Author Topic: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?  (Read 6676 times)

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Offline ViciousVisser

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Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« on: June 11, 2017, 09:05:19 AM »
So, I'm currently re-reading all of the books for my summer tradition and I realized that there are a lot of unique quotes from the series.

Do you have a particular favorite?
Marco: Oh, it's just a trash can. Chill out.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Marco: Okay, so it's four trash cans.
Jake: Get off the sidewalk, you lunatic!
Marco: (yanks wheel right, bumps the sidewalk, grazes a parked car)
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Jake: Do you hate trash cans? Is that your problem? Do you just HATE TRASH CANS?!!

Offline DinosaurNothlit

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2017, 11:38:08 AM »
There's so many good quotes in the series that it's sometimes hard to pick just one favorite, but I've always especially liked Jara Hamee's closure to the Hork-bajir Chronicles: "Story have no end.  Stories go on."  :')

Honorable mentions (because, like I said, there's no end to the awesome quotes in Animorphs):

"Do you know what you want, Tobias?  And if you get it, will you still know?" -The Ellimist
"Surely you must know by now, little brother, wars are not won with clean hands." -?? (The Yeerk in Tom's brain, whose name is never revealed)
"Out of respect for life, you have to endure." -Elfangor/Tobias (depending on your interpretation of #33)
"My life is not my own, when the people have need of it." -From the Ritual of Death

Offline NothingFromSomething

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2017, 10:05:49 PM »
There's so many good quotes in the series that it's sometimes hard to pick just one favorite, but I've always especially liked Jara Hamee's closure to the Hork-bajir Chronicles: "Story have no end.  Stories go on."


Jeez, that quote should seriously be imprinted by force in the minds of anyone who hates the ending.  Even if they all go down in flames except Cassie, it's not the end, the cause continues.  And if they do live, hakuna matata, same thing.

Person Of Interest re-watch.  Still stunning as ever.

Offline ViciousVisser

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2017, 09:25:37 PM »
There's so many good quotes in the series that it's sometimes hard to pick just one favorite, but I've always especially liked Jara Hamee's closure to the Hork-bajir Chronicles: "Story have no end.  Stories go on."


Jeez, that quote should seriously be imprinted by force in the minds of anyone who hates the ending.  Even if they all go down in flames except Cassie, it's not the end, the cause continues.  And if they do live, hakuna matata, same thing.
Great observation! Did you hate the ending?
Marco: Oh, it's just a trash can. Chill out.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Marco: Okay, so it's four trash cans.
Jake: Get off the sidewalk, you lunatic!
Marco: (yanks wheel right, bumps the sidewalk, grazes a parked car)
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Jake: Do you hate trash cans? Is that your problem? Do you just HATE TRASH CANS?!!

Offline DinosaurNothlit

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2017, 10:58:05 PM »
I sure did.  :P  As a kid, I didn't like the cliffhanger aspect, but as I've gotten older, I've realized that Animorphs had to end on a cliffhanger, because, as Jara says, "stories go on."  In other words, the Animorphs will always keep going on adventures, but the physical books had to end somewhere, and the only solution to that paradox is, indeed, a cliffhanger.  Any kind of tidy ending would have felt forced and fake (as older me learned when I read younger me's terrible post-54 fanfic  :P).

The only problem is, the cliffhanger in question . . . also felt forced and fake.  We are given no idea what is happening, or why.  Just, a random bad guy, whose motives or relation to the Animorphs is never explained.  Since we don't know why we should care, the ending just ends up seeming meaningless, even though it's portrayed as 'epic.'

But, on topic, I think I seem to have a least favorite quote of the series.  "Ram the Blade Ship."  :P

Offline NothingFromSomething

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2017, 02:15:27 AM »
Always loved the ending, personally.

Katherine sticking by her guns and raising the middle finger at the backlash in that really eloquent letter-to-the-fans sometime afterward was really, really awesome too.

It's not a "cliffhanger", either, that term sort of implies there's more coming and you have to wait extensively for a resolution.  This wasn't that, the ending was the resolution.  In terms of this particular story/phase, the Yeerk/Human (and even the Yeerk/Andalite) war being done. 

