|
QuickbreathFinisher posted: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. Wasn't that like a week ago though?
|
# ? Aug 15, 2020 04:51 |
|
|
# ? May 20, 2024 18:00 |
|
freebooter posted:Wasn't that like a week ago though? Something like that. Yeerks have to feed every 3 days, though.
|
# ? Aug 15, 2020 05:55 |
|
Megamorphs 1-Chapter 11 Jake quote:Marco and I took the bus to a place close to where the dust beast had attacked Rachel and destroyed the ice-cream truck. Jake doesn't really seem like the letting go type to me.. quote:"Come on," I said. "You have the bag?" These books do like their irony. quote:"Okay," I said, "Marco and I are going to morph now. You want to go up top and make sure we're clear?" Not entirely true. Close one eye, then look down and inward. You'll see your nostril. quote:Of course, that's not exactly the only weird thing about morphing. It's coming. Chapter 12 Rachel quote:Let me out, you crazy old woman!" I yelled. For all that she's trying to kill our protagonist, you can't help but feel sorry for the woman. The mental domination has just left her mind totally gone. Chapter 13 Marco quote:Tobias came shooting down toward us. He wanted to make sure we knew. <It's coming!> This beast must be exhausted the way it's running around.
|
# ? Aug 16, 2020 00:41 |
I was pretty that we're not doing the next in-sequence book yet since it's the first Ax book but man this is a nail biter. The only Megamorphs book I'd read is the dino one so this is all brand new for me. Nthing the theory that this woman is one of the former Gap employees guarding the Yeerk pool entrance and thus one of the redshirts they let starve after the Kandrona generator was destroyed. Side note: I worked at The Limited for a brief period of time about a decade ago so it's wild to hear it name dropped so much in this series, especially since it went belly-up several years back. It really was huge in the 90's.
|
|
# ? Aug 16, 2020 15:34 |
|
I only read to book 12 or so, did they ever elaborate on the rules of Acquiring? Can you acquire a new morph while you're already in morph? Can you acquire a new morph from someone in morph? As awesome as it would be be for Visser 3 to be attacking them as some four-story tentacle monster and for one of them to land on him as a fly and both pacify him and copy a super-strong morph, I imagine there's some limitation or horrifying consequence for trying something like this? These books were big on horrifying consequences.
|
# ? Aug 16, 2020 16:31 |
|
Bobulus posted:I only read to book 12 or so, did they ever elaborate on the rules of Acquiring? Can you acquire a new morph while you're already in morph? Can you acquire a new morph from someone in morph? Edit: Actually, I remembered that I’m probably wrong. In Book 18 they say that you can acquire while morphed, and attempt to do so while morphed as mosquitos though this plan goes awry for mostly unrelated reasons. Other than that this doesn’t seem to come up much. ANOTHER SCORCHER fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Aug 16, 2020 |
# ? Aug 16, 2020 20:39 |
Animorphs runs on prestige porn rules: big naturals only.
|
|
# ? Aug 16, 2020 22:28 |
|
Megamorphs Book 1- Chapter 14 Rachel quote:"Aaaaarrrrgghh!" I cried. It's a little interesting to me that Rachel has the ability to morph without the memory that she does. That it's at least partly instinctual for her now. quote:Maybe it was that simple. Maybe I was as insane as the woman who had burned down her shack to kill me for being a Yeerk. It's Ax! quote:For a frozen moment of time, we all three waited: me, the beast in the air, and this new So that's obviously not good. At least Rachel knows her name now. Chapter 15 Ax Hey, our first Ax POV! quote:My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. I am an Andalite. It was my brother, Prince Elfangor, who gave the humans the power to morph. He had been injured trying to drive the Yeerks away from Earth. And, when he crash-landed his fighter, it was Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, and Marco who found him. I kind of like Ax's frustration here with the Animorphs coming to him and saying, "You're the alien, so you must know alien stuff!", when of course, Ax doesn't know everything. He knows a lot about the Andalites and the Yeerks and stuff that the kids don't, but they also know a lot of stuff he doesn't. So I can see how it must be frustrating here to be stuffed in the "alien" box. quote:When we set off to find Rachel, I traveled through the woods. I live in the forest now. It is my new home. I kind of also like that Ax finds Rachel totally by accident here, in spite of Jake and Marco's big plan to morph wolves and track her. quote:The huge bear swung its massive head to glare at me. But there was no thought-speak answer. That's not right. The Constitution guarantees people the right to bear arms. Thanks, folks, I'll be here all week. But for those of you keeping track, we have another limb amputation. quote:What could I do? I was desperate. My tail was my only weapon. But the creature would simply grind it off as he'd done with Rachel's paw. Ax being practical here, if not very noble by human standards, I guess. I think this is also kind of unusual in young adult fiction. How often do we have a heroic character saying, "My friend was going to be killed. I knew there was nothing I could do to save her, so I ran to save myself so we wouldn't both die."? I cant think of many. quote:I had an Earth bird morph. It was called a harrier. It was very fast. I could morph and perhaps be able to follow this monster. Only two chapters today, but fairly eventful ones. Rachel has learned her name, and Ax has been captured, and has figured out how the beast hunts. Any thoughts so far? How are people liking the book?
