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

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Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

chitoryu12 posted:

In general, these kids are really accepting of everything going on.

They are, but I dig it.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2020 03:17

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 15:17

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

nine-gear crow posted:

Pretty good, honestly. It�s clearly aimed for an older audience than Animorphs, as its over all tone is much darker than even Animorphs gets at its worst. It tackles a lot of very mature poo poo right off the bat like racism, toxic masculinity, sexual abuse, violence for the sake of survival. It�s very un-Animorphs in terms of its character dynamics. There�s still the witty banter, but a couple members of the core group literally hate one another, in some cases for very petty reasons, so there�s always this uncomfortable tension that grinds the group dynamic even when they make progress. Moreover, one of their core members is basically like Xellos from Slayers in that they are being actively evil and corrosive to the goals of the group and there�s not a drat thing the others can do to stop them.

If you�re expecting it to be More Animorphs, you�re in for one hell of a whiplash, but I think it stands on its own really well and it was kind of a shame that it basically got kneecapped by Scholastic when it was clear that it was never going to be More Animorphs.

Yeah I really loved Everworld. It's not More Animorphs but if you like Animorphs there's a big chance you'll like it as the more adult version of Animorphs. But despite that, it's more adult in a good way.

And I actually legitimately like the whole "the characters don't all get along at all" group dynamic a lot.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2020 03:57

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Epicurius posted:

"So, you guys playing video games? Cool, cool. Hey, you know what would be crazy? If alien parasites infected people's brains. You guys.don't know anybody who thinks that, right? No? Ok. Hey, if anybody says anything like that, tell me, so we can laugh at them together. Well, I got stuff to do. Mom says make sure you set the table before she comes home. Later!"

Tom is the absolute pinnacle of unsubtle for a while and it's actually pretty funny. It's be totally fine if Jake wasn't one of the people it was looking for is the best part.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2020 18:44

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Epicurius posted:

Cassie is the black kid. Marco's Hispanic.

Yep. Even as a kid I would have been like "Wait..." if Marco had been black. But nope, he's not. He's described pretty consistently as being olive-skinned and Hispanic.

I think later they mostly just go with each of the kids favoring specific combat morphs as indicators of their personality.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2020 10:06

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

von Metternich posted:

I always think about this when I read early-book Marco

https://www.newsfromme.com/?s=the+complainer+is+always+wrong

Except IIRC Marco is basically always right.

Kchama fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Apr 7, 2020

# ¿ Apr 6, 2020 21:36

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

cptn_dr posted:

The great thing about the Animorphs being a bunch of idiot children is that it's perfectly realistic they'd make all these terrible decisions. Because they sure do manage to come up with a lot of bad plans.

And they all work about as well as you'd expect, which is why the books are so great.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2020 00:21

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

I'm pretty sure it's specifically that the number of human casualties was much lower than Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, which didn't make sense as there's no reason for Andalites to be more hesitant to harm humans over Hork-Bajir and Taxxons. Especially since Andalites on the whole had more of a relationship with the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons than they did with humanity, so there's no reason why they'd favor humans so much.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2020 09:26

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Avalerion posted:

It's an interesting dynamic in how the kids don't really trust each other (and rightfully so as we've already seen them keeping all kinds of stuff from each other). Here they correctly deduced Cassie needs a babysitter to make sure she sticks to the mission.

Marco - I absolutely get where he's coming from now, but as a kid I'm sure I would have hated him - he's that trope where one character in a group doesn't want to get along with the plot and won't stop whining about getting to have superpowers/adventures etc. But yea to adult me he actually seems to be the one in the group with some common sense.

He was actually the one I liked the most as a kid. He's also probably the one who changes the most out of everyone.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2020 20:23

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Khizan posted:

Is there a time period they have to stay human or can they just back-and-forth to reset the two hour limit?

Latter. As long as you fully return to human, you're good.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2020 21:45

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Avalerion posted:

We've seen that hosts can disobey in Tom, but not to this extend... That also seems to be the only potentially useful thing the kids learned from this though. On a whole even if they hadn't been captured this whole mission seems to have been a huge bust.

It really is a terrible and stupid mission and is... exactly what you'd expect some middle school kids to come up with if forced to.

It's perfect.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2020 10:08

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

PetraCore posted:

Yeah, and really what that would do is make a stealth takeover of Earth and humanity non-viable. The Yeerks don't exactly lack resources for something more forceful, especially since humans are considered really good hosts, especially because there's so many of us. If this is pushed to open warfare, the animorphs lose at this point, and keeping it stealth involves letting some heinous poo poo slide because it blows your cover.

