- Tree Bucket
- Apr 1, 2016
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R.I.P.idura leucophrys
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in a better world, this is the billion dollar YA franchise
Hork Bajir are totally Hufflepuff
e: ughhh, worst possible snipe
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Dec 23, 2022 02:14
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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May 23, 2024 11:53
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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Happy Yeerkmas, everyone. Given the holiday weekend, and the storms that are hitting most of tge country, how about we put off chapters for this weekend?
Thanks for putting up with me!
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Dec 24, 2022 04:21
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- Tree Bucket
- Apr 1, 2016
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R.I.P.idura leucophrys
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a goode poste
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Dec 25, 2022 15:32
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- Mazerunner
- Apr 22, 2010
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Good Hunter, what... what is this post?
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maybe the morph tech decides the best way to do it is to break and fuse the bones into having new joints, rather than just changing the size of existing bones.
ie going from human to other animal, the knee bends backwards, with the tibia/fibula turning into tarsials.
meanwhile the femur breaks in half, with the bottom becoming the new tibia/fibula and the top remaining as femur
why would it do this? because andalites are jerks
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Dec 26, 2022 00:23
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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We'll take a break feom chargeable today be auaw I want to show you this, which is some of the marketing Scholastic developed around the end of the series.
http://www.hiracdelest.com/database/articles/seriesendmarketing-full.htm
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Dec 27, 2022 04:47
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- nine-gear crow
- Aug 10, 2013
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Oh yeah, I remember that poo poo. Applegate used to put out a near-monthy newsletter and Q&A section to go along with each book and from this point onward the newsletters and Q&As turned into straight up in-character pro-Yeerk propaganda until the final book dropped. It was a proto-ARG.
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Dec 27, 2022 05:14
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- freebooter
- Jul 7, 2009
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holy poo poo they did radio ads
what I wouldn't give to see some poor actors struggling to say "Yeerks" and the reaction faces of some poor backwaters listening to Christian radio
I think we've touched on this before but it drove me up the wall that in the TV series they pronounced it to rhyme with "jerks"
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Dec 27, 2022 09:51
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- CidGregor
- Sep 27, 2009
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TG: if i were you i would just take that fucking devilbeast out behind the woodshed and blow its head off
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I think we've touched on this before but it drove me up the wall that in the TV series they pronounced it to rhyme with "jerks"
I must have missed this discussion, because I'm.......not sure how else you would pronounce it?
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Dec 28, 2022 01:32
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- nine-gear crow
- Aug 10, 2013
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I must have missed this discussion, because I'm.......not sure how else you would pronounce it?
The double Es sound like a U. Yurk.
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Dec 28, 2022 01:57
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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Chapter 21
quote:Marco’s father was summoned from the medical unit to confer. Captain Olston offered men, material, and trucks.
Marco’s father first apologized to Captain Olston for having to resort to subterfuge. Then he explained what he considered to be the optimum freight per truck.
“But won’t that increase volatility?” Captain Olston asked.
“Yes. But I don’t think we have a choice. We’re going to have one shot at this. So we want to pack as many explosives onto one train as we can. That means we’re going to have to haul a lot of explosives.”
“But why not take ten or twenty trucks? We’ve got them.”
“Too many trucks would attract too much attention,” Jake said. “Especially if your unit hasorders to stay out of the city. But we’ll take you up on a few more trucks, if you can spare them. A total of five. And you and some of your people.”
We were back at Warehouse J.
The Hork-Bajir and the captain’s men had unloaded the explosives and were reloading them so they were packed more stably.
“What about the timers and fuses?” the captain asked.
“I’ll set the fuses and the timers,” Marco’s dad said. “I’m an engineer. Explosives weren’t my specialty back before this war but you learn what you have to.”
“Please, let my sergeant help you,” Captain Olston said. “Explosives are her specialty.” He spoke to an assistant who ran off and returned a few minutes later with a small blonde woman. Sergeant Tara Weston.
While she and Marco’s father conferred, I hung back and thought.
Though the explosives technology was primitive by Andalite standards, I was fairly confident that it would do the job. If we could get the explosives down into one of the subway stations and onto an empty train.
That was a big “if.”
I looked over to where Rachel’s mother leaned against the side of her truck, sipping water from a bottle.
I found it interesting that Captain Olston had been grateful to Rachel’s mother. Rachel had seemed so sure that her mother was of very little use at all. So had we. But clearly, the captain regarded Naomi the lawyer as very useful.
