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

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Terror Sweat: Mar 15, 2009

What

# ? Jul 10, 2021 16:22

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# ? May 28, 2024 10:22

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

What is "body critical pacifism"

# ? Jul 10, 2021 18:35

Bibliotechno Music: Dec 30, 2008

Fuschia tude posted:

What is "body critical pacifism"

Anti-war with a side of exploring the relationship between the body and the self? Eg: pre-transition trans people, POC who pass as white, retaining a human consciousness while in the body of an animal; anyone whose lived experience is at odds with their physical bodies.

Quickbreath, correct me if I�m wrong please, but that�s my reading.

E: And saaaaame, (almost) every time I revisit a favorite from my childhood I�m like �huh, so I always loved gay pinko narratives!�

Bibliotechno Music fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Jul 11, 2021

# ? Jul 11, 2021 01:20

pastor of muppets: Aug 21, 2007; We were somewhere around the Living Hive, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

So I just caught up on six months' worth of thread backlog, basically from meeting the Chee to the Leeran planet to the David arc to the HB Chronicles to....whatever the hell is going on now.

Boy howdy what a ride.

# ? Jul 11, 2021 02:56

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I always love imagining them, if the war has a positive ending and not mass death and enslavement, writing their voluminous memoirs.

Volume XXVIII: The Second Time We Travelled Through Time, Part Six

# ? Jul 11, 2021 03:32

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 27

quote:

O Most High and Tremendous! A calamity has befallen us! Our own ship has now been captured! But we fear nothing! We are the boldest of the bold, the bravest of the brave! Nothing will stop us as we take control of this vast expanse of huge blue fur, and from that base, launch again our plan to conquer the universe!
- From the log of the Helmacron ship, Planet Crusher

I had a plan. A pretty good plan. Just one little problem: We had to stay alive to reach The Gardens.

And that was getting harder real fast.

Ax was morphing from Andalite to northern harrier. That way he could fly and carry the Helmacron ship and the blue box in his talons. And all of us were on him. Marco, Tobias, and I on his fingers. A bunch of Helmacrons on his wrist. Jake and Rachel on one of his legs, running and fighting Visser Three in morph and a bunch of very tiny human-Controllers.

Just one thing. When Ax morphed, not all his body parts stayed in the same locations. Each morph is different. I don�t know why - they just are. And now, as Ax�s body began to melt and shrink and run together, unfortunate things were happening.

The hand we were on was ceasing to exist.

It was like we were standing on molasses. The skin beneath us and around us melted slowly together. It ran beneath our feet, a slow-moving sludgy river. The gigantic finger to our left and the equally gigantic finger to our right were running together. The molasses skin filled the gap between, raising us higher relative to the fingers. But lower, too, because the whole time Ax was shrinking.

Suddenly we seemed to be moving on a swift conveyer belt that went off the edge of the world.

It was like we were on a conveyer belt that became an escalator that then got steeper and steeper!

�Look out!� Marco cried.

<Morph to birds!> Tobias shouted as he flapped his wings and went airborne.

I was slipping, sliding on my belly, grabbing frantically at slick, moving, flowing skin. Beneath me a fall of miles!

Then � a handhold!

My fingers grabbed. Bare millimeters to grasp, but the ledge I held to was growing deeper. My wildly swinging feet found another crack. I clung to a shifting, melting, slithering cliff side!

The angle got worse still. I was upside down! And yet with my insignificant mass, I found I could hold on to the widening cracks.

Marco was dangling not far away, also digging frantic hands and blind feet into cracks in the cliff.

We would have fallen. But for the fact that gigantic feather patterns were appearing across the melting skin. The patterns traveled over the skin like the cracks on a thawing frozen lake. The patterns had just a bit of depth. Just enough for a sixteenth-of-an-inch-tall creature to grip.

Then, between Marco and me, an explosion! The �ground� erupted as the shallow feather pattern suddenly became fully three-dimensional.

SPRRROOOOOOT!

A feather sprouted between us, sweeping us up into its heights. Gray and white vanes grew out of the central shaft, thickening and stiffening till they felt like large bamboo sticks.

The feather lay back then, closely packed with feathers above and below and all around us.

At this point we were almost horizontal again. It was a gentle slope down the feather shaft to the �ground.� I felt a slow, steady, up-and-down motion, though that changed the slope from down to up and back again.

�We�re on a wing,� Marco said.

Tobias came swooping in and landed hard. <You�re on a wing feather,> he said, gasping and panting. 

�Trouble?� Marco said, mocking. �Trouble? What makes you say we have trouble? Everything seems fine to me. Perfectly fine. I have never been better.�

Tobias didn�t laugh. <Somehow we all ended up on the same wing. One of Ax�s legs must have melded with his hand to make this wing. Jake and Rachel are just half an inch away. The Yeerks are coming on fast, and the Helmacrons are forming into what looks like an army about a quarter of an inch over that way.>

�See? I told you everything was fine.�

�Marco, we have to morph. We can�t let the Yeerks see us as humans,� I said.

Moments later, a gorilla and a wolf resided in the weird forest of feathers. We trotted down the feather to the �ground,� the dimpled bird flesh beneath us. And just in time.

A tiger and a grizzly bear came racing toward us, staggering through the slanted quills. Since Jake and Rachel had been shrunk while in morph, they, too, were a sixteenth of an inch tall.

Jake�s tiger face was bloody. He was panting, but not beaten yet.

<Good to see you guys,> he said.

<Where are the Yeerks?> Tobias asked.

<Oh, they�ll be here pretty quick. The Visser is in some weird morph. Lots of bladed tentacles. Like a Hork-Bajir on steroids. Plus there�s a bunch of very scared human-Controllers.>

<I�m tired of running,> Rachel said. <Let�s just do this right here.>

Jake and Rachel joined us, shoulder to shoulder. A huge, lumbering bear, a lithe tiger, a powerful gorilla, and me, a wolf with senses that could smell and hear and almost taste the approaching Yeerks. I was so focused on the Yeerks, I almost didn�t hear the other sound. But then the Visser�s
monstrous morph came rushing from the feather forest. It was like a blood-orange Medusa�s head, each hair snake carrying a scythe. Crowding in behind him were a bunch of very nervous-looking human-Controllers, including Chapman.

Visser Three came to a stop. We stood facing him.

I saw none of the Visser�s usual cool arrogance. <Strange place to meet for our final battle, Andalites,> he said. <But battle we must.>

That was pretty calm for him. I think maybe the fact that he was the size of a dandruff flake depressed him.