|
# ? Aug 16, 2020 23:42 |
|
I like how Rachel's reaction to getting one paw chewed off is to immediately attack with the other paw.
|
# ? Aug 16, 2020 23:55 |
|
I don’t think Applegate has quite mastered the alternating narrators format quite yet. It would best serve as a means to provide contrasting characterization but she seems to be introducing and reintroducing ideas and concepts a lot. I think as a function of their super-serialized nature the Animorphs books can be extremely repetitive - especially the beginnings which cover familiar ground for anyone reading the series in order and the morphing descriptions which while fun at first continue despite being mostly unnecessary. I think you mentioned Epi that the chapters are actually shorter in this Megamorphs. That’s the exact opposite of the way I think you’d want to do an alternating narrators style novel, since it feels like we never quite get to sit with one character long enough. Despite that I am enjoying it and I remember loving MM#2, though I was also a dinosaur nerd so maybe that was it.
|
# ? Aug 17, 2020 00:20 |
|
I remember thinking on my re-read, and still think now, that Ax's narrative voice is weirdly flat here. Don't really think this is much of a spoiler but just in case: this is particularly weird since I don't think that's the case at all in the very next book, so it's not like it took her a while to get to grips with it or anything
|
# ? Aug 17, 2020 00:45 |
|
I think part of the problem in this book is that despite being longer there's still the same amount of plot as a regular Animorphs book, only we get to see most scenes twice from different POVs. IIRC the other megamorphs are better about not repeating so much.
|
# ? Aug 17, 2020 01:02 |
|
freebooter posted:I remember thinking on my re-read, and still think now, that Ax's narrative voice is weirdly flat here. Don't really think this is much of a spoiler but just in case: this is particularly weird since I don't think that's the case at all in the very next book, so it's not like it took her a while to get to grips with it or anything A bit disappointing that they've settled for "alien voice = no apostrophes." I want to know what an earth forest looks like to an alien. Does it smell/sound/feel weird to them?
|
# ? Aug 17, 2020 02:39 |
|
Megamorphs 1 isn't very good. It's neat to see one of these written from multiple perspectives, but the later attempts (especially 3 and 4) do it better.
