Questions I have with Animorphs?

[My Name is Craig]

Hello, this is my first post. I'm a little new to Animorphs, I just finished the series a week ago. I like it, but I have questions on some of the things that went on.

1) Why didn't Elfangor aquire one of the pre-Animorphs's DNA, change into them, and heal his wound. That way he could been the mentor figure of the team. He would also have a relationship with his son, Tobias.

2) Why do the Animorphs only use Earth-based animals instead of the aliens that they have aquired? Here is an example: Hork-Bajir. They are much better combat morphs than Earth animals, have pretty fast healing properties, and since the Yeerks have plenty of them, perfect for sneaking into a base and getting some info. Yet they stick to lions, tigers, and bears.

3) What point did the Ellimist and Crayak serve? I mean, I know its science-fiction law to have god-like beings, but what was the point. Sure the Ellimist gave Tobias his morphing powers back, but thats about it. Maybe I missed something.

4) Why is Cassie so useless? She's not that smart, not that good a fighter, and constantly complains about who the animorphs have to do to stop the Yeerks. I mean, if I was part of a guerrila fighting force trying to stop the entire enslavement of the human race by a bunch of slugs, I would probably do anything in my power to stop them. Also one of her parents works at a zoo, so she virtually is the one who has the key to tons of new morphs.

5) Why does Visser Three know so little about Earth and its animals? I mean the guy has tons of Human Controllers with memories of those animals, you think he would use that information to his advantage.

6) Why is there some many similarities to Power Rangers? Think about it for a second: five teenagers are given the ability to morph using the power of animals by a wise alien who is a famed warhero to battle, in secret, an alien warlord commanding an army of monsters. Along the way the group of five get a sixth member to aid them. Think about it.

Thats every question I can think of at this moment. So If anyone has any answers, I would appritiate it.

[Chad32]

There's already a sticky thread for simple Animorphs questions.

1) There were many things KA hadn't decided on with the series at the time she started, and one of those is the extent that someone can use morphing to heal wounds. After we see the Animorphs escape the brink of death by morphing multiple times, we start to question why Elfangor couldn't do it. We can come up with solutions like him just being tired of fighting and accepting death, but the main reason is the author didn't think about it.

2)The Animorphs did start using Hork-Bajir, but the biggest problem with using Hork-Bajir is that they'd be using bodies they aren't used to against similar bodies the Yeerks are used to using. Using Hork-Bajir morphs against Hork-Bajir controllers should actually put them at a disadvantage.

3) They were just part of the story, like any other alien. It's also a good way to explain why the Animorphs (almost) never die. The Ellemist always makes sure they have a way out.

4) She wasn't useless. She just wasn't highly useful.

[TobiasMasonPark]

Hello, this is my first post. I'm a little new to Animorphs, I just finished the series a week ago. I like it, but I have questions on some of the things that went on.

1) Why didn't Elfangor aquire one of the pre-Animorphs's DNA, change into them, and heal his wound. That way he could been the mentor figure of the team. He would also have a relationship with his son, Tobias.

2) Why do the Animorphs only use Earth-based animals instead of the aliens that they have aquired? Here is an example: Hork-Bajir. They are much better combat morphs than Earth animals, have pretty fast healing properties, and since the Yeerks have plenty of them, perfect for sneaking into a base and getting some info. Yet they stick to lions, tigers, and bears.

3) What point did the Ellimist and Crayak serve? I mean, I know its science-fiction law to have god-like beings, but what was the point. Sure the Ellimist gave Tobias his morphing powers back, but thats about it. Maybe I missed something.

4) Why is Cassie so useless? She's not that smart, not that good a fighter, and constantly complains about who the animorphs have to do to stop the Yeerks. I mean, if I was part of a guerrila fighting force trying to stop the entire enslavement of the human race by a bunch of slugs, I would probably do anything in my power to stop them. Also one of her parents works at a zoo, so she virtually is the one who has the key to tons of new morphs.

5) Why does Visser Three know so little about Earth and its animals? I mean the guy has tons of Human Controllers with memories of those animals, you think he would use that information to his advantage.