We faced off, Yeerk versus human, although the Yeerks still believed us to be Andalites.

And then, from the feathers to our right, there appeared dozens of four-legged, flat-headed, BB-eyed creatures.

<Hah! All our pitiful foes gathered together! All the better to quake in terror before Helmacron might! Surrender and live out your pitiful lives as our slaves, or fight us and die as weaklings!>

For a long, frozen moment, no one moved.

Twisting his tentacles aside to reveal a hideous face, the Visser looked at us. he said, <but these creatures are really, really, really annoying me.>

Now, I know it�s not possible for a tiger to grin, but I swear Jake did.

And for the first and probably last time in history, humans and Yeerks turned as one to face a common enemy.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, the truce didn�t last long. Because just then Ax announced, <We are over The Gardens.>

I gave him quick thought-speak directions and yelled to the others. <We have to get off this bird!>

<What?> Jake demanded.

<We have to jump,> I said. <We have to jump off Ax.>

<Excuse me?> Rachel said. <We�re like a billion miles up!>

<Just trust me,> I said. <Go to the end of a feather and get ready to jump!>

I feel kind of bad for Visser Three. This should be a climactic battle for him where he and the Controllers finally destroy the Andalite bandits, but instead, it's like, what's the point. Also, I'm sorry we didn't see more the Animorphs/Yeerk teamup against the Helmacrons, because they are extremely annoying.

Chapter 28

quote:

I ran. They followed. We left the Yeerks to face the Helmacrons, who, naturally, were yammering happily about us. <Fleeing like quivering cowards before the very flower of Helmacron might!>

 Rachel growled. But she followed me as we hauled along a slanted feather shaft.

It was a long run, but suddenly we could feel a powerful wind blowing over us. Wind like a hurricane.

<Ax! Are we there?> I cried.

<One moment � Prepare yourselves �>

<Jake, Rachel, everyone,> I said, <when Ax says jump, leap off the edge of the feather. We�re too small to get hurt falling. Besides, we�ll have a soft landing. As soon as he ->

Suddenly, the Visser�s monstrous morph was rushing toward us. he said. 

<NOW!> Ax yelled.

We jumped. Each to the limits of his abilities. My wolf body jumped pretty well. And then I was falling. Falling forever, with a grizzly bear not so far above me.

Beyond the bear and the tiger, I saw a shocking sight. The Visser had followed us! His octopuslike morph was falling, legs flailing. And behind him, like so many suicidal jumpers, came a dozen or more human-Controllers.

Far above, at the limits of my vision, I saw a lemming rush of Helmacrons. But because Ax was moving slightly, we were all spread out across the sky. Us, then the Yeerks, then the Helmacrons.

We fell and fell and �

POOMP!

� landed.

We landed in rough fur. I tumbled between a pair of hairs and fell some more. In my wolf morph I couldn�t grab hold with anything but my powerful teeth. So that�s just what I did. I clamped my teeth around a stiff, springy hair.

Once I saw that Rachel, Jake, and Marco were all safe on the skin floor beneath us, I let go and dropped.

I landed on all fours. And instantly I began to demorph.

<You going to tell us what this is all about?> Jake demanded, none too gently.

<I�m not totally sure,> I admitted. <But something occurred to me: When the Helmacrons shrank us, they also shrank all the DNA inside us. All the morphs were reduced to that same scale, right?>

<So?> Marco asked.

<Well, it occurred to me that new DNA, newly acquired DNA, might not be shrunk.>

Jake was already halfway to human. <Hey! You�re saying that -> His thought-speak ceased as he made the transition out of morph.

I was almost fully human, standing crouched beneath a huge hair. �Yes,� I said. �At least, I hope. We should be able to acquire this animal we�re on and morph it. Full size!�

I dropped to my knees and pressed my hands against the flesh. But before I could focus, something hideous bounded wildly into the middle of our group.

�Aaaahhhh!� I screamed and leaped back.

Everyone fell back, shocked and horrified before the armored, inhuman creature.

The flea � because that�s what it was, a flea � didn�t look at us with its tiny black ballbearing eyes. Its eyes didn�t exactly focus. And we�d have been of no interest, anyway.

But even knowing that, the sight of a flea the size of a human was terrifying. They are vile looking little monsters. I know. I�ve been one.
The flea seemed to consider whether it should do something. Decided not to. And fired its spring-loaded legs.

It blew up and out of sight with a speed that was almost comical.

�Let�s get big before we run into any more of them,� Rachel said. �I don�t like this forest. Lions and tigers and fleas. Oh my.�

I dropped to my knees again and focused on the animal beneath us. The others did the same.

�Hey, what are we acquiring?� Jake asked.

�The one animal in the world that is specially designed to see, attack, and destroy creatures like\ the Helmacrons,� I said grimly.

�And that animal is ��

�Anteater,� I said.

Helmacroneater, I think she means.

# ? Jul 11, 2021 04:41

Terror Sweat: Mar 15, 2009

freebooter posted:

I always love imagining them, if the war has a positive ending and not mass death and enslavement, writing their voluminous memoirs.

Volume XXVIII: The Second Time We Travelled Through Time, Part Six

Chapter 8:"Yeah that's right, we genocided an entire race so humanity would survive"

# ? Jul 11, 2021 04:42

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

"The Time That God Changed History So I Would Grow Up An Abused Orphan" by Tobias X.

# ? Jul 11, 2021 05:11

FlocksOfMice: Feb 3, 2009

Imagine if Visser Three was killed during this. Imagine the beautifully miserable anticlimax we could have had.

# ? Jul 11, 2021 21:40

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

The anteater morph is what I meant by this being one of those books where KA thought of the weird animal and then built the book around it. Which is an observation more than a criticism, because the results are outlandishly fun and good. And it works for more serious-minded books as well, like with the giant squid. Though also it often doesn't work... starfish... cheetah...

Epicurius posted:

<Morph to birds!> Tobias shouted as he flapped his wings and went airborne.

Oh, that's your solution to everything.

# ? Jul 11, 2021 23:42

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 29

quote:

�Let�s give it a try,� Jake said. �Let�s get big!�

I have morphed many times and many animals. But I don�t ever remember such a satisfying feeling. I wanted to be big again. I wanted to get back to a world where fleas and mites were � well, fleas and mites.

I was growing swiftly, my human features already melted and distorted, as the Visser burst into view through the fur.

He gaped up at us as we grew.

<Of course!> he said.

But I couldn�t worry about him right then because I was growing at a shocking, wonderful rate. Up, up through the fur! Up till my head was clear of the anteater�s back. Up and up till Tobias flying past seemed small.

