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Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I remember these books being huge at book fairs back in the day, but I never actually got into them. I feel like the sense of social alienation and mistrust would have really done a number on me. The Howling, Salem's Lot and a few vampire-centric episodes of "Are You Afraid of the Dark" really drilled a fear into me of a threat permeating innocuously until suddenly you're alone.

I definitely had that sense that "something has changed, everyone's changed" when I was young, so that's pretty evocative. Admittedly, it's usual economic concerns, alcohol and "friends growing apart" that all kids experience, but drat if it doesn't fit seamlessly with the themes here.

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Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I might have missed it, but what happened to the woman they rescued at the end of the first book? Not sure how a former host would react to freedom, knowing that they're powerless and a witness to an impossible conspiracy.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I have the mental image of a squirrel being in a North By Northwest situation. Like Visser Three took it into custody thinking it was an Andalite, but it escaped and is now chewing through the wires of his ship and always escaping through sheer luck and pluck while Visser Three commends it as an honorable foe.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Imagine accidentally shooting your own ship and having your host constantly needling you in the background for it. It's like that one memory that always makes you wince and shake your head to get rid of it, only the brain you're living in is constantly bringing it up out of spite.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I can't help but picture these punks as the thieves who bought Magilla Gorilla from Mr. Peebles pet shop to assist in robbing a bank. I guess where normal people see a terrifying force of nature these guys saw "free Great Ape."

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

How long would it take a Yeerk to figure out how to morph? Because a prisoner that can turn into a roach and skitter out of its bindings seems like an issue.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

It would be kind of funny for a normal cop to respond to some drunk guy calling about a wild animal at this building only to have a razor-blade alien fly out of the upper floors and crash into his windshield.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Kinda curious if an animorph could involuntarily shift in their sleep during a nightmare. The termite episode alone seems like that would spark some vivid, ingrained trauma. Though I guess that's true for just about every book so far.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

It'd be kinda funny if the solution to all this was to morph a Bald Eagle and do a photo shoot of an endangered species nesting in the path of a logging operation. Or morph the gorilla and start a Sasquatch rumor to overwhelm the Yeerks with conspiracy theorists.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I'm almost glad I never read these books. I have less time now, but I think I need this brand of kid-gorilla-guerrilla shenanigans more than ever.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Classic X-Com moment where one of your poor dudes falls through the ceiling and comes face to face with ENEMY UNKNOWN.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I hope above all else we get to see Visser Three commend the Andalite Bandits for their most assuredly intentional ploy.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I never read these books because I was terrified of the concept of human-animal transformations (I think Pinocchio scarred me there) and now I regret it. This book in particular is actually pretty great.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I'm tempted to guess that some Yeerks are planning to decapitate some horses, spray-paint the carcasses and tell Visser-3 "We got'em."

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Epicurius posted:

Animorphs-Book 14:The Unknown-Chapter 9
So, why are tanks on an air force base?

Luftwaffe holdouts deep undercover, obviously.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

It'd be funny to imagine a Yeerk infesting a QAnon adherent and getting brainwormed themselves when their host embraces the slug and feeds it bullshit conspiracy theories 24/7.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I want more Ax commenting on human culture. A post-war Ax with an online blog reviewing Shaggydog would be kinda hilarious.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Well this book's not shy about stakes.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report on use of oatmeal is going to be pretty surreal at the end of this.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I'd probably just start loudly announcing how cool it was that Visser 3 killed the Andalite bandit.

"And then he turned himself into an Alligator. Called himself Vissergator. It was the coolest poo poo I ever saw."

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Holy poo poo, these books go places at the drop of a hat.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I wonder if there are Andalites that lose their tails in battle and choose to get a morning star prosthetic to stomp around like a medieval ankylosaurus.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I find myself forgetting that this haunting image of Andalites being driven off by superior Yeerk forces began with a mosquito blood heist gone awry.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I know Visser 3 should by all rights be busy elsewhere, but I really want him to have the Animorphs cornered only to have them poof away inexplicably.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Ax's file at Andalite High Command is going to be so awesome by the time the series ends.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

freebooter posted:

I think it's mostly because if Tobias could fly then he could (and, habitually, would) just surveil the area and they'd link up with the others straight away, and she wanted a plot point to stop them from being able to reunite too quick. Which feels lazy, I could probably think of one that doesn't screw up the science of the books, but meh.

