#K. A. Applegate

[perfectlynormalbooks]

retypeset/bind of The Beginning by K. A. Applegate, the final book of the Animorphs series! Done as a gift for a friend as thanks for managing a very long-running Animorphs book club for us. Did my best to match the internal styling and fonts of the original paperback books, while still having a little fun with the cover and design.

[doyouknowthischaracter]

DO YOU KNOW THIS CHARACTER?

[ziekaramaik]

Me: I shouldn't feel bad about taking so long to finish my animorphs fanfiction. It took K. A. Applegate a full five years to get to the end of the real thing.

Also Me: But during those five years they consistently published a complete book every single month, along with occasional bonus books.

Me: Shut up.

[selwyngrimm]

Neat!

[random-jot]

(If you liked both, pick which of the two you were more into overall)

[abuddyforeveryseason]

This is the Buddy for March 18th. It's an Animorph. The Animorphs book series is infamous for its creepy covers. I know the series was pretty popular, but I've always felt those covers were a real turn-off which kept me from even trying out the series. I was a Goosebumps guy, first and foremost.

Of course nostalgic fans now say Animorphs was a better series. More mature and better written, with a more interesting plot which evolved from book to book. And with more didatic elements.

And if the covers were creepy, that's cause the writing inside them was creepy too. The description of the morphing scenes were pretty gross, and there was a lot of heavy stuff going on. For instance, this passage from book 5:

"I saw Rachel, too. She had a dark look in her eyes. Like she hadn’t slept. Like something was really wrong.

Even Cassie seemed grim. It had gotten to all of us. It’s not so easy to just forget terror. It’s not easy to just ignore the memory of your leg being ripped off.

Of being dismembered. Torn apart.

One of these days, I thought, one of us is going to go crazy. Totally, lock-me-up-in-a-rubber-room nutso. It was too much. This wasn’t how life was supposed to be.

One of us would snap. One of us would lose it. It could happen, even to strong people.

I knew. It had happened to my father. I used to think nothing could ever destroy him. But my mom’s death had."

Jesus Christ, did I pick up a copy of Johnny Got His Gun instead of a kid's book by accident?

Still, I never read them when I was a kid, and, as an adult, they don't hold a lot of interest. It's kind of unpleasant to revisit stuff you loved as a child once you're older, because it can feel rather empty and small. And checking out the stuff you weren't interested in when growing up is even worse. There's no bittersweet memories there, just nonsense aimed at an audience you're no longer a part of.

Which is kind of why nostalgia is kind of a dumb thing. Sure, I could say the books and movies of my childhood were the best ones in the world, but only the ones I actually happened to check out. If I missed a movie in theaters when I was a kid and only see it twenty years later, I might not be too impressed. No good memories of it, after all.

That's not to say there isn't quality work being done, even in the baloney-factory that is kids' entertainment. It's just that nostalgia goggles can make even stuff that's unmemorable feel a lot more interesting, and not having nostalgic feelings for something can make it seem bland and hollow, just because you're no longer the target audience.

And it's a pity because, the Animorphs books aren't bad by themselves. They're just not interesting when the person reading them is an adult who knew nothing about the series other than "that thing with the creepy covers I saw in libraries when I was a kid".

Which just goes to show one should never judge a book by its cover. Or, to put it another way, publishers need to be careful when choosing covers for their books. Can you imagine a What If world where the Animorphs covers were painted by Tim Jacobus? Would look amazing.

Speaking of the covers themselves, today's Buddy was traced from this book's:

It features Marco, the most Buddy-like of the Animorphs. I originally made a mistake in the background that made it looks like this:

I think it looks better, even if it was an accident, but it breaks my rule of only using three colors, so I had to make a quick fix. Oops.

[csthurman]

The End of the Year

My home by Allagar – Deviant art Here we are at the end of the year. This has been a crazy time and filled with tons of new stuff for me to unpack. I realize that I missed November’s time for posting and for that, I am deeply sorry. It’s always a bit of a nice surprise to see how many people come to my website to check for anything new when I haven’t posted. To be fair I only missed last month…

[tintededges]

Animorphs The Graphic Novel: The Encounter

Graphic novel adaptation of middle grade sci-fi series Animorphs The novelty of my favourite series as a ten year old being adapted into graphic novels has not yet worn off, and I eagerly ordered the next one for my Short Stack Reading Challenge. Photo is of “Animorphs the Graphic Novel: The Encounter” by K. A. Applegate and Michael Grant, and adapted by Chris Grine. The paperback book is…

[brothermouse-skeleton]

Just thinking about how the behavior of the aliens in Animorphs makes so much sense in the context of their biology.

