"Huh, look at that", or, "I never knew Chrono Trigger had any basis in 'science'."

[tacticslion]

(WARNING: "science" is used kind of very extremely loosely in the title!)
So... "Dinosauroids (http://darrennaish.blogspot.com/2006/11/dinosauroids-revisited.html)." Who knew?

I was never too interested in paleontology or speculative evolutionary models, so this went completely off my radar.

However, in reading a dead webcomic (http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=111) recently (called "Dawn of Time", here's the first page, if you'd prefer (http://dawnoftimecomics.com/index.php?id=1)), the author linked to that article, and all I could think of was "hey, look, the Reptites from CT!"

I mean, seriously, those look exactly like the reptites in Chrono Trigger (at least as much as humans look like humans).

So that got me thinking. What other 'scientific' (or rather pseudo-scientific, I guess, considering this is all speculation, little better than guessing with no way to actually test the hypothesis) elements found their way into Chrono Trigger? You guys know any? I mean, I knew CT was well thought-out, I just never knew they actually did any sort of 'research' for it, nor ever presumed that it had any basis in scientific (or even quasi-or-pseudo-scientific) thought. (Lightning is the lizard-types' weakness? Really? Really? I mean, I love you guys, but it's not, you know, ice for the presumptively cold blooded creatures?)

Anyway, though it's kind of fan-nerdy, you guys know of anything else like this? Places where CT got inspiration of some kind from publicized research or similar things? Any actual science (as unlikely as that is)? Any actual religions for that matter? Etc!

[Locke cole]

Some people have said that Lavos's life cycle is very much inspired by that of a virus. You know, viruses burrow into cells, subvert the cell's development to create more of itself, then destroys the thing and sends more offshoots to do the same to more cells?

Lavos has that same life cycle, except that instead of cells, it's planets.

[Seil]

Honestly, when I saw that the first sentence included the word "Dinosauroids," I expected the worst.

[tacticslion]

Some people have said that Lavos's life cycle is very much inspired by that of a virus. You know, viruses burrow into cells, subvert the cell's development to create more of itself, then destroys the thing and sends more offshoots to do the same to more cells?

Lavos has that same life cycle, except that instead of cells, it's planets.

It's interesting, because I can see what they mean by it. It's also interesting because if they were being faithful to that concept (I suspect they were not) it would explain some things in CT - such as why Lavos-the-Parent evolved the three layers he did while Lavos-the-Spawn still looked similar to the outer-shell - though it would make CC even more of a mess, concept-wise.

Cool!

Honestly, when I saw that the first sentence included the word "Dinosauroids," I expected the worst.

Yeah, that word is just... poorly done. I don't know that I could do better, but in addition to being clunky and awkward, it's just strange. The article itself is interesting (in that the author rejects the principle elements of the dinosauroids, suggesting its creators had unfortunate anthro-centric bias), though in the comments there are debates (both for and against) the proposed model he likes better.

For more silly fun on the subject, here's the wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosauroids#The_.22Dinosauroid.22) (Also (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapient_dinosaurs#Sapient_dinosaurs)).

[phil_]

(Lightning is the lizard-types' weakness? Really? Really? I mean, I love you guys, but it's not, you know, ice for the presumptively cold blooded creatures?)Well, Chrono's element in the Japanese version was "Heaven," not Lightening. The symbol used also means "sky," hence the lightening attacks. Anyway, given that and Chrono's revival abilities, we can conclude that his magic, and therefore lightening magic, has a holy component. Now, we don't know for sure whether dinosaurs or, by extension, Reptites were cold or warm-blooded. We do know for certain, though, that dinosaurs are evil (they try to wipe out the humans, their bones were put on Earth by the devil to confuse us, they have horns, etc.) Therefore, it's a much safer bet that the inherently divine Lightening element would be their weakness.

[BitVyper]

Who knew?

Rocky Morton and Shigeru Miyamoto. (http://newsimg.ngfiles.com/200000/200640_super_mario_bros_movie.jpg)

[tacticslion]

Rocky Morton and Shigeru Miyamoto. (http://newsimg.ngfiles.com/200000/200640_super_mario_bros_movie.jpg)

Touche, sir. Touche.

[Magus]

Lavos is a spaceship.

You know it's true.

FOR DISBELIEVERS

--Lavos is capable of interplanetary travel, THROUGH SPACE, from planet to planet, sucking the life energy from each one before abandoning it and moving on.

--Lavos is equipped with an ENERGY BEAM capable of destroying targets.

--When you first encounter Lavos, he looks like this:

http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/3707/lavos1mmvt8.jpg

--When you attack Lavos weak point, it disintegrates, allowing you access TO THE INSIDE OF HIS SHELL.

--Inside is a CONTROL ROOM, with THIS at its center:

http://images.wikia.com/chrono/images/9/93/Lavoscore.gif

--We can clearly see a humanoidal figure in futuristic battle armor, with tubes branching off of it. These tubes are clearly feeding it something life sustaining, such as OXYGEN, or something else that the "TRUE LAVOS" needs to survive inside the AIRTIGHT shell of THE OUTER LAVOS SPACESHIP, probably while traveling through space.

[tacticslion]

I believe this is the best answer to everything ever. :)