Let's Read Animorphs! The Whole Series! Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

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kiminewt: Feb 1, 2022

Wasn't there an implication that the pool ship's pool isn't enough for all the Earth-side yeerks? Are we even sure that's the only pool on the pool ship?

# ? Mar 21, 2023 20:51

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 23:28

cptn_dr: Sep 7, 2011; Seven for beauty that blossoms and dies

Avalerion posted:

If the yeerk population invading earth was this small they really should have just like, quietly taken over north korea or new zealand.

When I was 8 or so, I spent about a week believing that Yeerks were definitely trying to take over New Zealand so I spent my spare time breaking into all the cleaning supply cupboards and other weird doors at school, trying to find the secret entrance to the Yeerk Pool.

Luckily, I found no such thing, then joined a perfectly normal youth group, who are more like a family than anything, you should come along one week, you'd really like it

# ? Mar 21, 2023 20:59

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

cptn_dr posted:

When I was 8 or so, I spent about a week believing that Yeerks were definitely trying to take over New Zealand so I spent my spare time breaking into all the cleaning supply cupboards and other weird doors at school, trying to find the secret entrance to the Yeerk Pool.

Luckily, I found no such thing, then joined a perfectly normal youth group, who are more like a family than anything, you should come along one week, you'd really like it

say that sounds great, i would like to know more

# ? Mar 21, 2023 21:18

Capfalcon: Apr 6, 2012; No Boots on the Ground,
Puny Mortals!

kiminewt posted:

Wasn't there an implication that the pool ship's pool isn't enough for all the Earth-side yeerks? Are we even sure that's the only pool on the pool ship?

Back when they blew up the Kandrona generator, they said the pool ship had to have a limited number of Controllers shuttled back and forth, but I thought that was more of an issue with the flight management, not the occupancy of the pool itself.

# ? Mar 21, 2023 21:50

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

Epicurius posted:

Maybe, but unlike reality, where we can only guess at intentions, we know exactly what Jake was thinking, and it wasn't that he wanted to gain a tactical or strategic advantage. It was:

'Seventeen thousand. Living creatures. Thinking creatures. How could I give this order? Even for victory. Even to save Rachel. How could I give this kind of order?
They could have stayed home, I thought. No one had asked them to come to Earth. Not my fault. Not my fault, theirs.
No more than they deserved.
Aliens. Parasites. Subhuman."

Does the fact that that was his thought pattern change anything?

I absolutely don't buy that because Jake's inner narration may be all of the diegetic evidence we have of the event, but his word is not sacrosanct. Reasonable inferences can be made. If nothing else the conceit is still that these books are letters/memoirs written after the events. We are not viewing pure narrative as it dietetically happened. Everything is in the past tense. If anything, him omitting more cold, calculating details would make a deeper sense if the books are indeed memoirs of the Legendary "taking of the Yeerk Pool" as a sort-of revisionist history. Ok that last sentence is a bridge too far on the conceit, but my points are made.

Even so, let's pull back and go with a more nuanced rebuttal:

We've followed these characters for dozens of books and adventures, seen them grow and evolve, and by this point we know that they are tactical combatants operating as soldiers. We never see any character's full course of thought patterns, particularly subconscious. Quite often, characters are as surprised as the reader are with what comes to their conscious minds. This is consistent and it stands to reason that Jake was not in full situational awareness, either during the writing of the book or the actual events, to consciously articulate everything running through his head.

Your argument also implies that a decision made out of emotionality therefore lacks a pragmatic component, or vice versa, which again is absolutely false in human nature-- constructed for fiction or otherwise. We're all experienced enough to have managed crisis in our lives, however mundane or banal, and are aware that even in the most heated or most detached moments we are not truly separated from those other aspects of ourselves. It's silly to think otherwise.

Jake made a strategic decision, and in the moment it was the right one. It wasn't an ethical one. It wasn't a good decision. It was also a biased, prejudiced, heated, emotional decision. But it was the correct decision based off the situation and goals he had on that mission.

kiminewt posted:

Wasn't there an implication that the pool ship's pool isn't enough for all the Earth-side yeerks? Are we even sure that's the only pool on the pool ship?

Being more real, I think we can all agree that it's a case of the last books being crazy rushed and Applegrant not really having time, nor inclination, to properly set up a logistically consistent environment for the finale. Their goal was to have a narrative Rubicon that Jake and the Animorphs would have to cross in order to succeed, and they did it. The rest is immaterial, thematically speaking.

# ? Mar 22, 2023 00:08

feetnotes: Jan 29, 2008

It�s really a drat shame this story will probably never be told in a way that fully does it justice. It�s head and shoulders above so many teen series that came out just a few years later. It�s a credit to the authors how good it is despite copious unnecessary filler and this rushed ending. Just imagine a series half the length or so, all at the high quality of the chronicles books.

