Talk:Rachni

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The "trivia" section needs cleaning up, especially the part about Arachnids. I can see many spelling errors, and the meaning isn't clear the way it has been worded. There are some grammatical errors as well. 65.188.241.8 23:34, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Contents 1 The Queen leaving... 2 Type of Ship 3 Trivia 4 Enders Game

[edit] The Queen leaving...

How is she supposed to escape Noveria? Obviously no one is going to volunteer to give her a ride.

I wondered about that too -- Ventralis says that the cold kills rachni soldiers -- but then again, remember the rachni queens lived on planets with extremely hazardous environments during the Rachni Wars, that's why the Council couldn't negotiate with them. I suppose she's planning to live out there, so I imagine Binary Helix will be leaving Noveria in a big hurry. --Tullis 15:56, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Type of Ship

I know this may seem like I'm quibbling over semantics, but after all, the devil is in the details: Was it ever stated that the rachni queen egg was found on a warship? All I remember was Yaroslev Tartakovsky saying the egg was found on a ship. SpartHawg948 21:45, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

I can't remember his exact phrase, but Han Olar talks about it too, though he only mentions it was "waiting since the last battles" so he could have been talking about the queen's egg or the ship. --Tullis 22:00, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

I just played through Noveria and no he doesn't say warship he says "ship". 83.183.219.250 03:17, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia

whoever cleaned up the trivia need to distinguish a little more between "cleaning" and "carpet-bombing back to the stone-age", there's nothing left and it's all pressed into a block of text that's badly formatted. 83.183.219.250 05:48, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

I dunno, I think the trivia cleanup was spot on, and the formatting looks good to me. If you have any suggestions though, this is the place for them. SpartHawg948 09:15, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

I'm starting to clamp down on trivia because every similarity - however tenuous - from every other franchise is creeping into trivia sections. This was intended to merge those similarities into one, with the most likely similarity left alone (the Arachnids). But yes, if you have formatting suggestions, please tell us. --Tullis 12:10, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

That "rachni" is part of "Arachnid" is more a reference to the insect class arachnid than to Starship Troopers.

In what way? It shows a direct correlation between the previously established and well known precedent (the Arachnids) and the in-game race whose name is a reference to them (the Rachni). If it were more a reference to the arachnid class, I would expect the Rachni to actually resemble spiders. As it stands, the Rachni bear a much closer resemblance to the Arachnid warriors from the film version of Starship Troopers than they do spiders, further re-reinforcing the point (although it should of course be pointed out that the Arachnids in the film bore little resemblance to those described in the book). SpartHawg948 09:10, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

The rachni are eight-limbed and joint-limbed insects, like scorpions, whereas Starship Troopers bugs are not. Also the rachni are sapient individual creatures that share a hive-mind but are still very smart on their own, while the bugs from Starship troopers are more like the Geth in organisation, diversity, individuality and objectives.

No, not really. The Arachnids in Starship Troopers are actually very similar to the Rachni. The main difference is that, unlike the Rachni, an Arachnid queen exists almost solely to produce offspring, with the actual direction of the general populace left to the "Brain Bugs", who control the warriors and workers. Sound familiar at all? As for the Rachni being "a hive-mind but... still very smart on their own", where are you getting this? As soon as the warriors are separated from the queen, as happened on Noveria and with the Cerberus Rachni, they become mindless killing machines. Not very smart at all. Captain Ventralis even comments on the fact that they seem to lack even a basic animal intelligence. And again, the Rachni bear little resemblance to the arachnid class, as they carry themselves on four legs, as opposed to eight, and the head at the rear of the body leaning forward does make them bear a noticable resemblance to the Arachnid warriors from the film. So to reiterate, a clear corrolation can be drawn, both sociologically and physiologically, to the Arachnids from Starship Troopers, thus justifying the trivia. SpartHawg948 10:26, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm noticing the trivia section stealthily expanding. Is there any way we can trim this down again? --Tullis 15:55, September 10, 2009 (UTC)

Ok, well the only new bit that was in there was the tidbit about how the rachni "may allude" to the Alien films. Upon futher examination, I decided that the link was rather tenuous, so removed it. SpartHawg948 20:21, September 10, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Enders Game

Am I the only one that sees any resemblance to the buggers from Ender’s Game? Insect race threatens to destroy civilization only to be repelled, and then many years later the egg of a queen is found and allowed to live in peace, starting a new colony, despite what its kind did? I think that anybody who has read Ender’s Game would see this.

Including, possibly, the person who already added it to the trivia section of this article. : ) --Tullis 16:02, October 11, 2009 (UTC)

oops... sorry about that I was thinking though, I think that they match up with the buggers more than they with the Arachnids and after actualy reading the trivia section i think that the buggers need a bit more mention than the Arachnids.

The trivia section for this page has been getting out of control, so we've been keeping it to an absolute minimum (see above). Yes, the rachni resemble a lot of insectoid species in lots of books and movies, but that's because insectoid hive-minded aliens are a sci-fi staple. Seeing as the rachni's very name seems to be a reference to the Arachnids and their hierarchy is similar, I don't think giving this reference more credence is out of place. --Tullis 17:08, October 11, 2009 (UTC)

You also have to take into account that fact that the Formics (aka "Buggers") and Arachnids are also fairly similar. The only major differences I see are the facts that (like the Rachni) the Arachnids have a societal hierarchy with several classes all serving various roles, while I haven't seen any real evidence of a Formic hierarchy, and also the fact that (like the Rachni) when the Arachnid leadership is eliminated, the Arachnid soldiers can still function and fight, albeit less effectively, whereas when the Formic queen is killed, Formic soldiers simply lose all ability to function. So while the back story of the rachni may more resemble Ender's Game than Starship Troopers, the rachni themselves seem to more closely resemble the Arachnids than they do the Formics. SpartHawg948 21:21, October 11, 2009 (UTC)

Well, what I am saying is that I think their story is definitely inspired by the “formics” (I don’t remember them calling them that is the book but I'll take you word for it) and the similarities to the Arachnids mentioned in the section above where you discuss the trivia section were a coincidence, the rachni were purely original. If anybody here worked on them in the game just tell me if I’m wrong.

I don't understand what you mean. The rachni clearly aren't purely original. Besides, isn't UNC: Listening Post Alpha based on Starship Troopers? --Tullis 22:00, October 14, 2009 (UTC)

Purely original was a bad choice of words. I meant that they were not inspired by the Arachnids, they could have been inspired by something else. Listening post alpha is a good point though, maybe I'm wrong.

Mass Effect uses a lot of sci-fi staples from different places. I think the rachni are "the hive-minded hostile insect race" as the asari are the "beautiful green-skinned alien girls" (thank you, The Art of Mass Effect). So they're going to resemble a lot of different species from different sci-fi backgrounds -- the aliens from the Alien movies, the Formics, the Arachnids, etc. Since their actual name is apparently taken from the Arachnids, they get mowed down by space marines and they have a hive mind, claiming they resemble the Arachnids isn't unwarranted. My personal opinion is that debating who they resemble more is like trying to pick out which ingredient "makes" the stew. : ) --Tullis 22:26, October 14, 2009 (UTC)

Good point, I agree with that first sentance there. I still keep my idea that they are mostly taken from the Formics, but thats just me. They probably are just the "hive-minded hostle insect race" as you say.