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

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

It adds a nice touch to the story that they even stop to think about it though.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 00:34

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# ? May 20, 2024 15:17

wizzardstaff: Apr 6, 2018; Zorch! Splat! Pow!

They frame the concerns about morphing people or intelligent animals as if it's enslaving them like a Yeerk does, but that doesn't seem accurate. It's more like the ethics of identity theft. Which makes me think of what sort of identity a dolphin has, and whether a human could even understand it well enough to steal it. Or if that matters.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 01:51

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

They're teenagers.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 02:22

wizzardstaff: Apr 6, 2018; Zorch! Splat! Pow!

I didn't mean for the takeaway from my post to be "it doesn't matter and it's a waste of time for them to think about it".

# ? Jun 8, 2020 02:40

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

Yeah, I could have worded that a bit better. I meant 'I'll give them a little leeway in not really getting the nuances of what they're doing right, because teenagers are dumb as poo poo.' Not 'don't think about it'. You're pretty much on the money with your analysis, and again, it's nice to see that even books like this take the time to consider such questions.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 02:42

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Also, it's Cassie who has this concern, and she's the one of them who is closest to animals and most empathetic to them.

I'll say more generally that one of the themes of this series is about identity. The protagonists can change their forms and become other creatures. The villains literally take over the bodies and identities of people. Tobias is trapped in a body he doesn't want to be in and doesn't know anymore whether he's a hawk or a person. So one of the questions the book asks is "who am I, really, and how does it differ from how people see me?" And along with that comes the other question, "How do I know that other people are really the way they seem to be?" And, of course, these are questions of puberty. Your body is changing. You're starting to navigate questions of romance and dating. You're navigating a social landscape and social pressures you didn't have to face when you were younger. As a teen, you start creating a new identity for yourself, and from what I remember, the way other people think you becomes of supreme importance. So a lot of the series is about that.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Jun 8, 2020

# ? Jun 8, 2020 04:31

wizzardstaff: Apr 6, 2018; Zorch! Splat! Pow!

Funny, given that it's Cassie who morphs a skunk so that she can impersonate the dead mother of some orphaned kits.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 04:48

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

wizzardstaff posted:

Funny, given that it's Cassie who morphs a skunk so that she can impersonate the dead mother of some orphaned kits.

Actually, my favorite part of that was Tobias telling her that the skunk kits were still alive, but confessing that he ate one

# ? Jun 8, 2020 05:04

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

The best part of THAT is that the characters are well written enough that it carries some emotional weight

# ? Jun 8, 2020 05:06

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

wizzardstaff posted:

They frame the concerns about morphing people or intelligent animals as if it's enslaving them like a Yeerk does, but that doesn't seem accurate. It's more like the ethics of identity theft. Which makes me think of what sort of identity a dolphin has, and whether a human could even understand it well enough to steal it. Or if that matters.

I was just thinking the fact that Tobias has basically permanently assumed the identity of an existing animal is strange. It was one of Cassie's injured animals so it actually might not ever be released back into the wild, but still, he's basically cloned an existing creature to drive around in. Even if it's not sentient with much concept of identity or capacity for self-reflection, and birds of prey are more or less interchangeable within an ecosystem, it's still kind of weird to think about.

On an unrelated note, I'm surprised how obvious the Cassie/Jake thing was from the start, because if I noticed it at the time I was reading these I don't remember it at all. I didn't finish the series, but I did read dozens of these things. It's not even subtle or subtext; it's outright text, from book one. I guess I was just oblivious. I feel like a mixed race couple was kind of edging on still a bit controversial, even in the 90s. Especially for a children's book. Am I wrong about that?

# ? Jun 8, 2020 06:22

Avalerion: Oct 19, 2012

wizzardstaff posted:

I didn't mean for the takeaway from my post to be "it doesn't matter and it's a waste of time for them to think about it".

That's my take, though.

I think the writer just gave them this hangup because if they were willing to morph humans, it wouldn't really be animorphs anymore.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 06:49

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

Fuschia tude posted:

I feel like a mixed race couple was kind of edging on still a bit controversial, even in the 90s. Especially for a children's book. Am I wrong about that?

Mixed race couples are a bit controversial now in some parts of the country, especially for a children's book.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 12:11

ManlyGrunting: May 29, 2014

Yeah, a lot of the moral quandaries raised in this series are really good (and probably shaped young me more than I realize) but they're hesitance to morph intelligent animals (or people, to a lesser extent) always felt kind of weak to me. Then again, most nine year olds don't have the most developed moral compass for things like identity fraud

# ? Jun 8, 2020 16:35

Some Pinko Commie: Jun 9, 2009; CNC! Easy as 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣!

ManlyGrunting posted:

Yeah, a lot of the moral quandaries raised in this series are really good (and probably shaped young me more than I realize) but they're hesitance to morph intelligent animals (or people, to a lesser extent) always felt kind of weak to me. Then again, most nine year olds don't have the most developed moral compass for things like identity fraud

Plus the way they abandoned that in later books when it was convenient kinda made it seem needlessly restrictive in retrospect.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 16:46

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

biracial bear for uncut posted:

Plus the way they abandoned that in later books when it was convenient kinda made it seem needlessly restrictive in retrospect.