Yup. The obvious actions anyone could think of would only make things worse for everyone right now. So dumb plans it is.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2020 18:29

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

If you wanna keep on keepin' on like you've had, I had no problem with that. Funnily these are the books I'm the least familiar with. I never managed to find a copy of the first book as a kid, so through you was how I experienced it.

# ¿ May 2, 2020 02:13

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

President Ark posted:

semi-related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sZuN0xXWLc

this is a trip, i read these as a kid and lost interest around the time they had a bunch of really transparent filler in the form of the tiny dudes, interested to see how this is 20 years down the line

Wow, the tiny dudes were the best, how dare you.

# ¿ May 5, 2020 05:20

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

President Ark posted:

let's be honest here, every 13 year old would have abused this even if they'd also gained the knowledge that there was a secret hellwar going on they'd just been unwillingly drafted into

It's 100% correct and accurate and it's why the books are so good.

# ¿ May 6, 2020 03:26

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

I got them thanks to the Walmart that my dad went grocery shopping twice a month having a little kid's book section with the latest Animorphs right up front where I could always see it, so I'd sit down on the floor and just read while my dad went shopping and then he'd buy me the book.

# ¿ May 6, 2020 20:16

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

QuickbreathFinisher posted:

Yeah, I had read his statement about it a while ago and something about it does not feel anywhere near as forced as the JK Rowling stuff. Part of it is JK Rowling being who she is, compared to who Michael Grant and K.A. Applegate are and their respective relationships to the series and characters. I'm sure the total overload of Harry Potter crap is coloring my perspective on this as well, I really dislike the series now even though it was probably my second favorite book series after this growing up. Lot of that has to do with how bad the moral arc of Harry Potter is compared to how much the main themes of Animorphs still feel relevant.

Plus, I think we get a lot more insight into Marco's character that just makes it ring more like something that was understood but maybe couldn't be published, compared to the whole Dumbledore thing which as far as I remember is a complete afterthought with no subtextual support whatsoever. I'm interested to reread his narrated books and see how much of that was just me projecting. Hell, even the first vs third person narration is probably a factor.

I'm really interested to read what other queer folks think about this as well, but to me it is nowhere near as egregious as JKR's stuff.

Marco I can super see being bisexual considering uhh everything with an upcoming character.

Like even as a little kid I wondered and I was not gay. I thought it was cool though.

# ¿ May 6, 2020 22:36

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Starsnostars posted:

It's really fun reading this thread, I loved the series when I was younger but didn't finish the series (I guess my mum stopped buying them for me) and I don't remember the point I reached. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the later books covered where some of the crazy stuff people have mentioned takes place.

I distinctly remember Tobias being my favourite character, I think because his unique circumstances make him stand out more than the other Animorphs.

My favorites were Marco and an unintroduced character who everyone likely knows who I mean. I saw a lot of myself in Marco as a kid, and the other character is just the best.

# ¿ May 7, 2020 18:22

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

This basically sums up Marco. Correct, even annoyingly so.

# ¿ May 9, 2020 04:06

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

disaster pastor posted:

Yeah, I liked Marco as the comic relief when I was in fourth grade or whatever, then as I got older, I liked him more because he's genuinely a well-written character in addition to the comic relief.

Unlike (apparently) most in this thread, though, Cassie started as my least favorite and then I liked her even less every time I reread the series when I got older. I think she suffers far more than the others from the lower quality ghostwritten books.

I'd say she's my fourth favorite. Fifth? She's above Jake.

But that isn't to say I ever really disliked her. I liked all of the kids. I feel like her perspective was somehow rarer than the others, despite the fact that I'm pretty sure only the new member and Tobias had that issue.

# ¿ May 9, 2020 17:11

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

disaster pastor posted:

This is exactly it, thank you. There's a formula for several of her books that's essentially, "here are multiple sides to this interesting problem, which has no right answer! But Cassie's right."

Hmm, maybe. Though I seem to remember that her moral answers were sometimes shockingly ruthless, but it was just ruthless in a "this will be the best for all, even if some people have to eat poo poo for it". But yeah I do feel she was perfectly fine and interesting. ... But I just really related to Marco, Tobias, [Insert Spoiler Here], and Rachel more. Rachel and Marco for pure relation though.

# ¿ May 10, 2020 01:31

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Epicurius posted:

The Encounter-Chapter 8
You know, for all of the worrying that the kids only have 40 minutes left before they have to change back, they are, for most of this, alone in the woods. There's nothing stopping them from changing back to human and then wolf again. I don't know if it's something the author didn't think about, or decided to ignore for the sake of dramatic tension (or more prosaically, thaat the kids didn't think about, but you'd think Marco would be all over it.)

