Animorphs: The Grey Morality of 90s YA's Most Tragic Characters

[@grissom1228]

Michael Grant sent me

[@LordRavenscraft]

That's two I owe him

[@vikkimoore6207]

And me!

[@Sag3brush]

@@LordRavenscraft make that three

[@inkpenavengerYT]

And me!

[@grassiehalls3922]

And me!

[@erwinbogumil207]

"Minors can't consent to war." The fact this had to be stated is a big old sign I should have read this series

[@Nyrufa]

Alien parasites who intend to enslave your entire species by taking over your brains don't give a damn about the age of consent.

[@Senzuko]

@@Nyrufa That's why they're the villains.

[@afqwa423]

This series was incredibly deep and complicated sci-fi. The thing is that there are Yeerks who basically try to go their version of vegan and _do_ ask for for consent to share a body with a host, with a few going so far as to genetically modify themselves to share control with hosts. They're not innately evil, in of themselves, they're a slave to their biology as much as anybody else is. And a few Yeerk characters are shown to not be on board with the whole galactic conquest thing. The sad part of all this is that there was also almost no way of preventing Yeerks from becoming imperialist fascists. In their natural form, they're just helpless slugs that can't see well and their only natural host is a type of monkey with poor vision, strength and mobility. Once they were given access to star travel there's simply no way for them to advance their own civilization that doesn't involve mass enslavement of other species. Because it's the only way they can gain access to superior strength and senses. It's not like they can just build farms and till the fields in slug form and then live a humble agrarian lifestyle. And when your natural host is this monkey with poor eyesight (and sometimes not even that), something like a human with 20/20 vision becomes a real treat. But there are more Yeerks than host bodies, so their society is structured around being "promoted" into better hosts. Also they gain access to all the memories, skills and knowledge of their hosts. This gives them a natural motivation to go out and conquer to get access to more bodies. There's a novel where Andalite characters participating in the war against the Yeerks seriously consider the ethicality of flushing out a pool of Yeerks into space or whether this constituted a war crime.

[@TwitchyTopHat1]

@@afqwa423 God damn.. I read these books as a kid and so much of that nuance went over my head. Maybe it's time to revisit the series

[@joelglanton6531]

@@afqwa423 In "The Attack," the Crayak wants to destroy a species because its members have a mutually beneficial relationship with a Yeerk-like parasitic race, and he doesn't want the Yeerks to realize that a similar relationship with such a species is possible for them too. This is the book later in the series where the Ellimist ropes the crew into fighting the creepy Howler dudes on another planet and Jake and Cassie kiss eachother at the end. There are also other Controller characters throughout the series who have a willing relationship with their Yeerk, like Taylor, the chick who tortures Tobias in the "anti-morphing ray" subplot and later plots to blow up a Yeerk pool in a natural gas explosion.

[@kryrimstercat]

The best part of these books is that they never had any issue stating "These guys are child soldiers in an intergalactic war for the survival of their species, and yes this is going to fuck them up for life". and without fail they all get fucked up. Rachel was the only one who really took an out.

[@billlupin8345]

...Byyy doing a suicide assassination mission on her cousin. She died as she lived, with her enemy's trachea in her jaws, and their limbs strewn haphazardly around her.

[@alwaysonyourtail2563]

@@billlupin8345 and her last words being if it was worth it? and boy does the book not shy away from the trama that came from jake ordering that. the war crimes trial was a minor not compared to tobie abandoning humanity

[@billlupin8345]

@@alwaysonyourtail2563 Jake gave the order, but nobody stopped it. If WWII taught us anything, it's that "I vos only followink orders" is no excuse. And this was after twisting the arm of a pacifist race of puppy androids into helping them, AND sacrificing the team of disabled child soldiers AS A DISTRACTION. I distinctly remember them getting up to some F'd up stuff in those last books, it was great!

[@alwaysonyourtail2563]

@@billlupin8345 the killing of the pool of yeerk could be justified in that it made vissor three surrender allowing the complete capture of the mothership disabled the whole fleet causing a true victory for humans in the andilites didn't get to do there extinction plan

[@billlupin8345]

@@alwaysonyourtail2563 Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not calling the animorphs out for their questionable decisions. It was a target of opportunity, and they gave it all the thought it merited. Next time the buggers come for earth, they're gonna think twice.

[@SomasAcademy]

It's funny, I'd completely forgotten the "Rachel is the pretty one" element, her defining trait in my head has always been "the tough one"

[@chaosvii]

It helps that her actions speak much louder than descriptions of her in a text medium.

[@mikeboehl5260]

Same!

[@novaspacewitch9963]

Same. Choosing a bear as her go-to combat morph certainly helped

[@Norade]

She tended to use the largest morphs and take the worst damage which really sold her as a bad ass.

[@afqwa423]

Yeah, I get the feeling that she's supposed to be a direct subversion of the pretty popular girl trope.

[@Rhyianan]

“These are books written for teenagers”. Actually, they were marketed to elementary students when they first came out. I remember there was a huge push by scholastic, even handing out the first few chapters to every student in my 4th grade class before the first book was released. They hyped the books a lot, in a way I’d never seen them do before or since.

[@rowerewolf]

There was another book series released by Scholastic a few years later that got a bit more attention....

[@Rhyianan]

@@rowerewolf If you are referring to goosebumps, scholastic didn’t hype it up before they released the first book. The series took off and then they marketed the crap out of it. Scholastic made a huge deal out of animorphs before the first book was ever released. They handed out excerpts, had an interview with the author published and sent out to schools with the book club catalogs, had some kind of essay contest of what animal you would like to turn into and why (my memory of that one is vague, but I remember writing an essay for it) all before the first book was available for purchase, which I haven’t seen them do before or since.

[@rowerewolf]

@@Rhyianan I was referring to Harry Potter.

[@elizabethsullivan1894]

Yeah, these were consistently marked as juvenile fiction in most libraries I've ever been in, not YA.

[@Scythian046]

Yep I remember getting my first Animoprh book at a scholastic book fair when I was like 10 or 11, definitely not a teen yet. People think kids can't handle themes like these books had, but they can. Just depends on how the themes are delivered.

[@Kenta455]

I don’t think Cassie is a hypocrite. She’d be a hypocrite if she preached about moral standards and judged others and then didn’t hesitate to break her own rules herself. The fact that she reflects so much on her own beliefs, and struggles with herself, and has so many doubts, proves that she is not a hypocrite. In contrast someone like David is who is truly a hypocrite, particularly in his BS about “I will never kill another human...but killing a human in morph is different”.

[@stephaniewozny3852]

I definitely agree with this. Hypocrites dictate how EVERYONE ELSE should behave and live their lives, and yet would never adhere to those codes themselves. Cassie actually believes what she preaches and tries to live up to those principles. But she's also a kid. A kid who, up until the Yeerks arrived, probably never had her convictions tested the way war _will_ test most people's convictions. There's a scene in the beginning of _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ where Nick Fury calls Steve Rogers out on the "nasty stuff" he no doubt took part in to help win WW2. Steve responds, *"Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well* . But we did it so the people could be free." Cassie's character arc isn't just to ask, "Are *we* now the bad guys?" It's also to show how the nature of war, no matter how justified, will make you compromise in the name of "doing what's right". And hopefully to ask, "Are we *still* doing what's right?"

[@Metalalbumreviewers]

Don't forget, his first taste of humans and morphs being different from one another was when Tobias used the logic that it was ANIMALS breaking into a store to steal clothes. Not humans. Despite the fact both David and Tobias were originally human. David's problem was he was a mirror image of the worst traits in each Animorph, and they were too wound up in their own world to realize just how utterly dangerous he was until it was too late. They should have left ol' David to the Yeerks, and hoped to save him by winning the war.

[@SennaAugustus]

She broke her own rules several times. She killed the police officer in book 1, killed Joe Bob in book 16, killed that morphing ant instantly after a whole book of agonising over the morals of the buffalo, killed the Triceratops for no reason, and many more.

[@TheLikenessOfNormal]

@@Metalalbumreviewers The fucked up thing with David is that it would have been more merciful to outright kill him then what they did.

[@Eternaldarkness3166]

They all had each other when they first started too, so it kind of balanced/mellowed them out. David really didn't have anyone, so it could have easily been 1 of them that turned out that way if it were reversed.

[@UliTroyo]

When you should be studying, but the stupid HOUR-LONG Animorphs video you randomly clicked on is so engrossing that an hour later you've even forgotten school is a thing.

