Well, it IS a super ant :P
Episode 77 is out!
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Okay, it's pretty easy to see how these ants can become a serious threat in a hurry.
Eat a Hunter, boom, next generation of ants all has Nen powers.
Anyway...phagogenesis...isn't that the thing that Gormet cells do in Toriko?
Considering the squad leader could talk right after birth, without having been taught by anyone (since the queen was surprised he could), I guess it wouldn't be a stretch. But otherwise it would, since genes only give a potential, after all. No human is born a nen master. They all must discover and develop it. But at the very least they won't be eating any nen masters any time soon. They would need generations of gradually better nen users to get to the point of being a threat to people of high calibre.
But, man, quite a plot element to first introduce those kids with such warmth and strength, and then the next moment they will be eaten. That's good, impactful writing.
And just like that, HXH went full-on Gantz-style. Wtf. I filly expected someone to jump between the monster and the kids. And not only were the kids killed, they even showed the boy getting hit by the attack. To make it extra clear, we also saw his clothing after he had been eaten by the queen. wow.
One thing I don´t understand is either why Kaito bears such fear of these chimera ants, or why the chimera ants are posing a threat NOW and not whatever amount of years ago. The former can be explained by what we saw in this episode: They´re super-quickly evolving and kill people. Good. But why now? Hope they clear that up.
And god, if I don´t love that all the chimera monsters look like they´re from Dragon Ball. The queen is basically a mix between Cell and Piccolo. So good.
Oh, what I also wondered: Is the queen the defacto appearance of a proper, 100% chimera ant, or did she eat humans before? Since clearly she´s very humanoid. From her sensation after having eaten the kids, I guess not. Still ...
PS: Btw. anyone know a good picture from the chimera arc that I could use for my future smartphone case? Google is flooded with manga images that I cant really use. Need some color. http://www.case-custom.com/custom-go...?for-item=8023 :>
The effects of the eaten species only appear in the offspring. Looking at the queen, one could surmise its own mother, the previous queen, had eaten a human. Or perhaps already two or more generations ago because the leap from an insect to a thinking and talking humanoid is quite a big one. So, whether this particular queen had or hadn't eaten humans before wouldn't affect in the slightest its own countenance or mental capability (provided it had enough food in general to develop fully, which it did).
The next queen ought to be quite interesting, though. I have a feeling we might see it before Kite, Gon & Co lay waste to the whole colony.
Something tells me that Kite's team will all be eaten.. no nen powers and looking for the queen? Recipe for disaster.
In the preview we see 2 'old' Hunter candidates... food for the queen or something more substantial...
I love it that I have no idea what's going to happen.
The fact that Kite's voice is the same as Char Aznable makes it even more awesome!
Anyone else bothered by the fact that these Chimera Ants haven't been exterminated by this point in the story instead of being placed on high-level quarantine? When you have a type of species that have this phagogenesis capability and aggressive behaviour towards people, why wasn't there been further action planned against them considering their potential to produce offspring with human genes?
That really depends on whether she can choose to pass on the genes of one thing she ate into an entire batch of ants, or just one.
If she can make 10 Nen users for every 1 she eats, it probably wouldn't take them years to work their way up the chain. They can just overwhelm stronger Nen users with superior numbers.
She might never have eaten a human before, but probably the queen that spawned HER did.
Well, they WERE under quarantine. So maybe they'd just never eaten a human before the Queen's mother.
And before they ate a human, there were probably just dumb bugs.
I get the distinct impression that only Hunters know much about these things, and the Hunter organization strikes me as one that's probably expressly against genocide of any kind.
I´m starting to wonder if the whole Hunter-organization has some deeper connection to the Chimera-monsters. Like, they´re undeniably a global threat. And if there was a previous queen that ate human beings, chances are it was nen-users that defeated that previous queen. Considering their strength, only an experienced nen-user would stand a chance against these monsters. Who knows, seeing him in the opening, maybe Netero was the one who defeated the previous Chimera-queen/king?
Since the Chimera could appear anywhere on earth, having hunters everywhere "hunting" stuff would come in pretty handy.
Well, that´s maybe all pure fanfiction on my part, but I like the thought
One of them looks like a blatan cross between Cell and Vegeta. I wouldn't think lightly of their yet undisplayed strength.
"You are not free whose liberty is won by the rigour of other, more righteous souls. Your are merely protected. Your freedom is parasitic, you suck the honourable man dry and offer nothing in return. You who have enjoyed freedom, who have done nothing to earn it, your time has come. This time you will stand alone and fight for yourselves. Now you will pay for your freedom in the currency of honest toil and human blood."
- Inquisitor Czevak
Even in its tiny default ant form, one managed to bite Killua, who easily wiped out the last batch of hunter examinees, and defeated a relatively strong hunter in Greed Island. If size is any indication of increase in power, they would be quite formidable.
Peace.
Does the queen have to eat the entire organism for her to take proper traits from it, or is one bite all she needs?
If she needs to have a good serving (1+ organism?), the ants were probably too small to really give the queen enough food. Remember that the queen can't move around, so the little tiny ants had to carry the bits of food to her. If the entire species was tiny, then there could have been minimal harm.
If they were some species that was isolated to one island with the only other food being fish/random rodents/insects, then their harm would have been localised. It would have also delayed their discovery.
I just hate these all-assimilating beings though. They scare the hell out of me because they're clearly superior in terms of survival. They also just generally don't give a fuck in general.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
She can walk, but she can't go hunting. You know.. general pregnancy issues. I'll agree with you and amend it to "the queen won't move around".
It's okay to have to brain that lets you learn new abilities, but anything that learns from from absorbing/devouring/destroying the original being upsets me.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Why? It makes the most sense out of the possible methods.
Peace.
The queen needs to stay there for three things: Protect itself, lay eggs, and last but not at all least to simply be there when the offspring hatch. Considering insects living in colonies, if the queen is not present with its pheromones, the hatchlings might start to behave in a detrimental manner.