Wapsi Square Forum

FreeFlier wrote:I still say that Nadette could do just that if she took male form . . .

Catawampus wrote:Depends on if her mutability is limited only to her basic physical shape, or if it goes down to the cellular and chromosomal level. . . .

FreeFlier wrote:Cellular, yes, but I say that chromosomal wouldn't be necessary.

Of course, in that case the baby would be female - no male chromosomes available.

illiad wrote:you are still thinking *limited* HUMAN biology!! you will have to ask pablo for the **paranormal** handbook!

They most likely have 200,000 DNA memo groups or more, and make use of trans-uranic elements...

Naw, PTUs are in another strip.

And I was figuring on basic mammalian biology . . . Atsali is definitely mammalian!

--FreeFlier

FreeFlier wrote:And I was figuring on basic mammalian biology . . . Atsali is definitely mammalian!

Actually, we don't know that yet. It's likely, I grant you, but not necessarily true.

We do not know whether Atsali's breasts are functional, in a mammalian sense. They might not be. Considering that Sirens are sexual predators, their breasts might simply be a form of sexual lure or display... mimics of human breasts, intended to attract human prey, or to disguise a Siren's non-human nature from pretty until it's too late to escape.

I don't think it has ever been shown, or explicitly stated, that Sirens nurse their young (which is part of the definition of "mammal"). Sirens are rather bird-like in at least some respects. Birds do not nurse their young. They feed them by other means, often involving regurgitation.

... and that possibility would surely make Atsali feel even better about her Siren heritage.

Alkarii wrote:

Sgt. Howard wrote:

Alkarii wrote:Whaaaaat? That ain't really mad science.

REAL mad science has giant robots, giant mutant monsters, deformed lab assistants, doomsday devices... This? This is just weird science.

WHO'S been telling you about my... er... never mind...

Well, you just told me you're up to something... Honestly, as long as it isn't an airborne weaponized version of HFMD, or a five-assed monkey (or any other animal with five asses), I may not have a problem with it.

If I were a mad scientist, I wouldn't be a villain. I'd prefer to be a good guy.

Is it bad that this is the first thing that came to mind?



It's from the 'Professor Madblood and the Lovelace Affair' arc of Narbonic.

Gyrrakavian wrote:

Alkarii wrote:Well, you just told me you're up to something... Honestly, as long as it isn't an airborne weaponized version of HFMD, or a five-assed monkey (or any other animal with five asses), I may not have a problem with it.

If I were a mad scientist, I wouldn't be a villain. I'd prefer to be a good guy.

Is it bad that this is the first thing that came to mind?

http://narbonic.com/wordpress/wp-conten ... 041202.jpg

It's from the 'Professor Madblood and the Lovelace Affair' arc of Narbonic.

It's the first thing that came to my mind, too, seeing as I just finished reading that (again) a few weeks ago...

FreeFlier wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:I still say that Nadette could do just that if she took male form . . .

Catawampus wrote:Depends on if her mutability is limited only to her basic physical shape, or if it goes down to the cellular and chromosomal level. . . .

FreeFlier wrote:Cellular, yes, but I say that chromosomal wouldn't be necessary.

Of course, in that case the baby would be female - no male chromosomes available.

illiad wrote:you are still thinking *limited* HUMAN biology!! you will have to ask pablo for the **paranormal** handbook!

They most likely have 200,000 DNA memo groups or more, and make use of trans-uranic elements...

Naw, PTUs are in another strip.

And I was figuring on basic mammalian biology . . . Atsali is definitely mammalian!

--FreeFlier

you DO know that 'mammals' make a a very large part of life??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammal even a bat and a whale is a mammal..
But it looks like Atsali is an incubus/succubus with siren parentage.... :/ what DO you get, if you mix a female siren with a male incubus/succubus???

to continue the confusion, what kind of animal is a gryphon??? part lion, part eagle... or neither, just a manifestation of the 11 dimension in wapsiverse...
and no-one noticed the 'fifth' ref??

I did, immediately, but I was at work, during one of my stops.

so GO ON then , tell me that those word mean nothing, it is not possible in real life....

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... and forget what the problem is, it is NOT REAL LIFE!!!!

A gryphon is its own thing. Its ancestry may be mixed, but that is in the distant past.

I will suggest that hard beaks and nipples don't sound like a good combination... but something that looks like a hard beak isn't necessarily so - and even if parts are hard, it isn't necessarily ALL hard.

Warrl wrote:A gryphon is its own thing. Its ancestry may be mixed, but that is in the distant past.

I will suggest that hard beaks and nipples don't sound like a good combination... but something that looks like a hard beak isn't necessarily so - and even if parts are hard, it isn't necessarily ALL hard.

and what 'variation' is Phix???
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/askyouariddle/

a LOT of variations...
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sphinx+vs+gryphon

illiad wrote:and what 'variation' is Phix???
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/askyouariddle/

She's a sphinx.