6) Why is there some many similarities to Power Rangers? Think about it for a second: five teenagers are given the ability to morph using the power of animals by a wise alien who is a famed warhero to battle, in secret, an alien warlord commanding an army of monsters. Along the way the group of five get a sixth member to aid them. Think about it.

Thats every question I can think of at this moment. So If anyone has any answers, I would appritiate it.

     For the first question: I always thought the Ellimist just returned Elfangor to his Andalite body, but did not give him back his morphing powers.

     Really, there isn't a story without Crayak and the Ellimist. Think about it; two nearly omipotent beings, involved in a never ending series of games. The Animorphs and the Yeerrks aren't the main characters, Crayak and the Ellimist are. You take them out of the series, there's no game. That's what the series is; a game.

     Cassie wasn't useless. She wasn't the best fighter but she kept everyone else in the group human. Her moralizing may seem annoying, but I'm pretty sure we'd all think like Cassie if we were in her position. In a series about war, you need SOMEBODY to ask if what they're doing is right. It can't just be an entire series of Rachels, Davids and Marcos. Cassie was also an anomoly, but that's not really an answer for why she is useful.

     Because Visser Three isn't going to ask people for help.

     Both of them were aired/published during the nineties. Power Rangers isn't exactly an "orighinal idea" either. It was based off a japanese show.

fix'd

[Morilore]

Animorphs is a deconstruction of Power Rangers, basically.  Hey, let's ask ourselves, what would actually happen if five teenagers with attitude were tasked with saving the world from a superior enemy who no one else can fight or even really knows about?  They'd get messed up, that's what.

[Estelore]

1) Why didn't Elfangor aquire one of the pre-Animorphs's DNA, change into them, and heal his wound. That way he could been the mentor figure of the team. He would also have a relationship with his son, Tobias.

Several possible reasons he didn't just morph something battle-capable to self-heal and self-defend (maybe after Ellimist yanked him back into combat, he wasn't given a chance to acquire anything?)... and as for morphing a human, he'd scare the kids half to death in the process, they'd panic and run, and all of them would be killed or infested while they ran away. By dying, Elfangor served as a distraction to V3 and his minions.

2) Why do the Animorphs only use Earth-based animals instead of the aliens that they have aquired? Here is an example: Hork-Bajir. They are much better combat morphs than Earth animals, have pretty fast healing properties, and since the Yeerks have plenty of them, perfect for sneaking into a base and getting some info. Yet they stick to lions, tigers, and bears.

Maybe Hork-Bajir all look the same to us, but to other Hork-Bajir, they have distinguishing features. They can tell themselves apart from each other... and it would give the animorphs away, regardless. On the other hand, there's not much to keep the animorphs from killing each other by accident, since they don't have much experience telling Hork-Bajir apart, and they don't talk to their enemies much. Also... author license. XD

3) What point did the Ellimist and Crayak serve? I mean, I know its science-fiction law to have god-like beings, but what was the point. Sure the Ellimist gave Tobias his morphing powers back, but thats about it. Maybe I missed something.

Deus ex machina. Diabolus ex machina. Sudden plot twists. Wild cards. Remember, this is an extremely episodic series, with very few sub-plots and story arcs occurring over multiple books. The series needed Ellimist and Crayak just to provide fresh material for episodes... the same way the Chee were necessary.

4) Why is Cassie so useless? She's not that smart, not that good a fighter, and constantly complains about who the animorphs have to do to stop the Yeerks. I mean, if I was part of a guerrila fighting force trying to stop the entire enslavement of the human race by a bunch of slugs, I would probably do anything in my power to stop them. Also one of her parents works at a zoo, so she virtually is the one who has the key to tons of new morphs.

She is an audience avatar for the sake of tree-hugging readers. She's the obligatory conscience. If she isn't there, it's hard for this series to pass morally/ethically as "oriented to be read by people of impressionable ages". Also, Rachel is only "girly" in the stereotypical mall-hopping, clothes-obsessed ways. She's not deeply feminine... and I figure that K.A. wanted at least one "psychologically stereotypically feminine" main character, so that female readers wouldn't feel left out. The end result is kinda'... derpy...? But then, the characters have certainly shifted in their development, over the course of 60-some volumes.

5) Why does Visser Three know so little about Earth and its animals? I mean the guy has tons of Human Controllers with memories of those animals, you think he would use that information to his advantage.

