"You may now demorph."

[VisserZer0]

That was, awesome, Chad. That pretty much makes all of us nothlits. That phrase didn't really strike me very much 'cause I read the books in the crappiest, most screwed-up order you can think of. I didn't read #54 last. But, yeah, I see where you're coming from.

[Stephquiem]

I never really thought too much into it. It was just "the series is over. Here's a related line to end with" to me.

[Myitt]

I actually did get that same sort of feeling when I read those words, like the series was over, and it was time to go on with our lives.  I didn't cry over the ending or get upset about it, but still, finishing a story that was episodic in nature and spread across a huge chunk of my childhood and adolescence did make me feel like...wow, this is the end of an era.

I guess I didn't want the era to end, obviously XD  But like many other things that I've read or watched and enjoyed over the years, I've taken the series and its lessons with me and still think about it as a huge influence on my life, and even my personality.  It's sort of funny how big an impact pop culture can have on a person's life.

I think I felt just as powerfully about the part in that farewell letter where she was saying goodbye to the characters, and that she enjoyed writing about them.  It was sort of like we were all saying goodbye to them at the same time, at least in terms of their continuing story.

[Stephquiem]

I think I felt just as powerfully about the part in that farewell letter where she was saying goodbye to the characters, and that she enjoyed writing about them.  It was sort of like we were all saying goodbye to them at the same time, at least in terms of their continuing story.

That was the part that got me about the farewell letter. For me, the last line paled in importance comparatively.

[anijen21]

I never really thought too much into it. It was just "the series is over. Here's a related line to end with" to me.

yeah, I always thought it was like George Lucas saying "the force will be with you" at a convention or something. But Animorphs didn't really have a stock phrase like that so idk it didn't really work for me

[estrid]

i honestly don't remember that phrase at all. by the time i got to the last page of the story I was so upset, that I could hardly sum up the calmness needed to read her letter all the way to the end. the only thing that sticks to me still is her telling me to go read her other books, after just royaly pissing me off.

but like many of you i do agree that animorphs was a series that was a huge part of my childhood. i was reading them from the beginning, and every month i would go buy the book cuz i couldn't wait for the library to get them. this is definetly a series that had a big impact.

[goom]

i honestly don't remember that phrase at all.

it was the last words in the book.
most emotionally stirring to me.

[Dameg]

I never really thought too much into it. It was just "the series is over. Here's a related line to end with" to me.

yeah, I always thought it was like George Lucas saying "the force will be with you" at a convention or something. But Animorphs didn't really have a stock phrase like that so idk it didn't really work for me

What about <Hope...>?

[estrid]

yes i know they were the last words in the book goom, but like i said, i was too pissed off to pay attention

[KitsuneMarie]

I think you bring up another good point, Estrid. Was it really an appropriate time for her to be advertising Remnants in this way? Especially when Scholastic included a teaser for the first book immediately following the letter?

Maybe there just wasn't sufficient communication between Applegate and Scholastic. And maybe she intended for the letter to be a kind of comfort to readers or a challenge to us to use what we had learned in our lives, as Dino posited. But it seems a fair number of us did not interpret her words in that way.

It makes me wonder if Applegate really was out of touch with her readers--at least those of us who were loyal enough to read to the end.

[Chad32]

I have no doubt that she got out of touch with her readers towards the end. She made Everworld because she wanted to try to keep the part of the fanbase that might be leaving Animorphs, and left those still loyal to the series to read books made by ghostwriters. Then we get the very last books written by her that most fans think is full of crap.

[KitsuneMarie]

I personally don't have a problem with the way the series ended because it feels realistic. [spoiler]It isn't a happy ending by any stretch of the imagination, but the Animorphs were ultimately successful in stopping the Yeerk invasion, their sacrifices were not in vain, and they receive acknowledgment from all sides for what they did. The surviving Animorphs are finally given a chance to live without killing and making terrible decisions. And if their lives seem hollow after the war, what more could we reasonably expect? They're suffering from PTSD; who wouldn't, in their shoes?

I know the final conflict involving Ax is probably troubling for a lot of readers, too, but it provides a tenuous reason for the Animorphs guys to regroup (which is the best we could expect after all the understandable resentment between Tobias and Jake), and it confirms that their love for their friends is stronger than their anger towards each other.

As for all the loose ends the series leaves, it is sloppy, but I think it's somewhat inevitable in a world this complex, unless the author issues some kind of statement or encyclopedia afterwards. I don't know how many of you are familiar with Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim, but one of its messages is that life doesn't tie up in nice packages and that there is no such thing as a happily ever after. Life is full of ambiguity, so why should Animorphs be any different? And, as anijen21 pointed out in the loose ends thread, it leaves plenty of fodder for fanfic writers![/spoiler]

My issue, instead, is with Applegate's tone in the letter. A finale so turbulent deserves to be followed by a serious, on-topic note that acknowledges how emotionally weighty and life-changing the last books of the series became. I imagine this was the first time many of us had been exposed to the psychologically damaging nature of being a soldier, especially in regards to children. Doesn't that warrant more than an impossible dismissal and an invitation to join a new adventure?

... Or maybe I'm just unreasonably bitter.

[goom]

I have no doubt that she got out of touch with her readers towards the end. She made Everworld because she wanted to try to keep the part of the fanbase that might be leaving Animorphs, and left those still loyal to the series to read books made by ghostwriters. Then we get the very last books written by her that most fans think is full of crap.

i agree. she shouldn't have ever left the work to the ghostwriters.
i didn't feel she deserved to be writing animorphs after that. she didn't care enough about the series.

definitely angered by her mention of remnants in the ending.

[DinosaurNothlit]

definitely angered by her mention of remnants in the ending.

Oh yeah, same here.  I boycotted Remnants for a long time after that.  I blamed Remnants for KA losing interest in Animorphs, and I told myself I was going to have nothing to do with it after that.  I think it was actually my brother who bought the first Remnants book, and got into the series, long before I did.

[anijen21]

What about <Hope...>?

lol

actually it worked when Elfangor said it, but every time Cassie did I wanted to punch her in the ovaries