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The Visitor-Chapter 11quote:We couldn't go to the Chapmans' the next night because Marco and I both had papers we had to write. And the night after that was Cassie's dad's birthday. That's a pretty good description of Marco, I think. Also, Marco has his eyes on the prize here. Does he care Melissa is suffering? Probably. Is he going to let that get in the way of the mission? Nope. quote:"I'm ready," I said. I waved my arms at the dark sky above. Tobias swooped down, opened his wings to slow his speed, and settled on the fence beside us. The cat's both prey and predator at the same time. It's got to worry about animals that are bigger than it, but it also knows that it can fight back, and while a cat will run, it'll also fight back, especially if the threat is close to its size quote:Then the cat's senses started sending messages to my brain. So, this is true. For a long time, people didn't think cats or dogs could see colors. We now know that cats (and dogs) can see colors, although not as well as people can, and, while they can't see as far a distance as people can, they can see better in the dark, have more peripheral vision, and are much more sensitive to movement. quote:"How are you doing?" Jake asked me. I had no trouble at all hearing his voice. But it was irrelevant. It had no meaning. The mouse was making a tiny little scritching sound as it worked its little teeth around a nut, trying to chew it open. That's a cat for you. quote:<I'm okay,> I said. <I think I'm pretty much in control. > After Tobias, how ominous is it that this chapter ends with Cassie reminding Rachael what time it is that she started to morph?
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# ? Apr 23, 2020 22:16 |
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# ? May 23, 2024 16:00 |
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Curious, is morphing a "once you begin you gotta keep going" kind of process, or could you deliberately stop and remain in one of these in between stages.
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# ? Apr 24, 2020 11:00 |
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Avalerion posted:Curious, is morphing a "once you begin you gotta keep going" kind of process, or could you deliberately stop and remain in one of these in between stages. Good question. We did see Rachel partially change into an elephant earlier in this book, so I don't know if you necessarily need to carry it all the way through.
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# ? Apr 24, 2020 13:46 |
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It's not automated, no. Like it won't carry on independently once you push the mental start button. You have to actively maintain concentration on morphing or you WILL stop mid-morph. Which, yeah, Rachel does earlier and then quickly backs out of it. Cassie in particular abuses this a couple of times, since she has that natural talent/affinity for it and can make specific parts morph first/hold off specific parts for last. Kind of like at the beginning of this book where she held off the wings for last when coming out of bird morph. I feel like I remember her also using that trick with other morphs at least once or twice in more dire circumstances.
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# ? Apr 24, 2020 15:31 |
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Seems like if you are good you could theoretically morph say, just cat eyes for night vision and stuff.
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# ? Apr 24, 2020 20:46 |
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The Visitor-Chapter 12quote:I headed at an easy trot down the sidewalk toward the Chapman home. As soon as I started moving I thought, Oh, man, if I could just keep some of this for my next gymnastics class. So, we see ther result of Rachel not taking full control of the animal earlier, which is that she's still bound by its instincts. And, of course, it's Tobias who gives her the metaphorical dash of cold water there, speaking from experience. quote:So I used something the cat would respond to. I conjured up the memory of the big tom's smell. That triggered the cat's submissiveness. I felt my part of the collective mind grow larger. Even here, she's got the cat under control, but she hasn't really mastered it. She's still responding to the cat's attitude and its sensibilities. quote:I left the kitchen and paused at the corner between the hallway and the family room. Chapman was there, in the living room. I could smell him. He was just sitting on the couch. I glanced at him and walked on. So that last part is legitimately pretty creepy. quote:Not right. Something was not right with either of the Chapmans. I went back to the hallway. There were stairs leading up to the bedrooms. From the hallway I could hear Melissa more clearly. I concentrated, trying to ignore the fascinating sounds of the birds under the eaves. I focused on the human sounds of Melissa's voice. So she's discovered...Chapman has a secret! Well, she already knew that. quote:It was dark at first, not that it bothered me. Then Chapman turned on a low light. It was strange, because I could actually see better in the dark than I could with the low light. So that's not good.
