Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Kotetsu1442 on July 22, 2010, 04:23:23 AM
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Since the re-release of the series was announced people have wondered what changes, if any, will be made to the content of the series. All that has been confirmed thus far is new 3D morphing cover-art; and KA/Grant have stated that they are not (at least at this point) behind such decisions and are not even involved in the re-release; and that current Scholastic staff were mostly not around back when Animorphs was first being released.
I myself would guess that the content will largely be the same, with editing of mistakes made as well as perhaps minor changes to 'modernize' material that has become outdated. Still, with a fair amount of time (about a year) before the publishing date there is still certainly room for that to change as current Scholastic editors/publishers familiarize themselves further with the series. Some fans have wondered whether there will be additional stories or further developed back-stories. Others have expressed enough dissatisfaction with the ending of the series to hope that it is changed. There is also the possibility of changing existing content not just for outdated material but to correct KASUs, though this could be limited to some types and not others or large sweeping changes (changing large storyline aspects to create more reasonable or plausible situations or simply changing early minor stray bits of dialog/narration to reflect later established canon material).
Anyways, as I started to reply in the http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=5243.30 thread, I started to mention on the side what I think would be the best single, simple change that could be made; but it developed into its own rant (which I will keep in spoiler tags here for those who don't care to read my thoughts and my change) and cause me to wonder about what changes Ani fans would like to see most in the series and conversely what things to you fear re-releasers will change that you couldn't bear to see?
[spoiler]
The rant is this: The single greatest thing an editor could do in the Animorphs re-release is get the text of the entire series in a single document, hit Ctrl-F and "Replace All" the word 'sentient' with 'sapient' (and 'sentience' with 'sapience' and so on); then casually insert correct usage of the term sentient in a few appropriate conversations throughout the series. I know being too nit-picky can be annoying, but the misuse of the term 'sentient' is the most annoying ongoing problem in sci-fi for the last half century.
'Sentience' describes having a sense or senses and a consciousness that allows one to perceive/feel/experience that sense subjectively (what is referred to as experiencing 'qualia');as opposed to other aspects of being a conscious entity such as being self-aware, intelligent so on.
'Sapience' describes what is often simply called 'wisdom', a level of intelligent thought and the ability to use that intelligence to make judgments on the values of something (either in terms of right/wrong values or useful/useless). This can be distinct from intelligence itself, but it is generally meant to imply an average human or almost human-level intelligence as a basic requirement.
Clarifying examples:
Humans are sapient (by virtue of the fact that we defined the necessary level of intelligence if nothing else) and they are also sentient.
If an alien is encountered who is capable of interacting with us on our level of intelligence, we can say determine that they are not only sentient (have senses) but sapient; so we can think of them as being their own persons when we normally only us the term 'person' for humans.
A machine may be said to have 'senses' in a loose use of the word in that it is able to accept some type of inputs (electrical or otherwise like a temperature or motion detecting probe), but even if you say that it has a set of 'senses' and is capable of preforming a predefined set of responses it doesn't follow that it is sentient because it did not actually have a consciousness that could 'experience' the sense (even storing the input in some form of 'memory' doesn't make it so in and of itself) and those studying AI and computing wonder about developing a machine that has either sentience or sapience.
Dogs, Cats, Rats and most animals that immediately come to mind are sentient because we can observe enough awareness (but not necessary self-awareness) of the things they experience (they experience it); but they are not sapient.
Scientists studying dolphins might debate whether they, though not as intelligent as humans, are conscious enough in a way to deem them sapient (allowing a definition that isn't quite as high an intelligence as an average human), but dolphins are clearly sentient.
Scientists studying ants would have no problem concluding that they are not sapient, but might debate whether ants are even sentient, because even though they live and function biologically in an individual sense their brains may not have enough capability for them to be even truly aware, it might be that their brains just function as a simple automatic set of responses to various stimuli (a biological version of the above described machine).
Anyways, the confusion between these clearly different terms in sci-fi started more than half a century ago and I presume that it happened something like this:
In the mid-20th century, in the dawn of computing, sci-fi authors began studying the possibilities of the science of computing to develop to the point of machines taking input with complex enough sensory probes and making decisions with complex enough systems of routines and calculations with so many layers of sub-routines and abstractions that the machines were in no way distinguishable from consciousness, intelligence and all the other aspects that makes a human a 'person'. In short, sci-fi authors dreamed up the idea of robots.
These sci-fi authors had a reasonable amount of scientific (and perhaps in some instances philosophical as well) knowledge to have narrations and dialogs with vocabulary that involved terms that describe these robots; such as having characters discuss whether there were ethical obligations or needs for laws to give robots rights because they had gradually gained sentience, they might even debate whether this sentience meant that the robots were actually 'alive' and what exactly it means to be living.
This was also a time when sci-fi was beginning to reach large general audiences rather than the limited niches of science and sci-fi magazines. Their readers, many themselves potential aspiring writers picked up the term 'sentience' from the use in early 'robot' sci-fi, but since the term 'sentience' was used about fictional robots who were not only conscious in a way that allowed debating their sentience, but also were able to understand and interact with 'sapience' readers without scientific backgrounds added the term 'sentient' to their vocabulary thinking it implied what should be called 'sapience'; and without any everyday usage in their lives they had no way learn the correction to this misunderstanding.
This lead to new aspiring writers to take this term that they picked up and use it; sometimes correctly by chance that the cases they were using them in were also to describe something that was both sapient and sentient, but often incorrectly discussing things being sentient or not when they should be discussing whether they are sapient or not. Perpetuating this leads to authors like KA, who is fascinated with the philosophy of behind the subjective experience writing about the subjective experience of animal bodies and minds; she has need more than many sci-fi authors before her to be able to correctly describe these things; but instead, having been mislead by years of mistake within sci-fi, she constantly uses the term 'sentient' when she should use 'sapient' (They should say 'The Hork-Bajir aren't that smart by human standards, but they are sapient' or the Drode should say 'It turns out that Orca falls just this side of sapient by our terms and is protected within the terms of the Ellimist/Crayak game and should go out of their way to discuss the relative levels of understanding, awareness and sentience of their morphs, particularly the simple ones like ants and termites).
Now in this forum and other mediums for discussing both the sciences and philosophies about life and intelligence everyone uses the term 'sentience' incorrectly and doesn't even have the word 'sapience' in their vocabulary; through no fault of their own inadequately describing aspects of alien sapience and animal sentience. It is particulary annoying in threads like the http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=5243.30 thread, where we are both discussing the Yeerks choice in hosts and various aspects of their sensory abilities and intelligence with inadequate terms to discuss one while misapplying one word to the other concept.
