Untitled

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Animorphs #22: The Solution thoughts (pt. 1):

The pacing of the opening sequence — Ax getting Rachel, both of them frantically flying around until they spot the cop car, Rachel forced to confront David as a human, them riding on unconscious tiger!Jake and not knowing where David is — is absolute perfection. Especially when I contrast it to the relative clunkiness of #21's opening, this book does an excellent job of just throwing you into the story and letting you catch up.

Part of how I know it's possible for even a young reader to catch up without much formal exposition: this was maybe the third or fourth Animorphs book I ever read. My sister bought all the Rachel books first (respect) and so I read this one years before finding #20 or #21, and had little trouble following it. The imagery of this human girl swinging over the railing of a mall balcony, landing on a crossbeam with millimeters to spare, and nonetheless shouting death threats to the lion that nearly ate her — that all stuck with me, and persuaded me to keep reading.

Also, the language here: "heart pounding the breath out of my lungs"... "massive, maned head lolling back and forth like some kind of way-too-cool dude"... "I cried in pain as my wrist and fingers absorbed the weight of my body. I dangled, helpless, swinging above Jake and the floor" "I was going to destroy him. No, not destroy. That was a weasel word... I was going to kill him." (p. 15-18). It's all so visceral, terrifying but also exhilarating, and it really is superhero realism at its finest.

I love the detail about the EMTs getting called to the mall for an unspecified emergency, finding a mostly-dead tiger on the floor... and then getting right to work giving medical attention to the tiger. Time and again in this series, random humans prove that the species is worth saving.

Animorphs books can be read here | Book Club schedule is here

[eomund42]

Not to one-up you or anything, but #22 was the very first Animorphs book I read (on the recommendation of a friend), and it hooked me completely. I kept going forward from there as they were released, and only filled in the earlier books months later.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Today sucks. If anyone is willing to reblog/reply with your favorite part of Animorphs, I would be forever grateful.

[eomund42]

Tobias getting stuck to a dolphin while trying to acquire it, then being crabby about having to turn into the thing that almost drowned him is *chef's kiss*

[fanonical]

animorphs has been released, officially, to the public for free as pdfs

they're kids books which are like 100-odd pages each for the main books

you have no excuse. read animorphs. you will not regret it

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

"You will not regret it" factoid just statistical error. Average person reads 1 animorphs, goes "what the fuck now i have nightmares" and goes back to tv. Tumblr Anifan, who has had their entire life rewritten by reading the series over 40,000 times, is an outlier and

The zip file with the entire series can be found here.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

What do you think Visser Three and the other Yeerks thought happened to David?

I'll be honest: this is one of those questions I try to avoid asking, because I think thinking about it too hard reveals an unusually glaring plot hole.

Because... well. As of #20, Visser Three suspects and may even know that the andalite bandits recruited this kid David, maybe even giving him the morphing power. So if the yeerks are that sure that ordinary 14-year-old human David McJonesmith is an "andalite bandit," then why couldn't the other "bandits" also be teen humans? What's to stop the yeerks from at least checking on David's known associates? He only has one semi-friend during his tenure in California — and that's Marco. So why don't the yeerks take a second look at what a guy selling a morphing cube might have said to Visser One's host's son while they were hanging out together? And why would Visser Three of all people (or at least one of his cronies) not go after Marco in search of proof that Visser One is collaborating with the andalite bandits?

Someone else help me Baker Street Irregulars this one into making sense.

[alopexplasma]

I reckon he does have a rough but not completely inaccurate idea of what happened to David. For a little bit, there's a very notable lion morph which responds to some very David-specific threats and taunting directly from V3 and then gets into a fight with the bear morpher on a mission. And then, there is no more lion.

Clearly this undisciplined child was not up to the standards of this elite Andalite fighting force and they killed him. That's what I, Visser Three, would do! Andalites like to pretend they are above other people morally but when they feel pressured they sure do love their quantum viruses, is that not correct, Alloran, my literal captive audience?

