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

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Safety Biscuits: Oct 21, 2010

nine-gear crow posted:

My work here is done

OK, I've requested your perma and it should go through as soon as HA has time to check the queue.

# ? Aug 31, 2020 12:08

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# ? May 23, 2024 06:15

Homora Gaykemi: Apr 30, 2020; by Fluffdaddy

ax and marco were good together last book

ax and tobias seem like they'll be good together from what we're seeing this book

one feels like maybe ax is just good

e: something that i'd kind of forgotten about, but stumbled back onto while browsing the TFWiki earlier today, is that there were some Animorph-themed Transformers toys released in the late 90s. since we're on an Ax book, here's the toy version of Ax and something resembling a scorpion morph, maybe

Homora Gaykemi fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Aug 31, 2020

# ? Aug 31, 2020 12:12

Kazzah: Jul 15, 2011; Formerly known as
Krazyface; Hair Elf

The reuse of the stalk-eyes is inspired

# ? Aug 31, 2020 12:25

Homora Gaykemi: Apr 30, 2020; by Fluffdaddy

Krazyface posted:

The reuse of the stalk-eyes is inspired

i hadn't even noticed that until you mentioned it lmao, but yeah, that's some good engineering

honestly apart from the giant glans-looking tail piece up on the chest and the claws hanging off the forearms it's not a bad looking Andalite mode, either. it's a little blocky, but hey, that is what it is. though it definitely looks more Visser 3 than Ax man

# ? Aug 31, 2020 12:50

Kazzah: Jul 15, 2011; Formerly known as
Krazyface; Hair Elf

While we're talking Animorphs transformers, at one point they devised this:

To be clear, the first set of images are supposed to be Jake, Marco, and Cassie in just their regular human forms.

# ? Aug 31, 2020 13:41

Terror Sweat: Mar 15, 2009

Krazyface posted:

While we're talking Animorphs transformers, at one point they devised this:

To be clear, the first set of images are supposed to be Jake, Marco, and Cassie in just their regular human forms.

Looks fine to me, what�s the problem?

# ? Aug 31, 2020 16:30

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

Is it weird that I find the most egregious part to be how white they made Marco?

# ? Aug 31, 2020 21:18

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

My name is Cassie. I can't tell you my last name, or where I live. If I did, they'd find me. The Yeerks. They're everywhere. And if they find me, they'll kill me, my friends, my family. If they don't kill me, they'll do something even worse.

Just a few months ago, before I knew about the Yeerks, my friends and I were just normal kids. Massive scaly golden arms, average golden legs with average three toed reptilian feet, winglike shielded segments protruding in all the places you'd expect, one long conical arm roughly two times my body length... But that all changed the moment we met Prince Elfangor.

# ? Aug 31, 2020 22:32

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

SirSamVimes posted:

Is it weird that I find the most egregious part to be how white they made Marco?

I think it would be more egregious if it weren't for the fact that Jake and Marco had identical heads.

# ? Aug 31, 2020 23:16

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Alien-Chapter 6

A human has only two eyes. Both are on the front of the face. It Is the same with most Earth species. These human eyes are very similar to our own main eyes. But humans seem fascinated by my stalk eyes. One of the humans, Marco, has said they "creep him out big time." I believe this is a compliment. - From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

quote:

There it is," Cassie said. "School. Or, as I like to think of it - purgatory."

The school was very active. There were large numbers of humans racing about at high speed. Others moved very slowly and seemed sad or ill. Many carried books. Most made mouthsounds.

As usual they were dressed in a shocking variety of clothing. Clothing is not a uniquely human idea, but of course Andalites do not indulge in it.
However, when I am in human morph I must wear clothing. All of my human friends, even Tobias, agree on this. They agree very strongly on this one point.

I saw Rachel and Marco approaching through the crowd of humans.

My other human friends tell me that Rachel is beautiful and Marco is cute. As an Andalite, I don't observe either trait. However, when I am in human morph I begin to see that Rachel actually is very beautiful. But I never see that Marco is cute.

Seems like a little bit of a heterosexist statement to me, to make that point. But maybe it just reinforces that Ax is straight.

quote:

At school, the Animorphs must pretend not to be very close. This is so any suspicious human-Controllers will not begin to think of them as a "group."

"Hi, Marco, Rachel," Prince Jake said. "Meet my cousin . . . Phillip."

"Yes. I am Prince Jake's cousin, Philiip," I said. "I am from out of state."

Marco made a smile with his mouth. "You're from way, way out of state."

"Don't call me 'Prince,'" Prince Jake hissed.

"Nice to see you again, Phillip," Rachel said and winked. Since she was really Jake's cousin, she would have already met "Phillip." "See you guys later. Good luck."

"You'll need it," Marco added.

We went inside the school building. It seemed to be nothing but a very long corridor. It was filled with humans. Along each side of the corridor there were doors. Some of the doors were large. But there were hundreds of much smaller doors. I observed people opening the small doors, but no one ever went inside.

"Where do the small doors lead?" I asked.

"Nowhere. Those are lockers," Cassie said. "Everyone has a locker. See? There's my locker right there."

We went to Cassie's locker. It was decorated with a shiny pendant. The pendant had a wheel with numbers on it. Cassie spun the wheel back and forth.

"Is that a ritual?" I asked. "Chew-ull. Ritual."

"No, that's a lock. It keeps people out."

"Why?"

"So they won't steal my stuff." She opened her locker and began putting things in and taking things out.

"What is that?" I asked. "Thuh-at. That."

"It's just a picture," Cassie said. She quickly closed the door of her locker.

"It looked like a picture of Prin ... of Jake," I pointed out. "Why would you have a picture of him when he is right here and you can see him?"

Cassie shrugged and looked down at the ground. Humans have many facial expressions. I believe this one indicated either sickness or embarrassment.

