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

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Daikloktos: Jan 1, 2020; by Cyrano4747

The Chronicles are important prequel works with strong thematic and narrative ties to the series, while the Megamorphs books are more flashy headliner standalone stories.

[spoilers all] I agree that the mythology gets way too crowded as the series drags on, when as this brief reread shows you don't need more than a few fundamental elements to tell compelling stories, even under these constraints. The Helmacrons and Nartec were obviously gag stories, like the Andalite toilet in Area 51 book where Marco maintains his horse disguise by looking a Controller dead in the eye and making GBS threads wildly.

I really dug the Ellimist and Crayak stuff, but it probably wasn't necessary and certainly was not threaded in as effectively as might be hoped with the more central themes of the series. The Ellimist Chronicles really needed to be a thousand pages long and one of the first brickbuster kid books, for as much as you went in hoping would be addressed and doesn't remotely appear. I mean Brian Jacques was getting up there that same year, Taggerung could knock somebody out in hardback.

But no mention of The Time Matrix or The Pemalites. Nothing on the revelations of Megamorphs 4, or some deep example of his circuitous game. Did Crayak create the Yeerks? Did he create the Capasins that destroyed the Ketran homeworld? They do bear a resemblance to the Howlers. So much of it is told in summary form that desperately needed expanding upon, and by that point having grown up with the series I'd have been ready for a cosmic Silmarillion experience, but, alas.

Erek and the Chee were a way to give the Animorphs more agency to affect a more advanced conflict, and later books cast him almost in the role of their Q, or Inspector Gadget's boss, coming in to brief them on their next mission. But even this level of conflict wouldn't have been necessary. And again, it does rather dilute some of the most essential core themes to give them immortal robot dog allies

# ? Jul 14, 2020 06:46

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# ? May 24, 2024 23:43

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

Too-long post with spoilers for everything.

Daikloktos posted:

Also did the Cassie thing play into the timetravelling Wrong Hitler book at all? That felt really tacked on. Did it... ever play out anywhere else? The Sario Rips?

Directly, no. But in hindsight it can be inferred. The important part is that Cassie's weird ability eventually, not immediately, fucks up other timelines. When you look at the amount of, I don't know, "real" time spent in the other timelines, Megamorphs 4 has the most by far, taking place over the course of weeks or even months (I don't recall for sure). Megamorphs 3 goes back further in time, but from Visser Four's and the kids' perspectives, it takes place over a couple hours or so of "real" time. The first Sario rip is also only a few hours, and the one in Megamorphs 2 is a couple days.

MM4 does specify that Cassie knew things were somehow wrong very quickly, but MM4 is also the only one where she doesn't remember the real timeline; "magically knowing things were wrong" wouldn't have applied to the other situations. So it's entirely possible that Megamorphs 4 is the only time the team were out of the real timeline long enough for Cassie's thing to come into play.

It's also possible to infer, like I said, that specifically in Megamorphs 3 Cassie was the Ellimist's backup plan inside his backup plan; if the kids couldn't beat the Visser playing fair, or did get to the Time Matrix but (intentionally or otherwise) didn't put the timeline back quite right, Cassie's involvement would eventually gently caress up the changes anyway.

But the real answer is probably "KAA made it up for MM4 and it's not definitely inconsistent with canon."

Daikloktos posted:

I agree that the mythology gets way too crowded as the series drags on

Just quoting this because I completely agree.

Daikloktos posted:

I really dug the Ellimist and Crayak stuff, but it probably wasn't necessary and certainly was not threaded in as effectively as might be hoped with the more central themes of the series.

I think the "not threading in" is intentional and actually thematically important. The point is that Ellimist v. Crayak may be relevant to the Animorphs' war, but is bigger than all the wars and played on a board the kids just can't fathom. That puts the kids in the position of having a beneficial fairy godfather but constantly having to question if he's helping them or helping the game. Look at book 26: the Ellimist is willing to risk the team (and thus the entire war on Earth) to protect the Iskoort, because if the Yeerks aren't defeated on Earth it's important for the game that the Iskoort are there for them to find hundreds of years later.

Daikloktos posted:

Erek and the Chee were a way to give the Animorphs more agency to affect a more advanced conflict, and later books cast him almost in the role of their Q, or Inspector Gadget's boss, coming in to brief them on their next mission. But even this level of conflict wouldn't have been necessary. And again, it does rather dilute some of the most essential core themes to give them immortal robot dog allies

Part of this is that Erek was supposed to be a one-shot character, but he was surprisingly popular, and KAA later realized having an intelligence source who can't act on his own intelligence was handy for the narrative.

# ? Jul 14, 2020 16:23

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..."

PetraCore posted:

Agree to disagree on the basis that the Chee are good. The rest I can mostly do without.

EDIT: What I like is that the Chee primarily care about dogs, and mostly care about humans as a sort of extension of their actual focus, which is dogs, because humans also care about dogs and take care of dogs. The dogs are the important thing, when Chee want to defy their pacifism to fight for earth it is entirely because of the dogs, and humanity is an afterthought. I thought that was really funny and endearing.

yeah that's actually really cool and good and extremely relatable. all dogs are good boys

# ? Jul 14, 2020 18:24

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

[b]The Capture-Chapter 2/b]

quote:

RUN! Run from the LIGHT!

Imagine being in one of those race cars at the Indianapolis 500.

Now imagine that instead of sitting in one, you are strapped facedown underneath one. Your nose is about a tenth of an inch from the road and you're going 180 miles an hour.