[@UliTroyo]

WORSE: when you make it to the end and there's ANOTHER ONE-and it's also an hour! Just what did I do to you!

[@LordRavenscraft]

Would it make it better if I *promise* not to release number three until after you finish exams?

[@UliTroyo]

Part of me want to take you up on your offer, part of me wants to shake it from you right now like a cartoon crook.

[@meowtwobeens]

Fuck, I didn't even realize that it ran for about an hour 😅

[@NPRoberto]

@@LordRavenscraft when you release part three I'm making a day of it. I'm gonna bake a pie, pour an ale, get comfy, and tune into animorphs. Genuinely excellent videos friend, I binged all your videos over a weekend and now I'm reading animorphs for the first time in a decade because you lit that fire again.

[@badluckrabbit]

Animorphs in a nutshell: "contrary to popular belief, it is NOT fun to do bad things"

[@SennaAugustus]

It's not fun to do good things either. Every decision you make will leave you cold and empty.

[@gmodstarstruct2815]

@@SennaAugustus speak for urself buddy boy

[@MintyArisato]

@@SennaAugustusI genuinely hope you can see a therapist because you sound very unwell, and I hope you feel better soon ❤

[@wildfire9280]

@@SennaAugustus You say that like not making decisions would help?

[@michaellight6981]

what Animorphs really needs is a netflix miniseries, where they could combine the books that have plot arcs into long episodes and leave out the filler.

[@FrnkiSTyne]

I don’t think you understand how much I’d love that

[@larurentius]

I want an animated series personally

[@michaellight6981]

@@larurentius that would be fantastic

[@michaellight6981]

@@mickeywhite2563 By the nature of the medium, a miniseries published on a streaming service has less need for filler and can also take as much time as it needs to tell a story. I'm not taking into account creative decisions or executive meddling, because those are equally possible in any medium.

[@average4899]

Man look at A series of unfortunate events for a good comparison,

[@emilycrow8278]

I think I take offense with the usage of hypocrite. Hypocrisy is more like judging others yet not yourself. Cassie sounds more like a moralist, someone who is morally critical of their own actions. Cassie sounds like the type to pull the trigger, but never forget the face in front of the barrel, and never forgive the situations that led to them being so.

[@YourMomsNewHusband]

THIS

[@PS-dm1dq]

Dude, I get SOOO sick of everyone hating on Cassie. Like yeah, you do what you have to in a war... doesn't mean you shouldnt still be horrified by it though. Saying that pointing out the ethics of a situation makes her "annoying" is just some lame coward shit. It's like, if you dont want to ponder ethical conundrums, go read some other books maybe? Maybe something more simplistic would be more to your taste.

[@t.fairuz29]

I loved Cassie. Cassie was their sanity. If they didn't have Cassie they would not have lasted.

[@TheNuclearGeek]

Moral people can seem pretentious but are quickly come to understand. You all just stop talking and wait to hear what you already know their opinion is. That's not all that bad. It's the people that act moral but don't have consistent morals that are the issue.

[@TheLikenessOfNormal]

Eh still hard to contrast what she did to David to anything else. Like that's *evil*. Like turning him into a rat and stomping on him would've been more merciful then what they did.

[@gator-aidan9839]

i like how in every book cover, ax is seemingly just a reused png, no difference in posture, stance, facial expressions, no changes whatsoever.

[@berrypop33]

Everyone loves to dump on Cassie but her tendencies technically helped end the war. She may seem annoying but if they didn’t have a moral compass...she lowkey keeps their sanity for a long time.

[@SmaugsAccount]

Cassie was always my favourite character and the one I related to most, I didn't even realise people love to dump on her... That moment in the woods in The Pretender sticks out in my mind as one of the most powerful in the series.

[@davidtucker9498]

I always liked Cassie, except for sometimes in books from her perspective... She often failed to grasp the reality of the war they were a part of...

[@berrypop33]

@@davidtucker9498 more like she refused too... Those poor kids went through a lot!

[@hailonyourparade]

Cassie-negativity fascinates me! The video compared Animorphs to the GoT feeling of "oh it's not THAT kind of show!!" and I think Cassie has the same thing going on in fandom that Sansa does--they both have high emotional/social intelligence and they're too good for the world they inhabit. It gives them a kind of genre blindness, but can also make for a solid moral center. Cassie, even at the end of the war, would never have flushed the Yeerks...but nobody else would have handed over the morphing tech, either. It's not the ruthless, smart thing to do...but she also isn't put on trial for war crimes, like Jake. She seems the most at peace and self-actualized after the war. In contrast, Rachel is the Arya. She adapts, she gets it, she fights, but there's a cost. The fact that she has to do it at all is tragedy. tbh I suspect book-Arya's going share more with Rachel's story arc than it does with her HBO counterpart. (btw I adore Cassie and Sansa, no shade someone's gotta keep the sanity.)

[@louis8487]

Isn't Cassie the only one who got a good ending? It's been years since I read the series.

[@jasondarkflame4948]

“Surely this also won’t go badly for Tobias.” That hurt on a personal level.

[@andrewmalinowski6673]

Tobias had a screwed-up life, and this doesn't include the Ellimist-related time weirdness. 1) Marginally-accepted outsider before they find the Andalite vessel 2) Meets Elfangor (who somehow recognizes him as his son) when given the morphing power 3) Trapped in hawk-morph and becoming a nothlit 4) Time travel to acquire his human form (but can't resume a human life) thank to the Ellimist 5) Visser Three takes a mixed-form morph to capture Tobias (claims to be a long-lost female cousin) 6) Related to Ax (already thinking of this because of a moment where Elfangor is shown a thread of time by the Ellimist), but doesn't know about it 7) Namesake of the freeborn Hork-Bajir Seer Toby Hamee (only good thing outside of being an Animorph)

[@angelaphsiao]

"There are bad aliens like the hork-bajir" I know this is in the first 5 minutes of an hour long video and you're summarizing, but HOW DARE YOU CALL THE HORK-BAJIR BAD THEY DESERVE THE WORLD

[@LordRavenscraft]

You are correct, and I hope the section in part two about them is satisfactory atonement. 🙂

[@procrastinator99]

They're better than all the other species.

[@Gopherzooka]

The kindly Swiss army tree huggers are the best.

[@badluckrabbit]

the book about how the Hork-Bajar fell to The Yerks is easily one of the best Animorph books that isn't about the teens

[@gillianarndt]

@@badluckrabbit the Hork-Bajir Chronicles was the greatest love story of 1998

[@loganbigmo]

The interesting thing about Tobias is he was the chosen one, the son of Elfangor, meant to be the key to victory. But then he got trapped as a hawk & that entire plan went awry. The Ellimist stacked the deck by choosing four people to become Animorphs, Ax included. The plan was for three humans to meet Elfangor that night, and admits two of the humans were random. We later find out the chosen ones were Tobias, Marco & Cassie along with Ax. Jake & Rachel were never predestined to be there, they just were in the right place at the right time. Yet those two were the two most important individuals in the Animorphs war effort, the two most instrumental in securing their victory.

[@brandontrammel4581]

Facts

[@brandonjamal]

***Spoiler*** I really think Tobias purpose was to re-seed the hork-bajir species. Not so much about traditional battle winning...couple that with the Ellemist learning the idea about planting seeds to save species from the pre historic Andalites rather than facing his enemy head on.

[@SennaAugustus]

@@brandonjamal He also served as the link between humans and Andalites, because even if he is fully human, he is still somehow an Andalite with some physiological quirks like hereditary memories or whatever that was when he was tortured and about to die. The Andalies would suddenly care a lot more about Earth if their war hero's son was there to be saved.

[@LLCCB]

The war would have been instantly lost if it was only Cassie, Marco, and Tobias. Hell, it wouldn't have even started

[@mihailmilev9909]

@@LLCCB hey I responded to u in another comment. And even tho I haven't even read them I have to agree with ur comment lol

[@lilywilliams5141]

Read these books when i was eight. my absolute favorite was one of the earlier books (somewhere between 6-9) where Jake is taken over by a yeerk on a mission. the whole thing is from his pov as he watches his friends interact with “him,” realize the yeerk’s control, and struggle with it. i believe at one point someone essentially says to yeerk (and jake) that “if it were really you in control, if you were really jake, you wouldn’t try to talk us out of it. you’d tell us to tie you tighter and not look away for the full three days. you’d understand that we have to do this and you would be grateful that we are doing this” also the kids take turns morphing into jake, so his family doesn’t get suspicious (namely: his brother the controller. also can we talk about after tobias is perma-hawked all they have to do is write a letter to his aunt saying he’s staying with his uncle and vice versa and nobody ever tries to contact him or report him missing? these books didn’t pull punches.

