## [RT] r!Animorphs: the Reckoning, Chapter 25: Alloran * Author: u/ketura *Organizer** * URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11090259/25/r-Animorphs-The-Reckoning * Score: 36 * Created: 2016-07-20T06:06:52 ### Post: [Link to content](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11090259/25/r-Animorphs-The-Reckoning) ### Comments: > **u/ZeroNihilist** [+19] (an hour later) > > I consider the line about Esplin wanting Order tentative support for my hypothesis that the Crayak (if it's the one that supports the Yeerks) is also the one that supports Order. After all, what could be more ordered than a universe dominated by a single hive mind? > > That would make the Ellimist the one that supports Chaos, for example by empowering a group of what are effectively child terrorists to engage in guerilla warfare. >> **u/scruiser** [+6] *CYOA* (21 hours later) >> >> Putting things into that context... would Order or Chaos be more likely to handle things with a brute force simulation save scum to find just the right outcome? >>> **u/nerdguy1138** [+7] *GNU Terry Pratchett* (a day later) >>> >>> Considering Toomin is canonically a gamer, i'd pick him as the save scummer. >> **u/chaosmosis** [+6] *and with strange aeons, even death may die* (2 days later) >> >> Maybe I'm alone here, but this chapter makes me root for the Visser a small amount. Maybe you're right and one of his enemies is disorder, but I think the primary enemy discussed in this chapter is entropy, the inevitability of death and the ruination of the specific structures one values. Chaos in general is not a good thing, although it is at least good at destroying bad things. When people say they value chaos, almost always what they really mean is that they value certain specific types of freedom. >> >> Relevant Chesterton: >> >> > Gregory resumed in high oratorical good humour. “An artist is identical with an anarchist,” he cried. “You might transpose the words anywhere. An anarchist is an artist. The man who throws a bomb is an artist, because he prefers a great moment to everything … The poet delights in disorder only … Why do all the clerks and navvies in the railway trains look so sad and tired, so very sad and tired? I will tell you. It is because they know that the train is going right. It is because they know that whatever place they have taken a ticket for that place they will reach. It is because after they have passed Sloane Square they know that the next station must be Victoria, and nothing but Victoria. Oh, their wild rapture! oh, their eyes like stars and their souls again in Eden, if the next station were unaccountably Baker Street!” >> >> > “It is you who are unpoetical,” replied the poet Syme. “If what you say of clerks is true, they can only be as prosaic as your poetry. The rare, strange thing is to hit the mark; the gross, obvious thing is to miss it … Chaos is dull; because in chaos the train might indeed go anywhere, to Baker Street or to Baghdad. But man is a magician, and his whole magic is in this, that he does say Victoria, and lo! it is Victoria. No, take your books of mere poetry and prose; let me read a time table, with tears of pride … every time a train comes in I feel that it has broken past batteries of besiegers, and that man has won a battle against chaos. You say contemptuously that when one has left Sloane Square one must come to Victoria. I say that one might do a thousand things instead, and that whenever I really come there I have the sense of hairbreadth escape. And when I hear the guard shout out the word ‘Victoria,’ it is not an unmeaning word. It is to me the cry of a herald announcing conquest. It is to me indeed ‘Victoria’; it is the victory of Adam.” >> >> > Gregory wagged his heavy, red head with a slow and sad smile. >> >> > “And even then,” he said, “we poets always ask the question, ‘And what is Victoria now that you have got there?’ You think Victoria is like the New Jerusalem. We know that the New Jerusalem will only be like Victoria. Yes, the poet will be discontented even in the streets of heaven. The poet is always in revolt.” >> >> > “There again,” said Syme irritably, “what is there poetical about being in revolt? You might as well say that it is poetical to be seasick. Being sick is a revolt. Both being sick and being rebellious may be the wholesome thing on certain desperate occasions; but I’m hanged if I can see why they are poetical. Revolt in the abstract is—revolting. It’s mere vomiting … It is things going right,” he cried, “that is poetical! Our digestions, for instance, going sacredly and silently right, that is the foundation of all poetry. Yes, the most poetical thing, more poetical than the flowers, more poetical than the stars—the most poetical thing in the world is not being sick.” >> >> Really, it's a balance of chaos and order that's desirable. On the scale of the universe, things are constantly sliding towards chaos. Wanting to oppose that makes a lot