Andalites are boastful, misogynistic, abilist, and unnecessarily secretive. They're like that because they're a species of herd animals that grew up on a planet of predators. Everything about the Andalites tells us that they are apex prey animals. They have natural camouflage (for the blue foliage of their planet) because if you get seen you get eaten. They have full 360° vision, because if you don't see the predator, you get eaten. They communicate psychically, because if you make noise, you get eaten. They eat from their feet while running because if you slow down to eat, you get eaten. They have a tail blade because IF a predator can see you and IF they can sneak up on you and IF you can't run away, your best hope is to convince them that they will have to bleed for every bite of your flesh.

That last one is important. So many prey animals survive by just looking like they're too much trouble to eat. Don't eat me, I'm too tough. Eat the guy next to me.

Generations of living like that has hardwired their brains into thinking that ANY show of vulnerability is a threat to your life. If you're smaller than the next guy, you get eaten. If your hooves are duller, you get eaten. If you look less experienced, you get eaten, etc. etc. etc.

Then you have the Yeerks. Little slugs with HUGE egos. And of course they need those massive egos. When you're trying to control a creature a hundred times bigger you have to act like you're a thousand times bigger than it. On top of that Yeerks are basically just self sufficient brains. Essentially no sensory organs, they eat though what is more or less photosynthesis. And since they're only brains, no bodies, they're prone to addiction. Not just oatmeal, but the addiction of sensation. A brain craves new experiences and rewards itself when it finds them. So the yeerks will strap themselves into a skull for days at a time, starving themselves of their limitless food supply, just for another hit of those sweet endorphins. They'll take whatever they can get be it cannibalistic taxxon or clumsy nearly useless gedd.

Speaking of Gedds, let's talk about those parasites. Now you're probably thinking "no, Gedds aren't the parasites, Yeerks are!" Are you sure? One defining characteristic of the Gedd is that one leg is shorter than the other. I see this as an evolutionary stroke of genius. Imagine, you are a Gedd, born with a malformed foot. Because of this you're far more clumsy than the rest of your species, so you fall down, stumble, and trip all the time. One day, you fall into a lake. When you get out of the lake, something has changed. You have a genius brain in your skull. This genius brain craves experience. It wants to eat, breed, see, feel, everything. Because it's a genius it can get you food, it can get you mates, it makes you king of your tribe. All because you had that one freak gene that gave you a wonky foot. So of course some of your offspring end up with the wonky foot gene, they fall into lakes and get free genius brains. Their lives are improved. They have more wonky footed children and so on and so forth. Your survival is all but guaranteed because these genius brains need you. You are their drug. They give you everything and in return you give them practically nothing.

Taxxons are in the same boat. Parasites to the yeerks, when you look at what their evolutionary path must have been. They were bugs under a queen. The queen gave them commands, dig here, forage there, care for the larvae. We know from the Animorphs adventures in ant land how overpoweringly distracting those kind of orders can be. A lot can fall by the way side when you're under the thrall of your queen, such as eating. So a simple solution is evolved: eat whatever you can whenever you can. Always be hungry, even if your body doesn't actually need food right now. You don't notice the hunger much because you have more important things to think about, the queen needs a tunnel here, better dig it now you'll just swallow anything that gets in tongue's reach. Of course, all that food, all that nutrition, eventually your species will develop bigger brains. You have more independent thoughts, better problem-solving, that's great for the whole species right? Except... Now that you can reason, you reason out that maybe the queen isn't always right. So you start experimenting with other approaches. Approaches that work! Great! Fantastic! You don't need a queen anymore! But...now there's nothing to distract you from that instinctive drive to eat what you can when you can. You're hungry all the time, no matter how much you eat, you feel like you're starving. If only you could turn off that part of your brain! Then one day a wonderful answer comes out of the sky. A species of genius brains who want bodies shows up. You have bodies and they can turn off you hunger. Easy solution. We read about how taxxon controllers are constantly struggling to keep their host body's hunger in check, I theorized that they're downplaying the severity of the effort. I think it takes nearly all a yeerk's focus just to manage the hunger, the taxxon remains in control of its own actions. No yeerk will ever admit it, though. They're junkies and getting half an experience high while fighting off the irrational pain of starvation is better than nothing. The taxxons get far more than they give up. As soon as they have an option to get rid of the hunger without giving anything to the yeerks, they take it.

And then we have humans. Illogical, impractical, unpredictable humans. What sets humans apart in the Animorphs world is that they have a left brain and a right brain and those two halves are always fighting. So many of the human characters are walking contradictions. Cassie, the pacifist who rips out her enemies throats with her teeth. Rachel, the killer who became a monster to stop the ones she loves from becoming monsters. Marco, who's always laughing while being deadly serious. Jake, the leader who always follows his team. Humans are always contradicting themselves because, in reality, they aren't. They're always arguing with the other side of their brain. Boldness vs caution. Violence vs peace. Fight vs flight. Sometimes one side wins, sometimes the other one does. That's what makes humans so unpredictable to other species, every choice they make is the result of an unknowable battle within.