[@thethornhero]

Oh man that book was awesome. I'm going to have to go back and reread them, it's been ages. I think I got spoiled by how great the writing and the situations were because it was just par for the course with Animorphs.

[@FFgamesftw]

I did realize a small issue with that plot point though. The yeerks need to go in a pool once every 3 days but humans also need water once every 3 days (at minnimum) The Yeerk could have taken Jake down with him by refusing to let Jake drink water.

[@annaleepena2790]

I think that was the one I left off at and I never got back into the series... Now that I’m watching this video I’m like okay so Ima hold off rereading Michael Vey and finish this instead XD

[@sa7o3h15]

this was actually my first animorphs book, i got it for christmas when i was 7 or 8, and man, what an introduction. still the first book that comes to mind when i think animorphs.

[@ucnguyen6375]

@@FFgamesftw It is actually explored in the same book that the difference between human and yeerk is that human will continue fighting even when knowing that there is no chance of winning, yeerk just give up in the same situation , the yeerk inside Jake could totally take him down with it, but when knowing that it will die anyway, the yeerk just choose to stay there waiting for his death

[@chistinelane]

Rachel... Good God Rachel. She saw the literal 4d chess the universe was playing with her. She new she was doomed to control. So she killed herself, so they couldnt control her. She was one of the good guys. She had to die a good guy. She knew she could never satisfy her need for violence, her lust for power Oh and Cassie is the one who helped her see this. Cassie saw the game behind the war.

[@brandonjamal]

This is a very interesting take. Would love to hear more.

[@David-dz1cb]

I remember Rachel's death not as words on a page, but in the vivid imagination of a kid reading the most violent and badass thing he'd ever experienced- and it still hits me to this day.

[@N8kdmagazine]

That part made kid me cry so hard. I think that was the first time I had dealt with the loss of a character that I rooted for. I mean, I rooted for all of them, just... God, Rachel...

[@SpiritWolf209]

Rachel was my first fictional crush. I felt so bad for her and her death was also the first time I ever threw a book in rage and tears.

[@kage6613]

@@David-dz1cb of course the thing you remember most is Rachel's death... David.

[@ShadeSlayer1911]

"Get Rachel" And for some reason, I felt chills down my spine. I don't even remember this part in the books, and yet I got that feeling.

[@wangwang2211]

The books start with all the main characters at 12 years old, which is roughly the same age as the kid actors in the second Harry Potter movie: The Secret Chamber. The books end in their 15, which is the the same as the main actors in Harry Potter fourth movie: The Goblet of Fire. I just want to give you a feel about how the characters in Animorph movie should look like.

[@sarahmurabito9391]

13 to 16

[@wangwang2211]

@@sarahmurabito9391 The Order of the Phoenix then.

[@afqwa423]

Harry Potter, but instead, you wage guerrilla warfare against the Yeerks, commit war crimes and contract PTSD. _Yayyyyy._

[@joelglanton6531]

Harry Potter is total garbage compared to Animorphs. If the average person had any taste at all, Animorphs would be much more successful than HP.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

@@afqwa423 so Percy Jackson minus the monsters, gods, etc. reviving, and a dash of Tomorrow When the War Began / Hunger Games for the extra grit?

[@krystalschlecht9076]

The synopsis for the hidden was creepy, but remember when Cassie almost went insane as a termite because the queen died?

[@Justitia_Nomen]

I think it was when she turned into a termite and had to kill the queen. The queen controlled them all and Cassie was losing it if I remember right

[@Swingingbells]

"Because the queen died" 😂 Wasn't Cassie the one who bit off the queen's head?

[@tonycook4629]

And Marco is my favorite character in the series. Out of everybody he does what's necessary and wrestles with the implications afterwards. Ruthless truly describes him because he's that character that gets shit done. You know it is a scary story when him and Rachel can agree on something. Those two are essentially the 'Do Dirt Duo'.

[@SibylWhisp]

Ain't that the truth! Rachel was my favorite and I got the same chills if they saw eye to eye.

[@liamcephus9687]

Loved Marco. Always was hoping to see more of him. I always felt like he was the best person for 2nd in command

[@jaxsetbertoncarlism8873]

LOVE marco, poor dude, his angst is far better than Tobias's. And he showed everyone who doubted his involvement by doubling his efforts, often taking suicidal chores, after his parents were reunited. My only nitpick is his lack of reaction to Rachel's death. They had a special bond, she personally looked out for his mom and spoke to him in confidence about his mom surviving books fifteen and thirty, and knew he would scope out gafinilan.

[@JimKuback2009]

Jake: Since when am I the leader? Astronaut holding gun, from behind: Always have been.

[@meggletteprime]

No need to apologize, I have been hoping for years that someone would explain the terrifying books with freaky photoshopped children that traumatized me as a 7 year old without me having to read them 😂

[@MoshDelgado]

When I ask my friend group why most of then never read a single book, they tell me they thought it would be dumb or traumatic because of the cover. Haha

[@theascendunt9960]

Man you guys were some soft-ass kids.

[@diclonius7]

This was a trip down memory lane. I read the third book about Tobias as a teenager. I related so much to his struggles as someone who didn't fit in and would never, was bullied, made fun of, and constantly looked down on as a freak. When you talked about Tobias' suicide streak through the mall it made me tear up, remembering my own struggles with suicide starting in 5th grade. Empathy is everything to those who are misunderstood and alone.

[@daphnehigbee5414]

This brought back a lot of memories from my childhood Animorphs experience, like how I didn't read them in strict order because I prioritized by POV character. I was annoyed that the Tobias books were always "checked out". Now I know it's actually because there were fewer of them. I did want to point out that while you say the books were YA and written for teenagers, they were marketed to and largely consumed by pre-teens, ages 9-12. Like you said, they were produced like Goosebumps. The material is YA, but packaged as serial juvenile fiction. I often wonder how different the series would have been had they been written in a post-Hunger Games YA environment.

[@LordRavenscraft]

You know you're right that YA isn't quite the right way to describe it (and I've got plans to go waaayyy more in depth with that in the next vid) but maybe I remember it that way because that's how it felt. I think that YA after the Hunger Games/Harry Potter era has definitely been affected by this shift. It would be interesting to see what Animorphs would be as, say, a series of 4-8 much bigger, more spaced out books.

[@daphnehigbee5414]

@@LordRavenscraft Exactly! Or maybe even like the Stormlight Archive, though I think it's important the characters stay young. Looking forward to your next vid.

[@Ocelot80524]

i read them this way too! i couldn't handle waiting to complete someone's story. now it makes sense why i never really understood wtf was going on overall lol. i did the same thing with babysitters club, goosebumps messed me up

[@Psychoinnocent]

Rachel is my absolute favorite character - because she never stops caring. Like, yeah, she’s addicted- so’s Jake but he never admits it. But Rachel is like also fiercely protective of her friends and she justifies everything by saying it was to protect everyone- even that morphed yeerk near the end of series. And in terms of Ax, what’s super fascinating is that from the beginning, we’re clued in that /something/ about the Andalites isnt good. In book 8, he’s forced to accept that his name and reputation destroyed amongst the military if it comes out that humans have the morphing power, because the Andalites care more about /Elfangor/ than they do his kid brother who’s 13-ish

[@joelglanton6531]

I forgot all about that. The Andalite that he talks to basically forces him into taking the fall for Elfangor breaking the law of Seerow's Kindness, doesn't he? And then they guilt him into almost getting killed by going off by himself to face off against Visser Three by reminding him that he's honor-bound to avenge Elfangor's death. At the end of the book is when he decides that he needs to share as much as he can with the Animorphs about the Andalites and the war with the Yeerks.

[@SibylWhisp]

She was my absolute fav and set a standard for some of my favorite characters. Her relationship with Tobias was everything to me.

[@Youboremenow]

"I can't tell you my last name" Took me a good minute before I figured out why that was so nostalgic a phrase for me :) Well done.