Up and up till a much larger Ax in harrier morph seemed no bigger than a 747.

Up till I could see the others, all rising from the fur like hot air balloons ascending from a jungle.

The anteater gave a sudden shake, having felt us, and we tumbled to the ground. But it was wonderful. When we hit the dirt it was just dirt.

We were getting big again!

As you�d expect, the anteater I was becoming had good eyes, at least for small details. I could see Ax resting. I could see Tobias on his shoulder. And I could see the Helmacron ship with the blue box still attached, lying in the dirt with Ax�s harrier talon wrapped protectively around it.

An anteater is a funny-looking animal. From the end of its bushy, feather-duster tail to the tip of its absurdly long, pointed head, it was maybe four or four and a half feet long. It stood as tall as a grown man�s knees. Not a huge animal. But wonderfully big to all of us.

I looked out through keen, anteater eyes and saw a field of vision half-filled by the furred tube that was its mouth. It seemed to stretch out forever.

But even though the giant anteater is comical, it is not helpless. I was resting most of my weight on my hind legs. I balanced on my front knuckles, the better to keep my wickedly curved scythe claws safe and sharp.

I felt the anteater instincts bubbling up beneath my own human consciousness. I braced myself for some extreme fight-or-flight reaction. But the anteater was a calm, lethargic sort of creature. Later I found out they have one of the lowest body temperatures of any land mammal. They�re known to sleep as much as fifteen hours a day.

But this was not a stupid animal. I had excellent hearing and an excellent sense of smell. And I could quite clearly see the rushing groups of Helmacrons and human-Controllers on the ground.

I was in such control of my more obvious instincts that I didn�t really even think about what happened next.

Flit!

My tongue shot out an amazing two feet! It slapped a gaggle of Helmacrons, bathed them in sticky spit, snagged them with the tiny barbs of the anteater tongue, and snapped them back into my mouth before I knew what I�d done.

<Go, Cassie!> Marco said.

I felt something in my mouth, something kind of like teeth, only not, begin to chew �

<No!> I yelled, freezing my jaw muscles.

Then, to my utter astonishment, I heard from deep inside my own mouth, <Surrender now and we may spare you the eternal torment you have earned!>

I shot my tongue back out, and with a great effort of will, kept it there, sticking out, lying flat on the dirt. Stuck to my tongue were a couple of dozen Helmacrons.

<You know, I really don�t want to have to kill you,> I said.

<Surrender and grovel before us!>

I heard another thought-speak voice. Lower and more sinister. <Sentimental Andalite fool,> Visser Three said. He had copied our trick. He had also morphed the anteater. <You can�t kill a Helmacron. They�re a fungible species. Kill one and its mind, if you can call it a mind, is absorbed into another. They never die. Even when they�re dead, they�re not dead. But when it comes to Andalites �>

Flit!

His tongue shot out and snagged not an ant, but a very small bird that had been flying by.

<Aaahhhh!> Tobias cried.

<Tobias!> Rachel screamed.

The Visser stopped his tongue, holding a stuck and helpless Tobias a millimeter from disappearing into his tubular jaw.

<Now we shall talk,> Visser Three sneered.

Like lightning, Ax leaped. Like lightning, his tail blade came down and stopped, quivering, pressed against the Visser�s anteater throat.

<Now we shall talk,> Ax said.

It's a good old fashioned Andalite standoff. Also, the idea that Helmacrons have individual minds and thoughts but a common transferrable consciousness raises a bunch of questions I don't even know how to enunciate.

Chapter 30

quote:

We worked out a deal.

Rachel and Jake lapped up the Helmacrons and held them hostage. It was a relief to know that Helmacrons were basically unkillable. Well, mostly a relief. In any case, they were stuck.

Marco and I demorphed back to our tiny human selves. We did it out of sight of Visser Three, of course. And then we boarded the Helmacron ship. We found some of the pathetically easy-to-intimidate males and had them help us work the Helmacron shrinking ray.

We unshrank Visser Three and Tobias while Ax stood guarding the Visser, the Helmacron ship, and the blue box, tail blade twitching.

We unshrank the human-Controllers and gave the Yeerks safe passage to leave. They weren�t about to argue. After all, we were in control of the shrinking ray.

Visser Three decided maybe the conquest of Earth would work better if he was bigger than a semicolon.

When the Yeerks were gone, Rachel and Jake scraped the Helmacrons off their tongues and demorphed to human. We unshrank them.

Finally, we set the thing on automatic and Marco and I ran outside to stand in the beam.

But not before we had a good, long talk with some of the Helmacron males.

�You guys need a males� liberation movement,� Marco told them. �Why should you put up with being treated like second-class Helmacrons?�

And many of the males agreed. <We could crush the females beneath our feet! Long would they wail and bemoan their fate as we assumed our places as the rightful rulers of all Helmacrons! We would then proceed with our just and righteous plans to conquer all the galaxy! Then all would grovel before us and �>

Well, you know the rest.

�About time to head on home, huh?� Jake asked me.

I nodded. �Yeah. As it is, I�m probably grounded.�

�Oh. I hope not. I was, uh � I don�t know, I was thinking maybe of heading down to the beach tomorrow. You know, if the weather�s nice.�

Rachel batted her eyes at me and gave me an �I told you so� look. Then, just to be obnoxious, she said, �Oh, I don�t know, Jake, I don�t think Cassie really likes the beach all that -�

�I love the beach,� I said, shooting her a death look. �And if I don�t get grounded, I�d love to go with you, Jake.�

Jake blushed, waiting for Marco to give him grief. But Marco just shook his head in a parody of sadness. �Fine, Cassie. Run back to Jake now that you�re all big again. I guess that�s the end of our plan to populate the world with a new race of tiny people.�

The Helmacron ship powered up and rose toward the night sky. And receding in the distance, we heard the thought-speak voices.

<All females will now grovel before our tremendous power! You will worship us as your true masters! It is the male Helmacron who shall make all tremble!>

<Never will females be anything but absolute rulers over all males! We shall dominate the entire universe, but we�ll start with you!>

We headed home, leaving the Helmacrons, female and male, to work things out sensibly among themselves. Knowing, with absolute certainty, that there was no chance they would.

And, with Jake and Cassie having a beach date (assuming Cassie isn't grounded), Marco's plans to populate the earth with a race of tiny people unnecessary, and the Helmacrons trying to figure out gender equality, we end our amazing Helmacron adventure, and will start tomorrow with a Marco book called The Extreme.

