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OctaviusBeaver posted:A movie could cover up to the first Rachel book where they destroy the kandrona machine if they want a happy ending. Would probably be unsatisfying without sequels. That's the second Rachel book, so that'd be a lot of ground to cover, unless you just incorporated it into book 1 and had the mission to the Yeerk pool be to destroy the Kandrona, and have it succeed but the cost is Tobias getting trapped in morph. If you wanted to keep them separate and span from the beginning to the destruction of the Kandrona, you'd have to include or write around Ax, Visser One, and the Ellimist. (Rachel and Tobias's first books could easily be excluded, as could Jake's capture.)
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 04:26 |
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# ? May 26, 2024 15:27 |
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I think limiting a movie to just the first book wouldn't yield much in the way of exciting material. They could combine plot elements from the first half dozen books and have enough for a summer action flick. Maybe make Ax a prisoner in the Yeerk Pool rather than stuck in the ocean. Rescuing him on Elfangor's dying wish is the big second act mission, which ends in tragedy as Tobias is trapped in morph. The movie ends with destroying the Kandrona but the post-credits scene is Visser One arriving with reinforcements as Visser Three gets chewed out by Marco's mom. Really though I think the better adaptation would be a mission-of-the-week series where one episode out of every two or three advances the broader storyline. And animated. Epicurius posted:About Erek King....he is a real person (presumably not an android, but I don't know for sure). Scholastic had an essay contest, asking, if you could morph an animal, what would you morph?", with the winner being written into the books. He won and his winning entry is below... I guess that explains why they give his full name in the narration instead of protecting his identity.
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 04:31 |
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Epicurius posted:I have to admit, the movie makes me a little nervous, just because of the size of the story. So, do you just do the movie based on the first book, ending with Tobias as a hawk, and everyone barely able to escape with their lives? That's kind of a downer (and pretty much cries out for a sequel), Or do you find a way to force some sort of happy ending? Yeah, I think the books are too short to work as movies on their own. Combine at least the first three, maybe the first five; that way everyone finds their reason to fight, giving them decent arcs, plus Ax is introduced, since he's an important part of the dynamic.
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 08:06 |
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Erwin the German posted:Agreed, I suppose. It's been a long time since I read the series, so I could be totally forgetting some things that already would have flown over my 10 year old head. In addition to the graphic novel, there's also a movie planned, I think? Hopefully that gives us a fresh and more multifaceted reading on all this material. Yeah, I think the fact that in the scene we were just discussing, Marco looks to Jake to share a pre-battle moment, but he's already sharing a moment with Cassie, so Marco just immediately starts thinking about Ax being kind of hot, reminds me of how I interacted with my awkward preteen crushes/friends before I even really knew what was up with my sexuality. I vaguely recall there being a lot of other things like this, especially in the Marco books. I agree obviously about text being better than subtext, but I do think there is a realism here that was never achieved with Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series. Likely because we were never really inside Dumbledore's head like we get with Marco. And also probably because of who JKR turned out to be as a person. I'm about to read book 15 in my personal reread and I'm very excited for the (spoilers up to book 26 or so) Yeerked hammerheads and to see where the stuff with Marco's mom goes. I'm already starting to remember some of the major plot beats but after the David stuff is where it starts getting a little fuzzy. I remember th Howlers coming back in a big way in book 26, but even though I read on quite a bit past that I have no idea what happens after book 30 or so. I had forgotten how sad the Pemalite holocaust at the hands of the Howlers was. The Chee are very tragic. The "thousand year old teenager" trope can be a little goofy usually, but Erek is likable enough, and I don't remember him ever really annoying me. This book is where things start getting really wild. I'm really enjoying Tobias's books this time around.
