User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail Chapter 374: Revolution, Review/@comment-77.194.131.100-20140307124436/@comment-7418318-20140307161451

Franmalth certainly has an easier time with absorbing other beings than Fukuru had. That's assuming that the linking Fran did before Happy bit him was the beginning of the absorbtion process.

And he can choose whether to activate his captured souls and the acompanying change in appearance, unlike Fukuru.