Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Darth Zakryn on February 14, 2011, 01:51:12 PM
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Ok, discuss your least favorite moments in canon (not fan fiction) and why.
Looking back, I guess I have very few, because I like maybe 95 percent of all of the Animorphs books I've ever read, except maybe a few of the ghostwritten ones. But the one I liked the least? #14. The Unknown. No offense to anyone. Sure, it had a few good parts and a lot of nice humor, but we have Cassie's parents acting like jerks, some really badly written moments, some distasteful bits of humor, and the theme is too light for an Animorphs book. Of course, that's only my admittedly less than humble opinion.
Anyway, discuss!
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I dislike the book with the helmacrons, but not for the usual reason of the helmacrons being annoying or the story is ridiculous. That particular book has cassie as the main character (I don't hate cassie like 99% of RAFians do) and the way it is written is so incredibly out of character for her.
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David's return.
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Ok. Why?
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This is just my opinion on the book, and I've ranted about it a lot on this forum. But I didn't like the way he was brought back. David was a huge problem for the Animorphs and nearly killed them all. You'd think that he'd be brought back the same way. But all we really got was David screwing around with Rachel while Crayak screwed around with them both.
I guess you can see this book as a test for Rachel's psyche. And I like how David was used to prove the point. But I think he should have been brought back with morphing powers at the very least. Instead, all we got was a whiny little rat...Which I guess is what David is when you get right to it...But still.
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The Separation. A book that becomes even more baffling when you realize that it wasn't ghostwritten. As in, Applegate actually wanted to personally write that book.
It's so cartoonish it's horrid.
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Pretty much every scene where Marco kept ragging on Ax about the minutes thing. It's like, leave the guy alone all ready. His brother is dead, his family is a galaxy away and he has no way of connecting with them. He lives in the woods scared witless that some alien animal will attack him - going out of his way not to harm the cougar that attacked him because he was thinking of Cassie, his friend's, reaction by the way, which actually makes Ax pretty damn thoughtful - and you want to keep having semantics arguments with him?
And you could easily say that Marco was just joking around, but come on. There were moments in the book when Marco is clearly visibily annoyed with Ax referring to the time on Earth as "Your minutes". You're not a hemmoroid, so get off of Ax's furry blue behind all ready.
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The minutes thing is a running gag. Just not a very funny one. Marco does seem to take Ax's predicament rather lightly, given he's so far away from his people.
I guess one of my most hated moments happened at the end of book 50, when Cassie made a choice she really didn't have to. There's also 31 where both Jake and Tom's Yeerk were holding the Idiot Ball, so to speak.
Did Tom's Yeerk really not have enough connections that he couldn't ask some controllers to follow them in a van with a small portable Kandrona machine? Have him leave the cabin in the night, and feed while the others hold Tom. Did the Yeerks really have no plan in case one of their own needed to travel?
And for Jake. Would it have really been hard to starve Tom's Yeerk out and have him fake a suicide? Switch his body with a Chee, bury it, then have the Chee come out and refill the grave? No one is the wiser. The Yeerks certainly wouldn't be suspicious if one of their own had to go away for four days, died, and its host committed suicide instead of returning to the city.
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Anything with the Helmacrons, seriously. They're so annoying. Even more than I am. :P
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I've got quite a few, but I'm going to restrain myself for the moment :P
The Animorphs' solution to Aftran; let her become a whale nothlit. Is that all they could come up with? Surely there must have been a better way. Seriously, how badass would it have been if Aftran had become an Animorph? We know that the Chee can produce Kandrona rays to keep a Yeerk alive within their own bodies, so... right, this is getting hypothetical and off topic...
Pretty much every scene where Marco kept ragging on Ax about the minutes thing. It's like, leave the guy alone all ready. His brother is dead, his family is a galaxy away and he has no way of connecting with them. He lives in the woods scared witless that some alien animal will attack him - going out of his way not to harm the cougar that attacked him because he was thinking of Cassie, his friend's, reaction by the way, which actually makes Ax pretty damn thoughtful - and you want to keep having semantics arguments with him?
