Animorphs

[Packrat]

(tl;dr at the bottom)

Heeey, figured, well, why not? We need to get the forums going and I've been wanting to make a discussion about Animorphs for a while now, just never got the chance.

For those that don't know what I'm talking about, a short summary: Five kids take a shortcut through a construction site one night they encounter a strange alien named Elfangor who tells them Yeerks, slug-like aliens that enter can completely control its host, are invading earth and gives them the power to morph into whatever living creature they want, as long as they acquire its DNA.

Shortly after an alien named Visser 3 arrives, kills Enfangor, and the kids themselves barely manage to get away safely. They then must decide whether or not to fight back, remain hidden, and keep themselves and their families safe.

/badsummary

Anyways, I enjoyed this series as a kid. It really got me motivated to read (I mean, I enjoyed reading before, but it turned me into a complete bookworm, haha), it fired up my imagination, and it's been one of my many inspirations.

Does it have problems? Oh, yeah, there are issues with some of the plots, filler, some inconsistencies, some of the ghostwritten books tend to suck (depending on your perspective, of course) but it also has cons, such as great characters (for the most part), interesting aliens and cultures of said aliens (though unfortunately we don't get enough information on the cultures and backgrounds of most alien species), action, humor, angst...lots of good things.

Soooo, have you heard of the series? Read any books? Did you like it, and if you did, why? How much did you enjoy it? Who were your favorite characters and why? Favorite alien species and why? What about your favorite books? When did you get into it?

If you didn't like it, what turned you off of the series? Characters, plot, writing, etc.

As for me, some of my issues with the series are the fact that some of the books could've been longer (such as 54. There was so much more that could've been explored!), some plots didn't get any follow-ups or mentions at all (36 comes to mind) and some alien species that could've presented a genuine threat to the Animorphs are only mentioned once or twice and then dropped (Leerans and Garatrons come to mind).

Another issue is that some characters are completely dropped. For example, Rachel's friend Melissa was mentioned maybe a few times after book 2, and then dropped. This could've been very interesting, since her parents were infested with Yeerks, and the change of behavior in them from caring parents to more indifferent and uncaring strained her relationship with Rachel. There's also the fact that, "hey, my best friend's parents are controlled by alien slugs and are trying to kill me." Hell, in one of the last books Marco and Tobias demolished her house with a tank and all we get is "Oh it's okay they weren't home."

I understand the whole war thing going on but still, that's just cruel xD It's been a while since I reread the last book, but I don't think Melissa was mentioned in it at all, which is odd. Especially since it's been mentioned by Rachel that the two of them had been good friends for several years, considering what happens in the last book.

Another character that gets dropped is Tobias' mother, which is even stranger since she was pretty important in one of the last books, as well as in the Andalite Chronicles, and she and Tobias seemed to be developing a good relationship aaaand...she's not mentioned in the last book. At all.

I have some other gripes but despite that I really love this series. It will always have a soft spot in my heart.

Anyway, as for me, I got into it at about...8 or 9 I think. My mom, sister, and I were at Target, getting ready for the long drive to Reno to visit relatives and in the $1 section my mom found some of the books, and got me two of them (35 and the first Megamorphs book) and I read them sometime during the car ride.

It was instantaneous love and I then spent whatever spare time I could begging my mom or dad to take me to the library to check out the books.

One of my fondest memories is, after we moved to Pacifica, walking to the library with my older sister and then walking back home with a book bag filled with Animorphs books I hadn't read. It's an especially fond memory because I've never been very athletic and hated walking for extended periods of time, and because I looked up to my older sister and loved spending time with her, even if she is grumpy and impatient.

After losing interest after moving, I rediscovered them sometime around March while cleaning out my bookcase and decided to reread them. The rereads rekindled my love for them and I began stalking the local used book stores whenever I could and up until now am missing only two books!

My favorite characters are Marco, Rachel, and Tobias, but I have a soft spot for Ax, as well as several other minor characters. I tend to favor the Marco or Tobias books, and if I had to choose a favorite book it would 15, The Escape, but I also really enjoyed the David trilogy.

So! This is getting long so let's wrap this post up. Share your opinions! What did you enjoy about the series and what didn't you? What do you think should've been explored more or properly explained? What loose ends did you wish had been tied up and what characters did you want to hear from again?

