#Elfangor did

[baekhest]

I haven't read animorphs in ages but sometimes I still think about Elfangor and feel a lot all at once.

#animorphs #Tobias grows up with family members who resent him and feeling so isolated and lonely #when in reality his father DID want to be there for him but had to leave because the fate of everyone else was in the balance #ax spends a while talking about Elfangor as his older brother who's a war hero that he looks up to #and then you learn Elfangor was deeply affected by the things he saw and wanted nothing more than to leave #and just live a normal life as a human on earth with his wife and son #the opening scene of animorphs where he gives the kids morph powers and then dies almost immediately after #where it's the first time he's seen his son #and he's giving him and the others this power because it might just save them and everyone else #but he also knows he's going to subject his son to the same traumatic war that he experienced #MAN #the character of all time #also there's a scene in the andalite chronicles where applegate makes it canon that he came up with the idea for windows and apple #and i think that's very funny

[theoriginalnikegirl]

In light of a recent conversation and the fact im rewatching once upon a time, im revisiting my opinion re: hating Elfangor thinking especially of the last two interactions Tobias has interacting with the idea of Elfangor in the series.

To lay it out, Tobias has a total of three interactions with Elfangor in the series: meeting him in book 1, having his will read in 23, and a hallucination in 43. I've tended to take to the hallucination as real-ish, real-like, since Tobias has so few interactions with his father and I've long hated the implications of that interaction. Duringst the recent conversation however, I argued myself into thinking it was wholly Tobias' subconscious. Basically what happens in that interaction (why I hate it) is it boils down to a hallucination of Elfangor telling Tobias to suck it up. Tobias has just been tortured for a hundred pages, and here is an image of his absent father saying: "yeah too bad, now suck it up. Get over it. You shouldn't feel as hurt as you do and you shouldn't go and make it anyone else's problem". It's dressed up in prettier language but that's the sentiment. Now I, as the reader, don't really know Elfangor that well. I don't know if he would say that to Tobias. I do know Tobias though and I know that Tobias would absolutely say that to himself

I'm also revisiting the reading of the will in 23 which I have always appreciated. I appreciated that in that will Elfangor said: I wanted to love you. Not that he did, but that he wanted to. I have long had a bit of stick up my ass thinking it's too little to say he wished he hadn't abandoned Tobias' because the fact of the matter is Tobias was abandoned whether Elfangor wanted to or not, but I am also rewatching once upon a time.

For those not in the know, once upon a time is a tv show about fairy tale characters processing generational trauma, and how that trauma follows the generations even as each new generation tries so hard to avoid the mistakes of their parents, to the point where several generations literally abandon their children hoping that will break the cycle of generational trauma (it works exactly once) Anyway long story short Neal, a character who at this point has pretty much processed the trauma his father had inflicted on him (good job btw) just died while his own son (Henry) had completely forgotten him due to a magic thing and thought he'd merely abandoned him and his mother in jail. In his dying breath, Neal told Emma (Henry's mom) that she didn't need to restore Henry's memory if he was happy without it, if it would cause him more pain to remember his father only knowing he'd died. But he asked her to tell Henry that he'd wanted to be a good father and dammit if that didn't mean something!

The crucial difference here between Elfangor and Neal is that Neal explicitly doesn't put responsibility onto Henry in exchange for his wanting to be a good father (if it would hurt him more to remember, he shouldn't) while Elfangor does saddle Tobias with a) fighting the war that he couldn't anymore and b) there's the fact that Elfangor's will was only read to Tobias to motivate him to continue to fight that war. Which is on the Ellimist but what else did Elfangor think it was gonna do when he wrote it??

Point is I am on better terms with Elfangor now but out of the two of them Neal is the better dad.

#animorphs discourse #once upon a time discourse #no i did not expect this but i should have as a i watch everything through an Animorphs lens #truly though Elfangor's and Neal's situations are super similar #they were both manipulated into unknowingly abandoning children which is wild #pinocchio=the Ellimist #i love neal and WHY doesn't he vet brought back or resurrected somehow there are so. freaking. many. ways that could be done in this show

[confused-stars]

i’m making my way through all the Animorphs books and The Andalite Chronicles has left me so shaken.

then the very next book, Ax is like >Why would the Hork-Bajir hate us? We tried to save them! Sure, we failed, but we tried!< and you’re just sitting there like “sweet boy. it’s because of the war crimes.”

#i love the parallels of young elfangor to ax #because by the end of the andalite chronicles elfangor has experienced enough of the war and learned enough secrets to be disillusioned #he is forced to grow up super fast when he learns the horrible things his own people did and continue to do to gain an edge #meanwhile ax is somehow having a less jarring experience because he's the only andalite on earth and he can still believe in heroes #i will be Not Okay when the time comes for him to realize

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

What if Chapman was identical twins and Hendrick Chapman is Vice-Principal Chapman's (probably dead) twin brother?

IT ALL FITS. This explains why Chapman is so selfish and conniving in Andalite Chronicles but so selfless and honest in #2. Hedrick Chapman died in the black hole because Elfangor and Loren straight-up FORGOT HIM on the Jahar. His identical twin Bobson Chapman is living on Earth with no idea this happened. It's perfect because we never learn the first name of the kids' vice principal.

No wonder Chapman gives Loren a blank look when she comes up to him and starts talking about yeerks; he's never met this woman before in his life. No wonder Chapman ends up joining the Sharing as an adult despite getting yeerk-controlled as a teen; for all he knows his brother ran off and aliens don't exist. The Ellimist didn't intervene in Chapman's life at all; that's just Elfangor rationalizing after the fact because did I mention that he FORGOT to save Chapman from the killer asteroids?

#animorphs #hedrick chapman #baker street irregulars #epileptic trees #andalite chronicles #unhinged headcanon is unhinged #and i love it #yes i switched from 'black hole' to 'killer asteroids' mid-post #kind of like how andalite chronicles switches from 'killer asteroids' to 'black hole' mid-chapter #shhhhh it's fine #kafu what kafu

[cluelessrebel1988]

If I Ran The Zoo (or how I would plot out an Animorphs TV/streaming series if I had the time/ability/resources)

So this is something I've been kicking around in my head on-again, off-again for a couple years now, and I thought I'd put it out there, just for the lols (do people still say that?)

My thought process is for a 5 season arc, with each season being somewhere in the neighborhood of 13-15 episodes long, give or take. There would be a few changes with the order of things, and a few minor characters would play a bigger role. I'm not going to go episode by episode, but just sort of outline the big arcs for each season. I'm not in any way suggesting that this is the best way to do it, just that this is how I would do it.

Season 1

This season obviously would start the events of The Invasion and would primarily incorporate events/plot points from the first 10 books, including finding Ax in his crashed ship (though I would move that to either take place in the first episode, or in the second half of the two-part premiere), Tobais getting stuck in his hawk form (and getting an episode or two dedicated to him coming to terms with that), and introducing Erik and the Chee (Erik would be introduced as a friend of Marco's early in the season, with his identity as a Chee being revealed in the second half of the season).

The only major plot point from that run of the series I wouldn't put into play just yet is the reveal of Marco's mother as Visser One (although I would be very much establishing her through flashbacks, dreams, etc., so people will recognize her when Visser One does show up).

The main arc of the season would involve the Kandrona Ray and the events of The Stranger, with the team meeting the Ellimist and learning about the ray and its significance and plotting to take it down to try to end/expose the invasion. Erik and Ax tagteam providing info about the ray and its use, but it's the vision from the Ellimist that gives Rachel the final clue, again, as in the book, with that occuring at the end of the penultimate episode. The season finale is solely focused on devising and executing the plan to destroy the ray. The plan would succeed, which would prompt Visser One's return, revealing her host to be Marco's mother as the cliffhanger for the season.

Obviously, we would be exploring the kid's home lives more, with the relationship with their families and friends and the whole 'work-life balance' thing that comes with fighting a guerilla war against an alien invasion. Not to the point where they're having to fake illnesses to skip school every episode, but enough to show that it's putting a strain on their relationships. I would also explore Rachel's relationship with Melissa Chapman more and have Melissa be a bigger supporting character in the show. We'd also introduce Karen and Aftran in this season, revealing her to be a controller early on, but something that Cassie doesn't find out until the end of the season

Season 2

Season 2 would pick up a few weeks after season 1, as The Alien did with The Stranger. The kids learn that their hope that the invasion would reveal itself with the Kandrona ray destroyed were in vain and that Ax knew that. The premiere would largely follow the plot of that book, with the Animorphs attempting to integrate Ax into society and attempting to take the fight to Visser Three with the help of a Yeerk traitor, and Ax telling the others about the Law of Seerow's Kindness. Ax would get a lot of development this season, with the events of The Deception coming into play.

Tobias would help free the Hork-Bajir as in The Change and get his human form back as a morph, and the reveal that he is Elfangor's son would be included in this season as well (Obviously we're tapping into the Andalite Chronicles for flashbacks in at least one episode this season to help set that up).

Marco's main character arc would revolve around learning that his mother is Visser One, keeping it a secret, only to have the others find out later, thus incorporating The Predator and The Escape. Also Visser One is the big bad for the season, delving more into her conflict with Visser Three. The season would end with her supposed death following the Animorphs' thwarting of her plans

For Cassie, we cover the utilize adapted versions of The Departure and set up for The Sickness, with Karen/Aftran and Cassie perhaps getting trapped somewhere and forced to work together to get out of it, laying the groundwork for Aftran to be captured by Visser Three. The season finale would also center around the efforts to rescue Aftran.

Jake and Rachel will have arcs and roles to play in each of these stories as they each start to fall into their respective roles as leader and fighter, respectively. If they get their own arc, it would be around trying to save Tom specifically.

Additionally, Melissa is still around in her expanded role, but with a new friend: David, who would be introduced fairly early in the season in a recurring role (Melissa is also recurring at this point). She and David will have a B-plot where they become friends and are together when David finds the morphing cube, the discovery of which also occurs in the finale.

Season 3

Obviously, the primary source for the main arc of season 3 is the David Trilogy, with The Discovery in particular serving as the source for the season premiere. It plays out mostly the same, with the Animorphs learning that David and Melissa have the cube and plans to sell it online. They try to retrieve the cube before the two of them can attract the attention of the Yeerks, but ultimately fail, leading to the battle at David's house. They manage to get Melissa and David out of the house before they can be captured, and are forced to reveal themselves and tell them what's happening, essentially recruiting them into the Animorphs.

The events of the rest of the trilogy, with the threat to the UN summit or some similar event involving world leaders as a target that they have to keep the Yeerks from taking advantage of -- as well as with David and Melissa's reactions to being Animorphs -- would take up the majority of the plot this season. Obviously Melissa becoming an Animorph opens up some new potential for her arc, especially around her relationship with her dad and trying to come to terms with him being a controller (and the fact that Rachel has been keeping this a secret all along). She and David would have similar arcs around their parents being controllers, but while David ultimately turns against the Animorphs, Melissa does not (although David tries to convince her to). The season ends with the gang trapping David in a rat morph, as the books do.

One of Melissa's major character traits is her interest in technology, something she used to bond with her father over (working together to take things apart and then put them back together before be became a Controller to try to keep her safe) and I imagine her and Ax developing something of an awkward friendship as she tries to ask him about the morphing technology and other Andalite technology, with him being reluctant to share due to the Law of Seerow's Kindness. But, as he's grown closer with the Animorphs, he would eventually acquiesce and they would begin to bond. The two big relationships (Rachel and Tobias, and Cassie and Jake) also take major steps this season

The other major arc for the season involves other Andalites, incorporating The Arrival and The Other, with the reveal that other Andalites are on earth and some are there to help...or are they? The season would also end with Tobias getting captured by the Yeerks to begin the laying of the groundwork for the discovery that the Animorphs are not, in fact, Andalite bandits.

