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I love this series so much. Very excited to read along. It's really wild how much they launch into body horror right from the getgo. I never finished the series as a kid so maybe this will be the time I finally do it. Had it spoiled for me long ago but I think the journey is infinitely more fun. I remember really loving the first Cassie book which is up next and I believe the one where they find Ax, and the following one which I think is one of the extremely scarring ones about insect hiveminds, this time with termites!!! Did they morph ants and termites, and if so, why? Or am I misremembering? I thought the ant colony thing was in a Marco book but I'm pretty sure the termite thing is from Cassie's perspective.
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May 5, 2020 19:08
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nine-gear crow posted:It kind of makes you wander what would happen if the Yeerks were mildly smart and went the V 2009 route of just blatantly rolling up to Earth and presenting themselves as “Hey, we’re your cool new alien companions, here’s a Power Point presentation on all the benefits having your very own Yeerk Companion* in your head has to offer. Step right up! Be the first family on your block to become a Yeerk Family today!” And also painted the Andalites with the blackest tar black brush they could and united humanity against a “common enemy”. Plus they both loving love bureaucracy, especially net-violent bureaucracy. So far I have really loved how the kids have been shown to use morphing when they're not on a mission. Tobias and Rachel's hijinks here, plus Rachel nuzzling with Melissa in the past book and using her powers to scare the creep off, and especially Tobias using hawk morph to escape from his life a bit (and then permanently) have been really good examples of how dumb goofball teens would actually use their powers without thinking of the implications quite yet.
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May 5, 2020 23:33
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President Ark posted:let's be honest here, every 13 year old would have abused this even if they'd also gained the knowledge that there was a secret hellwar going on they'd just been unwillingly drafted into Oh absolutely. Long after I stopped reading the series when I was getting up to my middle school hijinks I would still secretly wish for morphing powers so I could get away with something or have some kind of advantage on the situation. I would have abused the poo poo out of morph technology. I still think shapeshifting is by far my preferred superpower.
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May 6, 2020 05:11
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wizzardstaff posted:The books were coming out right as I was getting old enough to have my own card and visit the library by myself. I was the first person to check out the first book narrated by Axmili and I had a long internal debate about whether it was okay to detach the perforated bookmark since it wasn't my copy. Did you do it
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May 6, 2020 21:33
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wizzardstaff posted:That's between me and God. Hell yeah. I can't wait to read more of the Tobias book, I really love his character, way more as an adult than I did when I was a kid. I used to identify most strongly with Marco and Cassie because I liked the funny wisecracking characters but was also a huge tree hugger. Plus I think something about Marco did read as queer to my little gay boy brain so I probably latched onto him subconsciously for that reason as well. And of course I also loved the objectively best character who we will meet shortly. I remember being supremely disappointed by the TV series. I do think that, even though I loving hate reboot culture, this series deserves so much more than the low budget live-action series it got. Hopefully the graphic novels catch on and we get some movement.
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May 6, 2020 22:13
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Epicurius posted:Pulling a kind of JK Rowling, Michael Grant has said that Marco is canonically bisexual. Yeah, I had read his statement about it a while ago and something about it does not feel anywhere near as forced as the JK Rowling stuff. Part of it is JK Rowling being who she is, compared to who Michael Grant and K.A. Applegate are and their respective relationships to the series and characters. I'm sure the total overload of Harry Potter crap is coloring my perspective on this as well, I really dislike the series now even though it was probably my second favorite book series after this growing up. Lot of that has to do with how bad the moral arc of Harry Potter is compared to how much the main themes of Animorphs still feel relevant. Plus, I think we get a lot more insight into Marco's character that just makes it ring more like something that was understood but maybe couldn't be published, compared to the whole Dumbledore thing which as far as I remember is a complete afterthought with no subtextual support whatsoever. I'm interested to reread his narrated books and see how much of that was just me projecting. Hell, even the first vs third person narration is probably a factor. I'm really interested to read what other queer folks (or just anyone) think about this as well, but to me it is nowhere near as egregious as JKR's stuff. E: vvvvvvvvvvvv woof, that Tupperware line and everything after it 
QuickbreathFinisher fucked around with this message at 22:39 on May 6, 2020 |
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May 6, 2020 22:31
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wizzardstaff posted:I think the one I gained the most appreciation for after rereading as an adult was Rachel. Reading the series as a preteen boy I didn't really identify with or care about her "let's go shopping!" characterization. But she is the most committed to the cause and the one who seems to "get it" right away. For sure, I remember liking the contrast of the shopping stuff with her brutality, but aside from that she didn't do much for me as a kid. But even in the first book she narrates, we get a huge amount of emotional depth with all of the Melissa stuff which drives home her whole deal. She is a really great character which makes what happens to her in the end that much worse. The last line she gets is so devastating.
