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Nostalgic Animorphs.

Discussion in 'Story Search' started by Quick Ben, Feb 25, 2012.

  1. Quick Ben

    Quick Ben In ur docs, stealin ur werds.

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    OK, so I recently came across the news that the Animorphs are been re-released and somehow that bit of news just brought out a craving to re-read the series again. So through the weekend I have read the entire series from 1-54 with the exception of Megamorphs( books I completely hated and felt should have been handled better than they were).

    After having finished it, I just feel, what I felt all those years ago, not satisfied with the conclussion and how some things played out. If you're a fan of the series and have delved into the fanfiction fandom I would gladly appreciate if you could recommend, good, long, quality fics that you might have read.

    Thank you in advance.
     
  2. Red Aviary

    Red Aviary Hogdorinclawpuff ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    I read a few of the books, plus the prequel about the alien that gave them the power at the start, but not the whole series. A lot of it has faded out of memory.

    I've heard the series ends on a really dark note, which doesn't encourage me.

    I've read absolutely no fanfics about the Animorphs, which I find odd now, considering how popular it was.
     
  3. Thaumologist

    Thaumologist Fifth Year ~ Prestige ~

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    Elfangor's Folly is over .5 million words, so is rather hefty. Quite a few problems with it, but still enjoyable. The endings, however, are rather crap.

    Capnnerefir's neomorph series should also be alright. I've never read them, but they seem popular, I think.
     
  4. Quick Ben

    Quick Ben In ur docs, stealin ur werds.

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    I fully recommend that you pick it up again, sure there are somethings that now you're older you'll find disappointing but at the same time there are themes and character developments that are explored that only you're age now can truly appreciate.
    I find it kind off odd that you are hesitant to read it to the end because of the dark tone, I honestly didn't expect a member of DLP especially someone whose been here as long as you have, kind of shying away from a story due to its dark tone.


    @Thaumatologist thanks for the recommendations, I've actually gone through Neomorphs but the length of the books kind of put me off. I will check out Elfangor's folly and I am going to assume you read it and you found it to be good.

    I am also curious to know what you guys think about the books in general.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2012
  5. Red Aviary

    Red Aviary Hogdorinclawpuff ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Well... it's more like, after a load of darkness in a story, I appreciate an optimistic ending. I've never liked grimdark for the sake of grimdark.

    If I find the time and the means to do it, I'll give the series another go.
     
  6. Ash'Ura

    Ash'Ura Totally Sirius

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    God damn, Animorphs brings back memories. They were the books that got me into reading and eventually Harry Potter.

    I haven't read any good Animorph fanfics, but from what you've said, it sounds like you haven't read some of the other companion books. These are the others that I've read that I actually liked:

    Visser: Tells the story of the original Visser One, Edriss 562

    The Hork-Bajir Chronicles: Tells the story of the destruction of the Hork-Bajir's homeplanet and the near extinction of their species.

    The Andalite Chronicles: Tells the story leading up to the Invasion.

    The Andalite Chroniceles
     
  7. Agayek

    Agayek Dimensional Trunk DLP Supporter

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    There's also The Ellimist Chronicles, which tells the story of how that particular nigh-omnipotent being came into his own. That one is definitely up there as one of my favorite books in the series, definitely worth reading.
     
  8. Rahkesh Asmodaeus

    Rahkesh Asmodaeus THUNDAH Bawd Admin DLP Supporter

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    The Ellimist Chronicles did get fucking confusing though around the middle part. Maybe it was because I was a kid when I read it -- I could probably make more sense of it now.

    I absolutely hated how Animorphs ended. It didn't just end on a dark tone, it ended in a fucking cliffhanger. Everything leading up to the final book was depressing as shit, and I was hoping for at least a good ending. I raged for hours that day when it came out. I don't think "19 Years Later" even came close to making me as pissed off as I was that day. Every single month I would religiously wait for the next book to come out so my mom could drop me off at the bookstore for a couple of hours. The last book was one of the only Animorph books I actually bought and FUCK YOU APPLEGATE AND FUCK YOUR GHOST WRITERS TOO.

    I did read Elfangor's Folly a while back and it was decent, if a bit too angsty at times. I'd definitely rec it though.
     
  9. Ched

    Ched Da Trek Moderator DLP Supporter ⭐⭐

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    I read most of these books as a kid/teenager and like them alright, but I never finished the series due to... well, I guess I outgrew them.

    I found my old copies (first 40-ish?) a couple of years ago (2008-ish?) and read the first 2-3 books again and couldn't get into them again. I had intended to finish the series but never got around to it.

    Has the re-release polished things at all or are they the same as before?
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2012
  10. Eidolonic

    Eidolonic Supreme Mugwump

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    I read this series, all of it, when I was younger. I reread a lot of it more recently when I stumbled across them. I enjoy it, but the ending was pretty dark and a little bit unexpected.
     
  11. Samuel Black

    Samuel Black Chief Warlock

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    I remember these. The ending was devastating to me at the time. And the cliffhanger was just a kick in the nuts on top of everything.

    I might actually pick these back up again. Fond memories.
     
  12. Ched

    Ched Da Trek Moderator DLP Supporter ⭐⭐

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    Can someone post a spoiler (in tags) about how it ended? What was so dark? And what this big cliffhanger is/was? The only spoiler I heard was...

    Rachel died.
     