Little awkard here....

quote:

"Come on, Ax," Prince Jake said. He was smiling at Cassie and she was continuing to look sick or embarrassed. "We'll see you later, Cassie. Time for first - "

Just then, a terrible, mind-shattering sound!

BBBBBRRRRRRRIIIIINNIMNNGGGG!

I spun around. I raised my human arms, ready to use them for defense. I wished I had my tail.

It's a terrible thing to be without a tail in a fight. But I was ready to do the best I could with my human body.

"Ax! I mean, Phillip. Relax."

BBBBBBBRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNIMNGGGG!

"That noise!" I cried. "What kind of beast is it?"

"Ax, it's just the bell for first period," Jake said. "Take it easy. People are staring."

"It's not a threat?"

"No. It's not a threat. It's depressing, but not dangerous."

I followed Prince Jake as he led the way down the hall. It was difficult to forget the horrible noise. When humans are threatened their bodies are flooded with a chemical that make them hyper-alert, fearful, and aggressive. The chemical is called adrenalin. My system was now
flooded with adrenalin. It was very distracting.

We entered one of the large doors. In side were approximately thirty humans arranged in small, confining seats. At the front of the room was a large table. An older human stood there.

"Everyone get to your seats," the older human said.

Prince Jake said, "Mr. Pardue? This is my cousin from out of town. His name's Phillip. He's just hanging with me today, okay?"

"Just sit. Sit. Be quiet and sit."

I could tell from Prince Jake's facial expression that he was troubled. He took my arm and led me to the back of the room.

"Take that desk," Prince Jake said.

"Take it where? Wheh-err? Where?"

"I mean sit in it."

I understood sitting. I was getting pretty good at passing for human.

Once, for two days I had to morph Prince Jake and pretend to be him. I was successful in fooling his parents and brother. Although I later learned that his parents believed "he" had become mentally ill. When the real Prince Jake returned, they took him to see a doctor.

"Sitting in this desk is unpleasant," I said.

"You got that right, dude," a human I didn't know said.

"What is going on back there? Quiet down," the teacher demanded loudly. "What is ... what. . . wha . . ." Suddenly, he clutched at his head with both hands. "Everyone be quiet! Quiet!"

Now Prince Jake looked very troubled. "Mr. Pardue, are you okay?"

All the other humans stared at the teacher, too. Everyone was very quiet.

"Okay?" Mr. Pardue demanded in a loud, angry voice. "Am I okay? Am I - aaaaahhhhh!"

Without warning, Mr. Pardue pitched forward. He fell on the floor. He clawed at his head with his hands.

And he cried. "Yeerk! Get out of me!"

He clawed at his head till blood began to flow.

"Aaaaaarrrggghhh!" the teacher cried as he clawed at his head.

One of the humans began screaming. "What's happening?! What's happening?!"

Someone else ran from the room into the hallway and began to shout, "Help! Help! Help!"

Prince Jake and I sat very still, side by side in the back of the room.

"Stop damaging our body!" Mr. Pardue cried. Then, as if he were answering himself, he said in a slurred voice, "Get out my head! Get out of my head! You're finished!"

Prince Jake's gaze met my own. We both knew what was happening.

"That makes two," Prince Jake whispered.

"Two that we've seen. Something is going wrong for ... for them."

Mr. Pardue began crying. He began cursing. All the while he writhed on the floor, and the other humans stood around horrified, helpless.

"Did you know this teacher was a Controller?" I asked Prince Jake, making my voice very quiet.

"No. He always seemed like a nice guy. I can't just sit here and watch this!"

We see other times that Andalites can identify Controllers, but he can't here. I don't know if this is just a mixup or what.

quote:

"Get OUT OF ME!" Mr. Pardue screamed suddenly.

The Yeerk in the teacher's head was weakening. It was starving from lack of Kandrona rays.

The human host, the real Mr. Pardue, was fighting for control.

Suddenly, Prince Jake stood up and rushed to the teacher's side. I was right behind him. I tried to grab his arm to stop him, but he was too quick.

"Prince Jake!" I snapped, but he ignored me.

Prince Jake knelt by the teacher's bleeding head. "I know what this is," he whispered. "I know what this is, Mr. Pardue. Ride it out. The Yeerk will die. You'll be free."

Others were coming closer. Close enough to overhear. "Stay back," I said to them. "There may be danger."

I didn't know what else to say. It seemed to work. The others stayed back.

Mr. Pardue rolled his eyes up to focus blearily on Prince Jake's face.

Prince Jake grabbed the teacher's shoulder in a tight grip. "I've been there," he whispered. "I've done it, Mr. Pardue. I was a Controller for a while. I survived. Just hang in."

I searched the faces of the other humans, try ing to see if they had overheard. Jake was my prince, but this was dangerous, foolish behavior.

Suddenly, the door of the room opened. I recognized the human who rushed into the room.

Chapman.

He is the assistant principal for the school. He is also a high-ranking Controller.

"All right, kids, everyone out," Chapman snapped. "Everyone out to the playground. Out of the building. Mr. Pardue is just sick."

"You!" Mr. Pardue cried. "No! Chapman is ... he's . . ."

"I said OUT!" Chapman roared.

The humans fled the room, anxious to be away from the scene of madness.

But Prince Jake did not move. He stayed by the human called Pardue. I saw his fists clenching. There was a dangerous light in his eyes.

Chapman looked at me. Then back at Prince Jake. "Jake, you and your friend get out."

For a frozen moment of time, no one moved. I held my breath. Would Prince Jake start a fight? If so, I would have to join him. But this was a foolish fight. Prince Jake could not afford to reveal himself.

I grabbed Prince Jake's arm and yanked him up to his feet. He glared furiously at me.

"We have to go," I said.