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May 9, 2020 19:09
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Goddamn that was a rough chapter. I didn't remember that they almost get trapped in morph in this one, and that the description of all of them trying to get out, especially Marco, goes full-tilt body horror. Wonder if K.A. was thinking of the scene in Invasion of the Body Snatchers when she wrote that particular section. I remember the lobster morph being a particularly bad one, description-wise so I'm looking forward to seeing how gross the morphs get. Pity that the flea morph was offscreen, do they ever use that one again? Seems like it would be somewhat helpful for low-stakes infiltration, especially if you enlist someone else in morph as a watcher to keep an eye on whoever the flea is on. Tobias's internal monologue ending the chapter is so loving brutal, too. I didn't remember much of what this book was and so far it is turning out to be incredibly intense.
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May 15, 2020 01:37
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Tree Bucket posted:...incidentally, what does the thread title refer to? Figured it was a Wonder Twins reference, although I don't know what if anything the cougar is referencing.
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May 15, 2020 03:17
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cptn_dr posted:"2 of your earth hours" Feel like pure poo poo just want him back
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May 15, 2020 19:28
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:Those two things go together about as well as cowboys fighting on horseback and spaceships, and yet, firefly Yeah but like this is good though
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May 20, 2020 07:20
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Epicurius posted:The Encounter-Chapter 21 I don't think I processed just how much of a horror show it was as a kid, or if I did I mostly thought it was cool because I was a 10 year old boy and thought gross poo poo was cool. There was a lot of gross-out themed toys and stuff around in the late 90s as well, so I think this blended in well enough with that whole genre. I remember I had a book all about gross stuff that had fake rubber vomit attached to the cover. I like to think that among other things, this series informed my deep love of body horror and practical effects, but on reread as an adult I remember being taken aback by how visceral and disgusting some of the transformations, and especially some of the battle scenes and injuries these kids sustain, are. I'm reading ahead in my physical copies I just found, because a chapter a day just wasn't enough for me. This book contains a preview of the next one in which they morph dolphins and immediately attack a group of sharks, and Marco basically has his tail severed and hanging by a thread. They start panicking because they're in the open ocean... The ads in the back of the book are funny, I'll post pics of some later and anything else I find as I'm reading through the physical copies. I think I left a lot of the included merch intact. I forgot about the cute little morphing flipbook in the corner 
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May 26, 2020 01:40
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cptn_dr posted:We posting Animemes now? This is absolutely destroying me rn lmao
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May 29, 2020 01:49
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SardonicTyrant posted:Cassie's monologue on nature in her next book is one of the better parts of the series. I remember being shocked on a reread almost 20 years later how much of it I had internalized, it's really good. I remember the Ellimist having another good one on the beauty of Earth much later in the series. I think I either never got to the point where the Cassie/Rachel books go downhill or don't remember it, because I was surprised by all the Cassie hate too. Anyway this book rocks and we're in for a huge treat
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Jun 2, 2020 17:52
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Epicurius posted:The Message-Chapter 3 I think this also ties in with her morphing abilities and trouble with the morphs' minds - she understands animals a little more intuitively from all the time she spends with them, both anatomically/medically which may help her smooth out and control the actual morphing, and on an empathetic level which may allow the animal mind a little more leeway when she's first trying out a morph. I think I remember a lot of that animal instinct coming up in this book. Interesting to think about whether the news would play this segment if the station had been taken over by Yeerks. I think it's fair to assume that the Yeerks wouldn't broadcast that info if they had control, unless they want to lure out the "Andalite" bandits. There's no way for the kids to really know, for sure. I can't remember how this resolves other than the broad strokes, so it will be cool to see.