[/spoiler]
So, there was my change as well as quite the rant about why it really is that big a deal when it could be seen as a silly nit-picky thought. So what do ya'll think? Would you desperately love to see the ending change, or are there those who were plenty dissatisfied about the ending but wouldn't want to take the author's creation away from her? Should those outdated references be preserved as quaint, but beloved nostalgic memories or updated to relate to a new young audience? Other thoughts or suggestions on possible changes you'd be interested in seeing that I haven't thought of?
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I don't think they should change too much the references... Look, if they change the references to, for example, singers, TV shows and consoles, they'll have to say the story happens later (2005~2010), and then problem may appear (Internet, mobile phones...). Other novels have references to things we don't really know now, but I think it's OK, we can understand...
What I'd like they change is:
- the mistakes and KASU, as much as they can;
- longer ending with more explanations about what happens next (maybe in the Animorphs 2.0, I don't care, but I'd like to know what happens to the Yeerks, how the war continues on the other planets, how Humans and Andalites live together, what happens to the Human who can morph (Controllers who could morph and now are free), etc.)
- if they don't want to release all the volumes, they should forget some of the ghost-written volumes, like the second Helmacron book...
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This is from the letter AppleGrant sent Richard:
An editor at Scholastic is combing the first two books for outdated references, sending suggested fixes, and asking us to approve. Which we've now done.
Clearly they are somewhat involved in the process and outdated references are, at the very least, being deleted if not updated entirely.
Interesting points about sentience and sapience, though. I never knew that. :) Lesson learned.
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If KAA&MG work on the modification of the outdated references, then it'll be better. But I still think they should take care of the new KASU who can appear...
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I don't think they should change too much the references... Look, if they change the references to, for example, singers, TV shows and consoles, they'll have to say the story happens later (2005~2010), and then problem may appear (Internet, mobile phones...).
I agree. If they try and modernize everything without changing the plot, all of the new readers will be constantly wondering why the Animorphs don't just use their cell phones and solve a whole lot of communication problems. Plus, maybe I'm a purist, but I would be really sad if the new releases were that altered from their original state. I'm planning on buying about ten of the new releases to finish up my collection, but I don't really want them if they're gonna be about hacking Visser 3's Twitter account and loosing an angry crocodile on Justin Bieber. (well... maybe. ;D) I mean, I'll still throw the money at Scholastic because I NEEEEED 2.0 to happen, but still. Would be nice to get something I could really lurve and cherish.
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I hope they don't try to modernize it. If they want to do that, they might as well remake it. I don't think they'll do much. They're just trying to rerelease the series with a few tweaks to see if there's still a fanbase for it.
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On one hand, part of its charm to me is that those are the pop culture references I grew up with (The Offspring, Alanis Morissette, X-Files, Powerpuff Girls). That said, if they're trying to appeal to the third graders of today, it'll definitely help them to update at least those references (so The Killers, Rihanna, Heroes and Kim Possible? I can totally see Marco watching a Kim Possible marathon).
And part of me has always been curious about the Animorphs' take on Lady Gaga, Mad Men and Michael Cera.
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Visser Three's Twitter account? :rofl:
I don't think they're going to do too much modernizing as far as replacing band names and whatnot. But I think they'll take out references that won't be understood. And honestly I think that AppleGrant will use their own kids as the guinea pigs, since Jake at least seems to be fairly involved in their work.
"Hey, Jake! Do you know who Posh Spice is? No? Alright, out you go, reference!"
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Aniviel, don't buy the new release just to give them money. If they change too much the books, take the old edition, so it'll fit with your other volumes.
I understand if they want to change some references, because young kids won't understand some of them, about TV shows who disappeared for example... but they should be careful ^^' It's always dangerous...
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Honestly I don't really care if they update references or not. Actually, I'm for it. I agree with what LisaCharily said, being a fan of the series when they were being published in the 90's I'll feel more connection or whatever to the old references and stuff, but I guess for the re-release the whole point is to gain newer fans and what better way to do that then update things they can relate better to? The only issue I do see, as others stated, is the whole advancement of technology and social network things available now that weren't available then, but I'm sure they'll find a way around it (or just ignore it). I'm probably going to get the books again when they're re-released just to see what got changed to what and for the new covers and stuff, but I'm glad I still have my originals.
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And if they change too many things, we'll have to make the "Ebooks new release" after we finish the current Ebooks lol ;)
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If they're trying to reach a younger fan-base, then they definitely should update the pop-culture references and the technology to an extent. Especially the computer stuff. Since the kids are in middle school, they could get away with them not having cell phones.
I agree with what Kotetsu put in his spoiler. That's something that has always bugged me. Though I have a feeling that they won't since most kids aren't going to know the difference.
The one thing that bothers me the ABSOLUTE MOST in the books, is the fact that it seems like the authors didn't really have an understanding of general animal physiology. There are some descriptions in the morphing sequences that irk me, specifically, the "backwards-pointing knee" bits. Sometimes when they morph animals like the wolf, for example, they describe the knee cracking and bending backwards. The joint it's forming is actually the ANKLE. I know... that's being really nit-picky, but it's always bugged me.
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The one thing that bothers me the ABSOLUTE MOST in the books, is the fact that it seems like the authors didn't really have an understanding of general animal physiology. There are some descriptions in the morphing sequences that irk me, specifically, the "backwards-pointing knee" bits. Sometimes when they morph animals like the wolf, for example, they describe the knee cracking and bending backwards. The joint it's forming is actually the ANKLE. I know... that's being really nit-picky, but it's always bugged me.
OMG! That bugs me, too! Especially after taking a Life Drawing class with a teacher who specialised in animal drawing.
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The one thing that bothers me the ABSOLUTE MOST in the books, is the fact that it seems like the authors didn't really have an understanding of general animal physiology. There are some descriptions in the morphing sequences that irk me, specifically, the "backwards-pointing knee" bits. Sometimes when they morph animals like the wolf, for example, they describe the knee cracking and bending backwards. The joint it's forming is actually the ANKLE. I know... that's being really nit-picky, but it's always bugged me.
OMG! That bugs me, too! Especially after taking a Life Drawing class with a teacher who specialised in animal drawing.
I think this little detail bothered other people as well. I remember it being brought up in the LJ community.