Also, you don't need to have any context for The One, know anything about it or its goals.  It's a narrative device, nothing more - that doesn't make it forced, or unearned.  What they're getting at is, for someone like Jake, the fight is never over.  Their goal in saving Earth might be done, but if a friend's in danger he's going to rally the troops for one last mission.  It's just that classic western/gunslinger thing.

Which is why personally I love the interpretation that they all went out like Big Damn Heroes trying to get Ax back, it's just way more satisfying in a weird way if they all die.  Cassie's sort of the only one with much left to offer at that point anyway, even Marco sort of acknowledges that he's basically lost and just filling his time with money, fast cars & women, doesn't know what to do with himself.

Think of it in terms of, like, Logan recently.  Weathered disillusioned dude coming around to do the right thing, sacrifice himself in a last hurrah to save a bunch of kids.  Animorphs isn't exactly the same thing, but it's a similar type of trope: the war's the biggest, most important thing they'll experience in their lives, they've "peaked" at like 17, and now two years later (three?  been so long) they're all given this chance to come out of their funk and go help an old friend.

They might have succeeded, they might not have.  But we don't need to know which, you can draw your own conclusions.  That's not a cliffhanger, that's just smart writing and not treating your audience with kid's gloves.  Personally, my take is that Ax was dead and assimilated long before Jake & Pals even showed up, and that they all probably suffocated in the cold void of space in a last hurrah.  :P

Which is, narrative-wise, awesome.  Of course Jake frickin' Berenson, the Boy General, is going to go out fighting.  Plot-wise there's not much more he had to offer anyway, he's the tragic youth hero figure, his arc was done.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2017, 02:17:20 AM by NothingFromSomething »

Person Of Interest re-watch.  Still stunning as ever.

Offline ViciousVisser

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2017, 07:33:21 PM »
Always loved the ending, personally.

Katherine sticking by her guns and raising the middle finger at the backlash in that really eloquent letter-to-the-fans sometime afterward was really, really awesome too.

It's not a "cliffhanger", either, that term sort of implies there's more coming and you have to wait extensively for a resolution.  This wasn't that, the ending was the resolution.  In terms of this particular story/phase, the Yeerk/Human (and even the Yeerk/Andalite) war being done. 

Also, you don't need to have any context for The One, know anything about it or its goals.  It's a narrative device, nothing more - that doesn't make it forced, or unearned.  What they're getting at is, for someone like Jake, the fight is never over.  Their goal in saving Earth might be done, but if a friend's in danger he's going to rally the troops for one last mission.  It's just that classic western/gunslinger thing.

Which is why personally I love the interpretation that they all went out like Big Damn Heroes trying to get Ax back, it's just way more satisfying in a weird way if they all die.  Cassie's sort of the only one with much left to offer at that point anyway, even Marco sort of acknowledges that he's basically lost and just filling his time with money, fast cars & women, doesn't know what to do with himself.

Think of it in terms of, like, Logan recently.  Weathered disillusioned dude coming around to do the right thing, sacrifice himself in a last hurrah to save a bunch of kids.  Animorphs isn't exactly the same thing, but it's a similar type of trope: the war's the biggest, most important thing they'll experience in their lives, they've "peaked" at like 17, and now two years later (three?  been so long) they're all given this chance to come out of their funk and go help an old friend.

They might have succeeded, they might not have.  But we don't need to know which, you can draw your own conclusions.  That's not a cliffhanger, that's just smart writing and not treating your audience with kid's gloves.  Personally, my take is that Ax was dead and assimilated long before Jake & Pals even showed up, and that they all probably suffocated in the cold void of space in a last hurrah.  :P

Which is, narrative-wise, awesome.  Of course Jake frickin' Berenson, the Boy General, is going to go out fighting.  Plot-wise there's not much more he had to offer anyway, he's the tragic youth hero figure, his arc was done.

When I got finished reading the ending the first time, I'll admit I was sad that it ended the way it did. As a kid, you obviously want things to have a happy ending. Though, in retrospect, I realized that it ended the right way. I give credit to Applegate for ending it the way she did, despite facing a larger amount of backlash because of it.

I also liked how she gave us to option to draw our own conclusions about the final scene. I always imagined them dying in the process of trying to save Ax as well.