However, that being said, please see the next post about the future of the Animorphs series.

# ? Jul 12, 2021 03:13

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

So, this was discussed a little bit in the beginning of the thread, but I wanted to go into a little more detail. Up to the book we just finished, Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant had been writing all the Animorphs books themselves. These books came out as part of the Scholastic book club about once a month, which meant they were pretty constantly working on them. It's not like these are long novels, but still.

So, this last book came out in November 1998, and Scholastic wanted them to work on a new fantasy series for teenagers called Everworld, about this group of teenagers sucked into an alternate world where they had to fight the god Loki and other villains who were trying to take it over.. So this was going to take up a bunch of their time. In addition, they had had a child the year before, and, as I understand it, there was also illness in her extended family. So for these reasons and whatever else, they decided that they didn't have the time to continue Animorphs the way they had been. They decided that to continue the series, they needed ghostwriters.

Now one of the good things about having a contract with a children's book publisher like Scholastic is that it's fairly easy to get access to writers of other children's books, and they got ghostwriters. As I understand it, the way the ghostwriter process worked is that Applegate would send the ghostwriter a plot outline, the ghostwriter would write a draft and send it back to Applegate, who then would make edits and rewrites where necessary, then send it to Scholastic. Applegate meanwhile didn't stop writing books in the series herself. We have two more Megamorph books, which she wrote, and two more Chronicles books, which she wrote. She also wrote the last two books in the series, and a few others. Most of what we read going forward is written by ghostwriters, who generally got no credit at the time. The book covers still said "Applegate".

I personally don't think that's fair to the ghostwriters, so going forward, when we start a new book, I'm going to let you know who wrote it. When we meet a new ghostwriter, I'm also going to do my best to let you know something about him or her, although for a few of them, its not easy to find info.

One last thing. Some people have said that this is when the series started getting bad. I personally don't think that's fair, even though I recognize that some of the books are kind of bad. Some, though, I think, are very good and some are the better books of the series. So, for those of you who stopped reading around now when you were kids, I advise you to stick it out. Maybe you'll find some hidden gems in here you didn't see when you were 10. For those who are new to the series, the ride continues, and we'll keep doing this as long as there are books.

# ? Jul 12, 2021 03:38

ANOTHER SCORCHER: Aug 12, 2018

Thanks for the info and for doing this in general Epicurius, it has been great.

I wonder why the size difference doesn�t work the opposite way and the Animorphs don�t have 50-ft anteaters in their repertoire now.

# ? Jul 12, 2021 03:50

WrightOfWay: Jul 24, 2010

ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:

Thanks for the info and for doing this in general Epicurius, it has been great.

I wonder why the size difference doesn�t work the opposite way and the Animorphs don�t have 50-ft anteaters in their repertoire now.

Space Magic. Giant anteaters would own, though.

# ? Jul 12, 2021 03:57

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

WrightOfWay posted:

Space Magic. Giant anteaters would own, though.

Can you imagine Visser Three as a giant anteater?

# ? Jul 12, 2021 03:58

Fritzler: Sep 5, 2007

This book is much funner than it gets credit for. I enjoyed it. Also looking forward to hearing particulars of ghost writers, I do not know anything about any of them. I wanted to share the inner cover for this book which spoils the end, but also shows us what the helmacrons look like.

Also was this the day? Did anyone see a blue deer threatening an anteater?

# ? Jul 12, 2021 04:08

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:

Thanks for the info and for doing this in general Epicurius, it has been great.

Seconded, this has been and continues to be a really fun and pleasant trip down memory lane.

Re: ghostwriters, when I was a kid I never noticed. Re-reading them when I was 19, I did notice... but maybe only because I knew by then? You just notice a bit less sparkle in the dialogue, and in the characters' internal thoughts. Certainly I think most of the more memorable lines come from the first 20-odd books in the series.

But they're still good, and there are plenty of great ones in there. Indeed, the very next one, 25, is awesome. And in fact there's a good run coming up - 26 (still KA), 27 and 29 are among the best in the series.

# ? Jul 12, 2021 04:17

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

Most of what we read going forward is written by ghostwriters, who generally got no credit at the time. The book covers still said "Applegate".

To be fair, they also got a message in big font printed right before each Chapter One which says "The author wishes to thank [name] for her help preparing this manuscript." which is a pretty clear indicator, assuming you've ever heard of a ghostwriter before. Which, admittedly, most children wouldn't, but then most would barely be aware of authors anyway.

# ? Jul 12, 2021 04:34

HisMajestyBOB: Oct 21, 2010; College Slice

Thirded! Thanks for doing this Epicurius.
This is the first book covered that I didn't read as a kid. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I would have cared much for it back then.
The next one is also new to me, so I'm looking forward to it.

As an aside, I was rummaging in the closet in my parents' home recently during a trip back, and found a box containing all of the Animorphs books I had collected as a kid (so everything up through #23, plus #26). I thought they had all been donated or thrown out, but apparently not! Maybe my kids will get a kick out of them when they're old enough.

# ? Jul 12, 2021 05:00

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

Epicurius, I love this thread, and getting the books a chapter at a time is the best way to read them. Thanks!!!

# ? Jul 12, 2021 05:14

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

Yup, really enjoying this thread and it's been a huge nostalgia kick.

This book was good, clean fun. Good palette cleanser after the David trilogy.

# ? Jul 12, 2021 13:52

pastor of muppets: Aug 21, 2007; We were somewhere around the Living Hive, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Nthing the appreciation, Epicurius. Keeping momentum up on a multi-year thread like this with near-daily posts is no small feat. :cheers:

still think we need a gangtag

# ? Jul 12, 2021 21:15

WrightOfWay: Jul 24, 2010

An animorphs gang tag would need to be something with thermals.

# ? Jul 12, 2021 21:33

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

A hot cinnabon with thermals rising off it

# ? Jul 12, 2021 22:40

Mazerunner: Apr 22, 2010; Good Hunter, what... what is this post?

also it says nice is neat

# ? Jul 12, 2021 22:43

pastor of muppets: Aug 21, 2007; We were somewhere around the Living Hive, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

# ? Jul 13, 2021 00:13

effervescible: Jun 29, 2012; i will eat your soul

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

A hot cinnabon with thermals rising off it

# ? Jul 13, 2021 00:33

HIJK: Nov 25, 2012; in the room where you sleep

g-gangtag yes

# ? Jul 13, 2021 00:50

Soup du Jour: Sep 8, 2011; I always knew I'd die with a headache.

freebooter posted:

But they're still good, and there are plenty of great ones in there. Indeed, the very next one, 25, is awesome. And in fact there's a good run coming up - 26 (still KA), 27 and 29 are among the best in the series.

even 28 in its infamy for being a Bad One introduces a very great aspect to Ax, his love of These Messages

# ? Jul 13, 2021 01:11

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Animorphs Book 25-The Extreme
Ghostwritten by Jeffrey Zeuhlke based on an outline by KA Applegate

Jeffrey Zeuhlke was born in 1968, which means he would have been 30 when he wrote this. He writes non-fiction books for children, mostly in the 7 to 11 age range, and is published by Lerner, which is another children's book publisher. Lerner was, if you believe Wikipedia, "first publisher to print original art featuring multi-racial children".