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# ? Apr 24, 2020 22:18 |
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Is Iniss 266 the first Yeerk name we have heard?
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# ? Apr 25, 2020 06:20 |
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MonsterEnvy posted:Is Iniss 266 the first Yeerk name we have heard? Yes. Visser Three (Esplin 9466) and Visser One (Edriss 563) aren't named until much later in the series, and even then learning Actual Yeerk Names is an incredibly rare event. Also that's an interestingly telling slip by Iniss at the end of the chapter, obliquely referring to Melissa as "my" daughter before catching himself.
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# ? Apr 25, 2020 06:30 |
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The Visitor-Chapter 13quote:Kill it. Kill it immediately. So Visser Three is a cat person...err, cat slug. quote:Chapman's face actually seemed to twitch. It was the only emotion he had shown, other than fear. This is kind of significant, I think, because we find out here for the first time that Yeerks aren't some sort of hive mind or aren't just blindly obedient to their leaders. They have opinions, they have politics, and that Visser Three is both loathed and feared by some of his subordinates. quote:My cat ears noticed the sound before either of the Chapmans. Movement. Human feet pounding. I cocked my ears toward the stairs. For me, honestly, this part here is the saddest part of the book, and I'm not ashamed to say I had tears in my eyes. Just the idea of poor innocent Mellissa here realizing her parents don't love her anymore, and not knowing why...pulls at the heart a little. quote:After a while, Melissa fell asleep. I got up and padded down the stairs to the pet door. The first couple of books are all really trying to understand the characters and also trying to figure out what the characters' motivations are for fighting. Why voluntarily do this to yourself? Why put yourself in a situation where you probably won't win? Jake's doing it to save his brother. Rachel is doing it for all the Melissas out there. Families who are torn apart because of the Yeerks.
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# ? Apr 25, 2020 23:19 |
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Also highly relevant from this chapter, I think, is the existence of that Yeerkbane creature. To me, the implication is that Yeerks, although sentient, are a prey species. Even when they're infesting another creature, there's a creature on their homeworld perfectly adapted to hunting and eating them. That has to leave a mark on a species' psychology.
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# ? Apr 26, 2020 02:07 |
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I will guess the animorphs will eventually somehow acquire one of these Yeerkbanes and use it to free hosts. Speaking of which, I do like how all these different aliens paint a picture of a much larger world in the background.
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# ? Apr 26, 2020 06:50 |
It's pretty well done, honestly. There are just enough hints of the greater universe.
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# ? Apr 26, 2020 14:29 |
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quote:Visser Three did not look happy to be disobeyed. But he was not a creature who made impetuous decisions. This strikes me as untrue, but I'll admit that so far he isn't as impetuous as my childhood memories of him. Or maybe he was just written as less intelligent in some of the ghostwritten books.
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# ? Apr 26, 2020 18:48 |
Silver2195 posted:This strikes me as untrue, but I'll admit that so far he isn't as impetuous as my childhood memories of him. Or maybe he was just written as less intelligent in some of the ghostwritten books. I think at this point, despite minor setbacks, he is still relatively in control of himself. Once the guerilla war starts to really hurt him, his rage comes to the forefront.
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# ? Apr 26, 2020 21:12 |
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Never read these as a kid because I was afraid of the covers lol, so it's nice to actually catch up through this thread.
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# ? Apr 26, 2020 21:43 |
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The Visitor-Chapter 14quote:That night and the next morning, I barely got any homework done. In math class that day I got the first C I'd gotten in a long time. My grades were starting to fall because I was busy trying to save the world. Or at least to save my old friend. These are the perils of being a teenage hero quote:I knew now what had happened. Why Melissa and I weren't friends anymore, at least not close friends. Something had gone terribly wrong in her life. Her parents no longer loved her. They pretended to, they sounded like they did, but Melissa knew it was all wrong. Ouch. quote:<There's the church tower. I see another bird heading toward it. And I think I see Cassie coming out of her morph. > That is going to be the famous 1992-3 story, "The Death of Superman' quote:"Can we deal with reality here?" Jake asked. "We have business to discuss."
