Talk:Mycon

Name

I was wondering at the possibility of the Mycon being named after Miconia calvescens, a plant which has been invading and terraforming large chunks of Hawaii for the greater part of the 20th century and up through the present. I have no solid evidence to suggest that this is the case...the names're just pronounced almost the same (well, the first two syllables), and there are intriguing similarities between the two.

Highly unlikely, since there's a much more plausible origin of "Mycon" from the Greek for "fungus", which is a very commonly used stem (see "mycology"). Given how often we're reminded that the Mycon are fungoids, I find it hard to believe "Mycon" could come from any other source. As for Miconia calvescens, I hadn't heard of it before this -- the idea of a killer weed is hardly unique, and I very much doubt TFB were aware of this particular one.

Its possible for TFB to have used that plant seeing as the ur-quan of often compared to hawaiian caterpillers.especially considering the relations between the two in the hierachy.Its likely that both are correct and that mycon refers to them as both terraforming weeds and fungii in the same remember they are terraforming tools come sentient which now instead of working on their encoded purpose to terraform they do it now working towards an idea (Juffo-Wup)

Just because you've heard of it doesn't make it a common reference, since I bet most people who've even heard of this plant know it as a "velvet tree", its common name, and not the Latin _Miconia_. In any case, "terraforming" is an inaccurate word to use for a plant from one ecosystem taking over another ecosystem -- since both ecosystems are on Earth, they're both *already* "terraformed". The Hawaiian tree is certainly not an artificial life-form created by scientists to make planets habitable.

I also find it highly unlikely - the connection with fungi is so obvious. The Mycon even look like mushrooms which is IMHO a bit overdoing it, as (as we all know) the mushrooms we can see and that we eat are just the "fruit" of the mycelium. It is such an obvious connection, that any other explanation must be considered as far-fetched. Iri (199.74.98.42 17:14, 17 May 2007 (CEST))

In the Alliance?

I vaguely recall some observation by someone that in some ports of SC1, the Mycon were part of the Alliance. And I also recall a comment by Paul or Fred that the Mycon switched sides early in the war. Anyone who has any further information? — SvdB 05:23, 27 February 2007 (CET)

The Mycon appear on the Alliance in the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64 ports[1]. The only thing I can find of TFB commenting on these other ports is this in the 1998 chat:

<Fwiffo> Rgarding the Spectrum and C64 ports of SC1, I can only say "WE DIDN'T HAVE A THING TO DO WITH THEM!"

<Fwiffo> We ported SC1 to the Amiga and Sega, and SC2 to the 3DO.

So it's possible to argue by the way we've defined canon that the Mycon were never part of the Alliance. Though the canon policy could be a little flexible in this case. At most it could be included in a note, but not in the main body of the article imho. Unless that elusive TFB comment does turn up... --Fyzixfighter 05:50, 28 February 2007 (CET)