[@vissersixty-nine6246]

I LIKED the book where Rachel gets split into two halves, thank you very much!!! This video was really good, but as someone who has opinions about literally everything and clinically cannot shut up, I have to say: I never really saw Cassie as particularly hypocritical... to be honest, I kind of interpreted her as going the exact opposite direction as Marco and Rachel, character-wise. Marco became focused on how to win specific battles within the war, Rachel became an unstoppable killing machine, and all Cassie could see is the world they'd be left with and the people they'd be. She had to make constant choices about how to not go over the deep edge and just start murdering everyone, and even then, she couldn't stop some tragedies. I think this crystallized for me in one of the last books, where Jake says that after the war, they'll get married, and she sort of has this Moment of realizing that they won't be able to interact at all after it's all done. She cuts him off because she knows it's what's best for her, and makes consistent, ridiculously tough choices trying to do what's emotionally best for the team. Yeah, she's not seeing the war as a whole... but KA Applegate wrote a series without her with Everworld, and MAN things did not go well for them. The moment you mentioned with Jake doing a genocide was particularly upsetting because he committed the genocide in part *just to distract Visser 3*. There's this really upsetting moment where he's convincing himself during the act that this is right, the Yeerks don't deserve to live, they deserve to be flushed, and afterwards he recounts it as genuinely thinking this instead of trying to desperately convince himself otherwise. This was a really good video, and I loved hearing your take on the characters! Even though I disagree with some of your stuff about Cassie, your description of her as a hypocrite *and that being an essential trait* was one I found really interesting. I've subscribed and am going to check out your next Animorphs video when it's not midnight and I don't have things to do at 8.

[@LordRavenscraft]

I think you're dead on about Cassie, and we're just sort of describing two sides of the same coin. I'm hyperbolic in the video but I think the "hypocrite" angle really comes from the fact that even though she does say these things are wrong, sometimes she does them anyway. Which war makes you do. The trouble is, the other characters-especially Marco and Jake-reconciled that by choosing to adopt "this is necessary" into their worldview. They live more consistently with their beliefs! But their beliefs include "sometimes it's okay to kill people." Saying "it's wrong to kill" and doing it anyway is hypocritical. Saying "it's okay to kill" and doing it is consistent with your beliefs...and much worse. I think that's why Jake's moment of justifying the genocide to himself is so hard to read. He's NOT being a hypocrite. He has constructed a belief system that says "It's okay to do genocide, if they deserve it" which means he's now building a world where genocide is okay. If he'd been a hypocrite, if he'd been like Cassie and believed killing was wrong, but only did it when he was forced to, then maybe, when he reached that button, he wouldn't have pushed it. And maybe, like Cassie, he would've been accused of being too soft, and making bad tactical choices. And maybe 17,000 Yeerks, most of whom would've been cool becoming nothlits on Earth, would be alive. I love talking about this though, so thanks for providing another perspective! Also LOVE your username lol. Thanks for subscribing!

[@zigzagzoom369]

I always felt like whenever Cassie and Marco got into impassioned debates they both understood that the team benefitted from the push-and-pull of their different stances.

[@hippocampussashimi7819]

Just here to say that the way you phrased this late night comment was very funny. Good job

[@JetstreamGW]

"Cassie is an annoying hypocrite!" Hey now! Only in Cassie books. In any book where Cassie *isn't* the POV character, she's pretty awesome :P

[@JetstreamGW]

Also I don't know if you're gonna get to it later in the video, but I am a little disappoint that you didn't say anything about that time she probably burned down some dude's house to get him killed :D

[@fist-of-doom487]

Honestly it’s kind of the point. A Pacifist dragged into a War she had to compromise her own beliefs to help others and by the end she’s a shell of that caring person. Using her empathy to manipulate people rather than help them

[@JetstreamGW]

@@fist-of-doom487 And if she ever became self-aware of it, I'd have been fine. But in most of the Cassie books it's just a continuous spiral of the same thing over and over. If it helps, though, I also got annoyed about how Andalites never acclimate to anything under any circumstance and always have the same reactions to everything forever.

[@marvalice3455]

I would say tolerable. Though i liked her as a kid.

[@duatia5315]

@@JetstreamGW I mean, the andalites are actually the ones who started the war in the first place. They were pretty cringe. The yeerks, while now militaristic, were originally pacifists. Andalites actually genocided the hork-bajir and the yeerks.

[@archivist_of_dragonstone]

As a preteen I read The Andalite Chronicles nine times, and I regret nothing.

[@dustinbrandel59]

Same. Not that many times but i had it and read it a few times. All those books deserve a dedicated anime series.

[@KenBeeKJV]

Andalite Chronicles went hard af

[@milesaron3008]

I was literally just telling my girlfriend about that banger of a book this morning

[@PanAndScanBuddy]

It's the first one I read and it's hilarious how in the middle of Elfangor's journey he finds a convertible and goes tearing across an alien planet with his hoof on the gas. It's great.

[@JA-gb5gu]

“Animorphs” the complete set was donated to my brother one Christmas, and over the years was eventually given to me. I’ll never forget how it felt to read the books for the first time. You think it would be easy to romanize the story, yet the characters hold you hostage with their trauma, and you are unable to forget how horrific it all is. My favorite characters were Cassie, because she never forgot to be kind, and Marco, because despite how much the world demanded of him, he would never forget a friend.

[@nobodyexceptme7794]

Rachel was bout that life. We need an animorphs manga adaptation

[@odile8701]

They just put the first book out as a graphic novel, with the second book to come in October! I bought the first one the moment I heard about it. It’s comics style, not manga, but the art is charming sometimes and disturbing as hell in others. I never felt so sick about Elfangor being eaten. And the story itself and dialogue are really faithful.

[@StarDragonJP]

@@odile8701 Interesting, hopefully they don't quit a few books in like those reprints a few years ago.

[@ryuus2]

Yes. Oh so much YES.

[@xochiltaviles4539]

Ooh an animorphes animated series could be amazing

[@AE-ir7rc]

Not every American show needs to be an anime/manga -_-

[@PrincessNinja007]

"This is a book for teenagers" .....so I read this book at like 8 years old.

[@gaaralvr4695]

Yeah, same. They were in my elementary school’s library!

[@mickdipiano8768]

Yeah not for teens. this was a book for kids and preteens

[@skellagyook]

Same.

[@SunjayVideos]

I was 4 years old when I read The Secret and I think that explains a lot (My brother was in elementary school and I wanted to read what he was reading)

[@inkpenavengerYT]

I am 100% on board with this becoming an all-Animorphs channel, btw.

[@owlsilverfeather]

Animorphs is, next to Tolkien's catalogue, my favorite series of all time. I picked up The Invasion at a Scholastic Book Fair in 1996 in 5th grade (so like three months after publication) and read every single one until the end. I re-read the series about every 5 years or so. I even wrote a college paper on Anthropomorphism and Morality of Sentience through the lens of the series, which received a perfect grade. I recommend the series EVERY SINGLE TIME a friend with kids just getting into scifi and fantasy are looking for age-appropriate but also intelligent recommendations. My next tattoo is already designed, in the Animorphs font, as under a red tailed hawk feather. I'm, perhaps, a bit obsessed. And this video just made my entire night. Thank you, sir. This was a feat of excellence.

[@owlsilverfeather]

@@apachehelicopter9032 Because I can't love both? Because...I do. Constants in my life since a young age, my favorite fantasy and my favorite scifi.

[@MsGigglesluv]

I would love to read that paper dude

[@ashleylandman1163]

@@MsGigglesluv same

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

This series has pacifist androids made by dog-people literally incapable of cutting grass and owning bunkers full of rescued stray dogs, as well as every character and their loved ones having to move into the mountains to avoid prosecution by body-snatchers. It has romance between a bird with the mind of a boy and a girl who frequently becomes an elephant, and it has teenage shapeshifters convincing the u.s. military of the full scale of an alien invasion by becoming aliens, and then a wasp. It has malevolent aliens being trapped in a remote-control barbee car, and it has sharks that eat rabies cells in a person's bloodstream. And those last two feature in the same book. *_and it's well written._*

[@DannyFriendbow]

Excellent video. I grew up with Animorphs and I’m thrilled that it’s entering public consciousness more these days - but discouraged that much of that conversation is centered on “Wow, this is so shocking/dark/weird!” without much elaboration beyond that. This is the kind of in-depth and nuanced discussion that this series deserves.