If you were an Animorph, how would you have reacted to the situation? What would have been your battle morph of choice? What about your bird of prey morph?

Do you have fanfiction or fanart to share? Post `em here! I myself have found some lovely pieces, I just need to dig them up, so I'll post again later.

SO. DISCUSS~

tl;dr: Animorphs is about a group of kids give the power to morph by a dying alien. They then have to figure things out, learn to cope, remain hidden, and keep themselves and their families safe. Share your thoughts, positive or negative, about the series and post fanart and fanfiction here.

[PuzzleChick]

When I was a wee little Puzzle, someone gave me a box set of the first four. I never got into them. I'm not sure why, because kids who can morph into animals is practically a guaranteed win with me! I spent my entire childhood and part of my high school-hood pretending I was a cat-shapeshifter. (So most likely, had I been an Animorph, I'd have definitely gone for feline shapes.) For whatever reason though, they didn't hold my interest. I remember thinking Tobias was cool.

The fact that one girl was named Cassie weirded me out a lot. That was my nickname when I was younger, so. xD The even creepier thing is that we're sort of similar in personality. ._.

[piedpiperpluto]

Animorphs was the first thing I ever wrote fanfic for, before I even knew what fanfic was.

It's probably a good thing that I wrote all of my crappy Mary-Sue fic back then, before I discovered the Intarwebs. XD

[Packrat]

@ Puzzle: Haha, that's a bit strange, but also kind of funny. I agree with feline shapes though. I'd probably choose a leopard as one of my main morphs. <3 xD You sound like you were an awesome kid (and highschooler |D).

Really? Oh yeah, I think you mentioned that in the old forums when Crow and I brought it up. I can definitely see why you would be weirded out.


@ Piedpiperpluto: Haha! That's pretty cool, even if they did turn out to be sue-fics. I think I got all of the Mary-Sue fics out of my system from my Inuyasha days. /nostalgia. Do you remember who your favorite character was?


@ thread: I found one of my favorite Animorphs fanfic, Animorphs: Redux by CeruleanSlane. www.fanfiction.net/u/1696058/CeruleanSlane

It's a redo of the series after book 54, and it starts at 'The Discovery.' She's gone up to 'The Suspicion' chapter 7. From what I remember, it was interesting and well written, considering the awful sue-fics and general trash plaguing FF.net these days. I need to catch up badly though.

/thread

[Rainbow-Lord Crowmunculus]

CROW'S FIRST RP, BEFORE SHE KNEW WHAT RP WAS: larping with classmates at recess every day in third and fourth grade with horrible Sues, made-up alien species, pointless plotlines, and mass amounts of rule bending. We were also all delusional and believed we were Animorphs and that the Yeerks were real. A friend of mine got really pissed at me for killing a fly once because it could've been one of the Animorphs. We were only half serious, but half serious still means we were somewhat convinced. This explains a lot about me.

CROW'S FIRST VENTURE TO FANFICTION DOT NET: Not fanfic itself, mind, that came in a shitty sixth-year prediction book for Harry Potter in the GoF era, but I stumbled upon that by accident and had no clue what it was. The first time I really looked for fic was for Animorphs. (Though it might have actually been InuYasha. Or Harry Potter. Shit. I actually can't remember this properly. Anyway they were all close together in time so it doesn't matter horribly <_<)

CROW'S FIRST FANFICTION, BEFORE SHE KNEW WHAT FANFICTION WAS: shitty series-end denial fic to repair Crow's broken First Ever OTP; lasted all of one paragraph. More shitty one-paragraph fics would follow and be abandoned in turn. (Crow's writing attention span has always been this bad, you see.)

CROW'S FIRST OTP: Of course it had to be Rachel/Tobias. Of-friggin'-course. This of course would set the trend for the majority of my OTPs throughout the years.

CROW'S FIRST FICTIONAL CRUSH: Tobias. I still love him <3

(FANDOM CAMEO - CROW'S PATRONUS: Red-tailed hawk. I see red-tails and crows as signs of good luck. I'm not especially superstitious, but I've seen these birds at important turning points in my life and it's nice to half-believe in something silly every once in a while. For example, when I first moved into my new place, there were three crow feathers on the lawn. It only means what I want it to mean, and I like to think it means I made the right choice moving here. Anyway, when I first got into Animorphs, I was in a very bad place psychologically, and it helped me to think of Tobias as a sort of protector. I still sort of feel that way when I see red-tails.)