of sense to me. >> >> Visser did grant his subordinates latitude for initiative, you'll recall. I don't know that he's necessarily the control freak you see him as. He does not want control in general, he only wants to prevent threats from taking control over him. Also, for a perverse example, notice that he does not take total control over Alloran. Instead, he takes enough control over Alloran so that there is an "equilibrium" of suffering reached that is pleasing to him. >> >> My problem with Visser is his weird egoism and lack of empathy, not his philosophical worldview. >>> **u/None** [+3] (3 days later) >>> >>> Can't have chaos after heat death, only before. See http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/exhalation/ >> **u/None** [+3] (3 days later) >> >> Life is, after all, constantly poised on the edge of chaos... > **u/MagicWeasel** [+12] *Cheela Astronaut* (18 minutes later) > > I am once more so excited to read this. Being a patreon supporter meant I got an email announcement too! No more stalking /r/rational obsessively!!! > > edit: and another interesting chapter. For some reason the focus on Alloran brought my mind to that book where Ax morphs the snake and bites V3 while he's feeding Alloran. In retrospect it's such a goofy premise - evil alien slug wants to go out in nature and eat some grass, commune with nature and all that? If the host needs to eat, just keep regular shipments of turf coming through. If you need somewhere scenic because you have aesthetic preferences, take control of a country club somewhere, put a force-field around it and call it a day. Or if you really can't do that, then get yourself dropped off in the wilderness on a *completely different continent* where there are no 'andalite bandits' to spoil your day. Omfg. It never bugged me before but it's SO RIDICULOUS. >> **u/CouteauBleu** [+14] *We are the Empire.* (3 hours later) >> >> Yeah, that episode was pretty high on the stupidity scale. After the kids poison Alloran, Visser 3 escapes and crawls through a river fast enough that none of the Animorphs can stop him. Seriously, I don't know quite how to say this, but HE'S A SLUG! How can he go *anywhere* too fast for you idiots to stop him? And even once he's in a river, well rivers aren't freaking rollercoasters, and the kids have falcon morphs. Why don't they at least try to track him down and fish him out of the water? And why do they leave Alloran alive, even though they were totally okay with killing him to get V3 five minutes earlier? And why don't they at least *try* to take him to safety with them, instead of letting him behind to be re-infested like complete assholes? >> >> And why do the yeerks subordinates even go through the effort of tracking Visser 3 down (which would probably be super hard given the yeerks haven't shown any heat-seeking technology before and V3 doesn't have any mean of signaling his position) when any random lieutenant could go "Nah, I'll let him die in the wilderness and report that he was eaten by the snakes. Also, I'm totally gonna infest Alloran now." since everybody hates V3? >> >> Joker immunity indeed. >>> **u/MagicWeasel** [+12] *Cheela Astronaut* (4 hours later) >>> >>> They have *osprey* morphs and *ospreys eat fish*. Man, when I thought I couldn't get any angrier about the whole fiasco! >>> >>> As for the point about the lieutenant - there's no reason that couldn't have happened, and it's probably my new headcanon. A changing of the guard, trading on the old reputation, etc a la Dread Pirate Roberts. >>> **u/saitselkis** [+7] (12 hours later) >>> >>> Oh and Alloran just sits there, one morph from being poison free and and safely away. Is this an andilite war teaching, "If you're poisoned, just lay there. Maybe someone will find you. Maybe they'll even help you. Maybe you'll die." >>> >>> Sounds like one of those Hyperion digi-reconstroctors from Borderlands. >>>> **u/MagicWeasel** [+7] *Cheela Astronaut* (21 hours later) >>>> >>>> FWIW, Ax ~~asks~~ begs him to morph, and he says he's too weak from the poison. >>>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+5] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (21 hours later) >>>>> >>>>> Buuuuuuuuuuuull honkey, I don't buy it. *I* think it's just that this was pre-retcon-morphing-heals-you. >>>>> >>>>> (I know you're reporting accurately; I'm just criticizing the plot contrivance.) >>>>>> **u/Dwood15** [+3] (a day later) >>>>>> >>>>>> Remind me, in your version, does morphing heal? >>>>>>> **u/CoolGuy54** [+4] (a day later) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> your morph will be fine, but when you demorph you have the same injury I think. >>>>>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+6] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (a day later) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> No. It puts your real body into stasis, which could be useful, but only the morphs are constructed on the spot (and