Zehulke has written three series for Lerner; "Amazing Athletes", which are biographies of famous athletes, like Michael Phelps, Kevin Garnett, etc., Pull Ahead Books-Mighty Movers, which is about vehicles (fighter planes, tanks, trucks, etc) and how they work, and Lightning Bolt Books: Famous Places, which is about specific areas on the globe, like the Grand Canyon. He also published, for Twenty-First Century Books, books in the Visual Geography series. These are for older kids, and are books about different countries of the world, like Germany and Ethiopia, as well as a biography of Joseph Stalin in a tie in with A&E Biography. (Twenty-First Century Books went on to be acquired by Lerner).

When he's not writing kid's books, which I don't think he's doing anymore, he's (if I'm getting this right, and not combining two people) a financial/fraud risk analyst for a major corporation. And that's Jeffrey Zeuhlke.

Chapter 1

quote:

My name is Marco.

I doubt we�ve ever met, but I�ll bet you know somebody like me. Every class has a Marco. You know, the one who�s the smartest, wittiest, most charming, coolest, and the best-looking.

That�s me.

I can�t tell you my last name. I can�t tell you where I live, either, or anything specific about me that might help certain people find me.

Believe me, I wish I could. Anonymity has its downside. Last week, for example, I wanted to run through the halls of my school screaming my name so everyone could hear. I wanted to hop on a cafeteria table and dance on somebody�s Tater Tots until a hall monitor came to drag me away. I wanted to call an assembly so everyone could congratulate me.

I�d gotten a date.

And not just any date. A date with the most beautiful girl in our whole school. If not the whole world. Marian.

Not only is Marian gorgeous, with long, black hair, deep, dark eyes, and dimples that make me want to cry every time she smiles. She�s also nearly as smart, charming, and charismatic as I am.

You can see we�re a perfect couple. The only flaw I can find in her is that she doesn�t seem to think my jokes are very funny.
That, and her taste in music.

You want to know the coolest thing of all about this date? Marian asked me out. I didn�t have to do a thing. We were just leaving our music appreciation class together when Marian said to me:

�Wow, Marco, you really seem to know a lot about classical music. And may I say, you are an unusually handsome, manly man. I want you, I want you now.�

Okay, that maybe a slight exaggeration. But she definitely said the part about me knowing a lot about music.

�Either that, or I can scam teachers like no one else around,� I said.

Actually, I know next to nothing about classical music. But my dad�s got a huge collection of classical CD�s. Sometimes he�ll hog the TV, watching documentaries about Mozart and Beethoven and other wild-eyed guys.

�Well, I have tickets to Symphony Hall this Sunday afternoon,� Marian said. �They�re playing Beethoven�s Third. It�s my absolute favorite symphony. Do you want to come?�

�Well, I�m more of a fan of his thirty-third,� I said, hoping I wouldn�t pass out at her feet. Marian had just asked me out on a date!

Marian gave me a quizzical look. �His thirty-third? I don�t get it. Were you making a joke?�

�Of course! It�s a joke, hah HAH!� I said, sounding only slightly hysterical. �I love Beethoven�s Third. It�s just so �� I wasn�t sure what to say. I�d never heard the thing before in my life. Marian looked at me eagerly, waiting for me to finish my sentence.

�It�s just so ��

�Beautiful?� Marian suggested.

�Yes!� I replied. �That�s a perfect word for it. Although I was leaning toward exquisite. Maybe even rapturous.�

�Oh, yes!� Marian cried. �It�s all those things! So will you come?�

�Sure,� I squeaked.

�Wonderful.� Marian opened one of her notebooks and scribbled in it. She tore the sheet off and handed it to me. �Here�s my number. Call me and we�ll make plans.�

�Okay,� I said, casually stuffing the sheet of paper into my pocket. I was going to have it framed as soon as I got home, but Marian didn�t have to know that.

�This is going to be so much fun.� Marian sighed. She smiled and her dimples made my heart skip a half-dozen beats. Then she reached out with her beautiful hand and touched me on my arm. My whole body tingled.

Either I had a major crush, or the cafeteria had served tainted meat again.

�Talk to you,� she said, walking away.

�Uh-huh,� I grunted.

Now this sounds pretty cool, huh? I mean, what more could a guy want than to be asked out on a date by the most beautiful girl in his school, right? For any normal kid, living a normal life, this would be, like, the high point of his entire existence.

Unfortunately, I�m not a normal kid. And I definitely do not lead a normal life.

Sure, parts of it are normal. I go to school. Do homework when I feel like it. Eat dinner with my dad. Watch TV. Play video games with my best buddy, Jake, and kick his sorry butt.

But there�s another part of my life that�s anything but normal. In fact, it�s so bizarre, so insane, so absolutely out there that I wouldn�t believe it myself if I weren�t living it.

You see, I�m sort of a superhero. No, not Batman, although that�s a good guess, with that whole very cool, handsome billionaire Bruce Wayne thing. Not Spider-Man, either. But I do fly, stick to walls, and toss bad guys around like they�re plastic action figures.

Superheroes use their special powers to save the world. And that�s what my five friends and I are doing.

Saving the world. Not from clowns like Lex Luthor or the Joker. I wish our archenemies were as tame as a bunch of comic book supervillains.

Instead, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias the Bird-boy, the Andalite Ax, my best friend Jake, and I are battling an entire race of aliens who are trying to conquer Earth.

The Yeerks.

For your sake, I hope you�ve never heard of them. Because almost the only people who do know about them are the ones who�ve become their slaves.

The Yeerk invasion is a secret. But it�s happening.

Believe me, it�s happening.

