an unfinished morph?

About half of the time when we see Nadette, she's holding her arms folded behind her back. That seems to be her preferred relaxed stance.

Catawampus wrote:

Though I'd imagine that taking on another individual's form might be considered something of a social faux pas (or bear pas, in the case of ursamorphs).

It might be acceptable if you had their permission first.