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Jun 3, 2020 22:59
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This is a complete tangent and has nothing to do with the interesting ethical discussion y'all are on, which I wholeheartedly enjoy, but I feel like this is the second or third time already that there has been a "nearly electrocuted bird" at Cassie's barn. It seems to be a different bird every time. How are all these birds surviving near-electrocution? I thought it was pretty much just scorched talons on a wire if a bird completes the circuit. Maybe I don't know as much about bird electrocution as Cassie. Are the Yeerks going around torturing birds with electric weapons?  I don't remember if this happens but it would be interesting if Cassie's parents start suspecting something weird is going on as the number of animals with weird injuries starts increasing. Feel like all kinds of wildlife is getting scorched and slashed and half eaten by giant centipedes already. I feel like I remember this being a minor plot at some point. E: vvvvvvvvv  
QuickbreathFinisher fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Jun 8, 2020 |
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Jun 8, 2020 20:42
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disaster pastor posted:Fun facts like how long a gorilla can remain conscious after getting disemboweled and stabbed in the heart! Or, more near at hand, how well a dolphin can swim with a severed tail. Answer: not very. Why is it always Marco? This chapter is really cute, and all of the horror just makes the rare fun chapter that much more bittersweet. I admit I got a little choked up thinking about what happens to these kids over the course of the series while reading about them having a fun time as dolphins just now. The tonal whiplash hasn't felt cheap yet. To me, it really feels like it ties in with one of the central themes of the series, the kill or be killed nature of both their struggle with the Yeerks, and of nature in general. A bunch of dolphins acting like goofy teenagers without a care in the world is bound to have a run in with a hungry shark, probably sooner rather than later. I'm also a big fan of how Cassie describes the barrier between the sea and the air, and the dolphin mind wanting to play games. Really just glad whenever these kids get one nice chapter  loving this book so far.
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Jun 10, 2020 23:14
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<Killing can be a game.>
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Jun 11, 2020 05:12
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Goddamn this series rocks
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Jun 17, 2020 02:35
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I feel I remember this being something of a running gag, to the point where I specifically remember in a later book Ax mentioning something that he remembers hearing about in school, and someone, probably Marco, going "let me guess, you weren't paying attention." Ax is so good. I'm slightly ahead in book 5 and I'm excited for the thread to get to the first in a series of mall capers that begins with the Radio Shack visit that he, Jake and Marco go on. He really is the best.
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Jun 20, 2020 23:45
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:You could reasonably assume Tom found out something he shouldn't have and was taken kicking and screaming, since he tried to fistfight Visser Three. I think it's addressed in a later book that Tom actually joined the sharing (spoilers for what I'm pretty sure is book 6) to get closer to a girl he liked (who obviously ended up being a controller). An extremely teenager thing to do, honestly.
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Jun 21, 2020 02:52
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chitoryu12 posted:Is this the book with the ants? This is extremely the book with the ants
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Jun 27, 2020 19:56
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disaster pastor posted:Just a reminder that right up to the end, Scholastic marketed Animorphs as roughly fifth-grade reading material (ages 10–11 for non-US people). I don't remember the (same books as above) butterfly book being that bad, but I can see how the oatmeal book's depiction of biological warfare would be a little intense. Wild that the David book where he just starts attacking them is ok for 3rd graders. This book is by far the most horrific we've had yet, and I feel like I remember Marco's books generally feeling this way which is why I liked them. But I'm interested to see why they even consider the termite morph in book 9, considering how the next part of this mission goes... The lobster, and specifically Jake's face splitting into "a mess of valves," was a vivid and disgustingly visceral way to put it. Thanks KA! 
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Jul 1, 2020 20:03
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I know it's probably just a throwaway line, but the "so is space" voice in his head in the last bit is really making me think it's (book 6&7? Spoilers) the Ellimist doing some foreshadowing work or something. Jake sees Crayak in the next book as his yeerk is dying as well, and I know Rachel meets the Ellimist properly in book 7. I never really noticed that line before but it seems to jump out a bit at me that whenever these kids hear voices in their heads, it's usually someone trying to reach them. That said it's probably just Marco being Marco.
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Jul 3, 2020 00:29
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Ugh, as if anaesthesia wasn't creepy enough...