[eomund42]

I agree that they absolutely assume David is dead. Maybe he died in battle, maybe the others killed him for reacting to Visser Three at the fake banquet.

If he died in battle, that's just evidence that human children aren't skilled enough to be capable morph fighters.

If he was killed for incompetence, who's more likely to do that to a human child: a group of Andalite guerrilla fighters, or a group of humans?

Either way, confirmation bias wins the day!

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

You’ve said V3 couldn’t win because he had to use V1’s playbook, and that V1 could win with V1’s playbook or V3 could win with V3’s playbook. What about if V1 had to run the invasion using V3’s playbook?

Maaaan, I'm worried this would also turn into a total party kill. Since Edriss + Eva is just way WAY smarter than Esplin + Alloran. She'd have to adapt a little to go the shock-and-awe route. But we know (#46) that the yeerks can wipe out most of humanity with the push of a button, and she'd presumably start there. Anyone else see a way out?

[eomund42]

I think it depends a lot on when Visser One is forced to follow Visser Three's playbook:

If it's before Elfangor gives the kids the morphing power, it's probably a total planet kill: the Andalites arrive with insufficient forces for a pitched battle, see the humans fighting a losing war, and destroy the planet. Or the Andalites lose the battle in space and the Yeerks kill half of humanity and infest the other half.

If it's between books 1 and 4, the kids probably go to the authorities once it's clear who is fighting against the Yeerks. Even that early in the series, the kids have a huge amount of intelligence to share, which gives the planet a fighting chance. But they're not very experienced yet, so their survival depends a lot on what the US military (assuming that's who they go to) decides to do with them.

If it's between books 5 and 20, same as above, but now they have Ax. That means more intelligence (good!) but Ax isn't human, and so will be treated even worse by the authorities than the human Animorphs. And if he decides to call the Andalite homeworld while humanity is losing an all-out-war, it might turn into an Andalites destroy the planet situation.

If it's between books 20 and 30, the kids have the morphing cube, so there are a lot more directions it could go. Maybe it's similar to the endgame we saw, but against a more competent opponent, so they lose. Maybe they hand the cube over the US military and we end up with a battle between an army of Hork-Bajir with dracon beams and an army of chimpanzees with tanks and bazookas who can de-morph to heal themselves.

If it's after book 30, Edriss knows that Marco is a morpher, probably suspects Jake, and might connect the dots between the morphs from the Gardens and Cassie. Edriss would try to capture the Animorphs and get the morphing cube before the battle started; if she succeeds, the Yeerks win immediately, and if she fails, we get back to the open-ended possibilities of books 20-30.

In summary, I don't think it's an immediate total party kill in all situations, but it's definitely going to end worse than we see in canon.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Hi!

I have thoughts on andalites hooves.

Like how does the feeding work exactly? If someone were to analyze a blade of grass before and after an andalite stepped on it, what would be the differences beside the breaking of shape?

To take the question further, think of a land full of deers that have eaten all available plants to death and now they're all dead too. If an andalite were trapped in that place, nothing to eat but deer carcass, will the amount of meat on the carcass the andalite have chosen to stomp on significantly drop after the andalite is done feeding?

Sorry if it's too weird a question, you don't have to answer.

You're reminding me of that video that someone took relatively recently of a deer stomping a rabbit to death and then eating it. And lots of non-biologists were shocked, and lots of deer experts were like "yep, basically anything with a mouth will try eating meat and try eating plants if hungry enough. We're just omnivores cause we're lucky enough to digest both types."

So like, I'm pretty sure that a sufficiently hungry andalite will go ahead and give carnivorism a try. I'm guessing it'll work out about as well as when my cats broke into my pantry, ate my Cheerios, and puked everywhere. But it might be worth a try if the alternative is starving.

[inhumaninterest]

Tbf digesting plants is generally the harder one as their materials are more difficult to eat and digest. But also nearly every large herbivore also does eat meat or bone just as a way to round out their diet.