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Since the re-release of the series was announced people have wondered what changes, if any, will be made to the content of the series. All that has been confirmed thus far is new 3D morphing cover-art; and KA/Grant have stated that they are not (at least at this point) behind such decisions and are not even involved in the re-release; and that current Scholastic staff were mostly not around back when Animorphs was first being released.
I myself would guess that the content will largely be the same, with editing of mistakes made as well as perhaps minor changes to 'modernize' material that has become outdated. Still, with a fair amount of time (about a year) before the publishing date there is still certainly room for that to change as current Scholastic editors/publishers familiarize themselves further with the series. Some fans have wondered whether there will be additional stories or further developed back-stories. Others have expressed enough dissatisfaction with the ending of the series to hope that it is changed. There is also the possibility of changing existing content not just for outdated material but to correct KASUs, though this could be limited to some types and not others or large sweeping changes (changing large storyline aspects to create more reasonable or plausible situations or simply changing early minor stray bits of dialog/narration to reflect later established canon material).
Anyways, as I started to reply in the http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=5243.30 thread, I started to mention on the side what I think would be the best single, simple change that could be made; but it developed into its own rant (which I will keep in spoiler tags here for those who don't care to read my thoughts and my change) and cause me to wonder about what changes Ani fans would like to see most in the series and conversely what things to you fear re-releasers will change that you couldn't bear to see?
[spoiler]
The rant is this: The single greatest thing an editor could do in the Animorphs re-release is get the text of the entire series in a single document, hit Ctrl-F and "Replace All" the word 'sentient' with 'sapient' (and 'sentience' with 'sapience' and so on); then casually insert correct usage of the term sentient in a few appropriate conversations throughout the series. I know being too nit-picky can be annoying, but the misuse of the term 'sentient' is the most annoying ongoing problem in sci-fi for the last half century.
'Sentience' describes having a sense or senses and a consciousness that allows one to perceive/feel/experience that sense subjectively (what is referred to as experiencing 'qualia');as opposed to other aspects of being a conscious entity such as being self-aware, intelligent so on.
'Sapience' describes what is often simply called 'wisdom', a level of intelligent thought and the ability to use that intelligence to make judgments on the values of something (either in terms of right/wrong values or useful/useless). This can be distinct from intelligence itself, but it is generally meant to imply an average human or almost human-level intelligence as a basic requirement.
Clarifying examples:
Humans are sapient (by virtue of the fact that we defined the necessary level of intelligence if nothing else) and they are also sentient.
If an alien is encountered who is capable of interacting with us on our level of intelligence, we can say determine that they are not only sentient (have senses) but sapient; so we can think of them as being their own persons when we normally only us the term 'person' for humans.
A machine may be said to have 'senses' in a loose use of the word in that it is able to accept some type of inputs (electrical or otherwise like a temperature or motion detecting probe), but even if you say that it has a set of 'senses' and is capable of preforming a predefined set of responses it doesn't follow that it is sentient because it did not actually have a consciousness that could 'experience' the sense (even storing the input in some form of 'memory' doesn't make it so in and of itself) and those studying AI and computing wonder about developing a machine that has either sentience or sapience.
Dogs, Cats, Rats and most animals that immediately come to mind are sentient because we can observe enough awareness (but not necessary self-awareness) of the things they experience (they experience it); but they are not sapient.
Scientists studying dolphins might debate whether they, though not as intelligent as humans, are conscious enough in a way to deem them sapient (allowing a definition that isn't quite as high an intelligence as an average human), but dolphins are clearly sentient.
Scientists studying ants would have no problem concluding that they are not sapient, but might debate whether ants are even sentient, because even though they live and function biologically in an individual sense their brains may not have enough capability for them to be even truly aware, it might be that their brains just function as a simple automatic set of responses to various stimuli (a biological version of the above described machine).
Anyways, the confusion between these clearly different terms in sci-fi started more than half a century ago and I presume that it happened something like this:
In the mid-20th century, in the dawn of computing, sci-fi authors began studying the possibilities of the science of computing to develop to the point of machines taking input with complex enough sensory probes and making decisions with complex enough systems of routines and calculations with so many layers of sub-routines and abstractions that the machines were in no way distinguishable from consciousness, intelligence and all the other aspects that makes a human a 'person'. In short, sci-fi authors dreamed up the idea of robots.
These sci-fi authors had a reasonable amount of scientific (and perhaps in some instances philosophical as well) knowledge to have narrations and dialogs with vocabulary that involved terms that describe these robots; such as having characters discuss whether there were ethical obligations or needs for laws to give robots rights because they had gradually gained sentience, they might even debate whether this sentience meant that the robots were actually 'alive' and what exactly it means to be living.
This was also a time when sci-fi was beginning to reach large general audiences rather than the limited niches of science and sci-fi magazines. Their readers, many themselves potential aspiring writers picked up the term 'sentience' from the use in early 'robot' sci-fi, but since the term 'sentience' was used about fictional robots who were not only conscious in a way that allowed debating their sentience, but also were able to understand and interact with 'sapience' readers without scientific backgrounds added the term 'sentient' to their vocabulary thinking it implied what should be called 'sapience'; and without any everyday usage in their lives they had no way learn the correction to this misunderstanding.
This lead to new aspiring writers to take this term that they picked up and use it; sometimes correctly by chance that the cases they were using them in were also to describe something that was both sapient and sentient, but often incorrectly discussing things being sentient or not when they should be discussing whether they are sapient or not. Perpetuating this leads to authors like KA, who is fascinated with the philosophy of behind the subjective experience writing about the subjective experience of animal bodies and minds; she has need more than many sci-fi authors before her to be able to correctly describe these things; but instead, having been mislead by years of mistake within sci-fi, she constantly uses the term 'sentient' when she should use 'sapient' (They should say 'The Hork-Bajir aren't that smart by human standards, but they are sapient' or the Drode should say 'It turns out that Orca falls just this side of sapient by our terms and is protected within the terms of the Ellimist/Crayak game and should go out of their way to discuss the relative levels of understanding, awareness and sentience of their morphs, particularly the simple ones like ants and termites).
Now in this forum and other mediums for discussing both the sciences and philosophies about life and intelligence everyone uses the term 'sentience' incorrectly and doesn't even have the word 'sapience' in their vocabulary; through no fault of their own inadequately describing aspects of alien sapience and animal sentience. It is particulary annoying in threads like the http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=5243.30 thread, where we are both discussing the Yeerks choice in hosts and various aspects of their sensory abilities and intelligence with inadequate terms to discuss one while misapplying one word to the other concept.