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 22:37 |
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Book 10: The Android-Chapter 17quote:I don’t think I would have believed any of it. Except for the small fact that we were in a huge underground park. And there were androids walking around. Above, it was pointed out how Erek is less annoying than the standard "Thousand year teenager", and a lot of that is because he's not. Like all the Chee, Erek is fully mature, and is just disguising himself as a teenager. quote:“How long has this been going on?” Cassie asked. This is kind of a nice touch. Marco, who hates the Yeerks, and has every good reason to, nevertheless feels pity for the Yeerk Erek has imprisoned. And, of course, what Erek is doing is the same thing the Yeerks are doing....he has it completely trapped, unable to move or exercise its will, and using its memories as he wants to. quote:But another reaction was much stronger. We had an ally! A powerful ally. An android who could pass as a Controller, who could enter Yeerk society. And an android with many powers of his own. It's really not surprising that the Chee have factions and disagreements like everyone else. One of the things this book does well is, too often in science fiction and fantasy, non-humans are all one thing, so in Star Trek, the Vulcans are all logical, the Klingons are all violent and obsessed with honor, or whatever, and the idea that there are differences in these alien societies are downplayed. But so far in this series, we've seen Visser One set the Animorphs free to gain a political advantage over Visser Three, even though that hurt the Yeerk war effort, and now we've seen the Chee disagree over the morality of non-violence and non-interference, with Erek and Maria the head of two diametrically opposed factions. We've seen less of the Andalites as a society, but we've seen both Seerow and Elfangor willing to disobey the law against sharing technology because they felt they had a moral obligation to break the law, tragically in Seerow's case. I think it makes for a more developed world when you allow diversity of opinions and goals between members of the same group, instead of making them monolithic. Chapter 18 quote:We rode the fake basement back up, leaving the eerie golden world of dogs behind. It's an interesting debate, and one that I don't know that a lot of books would have. I think there's another component to this here, which is, how responsible are the Animorphs for the choices of the Chee? At least some of the Chee want this, or at least are willing to accept it, or at least think they are, and they have the right to make their own decisions and choices. So, sure, if the Animorphs get the crystal for the Chee, they're going to be responsible for it, but it's up to the Chee to decide to use it or not. I don't deny that this feels a lot like a serpent in the Garden of Eden sort of thing. quote:Cassie walked down to the far end of the barn and came back carrying a small cage. So, yes, its a puzzle.
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 23:32 |
I'm reminded a little of HK-47 in the factory having to work out how to kill himself. But the difference here is, the question is *should* he kill himself. These books are amazing.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 00:03 |
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Epicurius posted:It's really not surprising that the Chee have factions and disagreements like everyone else. One of the things this book does well is, too often in science fiction and fantasy, non-humans are all one thing, so in Star Trek, the Vulcans are all logical, the Klingons are all violent and obsessed with honor, or whatever, and the idea that there are differences in these alien societies are downplayed. But so far in this series, we've seen Visser One set the Animorphs free to gain a political advantage over Visser Three, even though that hurt the Yeerk war effort, and now we've seen the Chee disagree over the morality of non-violence and non-interference, with Erek and Maria the head of two diametrically opposed factions. We've seen less of the Andalites as a society, but we've seen both Seerow and Elfangor willing to disobey the law against sharing technology because they felt they had a moral obligation to break the law, tragically in Seerow's case. I think it makes for a more developed world when you allow diversity of opinions and goals between members of the same group, instead of making them monolithic. And the series will do this over and and over again. The Yeerk Pacifist Faction, Arbron and the Hive Taxxons, Ellimist and Menno versus the conservative Ketrans as a whole, even Toby could be seen as a version of this. Applegate does a good job of fleshing out different species through their dissenters.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 00:44 |
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Epicurius posted:This is kind of a nice touch. Marco, who hates the Yeerks, and has every good reason to, nevertheless feels pity for the Yeerk Erek has imprisoned. And, of course, what Erek is doing is the same thing the Yeerks are doing....he has it completely trapped, unable to move or exercise its will, and using its memories as he wants to. It's very interesting that Cassie raises no objection whatsoever to this, especially since she was so quick to realize the moral qualms about morphing sentient creatures before. Her only concern is a functional one. I'm surprised, but maybe she's just still reeling from the Pemalite genocide stuff. I don't remember if Erek's Yeerk even comes up again. I kind of wonder how this would have played out if this was a Cassie book. That said, I do think the tone of the action in this book, between the goofy dog androids and the contrast of the insane level of violence Erek ends up inflicting when he rewrites his programming at the end of the book, is probably best delivered through a Marco book as he really excels at narrating these types of stories. I like how in only two books each (except Ax and Tobias of course) these characters' books are really starting to diverge in theme. And yeah, consistently reminded how this series has no business being as good as it is. Excited to dig into the Invasion graphic novel when it arrives.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:15 |
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I just got the Invasion graphic novel on Kindle. It's very much a point for point plot retelling. The art is really good, though.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:20 |
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Epicurius posted:I just got the Invasion graphic novel on Kindle. It's very much a point for point plot retelling. The art is really good, though. My only issue with the art was that making Tobias's hair that long made it hard to distinguish between him and Rachel in a bunch of panels. Not a problem going forward, obv. EDIT: It was cute that they rewrote the Tobias-morphing-Dude scene to have unmorphed Jake still try to thought-speak to morphed Tobias, but Tobias is like, "nope, didn't hear anything."