Gleet bio-filter. Radar-equipped hunter-killers in the caves around the Yeerk Pool. An increase in security at The Gardens. I think, considering V3 also has to micro-manage his own personal invasion of Earth, he's done fairly decently at taking steps to hinder the Animorphs... and his one major act of stupidity is that he failed to assume there were humans involved in the "Andalite Bandits". Who but an Earthling would use Earth animals so avidly in battle? A true Andalite WOULD be able to tell Hork-Bajir apart from each other, having been around them more historically.

6) Why is there some many similarities to Power Rangers? Think about it for a second: five teenagers are given the ability to morph using the power of animals by a wise alien who is a famed warhero to battle, in secret, an alien warlord commanding an army of monsters. Along the way the group of five get a sixth member to aid them. Think about it.

PR and Animorphs are both generic 5-or-6-man bands. They show up all over fiction. Transforming for battle also shows up all over fiction. This stuff saturates the media directed at kids and teens. The resemblance isn't just coincidental or deconstructive... it's culturally fundamental. The formula shows up in way more places than just those two outlets. Animorphs is full of literary tropes, and this similarity is by no means surprising. The similarity in the names is more or less a point of inside humour, but again... not surprising.

[Gafrash]

2)

2)The Animorphs did start using Hork-Bajir, but the biggest problem with using Hork-Bajir is that they'd be using bodies they aren't used to against similar bodies the Yeerks are used to using. Using Hork-Bajir morphs against Hork-Bajir controllers should actually put them at a disadvantage.

Also, just to complement, Hork-Bajirs can be infested. I never really thought it was feasible for the Anis to assume Hork-Bajir or Taxxons, because an event of capture, an infested-morph is easy set to restrain and demorph.

4) Oh, man, I kinda hated Cassie at times, but for the opposite reasons. In my books, she was always the Deus ex machina. Her pacifist nature never made her useless. Nor powerless. In that sense, the Chee annoyed me more.


5) Visser Three was always the sole Andalite expert. Never the human one. And he was always irrational and bloodthirsty in his ways. So it's feasible, in his mind, he had his henchemen/scientists/followers to do that, so he never really cared to learn about Earth. This was one of the Anis' greatest advantages.

[MoppingBear]

Hello, this is my first post. I'm a little new to Animorphs, I just finished the series a week ago. I like it, but I have questions on some of the things that went on.

1) Why didn't Elfangor aquire one of the pre-Animorphs's DNA, change into them, and heal his wound. That way he could been the mentor figure of the team. He would also have a relationship with his son, Tobias.

2) Why do the Animorphs only use Earth-based animals instead of the aliens that they have aquired? Here is an example: Hork-Bajir. They are much better combat morphs than Earth animals, have pretty fast healing properties, and since the Yeerks have plenty of them, perfect for sneaking into a base and getting some info. Yet they stick to lions, tigers, and bears.

3) What point did the Ellimist and Crayak serve? I mean, I know its science-fiction law to have god-like beings, but what was the point. Sure the Ellimist gave Tobias his morphing powers back, but thats about it. Maybe I missed something.

4) Why is Cassie so useless? She's not that smart, not that good a fighter, and constantly complains about who the animorphs have to do to stop the Yeerks. I mean, if I was part of a guerrila fighting force trying to stop the entire enslavement of the human race by a bunch of slugs, I would probably do anything in my power to stop them. Also one of her parents works at a zoo, so she virtually is the one who has the key to tons of new morphs.

5) Why does Visser Three know so little about Earth and its animals? I mean the guy has tons of Human Controllers with memories of those animals, you think he would use that information to his advantage.

6) Why is there some many similarities to Power Rangers? Think about it for a second: five teenagers are given the ability to morph using the power of animals by a wise alien who is a famed warhero to battle, in secret, an alien warlord commanding an army of monsters. Along the way the group of five get a sixth member to aid them. Think about it.

Thats every question I can think of at this moment. So If anyone has any answers, I would appritiate it.

1.  Morphing takes energy, he was too weak and tired to morph.

2.  They didn't acquire them till much later, at that point they were really used to their battle morphs.

3.  Elimmist and Crayak are responsible for pretty much everything in the series.  Elimmist sorta created the Andalites, and Crayak helped the Yeerks along.