Slowly he nodded. "Yeah. Hope he gets better." He looked at Chapman. "He will get better, won't he, Mr. Chapman?"

"Who can say?" the Controller answered coldly.

I drew Prince Jake away. He stopped at the door, and we looked back to see Chapman draw a short steel cylinder from his pocket. He pressed it against the neck of the weeping teacher.

"No!" Mr. Pardue cried. "No!"

Then, very quickly, Mr. Pardue fell silent.

Prince Jake trned away and ran. He pushed his way through the others, who were still clustered just outside the classroom. He ran clear outside. He gasped at the air, as if he did not have sufficient oxygen.

I caught up to him, but it was difficult. He has more practice running on two legs.

"Prince ... I mean, Jake. Are you sick?"

He shook his head. "Pardue was a Controller. The Yeerk was starving. And why? Because we destroyed the Kandrona. Me and you and the others. We did this!"

"It was necessary," I said. "We struck a powerful blow against the Yeerks by destroying the Kandrona."

"Chapman killed him, didn't he?" Prince Jake said. "The little steel cylinder. Did you see that? Not just the Yeerk, but the real Pardue. He killed them both."

There was no point in lying anymore. Prince Jake had seen the truth. And the idea of lying now, here, made me feel unwell inside.

"If the Yeerk inside the teacher had died, the teacher would have survived and been free," I said. "He would have told other humans what happened. He would have warned them. The Yeerks can't allow witnesses."

"They're going to kill every host whose Yeerk dies, aren't they?" Prince Jake asked bitterly. "Every human-Controller whose Yeerk dies is going to be eliminated. That's true, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Prince Jake's face showed an expression. I believed it was an expression of sickness.

"We did this," Prince Jake said.

"It's war," I said.

"My brother," Prince Jake said. "Tom. He's a Controller. What about him?"

I had no answer. The Yeerks would save as many as they could. But if their emergency system was breaking down, they would do what had to be done. They would eliminate any evidence.

Prince Jake was staring at me. "You knew they would do this?"

I glared back at him. Maybe it was the human adrenalin in my system, but I was becoming angry now. Angry at the accusing look in Prince Jake's eyes.

"Yes, I knew."

"How did you know?"

I hesitated. Prince Jake did not like my hesitation. He suddenly wheeled around and pushed me against the wall.
'
'How did you know the Yeerks would do this?"

"Because it's happened before. You think this is the first planet the Yeerks have infiltrated?

Do you think Earth is the only place where we Andalites have fought them? They don't leave witnesses."

Prince Jake let me go. But he looked at me with unmistakable suspicion. "I don't like you keeping secrets from me, Ax. I'm your friend. We're your friends. We should know whatever you know. You didn't tell me about this."

"Terrible things happen in war," I said. "You did what you had to do. Destroying the Kandrona was part of that war."

"You can say it's a war," Prince Jake said. "But I hate it."

"Love the warrior. Hate the war. War-ruh."

"What is that, an old Andalite saying?" Prince Jake asked sarcastically.

"Yes. My brother used to say it."

It's pretty much the Andalite version of "Don't hate the player, hate the game."

quote:

Prince Jake looked at me for a very long time. It made me uncomfortable.

"You know some thing, Ax? Sometimes I get the feeling we humans are just pawns in this big game between you Andalites and the Yeerks. We're just ammunition in this war, aren't we? Too dumb to know what's going on. Too primitive to be real warriors."

"That is not the way it is," I said. My own anger was diminishing. Prince Jake's suspicion was not.

"You fight alongside us, Ax. As far as I'm concerned, you're one of us. But then I find out you're keeping secrets. Rachel and Marco keep asking me: What do we know about Ax? What has he ever told us about his own planet, while we show him everything? I told them we could trust you. Now I wonder. I really wonder. There's no trust when you keep secrets. You should have told me this is what the Yeerks would do. You know I have a brother who . . . you know about Tom. I had a right to know what could happen."

"Maybe you would not have destroyed the Kandrona if you had known it could endanger Tom," I pointed out.

Prince Jake stuck his face very close to mine. "That's what you think? You know what, Ax? You're right to try and learn more about humans. Because you don't know a thing about us. Not a thing."

I think, in a lot of ways, this has probably been the most emotionally intense of the books so far.

The Alien-Chapter 7

An Andalite may think that humans are simple, open, trusting creatures. But they are more subtle than they seem to be at first. Possibly this is because of their spoken language, where no word ever means just one thing. - From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

quote:

My day at the human school ended with the removal of the teacher who had been a Controller. Prince Jake went home. I went back to the woods and gratefully resumed my true shape.

But I spent a very bad afternoon and night. I realized that Prince Jake and the humans could never be true shorms. I knew there was a wall be tween me and them. But they were all I had.

Without them, I was utterly alone. And Prince Jake's anger and suspicion had hurt me. It is a terribly lonely thing to be a billion Earth miles from every living member of your own people.

The next day, Marco invited me to "hang out" with him. This was a surprise. Marco has never been very friendly, unlike Cassie and Tobias and Prince Jake. Rachel, too, has never seemed to take to me.

I morphed into my human body and met Marco at the edge of the woods.

"So," he said. "You want to be Pinocchio, huh?"

"What?"

"Pinocchio was a little boy carved out of wood. He wanted to be a real, live human."

"I do not want to be a human. I merely wish to study them."

Marco smiled. "What a coincidence. And I want to study Andalites."

It took several minutes for me to understand what he was saying. "Oh. Prince Jake asked you to press me for information."

"Jake was a little ticked off that you didn't tell us everything you know," Marco said. "Rachel was even more ticked. Come on, we have to catch the bus. You want to learn about humans, right? I thought I'd take you to a book store. Smart as you are, you can learn to read English."

"Bookstore? Book-kuh-store?"