The wild part is I'd guess Andalites already do this, but not intentionally. See a lot of the nutritional elements that osteophagy and the occasional foray into carnivorism provides these large herbivore are also available in the dirt from the various forms of fertilizerd (including dead animals). So my guess is that when they eat "grass" they also normally eat a not insignificant amount of soil as well and filter out nutrients from that. This would by nature already include a bunch of small animal corpses in various states of decay.

Honestly this also makes me really interested in the engineering process of the feeding area in the dome ships. Since, lacking the small animals and other aspects of a full ecosystem, they'd have to gind artificial means to get the right nutritional balance into the grass and dirt.

[eomund42]

Feeding on dome ships is so fascinating! Because of how much space grazing animals on earth require, my assumption has always been that the dome is not the primary food source on the ship, but moreso there for psychological benefits.

My headcannon previously was that andalites in space would eat some sort of military ration, probably by sticking their hooves in a bowl of high-nutrient liquid (something like a meal-replacement shake). Then if Andalites have the same discomfort with an all-liquid diet as humans, the grass in the dome would be a solution to that problem.

But I like the idea that the nutrients are added to the dirt in the dome instead!

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Imagine a world where our two favorite shorms get the same amount of books as the rest. Assuming there is some leeway for their book placement due to narrative and plot shenanigans, what types of stories do you think would be told?

I remember reading a post where you have talked that you love Tobias and his connection to all things alien, I also love that too. For me maybe another Sario Rip happens and they get sent to the Yeerk homeworld and we get to meet the gedds. I think his perspective would be interesting to see. Just an idea.

For Ax, at least one book with the holidays. I have seen quite a few people online express that they want to see Ax on Halloween. Team Finesse trick or treating? Sign me up!

Would love to hear your thoughts?

I've written a lot of fics with these two already, but nothing new comes to mind. Anyone else have ideas?

[eomund42]

Team Finesse truck or treating is incredible!

I'd love for the Other (book 40) to be narrated by Ax, so that we can get a more developed version of his changing views about Andalite culture.

I'd also love to get more Toby in the series, which would fit nicely into an extra Tobias book. Maybe she has a secret mission that she doesn't want to share with all of the animorphs, so Toby and Tobias go together.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

What if Ax had killed Alloran in #8?

My fear here is that it goes: Ax kills Alloran => Visser Three gets demoted => Visser One takes over invading Earth => Visser One figures out the Animorphs are human => TPK.

Does anyone else have ideas?

[eomund42]

The Council of Thirteen was deliberately keeping Visser One away from Earth, so maybe another Visser takes over instead. If it's Visser Two (or whoever becomes Visser Two by book 46), maybe that means open war right away, for better or worse? If it's another Visser, who knows?

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Ever thought about a Freaky Friday AU? What would happen if one of the Animorphs swapped bodies with another character [or even another Animorph]?

I haven't seen Freaky Friday! Any freak fans out there willing to speculate on this one?

[eomund42]

I think Rachel/Naomi or Cassie/Michelle after they're living in the Hork Bajir valley would have a lot of potential. You don't need to worry about secrets (as much) and it closely follows the original's theme of having a mother/daughter pair seeing each other's perspective. In this case, the difficulties of being the one who goes out on missions vs being the one who has to stay behind.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

@daughterofluthien

#oh congrats I am now Obsessed w the concept of a Rachel/Naomi body swap now holy crap#and the particular angst of it being those two I think is really good#especially with how much of a rift exists between those two during that period#I think a lot about how the parents were honestly to some extent right#like let’s be honest—15/16 year olds running some cross between a paramilitary camp and refugee camp was never going to be fully functional#like to be clear they were doing their best—but everyone was also Going Through It#and so were the parents who were suddenly thrown into an active war#and on top of that were told that they have to follow the orders of literal teenagers#and beyond that I think a lot about how of the parents in the valley Naomi was the only one who had other children to protect#(and therefore other children to worry about being in danger)#and add to that a freaky Friday situation would mean the animorphs lose a a morph-capable experienced fighter#anyways I can’t stop thinking about this love this concept#animorphs

[eomund42]

Another pro of having a Rachel/Naomi bodyswap in the Hork-Bajir Valley: Rachel didn't get to narrate a book during that period, and this hypothetical story would literally explore her headspace in the final stages of the war.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Ever thought about a Freaky Friday AU? What would happen if one of the Animorphs swapped bodies with another character [or even another Animorph]?

