Author Topic: The war that could have been  (Read 702 times)

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Offline Darth Zakryn

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The war that could have been
« on: November 16, 2011, 07:52:15 PM »
Was anyone else disappointed with the final books? Whoops, let me rephrase that: Was anyone disappointed with the final books in how the war turned out? I mean, the ending was fine, except for the cliffhanger, and Rachel dying was sad, but then again, people DO die in war. No, I was talking about how Visser Three waged war with humans after revealing their presence and moving out into the open.

You'd think he'd stage massive lightning-fast strikes against civilian population centers, round up hosts, build out in the open, move very efficiently and quickly, all while destroying dissenters. Hell, he could have moved on Washington D.C. and captured the President, then infested him! Yet it seems like for someone wanting a big, huge, shoot-em kill-them-all war, Visser Three was kind of lackluster in how he orchestrated it.

We see virtually NOTHING beyond the Animorphs' home communities once the open war, if it could be called that, begins. I figured an alien invasion would lead to the U.S. declaring all-out war, yet they piddled around and the few, pitiful efforts we saw were a few jets against the Bug fighters, where they were clearly outnumbered and went in anyway. Why weren't other countries getting involved? Were they just sitting around in their home countries endlessly debating whether to get involved? Why didn't the Yeerks hit NATO and focused all of their efforts on their home town? Why weren't nuclear bombs used?

It seemed like everyone was just waiting for the other side to make the first move, despite the fact that it was called an "open war." It seemed more to me like "revealed infiltration" than a full-scale global war.

Anyway, these are my thoughts. Any ideas?

Offline Jetstream

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Re: The war that could have been
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2011, 08:10:15 PM »
Uh, well. First of all if I recall the open conflict with the Yeerks only lasted a couple days, if that.

They focused on their main area because A: That's where the Pool was and B: That's where the Animorphs (the problem) are.

No major strikes were launched because military action takes time to plan and mobilize... And nuclear weapons weren't used because they're a last resort. You don't whip those out as an opening salvo, especially not over US soil. That'd be... insane. The airstrike brought in was almost certainly a "see what they're capable of" thing and not a real strike. Those men died to provide information, not to seriously fight.

Offline Chad32

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Re: The war that could have been
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2011, 09:59:26 PM »
Exactly. The last arc only lasted about a week tops. Military maneuvers take time, and even if the Yeerks started hitting other states, the series in in first person narrative. unless the Anis were watching the news, or someone like the Chee came and said Visser One just blasted the White house, they wouldn't know about it. Thus it couldn't be mentioned. The open invasion really didn't last very long.


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Offline Darth Zakryn

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Re: The war that could have been
« Reply #3 on: November 19, 2011, 02:34:35 AM »
Ok, those are all really good explanations. I can see the military's point of view now. And the Yeerks' moves are not as unforgivable as I once thought. They were being incredibly stupid by giving the humans time to mobilize, but then I figured out just WHY they're doing that: They were obeying Visser Three's orders, and you don't say no to Visser Three. Visser Three is ****ing nuts, knows almost NOTHING about humans in general, and probably just wanted to give them time so it could be a "shooting" war. What a ****ing moron, but hey, at least it makes sense now. Thank you, guys.

BTW, does anyone like my new name and avatar? I'm just on a real Star Wars spiel now. I can't get it out of my head. :D