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No lie, as much as I loved these books when I was a kid and read the ones I had obsessively, it's wild what has stuck in my memory and what hasn't.. For example, I remember the Elimist showing up in this book, but none of the major plot beats in the aftermath, while at the same time, lines like this:quote:<I smell humans.> Ax confirmed. ....will bubble up through my lizard brain literally at least once a month.
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Aug 9, 2020 23:49
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I was pretty  that we're not doing the next in-sequence book yet since it's the first Ax book but man this is a nail biter. The only Megamorphs book I'd read is the dino one so this is all brand new for me.Nthing the theory that this woman is one of the former Gap employees guarding the Yeerk pool entrance and thus one of the redshirts they let starve after the Kandrona generator was destroyed. Side note: I worked at The Limited for a brief period of time about a decade ago so it's wild to hear it name dropped so much in this series, especially since it went belly-up several years back. It really was huge in the 90's.
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Aug 16, 2020 15:34
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quote:The Alien-Chapter 9 As cliche as this kind of framing device is, I really love some of these chapter headers.  I'm a book or two ahead and definitely took screenshots of a few of these while reading this one because they really are charming.
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Sep 3, 2020 01:40
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I agree with you about Cassie beating herself up way too much. I think it’s more of a manifestation of the trauma she’s just experienced in the colony. Like if she hadn’t just gone through that near-complete ego death and trying so desperately to cling to something, anything like a hard principle she can confidently say “yes, this is who I am and what’s important to me.” It feels like the....maybe not hypocrisy, but contradiction?....of her agonizing so much about a litter of four or five skunk kits dying as a result oof her indirect actions versus essentially wiping out thousands of life forms wouldn’t consume her emotionally if she hadn’t just lived through that. I don’t remember anything from this book and haven’t read ahead, but it definitely feels like she’s gonna do something really loving stupid as a result of her guilt to try to tip the cosmic scales back in balance like she did in the first Megamorphs book. pastor of muppets fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Sep 13, 2020 |
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Sep 13, 2020 02:45
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I guess I’m the opposite, Cassie was always my favorite of the core team as a kid because I identified pretty hard with the “awkward tomboy who loves animals” characterization. I do get frustrated with her now as an adult reading it and her ethical ennui but hey, she’s a literal child soldier. Let’s face it tho if your fav is not the best cinnaboi Ax then why are you even reading this series 
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Sep 13, 2020 17:36
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That is the most 90's middle school thing ever and I love it.
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Sep 16, 2020 19:17
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Oct 2, 2020 15:38
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I got my copy of the graphic novel last week and just want to point out that despite the context, the photo of Elfangor's family on his ship where wee Ax is being held in his parent's arms like how I hold my dumb cats is extremely 
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Oct 31, 2020 22:52
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Synesthesian Fetish posted:This makes me wonder about infants and the blade tail. Does it grow out later in life? If they're born with it I'm surprised they survived as a species I vaguely remember something like this being addressed later on maybe in the Hork-Bajir or Andalite Chronicles? but it's been so long since I've read them, so I guess we'll find out when they come up.
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Oct 31, 2020 23:39
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Bobulus posted:You know, it just occurred to me, with Cassie acquiring Rachel: why has no one acquired Ax yet? Ax's two big contributions to this team are computer skills and acting as a decoy. They really should have a means of doing both at once. That's a good point, especially if they want to keep up the ruse of being "Andalite bandits." Also: OctaviusBeaver posted:Llama Marco rules
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Nov 8, 2020 23:08
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quote:
Holy poo poo.  This book is so good but man I am very glad I missed this one as a kid.
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Nov 20, 2020 16:06
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Fuschia tude posted:I have to say, I'm kind of disappointed by the characterizations in this book so far, mainly dialog. This in particular was pointed out to me as an extremely American verbal tic the first time I lived abroad (as is "okay", for that matter). Ax seems like a more believable and 'alien' alien in the main series than Elfangor does in this book. Even if this story is meant to be from the POV of an Andalite addressing Andalites, he seems way too informal, slangy, and Americanized to read as a proud warrior alien military cadet, both in dialog and in his narration. He repeatedly highlights being caught off-guard by humans turning their heads to look at things, which, though it is a nice touch, also shows that his viewpoint isn't just being anthropomorphized. It feels sloppy. Agreed. Ax's voice in his first (and only so far) book is so wildly different than Elfangor's here that it is almost jarring. Maybe it really is a stylistic choice since the whole theme of Ax's book is how othered he feels from the humans he's working with, but he still manages to come across as a relatable character. One scene that comes to mind is the one where he's performing his morning ritual out of habit and how well the text conveys his feelings of frustration and hopelessness without having to resort to modern human colloquialisms like saying "man this is stupid." If I squint hard, I can sort of see this being believable if Elfangor is telling his first-hand account at some point during or after his time living on Earth as a human, among other humans for years and would be far more familiar with human speech patterns and mannerisms, and probably incorporating them into his own recollections unconsciously. But, since we don't really know what the framing device is for ANY of these books and who these characters are giving their accounts to, that's hard to say. I'm giving this book the benefit of a doubt because the plot is so good, but it almost takes me out of it.