That's what it was like when I ran. My roach legs powered like something from a Roadrunner cartoon. I blew out from under the folds of my own clothing. I blew across that carpet. I was rocket-propelled.

Someone had put the light on in my room. And when that light came on, my roach brain stopped being calm and relaxed.

Zoooom! Three miles an hour. That's very fast when you're only an inch long.

Vibration . . . vibration . . . vibration . . .

Heavy steps rattled the floor. They vibrated up through my legs. My tiny roach brain knew whatthey meant. Something very, very big was walking around.

Chasing me! RUN!

Zoom! across the carpet. Suddenly, a wall!

Up? Left? Right? Which way?

Vibration . . . vibration . . . vibration . . .

Wait! A crack. It wasn't much of a crack. Just enough space to slip a quarter through. No way I could fit.

Or could I?

My underside scraped the floor. My hard brown wing cover scraped the bottom of the baseboard.

But I barely had to slow down.

I was in the wall! Hah! The big things that rattled the floor would never catch me now. I was safe here. A nail as thick as a tree trunk stuck up from the wood. I went around it.

On either side of me I saw bright, straight lines of light that seemed to go on forever. They were the cracks beneath the baseboards. To one side a thick, shiny slab with irregular edges intruded into the wall - the edge of the kitchen linoleum.

High above I could see other lights, more circular and dimmer. These were the holes where pipes entered the wall.

AHHHH!

Something moving! Close by. Oh, gross! A cockroach!

Get a grip, Jake! I told myself. You're a cockroach, too! But still, you just don't want to be face to-face with a roach as big as you are. I mean, he was right at eye level. The other roach's antennae felt me, sweeping over me, tangling briefly with my antennae.

We said "hi." At least, we said the roach version of "hi." Which wasn't really "hello." It was more like, "Oh, you're a roach, too."

Now, in the darkness inside the wall, I felt calmer. The electric fear was gone. The suddenness of the light had been the problem. That and the vibration.

I could still feel the vibrations, but they were different now. Further away.

Okay, I'd had enough of being a roach. It was time to get to some safe place, demorph and find out who had been in my room.

Why was someone in my room? A few minutes earlier, and they would have caught me in midmorph. Stupid of me. Stupid, stupid.

Where could I go to demorph? The garage? Yes, the garage. There weren't any mirrors, and I sure didn't want to watch myself morph again.

Through the kitchen, out under the back door; that was the way.

I went to the bright crack ahead of me, the kitchen. I scampered up on the ledge of linoleum. I stuck my head and antennae out beneath the baseboard.

The vibrations were all far away. In some other room.

I emerged from the crack. Over my head was an incredibly high canyon. It went up and up, far higher than I could see. Two parallel walls, just a few body lengths apart. Of course. The refrigerator. I was behind the refrigerator. One side of the "canyon" was the kitchen wall, the
other side was the back of the refrigerator.

Someone really should sweep back here. There were dust bunnies the size of couches.

But no problem. I was getting the hang of it now. Follow the baseboard. To the next wall. Turn right, and then there would be the door.
No problem. I was in charge.

Some big barnlike structure was ahead of me. It looked like one of those old-fashioned covered bridges.

Huh. Probably an old matchbox.

I went in, trotting along on my six jointed legs.

Wait. I wasn't moving anymore.

What the . . . ?

I tried to run.

I was stuck!

I tried again. One leg was free, but the others were frozen in place. What was ... I felt around with my antennae.

Now my antennae were stuck!

I couldn't move. I couldn't move at all!

I was trapped!

https://youtu.be/z4c2gadmytg

# ? Jul 14, 2020 23:06

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..."

i like this roachbrain. it just...doesn't care. it's even right there; "oh, you're a roach too." and then move on.

# ? Jul 14, 2020 23:20

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
&

I've heard The Ellimist's actions make more sense when you realize he/it represents the military industrial complex

# ? Jul 15, 2020 02:36

Soup du Jour: Sep 8, 2011; I always knew I'd die with a headache.

SardonicTyrant posted:

I've heard The Ellimist's actions make more sense when you realize he/it represents the military industrial complex

No, that�s what the Andalites represent: a force everyone views with hope that actually doesn�t care if you�re ground into paste as long as its big-picture goals are accomplished, no matter the collateral damage

# ? Jul 15, 2020 02:58

PetraCore: Jul 20, 2017; 👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

SardonicTyrant posted:

I've heard The Ellimist's actions make more sense when you realize he/it represents the military industrial complex

I think it's more that he and Crayak represent the ideals and goals used to justify war, and the fact that war doesn't really end until those are dealt with. Like, protecting Earth is a noble goal. But even when the war is over and the Animorphs have won, the Ellimist and Crayak are still doing their thing, and the Ellimist still has to view individual people as tools and accceptable collateral damage out of necessity. I think the series does a lot of grappling with what makes a war 'just' and how a 'just war' is still a physical and psychological meat grinder that leaves everyone reduced and damaged in the end.

# ? Jul 15, 2020 17:54

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

Which is again, some serious stuff for children's books.

# ? Jul 15, 2020 20:04

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Capture-Chapter 3

quote:

So?" Rachel demanded. "What was it? How did you get trapped?"

"I'll bet I know," Marco said, grinning sardonically, which is the only way he knows how to grin. "Jake checked in, but he couldn't check out."

I nodded. "Roach Motel. I walked into a stupid Roach Motel. I ran right onto the sticky paper and, man, I could not move. Very frustrating."

"You know, you could do commercials for the Roach Motel company," Marco suggested. "Take it from me, Roach Boy, these things really work."