Season 4

The events of The Illusion and The Test would be adapted for the season premiere, including the introduction of the Yeerk resistance (led in this series by Karen/Aftran) and Tobias's capture and torture, with the main difference being that it is Tom (who has largely been a secondary or tertiary villain thus far) being the one who conducts the torture. During the interrogation, Tobias lets something slip that most of the controllers in the room don't pick up on, but Tom does, leading him to investigate and setting up for the finale, which would be largely and adaptation of The Diversion, with the race against time to save their families taking up the majority of the episode. Melissa is able to save her parents, her father proving to be an asset in the final season with his knowledge of how Yeerk technology works.

This season as a whole would focus on escalating the war between the Animorphs and the Yeerks. The stakes become higher, as are tensions following David's betrayal. Visser One returns, learning that Marco is one of the Animorphs and we incorporate the events of Visser, seeing the Animorphs rescue her.

Following Tobias's capture and torture, Rachel becomes more angry and vengeful, setting up for her arc over the final season (we've seen hints of her violent streak over the series up to this point, but it gets more intense this season).

Season 5

With their secret out, the Animorphs regroup in the Hork-Bajir valley and try to figure out their next move. The final arc of the series would play out largely how it does over the course of the final books, with the team recruiting more Animorphs to help them with their mission, and even trying to recruit government and military officials to aid in the fight. Tom gets the morphing cube, adding controllers with the ability to morph (other than the newly appointed Visser One) to the threat against the Animorphs. The final battle would be a multi-pronged attack, with the bombing of the Yeerk Pool being part of the final assault and not a separate battle.

Rachel gets aboard the blade ship and kills Tom before being killed herself. In an effort to make up for the harm he caused, Hedrick Chapman sacrifices himself to both ensure the Yeerk Pool bomb goes off and to save Melissa one final time (the pair of them were in charge of building/detonating it, along with Ax), and Jake orders the flushing of the Yeerk Pool on the the Pool ship, alienating Erek and the rest of the Chee going forward. All of this is in the penultimate episode.

The series finale follows the aftermath of the war in The Beginning, and, as the books did, the series would end with Jake, Tobias, and Marco (and probably Melissa) being recruited to help save Ax from an as-yet unknown threat.

And there you have it, my outline for how an Animorphs series could/should play out. As I said at the start, this is just my idea and others might have different thoughts about what order the arcs should go in and what significant changes (if any) would be made. Please be kind with any criticisms, and if you'd like to share your thoughts with me, my inbox is open. I also did a fancast for the series a few years ago if anyone's curious about who would play who

#animorphs #series outline #just my ramblings #Jake Berenson #Rachel Berenson #Marco #Tobias #aximili esgarrouth isthill #Ax #Cassie #Melissa Chapman #David

[if-you-are-tired-clap-your-hands]

Eyo Guess who came back from the dead

Yeah I know no one listens to Hamilton today but I've read the andalite chronicles 5 times now and cried much more and thought of them on this song and now you got to cry about them too

A bit of rambling about the video under the cut

I wanted to create a cool conversation between elfangor and alloran to switch to elfangor having the same conversation with Tobias

But guess what ? My pencils broke and so did my motivation to do the rest of the song sorry

Also. I love Loren and elfangor sooo much in that book they are so cute so I had to put her in the video as well

I'm not really sure about the thumbnail of the video cause it's the first time I do a serious one but it's past midnight where I live and school is coming up fast and here I am

I genuinely hope you like it !

#art #animorphs #andalite #elfangor #alloran #yeerks #the andalite chronicles #animatic #youtube #if you are tired make art

[commander-diomika]

Reblog appreciated, feel free to tell me in the tags why you were Such a Rachel etc

#Hank talks #Animorphs #ka applegate #Tumblr polls #this is an astrology hate blog

[pixelsilver]

Finally finished that Elfangor pinup! Since he's supposed to look similar to Ax, I did keep his pallet the same as when I last drew Ax.

