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Animorphs #1 The Invasion, Chapter 1 quote:My name is Jake. That's my first name, obviously. I can't tell you my last name. It would be too dangerous. The Controllers are everywhere. Everywhere. And if they knew my full name, they could find me and my friends, and then . . . well, let's just say I don't want them to find me. What they do to people who resist them is too horrible to think about. Hi, everybody. Animorphs was a really popular young adult book series and I know a bunch of people remember them fondly. They were a little bit after my time, but I read them later, and surprisingly, they hold up really well, even reading them as an adult, with a few exceptions. I've never done a Lets Read before, but I figured we could start with Animorphs 1, The Invasion, and then if people like it, we can see about going on from there. So, first a little bit of background about the author. The books, or at least the first 24 books, were written by Katherine Applegate, writing as K.A. Applegate (she had a ghostwriter for most of the books after that), and published by Scholastic, which is still the largest children's book publisher worldwide. The Invasion, which came out in June of 1996, wasn't her first book. She, along with her husband Michael Grant, had written a series called the Boyfriends/Girlfriends series, which were young adult romance novels about these teenagers living on an island off the coast of Maine, along with another teenage romance series called the Summer Series, about a girl from Minnesota who goes to Palm Beach for the summer and tries to find romance there. The Animorphs books would go on to become her first big hit, though, and these books were extremely popular, with Scholastic estimating about 10 million copies of the books in print within a year and a half of the first book being published. Applegate kept writing, a lot, actually, and won a Newberry Medal in 2013 for her book The One and Only Ivan quote:My life used to be pretty normal. Normal, that is, until one Friday night at the mall. I was there with Marco, my best friend. We were playing video games and hanging out at this cool store that sells comic books and stuff. The usual. After a smartass comment by Marco about how Jake is terrible at video games, Tobias joins them and they're about to head out when they run into two other kids. quote:We were heading for the exit when I spotted Rachel and Cassie. Rachel is kind of pretty, I guess. I mean, okay, she's very pretty, although, since she is my cousin, I don't really think about her that way. She has blond hair and blue eyes and that kind of very clean, very wholesome look. She's one of those people who always know the right clothes to wear and how to look like they just walked out of one of those fashion magazines girls like. She's also very graceful because she takes gymnastics, even though she says she's too tall to ever be really good at it. They're heading home too. Jake invites them to come along and is a little casually sexist along the way, which sets Rachel off, but Cassie calms the situation down. So there's a pretty good summary of their personalities right off the top. Jake is kind of the natural leader who's living in the shadow of his older brother. Marco is clever, figuring out all the angles, but is also kind of a smartass. Tobias is just kind of weird and doesn't really fit in. Rachel is athletic and has a temper, and Cassie is kind of a hippie who's diplomatic and calm. quote:To get home from the mall we could either go a long way around, which is the safe way, or we could cut through this abandoned construction site and hope there weren't any ax murderers hanging around there. My mom and dad have sworn to ground me until I'm twenty if they ever find out I've cut through the construction site. This is a little thing, but I kind of like what the author does here; just the "I'm absolutely forbidden to go through the incredibly dangerous construction site and my parents would kill me. So I'm walking through there..." It strikes me as kind of funny. quote:Originally it was supposed to be this new shopping center. Now it was just all these half-finished buildings looking like a ghost town. There were huge piles of rusted steel beams; pyramids of giant concrete pipes; little mountains of dirt; deep pits that had filled up with black, muddy water; and a creaking, rusted construction crane that I had climbed once while Marco stayed below and told me I was being an idiot. So, obviously a pretty scary place, and I like the writing here. Applegate is building up a sense of dread. She's saying, "This is a place where strange and dangerous things can happen. quote:It was Tobias who saw it first. He had been walking along, gazing up at the sky. I guess he was looking at the stars or something. That's the way Tobias is sometimes - off in his own world. Don't worry, Cassie. It's probably just swamp gas.
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# ¿ Mar 17, 2020 01:10 |
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# ¿ May 10, 2024 06:34 |
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The species of the Animorphs Universe Humans-You and me...well, me, at least. I don't know for sure about you. Andalites- Four eyed deer centaurs with sharp tails. Their technology gives them the power to morph...to shift their shape into an animal Yeerks/Controllers- Slug-like parasites about the size of a rat. Not too dangerous in their normal form, but with the ability to enter a host's brain and take them over. Prefer willing hosts because they're easier to control, but not that picky. Currently on Earth, trying to take it over. At war with the Andalites. Taxxons-Two meter long centipede like creatures with stalk eyes around a central mouth and a large number of legs, some of which they can use as hands. Voluntary allies and hosts of the Yeerks. Intelligent and dexterous, they make good pilots and technicians. Allied with the Yeerks because Taxxons suffer from an uncontrollable hunger which can drive them to cannibalism and even self-cannibalism, and rely on the Yeerks to help strengthen their will to let them endure the hunger....an attempt only partially successful. Hork-Bajir- Conquered by and hosts of the Yeerks. Sort of a cross between a dinosaur/snake/bird. Have really frightening looking spikes that can be used to injure or kill. Originally peaceful bark eaters genetically created by the Arn, the original intelligent inhabitants of their planet, to help maintain the trees on their homeworld. In general, less intelligent than Humans, Yeerks, Andalites or Taxxons, but sometimes a "seer" is born, a mutant Hork-Bajir with higher intelligence Arn- Race of waist high pterodactyl looking aliens. Expert genetic engineers, not very good at space travel. After their world was almost destroyed by an asteroid, created the Hork-Bajir to maintain the giant trees on their homeworld, limiting their natural intelligence so they wouldn't question the universe around them. Chee- Android race that looks like a bipedal 4 foot tall robotic dog. Created by the Pemalites (See the list of genocides), as friends and companions to them. Virtually immortal and indestructable with superhuman strength and perfect memories, the Pemalites programmed them to never harm a living creature. Are equipped with advanced holographic generators that let them look like whatever they want. After a ship full of Chee and a few dying Pemalites landed on earth trying to flee the Howler attack, they spliced Pemalite genes into wolves, creating the domesticated dog, and live their lives taking care of and protecting dogs, in honor of their old friends and masters. List of genocides in the series Pemalites(Friendly dog people!)