To be fair there's no guarantee that there's nobody who might somehow stumble onto them in the long minutes while they morph to human and back, and they are still pretty new to this. In later books they figure out where they can stop to morph to and from if it's gonna take more than two hours, but they do seem to prefer getting there in one morph.

# ¿ May 12, 2020 03:10

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

wizzardstaff posted:

An injured body loses its damage on morphing. In one book later in the series they survive a grim night in the Arctic by remorphing every two hours to reset the effects of hypothermia. In a less specific spoiler, there's a book where someone gets amnesia and voluntarily avoids using their battle morph because they're not sure if it will remain injured.

I think this was something they deliberately demonstrated early on in the books while they were establishing the rules about morphing. I remember when this came out in the 90s DNA and genetic engineering were hot topics: Dolly the Sheep was just cloned, GATTACA was just released, etc. So these books really tapped into the "you are your genes, not your body" sentiment.

That being said there are some handwaves which is only appropriate since this is not hard sci fi. The most obvious one is that you can morph with clothes. But on top of that, morphing remembers your hair length and style which isn't something stored in your DNA. (I also think I remember a scene with Cassie growing out her hair when morphing back to her body, just because she can.)

In (I think?) another dozen books or so they tackle the question of "what happens to your extra mass when you morph something small" and I guarantee it's not what you expect.

To be fair the books also imply that being able to morph clones and change yourself slightly when you morph doesn't have to do with DNA but instead that the tech has some added benefits that it instills.

Also IIRC they specify that what you morph is the animal at the exact moment you acquired it. I forget if this means if Tobias's human body later is younger than everyone else and doesn't actually age.

# ¿ May 14, 2020 17:28

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Probably the Wonder Twins, who would shout "Wonder Twins Power Activate! Shape of a X" when they transformed into things.

# ¿ May 15, 2020 03:18

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

nine-gear crow posted:

https://twitter.com/MichaelGrantBks/status/1261327166244974593

I am 100% up for this.

# ¿ May 16, 2020 00:48

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Epicurius posted:

The Invasion-Chapter 13

This, honestly, seems like an extremely terrible idea, and Jake hasn't even explained it yet.

It's a good idea in the sense that it's close to the only idea that might work.

But it's still a terrible idea.

quote:

<They don't have enough power to attack Earth openly,> I said.

"And how do you know that?" Marco asked.

<Because they are going to a lot of trouble to keep themselves a big secret. You don't hide if you're tough enough to come out and kick butt in a fair fight.>

I expected Marco to have some smart comeback. But he just nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

This quoted section made me wince with very future memories.

# ¿ May 17, 2020 00:15

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

It's actually a very interesting story that both sides are in a very dangerous dance where if anyone does the wrong thing and exposes themselves, then it's all over.

# ¿ May 17, 2020 09:34

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

How would you even figure out what regions have Controllers or not?

# ¿ May 31, 2020 05:37

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

If they tell someone and they turn out to be a Controller then they basically have to kill them on the spot like Cassie did to that cop. A pretty serious disincentive to running around telling people, because otherwise they're giving stuff away and will be under attack soon.

# ¿ May 31, 2020 20:47

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Epicurius posted:

A little about Marco here. Marco, I think, in the first few books, seems to, on the surface, fit that typical trope...he's the guy who disagrees but is always wrong. "Hey, guys, maybe we shouldn't go on this adventure. Hey guys, maybe the hell with this animorphs thing". You'd see this a lot in cartoons in the 80s and 90s...so much so that it was almost mandated. In the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, there was Eric. In Captain Planet, there was Wheeler. The sort of ur-example was a show that ran from 1984-85 called "The Get Along Gang", where anyone who disagreed with the group consensus was inevitably shown to be a total and complete idiot. The cartoon "Garfield and Friends" parodied this with the "Buddy Bears", a group of bears who's optimism and teamwork would always come up against Garfield's cynicism.

So, on first glance, Marco seems to fit that sort of trope of the whiner, the pessimist, the stick in the mud, but when you look closer, first, most of Marco's complaints are justified, and his predictions are usually right, even if they're not particularly positive. On top of that, for all his complaining, and sarcasm, Marco is inevitably there for his friends, usually making their plans better. In the last book, when the group wanted to go to the lake to ambush the Yeerk ship, Marco said no, and at first, it seemed like he was just turning them down, but in reality, it was "No, don't go on a weekday, we should go on a weekend, so we don't have to skip school and look suspicious. And, as we've seen, a lot of what Marco does is in that vein. It makes him a good foil to Jake. Jake is the better leader, and incredibly optimistic, sometimes to a fault. He's the better tactician...he's the person who says, "I have a plan to win this battle". But Marco's a better strategist. He's the one saying, "Should we fight this battle, and what will happen if we win or lose?

