Shapeshifting and size-changing

[jbmdw45]

Why is Harry surprised to see Goodman Grey transform into a racehorse when he's already seen Injun Joe transform into a bear the size of a minibus back in Turncoat? Is this just an oopsie due to Jim losing track of what happened during which draft of Turncoat?

[jonas]

From what I understood, the Bear is an actual sized animal(check out the size of the one that terrorized Japan in early 1900's, minibus indeed) where as Harry immediately knew from the size of an otherwise normal race horse that he basically just expanded upon what was there to create more mass for it?

[groinkick]

Why is Harry surprised to see Goodman Grey transform into a racehorse when he's already seen Injun Joe transform into a bear the size of a minibus back in Turncoat? Is this just an oopsie due to Jim losing track of what happened during which draft of Turncoat?

Harry knew Injun Joe was using magic while Goodman wasn't a wizard, and trying to figure it out...  Also Jim may have been explaining to the reader how it was being done

[Mira]

    I think Harry was still getting his head around everything...

[peregrine]

Did Harry know he could do more than just change into other people?  I could easily imagine him thinking Grey is just a one trick pony who can only go from human to human rather than having the whole animal kingdom available.

[Lost Merlin]

iirc and its been a while for skin game for me, up to that point Grey had only just did a blood for appearance type swap correct?

[Mr. Death]

My take on it is that Harry had a long day, he was a little loopy and had a brainfart. I think Harry himself even comes to the conclusion about the nevernever mass, and Horse-Goodman's reaction is a non-verbal, "Duh. Idiot."

[RobReece]

Did Harry know he could do more than just change into other people?  I could easily imagine him thinking Grey is just a one trick pony who can only go from human to human rather than having the whole animal kingdom available.

just a little while before the change into the horse, Harry had seen Grey change into animalistic shapes during his fight in the vault.

[groinkick]

just a little while before the change into the horse, Harry had seen Grey change into animalistic shapes during his fight in the vault.

But the size was roughly the same fighting in the vault (kinda like the Alphas going from human to wolves.) while becoming a horse Grey put on a lot of mass.

[Quantus]

According the passage itself, he'd previously never actually noticed that the shapeshifters he knew were increasing their overall mass and had assumed the visible differences were due to expansion/compression effects.  Had he thought about it a little harder he'd have realized that wouldnt explain how any of them had been able to fly as ordinary sized birds, but then at the time I think he was a little loopy from repeated head injuries. As is a typical day for Harry

[kazimmoinuddin]

I think the alphas transform into a kind of dire wolf, the huge bear a type of dire or Kodak bear. When they change they add mass from the never never to assume an animal form.

[Mr. Death]

I think the alphas transform into a kind of dire wolf, the huge bear a type of dire or Kodak bear. When they change they add mass from the never never to assume an animal form.

They're really not that big. Larger than normal wolves, yes, but that's largely because they're human-mass, not wolf-mass. The average weight of a male wolf is 66-180 pounds.

Someone as built as Billy's described is probably at least 225 pounds.

At most, they're maybe Mouse's size.

[Quantus]

I think the alphas transform into a kind of dire wolf, the huge bear a type of dire or Kodak bear. When they change they add mass from the never never to assume an animal form.

I dont think they really have to, on the basis that the largest actual Wolves alive today hit the mass range of a small to mid-sized human (Mackenzie Valley Wolf, between 110 and 175 pounds) so even if the alphas are doing a direct mass conversion they would still be qualifying as notably oversized for an average wolf, and quite possibly record breaking for anything alive today. BUt they'd not be reaching the Twilight-sized ridiculousness   

PS The actual prehistoric "dire wolves" were (speculated since they only have skeletons) smaller than the Mackenzie, averaging 150 lbs and having a skeleton that wouldnt function above 240.

[Kindler]

Fun side note about dire wolves; there's a breeding project out there somewhere that is trying to bring them back. They can't really make one from mixed descendants, but they can make something that's close physically, if not genetically.

[KurtinStGeorge]

So is it explained how someone gets smaller, like when LTW turned himself in to a bird when he was fighting the Naagloshii?  I mean it's one thing to add mass by grabbing some ectoplasm from the nevernever and magically animating it as part of your chosen form, but how do they do it in reverse?  That seems problematic to me.