[@rainehappy7097]

It's all that article writers have to go on at face value. Many of them simply passed up the books when they were younger and just wrote it off as that weird series of books with bizarre covers (They all point this out). We need more fans making videos like this to explain it to them so they can form plot points to better explain it to the masses or at least get them hyped up. More normies means more butts in the seats when the movie premieres. More people means more money. More money means potential sequels and plenty of merch giving you a hit new franchise. These articles are basically clickbait, but they are also paid to hype people up to see movies.

[@MC-sx6ix]

"Animorphs 101: You Have NO IDEA What You Slept On" Look that up on here. it's one of the best videos on this series in my opinion.

[@derrickhaggard]

Same here.

[@RandomPerson-nd2ey]

Kinda like watching "A Game of Thrones" and then immediately diving into all the books to learn all the backstory, lore, etc in more detail? Then trying to have a conversation about it but all most people can seem to talk about is "hmm, I lieks dem bewbs..."? Yeah, I sympathize with you there.

[@MettaFTW]

"they worried kids couldnt connect to Tobias" XD one of my favorite imaginary friends was a red tailed hawk lmao

[@speedy01247]

that series is why my favorite bird is the red tailed hawk. (like I have other animals I like more, but for birds, its the red tailed hawk)

[@a-s-greig]

What, the loner? Pfffft. As if. _Suuuuuper_ relatable.

[@wildfire9280]

@@a-s-greig *Yes.*

[@Reality.juiced]

Same

[@needsLITHIUM]

"get Rachel" is more so because everyone knew Rachel and Tobias were in love and SINCE she was the human weapon, especially when ANGRY, yeah, they called Rachel because they knew she'd want revenge for her fucking boyfriend. The ultimate here irony is what happens in the last book. Towards the end of the series, David makes a weird comeback, and there is... some fall out. That fallout culminates with an extreme escalation of the war, with EVERYONE getting found out and having to put their families into hiding, and in the end, someone goes down with the escape pod of Innis-226, AKA Visser Three, now Visser 2, after they take control of the Blade Ship, his personal "star destroyer" command ship, and 3 guesses who it is... that shit had me DESTROYED. I cried. a LOT.

[@joelglanton6531]

You're a little confused on the details of the ending. I just found out there's an Animorphs wiki called Seerowpedia and they have pretty good synopses of all of the books; you should go and check out the last three books' articles and refresh your memory. IMO Animorphs had one of the greatest endings of all time, but yeah I agree it was extremely bittersweet. Also Iniss 226 was Chapman's Yeerk.

[@needsLITHIUM]

@@joelglanton6531 fuck I got my names mixed up lol but either way, it's close enough. I've re-read the books a few times, and already know about serrowpedia, but apparently it's time for re-read number 6 lol. Still love the series.

[@needsLITHIUM]

@@joelglanton6531 also, I never said anything to the quality of the ending, but rachel dying and then the rest of them sans tobias going out in the blade ship to chase the last remnants of the yeerk empire, with the whole cliff hanger and "ram them" the whole of the last two books made me cry a LOT. I've re-read the series like 5 times not even kidding lol and it makes me cry every time, though it's been a few years since my last run through back in 2014/2015. I read and consume a LOT of media so sometimes the exact specifics get fuzzy or confused because I read so much and watch a crap ton of anime to point I rewatch shows because I forgot I already watched them and only notice around episode 4 or 5 and just say "fuck it let's watch it again" lol.

[@joelglanton6531]

@@needsLITHIUM When the last book came out and I was in my teens it frustrated me a lot and I pretty much hated it but I quickly reversed my opinion. But yeah I hope my reply didn't come off as condescending; I just realized it sort of sounded that way so my bad. I've just been having fun reading all the plots for my favorite ones so I was recommending it for that reason only.

[@needsLITHIUM]

@@joelglanton6531 no worries I'm a big ol' autistic nerd who reads all the wikis. Like, I'm not even kidding lol. There was a reason I liked Ax and Tobias so much as a kid.

[@Imaginita]

I, born in 2001, stumbled across an Animorphs book at my elementary school library. It being a public school, the first couple of books in the series were missing, so I just picked up the earliest one I could find. It involved a kid who was permanently a bird, swimming in a pool full of terrifying worm things, and a bunch of other stuff that gave me nightmares for a week. I swore never to pick it up again. This video is making me consider picking it up again. Edit: oh, shit, that story you were talking about, with the pool of 1700 yeerk slugs? I think that's the one that made me swear off the series. Guess I read a later book than I thought.

[@ZhangK71]

This comment had me cracking up for a solid minute. Thank you for making my Saturday night. That being said, Animorph is a solid series, you should watch it.

[@chocolatebunnies6376]

«Animorphs? Cool title.» 25 years later «Oh no, it’s a pun»

[@rennysama9752]

It's a pun? I thought it was a portmanteau

[@chocolatebunnies6376]

@@rennysama9752 Depends on the extent of your (as in «my») vocabulary.

[@sleepinghermit7778]

@@rennysama9752 seriously, thanks for the vocab lesson.

[@Hapetiitti]

I don't get the pun. Or maybe I just don't get the joke.

[@rennysama9752]

@@Hapetiitti there is no pun, choco bunnies just got some wordsies mixed up

[@JetstreamGW]

"Zach wrote that joke!" You elected to use it. This is your fault. Marco would be disappointed in your attempt to deflect responsibility.

[@CommanderSharpEye]

Same

[@danletchworth2247]

I can't tell you how happy my heart is to find such a thorough, impassioned celebration and deep dive into this book series. I read it right at target-audience age, 12 to 14, and it stuck with me so much that even today I'll proudly say they're my favorite books of any kind, not just YA. They hugely influenced my writing and even my career direction-I work in publishing now, and [brag incoming] during my first job in the industry, as a production contractor at Scholastic, the editors knew I loved the books so much that they gave me the assignment to copy edit the 2011 rereleases of books 1 through 8. I actually got to fix that continuity error in book 1 when Jake uses thought-speech when he's out of morph, and I got an email from KAA thanking me for fixing something that the fans had been bugging her about for years. Mr. Ravenscraft, I could die happy as of that moment. Thank you for putting so much work into this record of how great this book series was and is. I can't wait for the movie :)

[@googleuser7454]

Thanks for sharing that. That's amazing that you got to be the one to edit it after all those years!

[@ameteuraspirant]

I didn't think I was that into animorphs as a kid, but "thermals" brought back so much nostalgia I didn't even know I had.

[@Biittiriisi]

I'm so glad I found this video. I read animorphs as a kid, every word, and somehow remained unphased. Nowadays I'm utterly horrified of this series and what it depicts. It deserves more attention.

[@fermintenava5911]

It might be teenage thing. You're just so distant and somewhat radical when you're younger.

[@marvalice3455]

Many children are perfectly capable of taking in terrible scenes

[@afqwa423]

Yep. I read the books without being much affected by the heavy themes. It's only in retrospect that I went, "Hey yeah, this was actually pretty dark. It's kind of amazing that KA Applegate was so uncompromising with her artistic vision." Probably squicks out the normies, but I don't really care that much. Just really struck by some of the best sci-fi I've read actually having been written in the 90's as a Goosebumps-style trashfic that was never meant to be taken seriously as literature. Past all the fun adventure pulp, the aliens were actually well thought-out and actually _alien._ They weren't just Klingons or Vulcans ,and you could logically see why different species behaved the way they did. I can even see humans being kind of a being its own logical evolutionary niche when you compare it to the series aliens. And not just in some facile cop-out way that makes humans the master race, diplomatic, high-minded or particularly war-like. (Lots of sci-fi uses humans either as a Mary Sue or to make some stupid commentary about the human condition.) And it didn't pretend that war and violence was a harmless adventure the way Harry Potter and its YA successors typically do.

[@nicolefornuto7177]

same here !

[@fermintenava5911]

@@afqwa423 😁 Funnily enough, though, Applegate wanted the Andalites to be more human-like (so future adaptations could make them work more easily without a ridiculous effect budget), but the publishers convinced her to go more alien. Cut to the TV series...