[/spoiler]
So, there was my change as well as quite the rant about why it really is that big a deal when it could be seen as a silly nit-picky thought. So what do ya'll think? Would you desperately love to see the ending change, or are there those who were plenty dissatisfied about the ending but wouldn't want to take the author's creation away from her? Should those outdated references be preserved as quaint, but beloved nostalgic memories or updated to relate to a new young audience? Other thoughts or suggestions on possible changes you'd be interested in seeing that I haven't thought of?
I agree with the sentience vs. sapience thing, however, I don't remember how often or if at all it showed up in the first two books. However, assuming the publish went well it would be very nice if they fixed the more glaring things such as this.
References I don't mind if they're updated but I hope they make both prints available for eReaders :-/
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The one thing that bothers me the ABSOLUTE MOST in the books, is the fact that it seems like the authors didn't really have an understanding of general animal physiology. There are some descriptions in the morphing sequences that irk me, specifically, the "backwards-pointing knee" bits. Sometimes when they morph animals like the wolf, for example, they describe the knee cracking and bending backwards. The joint it's forming is actually the ANKLE. I know... that's being really nit-picky, but it's always bugged me.
That bugged the CRAP outta me!!!!
And I agree, Kotet, The sentient/sapient thing bugged me, too. -_-
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Although, all the brainy stuff really did help me out on tests, including the AP Bio test (on which I scored a 5 out of 5, thank you, Visser One!)
Other animal references aren't that bad, like the termite society, dolphin behavior and of course, red-tailed hawks...
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I agree with what Kotetsu put in his spoiler. That's something that has always bugged me. Though I have a feeling that they won't since most kids aren't going to know the difference.
Well, I think that the fact that they are not going to know the difference is a great reason for making sure to use it right; since sapient and sentient are not already going to be in their vocabulary they can pick it up right instead of finding themselves misunderstanding and misusing them later. But I do understand your point, it probably isn't something most editors would care about; though in my mind the ideal editor is one obsessed with exactly that sort of thing.
And yeah, I agree with the sentiment, when knees kept reversing I was like "why the heck does this keep happening?", it was a while before I even really understood what was being described because it didn't make sense to me.
As far as the references/technology go, I don't know, because I almost don't feel like it is right to change an author's work or even the author to choose to do so. Too often trying to 'improve' it can remove the simple charm we loved in the first place. But if it is done carefully enough with a desire to express the same heart the original had, not just to make more cash off a ready-made idea with flashy changes to be called 'new', it can certainly turn out OK. It is certainly understandable that you don't want come across as hokey or not in touch with kids if you want them to connect to it.
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I agree with what Kotetsu put in his spoiler. That's something that has always bugged me. Though I have a feeling that they won't since most kids aren't going to know the difference.
Well, I think that the fact that they are not going to know the difference is a great reason for making sure to use it right; since sapient and sentient are not already going to be in their vocabulary they can pick it up right instead of finding themselves misunderstanding and misusing them later. But I do understand your point, it probably isn't something most editors would care about; though in my mind the ideal editor is one obsessed with exactly that sort of thing.
I agree entirely, because that's exactly what happened with me. I started reading Animorphs when I was ten years old and at that point words like 'sentient' and 'sapient' were not in my vocabulary at all. And until your earlier post, Kotetsu, I had no idea that they were different things. I assumed sentience was sapience because of the way it was used in Animorphs. Especially since it successfully taught me so many other words and concepts (like thermal! Fifty-four times! :P ).
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As far as the references/technology go, I don't know, because I almost don't feel like it is right to change an author's work or even the author to choose to do so. Too often trying to 'improve' it can remove the simple charm we loved in the first place. But if it is done carefully enough with a desire to express the same heart the original had, not just to make more cash off a ready-made idea with flashy changes to be called 'new', it can certainly turn out OK. It is certainly understandable that you don't want come across as hokey or not in touch with kids if you want them to connect to it.
Didn't Applegate/Grant have to go through and approve the changes? I think that's more or less appropriate. Gives a bit of a modern challenge, too - how do we explain away Rachel having a huge enough allowance to buy a Macbook with a few months of it not having an iPhone? I totally imagine Rachel's mom as being the type that would give her an iPhone in like, third grade at least.
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... YEah, I can see that. Lol. Rachel would totally get an iPhone, but I think Ax would end up hookin' to get his hands on a modern Macbook while stuck on this world. :P (Not that Ax would hook... Damn stupid fic that's ruined my view of Animorphs. D:)
"Hey, Jake! Do you know who Posh Spice is? No? Alright, out you go, reference!"
Wait... Are... Are you saying that I live in a time where The Spice Girls are not automatically recognized by all?! D: D: But... They were hilariously horrible! *dies a little*
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Didn't Applegate/Grant have to go through and approve the changes? I think that's more or less appropriate. Gives a bit of a modern challenge, too - how do we explain away Rachel having a huge enough allowance to buy a Macbook with a few months of it not having an iPhone? I totally imagine Rachel's mom as being the type that would give her an iPhone in like, third grade at least.
In this case, I would say it should be apropriate, I'm willing to give KA/Grant that much of my trust; but in general I am pretty wary even when the original creator (author, director, ect.) is involved or frontlining the 'updating' because too often too often they are just trying to make some more cash to continue to support their life-style, and if you're going to try and make more money off an old series rather than making a new one, don't you dare try and push an agenda on me and insist it is better, Han shot first, darn it!
That's more what I mean when I say I'm concerned, updating references itself isn't necessarily a big deal, but it can easily lead to the editors saying "while we're changing this, lets make it more 'family-friendly' to reach a larger audience, instead of Marco beating people up as a guerrilla, lets have him throw bananas at people" and then some other yes-man says "Yeah, then he can trip over a banana peal and slide out when they are getting away, kids will love it!"
As far as the cell phone thing goes, yeah I think a modern version of Rachel would have one as a matter of course, even at that age, but not necessarily the other kids so it wouldn't be too hard to keep it from messing up the storylines, then Ax can use it to set up his wi-fi using a computer made of junked parts instead of Cassie's parents' cell phone, until he gets a newer computer from Rachel later (which would have wi-fi built in).
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Didn't Applegate/Grant have to go through and approve the changes? I think that's more or less appropriate. Gives a bit of a modern challenge, too - how do we explain away Rachel having a huge enough allowance to buy a Macbook with a few months of it not having an iPhone? I totally imagine Rachel's mom as being the type that would give her an iPhone in like, third grade at least.