The Yeerks are slimy gray slugs that slip into your ear and wind themselves in and around every crevice of your brain. Once they�ve done this, they own you. Control you. They�ve enslaved you. You become something we call a Controller. Someone with no free will. You can�t scream for help, because the Yeerk controls what words come out of your mouth. You can�t run, because the Yeerk controls how far and how fast your feet move. And you can�t resist when the Yeerk in your head starts to recruit your family and friends into enslavement. Because you�re a slave yourself.

Pretty scary, huh? But maybe the scariest thing of all about this alien invasion is that you can�t tell Controllers from normal people. They look normal. Talk normal. Act normal.

For all you know, your parents may be Controllers. Maybe even your cute, loveable grandmother has designs on subduing the planet.

So fighting this war - and it is a war - tends to make a guy kind of paranoid. You can�t trust anybody.

That�s why I didn�t tell you my name. And that�s why, ever since we took a shortcut through an abandoned construction site one night, life, which I always want to find funny, has been mostly grim.

It was in that construction site that we met the dying Andalite prince, Elfangor. It was there that he told us about the Yeerks. It was there that he gave us the nightmarish power to become any animal whose DNA we could acquire. Our one pitiful weapon.

Ever since then, I have not been able to look at another human being without suspicion. No one.

Not even Marian.

And that�s why, after experiencing those first few moments of joy after Marian asked me out, the suspicion began to seep into my brain. The gnawing little worm of doubt. What if she was one of them? What if sweet, perfect Marian, with those gorgeous dimples, was a Controller?

Sure, I might not mind being Marian�s slave, but being a Yeerk�s slave is a different story.

One date, I told myself. Then, before we decide to go steady, I can check her out.

The standard "This is the premise of the series" we get at the beginning of every Animorphs book, and we learn that Marco is so suspicious of girls asking him out, he figures they're probably Controllers. Which is both sensible and kind of sad.

Chapter 2

quote:

�So then what happened?� Cassie asked me in study hall the day after what had come to be called The Big Date.

Study hall was being held in the school gym this week. They�d closed our usual classroom. Something about asbestos and lawsuits.

So instead of studying silently for an hour, a bunch of kids were playing basketball and volleyball while the rest of us, me and Cassie included, sat on the bleachers and talked. It was a big improvement.

�Well, after I failed in a bold attempt to escape during intermission, we went back in and the orchestra started to play. Again. And they played. And played. And I considered yelling �Fire!� just to get outta the place. And when I woke up everybody was gone, including Marian.�

Cassie laughed her gentle laugh. �Oh, well,� she said, flipping idly through a veterinary medicine magazine she�d pulled out of a folder. �It sounds like it was for the best.�

�What do you mean, it was for the best?� I cried. �It was a total disaster.�

�Yes. But it doesn�t sound like Marian�s your type.�

�But she�s the most beautiful girl in the whole school,� I replied. �How could she not be my type?� I gave Cassie the fish eye. �Wait a minute. Did you guys watch her?�

�We are your friends, Marco,� she said apologetically. �We had no choice.�

�You guys kept her under surveillance for the last three days?�

�Well, it was mostly Tobias and Ax, since they don�t have school. Anyway, she�s not one of them. She never went near a �� She lowered her voice to a whisper. �� Yeerk pool entrance.�

I wasn�t sure how to react to that. Yeerks have to return to the hidden Yeerk pool every three days. Marian was okay. Now the question was: Was this good news or bad news? I�d blown my big chance. Was it better or worse that she was a normal girl?

Something else bothered me. Jake had asked Cassie to tell me this. Obviously. It was a good choice. Typical Jake. He knew that Rachel would just ridicule me. He knew that if he talked to me himself it would seem like he was meddling. But Cassie had the gentle touch. The diplomatic skill to let me know, without making me mad, that they had watched my temporary girlfriend behind my back.

Cassie was watching me, waiting for my reaction. And I was just loading up to deliver something scathing-yet-not-overly-cruel when a shadow fell over us. I looked up.

�Hey, Marco. Hey, Cassie. What�s up?�

It was a kid my age. He was a little bit taller than I am - which, I�ll admit, is how it is with most people. His warm, confident smile made you want to like him immediately.

But I knew better. See, this particular likeable-looking kid wasn�t a kid, and his smile wasn�t a smile. Erek didn�t attend our school. Erek didn�t attend the human race.

The kid standing in front of us wasn�t entirely real. What Cassie and I and everyone else were looking at was a holographic projection. Underneath the projection was an android. An android that had been walking the earth for hundreds of thousands of years.

Erek and his other android friends are called Chee. They were the companions of an ancient race called the Pemalites. The Pemalites may have been the most advanced species ever to exist in the history of the universe. So advanced they forgot all about primitive stuff like wars and worry and
sadness.

Unfortunately, the rest of the universe wasn�t so elevated. An evil race called Howlers attacked the Pemalites and destroyed their home world. Some survivors fled to Earth, but before they escaped, their alien attackers infected them with a disease that eventually killed them all.

The Chee, being androids, weren�t affected by the disease. To honor the spirits of their former companions and creators, they infused the essence of the Pemalites into the bodies of wolves.

Now you know why your dog is always in such a good mood.

And since the Pemalites created the Chee in their own image, the Chee are pretty friendly themselves. In fact, they�re pacifists, sworn - and programmed - never to harm another soul.

Still, they hate the Yeerks and help us out whenever they can.

�Uh-oh,� I said, still feeling a bit cranky over the possibility that Tobias had been watching Marian through her bedroom window. And I hadn�t.

��Uh-oh�? Nice welcome,� Erek said, sitting down between us. �Would you mind if we talk in private?�

�I repeat: uh-oh.�

The air around us began to glow. The sounds of the gym - kids talking, the bouncing of the basketball, the squeak of sneakers on the court - disappeared. We could see everything happening in the gym, but it was as if we were looking out from inside a Saran Wrap bubble.

�I have extended my holographic projection to include the three of us,� Erek explained. The Erek we were looking at now was a steel-and-ivory android that looked an awful lot like a dog, maybe a greyhound, standing on his hind legs. �Everyone else in the gym sees and hears the three of us talking
about last night�s game.�

�Well, if that�s all you want to talk about, why all the secrecy?� I said brightly.

Erek smiled grimly. Not brightly. I felt the sense of another �uh-oh� growing inside me.

�What is it, Erek?� Cassie said.

�Our sources tell us the Yeerks have been trying to develop a way to broadcast Kandrona rays using human satellite technology,� Erek told us. �They seem to have found some place on this planet isolated enough to allow them to erect a satellite station without interference. If they�re successful, they could turn every backyard swimming pool in the world into a Yeerk pool.�

I felt sick to my stomach. �That is definitely not good.�
K
androna rays are what the Yeerks consume. Their food. They absorb it when they�re in the Yeerk pool. It�s their Achilles heel. They need the rays to survive.