Lets not make unspoilered comments about things that happen in later books, please.

Also, the Animorphs slowly get changed by the war, and a lot of their earlier ethical stances and hesitations disappear.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 16:55

wizzardstaff: Apr 6, 2018; Zorch! Splat! Pow!

Fuschia tude posted:

On an unrelated note, I'm surprised how obvious the Cassie/Jake thing was from the start, because if I noticed it at the time I was reading these I don't remember it at all. I didn't finish the series, but I did read dozens of these things. It's not even subtle or subtext; it's outright text, from book one. I guess I was just oblivious. I feel like a mixed race couple was kind of edging on still a bit controversial, even in the 90s. Especially for a children's book. Am I wrong about that?

It's funny what we completely overlook. I somehow missed all the body horror when I read this series as a kid. I just thought it was neat that they were transforming into animals, I didn't think there was supposed to be anything gross about it. There was one scene (I think it's in the next book?) where they morph ants and get into a fight with another colony and it's pretty disturbing, but that stood out to me as an outlier. Nope, on reread it's all body horror all the time right from the start.

On a different topic but kind of the same theme of how kids engage with these books, at what point do you think that someone is too old for them? Obviously they're targeted at younger kids, and we're all getting a nostalgic kick out of reading them right now as adults and marveling at themes which are so mature for younger audiences, but there's a self-conscious period in the middle when someone gets too cool to read/watch stuff aimed at preteens.

This is on my mind because I have a 13 year old relative who I've been sending SFF books to for a while, and I've been trying to give him thoughtful stuff. He also just came out as trans, which isn't something I can personally relate to but seems to have been big in other posters' relationship with this series. But he's the kind of precocious reader who might be turned off by "kid stuff" so I don't want to blow my cool uncle cred.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 17:12

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Thirteen is probably ok, i think, but he might find the writing overly simplistic. If it helps, there's going to be a comic book/graphic novel of the first book coming out soon. You might want to get him that. Then if he likes it, say, "You know, this was originally a book and there's a series...."

# ? Jun 8, 2020 17:25

QuickbreathFinisher: Sep 28, 2008; by reading this post you have agreed to form a gay socialist micronation.
`

This is a complete tangent and has nothing to do with the interesting ethical discussion y'all are on, which I wholeheartedly enjoy, but I feel like this is the second or third time already that there has been a "nearly electrocuted bird" at Cassie's barn. It seems to be a different bird every time.

How are all these birds surviving near-electrocution? I thought it was pretty much just scorched talons on a wire if a bird completes the circuit. Maybe I don't know as much about bird electrocution as Cassie. Are the Yeerks going around torturing birds with electric weapons? :tinfoil:

I don't remember if this happens but it would be interesting if Cassie's parents start suspecting something weird is going on as the number of animals with weird injuries starts increasing. Feel like all kinds of wildlife is getting scorched and slashed and half eaten by giant centipedes already. I feel like I remember this being a minor plot at some point.

E: vvvvvvvvv :vince:

QuickbreathFinisher fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Jun 8, 2020

# ? Jun 8, 2020 20:42

chitoryu12: Apr 24, 2014

QuickbreathFinisher posted:

This is a complete tangent and has nothing to do with the interesting ethical discussion y'all are on, which I wholeheartedly enjoy, but I feel like this is the second or third time already that there has been a "nearly electrocuted bird" at Cassie's barn. It seems to be a different bird every time.

How are all these birds surviving near-electrocution? I thought it was pretty much just scorched talons on a wire if a bird completes the circuit. Maybe I don't know as much about bird electrocution as Cassie. Are the Yeerks going around torturing birds with electric weapons?

I don't remember if this happens but it would be interesting if Cassie's parents start suspecting something weird is going on as the number of animals with weird injuries starts increasing. Feel like all kinds of wildlife is getting scorched and slashed and half eaten by giant centipedes already. I feel like I remember this being a minor plot at some point.

The Yeerk cops are freaking out and tasing passing birds. An Internal Affairs investigation (surprisingly, no Yeerks involved) has determined that they felt their lives were threatened.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 20:44

Radio Free Kobold: Aug 11, 2012; "Federal regulations mandate that at least 30% of our content must promote Reptilian or Draconic culture. This is DJ Scratch N' Sniff with the latest mermaid screeching on KBLD..."

13 is definitely fine for Animorphs, your relative will love this stuff.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 23:17

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

chitoryu12 posted:

The Yeerk cops are freaking out and tasing passing birds. An Internal Affairs investigation (surprisingly, no Yeerks involved) has determined that they felt their lives were threatened.

Listen here buddy. Yeerks are the thin grey line between us and lawlessness.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 23:18

SardonicTyrant: Feb 26, 2016; BTICH IM A NEWT
熱くなれ夢みた明日を
必ずいつかつかまえる
走り出せ振り向くことなく
&

Visser Three is great because it's pretty easy to see that all the times he conveniently appears and spots the Animorphs is because he's insanely paranoid and flips out over random animals all the time.