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:23 |
post the eight legged fire beast
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:24 |
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I'm glad I'm not the only one who was inspired by this thread to order the graphic novel It is funny though just how much of a resurgence in Animorphs there's been lately between the movie announcement, the graphic novel release, and of course the general uptick in remembrance and discussion of the series (Such as this thread). I'm glad to see it though, it was a great series and really ahead of its time in a lot of ways.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:26 |
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disaster pastor posted:My only issue with the art was that making Tobias's hair that long made it hard to distinguish between him and Rachel in a bunch of panels. I had that same problem. Tobias has headphones. I did like that you could clearly tell the family relationship between Jake, Tom, and their dad. Tom looked like an older version of Jake with shorter hair, and their father looked like an older version of Tom. Comrade Blyatlov posted:post the eight legged fire beast Epicurius fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Oct 12, 2020 |
# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:29 |
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Do they make Andalites look as doofy photoshoppy as the original cover arts did?
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:32 |
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FlocksOfMice posted:Do they make Andalites look as doofy photoshoppy as the original cover arts did? Eh, not quite. Here's Visser 3 Regarding family relationships, here's Jake, Tom, and their dad:
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:44 |
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The Yeerk pool spread was seriously impressive art, too. Better than my mental picture. On the other hand, Chapman looked nothing like my mental picture, and for some reason that bothered me.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:47 |
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disaster pastor posted:The Yeerk pool spread was seriously impressive art, too. Better than my mental picture. It was the beard, wasn't it?
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:51 |
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Epicurius posted:It was the beard, wasn't it? It was the beard.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 02:53 |
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Epicurius posted:Here's Visser 3 big fan of Thiccer 3 Jake and the family look great, it always bothered me in the TV show that Shawn Ashmore and the guy that played Tom looked basically as different as two conventionally attractive white Canadian actors could look.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 04:01 |
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Oh god, it's dadbody Visser 3.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 04:22 |
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For years, Visser Three was a colossal rear end. Now Visser Three has a colossal rear end
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 04:29 |
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Acebuckeye13 posted:I'm glad I'm not the only one who was inspired by this thread to order the graphic novel
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 04:46 |
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SardonicTyrant posted:I remember seeing them in the old scholastic catalogs they'd hand out in school, but I never read them then, I thought the covers were goofy and took it at face value. What got me to give the series a glance was that dumb Virgin Harry Potter / Chad Animorphs meme. I'm easily amused, but the animorphs books seriously impressed me. That meme may be dumb but it's also just the facts
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 05:06 |
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FlocksOfMice posted:Something that's really sending me is, how rereading this for the first time in like, 20 years? The mental images are, I'm positive, almost the exact same ones I saw 20 years ago. I remember imagining Cassie's barn looking the same when I was a kid as I imagine it now. I read these books so often, very clear images got into my head of what things looked like. Specifically I remember before the first Andalite art, I pictured them way more literally, with brown deer bodies, and segmented scorpion tails. disaster pastor posted:The Yeerk pool spread was seriously impressive art, too. Better than my mental picture. I think I also first thought of Andalites as having brown, segmented, chitinous, literal scorpion tails. But that's really interesting re: imagining locations. When I read - whether as a kid or today as an adult - I almost always just subconsciously slot in an actual real place from my own life. Not hyper-realistically, but sort of in the way that a dream has vague edges. The lake in this book is the lake I would visit as a kid; the Animorphs' high school is just my primary school; Jake's house is just the house I lived in when I started reading the books; Marco's new house's deck is just the verandah out the back of that house. (As in, this is how I vaguely pictured it at the time, and how I still picture it.) I guess if a scene is primarily dialogue and character, I don't think about the stage dressing? I never really develop visual images of characters, either. Even at the moment, I'm reading Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell, and there's a couple of scenes in people's houses where the actual decor or layout is irrelevant, so - and I only realise this now that I specifically think of it - one of them I'm mentally placing in a house I lived in when I was about 14, and one of them I'm placing in the house of my best friend from age 7-12. Even though the novel is set in London, where I lived more recently at age 25, I don't think I've ever subconsciously enlisted my London address as a mental stage. Maybe only places that got embedded in my formative years get whipped out.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 09:39 |
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SardonicTyrant posted:What got me to give the series a glance was that dumb Virgin Harry Potter / Chad Animorphs meme. QuickbreathFinisher posted:That meme may be dumb but it's also just the facts You can't just say that and then not share it.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 13:43 |
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 15:15 |