Lest I forget, Hork-bajir. The only ones who have the benefit of evolutionary planning. They're smart enough to solve problems, but not curious enough to look for problems to solve. Equipped with the dangerous tools needed for their work, but not the drive to use them against their masters. Hork-bajir are seen to be a hardy species, able to heal from injury quickly, that, plus the face that they generally don't have any predators gives them that manatee/ capybara mindset. They may not know what you are, but they'll probably assume you're a friend because what else is there? They trust because they have never had a scenario where trusting another was the wrong move. They grew up in a Garden of Eden that didn't even have a snake. They are perhaps one of the few species that is actually a complete victim of the yeerks.

[sittinwithyou]

Seven Covers in Seven Days, pt 4.

If you like this, feel obligated to tag someone else you wanna see more books from.

@ruthybaby, I don't know you, but the tag monster chose you from the aether.

This book taught me that science-fiction doesn't have to be Dune to be good. And I'll probably even stay awake through most of it.

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[kinsey3furry300]

Which episodic YA series fucked you up?

as In, what's the first one you can remember genuinely frightening or upsetting you?

There will be a second bracket for series I could not fit in this poll (Percy Jackson, Noughts and Crosses, Maximum Ride, Cherub, Mortal Engines, Artimis Fowl, Shapeshifter, Deptford Mice, Mistborn ect.)

[stainlesssteellocust]

hey animorphs what’s your take on the whole “why do the monsters only attack Tokyo” thing

oh okay thank you animorphs

[a-book-of-creatures]

And since I just reposted something about Animorphs, here's more required reading - K. A. Applegate's letter to the fans after the series ended. Removing spoilers just in case because you need to go out there and read every one of the 60 or so books.

Dear Animorphs Readers: Quite a number of people seem to be annoyed by the final chapter in the Animorphs story. There are a lot of complaints that [spoilers]. That there was no grand, final fight-to-end-all-fights. That there was no happy celebration. And everyone is mad about the cliffhanger ending. So I thought I'd respond. Animorphs was always a war story. Wars don't end happily. Not ever. Often relationships that were central during war, dissolve during peace. Some people who were brave and fearless in war are unable to handle peace, feel disconnected and confused. Other times people in war make the move to peace very easily. Always people die in wars. And always people are left shattered by the loss of loved ones. That's what happens, so that's what I wrote. [spoilers] That doesn't by any means cover everything that happens in a war, but it's a start. Here's what doesn't happen in war: there are no wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt. Life isn't a World Wrestling Federation Smackdown. Even the people who win a war, who survive and come out the other side with the conviction that they have done something brave and necessary, don't do a lot of celebrating. There's very little chanting of 'we're number one' among people who've personally experienced war. I'm just a writer, and my main goal was always to entertain. But I've never let Animorphs turn into just another painless video game version of war, and I wasn't going to do it at the end. I've spent 60 books telling a strange, fanciful war story, sometimes very seriously, sometimes more tongue-in-cheek. I've written a lot of action and a lot of humor and a lot of sheer nonsense. But I have also, again and again, challenged readers to think about what they were reading. To think about the right and wrong, not just the who-beat-who. And to tell you the truth I'm a little shocked that so many readers seemed to believe I'd wrap it all up with a lot of high-fiving and backslapping. Wars very often end, sad to say, just as ours did: with a nearly seamless transition to another war. So, you don't like the way our little fictional war came out? You don't like [spoilers]? You don't like that one war simply led to another? Fine. Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents. If you're mad at me because that's what you have to take away from Animorphs, too bad. I couldn't have written it any other way and remained true to the respect I have always felt for Animorphs readers. K.A. Applegate

[ihatetrashcans]

Ax: I must study these humans and record my findings for when I return to the Andalite homeworld. This research could be important.

Also Ax:

[severalrodentsdrinkingtea]

Cannot stop thinking about Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan and Dak Hamee. He was born as an omen of his people’s destruction. He loves to draw. She was studying him from day one. They played in the trees together. She introduced him to the stars and she taught him how to kill. She watched her family be burned alive. He resents her and he loves her. She loves him and she uses him. They are more alone among their own people than with each other. She holds a deep belief in Andalite superiority even though she knows it hurts him. She betrays her own people. She becomes a nothlit so if the biological weapon those people made goes off, she’ll die with him. He didn’t believe she’d do it. They named their child after the man who unleashed the Yeerks’ invasion of the galaxy. They probably died in captivity. Their child probably died in captivity. Their great grandchild is the first free-born Hork-Bajir in many years. She is named after the child of another mismatched pair of aliens thanks to the power of morphing—he is the reason she is free at all.