thus impossible to permanently injure). >>>>>>>> **u/KnickersInAKnit** [+4] (a day later) >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Poor Tobias. >>>>>>>> **u/creatureofthewood** [+3] (a day later) >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Oh. Probably best to *always* be in morph for safety reasons then. So long as you don't forget to refresh it before the time limit. >>>>>>>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+3] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (a day later) >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Yeah, that's why Marco and Rachel spend the vast majority of their hours inside their "morph armor." >>>>>>>>>> **u/CoolGuy54** [+3] (2 months later) >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> And the tech does give you a warning when your time is nearly up, if I understood that interlude correctly? >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> If you had to track two hours yourself I'd be accidentally dead inside a week... >>>>>>>>>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+3] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (2 months later) >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> It gives you a warning, but it does so in a way that doesn't automatically/intuitively translate itself into words. If you didn't *know* it was a warning, you might fail to feel warned. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Would work for the kids, though. >>>>>>>> **u/Evan_Th** [+3] *Sunshine Regiment* (a day later) >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Building off that, does that mean the Animorphs need to explain the secret backdoor to morphed!Elfangor every single time, lest he think they're literal (instead of constructed) Yeerks? >>>>>>>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+7] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (a day later) >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Either that, or simply ignore him and brutally reach in and take what they want exactly as a Yeerk would. >>>>>>>>>> **u/Evan_Th** [+8] *Sunshine Regiment* (a day later) >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> "Completely guaranteed to be corrupting," just like Cassie said. Yep. >>>>> **u/saitselkis** [+4] (a day later) >>>>> >>>>> Maybe if andilite physiology is uniquely sensitive. Getting out of fairly graphic descriptions of grave bodily harm and pain that should make the necessary concentration impossible is one of the main plot mechanics. >>>>> >>>>> Edit, not arguing, just saying there are some goatse sized plot holes. >> **u/creatureofthewood** [+6] (a day later) >> >> I *think* Yeerks in canon *do* have essentially human aesthetic preferences and *don't* have force fields. The notion that they might not have the resources to casually switch continents every meal is... I dunno...not *more* unrealistic than a lot of things we let slide which prevent the technologically space-fairing aliens from insta-winning. (Why not just put all the humans in coma with an Arn bioweapon and then harvest them all?) >>> **u/scruiser** [+3] *CYOA* (a day later) >>> >>> > Arn bioweapon >>> >>> If you consider the Arn, the rationality of several factions breaks down hard. The Arn were able to create the Hork Bajir to some pretty good specifications, and they were able to mod themselves to die if infested by Yeerks. They should be theoretically capable of upgrading Gedds into very good hosts for the Yeerks but instead they just passively resist and the Yeerks use them for target practice. >>>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+5] *We are the Empire.* (2 days later) >>>> >>>> I always got the sense that "We need to help our poor brothers that can only infest Gedds" was only the rationale delivered to the foot soldiers for why they were fighting. The yeerk leadership would probably care more about fast resource acquisition and military supremacy than the livelihood of individual yeerks, especially since their fast rate of reproduction probably made it more convenient to always have more yeerks than hosts available. >>>> >>>> In that context, stealing grown bodies makes more sense than cloning/breeding new ones from scratch, which takes more time and resources. Of course, using the bioengineers who designed your main footsoldiers as manual labor and target practice is still a ridiculous waste of resources. >>>> **u/creatureofthewood** [+3] (3 days later) >>>> >>>> I mean yeah. >>>> >>>> Then again, look at humans fighting wars over oil when nuclear power is literally right over there >_> In canon the Arn killed themselves rather than allow the Yeerks access >>>>> **u/scruiser** [+4] *CYOA* (3 days later) >>>>> >>>>> Yeah that is true... whenever I start to criticize a work of fiction from a rational perspective, I only need to think about the "War on Drugs", and the current U.S. election cycle, and how many Americans believe young earth creationism