4.  Most of the complaints I've seen on this board have been about her being too useful.  Without her, all the Animorphs would have gotten stuck in mid wolf morph in book 3 I think it was.

5.  He is too arrogant to bother learning about them.

6.  The five man band of heroes is a really common trope.  A 6th person later joining happens almost every time.

[kylemichaud]

1) Why didn't Elfangor aquire one of the pre-Animorphs's DNA, change into them, and heal his wound. That way he could been the mentor figure of the team. He would also have a relationship with his son, Tobias.

Don't know why he didn't morph. Maybe just too weak.

2) Why do the Animorphs only use Earth-based animals instead of the aliens that they have aquired? Here is an example: Hork-Bajir. They are much better combat morphs than Earth animals, have pretty fast healing properties, and since the Yeerks have plenty of them, perfect for sneaking into a base and getting some info. Yet they stick to lions, tigers, and bears.

Familiarity. Hork-Bajir were acquired later on. And they don't like morphing into sentient beings unless completely necessary.

3) What point did the Ellimist and Crayak serve? I mean, I know its science-fiction law to have god-like beings, but what was the point. Sure the Ellimist gave Tobias his morphing powers back, but thats about it. Maybe I missed something.

Well, without them, there would be no books. The entire series is essentially about them. Their war, their game. Ellimist/Animorphs vs. Crayak/Yeerks. That'd be like saying, why is god and the snake in the story about Adam and Eve?

4) Why is Cassie so useless? She's not that smart, not that good a fighter, and constantly complains about who the animorphs have to do to stop the Yeerks. I mean, if I was part of a guerrila fighting force trying to stop the entire enslavement of the human race by a bunch of slugs, I would probably do anything in my power to stop them. Also one of her parents works at a zoo, so she virtually is the one who has the key to tons of new morphs.

She's not useless. She's far from useless. She's the voice of reason. The voice of morality. They need her to let them know when they've gone too far. She's also the best morpher, has the best knowledge of animals, and is Jake's love interest. They'd essentially be lost/dead without her.

5) Why does Visser Three know so little about Earth and its animals? I mean the guy has tons of Human Controllers with memories of those animals, you think he would use that information to his advantage.

He took over the invasion from Visser One. She's the expert on Earth. He's too busy fighting the Animorphs and invading to learn every little detail about the animals.

[Blazing Angel]

the hork bjair sure their dangerous but they fight dozens and win because earth animals have their own strengths. A yeerk can completely read a hork bjair to work it perfectly from the beginning while the animorphs would have to resist the urge to take the bark off  the nearest trees.

[Aniviel]

Re: Cassie: I found it pretty incredible that her morals remained so unchanged throughout the war.  In my ideal world, all of the animorphs would not be quite as amazingly strong people, but Cassie especially: I've heard fans complain that all she does is whine, but honestly, if I held the morals that she seems to (despite sucking it up and fighting anyway) I don't think I would be able to handle the battles.  I always wondered why she stuck with her wolf morph when it was usually weaker than the other battle morphs, but then I wondered if being less effective in battle was her passive way of dealing with fighting and killing.  

I definitely don't hate Cassie like some of the fans, but I never really connected with her because she seems a little bit unreal.  But I think the explanation is pretty simple-- as others have said, she is the voice of morality and conscience.  Despite the fact that I don't think she's very realistic, she kinda has to be there so that KA can sell "children's" books where people are regularly disemboweled, separated from their limbs, and eaten.

Edit: This sort of stuff that's put in (solely?) to make the series seem more wholesome is why I would LOVE to see the hypothetical series 2.0 aimed at a more mature audience.  In my opinion, this is essentially a very dark story that has the potential to explore some really interesting (and ugly) areas of the human/alien psyche.  I feel like the story suffers a little from trying so hard to make everyone such a role model, but in a children's series, it's hard to justify having it any other way.

Also, welcome!  How did you get into the series?  A lot of us are intensely nostalgic college students who grew up with Animorphs and refuse to let it go.  It's great to see some new blood! 

[goom]

i'm going to lock this now and you can post further discussion here. http://animorphsforum.com/index.php?topic=823.0
just quote relevant posts if you need them mentioned in there.