[@Awntry]

Of the six characters, I relate to Rachel the most. Rachel's issue is very internally focused. The way I saw it (it has been a while), while Rachel is naturally an adrenaline junkie, her self destructive nature and addiction to violence is to distract her from her own insecurities and fear of her own capabilities and responsibilities. Where Cassie tries to make a choice, Rachel didn't want to for fear of making a mistake and having to deal with that. In her narratives, all the way to her chat with the elimist, she always talk about fear and she is clearly attracted to a sense of control. Her gymnastics, her love for cat's gracefulness and her bloodlust are all elements of control be it physical or mental (autonomy). Her attitude towards fear tends to be very dismissive. I think there was a line where she said that courage is about being afraid and still pushing on (which I don't disagree with but I think it says a lot about the way she deals with fear). Since her violence is often 'justified' by the war, she leans on it hard until it becomes an addiction. Which is why I also like the starfish story. I think it's poorly written but the basic concept of the plot directly confronts Rachel's fear of losing control of who she truly is because of her attempts to preserve an identity. It makes her feel this duality and she fears that she lets her quieter yet still fiercely emotional side gets effectively snuffed out by this mix of unhealthy identity because that is what the group needs, and her need for autonomy. Her strong need for autonomy was also highlighted in one of the books when she was tempted to challenge Jake (can't remember which but I think it was towards the end). She didn't feel like challenging Jake because she thought she would make a better leader, it was because she doesn't like feeling like she's a tool. Which is why in many ways, towards the end of the book, she feels closer to Tobias rather than to Cassie. While she doesn't label Rachel like Jake does, Cassie still sees Rachel as that 'warrior princess' image in the huge picture she constructs during her decision making processes. Tobias, being the outsider who also deals with internal conflict does not assume or pressure her into keeping that identity. Rachel is allowed to just be whatever she happens to be around him. In a way, the final chat she shared with the elimist was a poetic ending for her. Not only did she reconcile her feeling of duality by using her violence to serve her emotional needs (to save the people that she loves) but she was also told that she was the anomaly in the equation that ended up making a difference. She was not the only one who was not a chosen tool.

[@Vincekun]

Something I love about the complexity of the main characters is how it ties into why the Ellemist selected each of them for his “team” in that round of “the game” he and Crayak are playing; like with Cassie being “the hypocrite” as you put it so that she would keep the team from becoming evil, but Marco being there to keep them from inaction, and also to make sure that any plans they have get analyzed for flaws because of his pessimism. And Rachel being the violent killer needed to do the bad things, and Tobias filling several roles(full time animporph, scout, example for morph time limit) and so on

[@ghostslayer1981]

Honestly, the darkest book moment I remember reading was a tie between when the group got digested by visser 3 when they landed in a jungle after a hijack went wrong, Rachel almost drowning when her allergy made her transform into an elephant and she fell into the ocean, and most of all when Marco literally had a near death experience in the north pole due to hypothermia, and the book SHOWS US HIM ACTUALLY SEEING A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. This serious is crazy

[@WolfHreda]

54:10 Hey, I remember that one. It turned out Rachel was allergic to the crocodile she had touched, and it eventually forced its way out of her, leading to her as a bear fighting a crocodile on live TV. That was one of my favorite books. The other was the first book in the David trilogy. "He has a snake named Spawn and a cat named Megadeth, what does that tell you?" "That he has bad taste in music and great taste in comics."

[@Ekigane]

I feel the need to point out that andalites are basically constantly "eating" in their natural state, so I loved how no andalite could handle human taste/food and struggle to not overeat while in human form and in front of food or in some cases "food".

[@unamericano]

This video reminded me that the Hork-Bajir chronicles was one of the most tragic and touching stories I’ve ever read.

[@dysperdis]

I feel like a big part of the actual problem with Cassie's character is that her storylines have the most focus on finding a balance between naivety & optimism, but they're written for an audience of primarily pre-teens & young teens who don't have a frame of reference for what "naive" would actually look like for someone in Cassie's situation, so that part of her personality ends up overemphasized at the start of a lot of her books in a way that makes room for visible character growth in individual books, but undermines that growth throughout the series as a whole.

[@nathanleschke4719]

We had the Tobias Saves the Hork-Bajir book at my house, and I must have read it like fifty times. I’m no dedicated Animorphs fan, but I’m so happy to hear that this series has meant so much to so many people.

[@A_Bottle-Of_Orange_Crush]

I'm a little late to the party, but it's so good to see that there is still a thriving Animorphs fanbase. For years I thought the series was all but forgotten and I was one of a very few diehard fans.

[@ThunderChanter]

Man, that part about David and the rat morph, gets even darker when you realize rats only live for 1-2 years

[@turidoth]

tobias decides to wipe out the dinosaurs without checking it's the right asteroid

[@chistinelane]

These books traumatized me and shaped my mind forever

[@a-s-greig]

_Finally, I have found my people._

[@michaelearlgrey]

I'm a little drunk and haven't considered Animorphs in probably 15 years but did tonight. And this is 3 days old. Why am I here? I miss this part of elementary school. What have I done with my life? Yerks were awesome. Edit: We had a rotary phone. It was even old in the 90s. Guests couldn't figure it out.

[@joelglanton6531]

I remember when my parents had to upgrade the last rotary phone we had because automated menus began to become ubiquitous and they required a touch-tone phone to work.

[@qmchale5130]

They're 13 years old in the beginning and are at least 16 near the end of it.

[@joelglanton6531]

@@qmchale5130 I think you meant to reply to a different comment.

[@qmchale5130]

@@joelglanton6531 Yeah, the original post. Sorry about that. 😅

[@joelglanton6531]

@@qmchale5130 Which one is that?

[@hailonyourparade]

I'm a 32 year old librarian and Animorphs taught me that books and reading was the best thing ever, and I think about it every other day. I had no idea there was a movie announced, but damn...big big boots to fill, for those movie-makers. I hope they pull it off!! Love your video

[@AnimorphsUniverse]

The story of the Hork-Bajir is so unbelievably sad. I think it deserves a segment to itself! Toby Hamee 2020

[@____________838]

I think tears started welling up in my eyes when I explained that plot line to my wife just now.

[@Tojoblindeye]

Toby is different!

[@procrastinator99]

CHILD OF DAK!!

[@gir2195]

Amen

[@calebmauer1751]

Hork-Bajir Chronicles is still a story I think of like 20 years later.

[@animorph17]

The most hilarious part about the whole concept of the yerks as a moral question? Stopping the war and giving everyone a happy ending should be easy. Effortless even, so long as you have yerks who aren't idiots in a position of power. Don't give them host bodies, give them morph capabilities. Being a yerk SUCKS, duh, but the whole premise of the animorph's power is their ability to change into much better bodies. Slap a yerk onto the morphing cube, toss them at a tiger, and boom! No longer blind and helpless, while also no longer tied to the kondrona rays. That's how they got the Taxxons to swap sides after all. Wanna know what stops this quick, easy, blindingly obvious plan? Politics. Even if they don't have to see humans as "meat" to be controlled, cultural inertia and the power grabs from people in charge would dictate that yerks take over the planet anyway. Only with morphing powers, suddenly they have less reason to keep all those hosts alive.

[@LordRavenscraft]

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

[@jaxsetbertoncarlism8873]

Yeerks thrown into war felt this, yes. But yeerks on the home world being told to abandon their species and everything they know, ie, soaking kandroma while blind in a pool, might not. They would view it as an incapacity to leap over, but still intrinsic to their being and not something to write over. Of course if they morph to heal themselves from starving every three days, without becoming nothlits, that might be better. Still, it's a leap to consider a blind slug evolving sapience

[@elizabethsullivan1894]

Especially because fundamentally, the Andalites probably *could* have done that all along. Hell, in the last book, the only reason they agreed to help the Taxxons was because they were pushed into a corner about it. I actually think the Andalites are really well written--they would clearly have preferred to utterly destroy the Yeerks instead of even try to live alongside them.

[@kaleidoslug7777]

Thats disgustingly realistic

[@adriencarver5722]

14:34 is one of the most brilliant scenes in all of YA. It's where you realize this series isn't just another sci-fi drama. It's something deeper. And it happens in the second book.

[@holycowitsdave]

This kinda makes me glad I grew up on Skulduggery Pleasant. All that good character depth and not shying away from the reality of what's going on, but minus the weird serial stuff that comes with an episodic series. Similar sort of moral premise: a 12 year old girl is thrust into a world of magic and danger, and is sent out as equal parts assistant detective/warrior in war. While it's all told from the perspective of the girl, Valkyrie Cain (not her given name) it also makes sure to acknowledge how fucked up it was of Skulduggery, her mentor and supposed responsible adult, to allow her to tag along when he knew how dangerous his line of work was and he'd had partners who died in really gruesome ways. And to a very significant degree, the nine books of the main Skulduggery story are in essence, realising and coming to terms with the damage that this kind of life has done to Valkyrie, and also slowly acknowledging that Skulduggery is just not a good role model. Nine books, each one it's own complete story, yet all telling a continuous story that deals with all of the above, plus a lot more. No weird serial stuff or filler. Characters die, and they don't come back or pull a "well, they died off screen." (In fact, after book nine, we do have several characters who die off screen, and are actually dead, and aren't coming back) Oh, also there are plenty scenes of actual torture, including some real proper mobster shit like cutting off fingers, one actual decapitation described in detail, and they're still printed under Harper Collin's Children books. Someone should really do a deep dive like this video on the Skulduggery series. Not me though, because I'm lazy.