It was later in the day, and we were in Cassie's barn. Rachel, Marco, Tobias, Cassie, and me. As usual, the place was filled with wire cages, and the cages were filled with animals. Rabbits, foxes, baby deer, eagles, opossums, mourning doves, all of them injured or sick. Some of them feisty and ready to be released.

We were lounging around on bales of hay and piles of feed sacks. All except Tobias, who was up in the rafters high overhead, and Cassie, who was feeding some of the animals.

Everyone seemed to think my roach experiment was funny.

Except for Cassie. Cassie was the only one not smiling. She was giving me a very disapproving look. "Jake, you of all people should know better."

She was right. I knew she was right. But that just made me stubborn.

"Look, I was just trying out the morph to see if it would be good for us to use."

Cassie totally did not buy my argument. She put down the bucket she was carrying. She took off her heavy work gloves. She came over and stood about a foot from me. Then she stuck her finger in my face.

"Uh-oh," Marco said in a loud whisper. "Jake's in trouble."

"Big time," Rachel agreed.

"Jake," Cassie said, "don't ever do that again. Now, you are sort of the one in charge, but I am telling you, don't ever do that again. Don't ever try some new morph without one of us there. Do you understand?"

"Cassie, I was just - "

"Uh-uh. No. Don't tell me what you were just. Don't ever do that again."

<Um, Jake? I think this is the point where you just say 'yes, ma'am,'> Tobias said, in the thoughtspeak that comes with being in a morph.

I hung my head. "Okay, Cassie. Sorry."

At least he tried the morph out ahead of time! Baby steps.

quote:

Rachel whistled appreciatively. "It's a new, tougher Cassie. I approve."

"I remember when she used to be so sweet," Marco said. "I didn't know her voice could even sound like that. Plus, look! She now comes with a Kung Fu grip."

Cassie ignored them. Instead she gave me a private look, just between the two of us. I knew what the look meant. It meant I care about you. Don't be dumb.

And the look I sent her meant I know. I care about you, too.

Okay, I realize it sounds corny. But give me a break. We'd been through a lot, Cassie and I. And all of us. We'd grown pretty close.

To me, Cassie is an amazing person. For one thing, she handles all kinds of responsibility. Her barn is actually the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. Her parents are both veterinarians and her dad runs the clinic as a way to help injured wild animals. Everything from seagulls to skunks. And Cassie helps with all the work, except for doing surgery. But I'll bet she could do that, too.

As for how she looks, well, she's very pretty. Kind of short. She only comes up to my chin, but then, I'm fairly tall. But she's not one of those wimpy-looking short girls, you know? Not all prissy. She's strong-looking. Mostly, when I picture Cassie, I think of her wearing overalls and
boots because of working in the barn so much.

I guess most guys would say Rachel is prettier. Personally, I don't think of her that way be cause she's my cousin. But Rachel does look like some kind of blond supermodel.

Even if you include "I don't think of her that way because she's my cousin" don't say that about your cousin.

quote:

Not that Rachel acts like Ms. Fashion. Just the opposite. If there's danger, Rachel is right there. Usually a few steps ahead of anyone else.

Marco says Rachel's enjoying it all. That she's actually glad about all that's happened in our lives since that night when we saw the Andalites' damaged spaceship land in the construction site.

Marco refers to Rachel as Xena, Warrior Princess.

But that's Marco. For him, everything is a joke. Except for his family. Or what's left of it.

Marco is small, with dark eyes and dark, long brown hair. Cassie says a lot of the girls at school think he's cute. I wouldn't know.

Most of the time Marco and I totally do not get along. He says I'm too serious. Personally, I think he's just a little too immature sometimes.

We disagree about everything. He actually tries to tell me that college hoops are better than the NBA. Yeah, right! Please. What are you going to do with a guy like that?

We get on each other's nerves a lot of the time.

We're also best friends and have been since we were babies. I would do almost anything for Marco, and he would do the same for me. Of course, he'd complain the whole time. Oh, man, can that guy complain when he wants to.

I'm on Marco's side here. NCAA over NBA all the way.

quote:

The last member of our original group is Tobias. Tobias used to be this kind of sweet guy with wild blond hair. A dreamy sort of person with a really terrible home life.

Used to be.

I glanced up at him. He was perched on a rafter overhead. He was preening his wing feathers, carefully combing them out with his beak.

It's an amazing beak. It has a wicked, cruel- looking hook at the end - the better to tear open the mice and rats and other small animals he eats.

Tobias is a red-tailed hawk. I guess maybe he will always be a red-tailed hawk.

See, there's one problem with morphing. A time limit of two hours. If you stay in morph more than two hours, you stay forever.

Which is why Rachel asked me, "So? What's the rest of the story? How did you get out of the Roach Motel before the time was up? I notice you are human again."

"More or less," Marco added.

I shrugged. "Well, I sat there for a while, trying to squirm out, but it didn't work. I was stuck good. But it was okay, because as I sat there I realized I could start to make sense of some of the vibrations I was hearing. Some of it was sound. People speaking."

"What people?" Marco asked.

"My parents. My dad twisted his ankle playing tennis, which is why they'd come home early. They were the ones who'd gone into my room, looking for the Ace bandage I have in my drawer. They were the ones who'd turned on the light. Anyway, what could I do? I wasn't about to get stuck in roach morph. And I could tell my parents were up in their bedroom. So I demorphed."

<Wait. Weren't you behind the refrigerator?> Tobias asked in thought-speak.

"Yeah. And it was very tight. But as I grew, I could push the refrigerator out an inch at a time. Still, I thought I was going to suffocate back there. And then, just as I was getting human again, my mom walks in."