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# ? Apr 26, 2020 22:09 |
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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.
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# ? Apr 27, 2020 08:27 |
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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. 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.
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# ? Apr 27, 2020 20:23 |
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The Visitor-Chapter 15quote:It was a dark and stormy night. So fun fact. "It was a dark and stormy night" began its existence as the first line of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel Paul Clifford. Bulwer-Lytton has a reputation of being a really bad writer; probably worse than he deserves, and there's a contest named after him; the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. You win by submitting "the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels." Last year's winner won with "Space Fleet Commander Brad Brad sat in silence, surrounded by a slowly dissipating cloud of smoke, maintaining the same forlorn frown that had been fixed upon his face since he’d accidentally destroyed the phenomenon known as time, thirteen inches ago. " quote:"Where is Jake?" I asked as we all got together down the street from Chapman's house. Everyone else was there. Cassie and Marco were wearing raincoats, although it hadn't started raining yet. Tobias was overhead, trying to hold onto a branch in a tree while the wind tried to knock him off. We've all been there. quote:I bit my lip. Somehow I felt more nervous with Jake being absent. The crazy wind whistling through the branches wasn't helping my confidence, either. That's kind of reassuring, I guess. quote:<They're in on this with you?> Of course! That's why Cassie had made such a point of patting my head. She was depositing Jake on me. Visser Three not being familiar with the concept of zoos. quote:"Yes, Visser. I will do -" They're busted really bad.
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# ? Apr 27, 2020 22:20 |
Epicurius posted:So fun fact. "It was a dark and stormy night" began its existence as the first line of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel Paul Clifford. Bulwer-Lytton has a reputation of being a really bad writer; probably worse than he deserves, and there's a contest named after him; the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. You win by submitting "the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels." That's intense.
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# ? Apr 27, 2020 23:38 |
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chitoryu12 posted:That's intense. Some of the entries are pretty good. You can find the entries here: https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/
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# ? Apr 27, 2020 23:52 |
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Can they shift from animal to animal or do they need to go back to human first.
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# ? Apr 28, 2020 10:18 |
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Gotta go human first. It becomes a plot point many, many times.
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# ? Apr 28, 2020 12:07 |
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Right. That's a limitation of the morphing technology. You have to reset to your "base" form before you morph again.
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# ? Apr 28, 2020 15:08 |
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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.
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# ? Apr 28, 2020 19:47 |
Grammarchist posted: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. She's never mentioned again, make up your own story I say she got merced, her former Yeerk could tell exactly where she lives, her habits etc
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# ? Apr 28, 2020 21:26 |
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Krazyface posted:Gotta go human first. It becomes a plot point many, many times. Is there a time period they have to stay human or can they just back-and-forth to reset the two hour limit?
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# ? Apr 28, 2020 21:31 |
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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.
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# ? Apr 28, 2020 21:45 |
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:She's never mentioned again, make up your own story I’ve read a fan-theory that the woman Cassie rescued is the same woman that Rachel later encounters in the first Megamorphs book who lives in the woods and is mentally ill and tries to kill Rachel while ranting about Yeerks.