There's something definitely off about him. No other Yeerk comes off as that crazy.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 23:24

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

SardonicTyrant posted:

Visser Three is great because it's pretty easy to see that all the times he conveniently appears and spots the Animorphs is because he's insanely paranoid and flips out over random animals all the time.

There's something definitely off about him. No other Yeerk comes off as that crazy.

He's not wrong though. Hell for all his obvious prowess in combat, he's now been hit in his Yeerk pool, his Blade ship during what should have been an easy prisoner handoff, and now a ship got blowed up good. And he still has no idea of what he is up against or how many there are. If word of this gets back to head office, at best he loses command, I'd be starting to flip out too.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 23:40

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Message-Chapter 8

quote:

The next day after school, the four of us headed toward The Gardens on a city bus. Tobias flew. He said he'd be there before we were, but he wasn't sure how close to us he actually could get.

The Gardens is this big amusement park that also includes a zoo. Only they don't call it a zoo, they call it a "wildlife park." My mom works there. Actually, she's the head of medical services, the head vet.

I have a pass to get in anytime I want, but the others all have to pay, which is kind of a drag be cause Marco never has any money. Ever since Marco's mom died, his dad has been kind of messed up. He just takes temporary jobs, and they're always broke.

I guess I kind of think it's romantic, the way Marco's dad has never gotten over his wife dying. But on the other hand, it's like I had to learn when I started helping my dad with the animals - sometimes death just happens, and all you can do is get over it the best you can.

It's not really that romantic.

quote:

It's tough for Marco because he feels like he has to take care of his dad - instead of having his dad taking care of him.

On the bus, I glanced over at Marco. He was looking out of the window, being kind of quiet.

"Hey, Marco," I said.

"What?"

"Is that a new haircut? It looks good."

"Yeah?" He looked surprised. He ran his fingers back through his long brown hair and kind of smiled.

I did some homework on the bus (math, gag, yuck!) and listened to my Walkman.

When we got there, it turned out there was a special on tickets - buy two and get the third ticket for a dollar. Marco had a dollar, fortunately, so we didn't have to go through any big scenes.

We cruised through the area where all the rides were, heading toward the wildlife park.

Jake shook his head sadly, looking up at the monster roller coaster. "That used to be the coolest thing in the world to me," he said. "But ever since I morphed a falcon, it just hasn't seemed like any big deal. I mean, you're going maybe eighty miles per hour on a steel track. When I was a falcon I did like two hundred miles an hour in midair."

"This morphing stuff does kind of change things," Marco agreed. "I used to want to get all pumped up. Then I morphed into a gorilla, and it was like, why bother lifting weights? I can just become a gorilla and bench press a truck."

"I don't feel that way," Rachel said. "Being a cat made me more interested in gymnastics. I mean, as a cat I was just so totally, totally in control and graceful. Ever since then I've been trying to use that feeling. When I'm on the balance beam I try and remember that cat confidence."

"And then you fall off just the same as always?" I teased.

"Oh, yeah," Rachel said with a laugh. She made little walking fingers in the air that then fell over. "Boom. I slip right off. But I feel confident while I'm falling off."

That's an interesting conversation. Knowing that you can just transform like that must really be lifechanging.

quote:

We reached the wildlife park entrance. The marine mammals are one of the first exhibits. There's a main building, then there are several outdoor tanks.

We went straight for the largest outdoor tank. There were bleachers all around it on three sides where people sat for performances. A show had just ended, and hundreds of people were leaving. The next show would be in a couple of hours.

"Good timing," Jake said. "Not too big a crowd."

"It's a weekday afternoon," I said. "It's never all that crowded on school days."

We forced our way upstream against the rush of people, and reached the side of the tank.

It's pretty big. Like four or five big swimming pools. It's very blue, very clean-looking. There's a low platform on one side where the trainers stand to communicate with the dolphins.

"So what's the difference between porpoises and dolphins?" Marco asked. "Both just fish, right?"

SPLOOSH!

The placid surface of the water exploded a few feet from us. Water sprayed across me.

"Oooooh!" we all said as one.

He flew straight up out of the water, like a sleek, pale gray torpedo. Eleven feet long from nose to tail. Four hundred pounds. He simply flew into the air, seemed to hang there, ten feet above the surface of the water, took a skeptical look at us, gave us his permanent wise-guy grin, and slid back beneath the water so smoothly that there was barely a ripple.

"That is a dolphin," I said to Marco.

So, since Cassie won't answer Marco's question, here's the difference between dolphins and porpoises:

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/dolphin_porpoise.html

The big differences is that dolphins have long beaks and porpoises have smaller mouths. Their teeth are different. Dolphins also have curved, hooked fins, and porpoises have triangular fins.

quote:

"Okay, I like that. That is excellent," Marco said. "Did you see what he did?"

You know how really great athletes never look like they're even trying? Like Michael Jordan? How everything they do is perfect, and you know they must have practiced for a million hours, but they always look like, "Oh. No big deal. Of course I can fly through the air. Nothing to it."

That's a dolphin in the water. Effortless. Perfect. Utterly in control.

Fish swim through the water. Sharks swim, tuna swim, trout swim, even people swim. Dolphins don't just swim through the water. They own the water.
The water is their toy. The water is one big trampoline and the dolphins bounce around like kids having a good time.

