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freebooter posted:It was absolutely Jake. Cassie I just can't see independently doing something violent/dangerous even as a utilitarian means to an end (at least not this early in the series) and also if she was doing that there'd be no need to warn Gump I think it's Jake too, but Cassie would still warn Gump because she doesn't want him getting turned into a Controller.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 06:04 |
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# ? May 24, 2024 20:52 |
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I only remembered the fly swat scene but dang everything after and including that part was actually incredibly solid
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 06:05 |
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it was obviously Jake, but i think the idea that it was some random electrical fire or whatever kinda funny so i choose thatfreebooter posted:also if she was doing that there'd be no need to warn Gump i mean, even with Cannibill Gates out of the picture she'd still not want the kid talking to their dad and getting infested because they know too much
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 06:05 |
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Yeah I guess, I got the impression it was like 90% about not wanting him to get cannibaled though. Also kudos to Applegate for creating such a horrifying visual image without ever explicitly saying what he does. Him - or more likely some very amoral people he's hired - physically cutting open Controllers' heads to pluck out the Yeerk and then discarding the bodies like a Big Mac wrapper. Presumably right there on the premises of the mansion. 10 a month, 120 a year.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 06:24 |
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There's that super fun idea that an evil alien is actually really hard to tell apart from a human billionaire! One's a pitiless, obscenely selfish monster driven by undying hunger for human misery; and the other's a Yeerk.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 06:42 |
Actually I've changed my mind. It was Visser Three. He found the website, traced it back to WAA, and burnt the place down to get back at those meddling Andalites. Job well done all, except Souris 633 who lost his head for pointing out inflammable means the same as flammable
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 06:46 |
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It's also weird that while the use of chat rooms and stuff is obviously very dated, the portrayal of the Gates stand-in comes very close to how you'd show a Zuckerberg or a Jack, as an abuser of the mass of information he's collected. This is well before the PATRIOT Act, too. I had very little memory of this book besides the opening, so when Joe Bob was talking about something Yeerks could do instead of the Kandrona, I thought it might be setting up something in this coming book. Instead it was infinitely more horrifying!
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 06:47 |
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This is possibly my new favorite book in the series. Everything from Jake getting swatted onward is very good at setting a certain tone, and Jake's behavior generally comes off as very believable and realistic (given the circumstances).
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 08:27 |
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Rochallor posted:It's also weird that while the use of chat rooms and stuff is obviously very dated, the portrayal of the Gates stand-in comes very close to how you'd show a Zuckerberg or a Jack, as an abuser of the mass of information he's collected. This is well before the PATRIOT Act, too. Yeah, it's interesting. I remembered the opening, including that Jake had a cringey username, but none of the rest (except the circus act in the AOL HQ). You'd think it would leave more of an impact...
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 08:45 |
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But if Gump's dad decided to just grab him and take him to the pool? Kid's only chance is to not put a "know too much, get him" sign, and then skate by "not worth infesting - for now. In the meanwhile, let's continue the win/loss, per book. If it's before the break, it's quoting my previous post. Book one: initial primary objective, assault on the pool, failed. The second, freeing Cassie before infestation, was a success. Addernum: one member WIA (tobias) - and intelwise, it changed from "possible that some kids may saw something they shouldn't?" & "do we have Andalite survivors?" to "we have Andalite insurgents opposing us". L the first (arguably l - not cause it was not a failure, but cause they did managed to not all die. proportions) 2 : went after intel, got into a fight getting out. All made it, and a bit smarter for the effort. Either a wash, or you can be charitable and give them a w. Note the smallcase. 3 : managed to down an enemy supply ship. W! (also, they erred planning to get fish, made fools of themself getting it, and than the plan went tits-up, and if Tobias was a worse shot, would die pointlessy. Not changing the W, but still. You done goofed) (okay, I'm assuming that said supply ship ain't an "eh") EDIT : was noted to me that their goal was to capture the ship. May put it down to a w. 4 : Managed to rescue Ax, got away cleanly. W. Did get some help from whale jesus, but he joined in since they helped the crucified cetacean before - no point against them. 5 : captured, own trap didn't work, would be total wipe if Yeerks didn't put infighing before winning the war. L. 6 : Sabotaged hospital operation. Success. One member ?IA, rest of team need to care for him a little - but that went smoothly. W or w. 7 : Assault on the Kandrona is successful. W. MM 1 : On the defensive for once, survived and killed their pursuer. W. 8 : could had killed Visser 3, failed. But that's since they be unwilling to execute Alloran, not operational failure. It's a wash. 9 : managed to halt the logging operation. w. 10 : managed to get the objective. Relied on one-time help, died a bit on the way. Could argue either wa - y'know what? dunno. ? 12 : succeded in having a guy not get turned. w. ~~ 13: The pair's liberated, and Tobias got his morphing back. W 14: Discovered an alien toilet, an prevented infestation of military personal. w, but an L for dignity of all involved. (why do 2 Hork-Bajir rate a W, but more humans than that an w? dunno. Maybe I'm wrong?) 15: Underwater base destroyed. W 16: Did not fight the Yeerk empire, but a renegade. If he weren't (and it was a no-quarter fight), it'll be a pyrrhic win. As for next book... It'll be one of those books, ain't it?