-killed by the Howlers Mercora (Giant crabs who hang out in the Cretaceous and eat broccoli)- killed by the Nesk, Tobias, and Ax. Venber (Subarctic non spacefaring species who are prone to melting)- killed by the Five because their melted corpses make good superconductors. The Five (Genocidal dicks who love superconductors) -killed by the newly spacefaring Andalites. Graffen's Children (Primitive jungle dwellers who looked a little like Gumby)-Killed by the Howlers The Mashtimee- Killed by the Howlers The Ron -Killed by the Howlers The Nostnavay -Killed by the Howlers The Howlers (Children, really, really deadly children created by Crayak to wipe out species.)-Killed by Crayak because Jake and Cassie taught them kissing. It'll make more sense if you read Book 26. The Arm-(Expert geneticists, creators of the Hork-Bajir) Killed by the Yeerks. The Ketrans-(The Ellimist's home race. Flying creatures, 4 wings, 4 arms, lived on crystals which they kept aloft)-Killed by the Capasins who thought the games the Ketrans played where they controlled fictional alien species were real. Father (Hivemind who captures passing spaceships, abducts and kills their crews and absorbs their identity)- Killed by the Ellimist to gain his freedom. The Jallians (Sluglike race, in a war with the Inner Worlders)- Killed by the Inner Worlders The Mamathisk (Saved by the Ellimist, who fixed their food shortages)-Killed by Crayak, who undid the Ellimist's improvements, and forced them to descend into cannibalism and starvation The Laga (Subtechnological farmers)-Killed by Crayak, who sent an asteroid into their home planet The Folk (Technologically skilled eugenicists)- Killed by Crayak, who sent an asteroid into their home planet Epicurius fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Sep 5, 2022 |
# ¿ Mar 17, 2020 01:12 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 2quote:"A flying saucer?" Marco said. He'd laugh. That is, until he looked up. Rachel is right. The flying saucer was coming their way, and once it came into view, Jake realizes that it's not actually a saucer at all. quote:First of all, it wasn't all that big. It was about as long as a school bus. The front end was a pod, shaped almost like an egg. Extending from the back of the pod was a long, narrow shaft. There were two crooked, stubby winglike things, and on the end of each wing was a long tube that glowed bright blue on the back end. The ship starts coming closer, and everybody has no idea what to do. Marco's first instinct is to run home and get a camera, but Jake thinks its too dangerous to run, saying that if they run, the ship will probably blast them with phasers or something. The ship stops and hovers over their head, and their hair starts standing up (except for Cassie's). So, in all likelihood, it's giving off a strong electric field. quote:What do you think it is?" Marco asked. He sounded a little shakier, not so laid-back now that the thing was so close. To be honest, I was a little scared, too. A little scared, as in so terrified I couldn't move. But at the same time, it was all cool beyond any coolness ever. I mean, it was a spaceship! Right there over my head. Just as a note, but i like that description of Tobias, there, and depending on how far we get through the series, we'll see just how true that is. quote:"I think it's going to land," he said, this huge smile on his face. His eyes were bright and excited, and his blond hair was standing up in clumps. After the ship lands, they all agree that they really should go and let somebody know...the cops, the army, the President, or really anybody. But, none of them move, because you just don't walk away from a spaceship. quote:"I wonder if we should try and talk to it," Rachel suggested. She was standing there with her hands on her hips looking at the spaceship like it was a puzzle she had to figure out. "I mean, we should communicate. If that's even possible." The spaceship is telepathic! Also, note that it was Tobias who took the initiative here...Tobias, cool with weird stuff, bothered by normal stuff. quote:Maybe this was all a dream. I looked kind of sideways at Cassie. She looked back at me. Our eyes met. She had heard it, too. I looked at Rachel. She was turning her head back and forth, like she was looking for where that sound - that wasn't a sound - could have come from. I started to get a sick, twisty feeling in my stomach. So the spaceship isn't telepathic after all. quote:My first reaction was that someone had cloned a person and a deer together. The creature had a head and shoulders and arms that were more or less where they should have been, though the skin was a pale shade of blue. But below that he had fur, a mix of blue and tan, covering a four-legged body that really did look like it belonged to a deer, or maybe a small horse. So there's our first alien. Any thoughts about the description here? quote:To my surprise, the alien staggered. He fell out of the ship to the ground. Tobias tried to grab him and hold him up, but the alien slipped from his grasp and fell back to the dirt. And that's chapter 2. Thoughts? For those of you who read it as kids, is it holding up? For those of you reading it for the first time, is it any good? Epicurius fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Mar 18, 2020 |
# ¿ Mar 18, 2020 02:22 |
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You're right. From a strictly plot based standpoint, first person narrative doesn't make any sense. "I have this secret and anyone finds out who I am, we're all in danger. Now, let me tell you my first name, all about my family and friends, and everything we've done." So as a narrative thing it doesn't make sense. I think it does work on other levels, though. The biggest strength to the first person narration is that it gives each book and narrator a distinct voice. (For those who don't know, and you'll see, different books are narrated by different characters). So a Jake book feels different than a Marco book, or a Rachel book, or a Cassie book or a Tobias book. They each have different values, look at the world differently, and have their own way of speaking. I think it also makes the characters more relatable than a third party narration would. And there's a definite decrease in quality when the ghostwriters take over.
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# ¿ Mar 18, 2020 04:26 |
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biracial bear for uncut posted:The books where you had graphic depictions of various individual yeerks starving to death and dying were surprisingly dark when they happened. The Yeerks were definitely the villains, but there was also something sympathetic and pitiful about them, in that, they were sentient but when they didn't have a host, they were almost blind and deaf, practically immobile, and pretty much helpless. The Andalite Prince Seerow is villified for what he did (and no doubt, it had horrible consequences), but its easy to see why he was motivated to do it.