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freebooter posted:But that's really interesting re: imagining locations. When I read - whether as a kid or today as an adult - I almost always just subconsciously slot in an actual real place from my own life. Not hyper-realistically, but sort of in the way that a dream has vague edges. The lake in this book is the lake I would visit as a kid; the Animorphs' high school is just my primary school; Jake's house is just the house I lived in when I started reading the books; Marco's new house's deck is just the verandah out the back of that house. (As in, this is how I vaguely pictured it at the time, and how I still picture it.) I guess if a scene is primarily dialogue and character, I don't think about the stage dressing? I never really develop visual images of characters, either. I think that's deliberate from Applegate's point of view. I think she wanted Animorphs to seem like it could happen to anyone, living anywhere.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 15:44 |
Can we have the 8 headed fire beast
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 17:13 |
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:Can we have the 8 headed fire beast It got added in an edit, scroll up.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 17:38 |
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"Doesn't even know what a thermal is" Game over right there
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 17:46 |
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Actually, Erek and his captive Yeerk raises a new question in my mind: why haven't the Yeerks tried to build artificial bodies for themselves? It's clearly possible to create a small, personal Kandrona, and the technology also clearly exists to hook up a Yeerk's nervous system to a computer. The Yeerks could completely free themselves from the pools and parasitism, if they wanted to.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 22:52 |
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Cythereal posted:Actually, Erek and his captive Yeerk raises a new question in my mind: why haven't the Yeerks tried to build artificial bodies for themselves? It's clearly possible to create a small, personal Kandrona, and the technology also clearly exists to hook up a Yeerk's nervous system to a computer. I kind of assumed that that was really only possible because of how advanced the technology in the Chee is
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 22:58 |
That fire monster is p dope if not how id picture it I always imagined it like incredibly symmetrical and like... each leg and head being a point of an octagon in line with each other
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 23:10 |
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Homora Gaykemi posted:I kind of assumed that that was really only possible because of how advanced the technology in the Chee is Yeah, the hospital jacuzzi is about as advanced as the Yeerks can manage in scaled-down Kandrona technology. We do see a portable suitcase-sized one later.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 23:23 |
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Cythereal posted:Actually, Erek and his captive Yeerk raises a new question in my mind: why haven't the Yeerks tried to build artificial bodies for themselves? It's clearly possible to create a small, personal Kandrona, and the technology also clearly exists to hook up a Yeerk's nervous system to a computer. This, or something like it, may well come up later in the series.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 23:35 |
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The Animorphs: Book 10-Chapter 19quote:I thought for once we’d get a chance to practice with the bat morph. We were planning to go after the Pemalite crystal the next weekend. So once again, they're going with a newish morph that only Marco and Ax have any practice on.. quote:I hung up the phone and thought seriously about pretending I hadn’t gotten the call. I mean, I wanted to do this. It was important, life and death. But it was like something out of Mission: Impossible. And without planning or practice, it was beyond impossible. I like that Marco realizes this. quote:It was the worst possible situation. Any one of our parents could wake up and discover we were not at home. That would mean frantic phone calls back and forth from our folks to our friends’ parents, calls to the cops, probably search teams out beating the woods. So there's a real feeling of doom just going into this. Chapter 20 quote:Erek was not going with us. But he would be waiting outside Matcom when we came out. I love Ax's sense of humor. It's subtle and self-depricating, but it's there. quote:<But we are very light, small creatures. We should survive a fall. So should the others in cockroach morph.> And we leave our heroes on the verge of potential death.
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# ? Oct 13, 2020 00:19 |
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Epicurius posted:The Animorphs: Book 10-Chapter 20 Yeah, but what's new?
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# ? Oct 13, 2020 00:53 |
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I like the slow growth of "No, screw this, we can't do this! Okay I'll only do it this once, for all of your sake" into "Wow, this plan sure is hosed huh? Okay, let's get going I guess."
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# ? Oct 13, 2020 01:15 |
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Book 10: The Android-Chapter 21quote:It was a long drop. Pretty sure a rat will eat a spider or cockroach, given the chance. quote:<Go! Go! Go! It’s gaining!> I yelled. Honestly, that was terrifying. Probably would make a good arcade level. Chapter 22 quote:I somersaulted backward, hit steel floor again, and screeched like a skidding car. I plowed straight into Jake, and a split second later, Cassie plowed straight into me. So, I don't have much to say about either of these chapters, except that they seem very video gamey. Also, like usual, the Animorphs start well, but are terrible at planning.
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# ? Oct 14, 2020 02:16 |
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# ? May 26, 2024 15:27 |
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I always thought that was a pretty understandable mistake - the security system is so intense that you focus all your problem solving on that, and then overlook the part which isn't obvious until it's right in front of you.
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# ? Oct 14, 2020 02:58 |