Animorphs! Nothing is what it seems!

   It's time for my Bi-Yearly reread of my favorite series- Animorphs! I first picked it up in the mid 90s, and like most kids I knew, lost interest mid way. Fast forward to 2009, I had my tonsils out, and didn't have to work, nor could I hang out with anyone for two weeks. I knew what it was time to do- Finish Animorphs. I stared with volume one, and read every single volume and side story. Two years later I found volumes 1-41 at Half Priced Books, and bought every volume they had, filling in the gaps on eBay and Amazon. That was two years ago, now it's time for the 3rd annual Animorphs Reread.

90s pictures do not age well.

Animorphs is a series about five kids who walk home through a construction site late one night, and see a crashing alien spaceship. The alien is an Andalite- a blue centaur with four eyes, two on stalks, no mouth, and a tail with a blade on the end. His name is Elfangor and he is dying. As he takes his final breaths, he tells the children of an alien Invasion, the Yeerks. The Yeerks are slug like aliens that flatten themselves down and crawl into your ear, taking over you brain. They act just like you, and no one would ever know the difference. They've already conquered three races- The Hork Bajir: Fast and strong warriors types covered in blades, Taxxons: Giant worms with an unquenchable hunger, and Gedds: slow moving and monkey like, but better than nothing. They are now invading earth, and few people know. To make matters worse, the Andalites are at least a year away,  until then the kids are on their own.

Elfangor the Andalite

Hork Bajir

Taxxons

Yeerks

   Elfangor give the children alien technology- the ability to acquire animals and take on their form for only 2 hours, otherwise, you will be stuck as the animal. As soon as they gain this ability, the leader of the Yeerk attack forces on Earth Visser Three appears and morphs a large creature to eat Elfangor. Visser Three is the only Yeerk to ever acquire an Andalite body as  his host, this makes him extremely dangerous. The gang decides to use this power to fight for the human race, calling themselves Animorphs or animal morphers.

Visser Three Himself

From left to right: Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, and Tobias as the Hawk.

     So who are our Animorphs ? The whole story takes place in California for the most part, since I know I alaways wondered.
Jake Berenson- A 13 year leader who's a mix of Batman and George Washington. The tough decisions are left to him, and he does the best he can. His brother is a controller, and he agonizes of saving him. He is 16 at the end of the series.
Rachel Berenson- Jake's cousin, described as being blonde, beautiful, and completely insane. As the series continues, she becomes a blood thirsty mess, culminating in her death killing Jake's brother and her cousin Tom.
Cassie- The tree hugging hippie, she and Jake date somewhat through most of the series, until the final battle. Cassies is black, and lives on a farm, taking care of injured animals, it's how they get most of their morphs. Her mother works at Bush Gardens, which is where they acquire the rest of their morphs.
Marco- Jake's hilarious best friend, he's often the voice of reason. Visser one is his mother, who is long thought dead.He finds fame and fortune, and is the most adjusted when the war ends. He is Spanish, since diversity was all the rage back in the 90s.
Tobias- A troubled young man, he becomes trapped as a Red Tailed Hawk in the first book. In volume 13 he reacquires his morphing ability, and his human body as a morph, though he must live as a hawk, or forfeit his morphing powers.After Rachel's death, he shuns humanity. That is til Ax is in danger.
Ax (Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill)-Elfangor's younger brother who joins the cast in volume four, he considers Jake his prince. When he's in human morph (a mix of the four leads), the sense of taste drives him crazy. After the war he becomes a War Prince, and is taken over by the entity known as "The One"

I found this helpful alien list! Oh Boy!

Now let's get onto the other notable Aliens and entities:
Andalites- Scientifically advanced creatures, often considered the medlers of the galaxy.
Yeerks-  Parasitic Slugs who travel the galaxy searching for a race of creatures to infest for all their brothers and sisters at home.
Hork Bajir- largely unintelligent creatures who have powerful bodies designed for stripping bark.
Taxxons- Giant worms who will eat anything living, even themselves.
Gedds- Slow moving creatures with poor vision and low intelligence, they shared a home world with the Yeerks.
Leerans- Pyschic Yellow frogs that live underwater for the most part.
The Chee- an extremely powerful pacifist android dogs that walk on two legs, they want to help the Animorphs, but without conflict. If they were fighting, the war would be over in a week.
Crayak- A near all powerful being that plays games involving life with the Ellimist, those he's considered Evil.
The Ellimist- a near all powerful being, he usually takes the form of an old man. He offers implied deals to get what he wants. The earth invasion is considered a game between Crayak and him, with him for humanity.

The new cover models from the short lived relaunch.

   Animorphs is the story of a group of kids forced to become guerrillas in war they're ill prepared for. They aren't expected to win, they just need to hold off the invasion til the Andalites arrive. They fight battles where they're hopeless outnumbered, and it's considered a victory if no one dies. They do have a few advantages however. If they are injured, morphing fixing it, since the DNA isn't damaged.  It is extremely tough to kill them. Secondly, Visser three is an idiot, he  kills subordinates, is easily tricked, and becomes enraged at the slightest mishap. Third is Visser One, she favors stealth invasion, so no all out attacks. She created The sharing, which is basically a front for infesting people with Yeerks.
     