This has summed up why I always liked Marco even early on. And why he's such a critical component of the team.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2020 00:52

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Fritzler posted:

It�s wild the controllers shoot instantly. Gotta be a better way of running a stealth mission.

Yeerks don't have a lot of experience with 'stealth'.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2020 05:28

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

The whale ruled and I'm glad it's here.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2020 01:20

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

wizzardstaff posted:

My biggest frustration with these kids is that they are not constantly experimenting with new animals. Seems like every week there's a new mission and they're all, "oh no, we don't have any good morphs prepared, let's do our best with whatever Cassie's got in her barn and don't take time to practice!"

They should be constantly hanging out at the zoo, acquiring new forms and doubling up on useful morphs for god's sake. Forget math class. This is your homework now. You are an Animorph and you will FIND some ANIMALS to MORPH.

The problem with giving up on school to do this is that it gets them in trouble which makes it harder for them to do this (and also Jake's brother is a Controller who might get suspicious if Jake starts acting too unusual). So the try to keep it as cool and low-down as possible, which means their time to do stuff is limited.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2020 10:40

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Epicurius posted:

To be fair, this is a long book series, and the idea that people might have read some of the books and not others isn't entirely outrageous. So I don't think Fuschia tude's request is unreasonable. I don't know that it would work, because sometimes mentioning what book something is in can itself be a spoiler. But I guess I'd just remind people to be careful about spoilers, and also that we should probably be respectful of each other.

I guess if you're gonna talk about future books at all with spoiler blocks then just stick (Book Name) in front of it and it will be good.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2020 19:20

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

feetnotes posted:

That�s a good question as to which morphs the Visser picked up on his own. I think I recall that Andalites tend to see morphing primarily as a tool for espionage, and don�t have much conception of �battle morphs.� Makes sense considering they have an effective natural weapon in their tails.

I don�t remember seeing Alloran morph into battle forms before his infestation. Ax usually opts to stay in his normal form in fights, which you�d think would raise some questions about why only one of the Andalite bandits didn�t acquire an Earth critter, but I don�t remember it coming up. But it also makes sense consider Andalite pride.

Makes sense though that the Visser, as a yeerk, would want to take advantage of as many bodies as he could. When so much of your existence depends on what host body you can take over, why not opt for lots of them in one since you have the chance?

All these different approaches to mind/body issues still hold up and are very interesting to me

If I remember correctly, the few times a Yeerk finds out their identities, they usually say stuff like "We wondered why all but one of you morphed to fight." and basically that they had all the questions you might have... but it's also basically said that none of them actually told Visser-3 their suspicions because Visser-3 was not the kind of boss you wanted to tell anything he might not like to hear... and it was nearly impossible to know what might fit that category. So people told him as little as possible.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2020 00:36

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Krazyface posted:

It will never, ever be mentioned again. It's basically a crutch to put off the question of morphing a sentient creature until later in the series (barring sentient-ish animals, of course).

I mean I can see the reasoning why it's possible but also entirely useless outside this one single purpose of disguising as a non-specific person.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2020 05:52

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Daikloktos posted:

Sorry you don't want to spend a season roaming the jungle, taking all challengers and constructing The Ultimate Ape

... This is a use I had not considered.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2020 00:56

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

cptn_dr posted:

The first time I went to America, I made a beeline for the Cinnabon at LAX, solely because I'd built it up so much in my head since I first read this book, aged about 7. Ax knows what's up.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2020 05:29

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Avalerion posted:

His family is lovely aunt and uncle who live in different states and don't talk each other, think he just send each a letter saying he's staying with the other one.

Pretty much. The fact that they don't even bothering checking in ever is proof how little they give a gently caress.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2020 21:56

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

Epicurius posted:

The Capture-Chapter 7
Do roaches really have "tails"? I'm thinking this is an error

Actually, they do! They just barely peek out so being very close to one's tail also means being very close to just plain squishing.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2020 01:13

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 15:17

Kchama: Jul 25, 2007

disaster pastor posted:

I'm pretty sure Rachel's plan if Josep said or did anything that indicated he was a Controller was just to go "oh, OK" and tusk him.

It would be a very happy "Oh, Ok!"

# ¿ Aug 1, 2020 05:50

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