Still look human to you?

[Robzombie]

I realized that i have not pictured in my minds eye the z's resembling anything human anymore for quite awhile. They are all now monstrously distorted humanoid creatures no longer resembling much of anything human. The reguler zombies maybe a bit, but deffinately not the specials. Do you guys still envision anything resembling human in these creatures?

[cupcakezombie]

Good thread.
I moved this here to keep stuff related to the story in the correct place.

This is an interesting thought. I agree with you to a certain extent, but then the toe that Michael got in the last episode did look correct for Tanya to say straight away that it was a toe.

[Cabbage Patch]

I keep going back to Michael's description of the first zombies he ever saw, on the highway on his way to the Army base. They were probably normal biters, but the way he described them made it clear that they didn't look or act human.

[Witch_Doctor]

Sometimes I try to picture the special Zs as a non-descript shadowy shape, especially when some one encounters one and says, "What is that thing?" That phrase comes up as often as someone commenting that a special kind looks as if it was never human. They all seem to be humanoid, though. Albeit, with exagerated features and/or limbs.

In another Z-story, by Craig DiLouie, the zombies are replaced by bizaar creatures.

[Tielurrdee]

I realized that i have not pictured in my minds eye the z's resembling anything human anymore for quite awile. They are all now monstrously distorted humanoid creatures no longer resembling much of anything human. The reguler zombies maybe a bit, but deffinately not the specials. Do you guys still envision anything resembling human in these creatures?

Yeah you know I was at that point a while ago I believe that my mind has really over blown the look of everything thats not a normal biter. Yeah I think the specials have quite distinct looks but I've started re assessing how they look and features. I exampled on a nother thread that I really saw bohemniths as being like hulk large when in fact I don't think there any where near that large. None of them have been described as being unclothed which would seem to me to be more of something to point out then sometimes them being clothed. I mean id freak of I saw naked zombies. So I'm just thinking they have to be large within some reason or scientific rule. As for the little one #12 wearing shorts still he was described as 6'7" approximately. I work with a guy that tall he's huge, so say if an infected person my size goes form being 5'7" to 6'7" that explaines the stretch marks and makes me see them in a better light. My main problem is I need to take the I am legend facial look out of my mind and really base the look in reality as opposed to fantasy.

[LiamKerrington]

Hi there,

mh. I guess: from an abstract point of view they all look human. But some bodyly features have changed in a way that you won't recognize the human first-hand, because you just focus on those part looking 'wrong' - like the lang legs of the Jumpers, the skinny, pale look with the long arms and distorted hands on the little ones, the hulk-like (as I imagine) body of the tank etc.
The eyes at least of the regulars look very different. But how? We never got a description, how the eyes changed - like more reptile-style, maybe totally blank or red-glowing or whatnot ... This would be another feature that would draw the attention, while you forget to view the complete body.

I sometimes happen to compare the WA-zombies with the different zombies within "Left 4 Dead" ('puter-game) or "Zombicide" (boardgame) ...

All the best!
Liam

[bradarro11]

I'll admit to it. I simply compare the regular biters to the walking dead's version. The behemoths to the hulk, I don't beleive a description was given of there clothing just that they had gruesome stretch marks. And the little ones are now some sort of hunch back pale grey monster with long limbs and a tiny head. They started of as mike ( sully's friend) from monsters inc. lol.

[Deacon_Tyler]

Hmmm, food for thought. It's ultimately left up to interpretation, but I would think that if the eyes were a discerning feature, that the sclera (the whites of the eyes) would possibly have lots of broken blood vessels or over time even turn black. It seems like the zombies are the infected variety, rather than undead, so I'd turn to the nearest real life analogy, which would be rabies.

Rabies victims sometimes report 'itchy' or irritated eyes, so it adds credence. Plus, the excessive salivating and foaming at the mouth (maybe even bleeding?) would leave a hard crust that would then get irritated and cracked. Add to that the fact that the infected aren't exactly crazy about personal hygiene would give the impression that they would look dirty, smell foul and likely look malnourished and have dozens and even hundreds of infected sores and cuts and bruises and gangrene, giving them a non human look that only gets worse over time. Their skin color could be believably grayish brown, simply from the grime and nastiness and peeling from the dried saliva/blood and the extended outdoor exposure.

As far as the specials go, I can't even begin to imagine. I think it's pretty safe to assume that the behemoths are a larger version of this - if they were 10-20 feet tall, the skin would be ripped rather than stretched and there's the problem of needing to consume enough fuel (food) for them to grow that large. I'm going to place them in the upper range of human possibilities and even this is pushing the laws of nature - 8 feet or so. They'd have to be hugely muscled as well, as they've been heard crashing through walls. So yeah, thinking hulk like, but more grayish pink with bulging veins (as the rapid increase in muscle and bone density would require a hell of a lot of circulation).

I'm also going to guess in some bone deformities, similar to fibrous dysplasia (as a rapid increase in bone length wouldn't result in an instant growth of density, resulting in many of the bones being misshapen or bowed, as density increases as weight and pressure are put on the bones). If you've ever seen pictures of fibrous dysplasia in the skull and jaw bones, it looks irregular and kind of lumpy or inflated.

I'll also say that they'd have to be fairly barrel chested as well - that much circulation would require a huge heart (which has already been noted!), which requires HUGE lungs. The lungs and heart would have had to be the first parts of the body to grow, to accomodate for the circulation required to grow the long femur bones and build up that much muscle.

The end result would look extremely monstrous.

Now the numbered zombies are pretty much the same thing - the dermis and epidermis could thicken to the point where it's more resilient to injury and bone density (especially in the ribcage) could increase to the point of being practically bulletproof. As it is, the femur is already stronger than concrete in some cases.

As the dermis increases in density, it would make all kinds of sense that the fingernails and toenails would grow thick and calcified. As all this happened, the skin would take on a pallor, as there wouldn't be nearly as much blood flow near the surface.

Nothing this quick happens perfectly though, so I would say that you can count on the skin looking 'crusty' and a little yellowish, like the heels of your feet, but on a much larger scale and as the dermis grows and thickens, there'd be lots of cracks around the joints and the moving parts.

[Deacon_Tyler]

Something else just came to mind - with a thick dermis and epidermis and decreased blood flow near the surface of the skin, this would have the added benefit of increased resilience in the cold.

The one problem comes from rapid RAPID mutation on a macro level (i.e. bitten and then minutes later they become a special infected rather than a normal biter). The amount of calories for change like this would be astronomical, not to mention the heat it would produce and the strain on the entire circulatory system.

[Jannit]

Hmmm, food for thought. It's ultimately left up to interpretation, but I would think that if the eyes were a discerning feature, that the sclera (the whites of the eyes) would possibly have lots of broken blood vessels or over time even turn black. It seems like the zombies are the infected variety, rather than undead, so I'd turn to the nearest real life analogy, which would be rabies.

This was noted during the autopsy, wasn't it? At least in one eye, as I recall. Perhaps not enough time had passed for the eyes to turn black, if they ever do.

The full write up was very, very well done and convincing. You've got my vote.