Ah well. It still completely rules. And real ones know it. Bring on the endgame! :black101:

# ? Mar 22, 2023 03:34

Capfalcon: Apr 6, 2012; No Boots on the Ground,
Puny Mortals!

mind the walrus posted:

.
Being more real, I think we can all agree that it's a case of the last books being crazy rushed and Applegrant not really having time, nor inclination, to properly set up a logistically consistent environment for the finale. Their goal was to have a narrative Rubicon that Jake and the Animorphs would have to cross in order to succeed, and they did it. The rest is immaterial, thematically speaking.

Structurally, I agree with this entirely, but in the fiction, I think it's a bit better established. For instance, while I do think the exact number on the Pool ship is a bit low, if the Pool ship could support all or even most current Yeerks, there wouldn't be much of a pressing need for the ground based pool now that the infiltration is now an invasion, no?

# ? Mar 22, 2023 04:26

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Given that people are still talking about this book, we'll hold off on starting the last book for one more day

# ? Mar 22, 2023 04:52

Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

I think a fair comparison does exist and it's an unarmed conscript lying in bed in their barracks with their weapons locked in a, er, cage nearby.

Their society may be totally militarised but fundamentally they're the crew of a warship that is at that exact moment shooting at a company of US infantry.

# ? Mar 22, 2023 20:07

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Strategic Tea posted:

I think a fair comparison does exist and it's an unarmed conscript lying in bed in their barracks with their weapons locked in a, er, cage nearby.

Their society may be totally militarised but fundamentally they're the crew of a warship that is at that exact moment shooting at a company of US infantry.

Are they the crew of a warship, though? It seems right now all they can do is swim in a muddy pool. They only become part of a crew if they're hosted, and there's only a small number of hosts up there and no ability to get more. Most of the Yeerks are actually helpless and remain so as long as the ship is controlled.

# ? Mar 22, 2023 21:14

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

They're more like colonists on a boat while the occupying force is clearing an area for settlement.

# ? Mar 22, 2023 21:29

Zore: Sep 21, 2010; willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d�etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things

Yeerks do have some ability to interface with computers in their own bodies. Esplin goes into it when we got his PoV.

Now there's nothing saying these Yeerks are doing so, but the ability is there and if it was gonna be anywhere it'd be on the pool ship

# ? Mar 22, 2023 21:33

Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

I mean to a degree (and I'm really pushing it tbh) the non combat/engineering crew of a human warship is helplessly doing nothing too, until there's an injury or fire in their compartment.

The chef with damage control training isn't able to defend themselves against high explosives at all, and isn't really going to play a part in (short) battles unless things go very wrong.

# ? Mar 22, 2023 23:20

Acebuckeye13: Nov 2, 2010; If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling
1-800-GAMBLER; Ultra Carp

e: wrong thread!

# ? Mar 23, 2023 01:42

Rochallor: Apr 23, 2010; ふっっっっっっっっっっっっｃｋ

Strategic Tea posted:

I think a fair comparison does exist and it's an unarmed conscript lying in bed in their barracks with their weapons locked in a, er, cage nearby.

Their society may be totally militarised but fundamentally they're the crew of a warship that is at that exact moment shooting at a company of US infantry.

I think this is probably the closest equivalent you're going to get for something that has some sci-fi weirdness in it. If a North Vietnamese squadron attacks a US FOB in Vietnam at 2 in the morning, that's pretty well understood as a "just" action. Yeah, a lot of the soldiers might have been asleep, they might have been conscripts, and there were probably some doctors in the base, but the majority of them could have just stayed home.

I didn't really consider just how damaging flushing the Pool ship would have been to the Yeerks, given how it's framed as basically a distraction to get Visser One down there. You have to assume the liquid in the pool gets flushed, too, and presumably that takes a long, long time to fill, so in addition to the Yeerks who got spaced you're getting additional casualties from Yeerks starving before they can get it back up to speed. And Visser One is totally the kind of boss who keeps his subordinates working until they're only a couple hours from starvation.

# ? Mar 23, 2023 01:55

feetnotes: Jan 29, 2008

I can accept that flushing the pool ship is morally ambiguous within the context of this story, but mostly because it�s presented that way, not necessarily because I think the story makes a rock solid case for it. As someone else said, if the Yeerk peace movement had been fleshed out more it would be much more convincing. As it is, what other choice does Jake have? The only alternatives are that humanity becomes a permanent slave race to the Yeerks or the Andalites glass the planet. He�s the only person in the universe who can engineer an alternative, and this is the only way to do it.

Applegrant do a fantastic job selling the thematic moral lessons that war is hell, there are no real heroes, and soldiers are permanently scarred by their actions. Those themes are conveyed so well emotionally that they can kind of paper over areas where the plot doesn�t quite support them.

I feel the same way about Rachel�s arc. We kind of just get told she�s become unhinged and ruthless, we don�t really see exactly when or why that happens. There�s no real defining moment when she crosses some moral line - almost everyone on the team, except MAYBE Tobias, makes equally morally ambiguous decisions along the way. It doesn�t help that she gets saddled with some of the cartooniest plots for her POV books. But again, her character arc works well despite that lack of the exact how and why, as long as you can fill in a few blanks.

The beauty of Animorphs is that it transcends its status as a Scholastic book club series and becomes greater than the sum of its parts. You have to read between the lines a little bit for it to all come together, but when you do it�s absolutely worth it.