"Yeah. Books. Fiction. History. A hundred thousand books all about the human race. And you get to choose any of them you want. We have no secrets, unlike certain species I could mention who don't even tell us a little thing like how they eat with no mouth."

"I see. You open your society to me. Soci-eteee. Teee. And you want me to do the same in return."

"I told Jake I could cleverly weasel all the information out of you, but he said, 'No, Ax is a friend. Show him we have nothing to hide. Maybe he'll finally decide to trust us.'"

I felt a pang of guilt. They were treating me with trust. They had never done anything to hurt me. On the contrary, they had been wonderful to me. Good in every way.

"I have reasons for keeping secrets," I said.

Marco nodded. "Yeah, we know. Rachel says you probably aren't allowed to interfere with primitive races like humans."

I was surprised. It was very close to the truth. At first I did not know what to say.

Marco smiled a cold smile and nodded his head. "So that is it, right? Kind of too late for that attitude, isn't it? After all, the Yeerks are interfering with us like crazy."

I had no answer to give. But as I looked around at the street, at all the humans in their cars, and all the humans lurching along on two legs, it occurred to me just how defenseless I would be without Prince Jake and Marco and the others.

We had reached the bus stop. Suddenly Marco slapped his pants. "Oh, man. I left my money at home. We all pitched in for your book fund. I left it on my desk. Come on."

"Where are we going? Ing? Ing-ahng-ing. That is a very satisfying sound."

"Yeah, everybody loves a good 'ing.' We have to run over to my house. Don't worry, it's just around the corner."

Marco led me down the street. There were houses on both sides. Big, boxy structures with transparent rectangles here and there.

"That is Prince Jake's house," I said. I had spent time in Prince Jake's house.

"No, it's just the same model as his house. This is a subdivision. There are only like five different models of houses. They all look alike. Welcome to the suburbs. But it beats the place I used to live in."

If you remember, Marco moved when his dad got his old job back.

quote:

He was correct. There were only five types of house. Although some had more grass, and some had less. Also, some houses were decorated with items that had been placed on the grass.

"What is that decoration?" I asked.

Marco followed the direction of my gaze. Then he rolled his eyes upward. "That's a Big Wheel."

"It is very attractive. Very colorful."

"Uh-huh. I'd love to tell you how it works, but it's the very height of human technology, so it's secret. Primitive races could get hold of Big Wheels, and then who knows what might happen?"

I am still learning about human mouth- sounds. But I am very sure Marco's sound was "sarcasm."

"There's my house. My dad is home, working. He sprained his ankle, so he's using his home computer. Don't be weird, okay?"

"No. I will not be weird. Weeeerd. Weeeeer- duh. I will act like a normal human."

"You act like a normal human and you'll win an Oscar," Marco said. He led the way up to his house and opened the door. "Okay, look, you wait right there by that table. Don't go anywhere. If my dad comes in and talks to you, just say 'yes' and 'no.' Got it? Yes and no answers only. I'll run up to my room. I'm gonna call one of the others to meet us at the bookstore. You're already driving me nuts."

I stood by the table. There was a primitive computer on the table. It even had a solid, twodimensional screen. And a keyboard! An actual keyboard.

I touched the keyboard. It was amazing. Andalite computers once had keyboards, too.

Although ours were very different. And it had been centuries since we'd used them.

On the screen of the computer was a game. The object of the game was to spot the errors in a primitive symbolic language and correct them. Of course, before I could play I had to make sense of the system. But that was simple enough.

Once I understood the system, it was easy to spot the errors. I quickly rewrote it to make sense out of it.

 I said to myself.

"Hello?"

I turned around. It was an older human. He was paler than Marco, but other features were similar.

Marco had warned me to say nothing to his father but "yes" and "no."

"No," I said to Marco's father.

"I'm Marco's dad. Are you a friend of his?"

"Yes."

"What's your name?"

"No," I answered.

"Your name is 'No'?"

"Yes."

"That's an unusual name, isn't it?"

"No."

"It's not?"

"Yes."

"Yes, it's not an unusual name?"

"No."

"Now I'm totally confused."

"Yes."

Marco's father stared at me. Then, in a loud voice he yelled, "Hey, Marco? Marco? Would you ... um ... your friend is here. Your friend 'No' is here."

"No," I said.

"Yes, that's what I said."

Marco came running down the stairs. "Whoa!" he cried. "Um, Dad! You met my friend?"

"No?" Marco's father said.

"What?" Marco asked.

Who's on first?

quote:

Marco's father shook his head. "I must be getting old. I don't understand you kids."

"Yes," I offered.

After that, we went to the bookstore.

Ax is remarkably vulnerable. He''s got the Animorphs and nobody else. And if they stop trusting him, if they turn away from him, he's pretty much doomed.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Sep 1, 2020

# ? Aug 31, 2020 23:42

Karma Comedian: Feb 2, 2012

You could make the argument that ax absorbed dna from straight dudes so his dude is genetically straight maybe?

# ? Sep 1, 2020 04:32

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

YESSSSSS AN EXCUSE FOR MY FAVOURITE SMILEY

:biotruths:

# ? Sep 1, 2020 04:33

Homora Gaykemi: Apr 30, 2020; by Fluffdaddy

Karma Comedian posted:

You could make the argument that ax absorbed dna from straight dudes so his dude is genetically straight maybe?

My favourite superhero is Biderman, a guy who becomes bisexual after his dna is altered from being bitten by a radioactive spider

# ? Sep 1, 2020 04:43

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

"The school was very active. There were large numbers of humans racing about at high speed. Others moved very slowly and seemed sad or ill."

I really like this book.

# ? Sep 1, 2020 05:20

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I like the fact that Ax is savvy enough that when they're genuinely in a serious situation in human morph, he's perfectly capable of acting normal. Of course that's simply because Applegate wants to use him for comic relief a lot, but my headcanon is that because he's a teenager like the rest of them all of his other odd behaviour is deliberate poo poo-stirring because he knows there's no real consequences.

