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I think the reason that Ax is sort of held apart, specially in the earlier books is sort of like the joke about when you sit down for breakfast and have ham and eggs, the chicken is involved in your breakfast, but the pig is committed. Ax wants Earth not to fall to the Yeerks. He wants to avenge his brother and kill Yeerks in general and Visser Three in particular, and he wants to go home. But if Earth does fall to the Yeerks, for the Andalites the war goes on. It doesn't mean that Ax's friends and family all will be slaves. For the Animorphs, though, if the Yeerks win on earth, that's it. So Ax and the Animorphs are allies with overlapping goals but not the same goals.
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 01:13 |
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# ? May 24, 2024 08:05 |
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I'm pretty sure I read this book as a kid, but the plot completely escapes me. Are we headed for an amnesia plot with Rachel?
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 01:21 |
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This is the one where it reveals that the entire series is set in the imagination of a kid staring at a snow globe
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 01:59 |
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Bobulus posted:I'm pretty sure I read this book as a kid, but the plot completely escapes me. Are we headed for an amnesia plot with Rachel? Sadly, yes.
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 02:18 |
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Epicurius posted:I think the reason that Ax is sort of held apart, specially in the earlier books is sort of like the joke about when you sit down for breakfast and have ham and eggs, the chicken is involved in your breakfast, but the pig is committed.
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 02:56 |
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Epicurius posted:Ax wants Earth not to fall to the Yeerks. He wants to avenge his brother and kill Yeerks in general and Visser Three in particular, and he wants to go home. But if Earth does fall to the Yeerks, for the Andalites the war goes on. Ax himself would be hosed, though. If I get stranded on a desert island, I'm all-in on helping the natives not have the island be overrun by fire ants or whatever.
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 04:27 |
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freebooter posted:Ax himself would be hosed, though. If I get stranded on a desert island, I'm all-in on helping the natives not have the island be overrun by fire ants or whatever. And then your homeland’s navy rolls up and blasts the island with a Trinity bomb to make sure the ants don’t escape with all those coconuts they stole.
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 04:36 |
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nine-gear crow posted:And then your homeland’s navy rolls up and blasts the island with a Trinity bomb to make sure the ants don’t escape with all those coconuts they stole. Speaking of - does Ax know what the Andalites did to the Hork-Bajir? I remember him having an arc at some point where he confesses to the others that it was Andalites who originally gave Yeerks space tech, and is relieved they don't blame him for it, but I can't remember if the Hork-Bajir genocide is actually common knowledge in general Andalite society.
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 04:45 |
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freebooter posted:Ax himself would be hosed, though. If I get stranded on a desert island, I'm all-in on helping the natives not have the island be overrun by fire ants or whatever.
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 06:01 |
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freebooter posted:Speaking of - does Ax know what the Andalites did to the Hork-Bajir? I remember him having an arc at some point where he confesses to the others that it was Andalites who originally gave Yeerks space tech, and is relieved they don't blame him for it, but I can't remember if the Hork-Bajir genocide is actually common knowledge in general Andalite society. I don't think it's common knowledge among Andalites, no, hence Ax's feeling of moral disgust when a similar situation comes up in the series.
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 06:38 |
Bobulus posted:I'm pretty sure I read this book as a kid, but the plot completely escapes me. Are we headed for an amnesia plot with Rachel? Yes, but it was the first time I'd ever read one, so it landed for me.