# ? Mar 23, 2023 02:05

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Visser One probably has a private yeerk pool in the captain's quarters. They would have to use that.

# ? Mar 23, 2023 02:11

Rochallor: Apr 23, 2010; ふっっっっっっっっっっっっｃｋ

Star Man posted:

Visser One probably has a private yeerk pool in the captain's quarters. They would have to use that.

<Don't touch the jets!>

# ? Mar 23, 2023 02:13

Acebuckeye13: Nov 2, 2010; If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling
1-800-GAMBLER; Ultra Carp

For an actual contribution, when thinking about the ethics of the flush, I'm reminded of this interview with World War II P-51 ace Richard Peterson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=norNcyKMZ-A

The Yeerks are, in a sense, the men in the parachutes: floating, helpless, unable to effect their fate or even beg and plead their case for survival. But they're still dangerous, and once they return to earth and get back in their hosts (Or planes) they'll be dangerous again. Refusing to shoot a man in a parachute is really a gentleman's agreement � you don't do it to them so they won't do it to you.

But the Yeerks have never respected any kind of gentleman's agreement, or any law of war. Throughout their invasion they've targeted civilians, tortured their foes, and their overall commander revels in causing mass suffering. They would not hesitate to gun down a helpless man � and if they did, it would likely only be to infest and enslave them. There are dissenters, but they are rare, unorganized, and ultimately of no consequence to the overall Yeerk hierarchy.

Brutality begets brutality. Atrocities beget atrocities. And when one extends no mercy to their enemies, it is the height of arrogance and folly to expect it in kind. This doesn't make Jake's decision right or moral � but ultimately, the Jake that ordered the deaths of 17,000 helpless Yeerks was a product of the decisions made by the Yeerks themselves.

Acebuckeye13 fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Mar 23, 2023

# ? Mar 23, 2023 02:14

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

Acebuckeye13 posted:

For an actual contribution, when thinking about the ethics of the flush, I'm reminded of this interview with World War II P-51 ace Richard Peterson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=norNcyKMZ-A

The Yeerks are, in a sense, the men in the parachutes: floating, helpless, unable to effect their fate or even beg and plead their case for survival. But they're still dangerous, and once they return to earth and get back in their hosts (Or planes) they'll be dangerous again. Refusing to shoot a man in a parachute is really a gentleman's agreement — you don't do it to them so they won't do it to you.

But the Yeerks have never respected any kind of gentleman's agreement, or any law of war. Throughout their invasion they've targeted civilians, tortured their foes, and their overall commander revels in causing mass suffering. They would not hesitate to gun down a helpless man — and if they did, it would likely only be to infest and enslave them. There are dissenters, but they are rare, unorganized, and ultimately of no consequence to the overall Yeerk hierarchy.

Brutality begets brutality. Atrocities beget atrocities. And when one extends no mercy to their enemies, it is the height of arrogance and folly to expect it in kind. This doesn't make Jake's decision right or moral — but ultimately, the Jake that ordered the deaths of 17,000 helpless Yeerks was a product of the decisions made by the Yeerks themselves.

I love that interview. No further comment, but take a few minutes and watch a kindly old man talk about murder.

# ? Mar 23, 2023 02:37

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Part of what makes it more complicated is that, while we might see some Yeerks come from the homeworld, it's under quarantine and blockade by the Andalites. Every Yeerk on the Pool Ship either is ftom the initial hijacking of the Andalite ships or their descendants. If a Yeerk wants to go back, they can't.

Anyway, let's see what happens next,

Book 54-The Beginning

Chapter 1

quote:

My name is Rachel.

I knew what was coming. I knew.

I�d seen it in Jake�s eyes.

And you know what? I was scared.

I never thought I would be. Cassie thinks I�m fearless. Marco thinks I�m reckless. Tobias � well, Tobias loves me.

I guess they all do, in different ways. Jake, too. But Jake had to do the right thing. I felt sorry for him, you know? He�s carried the weight so long. He�s made hard decisions. None as hard as this maybe. I didn�t blame him, not even for a minute.

But I was scared.

I guess no one wants to die. I guess everyone is scared when the time comes.

We were so close. We were right there, right at the finish line, I�d already survived so many times when I shouldn�t have. It seemed unfair. To come this far, get this close �

Jake gave me the job because he knew that only I could do it. Would do it. Ax might have, sure, but he was needed for his skills. Me, I�m not the computer genius. I�m the one you send when you need someone to be crazy, to do the hard thing.

I don�t know whether I�m proud of that or not.

I was Jake�s insurance policy. He thought maybe he wouldn�t have to use me. He hoped, anyway.

But down deep he knew, and I knew, and we both hid the truth from the others because Cassie couldn�t let Jake make that decision, and Tobias couldn�t let me, and those two, by loving us, would have screwed everything up.

It was a war, after all. A war we had to win.

We hadn�t asked the Yeerks to come to Earth. They made that call on their own. They�re a parasitic species, not very big or impressive to look at, just these snail-like things that can enter your head through your ear. They have a capacity to anesthetize the inner ear enough to allow them to burrow through the soft tissue. It still hurts but not as much as it should.