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 14:11 |
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I'm going against the grain, I guess. I've always 100% assumed Cassie set the fire. Obviously there's no objectively right answer, but the foreshadowing felt really clear to me.Epicurius posted:
She wants Jake to kill Fenestre but can't bring herself to admit it, especially when Jake is specifically asking her if she wants it. Then Jake tells Fenestre he's not safe anywhere but the house, and, later, tells Cassie "it's hard to fight evil without doing some along the way." So Cassie burns the house down without hurting anybody, putting Fenestre permanently on the Animorphs' kill-on-sight list while keeping her own hands directly free of blood. The last bit matters because it's Jake's book. To me, if Jake had set the fire, there'd be no reason for him to note that "I didn't ask her any questions;" in that case, that line is there to show us that Jake believes Cassie did it but doesn't want that confirmed. In turn, the most likely reason for Cassie to not bring it up is because she did it, she knows Jake figures she did it, and she also doesn't want to confirm that. (Alternately, yes, these few paragraphs don't mean anything other than providing that "mysteries and hard truths," "anyone could have done it!" tone. But even for a kids' series, Applegate is really good at having lines like this imply something. They exist to be read into, IMO, not to be window dressing.)
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 14:37 |
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I'd point the finger at Cassie, too, for a different reason. She's an outdoors girl, and has a much more practical and hands-on extracurricular background than the others. She is, in my opinion, the most likely one of the Animorphs to know how to commit arson and deliberately burn a place down.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 14:53 |
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Gotta side with the Cassie folks here. Mostly because Cassie works best alone when she can make decisions and not feel like she needs to justify them to other people (as future books will show), and burning down JBF’s mansion definitely lines up with that MO. Next book rules, I don’t think it gets quite as heavy as this one does but it has a similar reputation as a silly book that belies the themes and discussions it presents.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 16:33 |
Kill all Yeerks!
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 16:43 |
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Soup du Jour posted:Next book rules, I don’t think it gets quite as heavy as this one does I mean, it starts with attempted suicide...
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 16:54 |
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Remember that time Cassie (implicitly) killed a cop-controller?Epicurius posted:The Invasion-Chapter 27 I think I'm on the side of the Cassie folks here too.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 21:08 |
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Yeah I have zero doubt that it was Cassie.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 21:19 |
I guess what makes me think Jake is the line "I didn't ask her any questions, and she didn't ask me any." It's implying he had something to hide, though since he emphasized the protection ends after the house got burnt down he might be alluding that he merced fenestre after the fire, hopefully by tigering him through a window
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 21:26 |
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From a purely logistical standpoint, Tobias and Ax would have the easiest time going on a solo mission out of town without anyone else noticing. But I don't think either of them have a motive as strong as Jake or Cassie. Maybe Tobias had cause to be upset about Rachel's treatment, but trapping her in stasis was one of the kinder things an antagonist has done to this group.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 21:40 |
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:I guess what makes me think Jake is the line "I didn't ask her any questions, and she didn't ask me any." It's implying he had something to hide I don't read that implication at all. To me, it's not that he had something to hide (for that, I'd expect something more like "I didn't say anything, and she didn't ask me anything"). The book's wording reads much more like he strongly believes it was Cassie, and he isn't asking because he wants to not know for sure that it was Cassie, because what does he do with that, or with her, once he knows it? wizzardstaff posted:From a purely logistical standpoint, Tobias and Ax would have the easiest time going on a solo mission out of town without anyone else noticing. But I don't think either of them have a motive as strong as Jake or Cassie. Maybe Tobias had cause to be upset about Rachel's treatment, but trapping her in stasis was one of the kinder things an antagonist has done to this group. Yeah, Tobias is not the type to go on an after-the-fact violent revenge mission, especially with such little motivation, and Ax both wasn't awake for the discussion with Fenestre (so probably wasn't nearly as worked up about it) and wouldn't do it without Jake's say-so, and I think would probably argue against doing it, since it doesn't benefit either the overall war or the guerrilla war.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 21:55 |
And once again, the fact that none of this is spelt out is one of the strengths of this series.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 22:13 |
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I reckon it was Cassie; remember she's ice cold when she wants to me and may or may not have killed a controller with her bare hands in the first book while the rescue team was turning into tigers. EFB
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 22:50 |