  13. Xantam

    Xantam Denarii Host

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    Some alien thing assimilated Ax the Andalite, and threatens to do the same to the Animorphs. The series ends with the Animorphs preparing to ram the enemy spaceship
     
  14. Agayek

    Agayek Dimensional Trunk DLP Supporter

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    Basically, Rachel died trying (and failing) to kill Jake's brother. The Animorphs won the rest of the war, Andalites and Earth brokered a peace treaty, Hork-Bajir got an enclave in Yellowstone (or Yosemite, can't remember), Taxxons got perma-morphed into anacondas to get away from the Hunger, etc.

    The Animorphs all became international celebrities, but Tobias went off to hide from everything since his last tie to humanity died. Visser One was tried for War Crimes, and his defense attorneys accused Jake of war crimes himself since he flushed some 17,000 Yeerks at the very end of the war. The accusation shook him up and he spiraled into depression, riddled with guilt over Rachel's death and the "murder" of those Yeerks. Pretty classic case of PTSD.

    Ax became a big-wig with the Andalites and got sent on a mission to find Tom and the last remaining, morph-capable, Yeerks. Something went fubar with that and only one survivor made it back to Earth. He recruited Jake, Tobias and Marco to go rescue Ax. They found some vaguely-defined entity called "The One" (some kind of psychic predator I think) who had assimilated Ax and the Yeerks Ax was hunting. The series ends with Jake ordering their pilot to ram the ship containing the One.

    I think that's about it. All things considered, it really is rather depressing. Nobody got a happy ending, except maybe the Hork-Bajir.
     
  15. Ched

    Ched Da Trek Moderator DLP Supporter ⭐⭐

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    Thanks.

    That does sound rather... un-satisfying. As a general rule I don't have a problem with dark-endings, nor do I have an issue with all of the heroes supposedly dying at the end.

    But if that happens it's got to be satisfying, and that just sounds stupid.
     
  16. Rahkesh Asmodaeus

    Rahkesh Asmodaeus THUNDAH Bawd Admin DLP Supporter

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    Cheddar: Here's a more thorough explanation of the events leading up to the last book. Be warned, it's kinda long. :S

    Lots of shitty things happened to the Animorphs in the books leading up to the final one. I think that it all started to go downhill when the Yeerks came close to infecting Marco's father. He saves him, but at the price of their security and Marco is outed to his dad as an Animorph. They know the Yeerks will be after them now, and they can't draw any undue suspicion on Marco. They get Chee to emulate them and bait the Yeerks into attacking them. The Chee throw up holograms so to the Yeerks it seems as if both Marco and his father died. They then go to the Hork Bajir colony for sanctuary.

    Later in the book it's revealed that Visser One (Marco's mother, remember) is being held prisoner and is being accused of being a traitor or something. They end up saving her, and Visser Three becomes Visser One -- this means that the slow and calculated invasion of Earth is nearing its end.

    After that the Yeerks realize, by testing the blood left by the Animorphs at their various fights, that the Animorphs may in fact be human. They run DNA tests and find Loren, Tobias' mother. The Animorphs save her and realize that they have to get the rest of their families to safety as well. They all do, except for Jake. The Yeerks managed to infect Jake's parents as well. This is the beginning of Emo/Angry Jake. He's never the same after this.

    Then the Animorphs get the bright idea to recruit hospitalized kids with disabilities that could be fixed with getting the morphing device. Why they chose kids instead of military vets I have no fucking idea. But the Yeerks catch on and Tom shows up and grabs the morphing cube for himself. Later in the book the Animorphs defeat the Yeerks in battle but Tom escapes. Jake pursues him, closely followed by Cassie. Jake and Tom get into a standoff and Cassie realizes that Jake is ready to kill Tom, and that it would destroy his psyche in the process. She (in her wolf form) restrains Jake (in his tiger form) so that Tom can get away with the device. Yeah, she's a stupid cunt.

    After that, relations in the group begin to splinter and Jake becomes even more emo. I think after Cassie came clean about what she did, Ax despised her.

    And... that's all I can remember until what Agayek posted happened.

    But all of this was not very happy reading. For a 13 year old it was downright gritty. Every book stopped having a happy ending, it was depressing shit after depressing shit. Relationships broke and never reformed. After the battle and after everyone became famous, Tobias basically lived his life as a hawk, avoiding everyone. He blamed Jake for sending Rachel on a suicide mission. Cassie was the only Animorph left on Earth after they all left to find Ax. She and Jake never got together, she ended up with another nature freak.
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2012
  17. frantic

    frantic Boosted

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    Now, we can't blame ghostwriters for the shitty cliffhanger bullshit!

    That's wikipedia right there. Bolded and underlined the important parts.

    So yes, Applegate intended to end on a shitty cliffhanger that fucked everyone who wanted an actual ending! Isn't she great?

    fuck you Applegate fuck yooooou
     
  18. T3t

    T3t Purple Beast of DLP ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    I hate to pile on the hate... well, no, I don't. Fucking cliffhangers. Though on the reread a year or so back, I actually did like the grim!dark leading up to the end. Just the end sucked.

    Also interested in any decent fanfiction.
     
  19. Hashasheen

    Hashasheen Half-Blood Prince

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    Last edited: Feb 27, 2012
  20. Oz

    Oz For Zombie. Moderator DLP Supporter

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    Oh man, I gotta finish the series. Because my local bookshop when I lived in England was so shit (and because Animorphs has never sold in Ireland) I've read like books 1-20, then like 5 random ones from there on, including some crazy one where
    Jake travels forwards in time. Or dreams he does. Or something.

    D: