How big are Andalite torsos meant to be?

[JackP]

I know the official artwork looks like this:


But stuff in the text says things like "from a distance he could be mistaken for a deer", and in the Gardens the girl thought Ax was a unicorn. Both of these would suggest that their bodies aren't much taller than a horses head, but the artwork goes for more the "alien centaur" approach.

Generally speaking, writers don't have a huge amount of say as to how the artists portray their work, I wonder if KA meant for them to look as the artwork depicts? Maybe something along the lines of this I found on google?

[Aluminator (Kit)]

Ohh, interesting. So it's not just me that suspects this. Because, yeah, rereading the first several books, there's no mention of the centaur-like appearance with the humanoid torso until after book 8 had been released and we got our first artist's rendition of an Andalite. Fantastic find ^_^

Also, welcome to RAF!

[Quaf]

In book 1 Jake describes elfangor like this: "the creature had a head and shoulders and arms that were more or less where they should have been..... but below that he had fur covering a four legged body..." He doesn't mention a torso anywhere, neither does he compare him to centaur, only to a deer.

Later when Cassidy is morphing out of the horse she reminds him of elfangor, but there are no specific descriptions to tell us how big her torso was.

I think K.A. intended andalites to look like the pictures above (those are great), but after the book 8 artwork she stuck with that, because I feel like in the later books someone (Marco?) described ax as a centaur. That's probably my bad memory though

Time for a reread.

[Cloak]

In book 1 Jake describes elfangor like this: "the creature had a head and shoulders and arms that were more or less where they should have been..... but below that he had fur covering a four legged body..." He doesn't mention a torso anywhere, neither does he compare him to centaur, only to a deer.

"head and shoulders and arms that were more or less where they should have been"

Sorry to disagree with this theory, but I have always assumed that that meant humanoid proportions. That's just how it read to me.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Yeah, I'm with Cloak.  The first words of Jake's description were "My first reaction was that someone had cloned a person and a deer together."  Which, to me, strongly implies a centaur-oid shape.  Also, the next paragraph mentions that Elfangor had to duck his head under the doorway, which those fan-art creatures don't really look capable of doing (on the other hand, that sentence in the book just brings up the question: why don't Andalite ships have doors big enough for Andalites?)

Also, how come none of the fan-arts have tail-blades?  I know that's mentioned in the initial description of Andalites (although I think it's referred to as a 'horn' or 'stinger' rather than a blade, but still, some form of tail-weapon is definitely present).  And some of the fan-arts' extra eyes don't even seem capable of independent movement, let alone anything like the typical Andalite stalk-eyes?  Again, that's canon from the get-go.

I do really like the artist's concept for the hooves, though.  And the fact that they all have a very 'herbivore' feel to them.

[Cloak]

And, as for the mistaken by deer thing, I have always taken it to mean the Andalites' lower bodies were more cervid than equine in their physiology. I could just as easily be mistaken though.

[YeerkSalad]

I like that fanart, but others have already said what I was going to. The AC illustrator (not Mattingly) nailed it.

[Warren]

Yeah, I'm with Cloak.  The first words of Jake's description were "My first reaction was that someone had cloned a person and a deer together."  Which, to me, strongly implies a centaur-oid shape.  Also, the next paragraph mentions that Elfangor had to duck his head under the doorway, which those fan-art creatures don't really look capable of doing (on the other hand, that sentence in the book just brings up the question: why don't Andalite ships have doors big enough for Andalites?)

Also, how come none of the fan-arts have tail-blades?  I know that's mentioned in the initial description of Andalites (although I think it's referred to as a 'horn' or 'stinger' rather than a blade, but still, some form of tail-weapon is definitely present).  And some of the fan-arts' extra eyes don't even seem capable of independent movement, let alone anything like the typical Andalite stalk-eyes?  Again, that's canon from the get-go.

I do really like the artist's concept for the hooves, though.  And the fact that they all have a very 'herbivore' feel to them.

This was done for what a primitive andalite would look like and the art is by lackofa. 
https://www.deviantart.com/lackofa/art/Primitive-Andalite-concepts-422769562

[YeerkSalad]

Oh.  Thanks for the context.

[Chad32]

I don't think there was much real hard canon in the early books. A lot of things were retconned, and one of them could have been the original idea of an Andalite looking less like a centaur with a muscular tail, and more like an alien deer with arms.

[AniDude89]

How big?  Depends on the number of cinnamon buns they ingest.  :p

[Shenmue654]

The graphic novel straight up gives them a Clydesdale-like appearance, more horse than human but with deer-like hind legs. It's wild to look at. Visser Three looks (and because graphic novels are a visual medium, acts), weird as hell. I think the artist hasn't quite nailed drawing him. Elfangor is...Actually just fine. Perfect. Tobias and the kids look good, too.

[Green armadillo ette]

In the time that this was first posted, Michael Grant actually released an image of an Andalite from the Animorphs bible, though he defers to the more centaur like image created by the professional artist(s).


https://twitter.com/MichaelGrantBks/status/1119232020121415680