MINI-LIZ'S METAMORPHOSIS INTO CROW, ORIGIN OF: Animorphs is what got me into birds. Little eight-year-old Crow still wanted to be a velociraptor when third grade started, but this would change when she was introduced to the world of the OTHER raptors through Tobias. Her class mascot that year happened to be the Hawks. All of this prompted her to research the subject, which eventually led to Frightful's Mountain, which lead to Jean Craighead George's other books including The Cry of the Crow, found through a book-order sale at school. She was never the same.

CROW FIRST DECIDES TO BE A SERIOUS/PROFESSIONAL WRITER: fourth grade, prompted by Animorphs, of course! I've been writing since I was three or four - before I could read, I'd dictate stories to my mom and she'd write them down, I still have a bunch of them somewhere - but I didn't get serious about it until Animorphs kicked me in the tail feathers.

AS YOU CAN SEE, Animorphs was and still is very important to me. Oh god look at all this I'm such a dweebus :B

More dweebus thoughts later, for now I leave you with these -

Bird of prey morph: Do you really need to ask? XD; Red-tailed hawk, shyeah
Battle morph: Mountain lion or hork-bajir

[PuzzleChick]

Nov 18, 2010 22:36:41 GMT -5 Packrat said:

@ Puzzle: Haha, that's a bit strange, but also kind of funny. I agree with feline shapes though. I'd probably choose a leopard as one of my main morphs. <3.

I think I'd go for a smaller feline...maybe a margay or ocelot, just to make it easier to lurk around in trees and stuff. I also spent a lot of my childhood lurking around in trees being catlike. ^^; Although I guess in battle a smaller cat wouldn't be much good. I'd probably go for a Siberian tiger then. They're badass. x3

Not sure about my bird morph, but maybe an osprey. We have a lot of them around where I live and I dig em a lot. <3

[Packrat]

@ Crow: Rachel/Tobias is love <3 Shame it ended the way it did ;A; All my OTPs end in tragedy otl.

Ooh, Animorphs got you into birds? How very interesting! I can definitely say the same. Red-tails are one of my favorite animals because of Animorphs ^^

If you are a dweebus then I must beone too, Animorphs has definitely left a huge impact on me.

As for your morphs, good choice, good choice. Hork-Bajirs would be fun to morph, I think. What with being seven feet tall and sprouting razor-sharp blades all over and all.


@ Puzzle: A small cat would definitely be good for reconnaissance, but yeah a Siberian tiger would be a better choice for battle. And they are most definitely badass, they are my second favorite big cat <3

I've never seen one in real life, but I have some photos of them in this big book of bird species, and they're pretty birds <3


@ thread: As mentioned to Puzzle, I would likely have a leopard as my main battle morph. I love leopards so much <333 My second choice would probably be spotted hyena, and if I could Hork-Bajir as third. For bird morph, either some type of hawk (likely a red-tail too, hee hee) or an owl. I love owls so much <3 Also a snake morph. Something poisonous, maybe a cobra or a rattler.

ALSO. I come bearing fanart! I managed to dig up some pretty fanart just now so!

SPOILER: Click to show

Monster-Man over on dA has a bunch of other pieces on his interpretations of the various aliens from Animorphs here: monster-man-08.deviantart.com/gallery/12275291?offset=0

Aaaand an Animorphs club on dA with some other nice things in faves/gallery: animorphs.deviantart.com/

So yeah long post is loooong. Apologies in advance for any image fails.

For those wondering, in order, the artists to these fantastic pieces are: Shinga, Monster-Man, Monster-Man (again), MoronGoron, Kalamu, Sylverkitsune, and Akhrrana, all of whom can be found on dA |D

[PuzzleChick]

OMG HOLY SHIT GIANT CENTIPEDE. *abandons computer, hides in the corner and trembles* ;____;

/seven hours later

Osprey are so pretty. <3 I especially love their patterns and stripes. And the stripes over their eyes, they look like they have little Dread Pirate Roberts masks.