Let's be honest: It had to end in the way that it did.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2017, 09:09:52 PM by ViciousVisser »
Marco: Oh, it's just a trash can. Chill out.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Marco: Okay, so it's four trash cans.
Jake: Get off the sidewalk, you lunatic!
Marco: (yanks wheel right, bumps the sidewalk, grazes a parked car)
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Jake: Do you hate trash cans? Is that your problem? Do you just HATE TRASH CANS?!!

Offline ViciousVisser

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2017, 03:38:37 PM »
I sure did.  :P  As a kid, I didn't like the cliffhanger aspect, but as I've gotten older, I've realized that Animorphs had to end on a cliffhanger, because, as Jara says, "stories go on."  In other words, the Animorphs will always keep going on adventures, but the physical books had to end somewhere, and the only solution to that paradox is, indeed, a cliffhanger.  Any kind of tidy ending would have felt forced and fake (as older me learned when I read younger me's terrible post-54 fanfic  :P).

The only problem is, the cliffhanger in question . . . also felt forced and fake.  We are given no idea what is happening, or why.  Just, a random bad guy, whose motives or relation to the Animorphs is never explained.  Since we don't know why we should care, the ending just ends up seeming meaningless, even though it's portrayed as 'epic.'

But, on topic, I think I seem to have a least favorite quote of the series.  "Ram the Blade Ship."  :P

If that's your least favorite, what do you think your favorite is?
Marco: Oh, it's just a trash can. Chill out.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Marco: Okay, so it's four trash cans.
Jake: Get off the sidewalk, you lunatic!
Marco: (yanks wheel right, bumps the sidewalk, grazes a parked car)
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Jake: Do you hate trash cans? Is that your problem? Do you just HATE TRASH CANS?!!

Offline DinosaurNothlit

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2017, 07:56:52 PM »
Like I said, I don't have any problem with the Animorphs going out fighting.  I think that's the way it always had to be.  I just want to know why I should care whether they win or lose.  We don't know what the One wants, or why.  We don't know what the remaining escaped Yeerks were planning (if anything; it's possible that they just wanted to be left alone, and given that they haven't accomplished anything of note over the course of three years, I'd lean strongly towards the latter).  Heck, we don't even know whether or not Ax was still alive when they found him, let alone still able to be saved.  So, yeah, MAYBE they died fighting to save the galaxy and their friend.  But, maybe, and in my opinion just as likely, they died for absolutely no reason at all (besides not being able to adjust to life after the war, I guess).

That's the ambiguous element that I can't stand.  I agree completely that not knowing whether they live or die makes the ending more awesome, and that's the way it should have been.  The part that kills me is not knowing whether or not their hypothetical deaths actually even mattered at all.

 . . . Which reminds me of another great quote.  "You were brave.  You were important.  You mattered." -The Ellimist.

If that's your least favorite, what do you think your favorite is?

As I said in my first post, it's "Story have no end.  Stories go on." -Jara Hamee.  I have informed my family that I want "Stories go on" engraved on my tombstone when I die.  Hopefully they remember.

Offline ViciousVisser

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2017, 08:28:12 PM »
Like I said, I don't have any problem with the Animorphs going out fighting.  I think that's the way it always had to be.  I just want to know why I should care whether they win or lose.  We don't know what the One wants, or why.  We don't know what the remaining escaped Yeerks were planning (if anything; it's possible that they just wanted to be left alone, and given that they haven't accomplished anything of note over the course of three years, I'd lean strongly towards the latter).  Heck, we don't even know whether or not Ax was still alive when they found him, let alone still able to be saved.  So, yeah, MAYBE they died fighting to save the galaxy and their friend.  But, maybe, and in my opinion just as likely, they died for absolutely no reason at all (besides not being able to adjust to life after the war, I guess).

That's the ambiguous element that I can't stand.  I agree completely that not knowing whether they live or die makes the ending more awesome, and that's the way it should have been.  The part that kills me is not knowing whether or not their hypothetical deaths actually even mattered at all.

 . . . Which reminds me of another great quote.  "You were brave.  You were important.  You mattered." -The Ellimist.

If that's your least favorite, what do you think your favorite is?