In this case, I would say it should be apropriate, I'm willing to give KA/Grant that much of my trust; but in general I am pretty wary even when the original creator (author, director, ect.) is involved or frontlining the 'updating' because too often too often they are just trying to make some more cash to continue to support their life-style, and if you're going to try and make more money off an old series rather than making a new one, don't you dare try and push an agenda on me and insist it is better, Han shot first, darn it!
That's more what I mean when I say I'm concerned, updating references itself isn't necessarily a big deal, but it can easily lead to the editors saying "while we're changing this, lets make it more 'family-friendly' to reach a larger audience, instead of Marco beating people up as a guerrilla, lets have him throw bananas at people" and then some other yes-man says "Yeah, then he can trip over a banana peal and slide out when they are getting away, kids will love it!"
As far as the cell phone thing goes, yeah I think a modern version of Rachel would have one as a matter of course, even at that age, but not necessarily the other kids so it wouldn't be too hard to keep it from messing up the storylines, then Ax can use it to set up his wi-fi using a computer made of junked parts instead of Cassie's parents' cell phone, until he gets a newer computer from Rachel later (which would have wi-fi built in).
I understand the point, but Applegate and Grant probably make enough money off of their current works - there's no saying the reprint will take off well what with its lenticular covers and just coming back into play 9+ years later.
I only imagine Rachel having a cell phone. Marco doesn't have money at that point, Jake's kinda off on his own so I would imagine he forgets his cell phone a lot. Cassie, no way, Tobias, no way. But I'm totally sure Rachel would have been a fluent cell phone user the last few years - to prevent her from videotaping from her iPhone she'd have to have been grounded from it in book #1 or something. Or maybe the spaceship just kinda messes up electronic equipment too close to it or something.
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Or maybe she left it on the charger. Lord knows I do that ALL the time.
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Or maybe she left it on the charger. Lord knows I do that ALL the time.
No. Rachel does not do this. She is Rachel, after all. She's always totally prepared.
However, we know from Cassie's discussion about trust (MM#4 I think???) to know Rachel gets herself into a bit of trouble once in a while.
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maybe they will add in more references to the internet and add in the usage of mobile phones...although i dont think that this is very likely as having the internet and especially mobile phones in some of the anomorphs situaitopns could possible alter the story concerend in a big way.
one change that i thought of is in book #34. cassie narrates and in the beginning she mentions wwe wrestler stone cold steve austin. book #34 came out around 99-00 i think, and stone cold steve austin and wreslting was huge back then. anyway, wwe still has a large fanbase amonsgt kids nowadays, so i think in the new releasethey might change that pop culture reference of steve austin to john cena. lol.
i think that they could still keep all the arnold schawrzenegger refrences, as he is still pretty well known and relevant.
maybe they should change the singer references like 'brandy' and pop groups like backstreet boys and hansen references into the current popular singers and bands? i dunno any though, as i dont keep up with it.
car brand references i think could stay they are.
food/outlet refrences such as taco bell, radio shack and cinnabon i dont really knwo about, because there are none no outlets with those names where i am from. are they real existing places in america?
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I think your on the right track as to what they should change and what they should leave the same. In one book, I don't remember which, Marco makes a reference to Alanis Morsett; thinks like that defeniantly need to be switched. As for Taco Bell and Radioshack, both of those thrive here in America. Cinnabon however, I know nothing about. Is it Real?
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taco bell, radioshack and cinnabon all exist and are plenty used
i really don't think arnold would be used still, if he is it would have to be in a different way: half a decade as governor fatten him up like a christmas ham
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I'm not sure how much they will change, but I imagine they'd at least update those pop-culture moments you mentioned. It will probably come down to cost, though; is Scholastic willing to pay someone to go through the books, and find all these comments?
I think you're right about cell phones. The most interesting part of the "Ask K. A. Applegate" thread, to me, was their comment about smartphones changing some plot points. I don't know...any edits could say that the Animorphs are still considered too young to have their own phones, but I know that Cassie had one for emergencies - and geez, I don't know what teenagers are like with phones! ::) It's probably a pretty flimsy excuse.
They would also have to change how the books approach the internet. Sure, Jake uses a chatroom, and Rachel scopes out Jeremy Jason McCole, but their whole method is relying on Ax and Marco for anything substantial. I know six-year-olds with more computer knowledge than that. They'd definitely have to have Melissa on Facebook, and have Marco make a few cracks about Farmville or something (Oh god, do people still play that?). I'd really like to see them have some kind of code phrases with Erek through Twitter.
For goodness' sake, doesn't Jake have a Sega Genesis? Or was that Marco?
food/outlet references such as taco bell, radio shack and cinnabon i dont really knwo about, because there are none no outlets with those names where i am from. are they real existing places in america?
Taco Bell is real, but I believe that RadioShack has changed their name. I've heard of Cinnabon, but I don't have any around. I'm pretty sure they're real.
...Oh, no, I just had a thought. What are they going to do with Jeremy Jason McCole? I mean, JTT isn't a big name, anymore. Are they going to replace him with Justin Bieber?
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.Oh, no, I just had a thought. What are they going to do with Jeremy Jason McCole? I mean, JTT isn't a big name, anymore. Are they going to replace him with Justin Bieber?
Oh no... was JJM a real person? If so, than Justin Bieber is a real threat to the series. :explode:
yeah Jake had a sega (I played one once, but Xbox would be a better reference nowadays...). And the chatroom conversation that was all cut up and confusing just doesn't happen anymore. I mean they get a little mixed up sometimes, but not nearly that bad. I don't know what teenagers are like with phones!
(Most) Teenagers are addicted to cell phones. I've even heard of a surgical treatment that attaches one to your head (jk).
And Cinnabon is AWESOME by the way. In the words of our favorite local Andalite, "Go for the extra frosting. It's worth it!" ;D
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Maybe updating some of the Internet references. But if they added phones, lots would be changed. And video game references too. And music references, like NIN in The Reaction.
And Josh, JJM is not a real person, but a parody of Jonathon Taylor Thomas. ;D
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whew, I was worried there for a second. I can handle an imaginary 'Justin Bieber' wannabe, but not the real deal.
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I think you're right about cell phones. The most interesting part of the "Ask K. A. Applegate" thread, to me, was their comment about smartphones changing some plot points. I don't know...any edits could say that the Animorphs are still considered too young to have their own phones, but I know that Cassie had one for emergencies - and geez, I don't know what teenagers are like with phones! ::) It's probably a pretty flimsy excuse.