They dig their way straight to your brain and then flatten themselves out, spread themselves down into the crevices, tie directly into your synapses. They take control. Absolute control. They read your thoughts, they sense your emotions. What your eyes see, they see. What your tongue tastes, they taste. If your hand moves, it�s because they moved it. If you speak, it is the Yeerk who has spoken through you, made you into a ventriloquist�s dummy.

Over the course of years they spread like a virus. Invisible. Undetectable.

They are your teacher, your pastor, your best friend. They are the police officer, the TV newsman, the soldier. Anyone.

Jake�s parents had recently been taken; they were human-Controllers - people controlled by Yeerks.

Jake�s brother Tom, my cousin, had been a Controller for a long time. He was a powerful Yeerk.

Jake still cared for him, still hoped somehow he could be saved.

Jake had sent me away with Tom.

I understood. I approved. If Jake hadn�t sent me I�d have gone anyway.

Still, though, I was scared.

I had power myself. We all did. The strange, unsettling power to absorb DNA from any living creature, to then alter our physical bodies to become that creature.

I�ve been a whole zoo, you know. Everything from a fly to an elephant. Bat. Owl. I�ve flown, way up in the sky with eagle wings. I�ve flown up there with Tobias. Way up in the clouds. If there�s something better than that, well, I never found it.

It�s not magic. Just technology. Of course technology always seems like magic at first. Haul a tenth-century knight into the modern age and show him your cell phone or your TV or your computer or your car. Magic.
T
his technology came from the Andalites. The Andalites are enemies of the Yeerks, and I guess allies of ours, though right at the moment they were more likely to annihilate Earth than the Yeerks were. You know the old saying, �With friends like these, who needs enemies?�

Anyway, it began with a chance meeting. An Andalite prince named Elfangor crashed his shot-up fighter in our path. Coincidence? No, history. And a helping hand from the Ellimist who of course never lends a helping hand.

Elfangor died, but not before he told us what was happening and gave us the morphing technology.
I
�ve been a rat. A dolphin � oh, man, do they have fun. That rush when you�re zooming straight up through the water, when you see the ripply surface of the sea, when you blow through that barrier and soar through the air � And then, splash! And do it all over again.

So, anyway, we decided we had to try and stop the Yeerks. Jake and Tobias and Cassie and Marco and Ax, who is Elfangor�s little brother, and me. We lived this secret life. We fought and mostly lost, but we survived. We frustrated the Yeerks. We ruined Visser Three�s life, though he still managed to be promoted to Visser One.

Maybe we did too good a job frustrating the visser. The Yeerks grew tired of infiltration. Visser One had been craving open war. And when we blew up their ground-based Yeerk pool, the source of their food, the center of their lives, it was gloves off.

So much the better as far as I was concerned. The time had come to settle things.

The Yeerks obliterated our town to create a dead zone around their construction of a new Yeerk pool. They were in a hurry. Without a functioning pool they were getting hungry. But there was a worm gnawing at the Yeerk race. They had acquired morphing technology themselves - in part because of what Jake thought was Cassie�s betrayal.

Cassie sees further than I do. Further than any of us. She sees deep. The girl cannot dress or accessorize to save her life, she�s a girl who wears manure-stained Wal-Mart jeans for crying out loud, but Cassie sees connections and possibilities that others don�t.

She let Tom take the morphing cube. And that changed everything. Some Yeerks began to see a way out of their parasitic lives. The hunger-crazed Taxxons - a race held captive by the Yeerks - began to dream of a life without their Yeerk overlords. A revolution was brewing.

At the same time, the Andalite fleet was closing in, ready to obliterate Earth as the only way to stop the Yeerk infestation. They had watched the Yeerks concentrate their forces on Earth. They were ready to bring down the curtain: Obliterate Earth and the Yeerk Empire would be gutted.

Too bad about those creatures who got in the way. What were they called? Oh yeah, humans. But Tom betrayed his visser, betrayed the Yeerk race. Not for the sake of poor old humanity, but for his own ambition. He would escape with the morphing cube and with a hard core of faithful Yeerk
supporters. He would abandon the Yeerk people to the Andalite vengeance, destroy the hated Animorphs, and if H. sapiens was annihilated, too, well � That�s where Jake saw his chance. Tom�s Yeerk is smart. Jake is smarter.

Now Jake and the others had control of the Yeerk Pool ship. Tom had control of the visser�s own personal Blade ship.

Tom - the Yeerk in Tom�s head - was closing in for his final act of betrayal: He would kill his master, Visser One, and doom his fellow Yeerks. He thought we were already dead.

Surprise, Tom.

My favorite morph was the grizzly bear. Seven feet tall standing erect. You cannot imagine the power, especially when united with human intelligence and knowledge. Compared to my grizzly morph a human being is like something made out of glued-together Popsicle sticks. How many times have I felt that change as muscle piles on muscle, as the thick brown fur covers me, as the rail spike claws grow from my fingers?