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 07:44 |
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Daikloktos posted:Doesn't "desert island" mean "deserted" and not "desert-ous"? Think that sentence might be accidental colonialism The natives in this scenario are a more benign species of ant
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 08:02 |
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freebooter posted:The natives in this scenario are a more benign species of ant
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 12:30 |
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Megamorphs #1-The Andalite's Gift-Chapter 3 Marco quote:Look, it's simple," I explained patiently. "There's this party. This pool party. And I was not invited. Not only was I not invited, but the girl who's having the party went out of her way to not invite me." Marco's summary is a lot shorter than everyone else's. quote:I am the cute one. All the girls think so. All except Darlene. Rachel, btw. quote:"There won't be any eagles at the party," I said. "The bird world is your problem, dude. I That's mean. It's....probably true, but it's mean. Also, wacky Marco and Ax adventure Chapter 4 Jake quote:"I feel bad even going to this party," I said. "Darlene should have invited Marco. He wouldn't have done the Baby Ruth thing again. He's much more mature now. Sort of." So that went bad fast. I think this book has weird tonal issues, and I don't know if it's the fault of the multiple narrators. Plus, we're four chapters in, Rachel has been sidelined, and we've had two Jake chapters so far. I think part of the problem is that Applegate, at least so far, has had trouble writing a clear narrative voice for Jake. Marco and Cassie are good, largely because I think Marco is a young Michael Grant and Cassie is a young Katherine Applegate, They've been good at showing Rachel's vulnerability underneath her tough exterior, and Tobias so far has just been a Victorian tragic hero. Jake, on the other hand, is written like an adult writing a kid (which, of course, is what's happening). It's very "We were in our swimsuits, sitting in pool chairs, as us youth enjoy doing, and drinking some soft drinks from coolers." So far, I think the only time Jake has been interesting is when he's talking about Tom, and I think that's because, so far, at least, he's been a very bland character. Anyway, it's just something I noticed, and maybe its just me.
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# ? Aug 12, 2020 23:45 |
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I am always for wacky Marco And Ax Adventures.
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# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:01 |
HOW DO YOU DO FELLOW CHILDREN
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# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:02 |
For real though, Jake reads to me like someone who absolutely can't switch off, ever.
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# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:04 |
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The Marco and Ax banter is genuinely fun.
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# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:07 |
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:For real though, Jake reads to me like someone who absolutely can't switch off, ever. A lot of Jake’s characterization is coming but even now there’s a really fascinating bit that he’s just utterly mediocre at everything until thrust into leadership by the war. Can’t ever beat Marco at video games, already washed out of basketball in book 1, no hints that he’s very good in school at anything beyond a love for military history that was probably spurred by the war. It’s no surprise that he winds up totally consumed by fighting the Yeerks inside and out
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# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:17 |
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freebooter posted:Speaking of - does Ax know what the Andalites did to the Hork-Bajir? I remember him having an arc at some point where he confesses to the others that it was Andalites who originally gave Yeerks space tech, and is relieved they don't blame him for it, but I can't remember if the Hork-Bajir genocide is actually common knowledge in general Andalite society. I don't think Andalite society knows much about the Hork-Bajir fiasco at all, or at the very least arisths like Ax don't get the full picture in school. In the Andalite Chronicles when Elfangor (also an aristh at the time) first meets Alloran all he knows is that he's a disgraced war-prince for loving up something, but he doesn't know why. Although tbf I don't think Applegate knew at that point either because the Hork-Bajir Chronicles hadn't come out yet.
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# ? Aug 13, 2020 06:23 |
Not quite - one of the Yeerks throws it in their faces, leading directly to Elfangor subduing Alloran and allowing Visser Three his chance.
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# ? Aug 13, 2020 06:55 |
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The Megamorphs #1-Chapter 5 Marco quote:Okay. Okay, maybe it was a little immature to sneak into Darlene's party as a mouse. But you didn't hear what she said about me! There's cheerful old Ax. Honestly, I don't get why some people don't think he has a sense of humor. quote:In any case, we toddled off to the party, two little mice looking for a good time. How is this going to be explained to Darlene's parents? Like, how do they fill out the homeowner's insurance claim? Chapter 6 Rachel quote:I woke up. That's right, for Rachel they're going with an amnesia plot. Hit your head, get amnesia. Plot of many a tv sitcom. Chapter 7 Tobias quote:I have seen a lot of strange things since that first evening when we walked through the construction site where the Andalite prince had landed his damaged fighter. "I saw Marco and my alien friend Ax, transformed into mice, chase a girl inside a house, followed by a group of guys. Then I began to see something bizzare" quote:It swirled like a compact tornado. I was fascinated because wind is very important to me. Tobias, meanwhile....is also in this book.
