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Author Topic: Animorphs and the '90s  (Read 3568 times)

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Offline Stephquiem

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Animorphs and the '90s
« on: October 20, 2009, 03:36:06 PM »
I didn't really think about this much until recently, but Animorphs is very much a series of the 90's. Aside from the fact that it's far superior to anything that's come out this decade... okay, in my opinion. :P But really, considering all the cultural references in the books are very time-specific.

I think there's one, MAYBE two references to cell phones? Tops. Contrast that to this past summer when I was reading Gone and very indignantly informed my father that kids 14 and under had cell phones, when I had to beg and plead just to get one at 16 (it still smarts... *shakes head*)

Anyway.

This outdated-ness really hit me yesterday when I was looking at some of the covers. You can always tell the decade of something by the hair styles. Oi, their hair... I make a point of not looking at #5 much. XD For some reason Marco's long hair's the worst for me. But then, I never liked it to begin with. (Also, I still stand by the fact that I think the model for #53? Looks a bit... feminine for Jake.)

Does the Animorphs' appearances change in anyone else's mind? Like, every few years they get a mental haircut or new clothes to fit with 2009 instead of 1999. In another ten years or so, they're going to be so far removed from the times they were written in, I'm going to have to start changing all pop culture references to current ones in my own head, just that they fit and don't look like some misplaced time travellers.
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Offline Chad32

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2009, 03:40:24 PM »
Since I don't care about fashion at all, I'm not bothered by their clothing or hair styles.

And yeah, it's a very 90's series. Though I definitely wouldn't be surprised to see 13 year olds without cell phones, the internet has improved so much since then that it's wierd to hear them talk in books with computers.

Personally, I don't care for cell phones. everyone around me has one, but I'm still content with a land line and answering machine.
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Offline Stephquiem

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2009, 03:45:32 PM »
I could do with a landline and answering machine... except that I'm at university, and for some reason they put phones in every dorm except mine. XD

That, and I just know that my car is going to finally give up the ghost when I'm alone in the middle of nowhere and have forgotten my phone somewhere.
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Offline Darth Revan

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2009, 05:30:36 PM »
Yeah, the moment I got my license, my parents got me a cell phone. It was an ancient Nokia, but it was a phone, none-the-less.

I don't care about fashion either, so the covers never bothered me. I did like that the characters grew on the covers as they grew in the story though. That was cool.

also I enjoy the pop-culture references of the '90s. It's like comedy specials when they have a dated joke. It's still funny, you just have to know what they're talking about. Which I know you do.

I don't make the book fit my life when reading, I follow the book, I actually fall back in time and percieve events like they happened in that time.
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Offline Kelly

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2009, 05:51:13 PM »
hah yep it was so 90's. fashion of the 90s make me shudder :P not that i'm really into fashion, i wear whatever I want. I just think some of it was ugly!

When Marco and Jake played video games, was it with a nintendo? Or were playstations out then?

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Offline DinosaurNothlit

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2009, 05:52:55 PM »
I just read book #40, and in that one, Ax talks about this thing he invented that records every channel at once so he can play them back whenever he wants.

And I'm like "Holy crud!  Ax invented TiVo!"
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Offline Darth Revan

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2009, 05:55:10 PM »
Yeah, Tivo on steroids!
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Offline Stephquiem

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2009, 06:08:03 PM »
Hah, I completely forgot about that!

I'm not actually that big into fashion either. I'm in the "If it still fits and is in good condition... I'm wearing it." That and old t-shirts are a lot more practical than nice clothes when you work in a factory all summer. :P

But something about hair... Maybe it's because mine never behaves remotely the way I want it to, but for whatever reason hair from say... the 80's and 90's... makes me cringe. I was watching the first season of Whose Line is it Anyway? on DVD. It was only from 1998? It doesn't seem like that long ago, but there were huge differences.
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Offline Gaz

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2009, 06:27:09 PM »
Because it's a book series of the 90s, it will always be a great way for me to be nostalgic about my childhood. With all those references I'll be like "I remember that!".

Though admittedly, for kids who try to read them down the line (and if I have anything to say about kids will be reading them. lol. Can you say classroom library?), things will start to become dated.
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Offline Darth Revan

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #9 on: October 20, 2009, 06:47:49 PM »
yeah, unless they do the Animorphs 2.0, hopefully they can update the references. Instead of Planet Hollywood, it could be a movie release. Or instead of building a device to record TV, he could say he upgraded a Tivo.

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Offline adeon222

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2009, 11:53:57 PM »
Fashion = Bleck!  Always! (well, almost...)

I really like that they're a 90s thing, because the 90s was when I was their age, and I remember all that stuff, and those references...

To me, it's like, that's when this all happened... You can't really change that... Like, I never think of the Animorphs in the 21st century, because they weren't! They lived and fought, and morphed in the 90s!
*sigh* Sometimes I wish I could go back to those days... Not because the 90s were so great, mind you... because I wish I had had a somewhat different 90s... and I can't do anything about that now...

(plus, I love history, and I guess I kinda think of the Animorphs as history of the coolest kind... sort of an alternate timeline, but still...)
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Offline powertrash

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2009, 01:20:24 AM »
Quote from: Kelly on October 20, 2009, 05:51:13 PM

When Marco and Jake played video games, was it with a nintendo? Or were playstations out then?



In the first bit, it was Sega.
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Offline musicman88

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2009, 07:40:53 AM »
I liked the fact that Marco was king of the internet because he had a 56k modem...
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Offline AniDragon

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #13 on: October 23, 2009, 06:40:56 AM »
Oh, God, the internet in book 16... Apparently the chatroom they were in is similar to how AOL chatrooms were, but by the time that book came out, I was already on mIRC, so I was seriously confused about why they had such a small character limits and such. I was like "WTF, chatrooms aren't this crappy." Also, disabling cookies as the only security measure... Where's your firewall, Marco?!

Eh heh. Anyway. Yeah. That book was dated even when it first came out. Now it's just painful. But that's my geeky side talking.

Culture refferences, though, I think are kinda funny. Actually, more so, now. At the time that book 22 came out, I hated South Park with a passion, so I was fuming over the "Oh my God! She killed Kenny!" line. Now, even though I still dislike South Park, I think it's hillarious.
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Offline Bubbles

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Re: Animorphs and the '90s
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2009, 10:48:43 PM »
Quote from: musicman88 on October 21, 2009, 07:40:53 AM
I liked the fact that Marco was king of the internet because he had a 56k modem...

LOL!  :D I thought he was ballin outta control, too, back in the day! I remember thinking that the chatroom idea was so cool and started going to them and that's when I discovered the joys of pedophelia!
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