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Jul 16, 2020 10:05
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Epicurius posted:Neither he nor Yeerk Tom will win any awards for misdirection. Look, no one in this family is Marco
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Jul 17, 2020 05:52
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SirSamVimes posted:So many lines in these books feel different with the awareness that the writers thought of Marco as bisexual. Yeah, as a teen I remember being VOCALLY repulsed by how gross it was that we had to SHOWER with other GUYS in gym class who wants to see that UGH will the trials of high school never end! I was extremely closeted
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Jul 22, 2020 03:11
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nine-gear crow posted:Yeah, a LOT of Marco's words and actions related to gender and attraction really read as "I doth protest too much". Jake has Cassie, and Marco has... an infinite pool of frustration that Jake has Cassie REALLY dismissive of his obvious, from the jump crush on the sixth Animorph, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, especially in human morph. (Just being funny with some kind of of non-spoilers and it's not fully canonical, but i believe we've already seen some interactions to suggest it) It's interesting that as the general non-romantic hijinks pairings go throughout the series, Marco + Cassie is probably the one I probably remember the least of the main characters except for maybe Ax + Rachel or Cassie + Tobias. I feel I still really remember the dynamic that a lot of the Animorphs have when they're one on one but, before this re-read, in my mind's eye it didn't seem like Marco and Cassie got much facetime, and about the only thing I remembered them sharing was a flight morph. It's been nice to see that that isn't totally the case, as Marco and Cassie iirc have already had a really tender, cute moment of her "getting it" empathically and him being disarmed and trying to act funny about it. I'm going to try to pay attention to unique microgroups of Animorphs and their interactions going forward because I think that's fun and I love these teens a lot
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Jul 22, 2020 04:34
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wizzardstaff posted:Between the cockroaches and the flies I'm glad they're getting to morph some fun animals for once. Seems like both would be good for Andalite adrenaline junkies who want to visit earth to sample the morphs. Ok now I'm picturing an Andalite-ready post-yeerk Earth where there is a separate natural "theme park" for each "type" of animal, complete with prey stocks for the predators. And separate areas for prey morphs to vibe. Bugs get a huge garden complete with carrion and live mammals for the bloodsuckers, netted in to avoid birds or rodents. Coral reef as a nurse shark or a dolphin. Avian areas regionally to allow bird morphs to hunt. A pelagic area for the mako/giant squid/sperm whale thrill seeker. Huge swaths of grass, grains, plants, etc with no predators for herbivore morphs. A swamp for the gators, herons, etc. Hunting baby seals and fish as a polar bear or an orca or a leopard seal. Arming through rainforest trees as a monkey or flying through as a parrot or hopping through as a frog or crawling through as a rodent. Climbing goat mountain. City morphs like rat and pigeon feeding off of human excess. Skipping through the desert as a skink or a scorpion. The options are loving endless.
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Jul 24, 2020 11:03
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Jake is a controller so it's a great time for a completely unrelated question - we know skin tight clothing can be morphed, but what if the human in question has a piercing or a tattoo? I guess it kind of falls under the "haircut" rule where they can change their hair if they want to, I guess, shut up, I know DNA doesn't work that way, but it seems to be a different category to me. Not that it matters as our teens are not of inking/piercing age. I guess I'm just happy, for multiple reasons, that Elfangor didn't stumble upon a group of five mall goths.
QuickbreathFinisher fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Jul 27, 2020 |
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Jul 27, 2020 08:57
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:Hmmmm.... is the other city Seattle, maybe? I don't know America that well, whats a thousand miles from Cali thats a much bigger city, and does this help identify where they are? San Luis Obispo maybe? I was thinking Denver because of the mountain climbing/sports city mention, but it could just as easily be Seattle or Portland. For some reason when I read this as a kid I remembered thinking it was Texas, but that doesn't really match up with the way he described it. Is it common for a news anchor to be offered another job this far away? I thought this family drama stuff was nicely written, and as someone from a tense household made up of two second marriages, I thought the barely concealed tones of resentment in Rachel's parents really worked. This book explores some really good stuff, I'm excited to get to the parallel second choice from the Ellimist. excited to discuss that when we get to it later in the book.
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Aug 3, 2020 01:10
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How would the Animorphs even be a threat if they didn't have Cassie, and by extension her almost unlimited access to an entire zoo, plus whatever North American Animal Ex Machina was needed by the ghostwriters that month? I guess I just don't remember Megamorphs #4 because I have no recollection what all of this Cassie being a plant from the jump stuff is about. So far, I feel like if anything, thus far, book 6 revealed that Jake is the weak link of the team. Tobias helps the team plan a brutal and flawless series of traps for Temrash, completely without Jake's dithering "leadership." This is in book 6 so as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with the Ellimist stuff, more of just a logistical "why is this guy the leader" question. His knowledge coupled with the supposedly elite Yeerk piloting him were unable to even think of a plan of escape involving the eight or so diverse morphs he has... Also, for added confusion sake, and since he's already gone ahead and acquired them, shouldn't they all acquire Ax just so they can feign an Andalite morph in times of dire emergency? Who cares if they're all the same teen centaur, better to condescendingly explain to visser three the totally new "Retratnil technique," which lets Andalites shift between morphs without returning to the original body, (  ) you probably haven't heard of it, Alloran, you've been away from your homeland for so long; than to totally blow your cover the first time you run up on a time limit... Also they seem like legitimately strong battle morphs on their own. Do we know if Ax acquired anything before the shark when he was in the ship? Like any Andalite homeworld poo poo.
