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There are several exceeds known, and as far as I can remember, only Pantherlily and Samuel are shown to turn into human form.

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So, why can't other exceeds like Happy and Carla change into human form as well?

Izumi-reiLuLu
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Darjeeling
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6 Answers6

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I am not sure that this applies for Pantherlily and Samuel, but in chapter 421, Charle could transform into anthropoid (human-like form) because she learned transformation magic.

chapter 421

This may be the cause that Pantherlily and Samuel could transform, and Pantherlily saying that he could maintain that form for certain time only when he's worn out in battle because it requires magic to maintain it.

Gao
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mirroroftruth
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  • While I do believe the manga explains it like that, it doesn't make sense to me that Pantherlily has trouble keeping his form on Earth, where there is an infinite amount of magic, yet on Edolas, where magic is supposedly sparse, he can stay transformed forever :/ – Peter Raeves Mar 18 '15 at 15:31
  • @PeterRaeves Magic is infinite but you can't use it for infinite, body need to recharge magic, Pantherlily had trouble, in Tenrouji arc(chp 231) when most of the member of fairy tail were injured and were attacked at their base he said that will he be able to maintain his combat mode. And why do he need to stay in normal in earth where there is infinite amount of magic but in combat state in Edolas where is scarcity of magic. – mirroroftruth Mar 19 '15 at 05:08
  • Yes, that was indeed my question. – Peter Raeves Mar 19 '15 at 09:27
  • i answered your question , you need to recharge it, it takes time to recharge, like dragon slayer they can't eat magic to recharge. – mirroroftruth Mar 19 '15 at 09:56
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    But then why didn't he need to recharge in Edolas? – Peter Raeves Mar 19 '15 at 11:55
  • In Edolas he never needed to – mirroroftruth Mar 19 '15 at 14:08
  • Out of universe, isn't Samuel anime-only so can transform as he is a foil for Pantherlily for that Key arc? – kaine Oct 26 '15 at 19:55
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The reasons that I think is the most probable would be that:

  1. They both have combat experience. They learnt how to fight and their body adapted to be that form to allowed them to fight to their fullest.

  2. They wanted to make Lily special because he was the only exceed that came into the human world and joined Fairy Tail during the Edolas Arc.(Samuel was not canon)

  3. My last point is that they both have better magic capabilities/power/amount compared to all the other exceed as lily mentioned that it was difficult to maintain the battle form in Earthland compared to Edolas. Since both was brought up like a soldier they would be stronger in physical terms and magical terms.

xwillflame
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A possible theory is that only certain Exceeds with special conditions can have a battle form.

Samuel was raised by the Legion Corps upon birth, prompting his devotion to them. He has learnt combat from the Legion Corps and has great wisdom. His knowledge is what that enabled him to unlock the key to have a battle form.

Pantherlily is born in Edolas and is an Exceed that used to work for the kingdom of Edolas as the Magic Militia's First Division Commander of the Royal Army. He should be able to do it with talent and stay in his battle form or he wouldn't be the leader in the Royal Army.

Bryan Se To
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Well, up until the Edolas arc, Carla and Happy were the only Exceeds in Earth Land, and since Exceeds are the only living beings in Edolas with magic power flowing through them, they would have plenty of time to learn, whereas Carla and Happy knew nothing of their heritage until that arc.

nhahtdh
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Prince_V
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Well, if you had listened to Samuel, he said that both him and Pantherlily are the older generation of the Exceeds. Maybe that's the reason why.

senshin
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mohamed el hajji
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As of Fairy Tail chapter 420,

Carla has taken on a human-esque form, similar to Pantherlily and Samuel. It might be age-related, or age combined with maturity to get to this second form of appearance.

nhahtdh
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Chelsea
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  • This doesn't really explain why there were hardly any exceeds able to transform in Edolas, where there is an infinite amount of magic available to the Exceeds. So there must be more to it, but I guess she will explain in (one of) the next chapter(s). – Peter Raeves Feb 16 '15 at 23:26
  • Carla said that she had to train a lot to achieve it, it's not just about amount of magic but also the training to obtain the ability. – Ikzer Mar 18 '15 at 14:19