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 00:34 |
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what the gently caress
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 02:11 |
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Radio Free Kobold posted:what the gently caress That covers so much....is this an "evil tornado" what the gently caress, a "surprise amnesia" what the gently caress or a "Applegate finally remembered Tobias existed" what the gently caress?
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 02:16 |
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Epicurius posted:That covers so much....is this an "evil tornado" what the gently caress, a "surprise amnesia" what the gently caress or a "Applegate finally remembered Tobias existed" what the gently caress? The first Megamorphs always kinda screamed of a "Scholastic corporate wants you to do this or you don't get paid" and Applegate and Grant looking at one another and going "How can we write this so they never ask us to do another one?" Like how they responded to a corporate note on the design of the Andalites. They were originally written as being typical grey aliens, and Scholastic wanted something a little jazzier in case the show got optioned for TV or a movie, so they made the Andalites stupidly complex almost out of spite. Then when the TV show actually came about they proved impossible to properly dramatize on a 90s basic cable live action children's drama budget.
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 02:23 |
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I mean that was for the best because the Andalite design they ended up with rules.
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 02:28 |
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SirSamVimes posted:I mean that was for the best because the Andalite design they ended up with rules. hell yeah it does. the sound effect of Ax's once-an-episode-disarming-someone would've had to have been a wilhelm which would only make it better.
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 03:50 |
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nine-gear crow posted:Like how they responded to a corporate note on the design of the Andalites. They were originally written as being typical grey aliens, and Scholastic wanted something a little jazzier in case the show got optioned for TV or a movie, so they made the Andalites stupidly complex almost out of spite. Then when the TV show actually came about they proved impossible to properly dramatize on a 90s basic cable live action children's drama budget. "Fine, they've got blue fur." "That's better than grey-" "And they are centaurs!" "Okay, that sh-" "With tails. Scorpion tails, lightning fast!" "Well, uhm, at least we shouldn't have too much trouble animating the upper body of th-" "Oh and they've got extra fingers." "How many?" "Lots." "Right, fine. And their faces?" "..." "..." "Eye stalks. That are constantly moving."
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 04:03 |
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nine-gear crow posted:Then when the TV show actually came about they proved impossible to properly dramatize on a 90s basic cable live action children's drama budget. It baffled me why they went for live action over animated in the first place. Unless animated was perceived as being for a younger audience than the middle school demographic.
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 04:12 |
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freebooter posted:It baffled me why they went for live action over animated in the first place. Unless animated was perceived as being for a younger audience than the middle school demographic. I don't know for sure, but the studiothat made it, Protocol Entertainment, already had a contract with Scholastic to make the Goosebumps series. So my though is, rather than worry about having to engage with a new tv studio, Scholastic just decided to leverage the existing relationship.
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 04:50 |
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How well do these books line up with mainline titles? Do Marco or Ax use their mice morphs later on in those for example.
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 13:25 |
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Starsnostars posted:How well do these books line up with mainline titles? Do Marco or Ax use their mice morphs later on in those for example. They almost never re-use morphs other than their combat morphs/bird morphs, no matter what book they got it in. The Megamorphs books are canon, however, unlike the Alternamorph CYOA ones.
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 13:34 |
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Piell posted:They almost never re-use morphs other than their combat morphs/bird morphs, no matter what book they got it in. The Megamorphs books are canon, however, unlike the Alternamorph CYOA ones. I always dug it when ten or fifteen books down the line they'd crack out a morph they'd only previously used as a one-off. Like Cassie and Marco morphing venomous snakes to ambush another Visser, or one of them going chimpanzee to scale the rigging of a Napoleonic ship in the time travel book.