|
# ? Aug 17, 2020 04:12 |
|
Epicurius posted:I kind of like Ax's frustration here with the Animorphs coming to him and saying, "You're the alien, so you must know alien stuff!", when of course, Ax doesn't know everything. He knows a lot about the Andalites and the Yeerks and stuff that the kids don't, but they also know a lot of stuff he doesn't. So I can see how it must be frustrating here to be stuffed in the "alien" box. Then again, in a lot of cases (though probably not in this particular case) Ax would have known what the Animorphs were asking him about if he'd paid more attention in school. I remember liking Megamorphs #1 as a kid, but reading it now, I guess it is a bit padded. ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:I think as a function of their super-serialized nature the Animorphs books can be extremely repetitive - especially the beginnings which cover familiar ground for anyone reading the series in order and the morphing descriptions which while fun at first continue despite being mostly unnecessary. The beginnings are a bit irritating because they repeat the biggest plot hole in the series (Why are they writing this down? Isn't concealing their town and last names pointless, since the Yeerks know what town Elfangor landed in, the names of Melissa's classmates, etc.?). Silver2195 fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Aug 17, 2020 |
# ? Aug 17, 2020 15:00 |
|
freebooter posted:I remember thinking on my re-read, and still think now, that Ax's narrative voice is weirdly flat here. Don't really think this is much of a spoiler but just in case: this is particularly weird since I don't think that's the case at all in the very next book, so it's not like it took her a while to get to grips with it or anything They do this concept a lot better in the Hork-Bajir Chronicles IIRC. Dak Hamee's narrative voice is a lot more basic and uses shorter words than Aldrea or Esplin, because even though he's a once-in-a-generation prodigy among his people that just basically means he has adult intelligence rather than a child's like the rest of his species and he doesn't have the opportunity to learn much until the Andalites show up. As the book goes on his sentence structure gets more complex, which is pretty cool.
|
# ? Aug 17, 2020 19:13 |
|
Megamorphs: Book 1-Chapter 16 Jake quote:My wolf nose told me a story. I kind of like it when the Animorphs go all forensic. We haven't seen a lot of that so far. quote:<Yeah,> I agreed, trying to sound hopeful. <We've been in morph a long time. We need to use what time we have left to get to civilization and morph back. I have to at least check in with my folks or they'll have cops out looking for me.> I do kind of like this chapter. I mean, it's just Jake, Marco and Tobias trying to figure stuff out (and getting pretty close), but I like it. Chapter 17 Cassie quote:Radio Shack. August Woman. Godiva. The Gap. Mrs. Field's. Casual Corner. B. Dalton. Kinney Shoes. Banana Republic. Open, don't know, Open, Open, Open, Closed, Closed, Closed, Open quote:Bright lights. Color. Signs. The smell of cinnamon buns. Poor Yeerk is taking a day off from world domination to go to the mall, have some lunch at California Pizza kitchen and a new shirt, then reading Omni to laugh at how little humans know about science, and all of a sudden, he's got an Animorph following him around. quote:I went to the back of the store. There was a storeroom with the door ajar. Inside the storeroom was a second door. A bathroom for the employees; Bingo. Cassie's got a lead. Just two chapters again tonight. Were going through a patch of longer chapters.
|
# ? Aug 17, 2020 23:47 |
|
Megamorphs 1-Chapter 18 Ax quote:The dust beast carried me up and up. I could feel gravity tugging at me. I could feel momentum as we moved faster and faster. I could see nothing. I could only hear a swirling sound. He's going to be even more insufferable now. quote:The Yeerks believed the Animorphs were a group of Andalites who had survived the battle in orbit and made it to Earth. It was important for them to go on believing it. So this is actually a clever sort of idea for an alien. quote:Visser Three laughed again, soundless, but vile in my mind. <We lost a lot of soldiers before we figured the creature out. Oh, yes. It was chewing up Hork-Bajir and Taxxons at a startling rate. But then we realized something - it could be altered. We could use the thing. I could program it to serve me.> I also like here that Ax comes to terms with his own...he'd call it cowardice here. He had the chance to attack Visser Three, and he didn't take it. And he keeps making excuses for why....in the past, he was with his human friends and he didn't want to see them hurt, and now the Hork-Bajir would kill him before he had the chance, but he also admits the truth, which is that Visser Three terrifies him (and for good reason). But he's also ashamed of that fear and that it keeps him from doing what he bellieves it's his moral duty to do. Chapter 19 Cassie quote:ZoooooM! I beat my fly wings and zipped under the door. The bottom edge of the door was like a ceiling to me, and then I was out. Yep, just harrassing a Yeerk out on the town. quote:Then . . . yes! A man and a woman were talking to Chapman. Putting aside Cassie's sheer enjoyment as a fly, the big thing here is just, once again, how much Visser Three is both feared and hated by his subordinates. We already knew this obviously, but.... The other thing is just the simple fact that we're hearing a conversation between lower ranking villains at all. This happens in literature, obviously, but it's a good reminder that these people aren't just faceless mooks. They have opinions on things, they have interests Chapter 20 Rachel quote:I think the pain would have killed me, if I had been human. But I was not just human. I was the bear. And because of the bear's strength, I held on. I really struggle to say anything interesting about this chapter (Right, I know, so how is this different from my other attempts?) But not much happens. Rachel discovers morphing cures her injuries and has flashes of memory back.