Nah, this is what I thought/totally plausible/an excuse not to have to re-edit the series :)
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whew, I was worried there for a second. I can handle an imaginary 'Justin Bieber' wannabe, but not the real deal.
Ditto. The real deal... :thumbsdown:
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I'm not really sure how smart phones would ruin that much stuff, what am I missing?
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i think we already have a similar thread. i'm giong to go ahead and merge them. http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=5410.0
we also have http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=5234.0, but these threads seem to differ enough.
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merging.
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the missing animorph, atm im too lazy to go through the books to search fro examples, but in my opinion, the general jist of how them having smartphones could change the situation and affect the story line by: for example, some plot points involves soem of the animorphs stuck in a sticky situation, a fight, and they have to sacrifice one member from the fight to go get the other animorphs for help - like tobias - who alot of the times has to fly around to go get the other animorphs. with phones, they could just text or call eachother. thought-speak range wouldn't be much of an issue anymore, and people could take photos of them morphing and take photos of wild animals doing weird stuff and the yeerks?
thats just what i think. maybe theres more, maybe not. this is rushed, but its cuz im hungry n lazy haha so im gona go eat now.
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the missing animorph, atm im too lazy to go through the books to search fro examples, but in my opinion, the general jist of how them having smartphones could change the situation and affect the story line by: for example, some plot points involves soem of the animorphs stuck in a sticky situation, a fight, and they have to sacrifice one member from the fight to go get the other animorphs for help - like tobias - who alot of the times has to fly around to go get the other animorphs. with phones, they could just text or call eachother. thought-speak range wouldn't be much of an issue anymore, and people could take photos of them morphing and take photos of wild animals doing weird stuff and the yeerks?
thats just what i think. maybe theres more, maybe not. this is rushed, but its cuz im hungry n lazy haha so im gona go eat now.
Thanks Acalio, that makes alot of sense now that I thin about it. Perhaps they should make no changes then, the books might come out looking entirely different from what we know and love. Imagine Visser 3 using an Iphone (it made me cringe too).
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I guess the internet, chat rooms and the like were less prevalent ~back then. Surely there'd realistically be more of conspiracy theories/a resistance on-line that the Animorphs could utilise.
I could live with a spoof involving twitter.
"@Visser3 Hahahah u die!"
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#16 is totally just Jake looking up the #yeerkinvasion hashtag.
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Hmm yes the #yeerkinvasion hastag, I found that quite interesting as well. yes, for sure, very interesting.
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So if they're going to update cultural references and technology, how are they going to do it without making hash of the chronology? To wit: Edriss 562 landed during the first Gulf War and Loren's father fought in Vietnam.
I'm kind of annoyed by the thought of the technology being updated. Part of the charm of the series is that it's a cultural artifact of the late 90's. And there's some value, I think, in remembering what computers were like before computers ruled everyone's world.
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They could have Loren's dad fight in the Gulf War and Visser One/Essam landing during the beginning of the Iraq invasion in 2003...
...but then, I'd probably just give up all hope for the series re-release, and die.
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Yeah, I'm kind of voting for no changes at all...
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So if they're going to update cultural references and technology, how are they going to do it without making hash of the chronology? To wit: Edriss 562 landed during the first Gulf War and Loren's father fought in Vietnam.
excellent point there. i used to think that they could perhaps keep those aspects of the book, like keep lorens, lorens fathers, edriss's etc. chronology as it is. but since they are updatign the technology and pop culture refrences to make it as present day, then inevitably chonology has got to be altered as well in relative to characters ages. if loren they change lorens dad to be a gulf war vet, then he would be like around 45-50 atm, loren would have met elfangor sometime in late 90's, like 1998, have tobias in like 2000, and now tobias would be like 10ish. its kinda confusing i know lol.
and then elfangors chronology and the hork-bajir chronoiles choronologuy gona need to be changed as well to fit in with the series overall.
so id much rather they just keep it as it is.
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My friend and I were discussing the re-releases and how we would update the pop culture references. This was done solely for lighthearted fun. Here are some things we came up with...
*The Noah Wylie from ER jokes has to be changed to the current medical shows. How about instead of saying "Oh the cute girl will date Noah Wylie from ER!" change it to "Gotta avoid House?" *shrug*
*At one point Cassie mentions singing the song "MMMbop" I would change it to some random Justin Beiber song (I'm not a fan of Justin Beiber, but I think it would fit the scenario)
*Book #20 (The Discovery): The sweatshirt signed by Steve Young I would change to a Forrest Griffin autograph instead.
*Megamorphs #1: Marco mentions playing the game Wipeout. I would change that to Gran Turismo 5
*When Marco mentions setting the VCR to record Buffy, I would make him say instead that he should have set the DVR to record Dr. Who (again, not a fan but I couldn't think of anything else)
*And instead of calling Rachel Xena (because not a lot of younger teens in the intended age group even know who that is anymore) I will have Marco refer to Rachel as Lara Croft from Tomb Raider.
*Megadeth should be renamed Slipknot and Spawn should be renamed Wolverine (again, this is just for fun!)
So, I want to hear what you guys would personally change and update if given the choice :) Let's discuss!
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The one thing we have to remember is this: Despite any pop culture changes to the re-releases (which reference modern things), the original books will always be the true canon (except for KASUs). The series takes place in and is set in the late 90s, and it has to be this way because of the Chronicles backstories that take place in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and early 90s.
Shifting the entire internal canon timeline forward by ten years throws so much out of balance, so we have to remember that these lenticular versions fix KASUs and update pop culture references, but they shouldn't be used as a reference.
That being said, Cassie suggests singing "MMMbob" when they're about to give David the morphing power. And of the changes you suggested, I have the biggest bone to pick with the VCR -> DVR change. That's more than just names of things, that's deliberately shifting forward the technological timeline. Scholastic can make those other changes you mentioned if they want, but I will be anxious to see what they do to technology of the 1990s, namely VCRs and dial-up internet.
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Yea, I was hoping to just inspire a fun game of sorts. This was not intended to be serious. The originals will always be my true canon.
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similar thread already made. merging.
http://animorphsforum.com/index.php?topic=5410.0
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Looking at my new copy of The Visitor, I thought you guys might want to know what physical changes have been made to the book(s).
The very first page (page v), on the opposite side of the cover, has the first six book covers in black and white, with the http://www.scholastic.com/animorphs (http://www.scholastic.com/animorphs) URL under them.