Because of Rachel’s mother, the captain had retained his post. And because he was a smart and honest leader, we were receiving the help we needed.
I began to think Rachel had been unfairly contemptuous of her mother. I think Rachel might have been reaching the same conclusion.
I watched her approach her mother. She did not swagger as she usually did.
Although I do not approve of what humans call eavesdropping, I could not help but overhear some of their conversation.
“Mom,” Rachel said softly. “I … I’m sorry. I …”
“Rachel, it’s okay… .”
The rest I could not hear. Suddenly, Rachel’s shoulders began to shake.
She was crying. It was an odd and disturbing thing to see. But still, I was glad to see her cry.
Rachel is one human for whom I had never felt pity. But now, I felt an odd sense of kinship.
Perhaps Rachel, like me, suddenly realized that the gulf between the present and her childhood was an abyss of loss.
The loading was finished. There were shouted orders as we prepared to depart the base. National Guardsmen and Hork-Bajir scrambled to take their places on five trucks. We planned to morph birds and follow in the air. James and his group had been told to follow us closely.
The parents were thanked and asked to return immediately to camp. There they would wait for news of the mission’s success. Or failure.
They did not argue.
Rachel’s mother kissed her daughter on the cheek and then stepped back into the shadows.
Marco shook his father’s hand and hugged his mother. Proud. But protective.
Tobias had morphed to human to say goodbye to his mother. He held her hand, reassuring her that all would be well.
Cassie and her parents put their arms around each other and touched their foreheads together for a moment before parting.
I knew what was happening. Everyone was saying whatever it is that one says to friends and family when they realize they might be parted forever. I had not had such a chance with either my parents or my brother, Elfangor.
Jake had not had such a chance with his family, either.
Jake, my prince, stood alone and apart.
This might be our last night alive.
I knew he felt keenly the absence of his own family. I could not be his family. He could not be mine. But I could be his friend.
I walked over to him. “You are my prince,” I said. “And whatever happens next, know that I am proud to have served you.”
Jake smiled wistfully and put his hand on my shoulder. “Ax, for the last time …”
“Yes?”
“Don’t call me ‘prince.’”
“We developed a firm, practical feeling of solidarity, which grew, on the battlefield, into the best thing that the war produced - comradeship in arms.”-A Farewell to Arms
Chapter 22
quote:We reached the city.
<Okay,> Tobias reported. <There’s a subway station on Shawmut Street that’s not being used to load people. Yet. But it is under guard.>
<Probably our best bet,> Jake agreed. <Can you get us there?>
Under Tobias’s direction, our five-truck convoy rolled through the streets of the city. We Animorphs followed, spread out in the air.
It was early morning, before rush hour. There was little usual commuter traffic. But the sidewalks were packed with people being herded toward subway entrances.
Some wore pajamas and nightgowns and bathrobes.
It was clear that the Yeerk roundup was no longer confined to passersby and motorists. The Yeerks were on the attack. Going from house to house.
Rousting people out of their beds and forcing them at gunpoint to the subway stations and then onto the trains.
Our convoy headed up to the Shawmut Street station and pulled to a stop.
Captain Olston jumped out of the first truck and signaled his troops to follow. A small but dedicated and hand-selected group of men and women.
The captain and his troops, guns at the ready, walked briskly toward the small detachment of National Guard soldiers guarding the entrance. The detachment, ten strong, wordlessly closed ranks and put their hands on their weapons.
“Step aside, soldiers,” Captain Olston commanded loudly. “We’re unloading some equipment.”
“Sir,” one of the detachment answered. “We have no orders to receive equipment.”
“Where is your commanding officer?” the captain boomed.
Immediately, there was the sound of ringing footsteps on metal plated stairs.
The soldiers parted.
A major emerged from the station below and smiled benignly. “Captain Olston! I am surprised to see you. I believe you had orders to stay on your base.”
“I did,” Captain Olston said icily. “But those orders have been rescinded.”
“On whose authority?” the major asked, his smile looking quite a bit tighter.
“On his.” Captain Olston nodded at something behind the major. The major turned and let out a shout of surprise.
Marco, in gorilla morph, took him down.
It all happened too fast for the Yeerk soldiers to react.
A grizzly, a tiger, a wolf, and an Andalite appeared as if from nowhere and quietly knocked the ten men unconscious.
Toby and several Hork-Bajir swarmed from the trucks, gathered the Yeerk major and his soldiers, and hefted them down the subway stairs. In the station they locked the eleven in the tollbooth. Tobias gave the all-clear and assured us he saw no other Yeerk force running to the scene of the ambush. We joined the Hork-Bajir on the subway platform. James and his original team completed our force.
