100 Things #5: Animorphs
100 of My Fandoms
5. Animorphs
Animorphs was one of my first obsessions. I was in first grade and reading everything I could get my hands on, and the children's paperback room at my library had so many of these books it was inevitable I would pick one up. Now, I'd loved transformation from a very young age, and at this point I was big into animals, so Animorphs was basically everything I'd never thought to dream of. It also may have been my first inkling that I liked possession, though my true realization of that will have to wait till somewhere in the J's. Regardless, whenever I wasn't pretending I was an Animorph, I was pretending I was a Yeerk (and pretending that my classmates were Yeerks too, without telling them why the heck I was calling them by these weird number names, which I'm sure left them deeply confused). I also attempted to write an Animorphs play that my class would perform (got about two lines in) and drew Ax for one of my art projects. Also, the Animorphs website was the first website I ever went to (or more accurately, convinced my parents to go to so I could see). Yeah, I'd say obsession is about the right word.
The plot was at that point just the icing on the cake, though I realize now that it might be the best part of the whole thing. I mean, here we have this series about war and death and serious morality choices, and it's a kids' series! I was reading this when I was six! If you ever needed an argument that kids can handle a lot more than we think they can, here it is. And I love how the characters are affected by this, and get messed up, and don't always make the right choices, and yet they're still sticking this war out. That's deep, man. And all of this was counterbalanced by a good bit of fun stuff and genuine humor. Mainly from Marco. :B
Sadly, for some reason that is unfathomable to me, I stopped reading the series at some point before the finale, and never actually finished until my reread in junior year of high school. (Though I had been spoiled beforehand for who died.) I think I feel the need for another reread coming on, though. You can never have too much Animorphs. Or at least. I can't.
Favorite character: My favorite was always Cassie, probably not for much of a deeper reason than that we both liked animals. Still, though, it makes me sad when people talk about how she's their least favorite - and it seems she's a lot of people's least favorite. :( Maybe she made some dumb decisions, but which of them didn't? She's a good kid, man.
Fanwork recs: There is a lot of great fic and art out there; I'll only rec one of each, but you should definitely check animorphs for more. My fic rec is The Perspective, which is from the point of view of a gay teen Controller. I love how it explored some of the more subtle ways a Yeerk in your head could mess with you psychologically, and also I like the relationship between the main two characters. Also, apparently it's started updating again! I know what I'm reading after I post this. :D For fanart, I give you suzanami@tumblr, who (imho) captures the characters perfectly, and also makes them all such utter cuties. eeeee
Also I know I said I would only rec one fanart, but as a bonus have monster-man-08's take on the various alien races, which I found while doing some Googling for this post. Because they're excellent.
5. Animorphs
Animorphs was one of my first obsessions. I was in first grade and reading everything I could get my hands on, and the children's paperback room at my library had so many of these books it was inevitable I would pick one up. Now, I'd loved transformation from a very young age, and at this point I was big into animals, so Animorphs was basically everything I'd never thought to dream of. It also may have been my first inkling that I liked possession, though my true realization of that will have to wait till somewhere in the J's. Regardless, whenever I wasn't pretending I was an Animorph, I was pretending I was a Yeerk (and pretending that my classmates were Yeerks too, without telling them why the heck I was calling them by these weird number names, which I'm sure left them deeply confused). I also attempted to write an Animorphs play that my class would perform (got about two lines in) and drew Ax for one of my art projects. Also, the Animorphs website was the first website I ever went to (or more accurately, convinced my parents to go to so I could see). Yeah, I'd say obsession is about the right word.
The plot was at that point just the icing on the cake, though I realize now that it might be the best part of the whole thing. I mean, here we have this series about war and death and serious morality choices, and it's a kids' series! I was reading this when I was six! If you ever needed an argument that kids can handle a lot more than we think they can, here it is. And I love how the characters are affected by this, and get messed up, and don't always make the right choices, and yet they're still sticking this war out. That's deep, man. And all of this was counterbalanced by a good bit of fun stuff and genuine humor. Mainly from Marco. :B
Sadly, for some reason that is unfathomable to me, I stopped reading the series at some point before the finale, and never actually finished until my reread in junior year of high school. (Though I had been spoiled beforehand for who died.) I think I feel the need for another reread coming on, though. You can never have too much Animorphs. Or at least. I can't.
Favorite character: My favorite was always Cassie, probably not for much of a deeper reason than that we both liked animals. Still, though, it makes me sad when people talk about how she's their least favorite - and it seems she's a lot of people's least favorite. :( Maybe she made some dumb decisions, but which of them didn't? She's a good kid, man.
Fanwork recs: There is a lot of great fic and art out there; I'll only rec one of each, but you should definitely check animorphs for more. My fic rec is The Perspective, which is from the point of view of a gay teen Controller. I love how it explored some of the more subtle ways a Yeerk in your head could mess with you psychologically, and also I like the relationship between the main two characters. Also, apparently it's started updating again! I know what I'm reading after I post this. :D For fanart, I give you suzanami@tumblr, who (imho) captures the characters perfectly, and also makes them all such utter cuties. eeeee
Also I know I said I would only rec one fanart, but as a bonus have monster-man-08's take on the various alien races, which I found while doing some Googling for this post. Because they're excellent.