#but that first scene in the yeerk pool dude ....

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

Alright I have a bunch of contenders here but I'm going to narrow it wayyy way down to the one that I think hooked me into the books in the first place.

Happens right at Book 1, when Visser 3 eats Elfangor. Someone else has already explained the horrific details of the relationship between Esplin and Elfangor and Alloran and all that, and they worded it excellently, so I'd like to bring up a different aspect. Not only was it grotesque and gruesome and detailed, it was an immense shock to my little 9 year old system. I was a big reader as a kid, and all of my nerd kid instincts were telling me that, somehow, Elfangor was going to survive and become the mentor for the kids. The Gandalf, the Obi-Wan, the loving parent character who you go home to at the end of the adventure. A moral compass and protector, because there's no way these kids are going to be left to their own devices, right? That just doesn't happen in stories, that doesn't make sense. And then he didn't. He didn't just not survive, he was obliterated. He was chewed up and swallowed and the kids recount the deafening silence that fell when his screams stopped echoing in their minds. It wasn't just the horror of what was happening in canon, there was almost a meta level to it for me. It's when I felt myself go into free fall with the characters because the story walked right up to me and said "this will not be what you think it will be. " I always felt very strongly with book characters, reading was a major emotional outlet for me, but this was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I wasn't protected by the frame of the narrative anymore. All the rules that I'd built up in my head from tons and tons of kids adventure books meant NOTHING here. There is an adult who is kind, who is a soothing presence, who seems to have the best interests of everyone at heart, and he is immediately bitten apart and swallowed before he could do anything about it. I honestly think that's the thing that made me so invested, it was a book that didn't want to protect you, it didn't want to shelter you, it wanted to challenge you. I wasn't aware of it at the time of course, but that was something that totally changed the way I engaged with media and storytelling, and I love it for that.

in your opinion, what was the most messed up moment in animorphs? either most shocking, weird, gross, horrific....however you want to answer

The scene I've always found most viscerally disturbing is Ax and Marco on the Normandy beach on D-Day (MM3). It's the soldiers rushing the beach in waves, "Like cattle going down the chute to the slaughtering floor. But, of course, cattle don't know what's corning. Humans do... And they still came." It's the way Marco sees every murdered soldier "Like Jake. Cassie and I had sworn to protect him. But there'd never even been a chance." It's Ax being awed by the simple act of the medic being killed "while trying to save a man he must have known was doomed."

The two coldest and most aloof Animorphs are reduced to "crying, sobbing" and "digging in the sand" at their inability to make sense of the battle. It's Ax desperately wanting this to be Visser Four's fault, because surely this can't be the way history is supposed to happen. By the time Rachel is dropping grenades, we understand her sheer desperation to make it stop, regardless of the cost.

That said, maybe I find that one so impactful because it's a real event. My grandfather fought in that war, my distant cousins died in that war. I don't have the same visceral fear of turning into a spider that I get from "Bullets entered organs by neat, round holes and came out in a shredded mess... One second they were scared and brave and alive. The next second they were dead."

Anyway, everyone's mileage may vary, and if someone else has a different contender then toss it out there.

[warriorlid14]

Ani Reread Book 1: Part 1

I really, really hope I’ll finish these. Spoilers for book 1 and I will try to keep it at just spoilers for book 1.

“My name is Jake”- ah, yes. an epic beginning to an epic book series.

I love how they’re all like “I’ll never tell you where I live, for safety reasons. Maybe it’s your town!” Like, no, hon. I may not now the exact location but I get plenty of context clues. Ahem: definitely a town, but near a big city. Near a beach. Near a mountain range. Near a national forest. Conclusion: definitely not my town.

Jake’s being a cutie already and I’m barely on page two. He’s all like: “No, I don’t care that I didn’t make into the team. I mean, I’m just not as good as my big brother and we won’t hang out much anymore, but it doesn’t bug me. It’s not a big deal!!” I love him.

“So, like maybe I’ll walk home with you guys.” Omg, he practiced that didn’t he? It gives me so many “I’m trying to be cool but please, please let me hang out with you guys” vibes. I love Tobias.

“I guess you could say I kind of like Cassie.” Precious. Children.

*detailed explanation of why it’s a horrible, terrible idea to cut through the abandoned construction site* “So anyway, we crossed the road and headed into the abandoned construction site.”  Iconic, but guuuuuuuys.

Tobias is giving me mad Luna vibes. I mean, throughout the entire book series, but mainly in the first few books.

Omg, there’s a spaceship landing in front of them and they’re arguing about Star Trek. This is not the last time this happens. ALSO, reason 64474558 why this series wouldn’t work in modern day: they’d all be streaming this and get captured within the hour.

It’s been 11 years since I first started reading this series and the entire Elfangor scene is still powerful. Also the way these kids all rush to help this dying alien even as their entire worlds are being rocked is so heartwarming.

“Never remain in animal form for more than two of your Earth hours. Never!” Foreshadowing. Foreshadowing. Foreshadowing.

“No, we’ll stay with you.” RACHEL. MY LOVE.

God, this scene is horrifying, especially with all the descriptions of the hork-bajir and taxxons.

I’d forgotten how much of a cartoon-like villain Visser Three can be. Until, ya know, he murders Elfangor. 

Rachel comforting her friends while being terrified herself fills me with joy,

Only 42 pages into the first book, not even a third of the way through, and these kids have already been traumatized for life.

“So I figured if the aliens were going to chase anyone, it ought to be us.” Anyone who sorts Jake and Rachel into anything other Gryffindor is lying to themselves.

I’ll never get over the fact that Tobias named his cat “Dude”. What a dork. Also, Jake knowing something wrong because Tobias is happy and energetic. In this economy?

So obviously Jake ends up being the best choice for a leader, but it’s interesting how he became the leader. One, Tobias appointed him, and obviously Tobias would. He’s Jake, the guy who saved him from bullies one time and has been nothing but decent to him since. He holds him on a pedestal, something which makes for an interesting dynamic when Jake makes mistakes later on. And for the rest of the team, Jake is also the obvious choice. Because Jake has a personal relationship with all of them. He’s Rachel’s cousin, Marco’s best friend, Cassie’s crush. At least for the first few books, I’m not sure the team would’ve stayed such a solidified unit if Jake weren’t the connecting factor between all of them.

Wow, they make it really clear that Tom’s a controller straight off the bat, huh?

OKAY. I will finish there. I wrote much more than intended and I’m only a third of the way through. The rest shouldn’t be as long until I get to the Yeerk Pool scene.