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# ¿ Mar 18, 2020 16:50 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 3quote:<They have come to destroy you.> Applegate was a big Tolkien fan, and a lot of times in her naming, she used Tolkeinesque words. In Tolkein's language Sindarin, "Yrch" was the word for Orcs. She adopted that into Yeerks. quote:"Are you telling us they're already here on Earth?" Rachel demanded. So we now have our second alien species, and the first one actually named, and it's a brain slug. This is actually a pretty common thing in science fiction...some sort of alien parasite that takes over its host and removes his or her free will. You see it in Stargate with the Go'uld, in Star Trek with the Borg, and even earlier than that, with stories of demonic possession and vampires. Its a fear that works on two levels. First of all, it means you can't trust other people, because how do you know that the people you love haven't been taken over? It also raises the fear of loss of control...that there's something that can strip your free will and make you behave the way it wants you to. quote:"Look, this is serious stuff," I said. "You shouldn't be telling us. We're just kids, you know. This is like something the government should know about." This is also a pretty common fear, and especially for kids, I think. One of the problems kids and teenagers face is that they aren't taken seriously by adults. We also now know the name of his species, the Andalites. quote:"I don't care if he thinks he's going to die, we have to try and help him," Rachel said. "We can get him to a hospital. Or maybe Cassie's parents . . . " So there's his family portrait. I will say there's some stuff in this part that may come up later. quote:I went back to the circle of my friends. So we're going to be finding out why the series is called Animorphs. Also, interesting that Tobias is the least freaked out about this and the most accepting. Another example of him being able to handle weird stuff.
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# ¿ Mar 19, 2020 00:41 |
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More than I'd be, probably.
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# ¿ Mar 19, 2020 03:07 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 4quote:<Yeerks!> So there they go. This is the part that Campbell, in his Hero's Journey model, calls "Meeting the Mentor", where the hero meets an older and wiser figure who gives them their quest and some sort of special gift along the way. I'm not a big fan of the Hero's Journey model, but there you go. More importantly, this is pretty much where Jake becomes a leader. The other kids turn to him to make the decision, and this is something you'll see throughout the book and the series. quote:<Go now,> the Andalite said. <Only remember this - never remain in animal form for more than two of your Earth hours. Never! That is the greatest danger of the morphing! If you stay longer than two hours you will be trapped, unable to return to human form.> Two hours. I wonder if this rule will prove important. quote:Suddenly some new fear washed through the Andalite's mind. Linked as I was to him, I could feel it as a dread that crawled up my spine. He was staring up at the sky with his main eyes. Tobias and the Andalite have a neat kind of connection in this chapter. quote:A beam of bright red light snapped on. It was a spotlight from one of the Bug fighters. The beam lit up the fallen Andalite and his ship. A spotlight from the second Bug fighter joined the first, and the Andalite shone brilliant as a star. Just like the Andalite fighter looked vaguely Andalite, long and sleek with a weapon rising up in the back, the Yeerk bug fighters look vaguely Yeerklike quote:"Okay, you can wake me up now," Marco said in a rattled whisper. "I've had enough of this dream." And, of course, Visser Three's ship is nothing but a giant weapon. quote:They leaped from the ship, whirling and thrusting and slicing the air - creatures that looked like walking weapons. They stood on two bent-back legs and had two very long arms. On each arm there were curved horn-blades growing out of the wrist and elbow. There were other blades at their bent-back knees, and two more blades at the end of their tails. They had feet like a Tyrannosaurus rex. But it was the head that got your attention - a neck like a snake, a mouth that was almost a falcon's beak, and, from the forehead, three daggerlike horns raked forward. So there's our next group of aliens, the Hork-Bajir. Pretty much dinosaur/bird men quote:But our attention was drawn away by a new form that crept and slithered and shimmied out of the Blade ship. As we'll see if we get to it, not really true, but they are pretty unpleasant quote:They were like massive centipedes, twice as long as a grown man. So big around that if you tried to hug one, your arms wouldn't make it even halfway. Not that anyone would ever want to. So that's the Taxxons...pretty much giant centipedes. It's kind of interesting that the two "evil" species, the Yeerks and the Taxxons, are patterned off species that people tend to find repulsive; slugs and centipedes. The "good" aliens, on the other hand, are described like deer or birds/dinosaurs. I don't know if Applegate did that intentionally or not. quote:Hork-Bajir and Taxxons poured from the Blade ship, spreading out around the area like well trained Marines. They were holding small, pistol-sized things that were definitely weapons. They formed a ring around the Andalite and his ship. So there's chapter 4, and things are starting to get intense.
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# ¿ Mar 20, 2020 02:17 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 5quote:The Hork-Bajir pointed his gun, or whatever it was, around at the darkness. His snake head swerved left and right, trying to penetrate the gloom. One thing that the books don't shy away from is the display of emotions, and this is a pretty good example of terror. quote:But then the Andalite's voice was in my head again. <Courage, my friends.> This actually raises a question that I don't have a good answer to. Andalites are telepathic, and we know this because, first, they don't have mouths, and second, because the Andalite has actively been using telepathy. But is this sort of reassurance and comfort also a special Andalite power? I really don't know. quote:The Hork-Bajir moved away. Something new was coming from the Blade ship. Shaking and chattering, I rose high enough to look over the low wall. Every Hork-Bajir and every Taxxon was turned toward the ship now. I'm starting to think Visser Three isn't particularly nice. quote:<Well, well,> Visser Three said. So, remember how I said that Applegate was a Tolkien fan? You see that again, in the name Elfangor, which references Tolkien's Fangor Forest. Also, though, and I have no idea if this is intentional or not, but Andalites get compared to deer, and the Greek word for deer is Elafos. There seems to be a connection here, although it might just be coincidence. quote:The Andalite didn't answer. But I had the feeling maybe it had been more than eight. Nope, not very nice. quote:The Andalite struck! Have to admit, Prince Elfangor is kind of awesome. quote:<Fire!> Visser Three yelled. <Burn his ship!> I'm personally not a giant fan of the "lets spell out the sound", because it's hard to do it and not make it not look silly. The monster is clearly frightening, though, and I don't really know how to describe it other than "really scary". quote:My teeth rattled from the sound. I heard someone whimpering. It was me. Visser Three had become a monster that made the Hork-Bajir and the Taxxons look like harmless toys. He reached out with one thick tentacle and grabbed the Andalite by the neck. "No, no, no," I heard Cassie whispering over and over again. "No, no, no, no." "Don't look," Rachel said to her. She put her arm around Cassie's shoulder and held her close. Then she reached for Tobias and took his hand. I guess you never really know someone till you see them scared. And even scared to death, with tears running down her face, Rachel had strength to spare. Note Rachel is the only one keeping it together here. quote:Visser Three lifted the Andalite straight up in the air, tearing him from the grasp of the Hork-Bajir. The Andalite prince struck again and again with his tail. But each strike was like a pinprick against such a creature. I'm wondering in how many children's books, the helpful alien that the heroes meet is eaten alive by the villain just after they meet him. This is a remarkably violent series...I mean, it's a series about a war, and so of course it is, and part of me is wondering how they got away with it.. I'm wondering how much of it is that parents didn't know what their kids are reading. I mean, these are small books, the covers are kind of bad, and they have the Scholastic label on them. So I'm wondering how many parents just let it go with "Oh, it's a book where people can turn into animals". They rereleased the first eight books back in 2011, and I guess the sales weren't good enough to justify more. They made some changes too...most of them were just to clean up typos, or fix logical inconsistencies or obvious errors, but they also updated some of the cultural references. I'm doing these from the original books, and you'll see, back in Chapter 1, Jake mentions he has a "Sega". In the rerelease, this was changed to a "game console". So, what did people think of this chapter, and the book so far? Especially those of you who never read the book as a kid, is it any good, do you think? Epicurius fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Mar 21, 2020 |
# ¿ Mar 21, 2020 03:52 |
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chitoryu12 posted:I think the biggest problem is the way the exposition is delivered. For someone who's mortally wounded and in immediate peril, Elfangor sure has a lot of time to calmly explain the entire plot. He's certainly suffering from exposition syndrome.