Ooh, and snakes! Yeah, I'd want at least one snake morph. Snakes are awesome.

[Mina Murray]

Hey did anyone else besides me have nightmares about Yeerks while they were reading the series?
I kept having nightmares about either everyone at my school being infected with them or one of them crawling into my ear/nose/mouth.

[Packrat]

^ Haha, Taxxons are creepy fuckers aren't they? At least they're not real as far as we know.

Agreeeed so hard. They're very beautiful, and lemme tell you, they're definitely growing on me <3

Snakes are so badass, I can't believe I used to be squicked out by them when I was younger. I love the various colors and patterns different species of snakes can have <3 Though I will admit constrictors kind of scare me, mostly because I am terrified of being suffocated D: Not really relevant but we found a snake skin in the garage the other day :I Now I look around nervously whenever I go in there because it's dark and cluttered and for all I know the snake could be poisonous /lame

[piedpiperpluto]

YAY PRETTY FANART~

My favorite character was definitely Tobias. He was also the first fictional character I fangirled over, as well as one half of my first OTP (RachelxTobias, natch).

I can't really remember all the crappy fanfic and fanart I created, but I'm glad I got that out of my system before I discovered the Internet.

[Packrat]

^ It is very pretty isn't it? |D Gotta find some more...

Tobias is definitely love <3 Poor little Emohawk, he just never got a break D':


@ Thread: BIG NEWS. Not sure how many of you heard but some of the Animorphs books are gonna get republished. I'm not sure exactly when, but I think sometime in 2011, though I could be wrong.

From what I know it's the first six, and they will be reprinted with new lenticular covers, which can be seen here: www.hiracdelest.com/status.htm

A little more info can be found here: www.hiracdelest.com/status.htm

Hopefully if the sales of the first six are good, the rest will be republished. That's what I'm hoping anyways. BUT YEAH SO EXCITED. /nerd

...And actually double-checking that post in the last link, it says the first two will be out May 1, 2011. 3, 4, 5, and 6 will be out July 2011, October 2011, January 2012, and April 2012, respectively.

...FHKDBSJKSKS CAN'T WAIT THIS LONG DDDDD: Well. At least I'll be able to get 6 for my birthday? skllslndsaoij /sobs

For those interested they're available for pre-order on Amazon.

MAN I DUNNO I wonder if they went back and changed some things. I guess I could understand if they do but at the same time it's like...man, that's my childhood, don't fuck with it D: But at the sae I'm REALLY EXCITED omg I hope the books will do well. I will b ranting about this everywhere, I swear. Hell, I think I might even buy some extras of the reprints, give them to my little siblings, and read them a chapter per night, because that's just how much I want this series to live.

OKAY MORE FANART. Links this time because fffs I'm lazy tonight.

community.livejournal.com/animorphs/574354.html
community.livejournal.com/animorphs/561382.html
community.livejournal.com/animorphs/557955.html#cutid1
community.livejournal.com/animorphs/543848.html <---- You don't know how far back I had to dig for these. But oh god I love those doodles so much so it was worth it.

[Packrat]

DOUBLE POST and I apologize for it but oh god I found a oneshot fic posted on an Animorphs Livejournal community and had to share, it's so sad ;A;

community.livejournal.com/animorphs/579940.html

It's titled weightless and it's Mertil/Gafinilan, oneshot characters from book 40. It' so sad, I keep having to wipe away tears ;~;

[bespecledcow]

Oh wow. So so much love for the Animoprhs. I still re-read them. I love all the characters, but my favorites would be Marco, Ax, and Tobais, in no particular order.

For me, this series is one that, had it been made in mind of an older audience, they would have been absolutely epic. I loved this series so much, I watched every episode of the short lived TV series on Nick of all places (god the Andalites looked terrible)

One of my first fanfiction ideas is one I'd still like to put into play (well two, actually)..
1. The team discovers that the Yeerks are targeting their state senator- a senator who reccently moved to their town. They keep watch over the house in turns, ready to make a move if the Yeerks attack. Sure enough, when the Yeerks come, they are able to smuggle out the father and daughter, but the mother (the senator) is taken. The father and daughter now have to live in the woods with Ax and Marco, and the others have to make a decision about allowing two frightened people into their group. Will it be David all over again?