And you could easily say that Marco was just joking around, but come on. There were moments in the book when Marco is clearly visibily annoyed with Ax referring to the time on Earth as "Your minutes". You're not a hemmoroid, so get off of Ax's furry blue behind all ready.
Sort of an extension of this, only more on Ax's end. He was with the Animorphs through almost the entire series. Aside from Elfangor, he may be the Andalite with the most experience of human culture.
So why the hell could he never stop playing with mouth sounds and freaking out at the sight of food? I mean, yes, I get that it was a characteristic running gag of his, but you'd think it'd start to get old after 30 books or so. I like to think of Ax as a decently sharp guy, but the fact that he never once seemed to get a handle on human speech, in spite of spending years hanging out with a group of teenagers and watching TV at his little scoop in the woods, makes it seem like the Animorphs got stuck with one of the stupidest or most oblivious members of the species.
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I've got quite a few, but I'm going to restrain myself for the moment :P
The Animorphs' solution to Aftran; let her become a whale nothlit. Is that all they could come up with? Surely there must have been a better way. Seriously, how badass would it have been if Aftran had become an Animorph? We know that the Chee can produce Kandrona rays to keep a Yeerk alive within their own bodies, so... right, this is getting hypothetical and off topic...
Pretty much every scene where Marco kept ragging on Ax about the minutes thing. It's like, leave the guy alone all ready. His brother is dead, his family is a galaxy away and he has no way of connecting with them. He lives in the woods scared witless that some alien animal will attack him - going out of his way not to harm the cougar that attacked him because he was thinking of Cassie, his friend's, reaction by the way, which actually makes Ax pretty damn thoughtful - and you want to keep having semantics arguments with him?
And you could easily say that Marco was just joking around, but come on. There were moments in the book when Marco is clearly visibily annoyed with Ax referring to the time on Earth as "Your minutes". You're not a hemmoroid, so get off of Ax's furry blue behind all ready.
Sort of an extension of this, only more on Ax's end. He was with the Animorphs through almost the entire series. Aside from Elfangor, he may be the Andalite with the most experience of human culture.
So why the hell could he never stop playing with mouth sounds and freaking out at the sight of food? I mean, yes, I get that it was a characteristic running gag of his, but you'd think it'd start to get old after 30 books or so. I like to think of Ax as a decently sharp guy, but the fact that he never once seemed to get a handle on human speech, in spite of spending years hanging out with a group of teenagers and watching TV at his little scoop in the woods, makes it seem like the Animorphs got stuck with one of the stupidest or most oblivious members of the species.
Given how he often says "I wasn't paying attention in class" when Jake asks him about something, I wouldn't be surprised.
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He never stops playing with words because he enjoys playing with words. Yes it may be annoying to some, but I'm reasonably certain he's doing it on purpose. There are things he does in the beginning by accident, or just not knowing, but if he's still doing it three years later it's because he wants to. Three years after he landed, he could probably speak as normally as the others, but he just enjoys making mouth sounds, and he loves food.
I'm also reasonably certain that the chee could construct a Kandrona generator outside their bodies. Why not? It would have been useful for Aftran, and even prevent deaths when the Free Horks rescued their comrades. After the Peace Movement got going, the Chee could have even stolen parts to make a large generator for all of them. Why not? It bugs me that everyone seems to think one of the Chee would have to keep Aftran in their body for her to feed. I don't think that would be needed.
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Could the chee steal?
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Could the chee steal?
THey dont seem to have a problem with kidnapping so why not?
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Stealing doesn't directly cause physical harm, and sionce Erek did kidnap the Yeerk I'm assuming emotional harm is fine.
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Twisted sense of morality those Pemalites had :P
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Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
I'd like to go into the past, find the person that made that saying, and subject them to verbal and emotional torture.