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# ¿ Mar 21, 2020 16:08 |
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I'm going to ask a quick favor. Obviously, this is a 25 year old series, and a lot of people have read it, and a lot of people who have read it want to share their memories of it here. This is great, and I hope people do. That being said, there are people here who haven't read the series, either because they were too young or too old to read it when it first came out or because they never were exposed to it. So, they're experiencing this series for the first time. Therefore I'm going to ask, as a favor to them, that if people want to post spoilers of plot points, either real or fake, that they use spoiler tags. That way, those people who haven't read it don't have their experience ruined by learning something before they're supposed to.
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# ¿ Mar 22, 2020 00:08 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 6quote:I don't know what came over me right then. I had been so afraid. So terrified. But it was like something just snapped in my head. I couldn't just hide and watch, I couldn't. Yep. Visser-Three just ate him and the Taxxon-Controller fed on the remains. It's really a pretty overwhelming moment. quote:I heard a sound that was strange because it was so normal. It was laughter. Human laughter. The humans . . . the Human-Controllers because that's what they were - were laughing, like they were at some kind of a show. For a moment it seemed to me that one of those laughing voices was familiar, like I'd heard it before. But then the sound was swallowed up in the huffing of the Hork-Bajir. Visser-Three is 100% the type of bad boss that makes the people who work for him laugh at his jokes. quote:The snake head turned. He was perfectly still. Yikes. quote:I slid quickly along the wall. So that's one innocent down. (I'd be surprised if he got away) Epicurius fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Mar 22, 2020 |
# ¿ Mar 22, 2020 03:32 |
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nine-gear crow posted:Yeah, their turnaround time was straight up like probably 3 weeks because they had to get them out on a monthly basis. It was the primary reason Applegate and Grant hired all those ghostwriters, aside from them starting a family. Even with the two of them working their asses off, they were just barely keeping ahead of the train laying the tracks. I haven't really gotten into it so far, but I think that the trigger for the ghost writers was that, in 1999, Applegate and Grant, entered into another contract with Scholastic for another book series called "Everworld", about these teenagers are sucked into an alternate world and forced to fight the gods, especially the god Loki, who's trying to take over our world. That series started in 1999, which is when Animorphs started being ghostwritten. But you're right that the publication schedule for Animorphs was crazy, when you consider they published 64 books over the course of five years, or an average of about one a month.
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# ¿ Mar 23, 2020 01:16 |
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nine-gear crow posted:Having read the first Everworld, you can tell right off the bat how much more their hearts were in that universe than they ever were in Animorphs and you can easily see the DNA of what would become Gone all over it. I might be wrong but I think to this day they’re both still pretty burned that Everworld (and Remnants for that matter) never become anything more than an also-ran to Animorphs. How was Everworld, or at least what you read?