Just watching them makes you happy. It also makes you feel like you're just this clunky, awkward windup toy, jerky and stumbling and clumsy. Human beings may be the smartest creatures on Earth, but we sure are dorky compared to a lot of other species.

"He's trying to get me to give him some more fish."

We all spun around. It was one of the dolphin trainers, a woman named Eileen.

"Oh, hi, Eileen," I said.

She nodded toward the dolphin, who was just exploding out of the water again. This time he turned a neat little somersault. "Joey is the biggest con artist. He's always trying to get extra fish."

"He's amazing," I said.

"Yes, he is," Eileen agreed, with a look of pride.

I introduced Jake, Marco, and Rachel. "We were looking at some dolphin information on the Internet," I lied, "so we thought we'd come out and see the real thing."

"Well, as you know, we have six dolphins here. Joey, whom you've met, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Rachel. Hey, you guys want to feed them a little? You start throwing fish in the water and they'll all come over."

i have no excuse or explanation. It was the 90s. It was a strange time.

quote:

"It won't upset their schedule?"

"Nah. Just don't let Joey get it all. He's kind of pushy."

Eileen left us with a nice big bucket of fish.

"That is some nasty-looking fish," Marco commented.

"Once you morph into one of these dolphins, you won't think that," Rachel pointed out.

Marco gave her a skeptical look. "Do you realize that just a couple days ago we were fish? Not that much different than these fish ?"

He was right. But it wasn't something I wanted to think about. I've always been very involved with animals. But it is a whole different thing when you can become different animals.

I took a fish by the tail and tossed it into the water. Just as Eileen suggested, the rest of the dolphins showed up very quickly.

"Wow. Think these guys like to eat?" Rachel asked.

The dolphins put on quite a show. They obviously knew how to impress humans.

"It's just weird the way they grin at you," Marco commented. "I mean, it's like they actually think something's funny."

"And they make eye contact," Jake pointed out. "They look right at you, right in the eye. Most animals seem like they're looking past you, or just looking to see what you are. These guys look at you like maybe they recognize you from somewhere."

Jake leaned over the edge of the tank to stroke one of the dolphins. "Hi there. Do I know you from somewhere? Jake's my name."

The dolphin tossed his head back and forth like he was nodding "yes," chattering in his high- pitched dolphin voice.

"Okay, now that was weird," Rachel said. "It was like he was answering Jake."

"Are you so sure he wasn't?" I asked. "Dolphins are very intelligent. Not our kind of intelligence, but still, I guess they're one of the two or three smartest animals around."

"It will be strange morphing something so intelligent," Rachel said.

"Yes," I agreed. Strange, and . . . wrong, somehow. I felt a twisting in my stomach. "How is doing this any different than what the Yeerks do?"

Rachel looked surprised. "Yeerks take over humans," she said. "Besides, they don't morph, they infest. We don't take over the actual animal, we just copy his DNA pattern, create a totally new animal, and then - "

"And then control the new animal," I said.

"It's not the same," Rachel insisted. But she looked troubled.

"It's something I'll have to think about," I said. "It's kind of been bothering me."

Jake joined Rachel and me. "We'd better do it."

I nodded. "Yes, we should, before we run out of fish to feed these guys." I leaned over the side of the tank and patted the head of the nearest dolphin. Her skin was rubbery, but not at all slimy. Just like a wet rubber ball.

She grinned up at me, fixing me with one eye as she cocked her head to see me.

I pushed away my doubts, closed my eyes, and concentrated on the dolphin. She became peaceful and calm, as animals always do during the acquiring process.

May I? I asked her silently. But of course she couldn't answer. . . .

There's the same debate as Cassie had herself in the last chapter.

# ? Jun 8, 2020 23:52

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

SardonicTyrant posted:

There's something definitely off about him. No other Yeerk comes off as that crazy.

There's that added layer as an adult reader: Visser Three really is the worst boss, and we've all met him.

e: was it just me, or were dolphins a massive *thing* in the 90's?

Tree Bucket fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Jun 9, 2020

# ? Jun 8, 2020 23:56

Rosalie_A: Oct 30, 2011

Tree Bucket posted:

e: was it just me, or were dolphins a massive *thing* in the 90's?

Dolphins are cool. You don't need a porpoise for including dolphins.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 01:19

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

Rosalie_A posted:

Dolphins are cool. You don't need a porpoise for including dolphins.

Well. We do know now that they're sex-crazed thrill killers who torture animals to get high...

# ? Jun 9, 2020 02:34

King of Foolians: Mar 16, 2006; Long live the King!

When the kids were feeding fish to the dolphins...could they have acquired the fish�s DNA? I read these as a kid and I can�t remember if they ever absorb DNA from a dead animal. Does the animal have to be alive to acquire it? I don�t think it�s ever addressed.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 02:58

chitoryu12: Apr 24, 2014

Cythereal posted:

Well. We do know now that they're sex-crazed thrill killers who torture animals to get high...

What? Nobody ever told me life was gonna be this way!