I haven't seen Freaky Friday! Any freak fans out there willing to speculate on this one?

[eomund42]

I think Rachel/Naomi or Cassie/Michelle after they're living in the Hork Bajir valley would have a lot of potential. You don't need to worry about secrets (as much) and it closely follows the original's theme of having a mother/daughter pair seeing each other's perspective. In this case, the difficulties of being the one who goes out on missions vs being the one who has to stay behind.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Ax/Rachel?

Man, all I've got is Marco's joke about how they "could get married while bungee-jumping into an active volcano" (#7). Anyone else have thoughts on these two?

[itsyawarrior]

In a cracky way: Ax was into Marco. Rachel was into Tobias. They brood and angst together when Marco and Tobias get together. (Jake is running a meeting one day and notices that Marco is sitting very very close to Tobias’s perch. Rachel and Ax are off on opposite sides of the barn, arms over their chest and looking upset. Jake gives Cassie a questioning look and she responds with a look that says she'll explain later).

In a more serious way: after the war, Rachel can't handle life as a civilian. But yeerks still need to be rounded up across the galaxy (at least for a bit). So she bulldozes her way into the andalite fleet. She and Ax both deem everyone around them as newbies and incompetent. They can only trust each other to get the job done. They're the only friends they have around for millions upon billions of miles.

[eomund42]

An alternative serious way: if Tobias died during a mission (maybe killed by David or Taylor?), I could see them bonding as the two who loved him the most. That might not turn into anything romantic until after the war, but it's a way for them to start spending more time together one-on-one and becoming emotional/vulnerable around each other.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

you've done jake gets stuck in morph, but what about ax gets stuck in human morph? that sounds like a fascinating dumpster fire to engage in

Maaan, I think I said this in a different ask, but any scenario where Ax gets stuck in morph feels like it'd end in a total party kill. By which I mean Total Party Stuck-in-Morph (because they don't have him on missions to keep track of time), or a Total Party Capture (because they don't have real-time access to his knowledge of yeerk tech), or just a Total Party Total Party Kill (X).

Anyone with more creative juice than me see a way out of this?

[eomund42]

It's not quite what I imagine the original ask meant, but Ax choosing to become a human nothlit after the war instead of going after the blade ship child be interesting. Maybe he and Tobias take the plunge together, share an apartment, and get into shenanigans?

[bluefox4]

Its really interesting that the Controller Cop just zeroed in on Cassie. The only black kid in the group.

Also, what the actual fuck was he doing just driving up to Cassie's family farm? As far as I can tell its far away from other properties. That road might be a public road but just as likely it could have become a private road. So, again, what was he doing out there? Why look for the kids that were at the construction site so far away from where most teenagers would be? Wouldn't the mall have been a better place to make inquiries at?

But no he came to the farm. The farm that is owned by a black family. Was the yeerk racist? Did the controller's views color the yeerk's views on people? Why come out here?

I get from the story point, it was to help confirm to the Animorphs that they wouldn't be able to go to the cops for help. And it also helped them put together that The Sharing is connected to the Yeerks somehow. But from the Yeerk's point of view, why go to the farm? Did he know that there would be teenagers there?

But then, after that, he's still is fixated on Cassie. Like she didn't help her case getting so close to the meeting of Full Members. But he didn't report that. He left it alone until Monday evening.