The grizzly bear and I had been through a lot together. I would go to grizzly to kill Tom.

i know some people have said they don't read the opening chapter because they tend to get repetitive, but please read this one.

Chapter 2

quote:

I was a flea on Tom�s head. A flea can�t see much really, just an impression of light or dark. Not my favorite morph. But if you want to hide out, unnoticed, on a human body, you can�t beat the flea.

And with practice you can learn to understand speech from the distant, distorted vibrations that reach your quivering antennae.

My time was coming, and I had to find a place to demorph and remorph. I fired the springloaded legs and catapulted into the air.

It took forever for me to fall. The first time you do it it scares the pee out of you. Falling and falling like that. Like you jumped off the moon and were falling to Earth.

I hit the deck, a fall of thousands of times my own height. Flea didn�t care. Not even a bruise.

A strained voice said, �That�s � that�s not a waste dump. They aren�t dumping waste! That�s the pool. The main pool. It�s been flushed.�

There was an audible gasp from several voices. The human-Controllers and Hork-Bajir- Controllers who were Tom�s bridge crew.

�Sensors showing � it�s our people. Sixteen thousand � maybe seventeen thousand.�

Tom cut in harshly. �It saves us the trouble of killing them ourselves.� Then, in an undertone,�But why? Why would the visser flush � what does this mean?�

It means Jake�s alive, Tommy boy. You�ll figure it out in a minute, Yeerk. But I�m guessing it will be too late.

Away from blood. That�s where I had to go. The flea�s senses were all attuned to the warm scent of blood. But that scent represented danger to me now, and I hopped away, each bounding leap the equivalent of a human jumping over the Grand Canyon. Try getting a flea morph to move away from
blood. Amazing how much resistance you can get from a brain that�s about ten cells big.

I felt shade. Absence of light. Distance from vibration. No scent of blood. Was I in a safe place? Surely not, but maybe safe enough.
I began a slow, cautious demorph. I heard a yell.

�The Pool ship is preparing to fire!�

�Hard left!� Tom yelled.

A moment later, Tom laughed. �The visser�s lost maneuvering ability. The Pool ship handles like a drunken Gedd at the best of times, and now look at it.�
Someone else reported, �His Dracon cannon is powering down. I show his reserves at less than ten percent.�

�Are they? Well, well,� Tom said. �Hail the visser. On screen.�

I was halfway demorphed. I was a hideous creature made up of armored plates and prickly legs and human flesh spreading across me like a wave. The sickest imagination could not conjure up the true creepiness of a half-flea human. Human eyes, my own eyes, bulged from an insect face.

I could see. Not well, confused, distorted, my visual cortex still more flea than human. I was still on the bridge of the Blade ship. I was actually crouched beneath an unoccupied control station. It was like hiding under a desk. Fortunately it was designed for a Hork-Bajir body, so there was some room.

I saw the viewscreen light up. I saw Visser One�s Andalite face. It was different. There was a dull look in his usually aggressive eyes, a slackness in the normally tensed body.
�
You seem to be experiencing some engine trouble, Visser,� Tom gloated.

I was completely demorphed now. There would be no room for me to morph all the way to grizzly and stay concealed. Every eye on the bridge was watching the screen, but a seven-foot bear looming up will definitely attract attention.

I started the morph. If it turned out I wasn�t needed, well, then it would be fatally stupid of me. But I had no real doubt.

Visser One said, <The Empire will track you down and kill you, you do understand that, I hope?>

�Oh, I doubt it. I think the Empire will have its hands full,� Tom said cheerfully. �The Andalite fleet is rather close by. It�s possible that I misled you on that point.�

He was all but giggling.

Then, the viewscreen widened out and he saw, and I saw, the lithe Bengal tiger standing near the visser. Tobias was there, too.

Tom saw the tiger and knew it was Jake and knew in that split second that he had been out maneuvered, outfought. He took a step back, like he�d been punched. �You�re not dead!� he cried.

<I noticed the same thing,> Visser One said dryly.

Tom yelled, �Bring us around to target the Pool ship�s bridge. Do it! Now! Now! Bring us around!�

At that moment I could have morphed all the way to elephant without being noticed. Tom�s panic was infectious. They all knew they�d been had.
But they didn�t know how. Tom�s reaction was pure instinct: shoot. He�d forgotten that the Pool ship was helpless. The sight of Jake - who should be dead - standing there with the other Animorphs, standing there alive and apparently in control of the Pool ship � all Tom could think of was shooting.

The danger was closer than that.

Jake looked at me. Like he knew I was watching him.

<Rachel,> he said. <Go.>

<Rachel �> Tobias said.

<I know, Tobias. I know.> I said.

I was still not completely morphed when someone shrieked. �Animorph!�

After all these years of the Yeerks thinking we were Andalites, always yelling �Andalite!� whenever they saw a morph. It was strangely gratifying that at last they knew who we were.

I said, <That�s right, genius: Animorph.>

I did what I do better than anyone. What Jake counted on me to do.

I attacked.

