The Invasion

[Tim Bruening]

Why doesn't Elfangor tell the newly minted Animorphs to leave WITH the morphing cube, so as to reduce the risk of the Yeerks capturing it from Elfangor or destroying it, and also so as the give the Animorphs the option of recruitment from the very beginning?

[Sorunome]

because he knows that they don't really understand its power yet, he already broke an andalite law, that probably made him also feel better to not give the morph cube away on top of that

[Tim Bruening]

because he knows that they don't really understand its power yet, he already broke an andalite law, that probably made him also feel better to not give the morph cube away on top of that

However, Elfangor was about to die, so didn't have the option of giving the cube to the Animorphs at a later date, so I believe that he should give them the cube while he has a chance!

[Dylan]

If the Anis get the the cube, what's stopping someone randomly finding the cube? They might find it one of the ani's room or Cassie's barn.
Also, the David trilogy wouldn't happen.

[Tim Bruening]

If the Anis get the the cube, what's stopping someone randomly finding the cube? They might find it one of the ani's room or Cassie's barn.
Also, the David trilogy wouldn't happen.

The Anis would hide it.  Cassie hid it in a water pump.

As for the David Trilogy, we could have the Anis deliberately recruit a new member, only to belatedly discover that they chose the wrong person!

[Dylan]

If the Anis get the the cube, what's stopping someone randomly finding the cube? They might find it one of the ani's room or Cassie's barn.
Also, the David trilogy wouldn't happen.

The Anis would hide it.  Cassie hid it in a water pump.

They still run the risk of someone like Tom or Chapman finding it.

[Chad32]

The thing about the cube was kind of odd. There wasn't a line saying Jake returned the cube to the ship, and he certainly didn't take it with him. It's almost like elfangor was still holding it when V3 showed up, but in the David trilogy Ax talked about there being some kind of air pocket as if the box had been returned to the ship.

Honestly I think KA just forgot about the cube as soon as it fulfilled her pruposes. We know shedidn't plan too far in advanced when it came to writing.

[DinosaurNothlit]

I'm pretty sure that Elfangor giving the Animorphs the cube from the get-go would have been a TERRIBLE idea.  And Elfangor must've known that.

Keep in mind, he'd just dumped an interstellar war into the laps of five kids.  They had plenty on their minds, just trying to figure out what to do next.  Handing them a giant security risk (which would effectively doom the world if they lost control of it) on top of all that?  In no way would that have been a good idea.

Not to mention, Jake started out the series not even realizing his brother was a controller.  He could have tried to hide the cube in his room, and bam, the war's over, right there.

I am a little surprised, though, that the Yeerks never found the cube before David did.  Didn't they mention having scoured the construction site to eliminate any evidence that aliens had been there?  Lol, they didn't do a very good job.

[Chad32]

Back in book 1 it was a plot device. Nothing more. Though it would have been interesting if "anyone can die" was put in place early, and they needed the cube to recruit people because sometimes an Animorph would die. This would certainly be more organic than going 52-53 books with no named sympathetic character dying, and suddenly Rachel, Tom, Jara, and the Auxilaries are all dead.

[pallosalama]

Back in book 1 it was a plot device. Nothing more. Though it would have been interesting if "anyone can die" was put in place early, and they needed the cube to recruit people because sometimes an Animorph would die. This would certainly be more organic than going 52-53 books with no named sympathetic character dying, and suddenly Rachel, Tom, Jara, and the Auxilaries are all dead.

On the other hand, much of the series was about character development. Might have been much harder to do that if the crew was constantly changing.
Not to mention it being harder to comprehend for someone, who would just read one book here and there, with gaps inbetween.
How the series was done made it somewhat easier, because there was mediocre amount of continuity, but you could still jump on even after missing multiple books

[Dylan]

On the other hand, much of the series was about character development. Might have been much harder to do that if the crew was constantly changing.
Not to mention it being harder to comprehend for someone, who would just read one book here and there, with gaps inbetween.
How the series was done made it somewhat easier, because there was mediocre amount of continuity, but you could still jump on even after missing multiple books

I agree with pallosalama, Rachel's utlimate death would have been cheapened if someone else died before her.

[Nar Klawip]

Maybe what happened with the cube was an Ellimist thing. Like he got to hide the cube, but Crayak got to decide who found it. David definitely made it sound like it was hidden. Didn't he say he was throwing rocks around in the construction site when he hit a hollow wall that broke and had the cube inside it or something?

But yeah giving the Anis the cube from the get go would have been a disastertastrophe.

[Chad32]

He said he found it in a hole in the wall, as if the cube was catapulted into the wall, and was sturdy enough to leave a hole without destroying the cube.

[Tim Bruening]

He said he found it in a hole in the wall, as if the cube was catapulted into the wall, and was sturdy enough to leave a hole without destroying the cube.

Its amazing that the Yeerks didn't find it, since they had supposedly searched the area throughly.

[Chad32]

In all honesty, we all know KA wasn't thinking 20+ books ahead when she wrote The Invasion.