And then, because I love him and I'm sad he doesn't get a love interest, the girl would have been paired with Marco.

The other one would be a sort of sequel, and would have involved an Andelite ship crashing onto the planet in a field by where Ax grazes. He looks inside to find survivors, but discovers only a human girl- sickly and dirty, with strange violet eyes that have no pupils. She is unconcious, and Ax takes her back, calling out to Tobais through thought speak that they need to find the others, and find a way to move the ship before the Yeerks arrive. After all of that, they lay the girl out on a blanket, discussing what to do. Suddenly, the girl wakes up, and she seems to not see them, jumping up and stumbling back, screaming at them in what Ax, stunned, informs the others is rough Andelite. The others approach her and she pauses, truly looking at them. She clears her throat and speaks in slow English. "Human? Home?"

"You're on Earth now," one of the others says and she relaxes. Only for her eyes to find Ax and she charges at him, hands going toward his throat. The others hold her back while she screams and curses him, alternating Andelite and English before she seems to loose steam and she collapses again. The idea that she is a Yeerk seems unlikely, as she spoke Andelite and was comforted by humans being around. Slowly, they nurse her back to a relative health, waiting for her to wake again so that they can hear her story. When she does, she tells them a frightening, unbelievable tale of capture, torture, and experimentation by none other than Andelites. It is revealed that she already has the morphing ability, as well as the ability of telekenisis, and she becomes an asset to the team, slowly coming to trust Ax, all the while trying to discover if her mother is still alive...
Once again this paired up one of my favorites. I always liked the story of Elfangor and Loren, so I thought it would be fitting if his brother fell for a human too. The thing I liked about this too is that she isn't beautiful. She isn't ugly exactly, but she has- no matter how much healthier she gets, a drawn, hurting look, one that makes you not dare to approach. The only time she looks truly beautiful is when she smiles. Even then, people are weirded out by her eyes, and other than that she is basically just average, kind of like Cassie.

So. Yeah. Time for fanarts!

browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=Animorphs#/d5kr9w
browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=Animorphs#/d1uu1z6
browse.deviantart.com/?q=Animorphs&order=9&offset=24&offset=24#/d2gehnu - the first page of a comic version of the first book. I really hope there's more...
No they don't, but I FOUND A ONLINE GRAPHIC NOVEL VERSION: www.charreed.com/Animorphs/

[Packrat]

@ Bespecledcow: Sorry for the late reply -___-; I haven't been feeling well, and December is absolutely filled with birthdays in our family xD;

Anyways! Yeah, there's lots of love for Animorphs! I'll admit I was a bit surprised when I stumbled onto a moderately active fanclub on dA, and very active community on LiveJournal. But it was a pleasant surprise.

Those ideas sound interesting! I would enjoy reading those, if you ever wrote them, the first in particular. I've always loved the David trilogy (and by extension, #48, but not as much) so it plots involving new members always interests me.

Elfangor/Loren is so cute <3 Loren is such an awesome character in the Andalite Chronicles, haha!

Omai, thank you for sharing thoooose! Urgh, they're so pretty! Especially the second one. I love how their shadows are in the shape of their respective battle morph <3333 It's a wonderful touch.


@ Thread: I don't think I've mentioned it in the new forums, but I might have elsewhere, there's this interesting fanfiction on FF.net by a person called Cerulean...Slane, was it?...though it has been a while since I've read the fanfic...xD Anyways, it's called Animorphs: Redux and is basically a retelling of the series after the last book, and it starts at the beginning of the David trilogy.

It's very interesting, and from what I remember a fairly good fanfiction, considering how FF.net is mostly trash nowadays. I've been meaning to reread it, and catch up on everything else I've missed for a while now, but haven't had the time.

Aaand a quick search on FF.net brings it up: www.fanfiction.net/u/1696058/CeruleanSlane CeruleanSlane, the author. And here's the link to the first chapter of the first fic: www.fanfiction.net/s/4547995/1/Animorphs_Redux

She has finished retelling the David trilogy, The Pretender, and is working on The Suspicion.

Anyways, just figured I'd throw it out there for anyone's who interested :]