@Spinny
Depends, why don’t they always transform into big and powerful creatures unless it’s to look intimidating?
The physicist in me thinks the answer might depend on whether their transformation involves any change in mass. Constant mass with a wide variety of configurations would make any large form intimidation only, since they wouldn’t have the strength or bulk to actually do anything with it. Variable mass would make it a practical form that could be used for combat, but then there’s the question of where the extra mass is coming from. It could be done by energy conversion, from their magic reserves (as
gingerninja666 was alluding to), but as anyone familiar with the formula describing the equivalence of mass and energy can tell you, it takes a
lot of energy to make even a tiny amount of mass. Giant forms might not be practical unless they are starting off fully charged, or in enough danger to make that level of energy expenditure worth doing.
@gingerninja666
My reasoning is that they’re generally stronger as Changedlings than as changelings.
Certain members of their race, like Chrysalis, can become stronger through stockpiling love to use in their magic, but I think a fully nourished changeling has stronger transformation powers.
That tends to be my idea as well. We know love exists as a kind of magic in this world (a pretty powerful one too), so changedlings being fully charged, as it were, would almost have to have stronger options for their transformations.
In fact I wonder if it goes beyond that as well. Given that they transform physical appearance too when they have sufficient energy, it might be a vital part of the biological processes that keep them alive. That might even explain their mindless frenzy at the wedding, and why they broke through the barrier by literally throwing themselves into it rather than forming into something larger. They were starving and probably half feral from hunger by that point.
@Badumsquish
Pharynx might be a special case, but he could transform into a big crazy monster even as a baby changeling :D
But he’s also pretty much the only one we see doing anything like that at that age too, so I’m leaning more towards “just special”.
Or, maybe he just loved defending the hive and the others around him so much, he unknowingly started feeding off of that and could use it to make himself stronger. If so, he wouldn’t have been nearly as hungry as the others around him, which would further explain why he didn’t think their previous life was so bad.