      Animorphs appealed to me because it contained aliens, people becoming animals, and a darker story than most young adult books at the time, this was prior to Harry Potter. Animorphs becomes darker and darker til the series ends, with the cast becoming tainted by what they had to do, and Jake essentially being broken by the end of the series. I loved that there wasn't a happy ending, hell it didn't even have an ending really. I was really hoping the series would do well when it was relaunched two years ago, but after 7 books, it was done. I so wanted a conclusion to "The One" story.

The Final Volume

Animorphs ran for 54 volumes of the main series, four specials, and four chronichles, which made up certain characters back stories. Here's my summary of each.

#1: The Invasion: The gang finds out about the fight between the Andalites and Yeerks, gains morphing powers, and Tobias is trapped as a hawk. Jake's brother Tom is revealed to be a controller, and the Yeerk Pool is located under half their home town.
#2 The Visitor: Rachel Morphs a cat to invade Chapmans' home, hoping to gain information.
#3 The Encounter: The Animorphs destroy a large water transport ship of the Yeerks.
#4 The Message: An Andalite is trapped in the ocean, and the Animorphs have to rescue him.
#5 The Predator:Visser one is revealed to be Marco's mother who was long though dead.
#6 The Capture: Jake Becomes a Controller!
#7 The Stranger: We're introduced to the Ellimist, an all powerful being who can control anything. The Animorphs destroy the Kandrona, the main life source for the Yeerks.
#8 The Alien: Ax contacts home, and manages to separate Visser Three from his Andalite body.  The Andalites pussy out and don't kill his host body. We learn the Anadalites are responsible for the Yeerk menace, an act known as Seerow's Kindness.
#9 The Secret: Logging Companies are bad!
#10 The Android: An old classmate of Marco's is revealed to be an android who wnats to help fight the Yeerks.
#11 The Forgotten: The gang goes on a wacky journey to the Rain Forrest and all die. No, seriously, though thanks to time travel tomfoolery, they're fine.
#12 The Reaction: Rachel morphs a Crocodile, and is allergic to it. She morphs without wanting to, and eventually gives birth to a crocodile
#13 The Change: Tobias regains his ability to Morph, thanks to the Ellimist.  To gain this, he frees two Hork Bajir and is sent back in time to acquire his past self.
#14 The Unknown: The Animorphs sneak into Area 91 with Horse controllers to discover an Andalite toilet.
#15 The Escape: The Annimorphs discover an underground Yeerk base attempting to turn sharks into controllers to fight on the Leeran home world. It's destroyed at the end of course.
#16 The Warning: The gang discovers a Yeerk Homepage run by Visser Three's  brother to lure in other Yeerks and eat them. He also created the internet.
#17 The Underground : The Yeerks can be driven insane by Instant Maple and Ginger oatmeal, but it also elimantes their need for Kandrona Rays.The gang explodes a barrel in the Yeerk Pool.
#18 The Decision: The Animorphs and pulled into Zero Space, and help the conflict on Leeran. They learn that their are traitors among the Andalites.
#19 The Departure: Cassie decides to quit the Animorphs, and allows a yeerk into her head, and the same yeerk convince her to stay as a nothlit as a Caterpillar. Thanks to her becoming a butterfly her clock is reset. I hate Cassie.
#20 The Discover: A boy named David finds Elfangor's blue box, and is forced into being an Animorph when the Yeerks attack his family.
#21 The Threat: David cannot be trusted, and attempts to hunt down the Animorphs one by one.
#22 The Solution: The Animorphs are trap David in Rat morph and dump him on an island in the middle of nowhere.  Rachel is openly acknowledged as a bloodthirsty warrior during this volume.
#23: The Pretender: A person who claims to be related to Tobias emerges, and the Animorphs learn Elfangor is his father.
#24 The Suspicion: The Helmacrons are introduced, they are tiny aliens who shrink our Animoprhs down to ant size.
#25 The Extreme: The Animorphs head to the Arctic circle and fight Yeerks!
#26 The Attack : The gang is pulled to another world to be pawns in aa game between the Ellimist and Crayak against the Howlers.
#27 The Exposed :  The Pemalites, the creators of the Chee have a spaceship in the Ocean that the Yeerks have recently discovered. Time to get on down!
# 28 The Experiment: Meat is bad!
#29: The Sickness: Cassie saves the day when everyone else gets sick.
#30 The Reunion: Visser One is in trouble with the Yeerk Council, and she realizes Marco is an Animorph.
#31 The Conspiracy: Tom tries to kill his and Jake's father, and it's up to everyone to help save him.
#32 The Seperation : Rachel Morphs a Starfish, is split in half, and both sides reform with very different personalities.
#33 The Illusion: The Yeerks invent a morph ray, which would undo the Animorphs morphs. They allow Tobias to be capture and tortured by Taylor, a reoccurring villain.
#34 The Prophecy: Wacky Hijinks on the Hork Bajir home world, while Cassie is possessed by an Andalite spirit. Cassie's books suck hard.
#35 The Proposal: Marco's father remarries, and somehow this is the most stressful thing in his life.
#36 The Mutation: The Animorphs head under the sea and find some sort of alien inbred hoarders who want to stuff them.
 #37 The Weakness: Jake goes out of town, and Rachel is in charge, this can only end well.
#38 The Arrival: More Andalites arrive on earth, and then leave at the end of the book.
#39  The Hidden: The Helmacrons return, and a buffalo gains the ability to morph.
#40 The Other : Two Andalites are revealed to be living lives on earth hidden as humans. They are never heard from again.
#41 The Familiar: Jake wakes up in a future where the Yeerks have won.
#42 The Journey: The Helmacrons are back, and this time they go inside Marco.
#43 The Test: Taylor lies about a plan to damage the Yeerk pool, and is killed.
 #44 The Unexpected :Cassie wanders around the outback with a cute boy!
#45 The Revelation: Marco moves his father to the free Hork Bajir valley, and his mother is freed from her Yeerk.
#46 The Deception: The Yeerks attempt to start a war with China, and attempt to take over during the confusion, but Ax threatens to nuke the city with the Yeerk pool to call it off.
#47 The Resistance: The location of the free Hork Bajir valley is revealed to the Yeerks, but the gang wins the battle by becoming beavers.
#48 The  Return: David is back, thanks to Crayak, and Rachel may or may not kill him at the end. I'd go with the former.
#49: The Diversion: The Yeerks realize the Animorphs are human, and the group evacuates all them save for Jake's family, who are made into controllers. Tobias' mother is found, having been hurt in a car accidnet, and barely able to take care of herself, and is fixed by morphing.
#50: The Ultimate: The Animorphs form the an axillary team out of damaged children, and the Yeerks gain the morphing cube, thanks to Cassie.
#51: The Absolute: The team warns the governer of the invasion, and she speaks on T.V. about it.
#52 The Sacrfice: Ax has been secretly communicating with the Andalites, reporting the situation on Earth. The team manages to destroy the Yeerk pool on earth, forcing the Yeerks to turn to all out battle to take over the world.
#53 The Answer : Jake convinces the military of the Yeerk threat, and they join in the fight. Jake proposes to Cassie, the auxiliary Animorphs die, the Taxxons join the Andalites in excuse for the ability to morph snakes, and the main team sneaks onto pool ship. Jake orders Ax to dump all the Yeerks onboard into space, and Rachel is on Tom's ship.
#54 The Beginning: Rachel and Tom are killed. The war ends, and Jake testifies against Visser Three's Yeerk for his war crimes. The Andalites form a treaty with earth, and Ax becomes a prince, and is tasked with finding the blade ship. Jake is depressed over his order to kill Tom, and sacrifice of Rachel. Ax is taken over by "The one" and Marco, Jake, Tobias and a few recruits steal a ship to save him. The series ends with Jake ordering the crew to ram the Blade ship.