[@williambenton6254]

Dude SP is underrated, what happened to ----- and ----- sucked, they deserved better

[@ves5657]

"you only know about because either you read about it in the 90s and haven't shut up since, or you know about it from people like us" LMAO i read it in the 2000s when i was in the 4th grade

[@Vivigreeny25]

I almost did but I lost the book I was reading. (I think it was the second one.) Honestly thank God I did because I would have been *traumatized.*

[@apophis7712]

I was born in 2001 and read the books in elementary school. Sadly, I got the end game spoiled before I could find all the books...

[@speedy01247]

same, read almost the whole series. (by like 6th grade or so) there were a few books I was unable to find though.

[@nicolefornuto7177]

same here though it helped my older brother had all the books

[@J_Flower]

Yessss same! A little 2000s elementary school kid who found a book with a cool transforming cover in my school’s library. 😂 Tbh tho I know I read a lot of them, maybe even all but Im not sure as I’ve forgotten most of it, all I remembered it as was that book series where kids could transform into animals, and there was a guy who got trapped as a bird.... honestly most of the stuff I remember is about Tobias. Like I clearly remembered him getting trapped as a bird, then trying to retain his humanity before going full on bird living in the woods, and something about him getting his powers back by touching his past self etc.... but now I’m wondering if I should track down these books to reread them. And honestly I’m shocked that little 10 years old and younger me read these books.

[@animalia5554]

One of my favorite bits of Marco’s storylines was “this was the end of smart, and the beginning of right”

[@MissSpaz]

"I can't say my last name because" Oof. I haven't had that ol' suppressed memory feel since I was reminded of the slime monster.

[@oopsiepoopsie2898]

I found one of the books when I was real young ripped in half. The part I read some guys brother was controlled by the aliens but he had to fake like he knew. Then they went to a hospital and the aliens gets inside him. You get to see how it feels the alien taken control of your body. You are still awake but they control everything. Then his friends find out and they cold turkey him at a tree house or something. All I remember was being like 8 and now terrified at the thought of someone/ something controlling my movements and me not being able to do anything about it.

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

45:34 that’s always been interesting to me. Cuz like you hear “military cadet” and you think he’s this grand, mature character but in reality he’s every bit a child as the rest of the gang

[@misery8264]

When I was six, my teacher gave me the first book as a birthday present, and it was the first time that a book kept my mind occupied weeks after I finished it. I begged my mom to buy me the second one, but it took some convincing since she thought the concept was "too cruel" xD

[@faelock12]

That genocidal decision from jake near the end is the same one I would have made Knowing how the yeerks operate I would definitely make the same call

[@a-s-greig]

Invasive species aren't dealt with kindly by environmentalists. It's not a luxury we can afford in the face of ecological destruction, so why would they do any less to protect humanity?

[@hippocampussashimi7819]

Disclaimer: This is a thought experiment on framing. But then we get into the quote in this video, of the Yeerks conceiving of hosts as "meat" (been many hears since I've read myself, may be misreoresenting) in some ways. The way you are choosing to frame it is just that, a way of framing it. I would argue that the distinction of what counts as a person/worthy of not being consumed/worthy of having its consent considered (on whether it is product or person) is arbitrary, or at the least more a matter of consent, manufactured or otherwise, than some inherent knowledge (a truism rather than actually true). Putting down a rogue elephant or an animal "with a taste for human blood" (no idea if this is even an actual thing, but it does serve a point), even if it could be avoided by not going sightseeing in its natural habitat, not going to game reserves or surfing, is generally considered normal. This is not even a thing of survival or overcoming what is framed as a really not very pleasant existence of the Yeerks, this is simply leisure. I'm not trying to say that framing you have put on it is wrong, just to note that it is not the only way one could choose to frame it (and it being perceived as intuitive is not enough for me personally, but those are some strange standards you shouldn't concern yourself with).

[@hippocampussashimi7819]

*a matter of societal consent (what might be framed and understood through the lens of social contract theory)

[@erikjohnson7141]

As someone in the military, same. I would be expected to eliminate my enemy and I would expect the enemy to do the same. Wouldn't even hold a grudge to be honest, in some cases. But I think the line again is that the Yeerk are more or less possessing and using humanity for its own desires without humanity even knowing or having consent. So they deserve to be wiped out with no remorse and the kids can be viewed the heroes. Thats what happens with unconventional warfare, the side that does the more secretive shady shit are the ones to be viewed in lesser light.

[@ucnguyen6375]

And let not forget how David made a kid "recover" magically from his death bed

[@davidtucker9498]

I'm sorry? What's that about?

[@ucnguyen6375]

@@davidtucker9498 Are you sure that you want to know about it

[@allebas8705]

@@ucnguyen6375 well i sure as hell do

[@ucnguyen6375]

Ok, so here is something we should know about morphing power, it has the ability to heal any kind of physical damage, no matter how serious it is, as long as the gene is healthy then the morph will be healthy as normal. In the book about David, there is a kid who was really sick because of some accident if I remember right. He is going to die soon, but after David going to the hospital, somehow, the kid is no longer sick anymore, he recover and become like a new person entirely.

[@Trefox87]

@@allebas8705 full on spoilers for that specific incident on the wiki David broke into a hospital to steal the DNA of Jake and Rachel's cousin, who was in intensive care from getting hit by a car. David then threw that cousin down an elevator shaft to take his place, and live a normal life as that guy (demorphing at night to retain his morphing abilities, and choosing the cousin because they looked similar enough in the dark and were similar in body shape), till he went rogue against the animorphs and the rat thing happened. The cousin's body wasn't found until after the rat event, confusing everyone on how the cousin went from magically healed, to back to being horribly mutilated and now murdered.

[@abdul-rahimdahman3300]

Animorphs was that series I'd always see lining the shelves of every public library I'd go to, but I could never find the first book. So I one time picked up a random entry, turned out it was the finale, got spoiled, traumatized, and never thought about the series again....until today xD loved the passion and structure behind this video, you've earned yourself a new subscriber 👍✨

[@edanmaor]

OK this was amazing. Animorphs was such a foundational part of my youth, I sometimes have trouble believing that not everyone just knows these stories the same way they know fairy tales. How else do people learn about complex moral dilemmas? Thank you for giving me a chance to revisit this series that I love so much (and oh man do I need another reread, I barely remember half the craziness!). On to the next video!

[@keah]

Great video! Thanks for keeping the Animorphs alive!!

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

I read some of them in Danish first, and l've read all of them in English. They are so, so good. The Ellimist is a gamer, just in case this video won't mention that particular bit of craziness. And that's the least weird thing about this series.

[@okuno54]

He may be a gamer, but he's also a scrub. Git Gud! -- Crayak

[@andrewmalinowski6673]

I think only the Ellimist Chronicles touches on this, the "fairy on floating crystals instead of continents" thing was kind of an oversimplification. Due to the jovial and free-spirited nature of his people the Ellimist actually explores the process of becoming what he's seen as later and the entire battle of "order vs. chaos" between the Ellimist and Crayak almost lessens the weirdness

[@sleepinghermit7778]

@@okuno54 Crayak was better at first, then the Ellimist did "get good".

[@jeggsonvohees2201]

I'm pretty sure I remember the series ending with most of the team doing a kamikaze run at an enemy, the result of which would kill them all. I'd hardly call that a cliffhanger.

[@erikurizita6702]

I loved Animorphs as a kid. I grew up with it. Sadly, I think after Ax`s hardcover book, I pretty much went a different way in life. Once Tobias managed to get some type of his human form back I was content. Cassie and Tobias and Ax and Visser were my faves.

[@esteemedmortal5917]

First: THEYRE MAKING A MOVIE?! Second: an excellent overview of the characters and series. It reminds me why it was my favorite. I was really inspired by the moral struggles. Third: I REALLY haven’t read the series in a while if I forgot Jake committed genocide.