and/or are anti-vaxxers... I'll the fact that the US doesn't have nuclear power, much less breeder reactors that consume their own nuclear waste, as another reminder that compared to a rational optimum, reality is unrealistic. >>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+3] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (3 days later) >>>> >>>> The Arn are not forgotten. >>>>> **u/scruiser** [+3] *CYOA* (3 days later) >>>>> >>>>> And I just got hyped even more... >> **u/noggin-scratcher** [+3] *I am a happy tree* (2 days later) >> >> > Being a patreon supporter meant I got an email announcement too! No more stalking /r/rational obsessively!!! >> >> Not to discourage anyone from offering their Patreonage, but you can also get email updates by subscribing to the story through fanfiction.net > **u/CouteauBleu** [+8] *We are the Empire.* (3 hours later) > > I'm not sure that the part about Gedds being infested when they go drink in a lake makes sense. As a 'beginning of evolution, this is how first infestations happened', sure, but I'd think that, as times went on, yeerks would infest hosts more efficiently. > > First off, I think most species don't put their ears in water when they drink, although the yeerks could climb on their faces anyway (unless they have hands or a trump). > > Second, I'd expect the yeerks to be infesting and breeding aquatic and amphibious creatures to defend and maintain their pools since those are immediately accessible. Infest a few dozen crocodiles, teach them ambush, camouflage and coordination (or teach them nothing and let them use their mad crocodile skillz) and getting new hosts quickly becomes less of a problem. > > I'd also expect more advanced yeerk civilizations to learn to build weapons and cages to capture and hold better hosts and go hunt for them. You could make a pretty awesome inter-species civilization that way: some species build tools and weapons and have no idea how they're going to be used or why they're building them, other species use the weapons to hunt for new hosts, and have no idea where the weapons come from, only how to use them. While the individual yeerks aren't any wiser, the pool coordinates them all semi-efficiently and oh my god this could totally be a cool video game. >> **u/TK17Studios** [+17] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (11 hours later) >> >> For sure Yeerks would infest hosts more and more efficiently as time goes on. But remember (Duncan begs) that progress is non-obvious and slow—that humans who were genetically identical to us and every bit as smart and capable were nevertheless living in caves and banging sticks together 10,000 years ago, that Australians never got around to inventing the bow and arrow, that even today there's low hanging fruit we refuse to see or refuse to seize, and that the Yeerk population is basically somewhere between 1000 and 100000, unlike our millions and billions. >> >> Just as fantasy stories can basically go "we're using circa 1200 technology, 'cause I said so," I've chosen a specific moment in the cultural-historical evolution of the Yeerk species. Had the Andalites *not* intervened, their society would certainly have continued to progress, doing things exactly like those that you described. I agree that those developments are inevitable, and realistic. To some extent, forcible infestation is clearly already a meme, since they're using it on Earth; it's likely that it happens at least haphazardly on their homeworld. I haven't gotten into why the pool itself doesn't need that much defense, but that's also under active consideration. >> >> I just think the story is a better story if we posit that the Yeerks *weren't quite there yet,* overall, and I'm pretty confident that the chosen point is defensible as one that would realistically exist on their timeline. In other words, your comments about "more advanced Yeerk civilizations" are both correct and non-applicable. >>> **u/TK17Studios** [+15] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (11 hours later) >>> >>> uhhhhh ... I mean .... THE ELLIMIST DID IT. >>> >>> ... >>> >>> ^(that's what I meant to say) >>> **u/scruiser** [+10] *CYOA* (15 hours later) >>> >>> > I just think the story is a better story if we posit that the Yeerks weren't quite there yet, overall, and I'm pretty confident that the chosen point is defensible as one that would realistically exist on their timeline. >>> >>> Agreed. I think I eugenics program for better Gedds would have made sense, but the Yeerks probably just didn't think of the idea. >>> >>> My headcanon for the Gedds in canon is that the Yeerks tended to favor more symmetrical hosts and better hosts for usage which tended to get them killed or otherwise prevent them from breeding, causing them to accidentally select for the asymmetrical, practically disabled Gedds we see in canon. >>> >>> On a meta-level though, I am wondering what the super intelligence of the pool is good for if