|
# ? Aug 19, 2020 00:16 |
|
At least we're provided a good reason why the Animorphs-as-humans theory gets dismissed for so long after this. It's a view advanced by some advisors that Visser 3 dislikes, and then he gets confirmation it isn't true in the form of Ax right when Kandrona rationing is going on. Anyone who speaks up would be starved to death and that organizational memory would probably last for a long time.
|
# ? Aug 19, 2020 01:16 |
|
This chapter really shows how much Visser Three's ego is detrimental to the war effort. He's captured an Andalite and his instinct is to torture and kill Ax rather than turn him into a Controller. He could double the number of morph-capable Yeerks in the empire, but he knows it would undermine his own unique position.
|
# ? Aug 19, 2020 01:42 |
|
In WWII the British scrapped plans to assassinate Hitler because (among other reasons) they concluded that he was less competent as a war leader than any of the figures who would likely succeed him. Definite shades of that here, and I think it gets explored a bit through the series, especially in contrast to Visser One.
|
# ? Aug 19, 2020 03:54 |
|
this was the first book i read in the series. for some reason it caught my eye at the school book fair and i wound up getting it. i don't remember how many of the preceding books i eventually went back to, since i enjoyed the series but didn't get each one and just read the ones we didn't buy here and there from the school and local library (and eventually got the last book when we saw it at a shop) so this is the first that's really more familiar in my memoryquote:Marco is highly intelligent. But he is also very afflicted by a condition the humans call "sense of humor." I have noticed that Marco's sense of humor sometimes makes him do strange things. i love Ax Homora Gaykemi fucked around with this message at 07:04 on Aug 19, 2020 |
# ? Aug 19, 2020 07:02 |
|
Aw yeah it's getting good
|
# ? Aug 19, 2020 14:10 |
|
Interestingly, the existence of the Veleek and how it operates implies that there must be a whole ecology of alien life in Saturn's atmosphere.
|
# ? Aug 19, 2020 14:36 |
|
Megamorphs Book 1, Chapter 21 Marco quote:<I didn't see anything, all right?> Tobias said angrily. <No bear. No Rachel. No Ax. How many more times do you want to ask me? I didn't see them.> It took them 21 chapters, but they finally figured it out! Chapter 22 Rachel quote:I reached civilization. Or at least, I reached a suburban development. Maybe it was familiar, I don't know. Maybe I'd been there before. I didn't know that, either. I guess, even as an amnesiac, Rachel has good survival instincts. That's good. quote:I sat in a corner of the abandoned living room and finished eating the cookies. I wondered who had lived here. And who would be moving in next. I don't want to bias you all. Maybe some of you are liking it, but honestly, I don't think this is a very good book. Rachel is sidelined in chapters like this for most of the story. So far, in 22 chapters, Tobias has had one. I don't know. We'll get through this, though. At least Rachel is going to become an elephant. People like elephants! Chapter 23 Jake quote:It was just dumb luck that we even saw what happened. And Marco's going to drive. That's fun,
|
# ? Aug 20, 2020 00:15 |
|
Aggressive American over-policing strikes again, smdhquote:"And Ax is probably fine. I mean, who knows what an Andalite might be doing?" Again with this odd arm's-length relationship which just seems so weird looking back at the series as a whole! I'm pretty sure it dissipates entirely past book 10 or so. Although IIRC is Ax's book, up next, the one where he gets the secret about the Andalites giving the Yeerks space tech off his chest? Maybe that's a pivotal moment of trust.