I just want to say it's a good thing for Visser One that Andalites don''t drink. I should be focusing on Rachel and Tom here, but Visser One is more depressed and demoralized than we've ever seen him.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Mar 23, 2023

# ? Mar 23, 2023 02:38

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

In my mind Visser One looks a rather pallid, dull grey compared to his usual lustrous blue-purple. If you've ever seen someone when the fight has gone out of them because they know there's no way to win it, yeah they really do look different.

Those chapters are a boss way to get us back with Rachel. Glad she gets some words off to Tobias.

# ? Mar 23, 2023 04:40

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

quote:

The grizzly bear and I had been through a lot together. I would go to grizzly to kill Tom.

Killer line, and one of the ones that stuck in my head over the years.

# ? Mar 23, 2023 07:21

pastor of muppets: Aug 21, 2007; We were somewhere around the Living Hive, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Love how the tone of the writing turns what is supposed to be a triumphant moment for the Animorphs into a very bleak one. I can see how people reacted negatively to this ending arc if they were looking for something more affirming in their YA fiction, but it is so much more powerful this way.

# ? Mar 23, 2023 13:48

Tree Bucket: Apr 1, 2016; R.I.P.idura leucophrys

Hi, my name's Tree Bucket and I'm 37 years old, and here is a cool Andalite space fighter that I drew. SHOOOOM.
It's as close as I can get to Elfangor's ship as described in book 1.

# ? Mar 23, 2023 23:26

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

I will fly your spacewhalescorpion

# ? Mar 24, 2023 02:19

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

I'd ride your scary scorpion ship too. However, i had an unusually busy night and need to get to bed; Chapters tomorrow.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 05:07

feetnotes: Jan 29, 2008

Oh I love the fighter. Very visibly Andalite in design, from the tail to the blue energy fields!

...I am 35 years old and here are some bug fighters I drew so they can do battle. TSSEEEEWWWW!

# ? Mar 24, 2023 05:13

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

feetnotes posted:

Oh I love the fighter. Very visibly Andalite in design, from the tail to the blue energy fields!

...I am 35 years old and here are some bug fighters I drew so they can do battle. TSSEEEEWWWW!

Star Trek has poisoned my mind so when I hear "bug fighter" my brain goes to the Jem'Hadar attack ships that look like flattened beetles. The aphid-like pod design looks really cool though.

Again because I'm a 90s kid as well, I always pictured Yeerk technology being a mix of the Zerg gooey bio-horror poo poo from StarCraft and the Klendathu Bugs also gooey-bio horror poo poo from Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers. But like gooey bio-horror if they took over a bunch of Protoss technology so it's all clearly way over their paygrade and functioning only because their biomass has just infested it completely.

nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Mar 24, 2023

# ? Mar 24, 2023 05:29

Tree Bucket: Apr 1, 2016; R.I.P.idura leucophrys

feetnotes posted:

Oh I love the fighter. Very visibly Andalite in design, from the tail to the blue energy fields!

...I am 35 years old and here are some bug fighters I drew so they can do battle. TSSEEEEWWWW!

AW H*CK YEAH

Tseew! Blap! Bromph! H-r-r-r-a-a-g-h! Flan!

# ? Mar 24, 2023 11:33

pastor of muppets: Aug 21, 2007; We were somewhere around the Living Hive, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

nine-gear crow posted:

Again because I'm a 90s kid as well, I always pictured Yeerk technology being a mix of the Zerg gooey bio-horror poo poo from StarCraft and the Klendathu Bugs also gooey-bio horror poo poo from Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers. But like gooey bio-horror if they took over a bunch of Protoss technology so it's all clearly way over their paygrade and functioning only because their biomass has just infested it completely.

It also all smells like a dank basement.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 11:56

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

nine-gear crow posted:

Again because I'm a 90s kid as well, I always pictured Yeerk technology being a mix of the Zerg gooey bio-horror poo poo from StarCraft and the Klendathu Bugs also gooey-bio horror poo poo from Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers. But like gooey bio-horror if they took over a bunch of Protoss technology so it's all clearly way over their paygrade and functioning only because their biomass has just infested it completely.

So, the Beast from Homeworld.

# ? Mar 24, 2023 13:28

feetnotes: Jan 29, 2008

Tree Bucket posted:

AW H*CK YEAH

Tseew! Blap! Bromph! H-r-r-r-a-a-g-h! Flan!

Oh my Ellimist. :krad:

I see that Dome ship creepin up too!

e: Better start getting those hirac delests ready now, Andalite scum! It seems some reinforcements are arriving from Z-space...

feetnotes fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Mar 24, 2023

# ? Mar 24, 2023 18:35

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 3

quote:

I charged straight for Tom, on all fours, head down, an express train of muscle and fur, claws and teeth.

I hit him with my lowered head and knocked him back into the viewscreen. Not enough to take Tom out, but I had to try and damage the ship.

Tseeew!

Someone fired a Dracon beam. I felt the searing pain in my right flank but it didn�t matter. I was in berserk mode. Pain was something that could be stored up for later. Right now I was an enraged bear. I slammed a shoulder left, slammed a shoulder right and felt crumpling metal.