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# ¿ Mar 23, 2020 01:28 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 7quote:Somehow I made it home. I don't know how. I have no memories of anything after that last sight of the Hork-Bajir. Putting aside the fact that the kid named his cat Dude, this is, with the exception of Visser-3, the first actual morphing in the book (albeit one not actually seen by us) quote:I just stared. Tobias's family situation is, as we'll see, probably the least stable of all of them. quote:"So there I was, just sitting on my bed, thinking about it. Concentrating. Thinking about becoming Dude. I looked down at my hand." He grinned at me. "What do you think I saw, Jake?" it's kind of interesting that, for the short time he interacted with Jake, Prince Elfangor is the one part of the memory of last night that sort of anchors Jake to what happened. He's the one good experience of that night. quote:Tobias put his hand on my arm. "Stand right there." And there's the first actual morph. Also, here's a picture of an Andalite. How much does it look like the description? Epicurius fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Mar 25, 2020 |
# ¿ Mar 23, 2020 01:30 |
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nine-gear crow posted:Pretty good, honestly. It’s clearly aimed for an older audience than Animorphs, as its over all tone is much darker than even Animorphs gets at its worst. It tackles a lot of very mature poo poo right off the bat like racism, toxic masculinity, sexual abuse, violence for the sake of survival. It’s very un-Animorphs in terms of its character dynamics. There’s still the witty banter, but a couple members of the core group literally hate one another, in some cases for very petty reasons, so there’s always this uncomfortable tension that grinds the group dynamic even when they make progress. Moreover, one of their core members is basically like Xellos from Slayers in that they are being actively evil and corrosive to the goals of the group and there’s not a drat thing the others can do to stop them. Do you think it was partly a marketing thing? Scholastic sells a lot of their books through their Scholastic Book Clubs, which market pretty heavily to elementary schoolers, even having book fairs and mail-order opportunities in schools, and if this was aimed for an older audience, it cuts off an easy sales opportunity. Epicurius fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Mar 23, 2020 |
# ¿ Mar 23, 2020 01:56 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 8quote:"I hope I'm asleep," I muttered. "I really do." Yep, he did it. He's a cat. Morphing also gives him telepathy, which, I guess you can rationalize as the Andalites realizing they still need to be able to talk to each other when morphed. (Of course, the real reason is that they need some way for the heroes to talk to each other in animal form.) quote:<That is so excellent! Hey, pull a string for me to chase.> This sets up a bunch of potential if the books want to go this way, with the question of "what does it mean to become another species?" What happens if the transformed characters' human rationality leads them one way and the animal instinct leads them another? Can you control the morph? quote:"You'd better change back," I said. Could be a handy thing to learn, yes. Of course, as we saw, the Andalites don't wear clothes, so it was never an issue for them. quote:"We?" And we know what Homer would say... But yea, Jake is their leader. There was a 26 episode Canadian TV show based on the books that aired on YTV and Global in Canada and Nickelodeon in the US from 1998 to 2000. It was, from what I heard, fairly good. Jake was played by Shawn Ashmore, who's most famous for playing Bobby Drake/Iceman in the first three X-Men movies. He's still acting. He does some television and voice acting in video games, and was in a really bad Bruce Willis movie in 2018 called "Acts of Violence". Epicurius fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Mar 25, 2020 |
# ¿ Mar 24, 2020 00:02 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 9quote:It isn't painful. Morphing, I mean. Ok, so he just absorbed his dog. It probably makes sense, the trance thing. You don't want to be sitting there meditating while you're poking an angry tiger. quote:Tobias was sitting patiently when I got back, just waiting. "Give it a try," he urged me. "Think about it. Want it." So morphing takes a deliberate act of will, which means, theoretically, if you stop concentrating you can, I guess, be stuck in the middle of a morph. quote:"You have to do this," Tobias said. And the transformation is done. I do sort of like the details of how morphing feels. quote:I was a dog. It was insane. But just the same. I was a dog. Again, we're seeing the idea that becoming an animal means you actually become that animal, and its identity and desires are laid over your own, so it's another conscious act of will to master it. And, yea, full emotion does seem to be a dog's go to thing. Dogs tend to be either really happy, really sad, or really angry. quote:There was a knock on my bedroom door. Yes, my bedroom door. I knew who I was again. I was Jake. Jake with four legs, a tail and a snout, but Jake. Jake's a good dog. Also, we meet Tom, and Tom has a "strange smell about him", and also he hears an echo of the laugh that he had heard while amongst the Yeerks. Hmm. I wonder where the author is subtly going with this.
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# ¿ Mar 25, 2020 02:43 |
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nine-gear crow posted:Tom is a perfectly fine upstanding young man and I won't have his name besmirched in this thread. Clearly Jake is just biased because he sucks at basketball while Tom is awesome at it. No human could be so good at basketball.
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# ¿ Mar 25, 2020 03:10 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 10quote:I called all the others on the phone after I got done morphing back into my normal body. Tobias took off on his own, saying he'd hook up with us later at Cassie's farm. I was on the kitchen phone with Cassie when Tom came in. Ok, so we're finally going to meet Tom, who we've heard a lot of, and who's so far just told a dog to shut up. quote:I looked over at Tom. He's bigger than me, even though I'm not exactly small. His hair is darker, almost black, while mine is brown. So one of the themes of the series is paranoia. At the beginning, Jake warns that the Yeerks can be anybody, even somebody you know, even somebody you trust, somebody you love. But at the same time, the tragedy and the fear is that you don't know. And that's what you're seeing in this scene. Last chapter, Jake detected something off about Tom, and now, Tom's not acting the way he's "supposed to". He doesn't care that Jake didn't make the basketball team, he's no longer interested in the game, he's into this new club called "The Sharing". But, the thing is, you don't know. Tom could be a Controller host, but there are also plenty of other reasons that he could be acting this way. Maybe it's a girl, like Jake thinks. Maybe the Shining is a cult. Maybe it's drugs. And it's the not knowing that's frightening. quote:When we were done talking, I headed outside to mow the lawn. I mow the lawn every Saturday. It's my major chore. That, and taking out the trash, which I hate, because we have to do all this recycling stuff. That last line comes across as really 90s to me. Remember the days before single stream recycling, where you had one container for newspapers, and one for cardboard, and one for metal, and one for glass, and one for plastic? quote:When I was finally done mowing and trimming and raking, I hopped on my bike and took Which is pretty handy for people who need immediate access to animals to morph into. quote:"Hey, guys," I said. ACAC? All cops are Controllers? quote:"If the police have been infiltrated by the Controllers, who knows how many others have, too?" Rachel asked. "Teachers? People in the government? The newspapers and the TV?" Can't trust anybody. Especially math teachers quote:"I tried to tell myself it was all a dream," Rachel said. We had seen Tobias's tragedy earlier...mother dead, father missing, bounced around between aunt and uncle. Now we see Marco's. His mother's dead and his father's fallen apart. And it's interesting how these two characters tragedies lead them to completely opposite attitudes. Tobias has nobody who he cares about or cares about him. So he's gung ho about this...it gives him a reason to continue, it gives him a mission, a purpose, it gives him a family. Marco, it's the opposite, because its just his dad and him, and he feels a responsibility to his dad that takes up his life. So, he's got that sort of responsibility, which is consuming him. quote:I wondered if I should go pat him on the back or something. But if I had, Marco, being Marco, would have just said something sarcastic. Cassie is good. And she figured out away around the whole naked thing. quote:Suddenly we heard the sound of tires on gravel. ACAC
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# ¿ Mar 26, 2020 01:34 |
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Honestly, there are a bunch of inconsistencies in the books, and Applegate admits it. Her comment on the entire thing is “I do make mistakes from time to time, I'm afraid. I try not to, but on the other hand, it can be kind of a game for readers: Find the KASU. The Katherine Applegate Screw Up.” It's fair, I guess.Even the best edited books have errors, and these aren't the best edited books.
