Species discussion Helmacrons

[buffyangellvr23]

I think I'll also do Humans before this is over...when I type in the subject box, the list of what I've done pops up, and I don't see them. Anyway...

Comments

[blue_rampion]

I might be the exception here, but I do actually like the Helmacrons and find them hilariously ridiculous. However, as amusing as I find them, I think poparena had it right on this one - they are most definitely an alien species that are fit to be filler and not much else. They would have been best if they stayed as a one off alien race that we never heard from again, as opposed to continuously being brought back when they didn't actually have anything of substance to offer.

And what can I say, I will always laugh at "You may grovel in the manner of your people!" :P

[acts_of_tekla]

Gotta agree -- it was much better filler than, say, #14, but it occurred after the arc trajectory was leaning much more towards seriousness. I think it would have been better if #14 had been this instead of the alien toilet joke, and #24 had been...IDK, but it probably needed to include Tobias telling everyone about Elfangor being his father (which...that would actually be really interesting for Cassie to narrate, since she's supposed to be the empathic one). Especially since #25 and #26 had some pretty heavy themes, but well balanced with comedy.

[blue_rampion]

Yes, thematically the Helmacron books would have bit much better pre the David trilogy. But then, there are many books post the David trilogy that weren't really the right tone for where the series ended up. Possibly a sign that the overall arc of the whole series wasn't really as well developed as it should have been.

And oh god, not that you mention it...I would kill to read a Cassie book that featured Tobias telling Ax and the others about Elfangor being his father. That would have had lots of potential to be interesting.

[mattiris]

Ghostwriting aside, #24 was definitely the superior book just because Marco is really the only character who can highlight just how ridiculous the Helmacrons are - they were actually a pretty significant threat but Marco really draws out the humour around them better than any other character (with Cassie as a perfect straight woman ("we grovel like, um... grovellers

[tobiahawk]

24 wasn't ghostwritten, actually.

[mattiris]

My bad - I was referring to #42 being ghostwritten but didn't word that very well.

[starz4598]

I agree that the Helmacrons were begging to be described from Marco's POV, which we never really got because one book was Cassie, and the other was Rachel. With that said, I must be weird because I actually liked #42, especially when I was younger. Rereading the books now, I can see that #24 is actually a lot funnier, but I liked the idea of journeying inside a human body (although I thought Cassie conveniently knowing everything about the human body was a little bit of a cop out).

I think as filler books go, I just prefer the fluffier ones that don't pretend to be anything else. I really hated that buffalo morphing book (one of only 3 Animorph books that I have only read once).

[rena_librarian]

I like you because your icon is Elijah Wood.

[starz4598]

I had a long hobbit phase.

[rena_librarian]

I'm still having vestiges of that phase. Getting really excited for The Hobbit movies. ^_^

[rena_librarian]

I just...I can't, with these buggers. The fact that they remind me (visually) of the claw machine aliens from Toy Story doesn't help anything as far as taking them seriously.

Also the way it was resolved, am I correct in thinking that once they were unshrunk they should've been able to morph 10-story anteaters?

[starz4598]

No. I have been thinking this for years, and I totally considered using it in my fic, but it already has way too much random crap to just start throwing in giant anteaters.

[rena_librarian]

Yay, I'm not the last sane person! =D

[starz4598]

Marco is the saving grace in most a lot of the books.