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# ? Apr 28, 2020 22:29 |
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The Visitor-Chapter 16quote:"We will no longer have to search for the Andalites," Visser Three said. "We have one right here with us." Visser Three-Cat lover quote:I did a lot of damage. Believe me, Chapman got hurt. Gift for understatement, these kids. quote:<It gets worse. Visser Three wants Melissa, too. > So, any thoughts about the attempted host revolt? Rachel also makes that parallel, about the fact that morphs and Yeerks both have to deal with the "two minds in the head" problem. quote:Chapman snatched up the cage I was in. He barreled through the door. He slammed me into the doorjamb on the way. Man, Melissa just gets emotionally beat up in this book, doesn't she? quote:"Sorry." Chapman shrugged. He shoved the cage into the backseat. So, what do you think? Cowardice or practicality on Jake's part? quote:A few seconds later, Chapman put me down on the ground. He waited beside the cage. The two of us stared off into the darkness. I do like this line. quote:Fear. Just as a note, this book, even though it's about the same size as the first one, has longer but fewer chapters. I think it's trying to grapple with more serious themes too. What do you think?
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# ? Apr 29, 2020 00:06 |
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Epicurius posted:So, any thoughts about the attempted host revolt? Rachel also makes that parallel, about the fact that morphs and Yeerks both have to deal with the "two minds in the head" problem. When you think about it, it's kind of morally dubious to morph into intelligent animals (like Marco's gorilla), because you're effectively creating a copy of that animal and then Yeerk-ing them.
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# ? Apr 29, 2020 03:01 |
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Ytlaya posted:When you think about it, it's kind of morally dubious to morph into intelligent animals (like Marco's gorilla), because you're effectively creating a copy of that animal and then Yeerk-ing them. This moral question is, believe it or not, brought up in a later book. I guess one potential difference (and its up to you to decide how morally distinct it makes it) is that the cat that Rachel becomes didn't exist before Rachel became it. Fluffer McKitty did, but even when Rachel morphs into the cat, Fluffer McKitty is still out there, running around, killing shrews and mice and trying to live down the indignity of being named Fluffer McKitty. Chapman, however, had his own hopes and fears and dreams, a family, and one presumes friends, and all that, and now that the Yeerk is in him, he's just a puppet without any freedom. So the Yeerks are taking away an actual living being's autonomy, while the animorphs have just shapeshifted into another form, although a form that has its own instincts. Again, it's up to you how much you think this makes a difference.
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# ? Apr 29, 2020 04:00 |
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nvm
Kazzah fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Apr 29, 2020 |
# ? Apr 29, 2020 06:19 |
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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.
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# ? Apr 29, 2020 07:24 |
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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.
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# ? Apr 29, 2020 10:08 |
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It's kind of funny, nowadays they'd just have to get out their smartphones, record some of these aliens and anonymously post it all over the net. But in their position all they could realistically do is like... start tracking down controllers and mauling them in bear morphs? But it makes sense a bunch of kids wouldn't be willing to start doing that just yet, especially now they got confirmation even the cooperative hosts are coerced.
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# ? Apr 29, 2020 11:10 |
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Avalerion posted:It's kind of funny, nowadays they'd just have to get out their smartphones, record some of these aliens and anonymously post it all over the net.
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# ? Apr 29, 2020 17:20 |
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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.
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# ? Apr 29, 2020 18:29 |
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The Visitor-Chapter 17quote:Visser Three in person is worse than Visser Three as a hologram. There's nothing horrible about him. Not when he's in his normal Andalite body, at least. Andalites are strange-looking, that's for sure. But they aren't frightening. This was brought up in the last book too. Visser Three seems to radiate this unsettling aura. quote:Without the hologram communicator, the Visser communicated in the usual Andalite fashion. He thought-spoke, much like we all did when we were in morph. Visser Three apparently really, really likes cats. quote:"Yes, Visser," Chapman said. "They are a family of animals. Felines. These are the smallest." He's not a good boss, really. quote:"Visser, my host begs leave to address you directly," Chapman said. So the question was raised earlier in thread about why someone would be a voluntary Yeerk host, and here's an example. Chapman agreed to accept a controller, and not to fight in order to save his daughter.
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# ? Apr 30, 2020 00:28 |
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# ? May 23, 2024 16:00 |
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Epicurius posted:The Visitor-Chapter 17 Epicurius posted:Visser Three apparently really, really likes cats.
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# ? Apr 30, 2020 00:37 |