Re: Tobias loving dinosaurs as a kid, was that really common to the era, or longstanding, or... it just doesn't feel like today's kids are? Like, I subscribed to that Dinosaur magazine (maybe this was a UK/Australia thing) that came with posters and those cool glow-in-the-dark T Rex models that you slowly assembled where you got a piece with every issue, and I know it's not just me who was a big nerd because a lot of the other boys at my primary school loved it too - but that was in the mid to late 90s i.e. right after Jurassic Park. But then, I've read the Jurassic Park novel and I remember in the preface and also maybe in Grant's dialogue, at some point, they talk about how kids are just crazy for dinosaurs. (And come to think of it there was plenty of kid's media before Jurassic Park about Dinosaurs - Land Before Time, We're Back etc.) Why did kids love dinosaurs? And why don't they now (if that's true)?

I was in grade school when these books started running and I was really big into dinosaurs. There were a bunch of new discoveries that ran in educational magazines at the school library, Discovery Channel tended to run series on them, Playskool Dinos and more intricate models were on all the shelves. I honestly think Book Fairs had a lot to do with it as well, because they tended to have a lot of easy-to-digest books about dinosaurs with a lot of pictures.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I always liked the Iguanodon because it looked like it was always giving you two deadly thumbs up.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Okay, this book is awesome. Not too many kids books would risk drawing down the setting from intergalactic war to simple interplay between two characters like this.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

freebooter posted:

I feel like the closest we've come is overhearing conversations between Yeerks way lower down on the totem pole and sympathising with them over having to deal with an awful boss. Cog-in-the-machine type camaraderie.


This is interesting because it's presumably the line fed to the rank and file in a militaristic, totalitarian empire: we have a right to become strong and advanced and we will seize that right through power. Whereas another line of reasoning that's been sort of hinted at, but which KA touches on more in the future, is one which humans and Andalites might more instinctively sympathise with, but which a totalitarian Yeerk government will downplay because of the vibe of weakness: Yeerks are an intelligent species and have a right to experience the world as more than sightless slugs in some sludge.

I like that on the surface it's basically the same argument the Japanese Empire made in the runup to WWII, with regard to the colonial powers surrounding them in Asia. Especially when you factor in that the Andalites have been responsible for some major war crimes of their own, making it easier for a conflicted Yeerk to rationalize their own empire's actions.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I hope the Leopard digs up the morphing cube and becomes a recurring wild-card antagonist.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

CUBE KID'S AFRAID TO LEAVE HIS CUBE.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Visser Three somehow finds out about the cube, goes to claim it for himself, gets shot by a kid.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Mazerunner posted:

whatever yeerk who stumbled on this while trawling ebay is feeling pretty hot right now though

KillAllYeerks! finally hitting the big leagues.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Visser Three shows up to David's house, but in a comical coincidence he's actually trying to buy David's cat.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I appreciate the "X-Com multiple pod activation" feel of this chapter. Just a complete clusterfuck.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

lapis legit posted:

On the other hand, every meeting or event that the president goes to need to take a break every 2 hours or less for him to demorph and remorph.

Recent events have shown us that Visser 3 could totally get away with just posting schedules that literally say, "The President will make many calls and have many meetings" and then tweet out "Working Hard! Thank You!" and he'd probably be free for most of the day.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

I choose to believe that Socks the Cat inadvertently saved mankind by convincing Visser 3 that the White House was protected by an Andalite Bandit.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Fuschia tude posted:

So how come Flowers By Irene across the street over there never noticed two three birds in quick succession crashing through an upstairs window of the house they were ordered by Visser Three to keep watch over?

I choose to believe one of the Yeerks wound up with Shaggy as a host and now there's a bunch of humans and Hork-Bajir hot boxing the van.

Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

If Geds were more capable of guile they could probably get a bit of revenge spreading endless gossip about all the Yeerks they've been host to.

"Oh man. That last guy? He had issues. Was talkin' mad poo poo about you, come to think of it."

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Grammarchist
Jan 28, 2013

Cythereal posted:

Getting serious shades of the Wookiees in Star Wars here. The Star Wars EU revealed that Kashyyyk was an artificially terraformed planet whose forests were intended for agricultural purposes, and the Wookiees were imported by the race that did the terraforming to be caretakers for the planet's forests.

If memory serves, there was a cultural taboo about using claws for violence there as well.

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