Also unless I'm mistaken, despite what he tells Jake about the Yeerks, as far as we learn they've never before conducted a secret invasion of a planet like they have with Earth. The Taxxons was an alliance and and the Hork-Bajir was open warfare.

# ? Sep 1, 2020 07:11

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

The Hork-Bajir Chronicles disagrees with that. It ended as open warfare but began in stealth.

# ? Sep 1, 2020 07:49

Kazzah: Jul 15, 2011; Formerly known as
Krazyface; Hair Elf

Canny of Marco to get him into a human morph before he started asking questions

# ? Sep 1, 2020 08:12

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

I thought it was strange at first that Ax would be so surprised by the alarm bell going off at school. I assumed there would be alarms of all sort on an Andalite Dome ship. But I re-read the prologue and at no point - not through coming out of Z-space, or ambushed by Yeerks, being attacked or detaching the Dome - does it ever mention alarms going off, just shouted orders and thought-speech announcements.
We know Andalites have ears but I never thought about how a telepathic species would relate to various sounds. Pretty cool detail, which I think was mostly for comic relief.

# ? Sep 1, 2020 19:21

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

freebooter posted:

I like the fact that Ax is savvy enough that when they're genuinely in a serious situation in human morph, he's perfectly capable of acting normal. Of course that's simply because Applegate wants to use him for comic relief a lot, but my headcanon is that because he's a teenager like the rest of them all of his other odd behaviour is deliberate poo poo-stirring because he knows there's no real consequences.

He definitely takes things seriously when poo poo's going down, though I don't know if it's "acting normal" so much as it's instinct taking over. When poo poo's not going down and his mind can wander, that's when taste and voice jump to the top of the priority list (which, sometimes, causes poo poo to go down...).

# ? Sep 1, 2020 22:17

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

Ax rules

# ? Sep 1, 2020 22:29

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

disaster pastor posted:

He definitely takes things seriously when poo poo's going down, though I don't know if it's "acting normal" so much as it's instinct taking over. When poo poo's not going down and his mind can wander, that's when taste and voice jump to the top of the priority list (which, sometimes, causes poo poo to go down...).

I think a lot of it is that Ax is/was a military cadet, with at least some formal training, an older brother who was a pretty respected commander and who's memory he's trying to live up to, and from a society that's at war and has been at war for a while. So, I think that it's while he likes to explore earth and try new tastes and goof off and be a kid, he knows when he needs to be serious.

# ? Sep 1, 2020 23:24

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Alien-Chapter 8

Books are an amazing human invention. They allow instant access to information simply by turning pieces of paper. They are much faster to use than computers. Surprisingly, humans invented books before computers. They do many things backward. - From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

quote:

It was evening of the next day. I was in the woods. I was reading a book. The book was called the World Almanac. Did you know that twelve percent of households have a dehumidifier? Did you know that a sheep can live for twenty years? Did you know that humans used to believe the sun orbited Earth?

It's a wonderful book.

When I was a kid, my parents used to buy me the World Almanac every year for Christmas. It is a wonderful book.

quote:

The book told me many useful things. It took humans only sixty-six years to go from inventing the first flying machine to landing on the moon. It took Andalites almost three times as long.

Humans are a very clever species. Someday, if they survive, they could be one of the great races of the galaxy.

Of course, Andalites will always be greater.

I was standing by the stream, with one hoof in the water, drinking, when my stalk eyes saw a swift shadow falling from the sky.

Tobias opened his wings and shot just over my head. <Ax! Everyone is looking for you. Stay right here. I have to get them.>

He had kept most of his speed, so he swiftly disappeared above the trees. But a moment later he was back, with four other large birds of prey following him.

Tobias took a position on a branch. The others landed on the ground. I knew then it was the other Animorphs.

They quickly began to demorph. Prince Jake grew out of a falcon's racing body. Rachel emerged from a huge bald eagle. Cassie and Marco had both acquired osprey morphs, and were now becoming human again.

I felt a tingling of worry. They had obviously been searching for me, and were in a hurry.

<What is the matter?> I asked.

<What's the matter?> Marco demanded. <You're asking what's the matter? I'll tell - >

But just at that point, Marco crossed the line from thought-speaking morph back to human.

His human mouth was still a beak, however, so he just squawked.

I watched Cassie as she made the change. Cassie is a natural estreen-. a person with an ability to make morphing almost artistic. On my planet it is an art form. There are professional estreens who change shape in fantastic, beautiful ways.

Cassie was not a professional, but she had the talent. As she morphed, she formed pleasant shapes. For a while she had an enlarged osprey's head, as large as a human head, and vast wings attached to a human body.

When the others morph, they are much less subtle. For them, human parts simply ooze out, while feathers melt away. It is very unappealing. The humans find it frightening and disgusting as well, I believe. And they even recognize that Cassie has a talent for morphing.

So that's kind of interesting, with Cassie and morphing and all. We knew about it for a while, but not really that the Andalites recognized it as a special talent.

quote:

"What did you do?" Marco's human mouth had reappeared.



"My dad's computer. You did something to it, didn't you?"

<I...I merely played the game.>

"Game? GAME?! That was no game, that was my dad's work!"

<No. It was a game. You had to find the errors in the instructions.> Suddenly an idea occurred to me. <Oh, I understand. Your father designs games for children.>

Cassie started to laugh, then silenced herself.

"No, Ax, he writes software programs for high-tech uses. He was working with astronomers at the observatory. They were designing a program for aiming the radio telescope at the new observatory."

I nodded, as I had seen humans do. <Yes, it could be used for that purpose. But it was so obviously full of errors ... I assumed it was a child's game.>

"If you say 'game' again, I swear I'm going to punch you," Marco said.