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Nov 21, 2020 17:01
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Epicurius posted:
(Oh, this is definitely going to be either a Camaro or a Mustang....)  We have an '86 Mustang GT convertible (with the seats removed at the moment because the carpet was just replaced) and this is now all I will picture when I look at it. e: Tree Bucket posted:
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Nov 23, 2020 16:16
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wizzardstaff posted:We were somewhere around the Living Hive, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold... welp.
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Nov 23, 2020 23:12
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quote:<Did that scare the pee out of you, Ax-man, or doesn’t that kind of thing bother you Andalites?> 
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Dec 12, 2020 18:52
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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.
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Jul 11, 2021 02:56
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Nthing the appreciation, Epicurius. Keeping momentum up on a multi-year thread like this with near-daily posts is no small feat.  still think we need a gangtag 
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Jul 12, 2021 21:15
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Jul 13, 2021 00:13
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spotted in the wild
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Jul 14, 2021 22:29
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Okay so I’m a few chapters behind, but I wanted to jump in to show off this print I bought recently. I wonder if the artist is an Animorphs fan or just happened to depict a reenactment of the Jake vs David fight by sheer coincidence. 
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Oct 9, 2021 14:13
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I just binged the last 40% of this thread after losing track sometime after MM3. Hope you’re doing okay Epi.
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Feb 18, 2023 13:23
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Not sure how it’s possible to lose 80 gallons of fluid while in a Yeerk pool but ok? glad you’re on the mend!
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Mar 6, 2023 13:45
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When I was getting caught up on this thread and the post count stopped going up, I assumed the series had finished and I had missed out getting to read the endgame with the rest of the thread. I’m glad that I will actually get to finish it out with y’all and I am very glad you’re doing better.Epicurius posted:
This definitely makes sense when the framing positions the Andalites as an analogy for  , in a series written by author(s).
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Mar 14, 2023 02:32
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quote:
God...all that these kids have been though, and they're not even driving age yet. Someone said it back during the book where Jake nearly got popped in fly morph, but it really makes you want to just give these kids a hug. 
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Mar 15, 2023 22:42
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mods please change my name to thermal of destruction
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Mar 17, 2023 16:58
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Love how the tone of the writing turns what is supposed to be a triumphant moment for the Animorphs into a very bleak one. I can see how people reacted negatively to this ending arc if they were looking for something more affirming in their YA fiction, but it is so much more powerful this way.
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Mar 23, 2023 13:48
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nine-gear crow posted:
It also all smells like a dank basement.
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Mar 24, 2023 11:56
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Mar 25, 2023 14:53
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I hope we get at least one Tobias chapter. It's gut-wrenching that he only just got his reunion with Loren only to turn his back on human life.Rochallor posted:This is from a few chapters back, but it strikes me that in this moment that Alloran gets exactly the happy ending that Jake wanted for Tom. I haven't read up to this point, but I know the broad strokes of what happens in this ending arc. That said, Alloran's fate (if we're calling it that, I know there's still a lot of book left) was a pleasant surprise. I didn't realize he would play such a crucial role in such a pivotal moment in the endgame.
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Mar 28, 2023 16:51
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Fuschia tude posted:I've been re-watching Battlestar Galactica over the last few months (and season 4 for the first time) and that's pretty much how I feel there, too. I've rewatched BSG pretty recently. Yes, it has. BSG's ending still makes me mad with how slapped together it is. It's frustrating because when the show was good it was SO GOOD. It peaked at the end of the second season with the whole Pegasus arc, and then the writers' strike happened. It was clear though that the showrunners had no clear idea how the series would wrap up and that's what ultimately hurt it, not the strike. Animorphs OTOH, valid criticisms about pacing in the ending arc aside, at least ends in a way that is thematically coherent with the rest of the series imo. Regarding Animorphs, I'd mostly spoiled myself on the larger plot points of the ending, but I was still pleasantly surprised with how well it came together. There's definitely a lack of catharsis but that was ultimately what Applegrant wanted, and while I definitely understand why people dislike it even now, it mostly works for me. I'm glad we're doing Everworld next! I've only read the second book and that was like back in 2002, so I'm looking forward to experiencing it (mostly) fresh.
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Apr 7, 2023 21:24
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Apr 9, 2023 13:39
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I’ll just echo what others have said that this thread has made the last few years that much less lovely. The fact that Epi stuck with us in spite of his health struggles is amazing. There is never a good time for something like this to happen, but I am so glad we all got to finish out the series together.
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Jun 11, 2023 22:32
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