That made them all lean forward.

"What?" Cassie demanded. "Your mom? What did she see? What did she say?"

"Well, all she could see was my head. It was normal, fortunately. And what she asked me was, 'Jake? Why are you back there? And while we're at it, why do you have the top of a Roach Motel stuck in your hair?'"

Everyone got a good laugh out of that image.

Marco was the first to stop laughing. He was looking at me kind of sideways. The way he does when he thinks I'm hiding something.

"Very funny and all, Jake," Marco said. "But you haven't told us why you were morphing a roach. And don't give me that 'I was just trying it out' routine."

I stopped laughing. Sooner or later I would have to tell them. I would have to tell them everything.

"Okay. Look, I've learned something. For one thing, Tom is getting more important to the Yeerks. I think now he's just below Chapman as a Controller."

Rachel gave a low whistle.

Chapman is our assistant principal at school. He is also the most important Controller we know about.

"Tom is careful about not letting my parents or me overhear anything suspicious," I said. "But he does make phone calls using our phone some times. I've been checking the automatic redial when he's done. So I know some of the people he's calling."

With everybody having cell phones, this wouldn't really work nowadays

quote:

Marco laughed. "Cool. Jake the superspy. Nice trick."

<And who is Tom calling?> Tobias asked.

"Doctors. Five different doctors. I looked them up in the phone book. They all practice at the same hospital. The same wing of the hospital, at something called the Berman Clinic. Berman is one of the doctors Tom calls."

It took a few minutes for the facts to sink in.

"Wait a minute," Rachel said. "Are you saying the Yeerks are running that hospital? Or at least a part of that hospital? Why would they want a hospital?"

I hesitated before answering. I wasn't sure my guess was right. Maybe I was just being paranoid.

But Marco, who could teach a class in paranoia, had already figured it out, of course.

"Oh, man. They're going to use the hospital to infest host bodies. You check in to have your tonsils out or to have a cast put on your broken arm. You check out as a Controller."

Actually, I think this is really clever of the Yeerks. Your victims come to you.

# ? Jul 15, 2020 23:21

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..."

Oh no, I see how this is going to go wrong.

# ? Jul 16, 2020 03:21

PetraCore: Jul 20, 2017; 👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

Epicurius posted:

Actually, I think this is really clever of the Yeerks. Your victims come to you.

You also get full access to the medical records of your victims, so you can see if, say, there's diabetes or a heart murmur or any number of annoying things (that maybe might become more of a problem if they're struggling for control), or if they're healthy, strong, and in a good position to advance your agenda.

# ? Jul 16, 2020 06:08

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

Ugh, as if anaesthesia wasn't creepy enough...

# ? Jul 16, 2020 10:05

SirSamVimes: Jul 21, 2008; ~* Challenge *~

I really like the whole "this is a list of every reason why Marco and I are at odds. Also he's my best friend and I'd die for him" bit :3:

# ? Jul 16, 2020 10:10

Daikloktos: Jan 1, 2020; by Cyrano4747

PetraCore posted:

You also get full access to the medical records of your victims, so you can see if, say, there's diabetes or a heart murmur or any number of annoying things (that maybe might become more of a problem if they're struggling for control), or if they're healthy, strong, and in a good position to advance your agenda.

Even scarier is they can pick out people with brain chemical imbalances who live on the fringes of society where a yeerk concievably just needs to squeeze into the right crevasses to make them healthy again. As the books have shown already Tobias is an example of how having a guy who doesn't need to maintain the cover of a normal life or to protect anyone allows for tactical and strategic opportunities in an insurgency. He also exemplifies how such people live strange lives down paths of questionable and self-destructive choices, and yet inhabiting and embodying those contexts give him a perspective vital to the group as a whole. Mundungus Fletcher is of course the mythopoeic example of these thematic elements in Harry Potter.

he latter is especially useful to the Yeerks given they probably have low faculties of inference and need to directly absorb more obscure or esoteric modes of thought [spoilers all] but we have to wait until this book to wrap up before we can seriously discuss the Yeerk experience

Daikloktos fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Jul 16, 2020

# ? Jul 16, 2020 21:13

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Capture Chapter 4

quote:

Tom came home late that evening. He smelled like wood smoke and barbecue sauce.

My mom and dad and I were already at the table, eating dinner. My dad had his injured ankle resting on a stool. We were having broiled chicken and potatoes and veggies.

As he walked in through the kitchen door, my mom said, "Tom, how was the big cleanup? They showed some of it on the news."

Tom came into the dining room and took a chair across from me. "It was okay. We filled two Dumpsters full of garbage and dead branches and stuff. Hey, what happened to your leg, old man?"

My dad winced. "I tried for a shot I shouldn't have tried for. Twisted it."

"Did you have enough to eat?" my mom asked Tom.

Tom patted his stomach. "Burgers and dogs and chicken. Not as good as your chicken, of course."

"Actually, your father cooked. He cooked by calling Gourmet Express and having it delivered."

"But I did microwave the sauce," my dad said. "That counts as cooking."

Tom winked at my dad. "Well, the stuff at the barbecue had to be better than dad's chicken. Good thing I ate there."

"Just for that you get no dessert," my dad said. "And it's cheesecake. From Santorini's."

"Oooh, Santorini's?" Tom groaned. "I take it back. I apologize. I grovel. I beg. I love Santorini's."

Homer came in, sensing it was time for table scraps. "Hey, Homer," Tom said. He scratched him behind the ears and Homer got his happy- moron look, the look where his eyes glaze over and his tongue lolls out of his mouth.