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Just hit him with a dictionary. It will be both ironic and morally crippling. Every time he says something he will have to look around and wonder if there was something he missed waiting to sneak up and bite him in the behind.
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This isn't a "hated moment", so much as a "confusing moment" in the series. In the Escape, where Edriss sees Marco on Submarine...Why didn't she wonder why he was there?
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She assumed he was a controller, and the Yeerk controlling him had some kind of job. I'm not sure if Marco walked into the room she was in, or just stopped in front of the doorway and was spotted staring at her from the hall.
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Edriss reads Eva's thoughts.
Edriss: Strange, I feel as though I am about to have my privacy invaded by..."come in!"
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But didn't she wonder WHY he was on the submarine? Would a Yeerk be assigned to a twelve year old and be expected to work when his host should be in school?
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There probably should have been some questions asked. Why wasn't he in school or at his station? Maybe V1 just didn't really care, assuming the andalites wouldn't use a child morph for infiltration. She's not as paranoid as V3.
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She's not as thought as I initially believed her to be. A good Visser would have looked into that, especially if it was it's host's son.
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And for Jake. Would it have really been hard to starve Tom's Yeerk out and have him fake a suicide? Switch his body with a Chee, bury it, then have the Chee come out and refill the grave? No one is the wiser. The Yeerks certainly wouldn't be suspicious if one of their own had to go away for four days, died, and its host committed suicide instead of returning to the city.
UGH! This is something that I always thought about too. I don't see why the Animorphs didn't hold Tom captive while the Yeerk starved, while the Chee, who were the ones who flew Tom back to the city, created a hologram of Tom to satisfy Jake and his parents. It's not like it would have even been the Chee who would have held Tom captive as the Yeerk died, so they wouldn't have violated their programing. Or I just don't see why at ANY point in the series the Animorphs couldn't have taken Tom hostage and had him "go missing"
or something and had him just live out with the Hork-Bajir temporarily. It just bothers me, I mean they were able to hold Jake hostage when he became a controller, Tom without morhphing powers would have been nothing. Plus after they starved out the Yeerk they could have given him morphing powers and I'm guessing he'd be a willing fighter against the Yeerks and could tell them about Yeerk pool entrances and all that. Same deal with other controllers. All of them already knew about the war, and having been controlled by the Yeerks I'm guessing a good deal of them would be interested in helping the Anis out.
The Animorphs' solution to Aftran; let her become a whale nothlit. Is that all they could come up with? Surely there must have been a better way. Seriously, how badass would it have been if Aftran had become an Animorph? We know that the Chee can produce Kandrona rays to keep a Yeerk alive within their own bodies, so... right, this is getting hypothetical and off topic...
I get what you're saying, but I think the problem with that was Aftran was part of the Yeerk Peace movement and I'm not sure how willing she'd be to go against and kill some of her own people. I'm guessing like what Jake said at the end of #29, she did her part in the war and was ready to live a different life.
I think the thing that bothered me most was kind of what I was mentioning above. How the Animorphs didn't give the morphing power and recruit former controllers to be Animorphs. Granted it'd be a little risky, and a lot of controllers would be going missing, but it'd put the Yeerks on their toes. Plus not only would they free someone, they'd also have someone who was familiar with what was going on and knew about the invasion, but could also help them out and be someone willing (assumably) to fight alongside them. Book #50, in particular, is where this really bothers me. This is where they still had a morphing advantage over the Yeerks and when looking for recruits they didn't necessarily have to resort to dragging more kids into the war. Going back to what they would have done when they captured a controller they also could have done something a little like Cassie did and gave the Yeerk a ultimatum and ask them if given the choice they'd give up their host if they wouldn't need to rely on the Kandrona and had different bodies. Depending on what kind of the answer the Yeerk would give, they could either starve them out or bring up the morphing/nothlit solution.