# ? Jun 9, 2020 03:13

President Ark: May 16, 2010

King of Foolians posted:

When the kids were feeding fish to the dolphins...could they have acquired the fish�s DNA? I read these as a kid and I can�t remember if they ever absorb DNA from a dead animal. Does the animal have to be alive to acquire it? I don�t think it�s ever addressed.

things have to be alive, yes

# ? Jun 9, 2020 04:25

wizzardstaff: Apr 6, 2018; Zorch! Splat! Pow!

If the animals didn�t have to be alive then Cassie�s mom would work at a natural history museum and Tobias would be permanently trapped as a pterodactyl.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 05:54

Ednamamame: Dec 12, 2019

wizzardstaff posted:

This is on my mind because I have a 13 year old relative who I've been sending SFF books to for a while, and I've been trying to give him thoughtful stuff. He also just came out as trans, which isn't something I can personally relate to but seems to have been big in other posters' relationship with this series. But he's the kind of precocious reader who might be turned off by "kid stuff" so I don't want to blow my cool uncle cred.

I started reading these when I was 13, but then again I knew full well I was a complete nerd at that age and had no aspirations of coolness. Perhaps if you sell as: yes the covers are goofy and the writing is easy reading, but these bad boys can fit so much body horror, violence and war trauma in them.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 09:15

Some Pinko Commie: Jun 9, 2009; CNC! Easy as 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣!

Cassie definitely got the worst of the body horror experiences through the series though.

That poor buffalo and ant man. That was a hosed up book.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 16:25

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Message-Chapter 9

quote:

That night I dreamed again of the voice under the sea, calling for help. Only this time it sounded faint. Like a radio with the batteries growing weak. I wasn't sure if it was just a regular dream this time. A dream of a memory that might or might not be real.

And I dreamed of the dolphin in her tank at the wildlife park. The one they called Monica, although who knew if she had a true name of her own? How long had she been in that tank? How long since she had been free in the open sea?

The next day was Friday. There was no school because of some teacher conference, so we had a three-day weekend ahead of us.

I called Jake. "Hi, Jake. Are we going to the beach today like we planned?"

We were always very careful about anything we said over the telephone. Phone lines can be tapped. Besides, Tom, Jake's brother, could listen in on an extension and overhear something we didn't want him to hear.

"Actually, I was thinking the beach will be really crowded today," Jake said, sounding very casual. "I was talking to Marco and he said maybe we should go down to the river instead."

It was a good suggestion. We couldn't exactly morph on a beach full of people.

"I'll be there in two hours, okay? I have some chores to do."

I ended up being a little late. They were all waiting for me.

It was an area I had been to before with my dad. It's a little park near a bridge. A good place for fishing. About half a mile away, the river empties into the ocean. The river is lined with trees along most of its length. Here and there are homes and private docks, but the spot we'd chosen was hidden from the bridge and from any houses.

"Hi, Cassie," Jake said, smiling at me.

"Hi, everyone," I said. I spotted a movement in one of the tree branches. "Hey up there, To bias. How's it going?"

<The same old thing. You know how it is. It's a hawk-eat-mouse world out there.>

I laughed, pleased to hear that Tobias was learning to be at peace with the fact that, at least for a while, he was as much a hawk as he was a boy.

< I'm going to be the timekeeper, watching the deadly two-hour limit,> Tobias said. < I'm the only bird in the world with his own watch.>

I looked closer and saw a very small digital timer strapped to one of his legs.

<Rachel put it on for me,> he explained. < I'll be over water the whole time, so I figured it was fairly safe. No bird watchers around to see me and wonder 'Hmmm, when did red-tails start wearing Timexes?'>

I choose to pass over the absurdity of a hawk wearing a watch.

quote:

Jake said, "I figured we'd hide our clothes, then wade into the river a little way, then start morphing."

"Sounds good," Rachel said.

"Cassie? Will you go first?" Jake asked.

I nodded. "Sure." For some reason everyone has decided that I am the best morpher. I think it's mostly silly. We can all morph fine.

But the first time we morph a new animal it's always kind of tense. You never know what it's going to be like. You never know how much the animal's instincts and mind will resist you.

And this time there was a new fear, at least for me. What sort of mind would I find? Would it be just the dolphin instincts, or would I encounter a true dolphin mind, with thoughts and ideas of its own?

I shed my overalls and kicked off my shoes, leaving just the leotard that I thought of as my morphing outfit. See, it's possible to morph some clothing along with you, but only something skintight. Anything bulky you try to morph just ends up as rags. And shoes? Forget shoes. We've all tried morphing shoes and it never works.

I stepped into the water. "Cold," I reported. The current tugged at my ankles.

I waded in a little farther, up to my waist.

Then I focused on the dolphin that was now a part of me.

The first change was my skin. It lightened from brown to pale gray. It was like rubber, tough but springy.

That was good. I wanted to hang on to my legs as long as I could. I wanted to change as many other aspects as I could before I had to drop down into the water.

I felt the odd crunching sound you get sometimes when bones are stretched or compressed. And right before my eyes - literally - my face bulged out and out and out still farther.

"Oh, man, that's definitely not attractive,"

Marco groaned from the shore. "Not a good look for you, Cassie."