Just as a train came rumbling into the station.
<Here’s our train,> Jake said grimly. <Get ready.>
I watched as the first few cars passed before us. Each car was packed with terrified people.
Some pressed their faces against the windows. Some pounded and screamed for help. Others just looked stunned and hopeless.
We stood on the platform, waiting to be spotted. And just as we had hoped, the Yeerks commanding the train pulled to an abrupt and screeching stop.
The doors opened. People surged out and pelted for the subway stairs. Those from the first cars, already in the dark tunnel, tore back through the train toward the open platform. All were so terrified, all were so desperate for escape, that they paid no attention to the strange group that stood lined up on the platform.
A grizzly. Rachel.
A gorilla. Marco.
A tiger. Jake.
A wolf. Cassie.
A lion. James.
A crocodile. Collette.
A bobcat. Tuan.
A bull. Kelly.
And an Andalite.
When the train had emptied of uninfested humans, a group of ten human-Controllers in various military uniforms stepped onto the platform.
One of the human-Controllers came forward. “So,” he said, laughing, “it looks like the circus is in town.” He turned to his companions. “How about we join them in the center ring?”
I wonder about that quip by the Human Controller there. Obviously, the Yeerks know what circuses are, but I think back to one of the earlier books where Chapman and his wife are both at home. They wouldn't make a joke like that. Is it possible that, psychologically, the Yeerks are becoming more human?
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Dec 28, 2022 04:27
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- rollick
- Mar 20, 2009
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I must have missed this discussion, because I'm.......not sure how else you would pronounce it?
Like the word "year" with a k at the end.
Since the thread entered the endgame stage, I can't help hearing in my head "Well the Yeerks start coming and they don't stop coming" when it gets bumped. It's become a curse.
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Dec 28, 2022 10:03
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- Mazerunner
- Apr 22, 2010
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Good Hunter, what... what is this post?
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many elements of animorphs reference lord of the rings.
yeerks comes from yrch, the elvish (well, sindarin) word for orcs. It's pronounced more as 'oorc', with the 'oo' kind of like the 'u' in the french 'lune'.
Yerk vs Yurk is near enough the same thing to me, especially with regional variances, but an enlongated EE sound like year is wrong, imo.
Mazerunner fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Dec 28, 2022
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Dec 28, 2022 10:30
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- Zore
- Sep 21, 2010
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willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d’etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things
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God I'm still loving dying at that one Yeerk going to Agincourt out of pure hatred for his host's rantings
Easily a top 5 moment in the series.
"I can go anywhere in space and time and I'm choosing to gently caress up this one lovely battle 500 years ago because it inspired a play you will not stop reciting in my head"
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Dec 28, 2022 18:50
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- freebooter
- Jul 7, 2009
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Like the word "year" with a k at the end.
This is how I always did it, yeah, though it's probably not what KA meant. But if it's supposed to be "yerk," just give it one E!
I also always thought Tobias was pronounced TOH-be-as.
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Dec 29, 2022 01:33
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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Chapter 23
quote:Immediately, the human-Controllers began to morph.
<Jake!> Rachel’s voice was shrill. <Let’s get them before they’re in battle morphs!>
<No! We give them a fair fight. We fight the Yeerks. We don’t become them.>
The first human-Controller morphed to rhino. Another morphed to polar bear. Another to cheetah.
The remaining seven morphed to wolf.
Suddenly, the rhino lowered his head, snorted, and charged!
<Go!> Jake commanded.
Rachel rushed the rhino with the grizzly’s surprising speed. They collided! Rachel’s amazing bulk absorbed the majority of the blow, but the rhino’s horn caught her in the leg and opened a huge gash.
It was the signal everyone was waiting for.
Battle was joined. Every animal leaped into the fray.
Tuan’s bobcat rushed the cheetah. It flipped easily away … but Collette was waiting.
SNAAAAAP!
With a crack of the crocodile’s deadly jaws, she caught the cheetah’s back leg and dragged the cat to the ground. Brutally the crocodile shook the cat from side to side. The cheetah’s head slammed against the side of the train. Collette released the still body.
<Marco, behind you!> I warned.
<Got it.>
With a nimble roll, Marco ducked out of the way of the rhino. And gave it a good punch on the head as it passed.
One stalk eye swiveled …
FWAP!
One wolf down. But …
“Grrrrrrrr, grrrrr, grrOWWWWRR!”
