Odo has a working communicator:
Is that a part of himself (like his clothes)? Or is it real but he conceals it?
I imagine it is the latter (would be hard for him to create) but I don't know if it is ever addressed.
asked Feb 20, 2012 at 11:19
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1According to Memory Alpha, he did create his own combadge but on at least one occasion used a real one. Perhaps the answer is then both?– Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SECommented Feb 20, 2012 at 16:56
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1Interesting - where is that screenshot from? The face is off, like this was from a makeup test or something. it definitely doesn't look like the normal Odo makeup.– OmegacronCommented Feb 13, 2015 at 18:17
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This subject has been discussed on reddit.– Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SECommented Jun 25, 2015 at 4:54
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@Omegacron: bit late, but I've found it!– Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SECommented Jun 25, 2015 at 4:56
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1@Wikis maybe it's just the lighting in that scene, but the cheekbones are more prominent and the nose has more detail than usual. At any rate, I'm not sure it's polite to ask Odo where he sticks his communicator when he changes.– OmegacronCommented Jun 25, 2015 at 13:58
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5 Answers
It is real. I remember at least one scene in which he took off the communicator and set it down on his desk in the security office because he didn't want anyone to know where he was going.
Although it does still beg the question of what he does with it when he shape shifts. My guess would be that he just carries it inside himself in whatever shape he creates.
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17Pedantry: The question of what Odo does with the communicator when shape shifting is not "begged", it's raised. begthequestion.info Commented Feb 20, 2012 at 17:24
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3@neilfein: :) I just like to start fights over matters of no import. Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 5:44
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5@Izkata I just watched the episode Invasive Procedures on netflix. Odo, Quark and Bashir are held at gunpoint, one of the bad guys tells another to remove their comm badges and a girl reaches out and takes all their badges. After that they make Odo get into the container. In the scene you directly see the girl removing the badge from Odo. Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 14:15
In the episode "Broken Link", when Odo is losing control of his shape shifting, there are a couple of shots where you can see his communicator is partially liquefied, indicating it is actually part of him, and not a device.
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6Welcome to SFF! This is a nice first answer, it would be better if you included an image/video of this happening though.– TheLethalCarrot ♦Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 8:49
Odo stated that if he became a rock, all sensors would indicate he is a rock. This means that when he becomes a rock, he is actually a rock, and not just a facsimile of the rock (i.e. the composition is also a rock). Nothing says he can't actually become a complex piece of electronics like a communicator. He can turn into fire. Why not a communicator, with practice?
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2Can you please add a reference for where he said that and when he turned into fire? Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 20:16
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6I'm not convinced that, just because he can become a rock, he could necessarily become a communicator. He can't do the contours of a human face properly, why should he be able to become something as complicated as a communicator? Wouldn't that require him to know how every internal circuit / line of code was constructed? Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 20:17
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@Wikis Maybe Larry has a non-canon source. After Laas showed Odo that changelings can exist as fire, there is nothing in the show to even suggest that Odo tried it for himself. Commented Apr 30, 2017 at 21:06
In episode 3 "Past Prologue", Odo becomes a mouse. So he can replicate more than just "dead" matter.
I just started watching the series on Netflix and happened to catch it when he was observing the Klingon women. Most likely the communicator is held within the shape he has assumed at the time.
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This answer appears to be a comment on @AaronDegulla's answer Commented Nov 1, 2015 at 4:24
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2But was he a mouse or just a shapeshifter who looks like a mouse? i.e. he could replicate the shape of a communicator but I don't think he could make it work– komodospCommented Jun 15, 2018 at 15:40
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But the mouse worked, right? Why would he be able to create a working mouse but only a broken communicator? How does that work? Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 14:09
I have no reference but AFAIR, Odo can only replicate "dead" matter (like a container) or "simple" machines (maybe a piston or a sliding door) - not complex electronics.
He can look like a wall monitor (and probably even shift the colors on his surface and respond to touch, especially when they look as simple as the command interfaces ones used in Star Trek) but he can't send commands over a wire or receive a TV stream or the like.
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I'd hardly call turning into a "solid" as the changlings call it "dead matter". I know what you were trying to say, but you probably had a bad choice of words. Commented Jun 24, 2015 at 22:37