Morphing isn't usually very pretty. In fact, it's the kind of thing that, if you didn't know it was going to be all right, would freak you out. I mean, I've watched while Rachel does her elephant morph, and I can tell you, it is the creepiest, scariest, most disgusting thing you'll ever want to see. Let alone watching people go from human to fish. Truly gross.

I didn't have a mirror, but I could guess how gross I looked. I had this huge, long bottlenose sticking out of my otherwise normal face. My skin was gray rubber. And when I felt behind me with my rapidly shriveling hands, I could feel the triangular blade of a dorsal fin rising out of my spine.

My arms were gone, replaced by two flat flippers, and I was now standing about ten feet tall, wobbling on my puny human-sized legs.

It was time to let the rest of the morph proceed. I surrendered my human legs. Instantly I fell face forward into the water.

I looked down and saw my tail. I was cornplete. The water was too shallow, though, and I was barely afloat. I kicked my tail, scraped across the sandy bottom, and finally surged out into deeper water.

I waited for the moment when the dolphin brain would surface, full of instinct-driven need and hunger and fear. The way it had always been before.
But it wasn't like that. It wasn't like a squirrel or even a horse.

This mind was not filled with fear and need.

This mind was ... I know this sounds strange, but it was like a little kid. I tried to listen to it, to understand its needs and wants. To prepare my self for a sudden onslaught of crude, primitive animal demands. Flee! Fight! Eat!

But that didn't happen. I felt hunger, yes. But not the screaming, obsessive need that Jake felt when he morphed a lizard or when Rachel became a shrew.

There was no fear. None.

And fortunately, I did not find a true thinking, conscious mind. I breathed a sigh of relief. Just - again, I know it sounds strange - but I just found this feeling, like she wanted to play. Like a little kid who wants to play. I wanted to chase fish, catch them, and eat them, but that would be a game. I wanted to race across the sur face of the sea, and that would be a game, too.

See, she was all worried about sapience, and.....

quote:

<Cassie?> I heard Tobias's thought-speech in my head. <Are you okay?>

Was I okay? I asked myself. <Yes, Tobias. I'm ... happy. I feel like . . . like I don't know. Like I want you to come and play with me.>

<Play with you? Mmmm, I don't think so, Cassie. Hawks don't do water.>

<Come on, everyone!> I called to the others. <Come on! Let's go! Let's swim to the ocean! I want to play!>

<Let's go! Come on, you guys, let's go!>

I didn't like the river. I wanted the ocean. I could feel it close by. I could feel it in the way the current rushed me forward. I could feel it in some deep, hidden part of my dolphin being.

The ocean. I wanted it. It was my place. It was where I should be.

We swam in a school, the four of us, with Tobias flying overhead.

We raced the river's current, and soon I could taste the salt. I could feel the saltwater on my skin. It was as if I had opened the door of a toy store with every toy on Earth, and I had all the time in the world to play.

I saw my friends around me, swift, pale shapes in the water. Sleek gray torpedoes as they rose to breathe.

I lived in both worlds - the sea and the air. I saw the blue-green of the ocean, the pale blue and white of the sky. I slipped back and forth through the bright barrier that separated them.

Jake went zipping by, shooting up from beneath me to explode into the air. I heard the slap of his belly as he landed. It was a game! I dove deep, down to where the sandy floor sloped toward depths even I could not explore. Then I powered my tail, steadied my flippers, and drove hard toward the surface. Above me I could see the shimmering, silver border between water and air.

Faster! Faster! I was a missile.

<Yah haaaaah!>

I shattered the barrier of the sea and hurtled up into the sky. I felt warm wind on my skin, in stead of cold water. I hung, poised in midair, almost floating above the surface of the water. Now the barrier was beneath me. I pointed my nose toward it and dropped from the sky.

<Aaaaah!>

The water wrapped around me, welcoming me back.

<ls this cool, or what?> Marco laughed in my head.

<This is cool,> I answered.

<This is beyond cool,> Rachel chimed in.

<Let's all do it at the same time!> Jake said.

The four of us dove deep. The ocean floor was still far below us, rippling sand dotted with rocks and clumps of seaweed.

Near the ocean floor we leveled off, practically scraping our bellies on the bottom. And then, aiming at the silver barrier once again, we shot upward, racing each other, ecstatic from the joy of our own bodies' strength.

We launched into the air like a well-trained team of acrobats.

We flew, side by side, exhaling and refilling our lungs with warm air.

Life was joy. Life was a game. I wanted to dance. I wanted to dance through the sea.

So I did.

There was nothing I could not do. There was nothing I could ask of my body that it would not give me. Racing, spinning, turning, diving, skimming the surface, flying up into the sky.

I wasn't just in the sea. I was the sea.

<Are you guys just going to play all day?> It was Tobias. <You realize you've wasted fortyfive minutes already?>

Minutes? I laughed. Who cared about minutes?

<Look, guys? I know you think the dolphin mind hasn't affected you, but it has. You need to get a grip. You have a reason for being here.>

Reason? What was that?

