Group Re-Read 2.0 #24 The Suspicion

[RYTX]

Synopsis
What counts is on the inside. Most of the time....
Earth is under attack. Again. And this time it's by a race of alien invaders about the size of a flea. These Helmacrons with their toy-sized ships and minuscule weapons don't seem like much of threat compared to Yeerk ships that could wipe cities off the planet. At least until the Helmacrons find the morphing cube, and use it for a new purpose. Now the Cassie and the Animorphs, and even Visser Three are battling at the microscope scale, which makes defeating the Helmacrons' glorious quest for world domination a much tougher fight....

Questions
   1. This book introduces everybody's favorite alien race ever. Or not. The Helmacrons. What were your thoughts on this race of micro megalomaniacs; their differences between sexes, their politics, their "fungible" minds, and their eternal quest for galactic triumph?

   2. The Animorphs have been small before, but this is the first time they've done it from the human perspective. What is your take on their experience being small? What do you think of the differences in ability due to absolute verse relative size, and in general the plethora of things that take place underneath the limits of our visual resolution?

   3. How do you think you would endure if shrunk to 1/16 of an inch tall? What would be the best way to handle existence at that scale? At what point do you make plans to populate the planet with a race of tiny people?

   4. Cassie and Marco have very different ways of viewing the world. They often take opposite sides of an issue, but have proven to be able to function well together time and again. What do you think of their relationship up to and beyond this point? This is one of the less serious books in the series: how does their time here compare to some of the other amicable or hostile circumstances they've faced together?

   5. What do think of Cassie's planning in this book, from slowing down the Helmacron ship to exploiting the size of a new morph? How well does she handle the situation? What about her efforts of diplomacy with the Helmacrons and attempts to avoid being size-ist?

   6. Used uniquely in the fight against tiny aliens, the Animorphs obtain an Anteater morph. What do you think of this animal, and the specialization it has for its' lifestyle that made it so convenient in this book? What did you think of using new morphs to negate the effects of the Helmacron shrink ray?

   7. Approximately when is the last time you read this book? What changes do you expect or would like to see in a re-release?

   8. Anything else?

Answer, ignore and submit your own questions and comments as you please; but remember to vote!

Next week: #25 The Extreme

[Ember Nickel]

<It makes no sense. They'd have to have faster-than-light travel. In a three-inch-long toy spaceship?> <- Applegate gets the scaling issues (insects can jump farther than humans, proportionally) later on but I'm not sure how practical Helmacron society would be. Maybe more sense than a species that much bigger, though.

But fortunately, the Helmacrons broke off and hauled butt toward Cassie's farm, just a quarter of a mile away. <- "Cassie's?"

"How about Equatorial Guinea? The Republic of Kyrgyzstan? Canada?" <- Fun fact: Kyrgyzstan is a big injoke on sporcle.com, a trivia site I've recently got into.

[RYTX]

   1. Helmacrons are awesome. A whole race with a Napoleon complex, sexism, and they kill all their leaders-Marco's right: it makes a weird sort of sense. I doubt, they'd ever conquer the world, but the process would be something to behold. On the serious note, I don't get fungible mind. Does that lead to collective memory, or personality merges or what, cause we saw them as having differing opinions still. Don't see how it could really work either.

   2. About 3,4 years ago, I got sick of people saying ants are strong. Relatively small things are strong, fast, whatever, some stronger than others absolutely, but still, there comes a point where that is not really as astounding as it's made out to be. My biggest lament though is biological, chemical, or physical, there is so much that you can't see, so much you can't know. It's overwhelming to imagine, but so sad that it's missed.

   3. So I've been trying to root out a serious "what would you do" question for each book, but there are times were pickin's are few. Still, I think I'd aim to go live in an empty tic-tac box, hopefully with a big person to keep it safe, and a little companion or two. Someone to populate the world with a race a tiny people with. Marco was right about many things in this book.