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# ¿ Mar 26, 2020 04:42 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 11quote:"Cassie. Morph. Now!" I snapped. The police car was coming fast. "We do not want to have to explain a half-horse half-person." So this is just confirmation that the Yeerks are actively looking for the kids at the construction site...its not just a newspaper article with the promise of a reward. quote:"Okay, rule number one," Rachel announced firmly. "We don't do anything to attract attention. We have to be secret about everything. Especially morphing." And more information about morphing...you can morph with skintight clothing. quote:"That's not going to be a problem," Marco said firmly. "Because there isn't going to be any more morphing." While they are children's book protagonists, I think it's kind of good to see that they aren't just gung ho about the entire "Lets go on an adventure!" sort of thing. They're reluctant, which makes sense. I mean, I know I'd be. quote:Marco and I took off toward my house again, trying to act normal. We talked about the baseball season. We talked about who was going to slaughter who in Dead Zone 5, which is this CD game we were going to play on my computer. No doubt. That's also the least subtle interrogation I've seen.
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# ¿ Mar 27, 2020 00:11 |
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:I get that they needed to establish things quickly, but man... those question sessions are just painful "So, you guys playing video games? Cool, cool. Hey, you know what would be crazy? If alien parasites infected people's brains. You guys.don't know anybody who thinks that, right? No? Ok. Hey, if anybody says anything like that, tell me, so we can laugh at them together. Well, I got stuff to do. Mom says make sure you set the table before she comes home. Later!"
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# ¿ Mar 27, 2020 14:31 |
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Avalerion posted:How old are all the main kids supposed to be anyway, don't remember if that got mentioned. It's not really mentioned at this point, but the general idea is that they're middleschoolers, like 13-14.
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# ¿ Mar 27, 2020 15:27 |
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Radio Free Kobold posted:Mid to late teens, I thought. Like, 14-16. Old enough to run around town and More early. Jake's brother Tom is in high school, and, if you remember, Jake was upset that he didn't make it on Tom's old (junior high/middle school) basketball team. Their ages are actually stated later in the series, and I'm sticking it in spoiler tags. In the next to last book, Jake tells us he's 16 and that he was 13 when the first book started
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# ¿ Mar 27, 2020 17:52 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 12quote:I swung my fist and caught Marco in the side of the head. So, see, there's Jake's dilemna, and he's in denial because the more he thinks its true, the less he wants it to be true, so the more defensive he gets. quote:Just then I heard this fluttering noise at my window. Like someone beating on it very softly. I went to the window, followed by Marco. And Tobias has now gotten his second morph. This one a red tailed hawk. This also confirms that even if the animal you absorb from is injured, it doesn't matter. You're strictly pulling its DNA. quote:"I was looking around. I guess I thought I might be able to see something from the air," Tobias said. "I was looking for something that might be a Yeerk pool." So this is basically the first weakness we see that the Yeerks have. No matter who they become, every Yeerk has to go back to a Yeerk pool every three days and get Kandrona particles, or they'll die. This section also explains what Tobias was doing at the construction site when he stayed by Prince Elfangor while the rest of the kids ran away. quote:"What does this have to do with you flying around playing Superman?" I asked.
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# ¿ Mar 28, 2020 01:10 |
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Tobias is a good person.
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# ¿ Mar 28, 2020 01:40 |
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The Invasion- Chapter 13quote:We find the Yeerk pool," Tobias said. "And when we do, we blow it up and kill every one of those evil slugs." Ouch quote:"It's not exactly some video game, is it?" Marco said. "This is reality. You don't know anything about reality, Jake. Nothing bad has ever really happened to you. You have this perfect family. Like I used to have." It's probably good Jake realizes this. quote:"So maybe we just walk away from this," Marco said. "Let someone else fight this fight. Sorry about the Andalite, but I've got enough death in my family." Probably good Jake realizes that too. quote:He hesitated. He sent Tobias an angry look. But he said, "Okay, it's just a meeting, right? We go and see. I'm in for that," I want to see a bunch of Taxxons playing volleyball. I also see Visser Three waving the members of his team away from the volleyball and then getting pissed at them when he misses it. quote:I was thinking maybe we were all just nuts. The Sharing was probably just like some new kind of coed Boy Scouts or something. The real Tom's still in there, then. That must be pretty horrid if you think about it. quote:Marco and Cassie came over. They had just finished playing Frisbee in the surf with some other kids. Marco was laughing.
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# ¿ Mar 29, 2020 03:10 |
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quote:"They're all going off to a separate meeting," I said. "All the full members. I'd sure like to know what goes on in that meeting." I struggled to sound normal, but my insides were churning. So Jake's using his morph to become a dog for infiltration, as did Tobias which is the first time we see them using morphs for what they're intended to be used for. Also, Tobias is really into eating mice here. quote:I nodded. "Good job. Tobias, you've been in that body for more than an hour. You need to morph back." Tobias is more comfortable being a hawk than he is a person. Maybe not all that surprising, given that his life experience so far as a person hasn't been that great. He says that returning to human form is like a "prison", and I guess for him that's true. He certainly doesn't have much freedom, stuck with family that hates him, shipped back and forth on a whim. quote:I took a deep breath. It was only my second morph. It still seemed totally ridiculous that I was even thinking about becoming a dog. But as I concentrated, I could begin to feel the itchiness and the squirmy feeling as Homer's DMA combined with the Andalite's technology and began to change me. There. If you wanted to see more of the good boy, there he is. quote:I approached the edge of the area. There were high dunes all around. About twenty or thirty people were standing together. Unfortunately, with my weak dog eyes I couldn't see them very well in the darkness. And that's how you end a chapter! And Jake gets confirmation that two people he knows have been taken over by Yeerks....Tom, and assistant principal Chapman.