<You're supposed to be looking for ... well, for something,> Tobias said. <Something unusual. An Andalite spaceship or something.>

Yes, he was right. He was definitely right. But would it be fun? Would it be a game?

<Find the spaceship. Cool,> Rachel said. <l bet I can find it first!>

<No way!> Jake said instantly. <l'll find it.>

<Where is it? Let's go look!> Marco said.

<Good grief,> Tobias said. <You're like a bunch of five-year-olds.>

But I was too distracted to care. <Hey. Can you guys do this?> I concentrated, and suddenly, from someplace in my forehead, came a series of loud, very rapid clicks, almost like loud static.

<Whoa! What was that?>

Then, to my total surprise, I heard something in those clicks. It was weird. It was kind of like hearing, only not. The clicking noises had hit something, far off in deeper water. I sort of felt the sounds as they came back to me, like scattered echoes.

There was a universe of information in that echo. Some of that information made me uneasy.

<You guys?> I said. <l know this is crazy, but I feel like there's something out there. Something ... I don't know. But I don't like it.>

The others immediately began firing off the clicking noise that is the dolphin's underwater radar. It's called echolocation.

<Yeah,> Marco said. <Now I see it. I mean, I don't see it, but you know what I mean.>

So while you all no doubt know this, dolphins have echolocation. Dolphins send out high pitched clicking noises, then when the sound waves bounce off something solid and come back, dolphins have a bunch of fatty tissue in their forehead and jaws that magnify the noise. The dolphin uses the reflected sound wave to detect obstacles and prey.

quote:

I searched in my dolphin mind, deep down in the places where instinct had been hidden be neath layers of intelligence.

Then a picture just popped into my consciousness.

<l know!> I cried, as if I had just won a contest. < It's a shark!>

Suddenly we weren't playing anymore. The others had all found the same instinct in themselves. The echolocation indicated that there was a large shark nearby.

And we knew one thing for sure. We didn't like sharks.

There will be more on dolphin/shark interaction in the next chapter.

# ? Jun 9, 2020 23:49

Ednamamame: Dec 12, 2019

While as an adult a lot of the focus is on the horror in a 'how the hell did this pass censors' way, another great thing about the books is how it shows the fun side of being able to turn into an animal from a first person perspective. Here with the dolphins, flying in previous books, Rachel first morphing the cat.

The balance of not being to trust that your loved ones are not trapped in their own bodies, dealing with horrifying animal instincts like constant terror and hunger for gross insects, your own near death or traumatic injuries, I don't think we've had any yet, but the loss of limbs in morph seemed to be a constant looking back. I think we have the first coming up in this book? contrasted with the sheer joy of being able to fly, or swim like a dolphin.

Come for the fun animal adventures, stay for the war trauma.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 09:26

Radio Free Kobold: Aug 11, 2012; "Federal regulations mandate that at least 30% of our content must promote Reptilian or Draconic culture. This is DJ Scratch N' Sniff with the latest mermaid screeching on KBLD..."

The Dolphin's acoustic organ is called the "Melon"

Did you know that? I didn't!

# ? Jun 10, 2020 16:38

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

See, parents? This is just a chill thread about a chill series of books where your kids can learn facts about animals!

# ? Jun 10, 2020 16:42

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

Epicurius posted:

See, parents? This is just a chill thread about a chill series of books where your kids can learn facts about animals!

Fun facts like how long a gorilla can remain conscious after getting disemboweled and stabbed in the heart!

# ? Jun 10, 2020 16:59

QuickbreathFinisher: Sep 28, 2008; by reading this post you have agreed to form a gay socialist micronation.
`

disaster pastor posted:

Fun facts like how long a gorilla can remain conscious after getting disemboweled and stabbed in the heart!

Or, more near at hand, how well a dolphin can swim with a severed tail. Answer: not very. Why is it always Marco?

This chapter is really cute, and all of the horror just makes the rare fun chapter that much more bittersweet. I admit I got a little choked up thinking about what happens to these kids over the course of the series while reading about them having a fun time as dolphins just now.

The tonal whiplash hasn't felt cheap yet. To me, it really feels like it ties in with one of the central themes of the series, the kill or be killed nature of both their struggle with the Yeerks, and of nature in general. A bunch of dolphins acting like goofy teenagers without a care in the world is bound to have a run in with a hungry shark, probably sooner rather than later.

I'm also a big fan of how Cassie describes the barrier between the sea and the air, and the dolphin mind wanting to play games. Really just glad whenever these kids get one nice chapter :gbsmith:

loving this book so far.

# ? Jun 10, 2020 23:14

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# ? May 20, 2024 15:17

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Message-Chapter 10

quote:

<You know, I hate to sound like the only sensible person - so to speak - > Tobias said, <but you aren't here to fight sharks!>

<He's right,> I agreed. <Dolphins don't attack sharks unless the sharks attack first.>

So, time for animal facts. First, sharks and dolphins spend a lot of time near each other, which is mostly because they eat the same things, and for the most part, they ignore each other, because they're both too big for the other one to eat.

For the most part, they ignore each other.