Tom yelled, �No shooting! You�ll destroy the bridge! Morph! Morph you idiots!�

I swung a paw at him, and it should have been all over right then, but I missed. He dropped and I missed.

I reared up to my full height and Tom rolled into a ball. He was down under my legs. I swiped his back and laid his spine open. But I didn�t stop him.
He was through my legs and behind me and staggering toward the exit.

I spun, dropped to all fours and bounded to cut him off. I reached the exit a split second before him and shouldered him aside in the process. He spun like a top and fell on his butt.

I was in a clumsy stance so I just sort of dropped on him. It was like some WWF body slam, only I wasn�t faking it. He grunted and I saw blood gush from his nose and mouth.

Too easy. My final battle. It couldn�t be this easy.

I drew back, ready to go in and finish the job. But I had wasted too much time. There were others on the bridge. And I had overlooked the fact that we were no longer the only ones who could morph. Every member of Tom�s handpicked crew could morph, and I was surrounded now by a half dozen half-morphed beasts.

Tom himself was starting to morph, but he wasn�t my main problem now.

<Rachel! Behind!>

It was Jake. He was watching the fight from the Pool ship.

I spun, slashed horizontally and something that may have been a half-morphed leopard crumpled like a Dixie cup.

The main weapons station was right there, a sort of waist-high, freestanding lectern. I threw myself back into it and heard a nice crunch as it toppled.

But that was more seconds lost while the Yeerks were completing their morphs. All but Tom.

His scarred back was crusting over with reptilian scales, but he was nothing recognizable yet. And in any case, I had plenty to keep me busy.

I faced two lionesses, a cape buffalo, and a polar bear. It was a whole zoo full of dangerous animals. The polar bear was my equal all by himself. The cape buffalo maybe as well. I could take either lioness, but the combination was going to be rough.

For a wondrous, frozen moment we all waited, stared, breathed, tensed, expectant.

I felt �

I felt exalted.

It was my moment. This was my place and my time and my own perfection.

I was no longer afraid. Weird. If I�d had a mouth I�d have smiled.

<Well?> I said.

No one moved.

<Scared?> I asked.

No answer.

<You should be,> I said, almost laughing.

I lunged, straight for the polar bear. Go for the main opponent first. Go for the danger. I barreled straight into him. It was a train crash. I slammed him, my shoulder into the side of his head. He had a bear morph. I was my bear morph. Experience is very helpful.

The polar bear staggered. I extended my claws and in a move no real bear had ever learned, I drove them straight into him, like four daggers, right beneath the front right shoulder: the heart. I hit him again before the cape buffalo slammed me and knocked me, windless, rolling into the bulkhead. The buffalo backed up and came at me again, the wide, thick horns like a battering ram. But the beast�s hooves were designed for dirt and grass, not the slippery floor. He didn�t fall but he lost a lot of speed and momentum. He hit me in my exposed belly. It would have killed me if he�d been up to speed. Even so it crushed the last ounce of air from my lungs. I felt like someone had dropped a house on me.A lioness was on my face, clawing madly, like a crazed alley cat. The other one was trying to bite my neck - a waste of time. No one bites through a grizzly�s fur.

I was down, buried under mad fur. I was down, slashed at, punched, hammered, clawed. My legs were in the air, helpless!

I drew my legs close and shifted my weight. Got my legs under me. I lifted myself and the two lions. I shook myself violently and threw off the lion who�d been on my face. I aimed a blow at her but she was too fast.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the polar bear demorphing. It�s the only way when your morph body is dying: demorph and fast. Die in morph and you�re dead. Period.

But I was missing something. Something nagged at me.

<Tom!> Jake yelled. <Tom!>

The cape buffalo butted me in the hindquarters and spun me around. The lion on my back was reaching around like it was trying to strangle me, digging busy claws into the folds of loose skin around my throat.

The second lion charged gamely, leaped and sank its teeth into my left haunch.

Had to take down the Yeerk with the polar bear morph. Had to stop him remorphing. I�d been lucky once, experience had told. But I couldn�t count on a second easy win against a polar bear.

I tried to stagger forward, but the buffalo had done some damage now. My hindquarters were numb and weak. He was hitting me with short, sharp blows, like a boxer rabbit-punching. He�d figured out that he couldn�t really wind up and deliver a killing blow.

<Tom! Rachel, Tom! Look out for Tom!>

Jake�s voice was far away. Strange.

The slick floor that handicapped the buffalo now worked against me, too. I couldn�t get enough traction with my blood-slicked pads.
Had to get the Yeerk with the polar bear morph. He was demorphed now. Ready to start morphing and come back rejuvenated.

So heavy. Floor all covered in blood. Wow, they were really bleeding.

My front right leg suddenly buckled. It was a pail of ice water in my face, a sudden realization.

My blood. That was my blood on the floor.

White fur began to ripple across the morphing Yeerk.

<He�s a snake!> a voice cried. <Rachel!>

No, he�s a bear, I thought.

A flash of movement, so fast it was a blur. Something in my eyes! Burning. I couldn�t see. That�s okay, okay, bears can�t see all that well anyway, I had � I had � A cobra, some distant, strange, analytical part of my brain noted. Tom�s morph: a cobra. The venom was in my eyes.