it doesn't actually let them think of creative new ideas all that fast. Like even if the population of pools is only in the thousands, they are all supposed to be super smart. On the other hand, their information is restricted and the immortality of pools collectively might actually restrict their ability to think of new ideas. >>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+8] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (15 hours later) >>>> >>>> Exactly. They're smarter than any human, but they're also isolated from reality by a pretty heavy filter (think Plato's cave) that leaves them with low-resolution information. They can aggregate information over time, but they also can't change their mind without overwhelming new data. They live a long time, but there are very few of them. They can communicate telepathically/memetically, but only with small, small exchanges. >>>> >>>> And let's not forget, their planet was canonically resource-poor, as well, so they didn't have the same opportunities we did to learn about metallurgy, biology, chemistry, etc. >>>>> **u/Aretii** [+5] *Cultist of Cthugha* (20 hours later) >>>>> >>>>> If they're very very smart but have difficulty accessing empirical data, how's the Yeerk command of abstract mathematics? >>>>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+6] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (21 hours later) >>>>>> >>>>>> I'm going to go with "nascent, but potent." >>> **u/DaystarEld** [+8] *Pokémon Professor* (20 hours later) >>> >>> This is basically how I approach the idea of gunpowder weapons in Pokemon. Would humans in the pokemon world eventually invent them? Sure, probably. But that's not the direction their current society went on the tech tree, and at this current snapshot in time, it's not where they are (and even if they did it's not like it would be an instant solution to all their problems: many pokemon are quite bullet proof). >> **u/CCC_037** [+9] (2 days later) >> >> It could also be that Gedds are *really stupid* creatures. The intelligence of a Yeerk-infested creature is about 15% higher than the creature itself; and while the Yeerk Pool might have substantially higher intelligence, it can't *do* anything on its own, which makes experimentation really hard. >> >> If a primitive human sees lightning strike a tree and set it alight, he might see the opportunity to build a fire outside his cave and chase away predators. Perhaps a non-infested Gedd is just about smart enough to realise that he shouldn't stick his nose into the flames - a Yeerk-infested Gedd is smarter, but cares less for the safety of the host body, and probably wouldn't bother. >> >> ...incidentally, infested Gedds will presumably try to lure more Gedds for infestation. Which, if infested Gedds are less likely to breed, means that there is suddenly an evolutionary pressure *against* trusting more intelligent Gedds - which translates to an evolutionary pressure, amongst the Gedds, *against* intelligence. It may be that Yeerks from Earth coming back and introducing a bit of modern biological knowledge to the Yeerk pools might have a dramatic (long-term) effect on the planet... >>> **u/None** [+6] (3 days later) >>> >>> Or the Gedds could be symbiotic with the yeerks, gaining some effective intelligence without having to pay for the brain mass metabolically in exchange for doing the bidding of the pools. >>>> **u/CCC_037** [+2] (4 days later) >>>> >>>> I think that only works out if the Gedd-controllers are either (a) still breeding, or (b) somehow causing their uninfested family to breed more successfully (such as by keeping them safe from threats). >>>> >>>> If the Yeerks know basic evolutionary theory, they should see the usefulness of (a) - but I'm not sure that the ones back on the planet have any idea of basic evolutionary theory. >>>>> **u/None** [+5] (4 days later) >>>>> >>>>> It doesn't need to have been intentional, just the net end effect of millions of years of living in the same environment. Natural symbiosis is all over the place. And I see no reason that both (a) and (b) wouldn't occur. >>>>>> **u/CCC_037** [+3] (4 days later) >>>>>> >>>>>> Natural symbiosis works because the symbionts don't prevent each other from breeding. >>>>>> >>>>>> If Gedd-controllers don't breed or protect their families, then, in evolutionary terms, being infested with a Yeerk has similar consequences to a rabbit being eaten by a fox. A rabbit that gets eaten by a fox also doesn't breed - which means there is a selection pressure *against* being eaten by a fox - in the case of rabbits, that's a selection pressure in favour of breeding more children (so there will always be some survivors), better senses to know when the fox is coming, and a better turn of speed. Similarly, if the Gedd-controllers don't breed, there will be evolutionary pressure on the Gedds to *not* become Controllers, and also evolutionary pressure to not *trust* Controllers. And slowly, over millennia, the Gedds who are not considered good hosts will be more likely to breed and pass on their genetics, which means the quality of the Gedd hosts will go down - a vicious cycle which the Yeerks can easily end if they know how. Or even if they notice the number of available hosts is dropping, and start making their hosts breed with each other to get more... >>>>>>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+6] *We are the Empire.