Another thing that bothered me was why one of the Chee didn't project holograms at the end of #53 of the auxiliary Animorphs, kinda like how Erek did in book #30 (I think?) of the Hork-Bajir dying and burning. Then while a Chee was projecting a hologram of them dying, the real auxiliary Animorphs could have gone along with Rachel. Granted this is all if they hadn't starved out Tom's Yeerk in the first place and the Yeerks still got the morphing cube. Okay, I better stop I'm blabbering.
I love how I keep thinking of all these scenarios as if they were real and not just a plot in a book series ::) That said, I actually liked the ending good enough.
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The reason Tom remained a Controller? Simple. He had a part in the war to fulfill. He needed to get the box.
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I think that throughout the series, the Animorphs didn't utilize the Chee's holographic abilities as much as they could have. Just think of the situations they could have avoided or the opportunities they could have had if they realized that they could essentially make the Yeerks see whatever they wanted them to see.
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The series has a habit of making interesting side characters/groups, but not actually expanding much on them. Yes it's Animorphs, and most of the series focuses on them, but if you come up with some worthy side groups, then some focus should be on them sometimes. Use the holographic technology during infiltrations, use the Free Horks to pad out your forces on some larger assault missions. Actually use the YPM.
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I would have to second David's return, an episode that is not only poorly conceived but depressing as heck IMHO.
Also alluded to above: I always hated the seemingly unnecessary sacrifice of the auxiliary Animorphs and Rachel herself. I never could believe that that was the best plan Jake and co. could come up with.
But the Cassie-goes-to-the-Outback entry is probably my least favorite part of canon. Bleeccchhhh! haha.
And a sort of most hated omission (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MissedMomentOfAwesome), the lack of any resolution to the nature of Jake's experience in #41 The Familiar, and the entity he encountered, makes an otherwise interesting book a sort of a frustrating shaggy dog story.
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^That's being generous to #41, which is really just scraps of toilet-paper knitted together with words on them. Ughhhhh that book I hate it so much.
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He never stops playing with words because he enjoys playing with words. Yes it may be annoying to some, but I'm reasonably certain he's doing it on purpose. There are things he does in the beginning by accident, or just not knowing, but if he's still doing it three years later it's because he wants to. Three years after he landed, he could probably speak as normally as the others, but he just enjoys making mouth sounds, and he loves food.
I'm also reasonably certain that the chee could construct a Kandrona generator outside their bodies. Why not? It would have been useful for Aftran, and even prevent deaths when the Free Horks rescued their comrades. After the Peace Movement got going, the Chee could have even stolen parts to make a large generator for all of them. Why not? It bugs me that everyone seems to think one of the Chee would have to keep Aftran in their body for her to feed. I don't think that would be needed.
This, totally. The Chee would have been not only preventing violence, but saving the Yeerks for the purpose of espionage, which is completely within their programming, as Erek says in #10.
The thing is, though, that Aftran was made a whale nothlit simply for the PURPOSE OF PLOT.
Does anyone else know of any instances that happened simply for plot-related purposes?
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Jake waiting to save his family last comes to mind. That's the only reason I can see him dropping the ball like that.
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Jake waiting to save his family last comes to mind. That's the only reason I can see him dropping the ball like that.
Same with Tom not having a contingency plan for the 4 day trip in #31, as well as Visser One running into Marco at the beginning of #30.
And then there's Visser Three finding the supposedly-now-impossible-to-find Pemalite Ship in #36. Wasn't that thing sent into the Marianas Trench at the end of #27?
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The reason Tom remained a Controller? Simple. He had a part in the war to fulfill. He needed to get the box.
Couldn't Applegate have assigned some other Controller to snag the cube?
The Animorphs couldn't possibly have known that Tom would someday introduce morphing technology to the Yeerks and cause many of them to desert. Therefore, Duck's reasoning would not be relevant to the Animorphs' decision making process.