I couldn�t think. Couldn�t see.

Demorph.

No. Bear. The lions on me. Weak. Strange to be the bear and be weak. Strange.

I realized I was no longer standing. I was flat on the floor. I heard my own slow breathing. I should be panting.

Something striking at my face again and again. The cobra. Couldn�t even see him.

I had failed. Tom. Alive.

<Die, human,> he said. <Just die.>

<Rachel!> Tobias cried.

<Help me, Tobias,> I pleaded.

<I can�t � I �>

He didn�t understand. <Help me get him. Help me get him!>

<Okay. Okay. He�s � your left paw, toward your face. Get ready. Has to be fast.>

<I�m ready.>

<Now!>

I jerked my paw, claws extended toward my face.

Tom shrieked. I couldn�t see him. But I felt something squirming. Like a worm on a fishhook. The snake was impaled on my claws.

<No!> Tom cried in outrage.

I brought my paw to my mouth.

<Sorry,> I said vaguely.

<Jake, stop her!> the Yeerk screamed with Tom�s mouth.

I bit down on the snake.;

You may not remember this, but in one of Rachel's encounters with Crayak, he told her to kill her cousin. He meant Jake, of course, but,,,

Chapter 4

quote:

I lay there in suspended animation.

I felt myself floating.

The bear was melting. Old grizzly bear, my friend. Good old bear.

I demorphed. The snake was still in my mouth. Motionless.

I demorphed.
I was Rachel again, the human Rachel, alive, unhurt. I could have bounded up and gone off to the mall to shop. But I didn�t kid myself. I didn�t hope.

I spit the snake out.

I was surrounded on all sides. I was only a weak human girl now. The polar bear loomed over me, his strength the equal of my own grizzly, but now I was just me, just Rachel.

I could see the viewscreen. I could see my best friend Cassie. Jake. Marco, funny Marco. Ax.

Tobias.

He had morphed. He was his human self once more. He�d done that for me. And because he was crying. I understood. Humans cry, hawks don�t.

�I love you,� I said to the screen.

And oh, god, how could so much regret and so much sweetness and so much sadness all be present in that single moment. I was already dead and missing my unlived life. I was already dead and Tobias was mourning.

I tried to smile. For him.

The polar bear said, <You fight well, human.>

Then he killed me with a single blow.

Time stopped.

He came to me. The Ellimist.

The puppet master come to watch my final act. It figured. He was in his saintly old man guise. As fake as everything else about him. The all-powerful weakling. The mighty manipulator.

�You,� I said accusingly.

�Yes.�

�Who are you?� I demanded. �Who are you to play games with us? You appear, you disappear, you use us, who are you, what are you?�

And then, for what seemed a very long time, the Ellimist told me. I saw. I understood.

But I also knew he would not save me. That he couldn�t under the arcane rules of his millennia long war with Crayak.

The Ellimist was there to honor me, and I guess that was nice of him. Wasn�t going to help me much..I wanted so much to live. I wanted so much to stay and not to leave. In a moment no answer would matter to me, but just the same, I wanted to know what I guess any dying person wants to know.
�Answer this, Ellimist: Did I � did I make a difference? My life, and my � my death � was I worth it? Did my life really matter?�

�Yes,� he said. �You were brave. You were strong. You were good. You mattered.�

�Yeah. Okay, then. Okay, then.�

I wondered if -

This, of course, at the end, was the conversation that the Elimist had in the Elimist Chronicles. We just didn't know it at the time.

There's not a lot I can say about her death, It was a tragedy, and like most tragedies, it was tied up with who she was and her personality. Ultimately, though, she was brave, she was strong, she was good, and she mattered.

# ? Mar 25, 2023 02:21

Vandar: Sep 14, 2007; Isn't That Right, Chairman?

These two chapters just loving kill me.

Every time. Every single time I read that final conversation with the Ellimist it just...breaks me.

# ? Mar 25, 2023 02:53

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

For me it's the abrupt ending, followed by everyone staring in mute horror at the screen at the start of the next chapter.

That'll do, bear.

# ? Mar 25, 2023 02:57

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

# ? Mar 25, 2023 03:18

Traxus IV: Sep 11, 2001; it's our time now
let's get this shit started

God drat

# ? Mar 25, 2023 03:22

Soonmot: Dec 19, 2002; Entrapta fucking loves robots; Grimey Drawer

me, wiping tears from my eyes.

# ? Mar 25, 2023 03:26

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 23:28

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Something to remember about Rachel is that she was Crayak's spoiler....his choice to add to the team. Jake's brother was a Yeerk, Ax was Elfangor's brother, Tobias was his son, Marco was the son of Visser One, and Cassie was the pick from humanity/Earty. Crayak picked Rachel because he thought she was corruptable, and he and the Drode tried to corrupt her a few times in the series, it didn't work, though, because Rachel made her own choices, abd she chose to be loyal and do what was right,

# ? Mar 25, 2023 03:49

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > Let's Read Animorphs! The Whole Series! Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

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