As I said in my first post, it's "Story have no end.  Stories go on." -Jara Hamee.  I have informed my family that I want "Stories go on" engraved on my tombstone when I die.  Hopefully they remember.
I think you raise a good question about whether their deaths really mattered. I hadn't really thought about that until you brought it up.
Marco: Oh, it's just a trash can. Chill out.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Marco: Okay, so it's four trash cans.
Jake: Get off the sidewalk, you lunatic!
Marco: (yanks wheel right, bumps the sidewalk, grazes a parked car)
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Jake: Do you hate trash cans? Is that your problem? Do you just HATE TRASH CANS?!!

Offline NothingFromSomething

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #10 on: June 19, 2017, 01:19:39 AM »
Like I said, I don't have any problem with the Animorphs going out fighting.  I think that's the way it always had to be.  I just want to know why I should care whether they win or lose.




Because you've just spent the last 5 years with the characters, getting into their heads, witnessing their trials and tribulations.  Just because they're taken out by a "random" doesn't mean that's negated. 



We don't know what the One wants, or why.


But why do you have to, narratively-speaking?  It's just this Ellimist/Crayak level fourth-dimensional being absorbing & assimilating & conquering.  Its goals are pretty likely just "UNLIMITED POOWAAAAHHH!", Palpatine-style.

You don't really have to care any more about The One than you care about the bullet that killed a family member in a war situation.  It's not the mode of death you care about, it's the individuals who were affected by it.



We don't know what the remaining escaped Yeerks were planning (if anything; it's possible that they just wanted to be left alone, and given that they haven't accomplished anything of note over the course of three years, I'd lean strongly towards the latter).



I guess all I'm getting at is that it's most times better that way.  The series was wrapping up, and Katherine just had enough respect for her fans to let them see it the way they wanted to.  You don't need to know all the nitty-gritty details about what happened to the remaining Yeerks on earth or the homeworld, it's kind of irrelevant to the story being told.  At that point it's all out of Jake & the gang's periphery, other people's business, their story was concluding and we see it out from their perspective.

The rest is interesting food for thought, buy you don't need it all spelled out in full, that's the stuff good writing avoids.



Heck, we don't even know whether or not Ax was still alive when they found him, let alone still able to be saved.


Nope, we don't.   Which is interesting in itself.  The end can go from "Ax was alive, the kids survived The One and ended up saving him" to "Ax was already dead, the kids all died for nothing in their attempt", or anything and everything in-between.




That's the ambiguous element that I can't stand.  I agree completely that not knowing whether they live or die makes the ending more awesome, and that's the way it should have been.  The part that kills me is not knowing whether or not their hypothetical deaths actually even mattered at all.



But it's not the death that matters, it's their lives.  They did matter, even if they died for nothing.  They saved an entire planet, species, and attempted to continue the good fight.  Whether they make it out or not is sorta irrelevant at that point.  They mattered either way.

« Last Edit: June 19, 2017, 01:24:39 AM by NothingFromSomething »

Person Of Interest re-watch.  Still stunning as ever.

Offline RYTX

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #11 on: June 20, 2017, 05:14:04 PM »
So any many good ones.

My stand by  is "In all the universe, not greater beauty. In a thousand, thousand worlds, not greater art than this."

But I really love Toby's last words on Jara. "He was the first of the free Hork-Bajir. He was the father of his people. And he was my father."
Best eulogy.
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Offline Alan Fangor

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2017, 03:56:51 PM »
Ax : "I'm from Ivory Coast"

I'm looking for a serious one.

Offline Dylan

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #13 on: July 25, 2017, 11:33:07 PM »
"Ah. (nods) She does not understand how menacing we are. (taps Loren on the shoulder) You do not know me, but I am a juvenile delinquent. I do not trust authority figures, I probably will not graduate from high school, and statistics say my present rowdiness and vandalism will likely lead to more serious crimes. I am a dangerous fellow, and I am causing mayhem in this store. (reaches behind her and pulls three jars of baby food from the top shelf, shoves them behind a box of macaroni, shuffles the Cheeze Whiz in front of the Marshmallow Fluff, and tosses a bag of lady's shavers onto a bag of hamburger buns) There. I have now shamelessly destroyed the symmetry of this shelf, undoing hours of labor by underpaid store employees. If you could see me, you would be frightened." - Ax, 49 The Diversion
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Offline Shenmue654

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Re: Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
« Reply #14 on: August 01, 2017, 12:50:03 PM »
Alloran saying "How many will die for Seerow's kindness" sticks out in my mind with weird prominence.