The listed books on page iii are only the first four.
Scholastic is listed as being in New York, Toronto, London, Auckland, Sydney, Mexico City, New Delhi, and Hong Kong. I don't know if this is new or what, but whatever.
Page i still says "For Michael". The "If you purchased this book without a cover..." and "No part of this publication may be reproduced..." messages are there. The copyright is still ©1996, but it also says "This edition first printing, May 2011"
No morphing animation in the lower-right corner.
The sample of The Encounter at the end is the scene where Tobias and the others are in the woods as wolves. But there are "* * *" dividers used twice to skip over sections, so it actually covers a lot. Is this different than the original print of The Visitor? It ends at the "They were living nightmares" line as they're trying to demorph from wolves.
The ads in the back of the book are these: Goosebumps Horrorland, The Owls/Guardians of Ga'Hoole, and Wolves of the Beyond, a new series by Guardians author Kathryn Lasky.
The last major thing is credits for the new covers: Cover art is by Craig White, and Cover design is by Steve Scott. Neither of them are on Wikipedia.
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I posted this already in the "pre-order" thread, but I figure it'd be useful here. I'll add to it as I notice things. I've only done the first few chapters so far, and I'm sure others will want to add to the list. Maybe we should make a compilation?
Changes from the beginning of #1: The Invasion:
[spoiler=Edits/Changes, The Invasion]
-The scene where Jake "thinks" and Tobias "hears" his thought speech has been changed to say that it only works when you're morphing
-"I have a Sega at home" is changed to "I have a system at home"
-A few grammatical changes, like a comma deleted, the phrase "mall area" changed to just "mall".
-The word "cloned" changed into "fused" to describe Elfangor looking like someone had fused a person and a deer together.
-There is no inset cover picture, and the pages don't "morph" when you flip them.
-The back phrase that everyone knows and loves has been cut down to something to the effect of:
"We can't tell you who we are. Or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. But everyone is in danger. Yeah. Even you."
[/spoiler]
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I think the biggest change of all is the very first KASU of Jake thinking at Tobias. I'll quote the change here for people:
[spoiler]I am talking to a cat! I realized. And I thought Tobias was crazy?
I wondered if Tobias had heard my thought. I concentrated. Tobias, can you hear me?
He didn't respond.
"I just thought something at you. Did you hear me?" I asked.
<No. I don't think it works that way. You have to be morphed first. Hey, watch this.>
Suddenly Tobias leaped...[/spoiler]
Anyone care to post a quote from the original for comparison?
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Spoiler please; prepare for incoming new fans. Actually, now would be a good time to figure out what our spoiler policy should be.
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All those changes seem to be for the better, to me.
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Even the back cover being truncated to sound terse and lame? ::) What did you like about the series, in the first place, Slushie?
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The back cover is changed but it doesn't sound any more awesome or lame IMO. It's just different, that's all.
The characters, the story, and the multiple levels to the writing is what I loved to the series. NONE of that is changed. And the things I didn't like, are being fixed it seems.
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I think the biggest change of all is the very first KASU of Jake thinking at Tobias. I'll quote the change here for people:
[spoiler]I am talking to a cat! I realized. And I thought Tobias was crazy?
I wondered if Tobias had heard my thought. I concentrated. Tobias, can you hear me?
He didn't respond.
"I just thought something at you. Did you hear me?" I asked.
<No. I don't think it works that way. You have to be morphed first. Hey, watch this.>
Suddenly Tobias leaped...[/spoiler]
Anyone care to post a quote from the original for comparison?
The original quote was:
[spoiler]I am talking to a cat! I realized. And I thought Tobias was crazy?
I wondered if Tobias had heard my thought. I concentrated. Tobias, can you hear me?
<Yeah,> he said. <I hear you.>
"Did you hear my thoughts before that?" I asked.
<No. I don't think it works that way. You have to think at me for me to hear. Hey, watch this.>
Suddenly Tobias leaped...[/spoiler]
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Amazing.
Post Merged: March 21, 2011, 02:06:41 AM
Does anyone think we should make a section on the Wikipedia articles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invasion_(Animorphs) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invasion_(Animorphs)) and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Visitor_(Animorphs) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Visitor_(Animorphs))
That covers the changes made in the re-release? (This would naturally be done on the other book articles, when those 2011 releases are made.)
I'll propose this on the relevant Wikipedia talk pages, too.
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Not sure if it's a spoiler persay, but just in case...Just read that Marco's new nickname for Rachel in the re-release is now
[spoiler]"Storm" (from X-Men) instead of "Xena: Warrior Princess".[/spoiler]
How lame... Her new nickname just doesn't make Rachel seem as badass any more. I mean, I know they wanted to update old pop culture references, but they couldn't have picked someone cooler?
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First of all, Rachel's new nickname has already been brought up for discussion.
Secondly, I would love to know what kind of discussions went on at Scholastic when they were debating (hopefully with K.A. and Michael) about how to edit the books. Like, who suggested Storm? Did they have to vote on using that name? Did they ask K.A. what she thought?
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First of all, Rachel's new nickname has already been brought up for discussion.
Secondly, I would love to know what kind of discussions went on at Scholastic when they were debating (hopefully with K.A. and Michael) about how to edit the books. Like, who suggested Storm? Did they have to vote on using that name? Did they ask K.A. what she thought?
Was it brought up? Oops, must have missed it. My bad. :)
And I agree, it would be interesting to know the update process went about and how everything was decided.
On another note, I think the loss/changes of the 90s pop culture references is something that will probably cause the most debate among fans, not only because those will probably be the most significant changes, but because they might not be as cool/similar to their original counterpart, especially if the changes are as terrible as substituting Xena for Storm.
I do think everyone appreciates the fixing of KASUs and spelling/typos, though.
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Yeah, updating references has already been brought up in a pretty heated debate. If not in this thread, then check the other thread about the re-releases.
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So, I have to ask: Has the "Storm" nickname been used in the book yet, or is it only on the website? (Not counting Jake's introduction of her, since that was in the original as well) I'm waiting on judgement until I actually see the nickname replace Xena in the books.
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Actually, I think Rachel was compared to Storm a few times, even in the original release. Are you guys really absolutely sure that that was an actual change? If you guys are right and that was changed, I will be very disappointed. I don't care what year it is, Rachel = Xena.
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Actually, I think Rachel was compared to Storm a few times, even in the original release. Are you guys really absolutely sure that that was an actual change? If you guys are right and that was changed, I will be very disappointed. I don't care what year it is, Rachel = Xena.