A totally normal scene. Around a totally normal dinner table. No one would ever have guessed the truth. In my brother's head was an alien. A creature from another planet.

I asked Ax about how it works. Ax is the Andalite we rescued from the bottom of the ocean. He's one of us now, I guess.

Anyway, I asked Ax about how the Yeerk slug lives in a person's head. He'd explained it to me. How they can flatten their sluglike bodies. How they can sink between the crevices and cracks of a person's brain. How they melt like a liquid into every available space. How they wrap their bodies around a brain and attach their own neurons to human neurons.

Tom must have noticed me staring at him.

"What's your malfunction?"

I snapped out of my daze. "What? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of something."

"You were staring at me. You were staring at my forehead."

I forced a laugh. My mind raced to think of a joke. "Really? I thought I was just staring blankly into empty space. But then again, empty space, your head. What's the difference?"

It worked. Tom snatched up a dinner roll and chucked it at me. I caught it in midair a split second before it would have hit my face.

For a moment we just glared at each other.

"Don't throw food," my dad said. "It's undignified."

"It's okay," I said. "Tom's not fast enough to hit me anymore. He's slowed down. Lost his touch."

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Don't push it, midget."

I smiled. It was a fake smile, but it was the best I could do. "You used to be faster when you were still on the basketball team. I guess hanging out at The Sharing all the time, eating barbecue and potato salad, must have slowed your reflexes."

You know, in the old days, Tom would not have put up with that. He would not have let me challenge him and get away with it. He would have had me in a headlock and given me a massive noogie till I begged for mercy.

But now he just gave me a cold, uncertain smile.

Maybe it was because he had changed. Maybe it was because I had changed. The silence stretched between us for a few minutes, and my parents, feeling uncomfortable, made small talk.

"I have homework to do," I said at last. "May I be excused?"

"Come back down for cheesecake later," my mom said.

Tom caught up to me on the stairs. "I don't know why you're so against The Sharing," he said. "A lot of the kids in your school have joined."

"I guess I just don't like to join things."

"Yeah? Well, don't dump on what you don't understand. What were you doing that was so important today? While I was out cleaning up the park?"

I stopped and turned to face him. I was one step higher than he was. We were eye to eye. "Me? I wasn't doing much of anything. Hanging out with Marco."

"Your loss," he said. "There are things that are cooler than hanging out with Marco. Cooler than being on some bogus team. Important things. You could be a part of something . . . bigger. You could be part of something great, not just another nothing kid."

He gave me a look. Like he could tell me incredible things. Like he could open up a whole new world for me.

I could be part of something bigger. Some thing important.

I knew that kind of stuff worked on some people. That was the first step toward becoming a voluntary host. That was how The Sharing started you out: talk of bigger, more glorious, more interesting things that you could be part of.

"Thanks, Tom," I said. "But I don't want to be a part. I guess I'd rather just be one person. On my own. One little nothing kid."

For a split second after I said that, he let the mask slip. For just a moment I saw an expression of pure arrogance and contempt. Yeerk arrogance. Yeerk contempt.

The look said "We will have you, sooner or later. You and all the rest of your weak race."

Then it was gone, and Tom was shrugging like it was all no big deal.

I went to my room. I did some homework. Later, I went back downstairs and ate cheese cake along with my folks and my brother. One big happy family watching TV and pigging out.

That night, I had the dream.

A dream that had begun to appear almost every night.

I don't know. I think there's probably a whole essay on the whole relationship dynamics in that chapter.

# ? Jul 16, 2020 23:28

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..."

One of these days Tom's yeerk is going to figure it out. The pieces are there.

# ? Jul 17, 2020 00:46

Mazerunner: Apr 22, 2010; Good Hunter, what... what is this post?

Jake might as well have been yelling "I sure do like being a human being in control of my own body, with no alien hi-jackers! No yerks for me, no sirree!"

# ? Jul 17, 2020 03:24

PsychedelicWarlord: Sep 8, 2016

Jake at dinner: Guywithayeerksayswhat?
Tom: what?
Jake: :smug:

# ? Jul 17, 2020 03:40

Cernunnos: Sep 2, 2011; ppbbbbttttthhhhh~

Yeah he's not exactly the most subtle boy in the world.

# ? Jul 17, 2020 04:23

feetnotes: Jan 29, 2008

Want to read the spin-off stories of a suburban family of all Controllers, low-ranking enough that none of them knows about the others, spinning elaborate stories to one another to excuse their trips to the Pool, gatherings with The Sharing, and infiltration missions for Visser Three, who is too self-absorbed to know or care about their contradictory ruses. Naturally the most ruthless and cutthroat of them will infest the body of a small child.

# ? Jul 17, 2020 05:10

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Cernunnos posted:

Yeah he's not exactly the most subtle boy in the world.

Neither he nor Yeerk Tom will win any awards for misdirection.

# ? Jul 17, 2020 05:37

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

feetnotes posted:

Want to read the spin-off stories of a suburban family of all Controllers, low-ranking enough that none of them knows about the others, spinning elaborate stories to one another to excuse their trips to the Pool, gatherings with The Sharing, and infiltration missions for Visser Three, who is too self-absorbed to know or care about their contradictory ruses. Naturally the most ruthless and cutthroat of them will infest the body of a small child.

So basically Third Rock From The Sun, only The Big Giant Head is slightly more of a bafoon in this version :v:

# ? Jul 17, 2020 05:41

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

Epicurius posted:

Neither he nor Yeerk Tom will win any awards for misdirection.