   4. Incredibly smart and insightful in different ways, the contrast in their behavior makes Marco incredibly funny, and even drags Cassie along with it. Cassie gets Marco out of a lot of sh!t throughout the books, though he's never really appreciative, but never overly callous with her. Openly at least-hark on his thoughts in 20. I can't think of a time where they really go head to head, but that would have been, hmmm, cataclysmic sounds right.

   5. Give her credit when she does good. Again, I've been seeking to monitor development, but this book isn't really suited for that. Her role here is nice, peaceful, PC Cassie who is able to get a job done. It's not unimpressive, but it's all (even the methods-thing reminds me of the Veleek tactic) stagnant from where she's been already.

   6. This was clever, for both resizing, and battling Helmacrons. I know there's not a giant crush of large predators in the American tropics, but I still hind it amazing that anteaters aren't all, eaten. It does seem like an almost mundane life. A low slung mammal with vision for small objects, expect it'd be near-sighted wouldn't it? Wonder if it could smell ants. As fascinating as the jaws are, I can't help but think of what it's be like to use those claws. Sizable, but very, very different from what you see on the big carnivores. Fun to imagine how they compare.

   7.

   8. Funniest f***ing book ever written. Plot's not meaningful, so that cost it a point, but back to back laughs

[Tim Bruening]

Front Cover: Cassie morphing into an anteater.

Inside Front Cover: Cassie Anteater with a bunch of Helmacrons stuck to her tongue.  She is in the anteater pen with one other anteater (possibly either Visser Three or another animorph).  There are 7 people watching the anteater pen.  The scene of Cassie morphing into an anteater and sticking Helmacrons to her tongue actually occurs, so I assume that the 7 people watching are canonical!

PP 152-153: Having checkmating both the Helmacrons and Visser Three, the Animorphs go to work.  Anteaters Rachel and Jake lap up the Heklmacrons and hold them hostage, while Ax holds Visser Three hostage, and guards the Helmacrom ship and the morphing cube.  Marco and Cassie demorph to miniture human form, go into the Helmacron ship, and start unshrinking everyone.  They first unshrink Visser Three, Tobias, and the Human-Controllers.  Visser Three and the Human-Controllers depart.  Then Rachel and Jake scrap off their Helmacrons, demorph, and are unshrunk.  Then Marcos and Cassie put the beam on automatic and stand in it.

How in the world do Visser Three, the Human-Controllers, Ax, the Animorphs, and the Helmacron ship leave without the 7 sightseers noticing them?  Those 7 visitors on the inside front cover should have seen the following:

I: A Northern Harrier landing in the anteater pen, carrying a toy spaceship and a glowing blue cube.

II: Five anteaters growing out of nothing (PP 147-148.  Jake, Cassie, Marco, Rachel, and Visser 3 morph full sized anteaters from their 1/16th inch natural forms).

III: The northern harrier morphing into an Andalite (Ax) and pressing his tail against an anteater's throat (Visser 3).  Page 151.

 IV: Another Andalite, a bunch of humans, and a red-tailed hawk appearing out of nowhere and leaving the anteater pen, along with the 1st Andalite!  Also the toy spaceship flying away.  PP 152-155.

I expect that the 7 tourists would spread the news far and wide!

[RYTX]

The inside covers aren't necessarily accurate to the scene in the book it's based on


The whole thing at the gardens took place at night. There weren't actually tourist there at when they did that

[Tim Bruening]

The inside covers aren't necessarily accurate to the scene in the book it's based on


The whole thing at the gardens took place at night. There weren't actually tourist there at when they did that

This means that V3, the Human-Controllers, and the Animorphs will all have to exit a locked zoo, without attracting the attention of the night guards!  How will V3 and the Human-Controllers get out?  (If V3 cuts doors open with his tail, the damage would be noticed the next morning).  (Or could V3 let the Human-Controllers climb over him to get over the wall, then jump out or fly out?).

What didn't someone tell the cover artist that the zoo would be empty of tourists during the anteater pen scene?