You are right, in the original novel, Jake does introduce Rachel by saying that "...but she thinks she's Storm from the X-Men."
But on the official site, Rachel's bio lists her nicknames as being Storm and Ms. Fashion. Ms. Fashion was also used by Marco in the original novels, but the Xena nickname is no where to be found.
Anyone who has a copy wanna confirm Storm is an actual substitution for Xena in the re-release?
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So I've skimmed through the first 5 books of the original, and I can't even find the Xena nickname in there. I really wish books had a "Ctrl F" function. *headdesk* Were the ebooks searchable, or pdfs? It'd be nice to know when they actually started using the nickname, since it's pointless to debate until the rerelease catches up with that.
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I have the pdf files of the books. And in book #6 The Capture, page 12 states:
"Marco says Rachel's enjoying it all. That she's actually glad about all that's happened in our lives since that night when we saw the Andalite's damaged spaceship land in the construction site. Marco refers to Rachel as Xena, Warrior Princess."
ETA: I checked the first 6 books for any mention of the Storm nickname and it only appeared in the first book.
I mean, in all honesty my only gripe with the new nickname is that the feeling that maybe no one really cared when they decided to go that route and just went with what was more convenient. I could be totally wrong though. So whatever ::)
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I have most on my computer and just did a quick Search function in them. Book 6 is the first time she's referred to as Xena, and it's only in one line. So it wouldn't be until after book 6 that she gets referred to as that more and more.
So yeah, everyone is getting their panties in a bunch over nothing.
Edit: Damn you, Ms. FotoPhreak12...damn you... :P
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Edit: Damn you, Mr. FotoPhreak12...damn you... :P
That's MISS FotoPhreak12 to you :XD:
(I really want to change my display name, but too lazy to)
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I...don't know what you're talking about ::)
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According to a facebook discussion Issam and I have been having, MG and K regret changing Xena...but it looks like they still have the chance to change it, if they only changed it in #6. Book #1 does refer to Rachel as thinking of herself as Storm, even in the original, as has been pointed out. So, maybe if the series reprints progress past #6 MG and K can keep Xena.
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The series reprint probably will continue past #6, and I sure hope that what you said (keeping "Xena") comes true.
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According to a facebook discussion Issam and I have been having, MG and K regret changing Xena...but it looks like they still have the chance to change it, if they only changed it in #6. Book #1 does refer to Rachel as thinking of herself as Storm, even in the original, as has been pointed out. So, maybe if the series reprints progress past #6 MG and K can keep Xena.
I really hope this happens. And since Book #6 is still a long time away from being released, I hope they have enough time to revert it back.
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Wanna know what the best solution to this would be? Petitioning for a rerelease of Xena: Warrior Princess. That way the nickname won't be outdated anymore. XD
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I'm sure there's an app that we could use to fix this.
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So! I just got the rerelease of book 3 today. :D Haven't had a chance to go through it much to check for changes, but considering I have the original in French, I probably wouldn't notice a change even if it was there.
One thing I will say is that the lenticular isn't as good as the first 2 books. It doesn't stay focused on human Tobias for long enough. Which... I suppose is appropriate, since this IS Tobias we're talking about, but still. I like me some consistancy, and the first two books stayed on the human forms easier than this one.
Anyone else get and notice any changes? I don't think there were any outdated refferences or KASUs in this one to begin with, but it's still nice to keep a tally.
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I hope they don't inadvertanly change part of the charactor's personalities and essance with these changes. I fear they will change some of the subtle things like how they interact with each other, in order to make the story 'more entertaining' to a newer audience or something. (shudder) It just seems to me that these 'modernized changes' could possibly end up making a subtle difference in the overall essence of the the characters and their personalities. Just changing 'xena' to 'storm' makes a slight difference.
i mean there probably wont be any major plot changes but the subtle changes that effect the characters themselves will be enough to annoy me. Hopefully KA will keep true to her original design of the story and wont change it in order to be more liked. I would hate to think of my favorite character ruined in order to be more 'modern'. ugh.
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Some of you people NEED to stop overblowing things. No, she's NOT changing characters personalities. NO, entire parts or sections of the stories are NOT being re-written. NO, she did NOT change Xena to Storm. The Xena nickname never came about until later in the series and she was ALWAYS referred to as Storm in the first couple books, even in the original release. The changes are totally minor, and IMO, mostly fix things that were wrong in the original releases.
Seriously, stop already. Crazy fans that are over-blowing the situation are giving the re-releases bad word-of-mouth and I'm totally sick of it, and it's pretty much the reason I've stopped coming here on a regular basis.
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THANK YOU. Right, we are NOT going to complain about changes that HAVEN'T EVEN HAPPENED YET, and are probably NOT going to happen.
Like I said, I just like to keep track, and can't really check this one myself because I'm used to it in a different language, and thus wouldn't notice any changes if there were any.
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No, that wasn't directed at you, just at people on here who keep moaning and complaining about changes that aren't even actual changes, and spreading falsities about the extent of the changes.
I too like to see lists of what changes there are, for curiosity sake, but so far, every single change I've seen, has been for the better. I know Essam's site has a list of the changes in the first book, but I don't think he's done the second or third yet.
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I would have to say that the real re-editing would have to once they get to #8 - The Alien and onward. Especially for #12 - The Reaction because of the Power House/Home Improvement references and also the real-life celebrity names.
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No changes would be needed for that. The character isn't Johnathon Taylor Thomas specific - it's a character based on him and others like him, and there's still plenty of other young actors and young singers in the world today that have the same impact (if not more-so) on the intended audience, so that's still just as relevant.
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i think they still could change it. If it's based on him, people figured it out so if someone else that is 10 or so reads it, they'll wonder who he is(i sure did) but if they based it on someone else that most tweens now know, then they can get it better(in my opinion)
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Well if it had to be anything or anyone they base it on for #12... Maybe one of the Jonas Brothers or something?
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They won't be changing it. the character is still JUST AS relevant today as he was back then, exactly as-written. These changes are nothing major, only minor little things. I promise you, they won't be changing entire characters, especially ones that are still relevant as-they-are.
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i got a question for you peeps with the new first book: you know how in the original, when v3 talks to elfangor, it seems like he never knew him, even though he really did, was that dialogue changed at all?
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Yeah, it was, but only minor. Instead of saying 'We finally meet' or something like that it's changed to 'We meet again', and a couple other minor changes like that in the dialog.