Look, no one in this family is Marco

# ? Jul 17, 2020 05:52

chitoryu12: Apr 24, 2014

This is like that moment in Thunderball where Bond just keeps saying "spectre" over and over in a conversation with a SPECTRE agent to see if he'll panic.

# ? Jul 17, 2020 06:35

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

feetnotes posted:

Want to read the spin-off stories of a suburban family of all Controllers, low-ranking enough that none of them knows about the others, spinning elaborate stories to one another to excuse their trips to the Pool, gatherings with The Sharing, and infiltration missions for Visser Three, who is too self-absorbed to know or care about their contradictory ruses. Naturally the most ruthless and cutthroat of them will infest the body of a small child.

That's almost the plot of Equilibrium.

# ? Jul 17, 2020 08:50

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Capture-Chapter5

quote:

"I can't believe we are actually going to practice a morph," Marco said. "We never practice. We just do it, and when it's a huge disaster we try and deal with it then."

"We need the practice," I pointed out. "We're going in as spies. We're going to this thing to try and hear what they are saying. And it takes a while to learn how to use the cockroach's senses to understand sound."

"This would be a great horror movie. Or at least a book," Marco said. "Roachman."

We were in Marco's new apartment. It was the first time we'd ever used it. Probably because now that Marco's dad was back at work, they had moved to a better place. I guess Marco used to be embarrassed over his old place.

In fact, his dad was out, working late at his new job. I hoped the job would last. Marco had been carrying a big load of family problems for a long time.

Marco's as surprised as I am about the idea of practing a morph. Also, congrats to him on the move.

quote:

"Is it possible to die of total willies?" Cassie asked. "I mean, do you think we could someday just gross ourselves right out of existence? I didn't even like touching a cockroach. How am I going to stand becoming one?"

"Just don't be near a mirror," I suggested. "And don't look at each other while you're morphing."

<Are these creatures frightening to humans?> Ax wondered.

It's amazing how quickly we'd all gotten used to the fact that this guy from another planet was with us. I barely even thought about the fact that an Andalite was standing there, looking like a cross between a blue deer, a mouthless human, a goat with eyes on the ends of his horns, and a scorpion.

The scorpion part is the Andalite's tail. It has a curved, scythe blade on the end. The Andalites can whip that tail forward so fast you don't even see it move.

I sat on the edge of Marco's bed. Tobias perched just inside the window, looking fierce and angry - although, of course, he wasn't.

Speaking of odd things I was getting used to. I mean, I was there with an alien, my cousin, my best friend, and Cassie, and they were all getting ready to become roaches.

Except for Tobias.

And the weirdest thing of all was that it didn't seem weird anymore.

I watched as they all began to morph. I looked away when it began to get disgusting. When I looked again, there were four cockroaches on the carpet.

<Okay,> Marco thought-spoke to me. <We're bugs. Let's get this over with, because I have to tell you - I have a major urge to step on myself.>

"Okay," I said. "Can you guys hear me?"

<Go ahead. We're ready. Say something,> Marco thought-spoke. I couldn't tell which roach was him. All roaches look alike.

"Hello," I said loudly.

<Wait. I felt something,> Cassie said.

"Tobias, tell them that was me."

<That was Jake,> Tobias translated into thought-speak. < He said 'hello.'>

<Okay, Jake. Do it again. Say 'hello' again,> Marco instructed.

"Hello."
<Yeah, I felt some vibrations there,> Rachel confirmed.

"Hello."

<That sounded like hello,> Cassie said.

<Jake?> Marco said. <Say 'I'm a huge dork.' I'll see if I can understand it>

"You're a huge dork."

<Very funny,> Marco said. <I couldn't actually hear what you said. But I know you.>

We spent about an hour with Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Ax learning to translate vibration into human speech. They were repeating the learning I'd done while I was stuck in a Roach Motel behind my refrigerator.

When they demorphed I looked away again. My dreams had been weird enough lately. I didn't need any help having nightmares.

Cassie is the best morpher in our group, even better than Ax - who's an Andalite, after all. Usually she can kind of control the process a lit tle. Once, when we were morphing birds, she managed to turn totally human except for keeping huge bird wings for a few seconds.

It was really cool.

But even Cassie couldn't do anything to make a cockroach morph attractive.

It was disgusting. Flat-out disgusting.

<You have such wonderful animals on this planet,> Ax said when he had returned to his normal form. Not that his normal form looked very normal, standing there in Marco's bedroom.

Ax just loves the diversity of earth life. It's great.

quote:

"Cockroaches are not wonderful," Rachel said, shuddering a little. "I mean, I'm sorry, but I don't like those bodies."

"They're easy to handle, though," Marco said. "Not like ants."

We all exchanged a look. We'd had a very bad experience with ants. That was one morph no one was going to be repeating.

"You know, guys, this mission doesn't really require all of us to go," I said.

"Look, I just said roaches are disgusting," Rachel protested. "I didn't say I didn't want to do it. We need to know what's going on with that hospital. The best way to do that is to crash this leadership meeting of The Sharing. And the best way to do that is with roach morphs. End of discussion."

She looked around belligerently, like she was daring anyone to disagree.

"Yeah, but I can do it alone," I said.

"What's going on with you?" Rachel asked. "You know we're the Five Musketeers. One for all,
and all for one. Six Musketeers now," she corrected, looking at Ax.

<What are Musketeers?> Ax asked.

No one answered him. They were all just looking at me like I'd done something wrong.

"Normally, I'd be all for staying out of trouble," Marco said, "But I'm just curious about why
you're acting this way."

"It makes sense. One of us can go it alone."