#animorphs #Elfangor-Sirrinel-Shamtul #Andalite #pinup art #Andalite Simping

[kooldewd123]

why did elfangor even have the morphing cube on his ship in the first place. I mean obviously it's just there for story convenience but it seems super impractical from an in-universe perspective. like, who was he gonna use it on? surely andalite soldiers are given the morphing ability in military school or something. why would you even need one on hand like that. it wasn't even locked up or anything! it was just lying around in plain sight! if elfangor hadn't pawned it off on some random kids he just met, then the yeerks would have found it when they raided his ship and that's it, game over, they're morph-capable now. this just has to be a major breach of protocol on elfangor's part, right? sure, the andalites are cocky, but they're not careless, especially when it come to the law of seerow's kindness. it seems super uncharacteristic of them let a prince be so nonchalant with their most top-secret military weapon. it's like if jake just brought the box home and told tom it was a paperweight. elfangor, buddy, what were you doing.

#the answer is probably the ellimist tbh #it's always the ellimist #he manipulated it so that elfangor was doing #i dunno #morph training with some arisths earlier #and forgot to give the escafil device back #animorphs #animorphs elfangor #elfangor sirinial shamtul #idiot teenagers with a death wish #koolmathgames.com

[tomberensonsghost]

If we suppose that beneficial gut bacteria are safely transferred in and out of z-space during the morphing process, but that the rabies virus in Marco was not returned from z-space, then we can assume that only living matter can be processed in this way.

Therefore, it makes sense that Yeerks in a morph-capable host are also safely transported in and out of z-space.

By this logic, we can conclude that if Elfangor did not die before Visser Three demorphed, then he is still contained inside the morph, and if Visser Three were to morph that specific creature again there is a small chance that Elfangor could cut his way out like a wasp larva erupting from a caterpillar.

#animorphs #yeerks #parasites #elfangor #yuck #visser three

[blessedislandofgoodboots]

really fascinated by how jake chooses to bring about rachel's death AND to strive to immortalize her

i mean...he not only keeps returning to her memorial but also creates a textual memorial of her. he publishes his memoir mostly to ensure she isn't lost. he doesn't write to manage/make sense of his feelings or to exorcise his memories of her or to imaginatively resurrect her or to make reparations for what he did (a la briony in atonement). he writes simply so others can know about her, even though they can never really know her. (and i think that's what makes his writing very jewish, in a way: remembrance as an existential, communal imperative.) his memoir is an introduction to his silenced kin written in his voice, the voice of the mourning survivor that created that silence. his public life is a project of her memorialization: he accepts interviews, which he normally avoids, to talk about her. 54 describes an utterly new peacetime world, but it is full of repetitions: marco accompanying his best friend into something they don't fully understand or know, the callback to elfangor at the end, the unending burden of memory, jake talking again and again about rachel (and tobias), marco retelling the animorphs' past doings

54 sets out to dismantle the binary between life and death and to insist on the reciprocity between the dead and the living. jake becomes a deadened, hollow character. he's possessed by rachel's memory. it absorbs him. with that said i definitely don't think that The One is secretly crayak-rachel, lol, but it's interesting that The One fastens on jake alone, someone who knows all too well what it's like to feel consumed by things from the unfathomable past that are vaster and more enduring than yourself. (also interesting that The One is another monstrous variation of the series' recurring theme that selfhood is something not inviolably private but shared.) i continue to have mixed feelings about the ending but in some ways it's really fitting. ax and the crew of The Rachel hover eternally between life and death in the loneliness of outer space. they are ghosts, regardless of the outcome of ramming the blade ship.

#animorphs #the series is about a lot of things but it's about ghosts most of all

[mnjohn]

Animorphs was the series that got me into reading as a kid. I wanted to read it again as an adult because I was never able to finish it when I was a kid (too hard to find all the volumes!) I have been slowly making my way through the series and recently finished "#18 The Decision". Read below for my opinions on what I have read so far but beware of spoilers.

"#1 The Invasion" - A good introduction to the series. Jake is a little bland, but I enjoy the drama of his relationship with his brother Tom.

"#2 The Visitor" - I absolutely love Rachel. She was my hero as a kid. Despite that, I also found this one to be a bit bland but I do admit that the shrew morph was pretty freaky.