Every three days when Yeerks go down to the Yeerk pool, they slide out of their host�s brain and take a Kandrona bath. Meanwhile, most of the hosts, the ones who don�t want to be slaves, scream and cry and struggle and beg to be set free.

I�ve been to the Yeerk pool. It�s a bad place.

We�ve imagined destroying the Yeerk pool. It would be a huge blow to the Yeerks. And we would if we could, but the place is about the size of a football stadium, with better defenses than the White House, the Pentagon, and Fort Knox put together. We just don�t have the firepower.

�You know, Erek,� I said, �nothing personal, but sometimes I�m not so sure I like you. You�re nothing but trouble.�

Erek grinned his steel-and-ivory dog grin. �Sure you�re not just cranky over blowing The Big Date?�

I shot Cassie an outraged look.

She winced. �Okay, so the Chee helped us out. It�s not easy to watch someone for three days.�

�Swell. Is there anyone, anywhere who doesn�t know that I crashed and burned on The Big Date?�

�She wasn�t your type, anyway,� Erek said. �She had taste in music.�

�Oh, so you�re a big Beethoven fan?�

Erek nodded his android head. �I was the maestro�s valet for quite a few years. He was an awful person, but he made music my masters would have wept to hear.�

When the pacifist dog robot burns you, you know you're in trouble.

# ? Jul 13, 2021 03:23

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Rough start to have to do a Marco book for the first ghostwritten one. (IMO he's trying a little too hard to emphasise Marco's narratorial voice.)

# ? Jul 13, 2021 04:16

GodFish: Oct 10, 2012; We're your first, last, and only line of defense. We live in secret. We exist in shadow.

And we dress in black.

The intro setting dump felt a bit more fun than they usually are, did a good job tying some narrative into it.

# ? Jul 13, 2021 08:22

Mazerunner: Apr 22, 2010; Good Hunter, what... what is this post?

GodFish posted:

The intro setting dump felt a bit more fun than they usually are, did a good job tying some narrative into it.

I did like how it started with the regular teen shenanigans, then tied that into the Yeerks and the paranoia they induce

Mazerunner fucked around with this message at 08:37 on Jul 13, 2021

# ? Jul 13, 2021 08:34

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

freebooter posted:

Rough start to have to do a Marco book for the first ghostwritten one. (IMO he's trying a little too hard to emphasise Marco's narratorial voice.)

Ideally, they'd have started wirh a Jake book

# ? Jul 13, 2021 09:49

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 3

quote:

We met after school in Cassie�s barn - aka the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic - to discuss the situation. Cassie�s parents are veterinarians. While her dad runs the clinic, her mom runs the vet staff at The Gardens, an amusement park and zoo. Cassie helps out at the clinic, giving suppositories to
cranky skunks and stuff. And let�s face it: A wildlife clinic definitely comes in handy when we need to acquire a new morph.

The get-together was like opening night of the local freak show. Four kids who regularly become fur balls. Erek, the ancient Android. Tobias, the red-tailed hawk, keeping a lookout from the rafters. Ax, the Andalite, in his human morph.

Ax�s human morph is a combination of DNA from me, Jake, Rachel, and Cassie. Together we make one disturbingly beautiful person.

Ax is the only Andalite on Earth. In fact, he�s Prince Elfangor�s younger brother. Ax was in his human morph because, well, let me put it this way: Cassie�s mom and dad are about the coolest parents you�ll ever find, but if they were to walk in and find their daughter shooting the breeze with a blue-furred, half-humanoid, half-deerlike creature with a mean scorpion tail, no mouth and four eyes, including a pair that sat on swiveling stalks atop its head � they would definitely freak.

�Do you know any more details?� Rachel asked Erek.

Rachel is your basic psycho-babe. And I mean that in a nice way. She�s a tall, willowy, supermodelesque blond. You might think she was a mall-rat airhead - until you called her an airhead.

Then, after she removed your left kidney, you�d realize your mistake.

Rachel�s a great person to have on your side in a fight. The only problem I have with her is that she�s always looking for a fight.

�Details? I�m afraid not,� Erek replied. �We�ve infiltrated much of the Yeerk force, but we don�t have access to everything.�

�Nothing at all about the location of the facility?� Jake asked.

�No. Just that Visser Three will be visiting it very soon. We do know this: We�ve discovered the location of the Visser�s new feeding pasture. It�s close enough for you to fly there in bird morph. A Bug fighter is going to pick him up there tomorrow afternoon to go off and inspect this site.�

Jake got his �Jake look.� The sort of weary, worried expression he gets when he�s faced with some decision that may result in all of us ending up dead.

Jake, who is Rachel�s cousin, is our sort-of leader. Not because he asked to be. It�s probably because he�d never ask to be. You know - he�s one of those tiresomely dutiful, levelheaded guys. If you met Jake, you�d understand why we turn to him. Call it charisma. Something about Jake commands respect.

Not from me, of course. He�s been my best friend forever. I was with him when he was nine and ate an entire pie on a bet and ended up blowing blueberries for an hour.

Jake looked around at all of us. Not exactly asking for a vote, but obviously wanting to hear from us.

<So, no problem, right?> Tobias said. <We fly out to Visser Three�s feeding place and when the Bug fighter arrives, we hitch a ride.>

�That appears to be our only option. Op. Shun. Shunn,� Ax confirmed. Andalites don�t have mouths. They communicate in thought-speak. So whenever Ax does his human morph, he�s fascinated by the sounds he makes.

By the way, he�s the only one who�s fascinated.

I held up my hand like I wanted to ask a question in class. �I�m not allowed to hitchhike. Especially not with evil alien parasites. My dad is very definite about that.�

Jake managed a brief laugh. Rachel gave me her �what are you, a moron?� look.

�It doesn�t sound like my idea of a good time, either,� Cassie said. �But if it�s true the Yeerks are building a system that will turn any body of water into a Yeerk pool, we have to do everything we can to stop them.�

I groaned. I can usually count on Cassie to be rational.

�Okay,� I said. �I�ll be there, but I promise to complain the entire time.�

�Do we need to take a formal vote?� Jake asked.

�No way am I going to miss out on this,� Rachel said.

Big surprise there.

�No, no, no votes,� I said. �Jake decides. Then if it goes bad we can all blame him.�

<I�m there,> Tobias said. <But aren�t we overlooking a key detail?>

�What�s that?� said Jake.