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 13:48 |
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Also, Cassie gets a whale morph in this one that she uses later to scare off David when he's in a killer whale morph.
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# ? Aug 14, 2020 15:21 |
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The Megamorphs #1-Chapter 8 Rachel quote:Human. Be human! Does Ben & Jerry's still have those flavors? I haven't eaten their ice cream in a long time. I used to love Cherry Garcia, though. quote:The beast rose from the truck. The driver climbed up out of the cab and ran. So, Rachel has amnesia, she managed to get away from the tornado monster, who dissipated rather than eating her. Chapter 9 Cassie quote:Tornado my butt," Marco said angrily. "That thing was alive." Man. After I just called it a tornado monster, Marco has to argue with me. quote:We were watching TV in my living room. Jake, Marco, Ax in his human morph, and me, Cassie. It was afternoon. My parents weren't home yet, so we were safe, talking freely. This came up in the book where Ax was introduced, I think. Jake apparently tapes the news, for some reason. I mean, I guess they want to avoid the "We happened to be watching the news and noticed a major plot point, but still, who regularly tapes the news? quote:"Right there! Right there!" I said. "That girl. See? She's only in the shot for a second. Can you freeze-frame her?" So, at least the rest of the group (except for Tobias) know that Rachel is alone out there. They don't know about the amnesia, but still, that's forward motion. And they realize that this thing seems to have been something targeted at them. Chapter 10 Rachel quote:I spent hours just walking in the woods. Walking and trying to remember. She's maybe remembering the shack in the woods where they locked up Yeerk Jake in book 6? quote:The yellow top was hanging on a clothesline.I duck-walked left to see through the front doorway. It was open. There was no light inside the cabin. Should I? Could I take the risk? Remember that conclusion. quote:I forced myself to calm down. I tried to let the adrenaline flow out of me, but my heart was pounding and my muscles were tensed. In other news, Rachel met somebody who hates the Yeerks as much as she does.
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# ? Aug 15, 2020 00:42 |
I forgot about that woman. That poor woman
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# ? Aug 15, 2020 01:01 |
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Fan speculation is that’s the woman from Book 1, right? I thought that woman escaped while her Yeerk was in the pool. Except this lady’s comment about the Yeerk being dead suggests Kandrona deprivation.
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# ? Aug 15, 2020 02:04 |
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IIRC there's a popular theory that this is the woman they freed from the Yeerk pool in book 1 that runs off and is never mentioned again. Also possible she's a Controller whose Yeerk starved after they blew up the Kandrona. Either way:
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# ? Aug 15, 2020 02:12 |
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Yeah I had always heard it was the woman from book one. This time though, I'm thinking that her fixation on clothes and "the store" could indicate that this lady was formerly guarding the pool entrance over the Gap. Her Yeerk starved after they blew up the Kandrona, understandably driving her nuts, and she's been living in the woods ever since. Pool entrance guard tracks to me as someone a Yeerk would deem replaceable in a life or death situation, too. And now that I'm thinking about it, there's even a parallel to be made between how Yeerks and humans treat retail employees This book is really out there so far. If I'm remembering correctly, doesn't this tornado thing (spoiler for this and a future Megamorphs) end up being from Saturn? If so, is this the only life form in the series from within our solar system? I remember the crabs and ants (and broccoli) from the dinosaur Megamorphs, but I don't think they were native to earth... I'm probably forgetting something big.
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# ? Aug 15, 2020 03:25 |
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# ? May 24, 2024 08:05 |
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I don't think she's the woman from the first book. She's probably dead now. I assume the Yeerks tracked her down and killed her. This is probably a woman who's Yeerk died of Kandrona starvation, and good call on the idea that it could be one of the Gap employees. I'm liking that theory.
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# ? Aug 15, 2020 03:57 |