"Are you worried about Tom getting hurt?" Cassie asked.

Count on Cassie to figure it out. I looked down at the ground. "Look, he is my brother. You guys are my friends. What if we get into it and it comes down to a fight?"

Marco raised his eyebrows thoughtfully. He understood. "We don't hurt Tom, that's the first thing."

"It's not that simple," I said. "He's involved in this big time. He's one of them. And he would . . .look, he would kill any of us."

I hated having to say that. But it was true.

<Not Tom,> Tobias said. <The thing that lives in his head. Never Tom.>

I sighed. "I had this dream." I almost stopped talking right there, because I felt like a fool bringing it up. "I know this is stupid. I know dreams don't mean anything. But I've had this dream a couple of times."

"So? Tell us," Rachel prodded.

"Okay, but don't laugh. In the dream I'm in my tiger morph. And I'm stalking Tom. Following him. On his trail. I'm feeling the tiger's eagerness. You know, that predator feeling. The hunger. The desire to kill."

Tobias turned his head away. I knew why. Tobias was a predator now. He felt that eagerness, that killing desire, every day. It still bothered him, I guess. He had always been such a gentle
guy. Back when he was fully human.

"Anyway, in the dream, I'm hunting my own brother. Only, when I get close ... he turns around.And it isn't Tom anymore. It's ..." I stopped myself before I finished the sentence. I'd already said too much.

Something Freudian, basically. I also like the acknowledgment that Hawk Tobias just wants to kill all the time now.

quote:

"I just don't want anything to happen to Tom," I said lamely. "It's not just about what might happen if there's a fight. It's. . . . Look, I think Tom is important to this whole hospital plan somehow. I think maybe he's in charge. If we manage to stop this thing, who knows what they'll do to Tom? I mean, maybe Visser Three just kills Tom's Yeerk. But we've all seen Visser Three in action. He likes to make examples out of anyone who fails him. He could kill Tom."

Rachel whistled softly. "If we succeed, Tom fails. If he fails, Visser Three may kill him."

"That's about the way it is, yeah," I said.

"So, what do we do?" Marco asked.

"We forget this mission," Cassie suggested.

"And leave the Yeerks in control of a hospital? A little factory for making Controllers?" I countered. "Why? Because my brother may be hurt?"

"Yes," Cassie said simply.

I hesitated. I wanted to agree. But how could I justify backing off for selfish reasons?

"We don't have to make a final decision now," Marco said. "We can go in. Learn what they're up to. Decide then what to do about it."

I met Marco's gaze. I wondered what he was thinking about me. Only Marco and I know about his mother. To everyone else, she's dead. Only the two of us know that she's really a Controller.

That her body is the host body of Visser One.

Marco, of all people, understood what I was dealing with. He had given me a way out of deciding.

"Yeah," I said, nodding at my friend. "Marco's right. This is just a spy mission. There's plenty of time to decide what to do, when we know more about what they are up to."

I should have felt relieved.

I didn't.

So this whole thing is Jake coming to the realization, I think, that, you know, a Yeerk actually is controlling Tom, which he knew already, but its also him realizing that, by fighting them, he might have to kill Tom, and trying to come to terms with that. it's....a hard choice.

The other thing I find interesting, and I don''t know how to fully enunciate why I find it interesting is that we're reminded that even though the person they're talking about who's masterminding this plan looks like Tom, it's not Tom. It's the Yeerk inside of Tom. And the reason I find that interesting is that the reminder comes from Tobias, who's still Tobias, even though he no longer looks like Tobias.So he's sort of the perfect person to remind thee team about the difference between appearance and reality.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Jul 17, 2020

# ? Jul 17, 2020 23:51

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Also, this is very much the Tom Controller:

# ? Jul 18, 2020 01:21

PetraCore: Jul 20, 2017; 👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

Imagine being a yeerk soldier, intelligent and cunning, a full adult with adult responsibilities, expecting to at least get an adult body and hopefully someone interesting or strong.

Anyway, you get Tom and have to go to high school.

# ? Jul 18, 2020 01:44

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..."

this "High School" seems to be a vital cultural touchstone for members of this so-called "Yu-Ess-Eh". clearly, we must infiltrate it and learn its secrets to better subvert the puny humans. it is an important mission!

# ? Jul 18, 2020 02:34

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

Yeerks also have a very difficult life cycle so having a juvenile host might not be so inherently demeaning. Plus as a strapping basketball jock Tom does command some authority and status among his peers.

# ? Jul 18, 2020 02:54

SirSamVimes: Jul 21, 2008; ~* Challenge *~

I mean it seems like a pretty valuable target. Tom is cool and popular, which means he can get it other kids infested who can in turn get adults infested.

Also didn't it say Tom's yeerk was rising through the ranks. He might have been a grunt level yeerk which got him the teenage host who is now getting promoted because of the results he's getting.

# ? Jul 18, 2020 03:03

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Moreover, children are basically invisible in modern American society, doubly so in the 90s when the books are set. It's the reason why the Animorphs get away with a whole cornucopia of audacious poo poo, because everyone else around them writes it off as "oh, it's just kids doing weird kid stuff, whatever." That sword cuts both ways, and Yeerk soldiers with child hosts would be horrifically effective covert agents.

# ? Jul 18, 2020 05:21

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The big limitation that Tom's Yeerk has, or any other kid or teen Human-controller that's not living with other Human-controllers is the same one that Jake and the other Animorphs has, which is that if you're 16 or 14, you're still legally and economically dependent on your parents. Tom's parents obviously give him a lot of freedom, but they can still set rules or curfews or whatever for him that the Yeerk has to obey if he doesn't want to risk blowing his cover. So he's limited in his capabilities that way. Obviously, in a lot of ways, the best thing to do would be to get his parents and Jake Yeerked ASAP, which would let the Yeerk drop the facade at home and let him do the things he needs to do, but there are difficulties there.