Two other snarling, snapping, growling wolves leaped at me. Attempted to back me against the wall.
FWAP!
My tail blade nicked one across the ear.
The bleeding wolf yelped but did not back off. He bared his teeth and snarled more ferociously. The fur along his back bristled. Then, they both jumped at me.
FWAP!
FWAP!
They fell heavily to the platform and lay bleeding. I leaped over their prone bodies. But before I could seek out another opponent …
WHUMPF!
Something massive collapsed on top of me! Something huge and smothering.
It was the polar bear.
I struggled to whip my tail, but in vain. The massive weight of the polar bear prevented any part of me from moving at all. I could not breathe. I could not see. I was blacking out.
Then, I heard rifle shots.
The weight became even heavier. Then suddenly, several Guardsmen were pulling the dead bear off me.
Captain Olston’s men had joined us on the platform and opened fire on our attackers. I struggled
to my feet. Saw a dead polar bear, a dead rhino, a dead cheetah. And many dead wolves.
Many dead wolves!
My hearts stopped.
I looked in every direction at once.
Where was Cassie?
All about me there was bustle and activity. Our team and Captain Olston’s men hurried to unload the trucks waiting outside the station and then to pack the now empty train with bombs.
I galloped from one wolf body to the next. Captain Olston’s men would not be able to distinguish one wolf from another.
In the heat of battle, neither would I, unless they were directly attacking me.
Cassie!
I had thought I hated Cassie.
But I did not. I felt for her as I felt for the others. And now she was dead.
I regretted my harsh words. I regretted so much.
“Ax! Come on! We have work to do.”
I turned, unable to believe my ears. The voice belonged to Cassie.
She stood beside Jake at the foot of the subway stairs. Both of them had demorphed.
“Come on, Ax,” Jake said. “I need you. We’ve got some decisions to make.”
I ran to join them.
I looked at Cassie and she looked at me.
I did not have to tell her that I did not really hate her.
I think she already knew.
Poor kids.
Chapter 24
quote:The train was packed with explosives set to blow five minutes after the detonator was keyed.
That five minutes would give uninfested humans, human-Controllers, and Hork-Bajir time to run for their lives. I must admit I don’t think any of us cared much about the Taxxons’ safety.
More than five minutes might give the Yeerks time to figure out how to deactivate the bombs.
“Okay,” Jake said. “We’re all set. We’ll need three people to ride the train. I’ll go. That means I need two volunteers to go with me.”
“Since this is basically all my fault,” Cassie said, “I’m going.
“No way,” Rachel argued. “I’m going.”
Marco stepped forward. “Jake, I’m sorry, man, but you can’t be one of the three.”
“Why not?” Jake shrugged. “I’m the only one with no family.”
“Maybe. For now,” Marco said firmly. “But my point is that the rest of us do have families, right now. Families we care about. You’re the one we trust the most. You’re the one who’s kept us together, kept us alive, and kept us sane. You’re the one we trust most to get every one of us out of here and
back to camp.”
Cassie and Rachel nodded.
<You’re the one irreplaceable person in this operation,> Tobias said.
Jake took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. I’m not saying you guys are right. But we don’t have time to argue. You win. But who is going? Remember, whoever goes probably doesn’t come back.”
I stepped forward. <I will go.>
Jake looked at me for a long time. “Why?”
<For reasons I cannot discuss,> I answered. I was now officially a traitor to my own planet and people. And if the other Animorphs knew that I had been privy to the high command plans of quarantine, they would regard me as a traitor to Earth, as well.
If I did not come back from this mission, perhaps it was best. All I wanted was a chance to die as well as Elfangor. To strike a blow against the Yeerks. To do what I could to bring an end to this war.
Jake asked me no further questions. And I wondered if he knew more than I realized. In a way I hoped so.
Maybe one day, we would have a chance to talk.
One day.
“I’m going,” Marco said.
“I’m going,” Cassie repeated.
“No way,” Rachel argued. “What about me!”
“Cassie’s going,” Jake said. “If there are tough decisions to be made along the way, I want Cassie to make them. She’s as close as I can get to going myself. And Marco’s going because … I don’t know. I guess because he’ll enjoy the ride. Rachel, I need you here with me.”
Cassie smiled at Jake and he smiled back. Even Rachel looked somewhat appeased. In spite of the fact that we were all facing almost certain death, somehow it began to feel like old times. Before the war had gotten so terribly ugly.
Somehow, the rifts were beginning to mend. The Animorphs were a team again.