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I think I've got it: both Jake and Cassie, unbeknownst to each other, started a fire on the same night on opposite sides of the mansion. Meanwhile, Marco urgently asks Frasier if he can have a word with him in the kitchen.Ysengrin posted:Remember that time Cassie (implicitly) killed a cop-controller? I had forgotten this - and tbh it feels a bit like a book one thing in which Applegate was still feeling her way into the series, not something she would've written in that early in retrospect. (Although here's an interesting brain bubble: maybe Cassie isn't the Ethics and Morals character just because she's a hippie who loves animals, but also because she was exposed to killing someone other than an alien far earlier than the others.) When they were fighting over whether to kill Fenestre, the thought occurred to me: if they'd done it, would that be the first time they've deliberately taken another human life? I genuinely can't remember if that's happened. (very end of series spoilers) I also can't remember if it ever comes up until towards the very end, when I remember at the very least that Rachel kills Tom, and wouldn't be surprised if there's a whole lot of carnage and accidental deaths and indirectly-caused-deaths and my-decision-got-them-killed deaths in the final battles along the way. And it's heavily implied Rachel mercy kills David. I also remember - can't even recall which book - a real creepy scene-setting moment at the start of a book when they're demorphing and morphing to birds after a generic mission, and there's a dying human Controller who got caught in the crossfire between them and the Hork Bajir, asking for a blanket because they're cold. And the Animorphs just ignore them and don't talk about it.
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# ? Feb 1, 2021 23:50 |
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Ok, time for: Animorphs-Book 17:The Underground-Chapter 1 quote:My name is Rachel. So, there's the obligatory book beginning. I think it's shorter this time, I don't know. quote:<Who is this Schwarzenegger?> Ax demanded. <I have heard Marco use his name before.> Once again, Shaq tempts good men to sin. Is Planet Hollywood still big? I know they just opened a casino in Atlantic City a few years ago. Chapter 2 quote:We had what should have been the worst tickets at the whole event. We were at least a thousand feet from the main stage. A thousand feet, the length of three football fields plus a little more. Rachel knows she loves Lucy Lawless. quote:For a moment I considered teaching Marco a lesson. He was in osprey morph. Ospreys are big birds. But they might as well be chickens alongside a bald eagle. It would be so easy to go into a stoop, shoot past him, flare up beneath him, and make him tumble. Because the Animorphs aren't allowed good things, chapter 2 is a suicide attempt.
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# ? Feb 2, 2021 04:11 |
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freebooter posted:(very end of series spoilers) I also remember - can't even recall which book - a real creepy scene-setting moment at the start of a book when they're demorphing and morphing to birds after a generic mission, and there's a dying human Controller who got caught in the crossfire between them and the Hork Bajir, asking for a blanket because they're cold. And the Animorphs just ignore them and don't talk about it. Megamorphs 4
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# ? Feb 2, 2021 06:35 |
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Is Bruce Willis known for his harmonica playing?
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# ? Feb 2, 2021 06:37 |
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Edna Mode posted:Is Bruce Willis known for his harmonica playing? I dunno about "known", but it was a thing he publicly did, yeah
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# ? Feb 2, 2021 06:48 |
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Animorphs-Book 17:The Underground-Chapter 3quote:The wind ripped across my face. I used every last ounce of the eagle’s flying instincts to gain speed. Was it enough? So we've learned that Rachel knows the difference between eagles and ducks, and is not particularly sympathetic to those who attempt suicide. Also, a bunch of raptors are probably not going to be able to hold a person aloft Chapter 4 quote:“Well, that’s just classic,” I complained the next day as we all hooked up at the mall food court after school. I had USA Today. I had our local newspaper and a bunch of others. Every one of them showed the same picture. And they all had basically the same headline: So now we know the truth behind his governor win. You know, they were republishing the books a while ago and updating references. They never got to this book, because the rereleases didn't really sell well, but with the celebrities they mention, I wonder if they would have changed them. quote:“This society is way too celebrity-obsessed,” I said. “It is so superficial.” It's interesting about Rachel. She's heroic, but doesn't like taking credit for it or recognizing her own heroism.
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# ? Feb 3, 2021 05:03 |
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Here is an bald eagle floating and swimming, if you wanted a visual. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oznph6m9lOs
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# ? Feb 3, 2021 06:07 |
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Animorphs-Book 17:The Underground-Chapter 5quote:Three days later. My house. My still-not-completely-fixed house. Shrimp doesn't keep, even in the fridge. If you have leftovers, eat them the next day. Your intestines will be glad. quote:My mom walked in, carrying two leather briefcases. One was normal size. The other was one of those big, kind of square ones. She hefted them both up onto the counter. Oops. Also, if you're heart beats three times quickly and then stops, you have heart palpatations. So while you're in the hospital for the food poisoning from the shrimp, you should get that checked out too. Chapter 6 quote:“So that’s the nuthouse,” Marco said with satisfaction as we all gazed up the hill at the pleasant looking but weirdly quiet two-story structure. “I always suspected I’d end up here.” I'm assuming Rupert J. Kirk is some sort of inside joke or reference of Applegate's, but I don't know what it is. quote:“Who else has the willies?” Cassie wondered. So they're in, sort of, halfway.