Here's the thing, though. Dolphins are smart animals. Really smart, actually. Because they're so smart, they suffer from a problem that a lot of other animals don't have, which is boredom. A dolphin gets bored, it gets depressed, it goes kind of around the bend. One of the things that seems to amuse dolphins, though, is killing things. They seem to enjoy watching other animals suffer. (If you ever saw the documentary "Blackfish", about the killer whale Tilikum, who was responsible for the death of three people, that's likely what happened there. Killer whales are actually a large species of dolphin, and incidentally, are one of the few species of dolphins actually to prey on and eat sharks.) So, every once in a while, a pod of dolphins will go on a shark hunt, just for its own amusement. They'll kill sharks and then play with the bodies. Sorry if this ruins your Flipper rewatch. I'm not going to even talk to you about dolphin sexual behavior.

quote:

<Wait ... I'm getting more echoes,> Rachel interrupted. <There's more than one shark. And there's something bigger, too.>

I reached out with my echolocation sense and "felt" the sea ahead of me. <You're right,> I said. <Several sharks. And a great one.>

<A what?> Tobias asked.

I was confused. What did I mean? The words great one had just popped into my mind. <l mean there's a whale. A whale. Being attacked by sharks.>

<A great one being attacked?> Marco asked. He sounded upset. It was strange, because we were all upset. More than we should have been.

<You guys do what you want,> Rachel said. < I'm going in.>

< Oh , there's a big surprise,> Tobias said with weary affection.

The four of us lanced forward, faster than ever, toward the whale in distress.

<l see them,> Tobias reported from the sky above. <Straight ahead of you. Looks like four, maybe five sharks and a big - really, really big - whale. Did I mention big? Wow. Big.>

We were steaming through the water when I caught sight of my first shark. He was bigger than me, maybe twelve feet long, with faint vertical stripes.

He was too excited by the hunt to notice me. Until it was too late. With every bit of speed and power I could get from my tail, I rammed the tiger shark in his gill slits.

WHOOOOMP!

It was like hitting a brick wall. My beak was strong, but the shark was made of steel or some thing.

I fell back, dazed. But as I tried to collect myself I saw that a trail of blood was billowing from the shark's gills.

I swam beneath him, and then I saw the huge shape of the whale. He was a humpback, more than forty feet long. Each of his long, barnacle-encrusted flukes was bigger than me.

He was trying to surface to breathe, but sharks were attacking, tearing at the soft, vulnerable flesh of his mouth.

It made me angry. Very angry.

As far as I know, dolphins don't actually have any strong feelings about whales at all. Killer whales will sometimes hunt whale calves for food, and going back to the above comment, there was an incident a few years ago where a pod of killer whales attacked a blue whale for fun, The blue whale was big enough to not care and just swim away. In fact, killer whales have their name because of their whale hunting behavior. Spanish sailors called them asesina ballenas, which means whale murderers, and that got flipped around in English, so instead of whale killers, it became killer whales.

quote:

Suddenly, from the murky depths, Jake and Rachel zoomed upward, like missiles aimed at the sharks.

WHOOMP! Rachel hit her target.

Jake's shark twisted just in time. Jake scraped across the shark's sandpaper skin, and before he could get clear, the shark was after him.

<Jake! He's on your tail!>

<l got him!>

<Look out! Conning up on your left, Marco!>

They were as fast as we were, as maneuver-able as we were, and the sharks had one terrifying advantage - they did not know fear.

<He's on me! He's on me!>

<Aaaaarrrrggghh!>

<Marco!>

<l can't see! Where is he?>

<Cassie! Below you, lookout! Look out!>

It was no longer a game. I had gone rushing into a fight full of confidence and determined to help the whale. But now I was in a war. The sharks were killing machines. They seemed to be nothing but armored skin and razor-sharp fins and wide jaws with row after row of serrated teeth.

The water was boiling with twisting, turning, speeding sharks and us dolphins, locked in a high-speed battle to the death.

It suddenly occurred to me that we might lose. We might be killed.

I might be killed.

The water was dark with blood, still billowing from the shark I had hammered.

Suddenly two of the sharks turned away. They just turned and swam away. At first, I didn't know why.

Then I saw that they were following the shark I had wounded.

They were following the trail of blood.

They were at the limits of my sight when they struck. They ripped into the injured shark with wild, uncontrolled fury.

The last shark turned from the battle and went after them. Robbed of his meal of whale meat, he would feast on his brother instead.

<Everyone okay?> Jake asked.

<l have some cuts, but I'm okay,> I said.

<Same here,> Rachel said. She sounded tired. I guess I did, too. I felt exhausted and drained. The fight had probably only lasted two minutes from beginning to end. But it had been a long two minutes.

<Marco?>

< I...I think I'm hurt,> he said.

I looked for him. He was drifting in the water, almost motionless, twenty yards away. We all swam over, crowding around him.

Then I saw the wound. I think I would have screamed, if I could have. His tail had almost been bitten off. It was hanging by a few jagged threads. It was useless.

We were miles out in the ocean. And Marco could not hope to swim back.

Ok, so that's not good, at all. This the first life threatening injury suffered by the Animorphs....I mean, I assume a dolphin getting its tail bitten off is life threatening.

# ? Jun 11, 2020 00:17

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

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