Down the line, we heard the scream of an engine and a whistle.
“Go!” Jake said urgently. “Go. There’s another train coming in behind this one. If they see this one stopped, they’ll get suspicious.”
No one embraced or said good-bye. There was no time. Marco, Cassie, and I ran onto the train and toward the engineer’s booth. Marco pressed the lever that powered the train.
The train jerked and began to move forward.
“Come on,” Cassie said to me. “Let’s do another check. Make sure everything’s in place.”
The detonators had been set up in the car just behind the engineer’s booth. Cassie and I doublechecked that everything Marco’s father and Sergeant Weston had set in place was indeed in order.
The train picked up speed. We raced deeper into the tunnel. Closer all the time to the Yeerk pool.
The noise of the train’s wheels on the tracks grew louder. We rounded a bend. WHUMPF!
Cassie and I were thrown to the opposite side of the train car.
“We’re approaching a station,” Marco yelled. “Get down. The Yeerks see an empty train go speeding by, they’re going to shoot.”
The lights of the station were visible ahead.
Cassie and I ducked. I allowed my stalk eyes to remain erect so I could glimpse through the bottom sliver of window. Hork-Bajir and human-Controllers were guarding a large group of people on the platform. They stepped forward, as if expecting the train to stop.
But the train sped through the station.
And the Yeerks began to fire.
I love how everyone just hates the Taxxons.
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Dec 29, 2022 04:02
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- Strategic Tea
- Sep 1, 2012
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"Give them a fair fight" ughhhhhh
Honourable combat just means the better killer wins. How is that fair by any measure? It's in the same realm as saying it allows God to decide.
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Dec 29, 2022 12:38
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- Strom Cuzewon
- Jul 1, 2010
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quote:
I stepped forward. <I will go.>
Jake looked at me for a long time. “Why?”
<Because I am narrating this book> I answered
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Dec 29, 2022 13:29
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- disaster pastor
- May 1, 2007
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I mean we do still have Rules of Engagement even in warfare-- no bioweapons; don't shoot medics, etc. If war were just about preserving your side at all costs someone would have already gotten paranoid and set nukes off by now, and even then being known as the commander who cheap shot and then scorched earth the enemy will only inspire fealty for as long as people either remember how bad the prior conditions were or still fear you... so about 5-25 years at the longest.
Still, I groaned too.
They had no problem engaging human-Controllers when the Yeerks couldn't morph. Now they can morph, and Jake's response is, "oh, we've got to let them maximize their new advantage?" A fair fight! ...until the literal military comes in and shoots the Yeerks for them.
I get that the author wanted the little cinematic quip-morph sequence there, but man, does it come off as dumb.
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Dec 29, 2022 14:06
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- kiminewt
- Feb 1, 2022
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Yeah, I think it'd be better off not to mention it and just keep the "why don't they just attack when they're transforming" fridge logic. Or else just have a couple of Hork Bajir interfere while the others are morphing.
This doesn't really fit Jake's current character, imo.
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Dec 29, 2022 14:17
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- Zore
- Sep 21, 2010
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willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d’etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things
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It feels like it was a failed attempt at a cool one-liner and scene or someone at Schoolastic randomly read this book pre-release and forced them to change the scene where they slaughter a bunch of controllers mid-morph.
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Dec 29, 2022 16:08
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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One of the recurring themes and questions in the series is to what extent you can or should compromise your morality for the sake of winning a war, and I think this is more of that. Is it ok to attack people who are in the middle of morphing and can't defend themselves, is the question.
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Dec 29, 2022 17:43
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- Ravenfood
- Nov 4, 2011
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One of the recurring themes and questions in the series is to what extent you can or should compromise your morality for the sake of winning a war, and I think this is more of that. Is it ok to attack people who are in the middle of morphing and can't defend themselves, is the question.
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Dec 29, 2022 18:24
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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Let's make it a fair fight by waiting for the people who outnumber us to finish morphing.
Not that it matters, but it's 10 to 10.
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Dec 29, 2022 19:14
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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Yeah, I dunno about this. It's war, and if the enemy comes out having forgotten to load their guns, you don't give them a freebee to run back to their room and reload.
Well, like i said, it's a question, and questions don't always have easy answers, and Jake isn't always right.
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Dec 29, 2022 21:53
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- Ravenfood
- Nov 4, 2011
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Let's give them a fair fight, I say, on my way to vaporize a bunch of them while they are defenseless in their pool.
Not that it matters, but it's 10 to 10.
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Dec 29, 2022 22:22
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