[@trevorstillson8126]

Rachel's death is one thing that made me aware of mortality. It also taught me the word Gore

[@dm33]

god i'm so glad you quoted marco's 'bright clear line' segment, it's one of the most striking passages from the entire series and has stuck in my mind ever since i first read it

[@usdutchkitty]

It's a masterpiece of an Animorphs video essay! I hope Grant shows this to the movie executives about the passion of the OG fans!

[@derrickhaggard]

As one of the OG fans who still loves the franchise I agree 100%.

[@moonyollie6977]

I mean, there's a nearly 4 hour video about the entirety of the Animorphs series on YT, and many of us watched that one, so you've got loads of leeway lol

[@animalia5554]

Link please?

[@RandomDragonEXE]

Yes link please

[@matcharat2332]

Thank goodness someone is finally talking about this series in the manor it deserves. Not many books stuck with me throughout my childhood, but this one sure did. To this day, I can still recall several intense scenes from this series in vivid detail.

[@kyleellis9177]

I feel like Jake calling RAchel for David, was more about him knowing she needed to be the one to avenge Tobias. Until about book 45, Jake made sure Marco made calls on his mom, and really made sure everyone got to be the one making calls on personal missions,

[@Captain_DelParaiso]

I can't tell you how many times I said "oh man I forgot about that!" during this video. I didn't read these books as a teenager, but as a child, like the very last time I picked up an Animorphs book I couldn't have possibly been older than 10, and holy CRAP I have to reread this series.

[@ac8911]

It's been 20 years but I still remember the general love story of the Hork Bajir chronicles and how Marco loves baywatch and Rachel loves Xena

[@faativasser9942]

Was directed here by a friend of your's on FB. I'm a huge Animorphs stan so, let's get into it! I'll be commenting on your video throughout here: 1. SO THIS IS A FEELS TRAIN THAT I BOUGHT A TICKET FOR?? 2. I like your humor, it's disarming 3. You're making me really want to re-read Animorphs 4. I wasn't ready to have my heart torn open like this, poor Jake, I mean he becomes a genocidal monster, but he's a victim of circumstance, if you grow up in America of all places are things like genocide and war crimes at the forefront of your mind to never do? Probably not. 5. 12 minutes in and I'm subscribed to your channel 6. Okay, so that character analysis is on point, and I appreciate that you're not all out hating any of them for the people they become because of the tough choices they have to make as children

[@LordRavenscraft]

This is all so kind, thank you! And definitely, I don't think any of them deserve hate. They're kids. Even David, for as openly awful as he was, still could've grown and matured if he'd had the chance. But none of them had the chance to live healthy lives. It was never an option.

[@inurooshi]

Thank you for making this. There is so much to love about this series. It's touched so many people's hearts and still amazing now. I wish Animorphs were as celebrated as Harry Potter. It's so much more real and strong. Thank you for your analysis. I just also love how they show different people such as Taylor and we learn about how varied people are. I remember how Cassie kills a Horkbajir and Aftran is like I knew that yeerk they took guard duty so they could stay away from the frontline and not kill. Gah... Thanks for making this. subscribing now.

[@cooperminion825]

I think it's bc HP was more of the classic battle of good vs evil. Animorphs on the other hand is an allegorical series about the consequences of war as told through the eyes of 4 middle school kids, a kid who's now stuck as a hawk, and a blue alien. How can such a complex series compete against Quidditch?

[@apex2000]

That rat thing... That's like a watered down version of I have no mouth and I must scream (the game) quintecencial body horror, some would argue worse than death.

[@fredjones2170]

No joke, this video singlehandedly got me to dive back HARD into Animorphs. I only read a handful of the books as a kid, and thought I’d long outgrown the series. But your video helped me understand just how dark, nuanced and mature this series is even by adult standards, and now I’m halfway through reading the series from start to finish! Thank you so much for making this comprehensive retrospective of the series, and I’m eagerly looking forward to your next video!

[@bobcake8904]

I’ve started reading them to my younger sister, voicing all the characters differently (or trying to). At our current moment in time, we are at book 12, right before the Andalite chronicles, and one of my favorite Animorph books. Birdboy’s return to battle. Oh we will be jumping up and down in suspense during the action and talking about it every day. It’s so fun :) Been using the pdfs formatted to my phone instead of the bookset I’ve had forever.

[@stanleyhyde8529]

Wow. Some hot takes with some shots fired. This was the fist time I even thought of these books in over a decade. I'm glad I found this. Apparently the story seriously went places since I stopped reading.

[@Labinzel]

I'm loving this second age of animorphs content we've been getting recently!

[@jackmyers8687]

I'd forgotten how good these books are until recently. Someone asked my recommendation for a younger reader to enjoy and these popped up from the abyss of my teenage years. Hopefully introducing a new generation to this rather underrated collection.

[@toriistorii6939]

I discovered Animorphs in like 2008-2010 in my school library and I still love it despite not having read it in years

[@jbcatz5]

The David trilogy has a follow up Rachel focused book late in the series where he returns and Rachel is confronted with her violent nature. The cover morph is even what’s dubbed in the book as Super Rachel, a form of Rachel that begins to manifest her inner aggression.

[@sarahmurabito9391]

something tells me super rachel would scare even mean rachel and that's saying something

[@jbcatz5]

@@sarahmurabito9391 I think the division of Rachels in The Separation is more nuanced than Nice Rachel and Mean Rachel. I compare it to Kirk in the Original Series episode The Enemy Within, where a teleport accident splits him into two with his personality divided between both bodies. They need the aspects the other retains to balance out. One Rachel is aggressive impulse, prone to acting rashly but prone to action nonetheless. The other Rachel can work out all the angles but can’t make a decision if her life depends on it and is more likely to put the responsibility of action or decision in the hands of others. She wants to tell her father the truth because it takes the responsibility out of her hands. She goes to the airport to see her father, but when he’s under a time crunch due to an impending flight she can’t bring herself to say anything that’s important and he leaves slightly frustrated. Both Rachel’s need to be in the same form to cover each other’s weaknesses, to plan but know when to take action and do so without going feral. It is theorised that the merge altered the balance of Rachel’s personality traits to make her more aggressive, which is why she’s more bloodthirsty and impulsive after this point.

[@dopeyx86]

God, I was a young, deep kid when I read the series. But I guess some elements went over my head back then while I attached myself to others. So bc of my upbringing I focused on the stories of Marco and Tobias. I related to them heavily. I liked the rest, but i felt a kinship with those two. Your character analysis opened me up to what I missed, like marcos crystal clear convictions. Also, I really enjoyed ax, but I was too young to pick up the nuance of his disillusionment towards his culture. I mean as a kid, I GOT it. But at 33, I certainly "get" it much better than I ever could at 11. im now reminded of dudes who serve in the US military and then after witnessing hypocrisy and moral conflict decide to turn around and say fuck this, I am my own culture now. Also, your humor really helped make this comfy. Relearning animorphs is helping me understand why I became the person I am today.

[@dankline9162]

Wow. I was a poor kid growing up and never finished these, but any book I bought, id never part with, and read the gaps in the library. Also, getting the andalite chronicles was an amazing score of a story! At 35, i wouldn't mind rereading these. I loved Tobias, Ax, and Cassie. Loved that nothing was simply black and white in these books, loved having the perspectives of so many characters. I think as a shy, eccentric, socially awkward kid, this helped me relate and be more empathetic to others. Also loving stuff like the Twilight zone, star trek, etc, this was right up my alley. These were so great for sparking your imagination, and getting immersed.

[@Tenuto40]

Just discovered this channel and...damn, I forgot so much about the series and I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who read these either. Thinking back, I think those are the exact reasons Tobias and Cassie were my favorite characters. She is a hypocrite and she knows it’s a losing battle, but the point of being that conscience made her POV always more interesting because of that internal conflict. I think same with Tobias: a very very relatable character. Even if it wasn’t exact to my experience, it’s very real to many other people. Knowing how he felt was actually important for me in being able to empathize and accept other people, as we may never know what background things are going on. That there can be a wealth of friendship or experiences from those that seem to be at the bottom of the social pole. Anyway, great video, looking forward to watching prt 2!

[@mal3diction]

KZbin only just told me you exist. Thanks so much for 1) reminding me why exactly I loved this series so much and 2) giving me something to show my friends that explains so much more eloquently than I could ever manage.

[@Heather-pl3gs]

“Now that the movie’s been announced-“ My head shot up so fast I think I broke my neck