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 05:23 |
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Everyone failing to laugh at Jake's joke (jape?) burns, it really does.
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 05:28 |
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If only Jordan knew Rachel was a shapeshifter who could just morph out the food poisoning if she needed to. Then Rachel could have all the gross mounds of decomposition bacteria she wanted. Also, the first time I read this book, I was just as lost as Ax was with the Schwarzenegger bit. I had heard of The Terminator, so I got it when the newspaper headlines came up, but I still had no idea how to say it. I missed a lot of the pop culture references in the books, actually. Rachel's mother posted:He calls them Yerks or Yorks or something.
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 06:22 |
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Shwoo posted:Wait, is it... not pronounced Yerk? That explains why I called them Yeeks until the show came out and used the Yerk pronunciation. I've always pronounced it yeerk, like year with a k, because that's how it's spelled. Pretty sure I'm in the minority, and I don't think there's much of a difference in the American accent, but i never got where people were getting that an -eerk spelling makes an -erk/-urk sound. Aaaand boy the jokes about mental health in this one did not age well.
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 06:36 |
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QuickbreathFinisher posted:Aaaand boy the jokes about mental health in this one did not age well. Yeah, it makes you realise the '90s was actually a full-on 25 years ago even though I could swear they were just yesterday. quote:“The feeling I get when I reach the school door every day,” Jake muttered. This... doesn't feel very Jake! If the Animorphs didn't happen I'm sure he'd be captain of the football team, King of Prom, then settle down as a middle manager at an insurance firm or something, with a nagging feeling that he'd peaked in high school
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 08:57 |
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freebooter posted:This... doesn't feel very Jake! If the Animorphs didn't happen I'm sure he'd be captain of the football team, King of Prom, then settle down as a middle manager at an insurance firm or something, with a nagging feeling that he'd peaked in high school Unless it’s a "haha, look at me fitting in, like one if the team, hoho" kind of moment
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 09:24 |
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Eh, Jake is very much an A type personality. It doesn't seem like an ego thing but he still very much needs control, direction, etc. And I could totally buy that without the real seriousness of running a guerrilla war against aliens he would be agonising over making the basketball team or worrying about whether doing debate would fit with his schedule and if Tom would make fun of him for it. I think outwardly Jake is the kind of person who would be a successful high school jock but inwardly he would be in constant angst.
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 12:56 |
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Maybe this is obvious to everyone, but I've forgotten: how old are they supposed to be at this point, and how much time has passed since book one?
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 15:20 |
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MrNemo posted:Eh, Jake is very much an A type personality. It doesn't seem like an ego thing but he still very much needs control, direction, etc. And I could totally buy that without the real seriousness of running a guerrilla war against aliens he would be agonising over making the basketball team or worrying about whether doing debate would fit with his schedule and if Tom would make fun of him for it. Eh. We know that Jake tried out for the basketball team and failed. My impression of Jake, between my childhood memories of the series and this thread, is that he was kind of coasting through life and never found something he truly cared about enough to take seriously and really commit to. I think he'd be the "He has incredible potential if only he'd apply himself" sort until he eventually found the thing that clicked with him, maybe after changing majors a few times in college. For good or ill, the war is that thing and I think it brings out both the best and the worst in Jake as the series goes on.
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 15:36 |
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rollick posted:Maybe this is obvious to everyone, but I've forgotten: how old are they supposed to be at this point, and how much time has passed since book one? Time's kind of indeterminate, but say they're around high 13, low 14 by this point.
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 15:50 |
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# ? May 24, 2024 20:52 |
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QuickbreathFinisher posted:I've always pronounced it yeerk, like year with a k, because that's how it's spelled. Pretty sure I'm in the minority, and I don't think there's much of a difference in the American accent, but i never got where people were getting that an -eerk spelling makes an -erk/-urk sound. I’ve also always pronounced it like “year + k.” Because that’s how it’s spelled! I think maybe it’s just an unusual word - I can’t think of anything that rhymes with “yeerk” that would make people familiar with pronouncing an “eerk” sound, but there are words like “clerk” or “jerk” that prime you for “erk” rhymes. People are weird about convincing themselves they can’t pronounce sounds they aren’t familiar with.
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# ? Feb 4, 2021 16:00 |