Speaking of Tom, if you remember, every book, I was looking at one of the actors behind the characters on the TV series. Obviously, this is a Jake book and we've already done Shawn Ashmore, but Tom was played by Joshua Peace

Peace is a Canadian actor who's been in a bunch of films (including very small roles in the HBO version of Grey Gardens and the Bruce Willis/Morgan Freeman/Helen Mirrin action comedy RED). His most recent film was the 2019 Canadian Film "Queen of the Morning Calm", about a sex worker and her ten year old daughter who try to break out of the cycle of abuse they've been living in.

I will say that the role isn't well cast if you go by book descriptions. In the books, Tom is described as looking like Jake, only older, and Peace and Ashmore don't and didn't look all that much alike.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Jul 18, 2020

# ? Jul 18, 2020 06:33

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Epicurius posted:

The big limitation that Tom's Yeerk has, or any other kid or teen Human-controller that's not living with other Human-controllers is the same one that Jake and the other Animorphs has, which is that if you're 16 or 14, you're still legally and economically dependent on your parents. Tom's parents obviously give him a lot of freedom, but they can still set rules or curfews or whatever for him that the Yeerk has to obey if he doesn't want to risk blowing his cover. So he's limited in his capabilities that way. Obviously, in a lot of ways, the best thing to do would be to get his parents and Jake Yeerked ASAP, which would let the Yeerk drop the facade at home and let him do the things he needs to do, but there are difficulties there.

Speaking of Tom, if you remember, every book, I was looking at one of the actors behind the characters on the TV series. Obviously, this is a Jake book and we've already done Shawn Ashmore, but Tom was played by Joshua Peace

Peace is a Canadian actor who's been in a bunch of films (including very small roles in the HBO version of Grey Gardens and the Bruce Willis/Morgan Freeman/Helen Mirrin action comedy RED). His most recent film was the 2019 Canadian Film "Queen of the Morning Calm", about a sex worker and her ten year old daughter who try to break out of the cycle of abuse they've been living in.

I will say that the role isn't well cast if you go by book descriptions. In the books, Tom is described as looking like Jake, only older, and Peace and Ashmore don't and didn't look all that much alike.

It's incredibly telling that there is a metric fuckton of Tom POV fan fiction out there and it usually comes in one of three flavors, 1) what a hypotheical post-Yeerk Tom would be like, 2) Tom's struggle against his Yeerk Controller parallel to the Animorphs journey through the series, or 3) speculative pieces where either Tom is an out-and-out Yeerk collaborator or is paired up with a Good Yeerk that explores a similar but less hostile dynamic to #2.

Applegate and Grant delve into the Yeerk side of things sparingly, and with good reason. But my god would it have been a ballsy as gently caress move right at the start if, as you go through the books in order and you rotate through each kid's POV, it gets to the final one in the rotation and at the start of their first book you get "Surprise, motherfucker! I'm a Yeerk. Don't tell Jake and Marco :ssh:

# ? Jul 18, 2020 06:55

Avalerion: Oct 19, 2012

Maybe being a high schooler is actually fun for the yeerk? In a way anything must be better than being a useless slug.

# ? Jul 18, 2020 06:56

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Avalerion posted:

Maybe being a high schooler is actually fun for the yeerk? In a way anything must be better than being a useless slug.

I'm sure. I get the impression, though, that Visser Three isn't overly concerned about the happiness of his subordinates. He's not the type of boss to say, "You know, it's Yeerk Christmas Eve. Go home early today."

# ? Jul 18, 2020 07:09

Daikloktos: Jan 1, 2020; by Cyrano4747

Avalerion posted:

Maybe being a high schooler is actually fun for the yeerk? In a way anything must be better than being a useless slug.

[spoilers all] In Animorphs you don't even need to be so much as a useless slug to immediately go native at your first exposure to any different culture

# ? Jul 18, 2020 09:01

Silver2195: Apr 4, 2012

nine-gear crow posted:

It's incredibly telling that there is a metric fuckton of Tom POV fan fiction out there and it usually comes in one of three flavors, 1) what a hypotheical post-Yeerk Tom would be like, 2) Tom's struggle against his Yeerk Controller parallel to the Animorphs journey through the series, or 3) speculative pieces where either Tom is an out-and-out Yeerk collaborator or is paired up with a Good Yeerk that explores a similar but less hostile dynamic to #2.

Applegate and Grant delve into the Yeerk side of things sparingly, and with good reason. But my god would it have been a ballsy as gently caress move right at the start if, as you go through the books in order and you rotate through each kid's POV, it gets to the final one in the rotation and at the start of their first book you get "Surprise, motherfucker! I'm a Yeerk. Don't tell Jake and Marco "

I haven't read Applegate's Everworld books, but I remember reading that they had a twist like that, where one of the POV characters was working against the others.

# ? Jul 18, 2020 15:52

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# ? May 24, 2024 23:43

SardonicTyrant: Feb 26, 2016; BTICH IM A NEWT
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PetraCore posted:

Imagine being a yeerk soldier, intelligent and cunning, a full adult with adult responsibilities, expecting to at least get an adult body and hopefully someone interesting or strong.

Anyway, you get Tom and have to go to high school.

This is actually something that happens in a later book.

# ? Jul 18, 2020 21:34

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

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