|
# ? Aug 20, 2020 00:47 |
|
freebooter posted:I remember thinking on my re-read, and still think now, that Ax's narrative voice is weirdly flat here. Don't really think this is much of a spoiler but just in case: this is particularly weird since I don't think that's the case at all in the very next book, so it's not like it took her a while to get to grips with it or anything Even though megamorphs are supposed to fit in chronologically when they were released, I wonder if they weren't written wildly out of sequence with the main series books. This might have been an early book, despite being published eighth.
|
# ? Aug 20, 2020 09:28 |
|
Oh poo poo, I forgot this one had that bit where Marco drives
|
# ? Aug 20, 2020 11:49 |
|
Marco's driving
|
# ? Aug 20, 2020 13:48 |
|
Marco driving as a gorilla is one of the best gags in the series.
|
# ? Aug 20, 2020 17:35 |
|
DO YOU JUST HATE TRASH CANS?!?
|
# ? Aug 20, 2020 18:00 |
|
Megamorphs Book 1, Chapter 24 Rachel quote:I had become very, very large. I really hope whoever sold that house closed on it already, for their sake. . quote:And out I came. Several tons of me. An insane, horrific combination of human and African elephant. The unpredictability of the incomplete morph had resulted in a huge creature with a long trunk, tiny, human ears, big elephant legs, and blond hair. That line. That line, right there. quote:"HhhhRRRRRRuuuhhh!" I trumpeted again. I raised my massive trunk high in the air. Four police officers stared with identical expressions of total, absolute disbelief. Four mouths hung open. They blinked. One of them rubbed her eyes. There we go. The Veleek does have a weakness, and that's mass. It just cant pick up stuff that's too big. Oh, also, Marco's here. Chapter 25 Marco quote:"Aaaaaaahhhhh!" Cassie screamed. Heh. That's a good line. quote:"I can't drive with you screaming in my ear," I said. You remember Wipeout? Good game. Probably not great for driver training. quote:BUMP. BUMP. I was back on the road. Not going to lie. Marco's driving adventures....best chapter in the book. Chapter 26 Jake quote:The good news was Marco had gotten out of the neighborhood, so he couldn't destroy any more trash cans. Honestly, I could go for a book that's just an Animorphs road trip. quote:B-R-R-A-A-A-A-A-K-K! I mean, it's kind of a fun chapter, I guess, right? Thought of the day. Veleek is the Yeerk word for pet. I don't see the Yeerks as big pet owners.
|
# ? Aug 21, 2020 00:07 |
Visser Three is a cat person, and the Veleek just claws up everything that comes anywhere near it. It's definitely a cat.
|
|
# ? Aug 21, 2020 00:28 |
|
Epicurius posted:I don't want to bias you all. Maybe some of you are liking it, but honestly, I don't think this is a very good book. Rachel is sidelined in chapters like this for most of the story. So far, in 22 chapters, Tobias has had one. I don't know. We'll get through this, though. At least Rachel is going to become an elephant. People like elephants! Yeah, I agree; it kind of highlights how good the other books are in comparison, though. The best way I can think of to describe it is that this book feels like one of those movie spin-offs of an anime where they have to make sure that nothing plot-important happens during it.
|
# ? Aug 21, 2020 01:12 |
|
these driving escapades justify the book
|
# ? Aug 21, 2020 01:20 |
|
Ytlaya posted:Yeah, I agree; it kind of highlights how good the other books are in comparison, though. I think that's the exact mission statement for all the Megamorphs books which is why the rest of them rely on spacetime discontinuities as a plot device. The Chronicles books do it much better by being prologues.
|
# ? Aug 21, 2020 01:22 |
|
"Do you just HATE TRASH CANS?!!" is my favorite line from the entire series.
|
# ? Aug 21, 2020 02:01 |
|
I love that everyone gets drawn to that bit despite the fact there's nothing idiomatically Animorphs about it. It's just great.
|
# ? Aug 21, 2020 03:11 |
|
it took a while to get going but this got really good really fast
|
# ? Aug 21, 2020 03:25 |
|
|
# ? May 20, 2024 18:00 |
|
The unearned self confidence is very Marco, though.
|
# ? Aug 21, 2020 03:26 |