"#3 The Encounter" - Explores some surprisingly dark themes. I always thought that it was a shame that Tobias and Ax have the least books, because their perspective is the most interesting. I mean, the boy IS A BIRD!

"#4 The Message" - I think that I found Cassie to be a bit boring as a child, but as an adult, I absolutely love her! She just cares about everyone and everything and is just so lovely! This book also introduces Ax, another one of my favourites!

"#5 The Predator" - I don't remember this too well, but I know that I enjoyed reading Marco's perspective. His character has some real depth. The twist was juicy. And I loved Ax's stupid silly interactions with Marco's dad.

"#6 The Capture" - Darkest book so far. Probably the best in the series. Jake's experience with the yerk is absolutely horrifying.

"#7 The Stranger" - While I enjoyed Rachel's family dynamics and her struggles, I really hate time travel plots in fiction. I suppose that it could have been worse. And at least Rachel is amazing.

"Megamorphs #1 The Andalite's Gift" - This was not very good, but it was very fun! Rachel gets amnesia, a plot straight out of a soap opera. And Marco drives a pick up truck! I enjoyed the multi-perspective book, but I thought that some of the action scenes went on too long.

"#8 The Alien" - AX! This one is my absolute favourite! This book has the perfect balance of silly humor and weightier plot. Ax's loneliness and identity struggles really resonated with me.

"#9 The Secret" - I do not remember this one too well, but I do remember that I liked the focus on ecological issues. This is the sort of book that made me really love the series as a child, because I was obsessed with animals.

"#10 The Android" - This was weird, but in a good way. Nice to meet new alien allies. The action scene towards the end was really intense!

"#11 The Forgotten" - This is the worst. My absolute least favourite. As I mentioned before, that time travel in fiction is a really bad idea. And this book this is a great example of why. The ending just made me feel like, what was the point? Why did I spend time reading this?

"#12 The Reaction" - Hilarious! There was much good humour in this one! I particulary enjoyed when Rachel accidentally morphed into an elephant and destroyed her own house! It also explored some darker aspects of humanity, with the selfishness of the teen idol. Good stuff.

"#13 The Change" - I know that some important plot things happen with Tobias, but I do not really remember this book too well. I think that I was vaguely disappointed with how the kids treated the Hork Bajir. I have the impression that they thought that the Hork Bajir were lesser creatures, which seemed very unfair to me.

"The Andalite Chronicles" - I enjoyed the first two parts, but the third got a bit too weird. Learning about Andalite culture was great, and I enjoyed Elfangor's fascination with the car and the image of an Andalite driving.

"#14 The Unknown" - This was the funniest book so far! I mean, the yerks in the horses using sticks to dial a payphone, was possibly the most beautiful imagery that this series has ever put into my brain. And the fact that the US government was guarding an old model of Andalite toilet, was the perfect cherry on top! This was probably my second favourite book so far.

"#15 The Escape" - It seems that Marco books just have the best action scenes. I don't if it is because he gets lucky with having more exciting plots, or if his narration style just suits action scenes better than the other characters do, but for some reason I found all the action in this book to be really engaging.

"#16 The Warning" - The best part about this one was the 90s computer technology. Ax was laughing at their internet speed. So was I. Also, I do not think that chat rooms ever worked like that? It seemed like the text was being shared before the person had finished typing it? But I was very small back then and never used a chatroom, so what would I know?

"#17 The Underground" - I was really surprised by the attitudes towards mental health displayed in this book. Like, I knew that things were not very good for the mentally ill when I was a kid, but I was surprised by how brutally critical these kids were! Thankfully things have changed for the better.

"#18 The Decision" - This one was pretty crazy. From the begining where Ax is terrorizing a food court, to the part where the kids get sucked into Z-space and join the Andalites fighting in Leera. A very exciting book! Ax's emotions are so complicated and this book just solidified that he is my current favourite!