�Nepal?� I echoed.

�That is a bit of a problem,� Jake said.

�Perhaps I can provide a solution,� Erek replied.

I held up my hand again. �Is it okay if I say �uh-oh� again?�

I bet this is going to be the Chee's famous holograms.

Chapter 4

quote:

<Man, I just know I�m going to come back to a closet full of soggy comics,> I said. 

Erek�s solution had been to have himself and three of his Chee friends program their holograms to look like each of us. Little did my dad know that he�d be sharing his cornflakes with an android who�d been on Earth since before the first flake was created.

It was the next morning and we were all in our various bird-of-prey morphs - Tobias as redtailed hawk, Jake in his peregrine falcon morph, Rachel in bald eagle morph, Cassie and me in our osprey morphs, and Ax in his northern harrier morph - flying toward certain doom.

Again.

We were on our way to Visser Three�s newest secret feeding pasture. Erek had given us directions and wished us luck. �Good luck taking on the most dangerous creature in the galaxy. I gotta go oil my elbow joints. Let me know if you survive, we�ll get together, do lunch. Ciao.�

Okay, maybe that�s not exactly what he said. But it�s okay to resent a person who�s going to be safe while you�re going to be screaming and running for your life. Don�t you think?

I�ve mentioned that I complain occasionally. Or constantly. Sorry, but any smart person knows there�s plenty to complain about in life. And there are definitely a lot of things to complain about when it comes to being an Animorph.

However, flying is not one of them.

I mean, talk about fun! Talk about freedom! It�s everything you�ve imagined and more.

We were following a highway out of town toward the forest that surrounded some nearby mountains. It was an absolutely perfect day for flying - sunny, warm, and so clear you could see for miles. The surface of the highway absorbed the sun�s warmth, creating some really nice thermals, which are pockets of rising warm air.

We were spread pretty far apart. In the animal kingdom, birds of prey just don�t hang together.

Each of us took turns flying over the highway, catching a thermal and letting it lift us in the air like an invisible elevator. Then we�d coast for a while, slowly drifting downward in the direction we wanted to go. We hardly had to flap our wings at all.

<Hey, guys, I think I found it,> Tobias called out. <See that clearing in the middle of those trees?>

I scanned my super osprey eyes ahead, toward the line of trees half a mile off the road. Sure enough, just beyond was a big meadow, maybe about two blocks wide. And galloping around in that meadow was a blue-furred, four-eyed, scorpion-tailed Andalite. He looked like he could have been Ax�s father.

He wasn�t. He was the leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth. The only Yeerk ever to have gotten control of an Andalite body - and of the Andalite morphing technology. The only Yeerk who can morph.

Visser Three.

Remember I told you about Ax�s brother, Elfangor? The Andalite who gave us our powers? Well, the Visser didn�t just murder him.

He ate him.

Visser Three morphed into some bizarre, giant alien and chomped him down like a piece of sushi. I saw it happen. We all did.

Now you know why I have an incredible urge to pee on myself whenever we come near this guy.

The Visser wasn�t alone in his meadow. Despite his fearsome power, the Visser is never without a few bodyguards. We counted half a dozen human-Controllers disguised as state cops. And in the tree line lurked a pair of Hork-Bajir, the bladed shock troops of the Yeerk Empire.

<Okay,> Jake said. <Each of us is going to land in those trees, one at a time at least a thousand feet apart, in at least five-minute intervals. Rachel, you go first, then Cassie. Each of you keep an eye on those who land after you, so you can find them as easily as possible once you remorph. Tobias, you�re last. Stay up top and keep a lookout until we�ve all landed.>

<Let�s do it,> said Rachel.

I sighed. <The three words I hate most.>

I was right. Speaking of, and thinking about the corn flakes comment, do you think the Chee eat? I mean, I assume they don't need to, as they've got some superpowerful energy source. On the other hand, it's the Pemalites, and I could see them giving the Chee the capacity to eat just so the Chee could experience the sheer joy of it.

Also, Visser Three has apparently learned from his last feeding encounter and is surrounded by guards.

# ? Jul 14, 2021 03:40

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Have these people learned nothing from the last 10 times they've tried to ambush Visser Three and it blew up in their face immediately?

# ? Jul 14, 2021 04:33

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Not sure if it's the ghostwriter or something the publisher was pushing on them, but this one definitely feels like it's re-establishing the entire series again on the chance that it might be the first book a kid picks up.

# ? Jul 14, 2021 04:54

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

freebooter posted:

Not sure if it's the ghostwriter or something the publisher was pushing on them, but this one definitely feels like it's re-establishing the entire series again on the chance that it might be the first book a kid picks up.

They all do that, though. Like, how many of the books have the opening chapter be, "So, I can't tell you my name because I have a secret. Evil slug aliens called the Yeerks are trying to take over earth by going into people's brains.. I only found out about this when my friends and I were coming home from the mall and came upon a crashed spaceship. There we met Elfangor, an Andalite. They're these aliens who are fighting the Yeerks. He gave us the power to morph....to turn into any animal we've touched. Then he was killed by the evil leader of the Yeerk invasion force, Visser Three. So now we fight the Yeerks, knowing if we fail, earth is doomed.. Here's a brief one sentence description of each of us."?

Almost every book from book 2 onwards has the chapter of mandatory exposition.

# ? Jul 14, 2021 05:11

Pwnstar: Dec 9, 2007; Who wants some waffles?

Epicurius posted:

They all do that, though. Like, how many of the books have the opening chapter be, "So, I can't tell you my name because I have a secret. Evil slug aliens called the Yeerks are trying to take over earth by going into people's brains.. I only found out about this when my friends and I were coming home from the mall and came upon a crashed spaceship. There we met Elfangor, an Andalite. They're these aliens who are fighting the Yeerks. He gave us the power to morph....to turn into any animal we've touched. Then he was killed by the evil leader of the Yeerk invasion force, Visser Three. So now we fight the Yeerks, knowing if we fail, earth is doomed.. Here's a brief one sentence description of each of us."?

Almost every book from book 2 onwards has the chapter of mandatory exposition.

Every chapter so far has been that though.

# ? Jul 14, 2021 05:24

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# ? May 28, 2024 10:22

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Yeah they always do the first half chapter but this one really seems to have its thumb on the scale, right down to explaining the deal with Cassie's barn.

Anyway just something I noticed, I still really like this one. Who doesn't like a travel episode? Also it's neat for the people reading this one in the thread for the first time, since the book cover clearly gives away where they're going.

# ? Jul 14, 2021 10:12

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

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