Prince Jake put his hand on Marco's shoulder. "What Marco means is, it was not a game, Ax. His father is going nuts about it."

"My dad says you may have created some whole new branch of computer software, plus, at the same time, opened up new ways to do astronomy. He showed it to the guys at the observatory. They are totally losing it! They're talking about Nobel prizes! I had to convince my dad it was just an accident. I told him you were an idiot, and you were not the next Einstein."

Oops.

quote:

<Einstein. Yes. I read about him in the World Almanac. He was the first human to realize that matter and energy - >

"Ax!" Rachel exploded. "Are you not getting this? What if some Controller hears about this new software? Don't you think they might guess it was an Andalite who came up with it?"

It hit me quite suddenly. She was right. If those equations were supposed to be real, not a game, but real. . . Then I had just pushed human science ahead by a century. Maybe more.

"I think he just got it," Marco said sarcastically.

<What is a radio telescope?> I asked Marco.

He shrugged. "Like I would know? What am I, a science teacher?"

"A radio telescope is a telescope that sees by picking up radio waves and other radiation from outer space," Cassie said.

Marco gave her an incredulous look.

"Not all of us sleep through science class, Marco," Cassie said.



"What?" Marco snapped. "What about the changes you made?"

<The changes I made would only . . .>

Suddenly I stopped. The truth ... the whole truth . . . was beginning to dawn on me. A radio telescope? A huge, high-powered collector of broad-spectrum energy?

My mind raced through memories of classes from a long time ago. I could almost picture my teacher explaining. . . yes. Yes! With the right adjustments, the right software . . . Yes, I could bounce the collected energy back, focus it, modulate it with my own mind, and . . . And break into Z-space. Zero-space.

I could use the system to send messages through Z-space! I could communicate with my own world!

I felt it as a blow that made me weak. It was true. I could use that radio telescope to call my home world. To call my people. My family.

I don't think I had ever admitted, till that moment, just how much I wanted to see another Andalite.

"Ax, what are you hiding now!" Rachel demanded.

I tried to concentrate on her question. But my mind was spinning. It made me feel weak. I could contact my home planet. I could...

But at the same time, there was another truth: I had to destroy this technology. I had broken the law of Seerow's Kindness. I had given the humans a huge advance in technology!

"Ax, Rachel asked you a question," Prince Jake said tersely. "What is this? What's up with you?"

My duty was clear. I could not tell my human friends what I had done. I had to erase the damage.

But before I did that. . . would it be wrong to contact my family? Would it be so wrong to once again see them?

 I lied. <Nothing at all.>

Poor, poor Ax.

Chapter 9

quote:

They left, and I ate. I feed at dark whenever possible. It is not the way I would do it at home, but I must always be very careful not to be seen. When I run in the open spaces it must either be dark, or Tobias must watch over me.

My friends tell me that from a distance I look like a normal Earth animal. A deer, or perhaps a small horse. But if any human saw me clearly, he would immediately know that I am not an Earth species.

So I eat at night, running wildly through the open grassy fields where Cassie's farm meets the edge of the forest. I run beneath a single moon, so different from the moons of my own world. The moon of Earth rises and sets. On some nights it cannot be seen at all. There are always at least two moons in our sky. And when all four moons are in the night sky, it is nearly as bright as day.

Home. Billions of miles away. Sometimes I hurt from thinking about my home. A warrior has to overcome that. But on nights when I stood alone in the forest, or ran alone in the fields, I couldn't help but think of home.

And now it was worse. So much worse, thinking that I could talk to them, if I really wanted to.

I could turn the humans' radio telescope into a Z-space communicator. But if I did, I would have broken our own law. I would have given the humans an advanced technology.

I couldn't do it. I wasn't Elfangor. I couldn't just decide to break the law of Seerow's Kindness.

And yet, in the back of my mind, there was another thought. I had already accidentally transferred the software to the humans. It was an accident, so I hadn't broken the rules. And if I went to the observatory to wipe out the software ... I would actually be doing the right thing.

I could go to the observatory and erase the software. But before I erased it, I could use it to call my home. Would that be wrong?

In my memory I saw myself with my father and mother. And Elfangor was there, too. He was alive in my memory.

I remember when I was very little and Elfangor, who was already a great warrior, came home on leave. I barely knew him. I'd seen his communications, but I'd never met him face to face. He had been away when I was born, off fighting the Yeerks.

But we went running together, just the two of us. Me all clumsy. Elfangor like some creature from an Andalite myth, so fast and so powerful.

It was kind of a shock to me. Until then, I guess I'd thought I was the most important person in the family. But it was hard to feel very important with Elfangor around.

He didn't say much to me. He didn't give me some "big brother" lecture. He was just himself.

He talked to me the same way he talked to my parents. He never treated me like a younger Andalite, and that was great. After that, there was never any question in my mind what I wanted to be when I grew up: I wanted to be a warrior. I wanted to be like Elfangor.

And now he was gone. My parents might not even know. For sure they didn't know I was still alive.

Honestly, his homesickness and loneliness here is just so palpable and so tragic.

quote:

I slowed my run. I was far across the fields. I could see the lights from Cassie's farm.

Foolish! I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I had grown careless.

I turned to head back toward the forest.

"You might as well hang around for a while," a voice said.

<Cassie?>

She loomed up from the darkness. How had I missed seeing her? I looked closer. Cassie began to change. She kept her own human face, but the ghostly gray-white mane of a horse.

And her legs ended in hooves, not human feet.

<You morphed a horse,> I said.

As soon as she was fully human she responded. "I do that sometimes. I like running. But don't tell Jake. He'd be mad at me using morphing for personal things."

 I said. 

Cassie laughed quietly. "I doubt it. I'm just a friend. And a fellow Animorph."