So there you go. These are my opinions on the books so far. It seems that while I started reading this series because of the way it explores complex issues and the effect of war on children, the scenes that I enjoy the most are the silliest. I think that is kind of unfair on my part because the series really does a good job of exploring serious topics, but I am having heaps of fun! I hope that you enjoyed reading my opinions and I plan on sharing more as I read more books.

#animorphs #currently reading #reading #books

[breakaway71]

ANIJATP PLEASE

aaaaaaaahhhh I love this fic SO MUCH but I uuuuhhhh legitimately sort of forgot it existed until like a week ago when I found it on my flashdrive and was like DID I WRITE THIS IN A FEVER DREAM OR SOMETHING?? So this is my JATP/Animorphs crossover, which is mostly canon-compliant for both universes, except the Yeerk war ended more quietly than in the books, so they were still secret at the end. Essentially, Reggie was also an Animorph, getting caught up in it by virtue of being Marco's older cousin, who was visiting when Elfangor crashed in the construction site. The war ended, and a couple months later Reggie ate a bad hot dog and died anyway. (Yup I managed to make hot dog death even more ironic and tragic.) The story picks up post-S1, and Reggie is struggling because his friends still don't know his secret, and he also misses his other team and wants to know that they made it, that they're okay, that they recovered from the war and losing Rachel everything else that happened to them. Also I accidentally made it Marco/Ax :D snippet:

“Reg?” he hears from far away. “Dude, what’s wrong?”

“I…” Reggie shakes his head, coming back to himself all at once to find that he’s shaking all over, jaw clenched around a scream. “No, I’m, um. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Alex says, and Reggie turns to find him hovering at his other shoulder, looking worried.

“Bad dream,” Reggie mumbles, and can’t miss the look Luke and Alex exchange. Because, yeah, they’ve seen him zone out before, but it doesn’t happen to them. He doesn’t know if it’s a trauma thing or just a himthing, and honestly doesn’t want to know. “Look, it’s fine. I’m all good.” He tries for a smile and knows it falls short when Luke crowds in closer, reaching out to grab Reggie’s shoulders.

“Hey,” he says. “You know you can talk to us, right?”

Reggie just barely stops himself from snorting. Yeah, he can talk to them. He can tell them all his wartime trauma stories, and then wave goodbye as they cart him off to a rubber room for ghosts. Sounds fun.

“I…”

“Whatever stupid thing you’re about to say,” Alex says, “don’t.” He nudges Reggie’s side. “Come on, you think we didn’t notice all those times you disappeared on us? We knew something was going on. You don’t have to tell us what it was, but it’s obviously still bugging you, dude. We’re your best friends. We’ll listen if you want us to. You know that, right?”

Reggie shakes his head, not because he doesn’t know, and not because he doesn’t want to talk to them, but because he promised. Because even if he could tell them everything (and he can, he knows he can, they’re ghosts now and even if the Yeerks were still on Earth, his friends would be safe by default because they don’t have bodies to infest), he wouldn’t know where to start.

Once upon a time, I was visiting my cousin, and he and his best friend and a few other kids dragged me through this construction site on our way home from the mall. A dying alien crash landed his ship right in front of us, and suddenly playing bass with you guys wasn’t the most important thing in my world, no matter how much I still wanted it to be.

“I can’t…I…” Reggie swallows. In a much smaller voice, he says, “I promised. A long time ago.” It’s the only excuse he has. “I’m sorry.”

Another look is exchanged, but then Luke and Alex are hugging him, one on either side, and for a little while, that’s the only thing that matters.

#julie and the phantoms #animorphs #crossover shenanigans #ask meme #snippet

[littlecajunlady]

My 7 year old nephew found my Animorphs books earlier, and he was very curious about them. I answered all of his questions and he insisted that he wanted me to read the first book to him. He loves to read/be read to, but he also has a short attention span. I figured we'd get 5 pages in before he got bored because it didn't have pictures, but he was into it the whole time - which was more like page 15.

I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to try. Just a few hours earlier, I'd told him this story while you fold a piece of paper into a boat, and in the story the kid dies at the end. I didn't even consider that little story would make him sad but it did, so before we even started to read the book, I warned him. I told him Animorphs can get scary, that there are fights, and some people die. But he wanted to read it anyway. Again, I figured he'd get bored after 5 pages.