Megamorphs #1: The Anadlite's gift: Visser Three controls a morph hunting monster, and Rachel loses her memory.
Megamorphs #2: In the Time of the Dinosaurs: They go back in time and Morph Dinosaurs! The best book in the series, fuck yes!
Megamorphs #3: Elfangor's Secret: Time travel hijinks with the Time Matrix.
Megamorphs #4: This novel is a what-if scenario, with the Animorphs never becoming a team. They win the war in about a month actually.

The Andalite Chronicles: Elfangor's Story, chronicling his rise and death.
The Hork Bajir Chronicles: The story of Dak Hamee and Alrea failed to save the Hork Bajir from the Yeerk Menace.
Visser: Don't let the cover fool you, it's about Visser One, Marco's mother.
The Ellimist Chronicles:The Ellimist's back story is revealed, apparently he was some sort of bird that played lots of video games, until he was woven until the fabric of the universe.

   I couldn't give an accurate score without nostalgia, so I'll restrain from it. There was a poorly adapted TV series in the late 90s, but it was better forgotten. It was live action and aired on Nickolodeon, and didn't last long. It didn't have anywhere near the budget needed to faithfully adapt the books. Sony pictures has had the rights to the movies for years, and recently renewed the domain for an Animorphs movie, but we can always hope. Now here's some covers that I feel showcase the Animorphs characters well.

    There's also a toyline, which basically tied into the Beast Wars line, bot made by Kenner/ Hasbro and turned into beasts. They were all pretty bad, at least the humans were. You could have a decent animal or person, both did not work. I owned several of course.

 There's a special place in hell for whoever designed that T-Rex. WTF!