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Aug 9, 2020 12:04
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Yeah I had always heard it was the woman from book one. This time though, I'm thinking that her fixation on clothes and "the store" could indicate that this lady was formerly guarding the pool entrance over the Gap. Her Yeerk starved after they blew up the Kandrona, understandably driving her nuts, and she's been living in the woods ever since. Pool entrance guard tracks to me as someone a Yeerk would deem replaceable in a life or death situation, too. And now that I'm thinking about it, there's even a parallel to be made between how Yeerks and humans treat retail employees  This book is really out there so far. If I'm remembering correctly, doesn't this tornado thing (spoiler for this and a future Megamorphs) end up being from Saturn? If so, is this the only life form in the series from within our solar system? I remember the crabs and ants (and broccoli) from the dinosaur Megamorphs, but I don't think they were native to earth... I'm probably forgetting something big.
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Aug 15, 2020 03:25
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CidGregor posted:This just makes me wonder why they didn't acquire Jesus whale at the time. Yeah if I was them I would be acquiring every animal I came across and keeping some sort of list. I know we get into why that might not be a great idea in book 12 but I feel like the odds are low that I'd be allergic to the morph and have to get rid of it. I guess the kids don't know if there's a limit to how many morphs they can hold though. I don't even remember if that issue specifically gets addressed at any point.
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Aug 26, 2020 02:07
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God ax rules 
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Aug 29, 2020 07:04
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My name is Cassie. I can't tell you my last name, or where I live. If I did, they'd find me. The Yeerks. They're everywhere. And if they find me, they'll kill me, my friends, my family. If they don't kill me, they'll do something even worse. Just a few months ago, before I knew about the Yeerks, my friends and I were just normal kids. Massive scaly golden arms, average golden legs with average three toed reptilian feet, winglike shielded segments protruding in all the places you'd expect, one long conical arm roughly two times my body length... But that all changed the moment we met Prince Elfangor.
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Aug 31, 2020 22:32
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I'm really fascinated by the idea of the Hork-Bajir bioengineering a war every 62 years. Does that get addressed in Hork-Bajir chronicles? I wonder how that lines up with their life history and stuff. Like, do they only live 20-30 years each and at most distant have a cool grandfather that was in the last war? Or is it more in line with their life history so each "generation" gets a big war. And also like, why? I remember the HB homeworld being (HB Chronicles spoiler) a rifted forest where the deep volcanic parts house their creators, the genetic manipulation obsessed Arn. But I don't remember really why they created them or if any of the cultural stuff was ingrained genetically or taught to the first of the species or whatever. will be interesting to see if any of that ties into the deeper looks we get into Hork-Bajir life. I maybe just forgot it all since it's been years. I just reread book 13 so I'm really in love with Hork-Bajir at the moment.
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Sep 2, 2020 03:17
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disaster pastor posted:I hadn't considered that, but isn't that just killing him more slowly and painfully? He's too weak to use his tail blade, let alone morph, so the only way he can survive is Yeerk medical treatment for the snake venom. I mean Cassie's parents would probably have some rattler antivenom, and if Ax had clued them in she could have even brought it with them (in a cute little pouch of course). Also he could theoretically just morph, if venom works the same as injuries.I guess if he's too weak from the venom, plus probably also too mentally weak from the years of enslavement to morph through the failing body like we saw Jake do with the sprayed roach, there isn't much he would have done but slowed them down. E: I guess there's also no way to know ahead of time if Alloran was a cooperative host. Is his Andalite identity known to the homeworld? They should have brought Alloran off with them, though them freeing the Big Bad from brain enslavement eight books into a 54 book series is quite a ratchet up. So I guess killed them. This might have been Ax's first kill though, I think he's mostly been knocking people out and claiming hands since book 4. Unless you include Taxxons, which, we probably should. Is this the first time we've seen Tobias miss something or gently caress up (aside from the first Yeerk pool mission obviously, which,  ). I love that hawk boy so much, him and Ax moving forward is such a treat. This might be my favorite book we've done in the thread so far, it's so tightly written and gives great comedy in between the soul crushing intergalactic loneliness. QuickbreathFinisher fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Sep 5, 2020 |
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Sep 5, 2020 02:14
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ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:Does this ever come to anything? I feel like it’s a dropped plot line but I may be misremembering. I know the Andalite military has grown more powerful due to the war but that was presented as a consequence of the long conflict not Yeerk subversion. The one with possibly the most reason other than Ax to want to kill him is Tobias, whose hawk body is unfortunately the worst equipped for mercy killing
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Sep 5, 2020 03:57
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Joe Biden voice:Marco posted:We're Homo sapiens, Jack. This book ruled.
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Sep 6, 2020 01:59
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