<Then why do you sometimes hold hands and intertwine your fingers?>

"Oh . . .well, you weren't supposed to see that."

<Why not?>

"Um, it's kind of a long story," Cassie said. "Just forget it, okay? How is your study of humans going?"



"So, what do you think?"



"Uh-huh. What do you really think?"

I hesitated. She seemed to want a more complete answer. But you can never be sure with humans. Often they become offended by small things.

 I said.

"Aside from being able to have a lot of human hosts? Why?"

<They're afraid of you.>

"Afraid of us? Why?" She laughed. "Have you been reading all the stuff about wars? Humans aren't just about fighting wars. It may seem that way, but - "

<Every species fights wars,> I said. <In the past, Andalites made war on other Andalites. And the Hork-Bajir used to have a biological time clock that set them all warring every sixty two years. As for the Taxxons . . . they are cannibals.>

"Yeah, well, we humans haven't been exactly perfect."

<Every species has something to be ashamed of,> I said. <Every species carries some terrible guilt.>

She looked closely at me. I could almost see her wondering whether I meant Andalites as well. But she decided not to ask that question. Instead she asked another. "So if it isn't the wars that bother you, what is it?"

<You discovered radioactivity in 1896. In 1945 you exploded an atomic weapon. Forty- nine years. In 1903 you flew for the first time. Sixty-six years later, you landed on your moon.>

"You really did read the World Almanac, didn't you?" Cassie said with a smile. "You're saying we do things quickly?"

<I'm saying that if the Yeerks don't destroy you now, they know that fifty years from now, humans will be capable of faster-than-light travel. And a hundred years from now . . . who knows?>

"How long did it take you Andalites to do those things?"

<I...I don't remember,> I lied.

"I see," Cassie said. I believe her tone of voice is called "disappointed."

<I...>I hung my head. It sounded pathetic, even to me.

"Not even if it might help us beat the Yeerks? But isn't that what your brother did, when he gave us the power to morph?"

I could not think of an answer. It was true, of course. Elfangor had broken our laws.

"Did I say something wrong?" Cassie asked.

<I'm not Elfangor,> I said finally. <I'm more like you. Just a young one. Elfangor was a great prince. My people might understand and forgive what Elfangor did, because he was an important person.>

"I see," Cassie said. "You know what? Why don't you morph to human and come inside? You could meet my mom and dad. We're just about to have dinner."



Cassie raised one eyebrow. "You've eaten, huh?" She seemed about to ask me a question, then decided against it. "Okay, but you could still come in. You don't have to eat much. Just hang out. Come on, it would do you good."

<Do me good? Do I seem ill?>

"No. Just lonely. You seem very lonely."

The word pierced me. I was surprised how much it hurt.

Yes, I was lonely. But I didn't think the humans knew.

<How would you explain to your family who I was?>

Cassie shrugged. "You morphed Jake once, right? So be Jake."

The thing is, I'm not sure that it was just carelessness that brought him so close to Cassie's farm. I think he just wanted to be around somebody, even if it was an alien, and to know that they were nearby.

Also, we get into the old "Humans are special because we advance really quickly" trope, which doesn't bother me, but I know a lot of people don't like. What do other people think about it?

(I'll also point out, inviting Ax in for dinner is maybe not the best idea, given past experiences)

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Sep 1, 2020

# ? Sep 1, 2020 23:45

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

I don't mind the trope, it's more a statement about adaptability than intelligence. It does get old when you see it everywhere, but this is one of the early examples of it right?

# ? Sep 2, 2020 00:06

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

It feels very '90s. A relic of a more optimistic age.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 00:10

ANOTHER SCORCHER: Aug 12, 2018

Epicurius posted:

Books are an amazing human invention. They allow instant access to information simply by turning pieces of paper. They are much faster to use than computers. Surprisingly, humans invented books before computers. They do many things backward. - From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

I remember as a teen being bothered by the obvious socio-historical nonsense of this: how could any species invent computers prior to books? But maybe because Andalites use thought-speech it was less intuitive to turn those impressions and ideas into pictorial symbols. More likely it�s just a bit of 90s-era scholastic �Reading is fantastic!�

Epicurius posted:

Also, we get into the old "Humans are special because we advance really quickly" trope, which doesn't bother me, but I know a lot of people don't like. What do other people think about it?

I�m somewhat willing to forgive it here because the other species aren�t just humans in funny faces but are distinct enough that their alternate development paths make sense. Andalites are telepathic grazers with 1/100th the population density of Earth, Hork-Bajir are engineered to be dumb, Taxxons I�m unsure were even technological before the Yeerks got to them, and the Yeerks are basically parasitic neural mats who only recently got uplifted technologically anyway.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 00:18

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

So according to Ax, we should have faster-than-light travel in about two decades?
I miss the 90's.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 00:21

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Tree Bucket posted:

So according to Ax, we should have faster-than-light travel in about two decades?
I miss the 90's.

No one in the 90s could have predicted 9/11, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 00:33

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:

I remember as a teen being bothered by the obvious socio-historical nonsense of this: how could any species invent computers prior to books? But maybe because Andalites use thought-speech it was less intuitive to turn those impressions and ideas into pictorial symbols. More likely it�s just a bit of 90s-era scholastic �Reading is fantastic!�

KAA's distaste for computers is rolleyes-worthy sometimes (though, sure, it was the 90s, computers all kinda sucked), but I admit to enjoying it when it's Ax being all "what kind of species invents the computer after the faster, more reliable, cheaper book?"

# ? Sep 2, 2020 01:27

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

disaster pastor posted:

KAA's distaste for computers is rolleyes-worthy sometimes (though, sure, it was the 90s, computers all kinda sucked), but I admit to enjoying it when it's Ax being all "what kind of species invents the computer after the faster, more reliable, cheaper book?"