* (4 days later) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Yeerks experience basically the same physical and mental sensations their hosts do. Why would they prevent the Gedds from breeding? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> (yes, this has disturbing implications) >>>>>>>> **u/CCC_037** [+3] (4 days later) >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> ...the implications are indeed disturbing, and I am thoroughly disturbed. Nonetheless, it solves the negative-evolutionary-pressure issue quite thoroughly. >>>>>>> **u/None** [+3] (4 days later) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Or don't NOTICE, but simply evolve towards as so many symbiotes have here. > **u/TK17Studios** [+6] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (20 minutes later) > > Note: is an interlude, not a chapter (was intended to be a full chapter, but the second scene wasn't working). > **u/Aretii** [+5] *Cultist of Cthugha* (8 hours later) > > [Ao3 link](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5627803/chapters/17133916), for people who dislike reading on ffn (like me). > **u/TacticusThrowaway** [+8] (13 hours later) > > >My own wisdom foaled on the ashes of Seerow's madness, as the Starlight-Shimmer > > http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Starlight_Glimmer > > https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BurG5aDkYBc/hqdefault.jpg >> **u/Evan_Th** [+8] *Sunshine Regiment* (23 hours later) >> >> See also http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Sunset_Shimmer >>> **u/TK17Studios** [+4] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (23 hours later) >>> >>> I, of course, can neither confirm nor deny. > **u/Elhokar** [+5] (an hour later) > > I've seen this posted here a few times and I was wondering if it can be read without any knowledge of the animorphs series. >> **u/TK17Studios** [+9] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (an hour later) >> >> Yes. The first chapter might be a little bumpy, but you'll catch the swing of things pretty fast. I very specifically made it accessible. >> **u/scruiser** [+7] *CYOA* (15 hours later) >> >> I would qualify the author's comment with the fact that there are some canonical details of Animorphs that are extremely out there (weird alien races or technologies that only show up for one or two books out of the 54) that are played straight by the author. They may seem weird or out of place at first, but the author uses to advance the plot and does good world building for them, but if this was an original fic instead of a fanfic they would seem like extremely weird choices for story telling/world building. >> >> [If you want spoilers or if you want to check this comment after catching up](#s "the Chee disguising themselves as dogs, Maple Oatmeal, and Cinnamon buns are some clearer examples of this...") >>> **u/TK17Studios** [+11] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (15 hours later) >>> >>> Examples that will emphatically *not* show up in this fanfic, but which will give you a sense of what scruiser is talking about: >>> >>> - Tiny aliens with a Napoleon complex >>> - Broccoli as an alien import around the time of the dinosaurs >>> - A character who turned into a starfish, got cut in half, and then returned to human form *from both halves,* one of which was good and one of which was evil >>> - Atlantis. Literally Atlantis, they just went underwater and found it. >>> - A Satan-figure tempting a character with superpowers *so long as they promise to use them for evil* >>> - An ant accidentally being exposed to the technology that allows shapeshifting, turning into a human, and developing sapience >>> - A mission into a top-secret government facility to retrieve an alien toilet >>>> **u/redrach** [+9] (17 hours later) >>>> >>>> >A character who turned into a starfish, got cut in half, and then returned to human form from both halves, one of which was good and one of which was evil >>>> >>>> Actually one half was the one who relied entirely on short-term planning and impulsive actions (resulting in a stupidly brave character) and the other who could only do long-term planning and spent all their time second-guessing their plans (resulting in an intelligent but cowardly character). The climax of the story was them figuring out they needed each other and working in tandem to defeat the Yeerk plot-of-the-week before eventually merging. >>>> >>>> So yeah, the premise was pretty silly but I think it was