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# ¿ Mar 30, 2020 00:46 |
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quote:Either make him ours . . . or kill him. Conservation of characters hits again. The cop is the same cop as the one who confronted them before. quote:We got back to the spot where Rachel, Marco, and Tobias were waiting. I didn't even want to morph back into my human body. I knew that I could just let myself go again, and in a few minutes my dog brain would forget why my human brain was sad. If someone would just throw a stick out into the surf I could go after it. The water would make me happy. The chasing would make me happy. I sort of find this interesting, transformation as escape....not having to worry about human concerns, just being the animal. quote:I began to morph back into my own body. Cassie and Rachel turned and looked out toward the water. So Marco still isn't on board with this. And really, in a lot of ways, he's right. The odds do seem really stacked quote:I pulled Cassie aside. "Listen, Cassie, I need an animal morph that will let me watch Chapman without him seeing me. What do you have at the farm?" That's a hero for you, crawling beneath cages of sick buzzards looking for lizards.
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# ¿ Mar 31, 2020 02:35 |
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quote:I did it Monday morning in my locker at school. I turned into a lizard. In case you do care, here's a picture of a green anole showing off his dewlap. They do it when they're trying to be threatening or as courtship behavior. He's the one showing off on the cover. And they are related to the iguana. quote:I waited till the bell rang for first period, which was English class. When everyone else was out of the hallway, I just climbed into my locker. I tried to act cool about it, just in case anyone was watching. Jake not realizing that it's impossible to act cool climbing into your locker. quote:The locker was about two inches shorter than me, so I had to crouch. And it was so tight I couldn't move. The only light was from the three small ventilation slits. I could hear my heart pounding in the cramped, dark space. I was afraid. He should have practiced quote:It had been fairly creepy, just touching it to acquire its DNA pattern. Now I was going to become it. Definitely should have practiced. quote:Then my lizard brain sensed the spider. It was a strange thing, like I wasn't sure if I saw the spider, or heard it, or smelled it, or tasted it on my flicking lizard tongue, or just suddenly knew it was there. I don't know that I can say anything but yum? But here's another good example of the morph and its instincts taking over and Jake struggling to control it. quote:I heard the ground shake. It was a noise like a giant stomping across the land.
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# ¿ Mar 31, 2020 23:55 |
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Avalerion posted:Can he turn into that spider, now? Probably not. It would prove the point of the old adage, "You are what you eat", though.
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# ¿ Apr 1, 2020 18:53 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 17quote:In panic, I tried to run. But my tail was caught. Anoles can lose their tails in times of stress or to fool predators. quote:The giant walked on, shaking the ground as it went. Yes, it is convenient that the first person he runs into is Chapman. Is it realistic? Not really, but, you know, it is what it is. quote:Suddenly he stopped. Were we at his office? Well, that's kind of creepy.
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# ¿ Apr 1, 2020 23:27 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 18quote:"Screams," I said. "Human screams. They sounded far off, but that's what they were." It is sort of a good point, and one brought up before. Marco's loyalty to his father is what's preventing him from being more enthusiastic about this. quote:"He's not the only one who's got people to worry about," Rachel said. "I have a family. We all do." Now I'm sad, and a little touched. quote:"Look," I said. "I'm not asking anyone else to go with me. But I don't have a choice. I heard that scream today. And I know Tom is going down there tonight. He's my brother. I have to try and save him." I held out my hands, helpless. "I have to do it. For Tom." It's sort of interesting looking at their motivations here. Jake is doing it for his brother, Tobias for the Elfangor, who really touched him, Rachel, because nobody else will, and Marco out of loyalty to Jake. quote:Only Cassie had remained silent. She was looking dreamily off over the heads of the mall crowd. "You know, back in the old days - I mean, the real, real old days - the Africans, the early Europeans, the Native Americans . . . they all believed animals had spirits. And they would call on those spirits to protect them from evil. They would ask the spirit of the fox for his cunning. They'd ask the spirit of the eagle for his sight. They would ask the lion for his strength." Cassie, as having been mentioned before, has the whole "nature girl" thing going on. Marco, as having been mentioned before, is a smartass. quote:"Cassie is right about one thing," Rachel said seriously. "The only thing we have going for us is this animal morphing thing. And so far the only morphs we've acquired are a cat, a bird, a dog, a horse, and a lizard. I think we need a little more firepower. We should head for The Gardens. We need to acquire more DNA - from some animals that are not going to be easy to acquire." They said the title of the series! That's probably worth some points.
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# ¿ Apr 3, 2020 00:41 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 19quote:We left straight from the mall, hopping a bus out to The Gardens, which is clear across the city. On the way, I tried to catch up on my homework. I had missed a lot of classes that day, so I borrowed class notes from my friends. Rachel kept perfect notes. Tobias had terrible notes with all kinds of little drawings in the margins. It took a while before I could figure out what they were. They were buildings and people and cars, the way they looked from high up in the sky. Tobias is hawk crazy here, but Rachel is right. Morphing is really the only thing they've got, so refusing to acquire morphs is just not useful. quote:"What kind of animal morphs are going to be able to deal with Visser Three when he turns into that big monster that ate the Andalite?" I asked. There was nothing in this zoo or any other that was going to kick that big monster's butt. I'm thinking the Gardens is based off of Busch Gardens. If you've never heard of it, Busch Gardens, which was originally owned by the Anheiser-Busch company, has parks in both Williamsburg, Virginia and Tampa, Florida, and like the fictional Gardens in the books, is amusement park, water park, and animal park. quote:Cassie led us to the main building, which holds all kinds of exhibits. It has everything but the really big animals that need lots of space. You have to admit, it's a problem for teenage alien fighters. "Young lady, you can't go out and save the world tonight from alien invaders, you're grounded!" quote:We shuffled along the hallway, feeling like we definitely did not belong. Which we didn't. On either side of the main hall, there were side paths that led to the different exhibits. Unfortunately, the doorways to the exhibits just had numbers on them. I knew we'd have to rely on Cassie's knowledge to find our way around. Behind some of those doors were animals you didn't want to just walk in on. Tobias is not helping. quote:Suddenly I heard a whirring sound. I looked down the hall, then back. It was one of those electric carts, like a golf cart. It was coming toward us. These kids are really into splitting up when they get chased. quote:"Stop! You kids better stop!" Point. quote:"We haven't beat anyone yet," I said grimly. Well, at least it ends on a cliffhanger. I have to be honest, I don't like this chapter. It's one of the longest of the book, but not much actually happens. They go to the Gardens, get into the employee area, Marco acquires a gorilla, and they get chased by security. It's long, but not substantial, and a lot of it is broken up by dialogue. Almost half of it is Marco and Jake having a wacky golf cart chase, and the humor there is that Marco isn't very good at driving a golf cart. Part of it too, are just that the chapter is trying to build up tension....will they get caught by security? But the stakes are so low. If they're caught, their parents will be mad at them and they'll probably be punished somehow, maybe grounded or whatever, and that's not pleasant. But this is also a book where they met an alien, only to watch him be eaten alive, were chased by seven foot tall dinosaurs covered with blades, found out that the Yeerks are hunting for them, that both Jake's older brother and their assistant principal are being controlled by Yeerks, and they're getting ready to go down to attack the Yeerk headquarters. Compared to that, the threat of being grounded seems kind of insignificant. Something else I noticed that maybe bothered me more than it should....when Tobias says that he's good just being a hawk, Rachael argues with him, pointing out that they need to get as many morphs as they can, because it's the only weapon they have, and she's right. So why, then, after they meet Big Jim the gorilla, is Marco the only one to acquire him? Admittedly, they're interrupted by the staff person just after he does, but he doesn't care that they're there, and the gorilla seems peaceful and friendly, so why don't they all acquire him? Anyway, that's just my opinion of the chapter. What do you think?
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# ¿ Apr 4, 2020 01:07 |
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Cythereal posted:I'm willing to let the 'only Marco gets the gorilla' thing slide because it's a YA book and IIRC they gave a different primary combat morph to each of the kids, with the gorilla being Marco's. Cassie is the black kid. Marco's Hispanic.
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# ¿ Apr 4, 2020 03:43 |
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Daikloktos posted:Marco not wanting to get in the fight is one thing, but what kid wouldn't immediately try out morphing? Wolves can be pretty tough. Besides, she also has a polar bear morph that she uses.
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# ¿ Apr 4, 2020 17:33 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 20quote:A male Siberian tiger, to be exact. Ten feet long. Seven hundred pounds of deadly speed and unbelievable power. You know those old Tarzan movies you see on TV sometimes, where Tarzan is wrestling a tiger? And actually winning? Let me tell you something. You want to know what your chances are of wrestling a tiger and coming out alive? They're about the same as your chances of jumping off the Empire State Building and surviving. Jake's got a tiger! quote:"He's beautiful, isn't he?" I said. Admittedly, that wasn't the safest way to acquire a tiger.. At least they're out. quote:It's amazing how fast you can climb a ladder when there's a tiger roaring for your blood. Much of their trip to the Gardens has been running from the guards. quote:"What did you do, morph into a midget?" It was Rachel. She was right in front of me, looking amused. Tobias and Cassie were there, too. This just reinforces that nobody can piss you off more than your friends.
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# ¿ Apr 4, 2020 23:21 |
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quote:"Where have you been all afternoon and evening?" my mom asked me as we sat down for dinner. My family is very old-fashioned about dinner. We all have to sit at the table. No TV . My mom's a writer, so she hates TV unless it's one of her favorite programs. Parents, right? quote:"So what did you do at work today, Dad?" I asked him. I've said it before, but this is just really sad. One of the results of Yeerk infiltration is that it destroys the fundamental trust that's part of human relationships. You can never know if the person you think cares about you really is that person anymore, vs some puppetmaster in their body who's just pretending to care. quote:I broke my gaze away from Tom's and looked down at my food. A few minutes later, Tom got up to go. I knew where he was going. After he left, I went to the upstairs phone, where my parents couldn't overhear me. I called Marco. Part of Jake's anger here is fairly justified annoyance with Tobias here for being so casual about morph time (remember, it's 2 hours maximum), but part of it too is that he likes Cassie in a romantic way and is scared for her. quote:"Could be she's just scared," Marco said. "I am." Speaking of liking, I'm thinking that Tobias and Rachael like each other. In the '90s, turning into a hawk and perching on a girl's shoulder was the way that a guy announced they were going steady. It was a weird decade. quote:<Are we doing this, or not?> Tobias asked. They're doing it. quote:"Let me take a look," I said. I opened the door as slowly as I could and peeked out through the crack. I could see down the nearly dark hallway to the janitor's closet. Instantly I pulled back in. It's risky, but so is this entire plan, and Rachael's right that, given their numbers, and that you can't identify a Controller from a non-Controller by sight, there doesn't seem to be any way for one Controller to know if another human is controlled at first sight. quote:I cracked the door again and looked out. "I think Tom's already down there," I said. "Besides, the hallway's empty now. I guess they all . . ." I fell silent. "Wait, here comes someone." Uh oh. I do have a lot of respect for that cop, or at least the Yeerk in his head, for dedication to duty. Or at least for its dedication to stalking Cassie. That cop has so far interacted with Cassie in this book more than Jake has interacted with his parents.
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# ¿ Apr 6, 2020 00:35 |
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# ¿ May 10, 2024 06:34 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 22quote:"Who has Cassie . . . now?" Rachel stammered. It's a mistake. Tobias has already been a hawk since before Jake got there, and morphing doesn't take long. Better for Tobias to change human and then hawk again to reset his time. Then, again, Jake is worried about Cassie. quote:Rachel, Marco, and I stepped out into the dark hallway. My legs were stiff. My knees were rickety. I was walking like Frankenstein trying to look casual. So tunnels to the pool are all over the city. quote:I felt the same despair. We were fools. This wasn't some little group of alien bad guys we were dealing with. To build this underground city, these guys had power we couldn't even imagine. Somebody was saying before that it seemed like Marco was overcautious, and sort of the designated contrarian, but he's right here. Jake's upset, and Marco is stopping him from acting irrationally. quote:There were two low steel piers built out over the pool. On one, Hork-Bajir-Controllers politely guarded a line of humans and Hork-Bajir and Taxxons. Right. So easy job they have there.
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# ¿ Apr 7, 2020 01:39 |