Applegate seems wary of computers, Grant loves computers from the sound of it, both utterly despise the internet, and with good reason :v:

# ? Sep 2, 2020 02:21

Piell: Sep 3, 2006; Grey Worm's Ken doll-like groin throbbed with the anticipatory pleasure that only a slightly warm and moist piece of lemoncake could offer; Young Orc

Epicurius posted:

Also, we get into the old "Humans are special because we advance really quickly" trope, which doesn't bother me, but I know a lot of people don't like. What do other people think about it?

ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:

I remember as a teen being bothered by the obvious socio-historical nonsense of this: how could any species invent computers prior to books? But maybe because Andalites use thought-speech it was less intuitive to turn those impressions and ideas into pictorial symbols. More likely it’s just a bit of 90s-era scholastic “Reading is fantastic!”

I’m somewhat willing to forgive it here because the other species aren’t just humans in funny faces but are distinct enough that their alternate development paths make sense. Andalites are telepathic grazers with 1/100th the population density of Earth, Hork-Bajir are engineered to be dumb, Taxxons I’m unsure were even technological before the Yeerks got to them, and the Yeerks are basically parasitic neural mats who only recently got uplifted technologically anyway.

Also Andalites are (spoilers for future Andalite culture info) kind of dumb as well. On top of that, they don't really organize well in large groups, they're basically all arrogant as hell, and they're very hierarchical and caste-oriented with warriors at the top. Andalite women are pushed to the scientific side but also Andalite society is also sexist and thinks women are inferior because they can't fight as well, so I'm sure attempted scientific advances got pushed over by some War-Prince demanding a tailblade on his ship so he can stab the Yeerk ships.

Piell fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Sep 2, 2020

# ? Sep 2, 2020 02:42

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

I can't wait for the next chapter.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 03:01

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

freebooter posted:

It feels very '90s. A relic of a more optimistic age.

The 90s really did seem to assume that the world had been getting better quickly, and would only keep getting better.

Not only did that not happen, I can only sigh at how naive and blind to existing problems and fault lines we seemed to be.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 03:17

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

I'm really fascinated by the idea of the Hork-Bajir bioengineering a war every 62 years. Does that get addressed in Hork-Bajir chronicles?

I wonder how that lines up with their life history and stuff. Like, do they only live 20-30 years each and at most distant have a cool grandfather that was in the last war? Or is it more in line with their life history so each "generation" gets a big war. And also like, why? I remember the HB homeworld being (HB Chronicles spoiler) a rifted forest where the deep volcanic parts house their creators, the genetic manipulation obsessed Arn. But I don't remember really why they created them or if any of the cultural stuff was ingrained genetically or taught to the first of the species or whatever. will be interesting to see if any of that ties into the deeper looks we get into Hork-Bajir life. I maybe just forgot it all since it's been years.

I just reread book 13 so I'm really in love with Hork-Bajir at the moment.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 03:17

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

QuickbreathFinisher posted:

I'm really fascinated by the idea of the Hork-Bajir bioengineering a war every 62 years. Does that get addressed in Hork-Bajir chronicles?

It is addressed by saying that the Hork-Bajir don't know what war is. And that like was changed for the rerelease. I think it's just a matter of Applegate changing her concept of them between The Alien and Chronicles.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 03:23

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Cythereal posted:

The 90s really did seem to assume that the world had been getting better quickly, and would only keep getting better.

Not only did that not happen, I can only sigh at how naive and blind to existing problems and fault lines we seemed to be.

There were kind of two inflection points that inextricably set things on the "things only get worse now" path, at least in the United States, and both came after Animorphs, and the 90s were effectively over: George W. Bush becoming POTUS, and 9/11 happening. The series came in for a landing at the perfect moment in history because 9/11 would have just t-boned it irrecoverably.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 03:23

Piell: Sep 3, 2006; Grey Worm's Ken doll-like groin throbbed with the anticipatory pleasure that only a slightly warm and moist piece of lemoncake could offer; Young Orc

nine-gear crow posted:

There were kind of two inflection points that inextricably set things on the "things only get worse now" path, at least in the United States, and both came after Animorphs, and the 90s were effectively over: George W. Bush becoming POTUS, and 9/11 happening. The series came in for a landing at the perfect moment in history because 9/11 would have just t-boned it irrecoverably.

Especiallythe part where the animorphs fly a plane into a skyscraper in one of the later books

Piell fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Sep 2, 2020

# ? Sep 2, 2020 03:29

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

nine-gear crow posted:

There were kind of two inflection points that inextricably set things on the "things only get worse now" path, at least in the United States, and both came after Animorphs, and the 90s were effectively over: George W. Bush becoming POTUS, and 9/11 happening. The series came in for a landing at the perfect moment in history because 9/11 would have just t-boned it irrecoverably.

I wish the books' message of "war is awful, even if you say it's a 'good' war" was circulating a bit more widely back then...

Piell posted:

Especiallythe part where the animorphs fly a plane into a skyscraper in one of the later books

Imagine the thermals!!

# ? Sep 2, 2020 03:40

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

Piell posted:

Especiallythe part where the animorphs fly a plane into a skyscraper in one of the later books

I... don't remember this at all.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 03:49

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

I... don't remember this at all.

They steal a Bug Fighter at one point and are forced to ditch it before it crashes after it's shot down, I seem to recall.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 03:54

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# ? May 23, 2024 06:15

Piell: Sep 3, 2006; Grey Worm's Ken doll-like groin throbbed with the anticipatory pleasure that only a slightly warm and moist piece of lemoncake could offer; Young Orc

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

I... don't remember this at all.

nine-gear crow posted:

They steal a Bug Fighter at one point and are forced to ditch it before it crashes after it's shot down, I seem to recall.

No, they literally steal a jet and fly it into a building, jumping out of it in bird morph before it hits

# ? Sep 2, 2020 04:00

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

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