a nicely executed bit of character exploration. >>>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+6] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (19 hours later) >>>>> >>>>> It had potential, but I felt that they played it for ridiculous, caricatured stereotypes rather than GENUINELY exploring Rachel's character. >>>>>> **u/CoolGuy54** [+11] (a day later) >>>>>> >>>>>> God, what an asshole, I'd like to see you try and write something that genuinely explored Rachel's character. Easier to criticise than do you couch commando. >>>>>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+3] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (a day later) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Y—you're the couch commando here, CoolGuy54? This is literally the thread of my 175000-words-and-counting fanfic, and everyone who's shared their opinion of my Rachel with me has said that what I've done feels truer, more dignified, and more nuanced than canon. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> ~~Way to immediately jump to personal attacks when someone expresses a critical opinion, though.~~ >>>>>>>> **u/CoolGuy54** [+10] (a day later) >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Sigh, sarcasm tags are just so unsatisfying, I should have laid it on thicker :( >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I'm loving your work. >>>>>>>>> **u/TK17Studios** [+8] *Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning* (a day later) >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Ah. I'll just jump back from this island of conclusions. Should've noticed my confusion harder. >>>>>>>>>> **u/CCC_037** [+3] (2 days later) >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> ...I did not expect a Phantom Tollbooth reference, fitting as it is. >>>>>>>> **u/360Saturn** [+4] (3 days later) >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Rachel has always been my favorite. I'm morbidly fascinated reading your Rachel and wondering where she will end up and how she'll develop or be devloped. On that note, you definitely do all of the characters justice. >>>> **u/MagicWeasel** [+6] *Cheela Astronaut* (18 hours later) >>>> >>>> > Atlantis. Literally Atlantis, they just went underwater and found it >>>> >>>> Also, Atlantis with explicit references to raping survivors of shipwrecks to keep their gene pool deep and taxidermied humans. >>>> >>>> Man, that book was so weird. I remember buying it because of the orca on the cover, and orcas are cool. I definitely have a softer spot for the few books I owned (as opposed to borrowed from the school's library). The bat one, and the tobias-morphing-ax-to-test-the-demorphing-ray were two others I owned. >>>>> **u/scruiser** [+7] *CYOA* (21 hours later) >>>>> >>>>> > Atlantis with explicit references to raping survivors of shipwrecks to keep their gene pool deep and taxidermied humans. >>>>> >>>>> That's more logical than I thought it was... I thought they were somehow vivisecting and extracting genetic material out of them. At least... how else did they plan to make use of the captured Hork Bajir? And now I just squicked myself out. >>>>>> **u/MagicWeasel** [+6] *Cheela Astronaut* (21 hours later) >>>>>> >>>>>> That multilingual queen mermaid lady, her desires are... unconventional. >>>>> **u/ketura** [+4] *Organizer* (a day later) >>>>> >>>>> That AMR one was actually a pretty brilliant move. I still find myself impressed with it to this day. Plus Tobias getting PTSD from it was pretty rad. >>>>> >>>>> ^^^^Note: ^^^^I ^^^^do ^^^^not ^^^^actually ^^^^think ^^^^PTSD ^^^^is ^^^^rad. >>>> **u/ketura** [+3] *Organizer* (a day later) >>>> >>>> > A mission into a top-secret government facility to retrieve an alien toilet >>>> >>>> But...but Tobias just met David... >>>> **u/Evan_Th** [+2] *Sunshine Regiment* (a day later) >>>> >>>> So, shall we start assuming everything that's *not* on this list *will* show up? >>>> >>>> (I'm specifically thinking of [](#s "the identity of Tobias's father, and Mr. Chapman's previous trip to space")... though at least the latter of those is fairly incompatible with the revised chronology here.) >>>>> **u/noggin-scratcher** [+3] *I am a happy tree* (2 days later) >>>>> >>>>> Meanwhile I'm thinking of >>>>> >>>>> [](#s "That time when Rachel was allergic to her morph's DNA, and found herself uncontrollably morphing directly between different animals as a result, until the rejection process eventually spawned a live crocodile out of her in a bathroom stall") >>>>> **u/MagicWeasel** [+2] *Cheela Astronaut* (a day later) >>>>> >>>>> I don't know why but I feel like the author made an explicit reference to incorporating the former in the story; actually now I think about it I think he said he was going to leave it open and hadn't made a firm decision just yet? >> **u/ketura** [+5] *Organizer* (8 hours later) >> >> My wife had no experience with Animorphs growing up and thoroughly enjoyed it. ---