Assuming that these paranormal species come about by crossbreeding normal species (presumably under special conditions), there are at least three different ways sphinxes could have come into existence.

The problem with that assumption is that anatomically, bird-mammal matings do not work except for just a few bird species - most of which are either flightless or waterfowl, while human/bird "crosses" are nearly all raptors.

A bit of alien interaction can help with that; if you have an uryuom egg, any DNA-based life forms can be mixed and you aren't limited to two parents per child.

Warrl wrote: . . . A bit of alien interaction can help with that; if you have an uryuom egg, any DNA-based life forms can be mixed and you aren't limited to two parents per child.

EGS parties are weird.

--FreeFlier

I'm thinking its a case of the "gods" playing with genes to see what they get or to create things to serve a purpose.

Take the Sphinx: maybe the Greek Gods wanted a being that could hunt demons. They decided they wanted a stalking-type predator with the ability to fly and intelligence... So they looked at earth, and found an animal that could fly, an animal that could hunt, and an animal that seemed more intelligent than the rest, and mashed it together... I'm guessing they weren't very good at gene-splicing, because they could have simply made a human variant with predatory instincts, teeth and claws, and bat wings that could be folded up and hidden under a cloak. It would also explain the lack of males - they only picked females and later went "oops" and hastily scrabbled together a reproductive system that could continue to produce sphinxes by breeding with human males.

Uh, assuming there are only female sphinxes. Lack of data in the wapsiverse is supplemented by myth data.

GlytchMeister wrote:Uh, assuming there are only female sphinxes. Lack of data in the wapsiverse is supplemented by myth data.

I believe it's already been confirmed (by Bia) that male sphinxes of the Phix type exist but cannot transform into the sphinx form. Shelly's father is one such, and presumably her brothers as well.

To be nerdly about it, the males must carry sphinx genes on the X-chromosome (inherited from their mothers) but it takes an XX configuration to create a "full sphinx" who can take on the sphinx form. Presumably Bia was able to contribute some Titan genes on her X chromosome which did the trick to enable Shelly to mature into her present form.

Dave wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:Uh, assuming there are only female sphinxes. Lack of data in the wapsiverse is supplemented by myth data.

I believe it's already been confirmed (by Bia) that male sphinxes of the Phix type exist but cannot transform into the sphinx form. Shelly's father is one such, and presumably her brothers as well.

To be nerdly about it, the males must carry sphinx genes on the X-chromosome (inherited from their mothers) but it takes an XX configuration to create a "full sphinx" who can take on the sphinx form. Presumably Bia was able to contribute some Titan genes on her X chromosome which did the trick to enable Shelly to mature into her present form.

In Greek mythology there was only one sphinx:

Wikipedia wrote:There was a single sphinx in Greek mythology, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck. According to Hesiod, she was a daughter of Orthrus and either Echidna or the Chimera, or perhaps even Ceto; according to others, she was a daughter of Echidna and Typhon. All of these are chthonic figures from the earliest of Greek myths, before the Olympians ruled the Greek pantheon. The Sphinx is called Phix (Φίξ) by Hesiod in line 326 of the Theogony, the proper name for the Sphinx noted by Pierre Grimal's The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology.

In Greek mythology, a sphinx is represented as a monster with a head of a woman, the body of a lioness, the wings of an eagle, and a serpent-headed tail.

Only one? Jeeze, my mythology is getting really rusty...

GlytchMeister wrote:Only one? Jeeze, my mythology is getting really rusty...

Surprised me, too.

I only recall hearing about one in Greek mythology. I know there's one in Egyptian mythology, and in Persian or Babylonian (or was it Sumerian? Some middle eastern culture). But I know diddly squat about them.

Wolf-who-watches wrote:That's what they wanted the two-legs to think.

--FreeFlier

FreeFlier wrote:

Warrl wrote: . . . A bit of alien interaction can help with that; if you have an uryuom egg, any DNA-based life forms can be mixed and you aren't limited to two parents per child.

EGS parties are weird.

--FreeFlier

You don't know the half of it, it continues for a long time.

GlytchMeister wrote:Take the Sphinx: maybe the Greek Gods wanted a being that could hunt demons. They decided they wanted a stalking-type predator with the ability to fly and intelligence... So they looked at earth, and found an animal that could fly, an animal that could hunt, and an animal that seemed more intelligent than the rest, and mashed it together...

the only problem with this theory, is that W.O.G. has already said that the Sphinx species existed BEFORE we even had WRITING. because that's how The Library gets involved, and then they show up as enforcers for the Laws about demon-infested sentient's. therefore that theory is a no-go... BUT, that's not to say that it didn't HAPPEN... just NOT via the GREEK gods, but somewhere else with different "gods", and much earlier as well. and remember a "god" by any other name is probably just like Tepoz... a being of great power, and can do really cool "stuff"... but to themselves and other people of the same power level... they're "just".... people. just like Jin, and Tepoz are... THEY don't consider themselves "GODS"... but WE did, because they could do stuff we couldn't...