He asked more questions. I explained thoughtspeak, and the alien ships, and the two-hour time limit. I even had to explain Star Trek. He liked meeting Elfangor and the kids getting their powers.

Then Bugfighters flew down and they all ran, and Jake started describing how terrified he was - that's when my nephew told me, "I'm scared."

I said, "Okay, we don't have to read anymore if you don't want to. Or we can skip over this part and I'll just tell you what happened."

He wanted to skip it but also wanted to know what happened. I told him, "You remember I told you it's sad, right?" And he said yeah so I tried to explain it very simply - that Elfangor dies and that the kids run back home.

He said okay but that he didn't want to read anymore tonight, but he wanted me to read him more tomorrow. If he doesn't seem scared I'll read him more, and I'll tell him when there are more scary parts that we can skip them. I also just requested the graphic novels from the library and if they look all right I'll definitely show them to him.

I was his age when I read those books for the first time. I loved them and I didn't find them scary at all. I was so surprised when he was fascinated and wanted to read them (but again, so was I the first time I saw those covers) so hopefully they weren't too much for him right now, and that he'll want to read them again sometime, even if he needs to wait until he's a little bit older.

Edit: Update in replies

#animorphs #i didn't really think of seven as being too young #SPECIFICALLY because i loved them so much at that age #but all kids are different #so i guess we'll see #The first book I bought at the scholastic book fair was 7 the stranger #yeah that one is kinda trippy with the ellimist so i admit i didn't fully understand it at the time #but i still really liked it anyway and kept buying more

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

If we assume the animorphs didn't bring up the ellimist after the war, how do you think they explained tobias' whole deal?

I think that a) they don't, and b) there's a ton of misguided speculation as a result.

At least in the first few years after the war becomes public, I assume almost no one would know how morphing works. There's, what, ~5 surviving Animorphs and ~20 ex-controllers who weren't on the Blade ship? And that's it for human morphers on Earth. So if Marco goes "our buddy Tobias got stuck in hawk morph (totally by accident!) but then he later recovered enough to start morphing again", then there's not necessarily anyone to come out of the woodwork and announce that that makes no sense. So maybe most humans think that it's sometimes possible to start morphing again after being nothlited, if they think about it at all.

As Earth's culture continues to change — more andalite tourists, more morphing humans — then I could see people as a whole starting to spot the contradiction. Andalite authorities in particular would probably be pissed off and frustrated by Tobias, because how dare this half-human walking-disgrace-to-Elfangor's-legacy be the one to figure out a morphing trick that none of them ever did. Tobias explaining that he's met their god, that he extorted their god, and that that's why he's a nothlited morpher, probably would only piss them off more. They might even refuse to believe him.

From there, I think that the version of the truth that trickles to most ordinary humans would be something like: "That Tobias guy got stuck in morph but then started morphing again? Yeah, he said he got that from his andalite god. I guess it hasn't happened with anyone else before, so you do you man. We all respect each other's religions, and if that's what he wants to think happened, that's cool with me."

#animorphs #animorphs meta #tobias fangor #emohawk #twitter: is it cultural appropriation to cut deals with a god you don't actually worship? but what if your dad also cut deals with him? #no his dad didn't worship him either. yeah i dunno how he met. still seems appropriative to me. #concerning if true

[sarifel-corrisafid-ilxhel]

The autism has gripped my BRAIN like a SPIDER MONKEY so yeah I'm gonna do a rewrite for animoprhs. I'm here because I have a question. Did they cut it from the first book that you could share emotions or something?

Hello! Elfangor's ability to share emotions and images was never retconned. He can still do that. We still don't know if Ax can, or if it's an Old Wise Andalite Trick that Ax is too young to understand. However, the scene where Jake is able to thought-speak out of morph was retconned and did not appear in later reprints. The only time the Animorphs can thought-speak as Humans is when they are in morph.

Good luck on your rewrite!