Monday evening when he kidnapped Cassie from her home! Like the kid that he made sure to track down and drag to be forcibly infested, to be enslaved is the black girl. If he was at all suspicious of their group he knew about where to find Jake as well. He could have told Tom that he agreed that he thought that they should make Jake one of their own but he doesn't. Its just Cassie that gets targeted.

It just in this era you can't ignore the fact that the one character that the Yeerks try to target in the group is the black girl, and that it is done by a cop. It feels like Controlled Cop wanted Cassie to be involved with the construction site kids without needing any evidence.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Such a good point. In theory he could be driving by anyone's house (e.g. Jake's since this yeerk knows Temrash???) for the scene to work. But he interrupts the first scene outside Cassie's house. And then, on seeing five kids acting odd... he only picks on Cassie. After clearing Jake as a "nice young man." We don't know exactly how he later gets ahold of Cassie, but we do know (or can guess) the reason she doesn't try to run away or yell until a different adult shows up, the way Jake or Rachel might try to.

Like, we know that U.S. cops are trained to see Black people as dangerous. And Animorphs is — for a product of its time — quite conscious of race and racism.

[eomund42]

Another possible angle: while we know the yeerks have a significant presence in the police force, I'm pretty sure it's confirmed to be less than half. So going after Cassie could be a way to minimize the likelihood that the non-controller cops get involved; Naomi complaining about her child being harassed by a random cop is going to cause a lot more problems than Walter or Michelle doing the same thing.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

What would have happened if Jake was an only child?

This one feels like too much of a departure for me. Does anyone else have thoughts about how Jake would be different?

[itsyawarrior]

I don't even think Jake would join the animorphs if he was an only child. Which means Marco doesn't join.

So Tobias would go rogue. Probably still get stuck in morph unless he's extra cautious because he knows there's less of them to fight (not likely).

Rachel was on the fence about joining in #1, but I can see her going on an infiltration mission to the yeerk pool with Tobias just to make sure he doesn't go alone. Cassie might join them but I think would leave when she realizes how violent things could get (with only three of them, the fight feels too hopeless for the violence to be justified).

Hopefully Ax can escape before the yeerks get to him. Maybe if he pulls the TV stunt he did in MM3 Tobias and Rachel (if she's decided to continue fighting and also they're both still alive) could find him and recruit him.

And then maybe by this point the guilt of sitting back and doing nothing might pull Jake into the fight. Even then, he wouldn't be the leader. Rachel would be the leader.

(Notice all the maybes. And this is all assuming that not having an older brother hasn't changed his personality so drastically that he's not Responsible Jake anymore.)

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Oh man, so it's back that one AniTV episode where Tobias tries to fight the war alone, then tries to recruit Rachel and it all goes to hell. Yes, I could totally see that happening. Because you're right that Jake only agrees to that first mission for Tom's sake, Marco only agrees to protect Jake, and Cassie's on the fence before (because of Jake's involvement) she gets literally dragged in.

[eomund42]

Assuming they still cut through the construction site and meet Elfangor, I agree that Jake and Marco don't join without Tom, and Cassie is probably on the fence. They don't need to do the rushed mission to the Yeerk pool to rescue Cassie, so Tobias wouldn't be trapped in morph.

I'm completely fascinated by the idea of Ax escaping on his own and taking over the TV broadcast like he does in MM4. We see the team rise to the occasion in a big way in that book without any powers, so it's possible they could actually survive the improvised plan if they could heal themselves through morphing.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

So I read the first 30 or so animorphs many times over. I also read #54 and the Ellimist Chronicles a lot. But the ones in the late 30s through the 50s, I probably only read once or twice. What are the highlight books in that span? The ones that you get excited about in the re-read?

TBH, #36 - #52 really is where the series dips in quality. Continuity gets shaky, Jordan and Rachel especially have out-of-character notes, and some of the plots are After School Special Handled Badly. But. Many excellent books to be had in there. My favorites:

#38: The Arrival One of the less popular books overall, but my favorite Ax story. I love how the andalite Suicide Squad coming to Earth becomes this visceral demonstration of how much better the Animorphs have gotten than even elite andalite fighters, because the Animorphs are just so damn experienced. It also forces Ax to confront his growing discomfort with andalite imperialism while also driving home just how lonely he is as the only member of his species on this entire planet. He wants to go home, but even if home's waiting for him, he's no longer the person who fit in there.

#45: The Revelation Of course I'm a sucker for any book that lets Eva be awesome, but I also really like the pacing and tonal shifts in this one. It goes from light (Marco at dinner with Peter and Nora) to horrifying (Peter almost infested) to bittersweet (Nora infested, Rachel being a true bro) to bleak and disturbing (Visser One's near-death) to almost giddy with tension and humor (stealing the Bug fighter) to horrifying again (Eva not being the sweet person Marco remembers). It feels like the best of Marco's narration, silly and dark all at once.

#49: The Diversion Mostly I like this one for the deep irony in Tobias's and Jake's arcs. Tobias starts out darkly humorous about how he's their least source of worry since he doesn't have any family, while they're all micro-focused on Jake because they plan to evacuate Tom. Tobias ends trying not to pity the now family-less Jake (because he knows how much it sucks to be pitied) as he and his mom and her dog sit on a park bench playing fetch together. It all reverses, in the span of a few hours. And Jake's mistake is what got them there.

#51: The Absolute Another one of my all-time favorite books, because the Marco-Ax-Tobias dynamic is unparalleled. It's a breath of fresh air before the awful bleakness of the endgame, a chance to let the three Animorphs who are actually having an okay time of it have one last wacky adventure set against the backdrop of their friends falling apart around them.

[eomund42]

If we're including companion books published in that time period, Megamorphs 4 is one of my favourites. I'm a sucker for a what if story, and this one delivers.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

If you had to pick a fanon last name for Marco from Animorphs, which option do you dislike the least?

Marco Polo (1)

Marco McCain (1)

Marco Vasquez (1)

Marco Augustín (2)

Marco Anderson (1)

Marco McManus (3)

Marco Brown (1)

Marco Marco (3)

Marco The Magnificent (2)

Marco Simiesco (4)

Marco Evadez (5)

Marco Petersen (5)

Voting ended onJan 24, 2025

These are all last names that Marco suggests at various points in canon might be his.

Marco refers to himself as Marco the Magnificent several times; Augustin is a surname that means "magnificent one."

These are fanon suggestions for what his last name could be.

This is as close as I could get (using real surnames) to meaning "Marco of Gorilla Nature" or "Marco Ape-Like."

Puns, but pretty straightforward to keep track of — Evadez = Son of Eva; Petersen = Son of Peter.

[eomund42]

I voted Marco Marco because of how it evokes the Western Gorilla's binomial (latin) name: Gorilla Gorilla.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Do you think they ever told Michelle about the police raid she came to?

From Michelle's point of view, it's like:

Get called to a police raid because apparently there's an elephant? in a flophouse?

Roll up and discover the cops understated the problem; it's an elephant and a rhino and a wolf and a gorilla. Also possibly a skunk and a hawk, but those are native to the area so maybe the poor skunk is just lost.

Attempt to tranq the rhino before he can flatten a police car; do not succeed.

Discover that THE BIRD has A GUN. Exchange fire with the fucking bird who has a fucking gun.

Succeed in chasing the animals away, even though none of them end up drugged enough to go down.

Discover there was no circus in town, nor was there a mass escape of an illegal home zoo.

Go home. Drink to forget.

Find out that your daughter can turn into a wolf. Find out one of her friends is a hawk who can fire projectile weapons. Witness two of her other friends turning into a gorilla and an elephant.

She's a smart lady. I'm sure she can put the pieces together and ground Cassie for eternity, even if no one spells it out for her.

[eomund42]

#between the flophouse elephant and the teleporting mall tiger and the jaguar that almost ate her daughter and the talking crocodile Do you think she believes them when they tell her that the jaguar was actually just a jaguar, and not someone in morph?