obsidianwolf

Obsidianwolf's Animorphs 2020 re-read Thoughts so far

Okay so I've finished my re-read of the first Five books and since book six is the first with a repeat Narrator I thought I'd give my thoughts so far on the first five.

The main plot is very well established and we get some absolutely heart rending moments such as when Mellissa's parents fight against the Yerks for the sake of their daughter and the real Chapman even tells off Visser Three to his face. We also get a rather rosy picture of the Andalites, yerk politics and see how the kids started out.

The books do have some obvious weak points though, I mean early on they get out of messes far to much by out side factors.

As to the Animorphs themselves

We see Jake as a slightly more mature ordinary teen who gets shoved into the role of leader.

We see Rachel and how a strong sense of justice and a need to be needed will make her do whatever it takes to defeat the yerks.

We see Marco who desperately doesn't want to get involved but keeps getting dragged in anyway.

We see Tobias and find out how deeply fucked up he already was and see that it is only going to get worse.

We see Ax and see glimpses of how naive he can be, how arrogant he can be about his people.

We see Cassie and see that she's empathetic but we also see shades of how manipulative, reckless and self centered she can be. Traits that will get more prominent in time and be excused by the narrative constantly.

Before I begin the next Cycle of Five in my re-read I will be taking a brief break to read one new book and re-read at least one favorite that has nothing to do with Animorphs. If I don't then I'll very quickly burn out on them and not finish my re-read.

Obsidianwolf X Re-Reads Animorphs 2020 Book Four: The Message

Since I make no secret of my dislike of Cassie what I'm about to say may sound strange but this is one of the best of the early books and it is hands down the best Cassie book in the entire series in my opinion. Now in hindsight all the normal problems with Cassie are there but at this point in the narrative they haven't grown into real problems. At this point it could have been part of the arc that she should have had.

An interesting thing to observe about Cassie in this opening of this book is her tendency to decide on a course of action that is flawed and stick to it appears fairly early. Her turning into a squirrel to find out what is taking their birds is heavily flawed and nearly gets her eaten by Tobias and/or a Fox and just like her later bad ideas it some how works out.

Another interesting bit is one of the strengths folks point to in an attempt to defend Cassie is how well she reads people and this book does show she has some talent in that area. Though it also shows it as very superficial she does clue in on how people are very well but only on a surface layer. Honestly just enough to manipulate them. All of her observations of her friends are technically accurate but just scratch the surface even with so little in the way of seeing them. Which is just another example of how a character like Cassie who wasn't a creator's pet could have been very interesting because that skill set can be wonderfully helpful or downright dangerous often both at the same time and that is never acknowledged by the narrative outside of incidents where other character praise her for it.

We also get our first dose of Cassie's moral dilemmas that aren't moral dilemmas at all in her reluctance to morph Dolphins. Now It does show an interesting facet to her character that isn't actually intentional. She likes Dolphins and thinks they are smarter than other animals so it's wrong to morph them. Yet she ignores that Gorilla's and elephants are also highly social intelligent animals that show awareness of things just like dolphins. Hell even wolves are highly social and show traits like mourning so if she's going to have this faux moral delima about turning into a dolphin she should have it about nearly everything but she doesn't she rates the importance of animals on her feelings about right and wrong not on any objective measurement. Of course part of that is simply author ignorance on things but that only applies out of universe in universe Cassie is just biased. Which in a competently written arc could have been a really interesting character flaw.

Instead it just eventually turns into a major annoyance. It isn't as pronounced here so it's more tolerable as long as you tune out any knowledge you have of later works. Now I like that the message is transmitted as dreams and connected to the morphing tech but frankly I once again get a bit too annoyed with only Cassie and Tobias receiving it. Again I'd have been fine with others getting them later but once again it is Cassie is special and this was back when Tobias was going to be important before that went away so they are the only two who get it.

I suppose now we need to address the standard sci fi plot of whales and dolphins being even more intelligent than we actually think they are. The Hollywood whales and dolphins are a bit annoying the dolphins are too nice(read up on real dolphins some times) but since it's standard sci fi fare it's forgivable even though I think their inclusion is probably the weakest part of the book.

Now let's discuss Marco's near death and the conversation Cassie has with him. Taken just by itself it's almost touching but combined with knowledge of later books it really reads like Cassie needs him to make her feel better about things. That's the biggest issue I keep having in this reread I can tune out a lot of what's to come but the parts that really irritate me stand out. Cassie and Marco's dynamic here in a competant arc would have been a real asset to the series but it was never allowed to grow realistically instead becoming what it eventually becomes.

Now let's discuss two final bits the first is the introduction of Ax who will be an important character in the series even if I get slightly annoyed at the set up for the two biggest annoyances. The Prince Jake don't call me Prince bit which gets repeated way to often and then the everyone is wierded out by Ax's human form bit. I wouldn't have minded it if he faded but they keep harping on it constantly.

Still Ax's introduction does help bring home more of the stakes to them which again in a competent arc would have led to folks like Cassie developing like the others do but that was never allowed to happen.

And now the very end when Cassie sneaks out to play with the Dolphins. This ending is meant to be cute and all but it bugs me. She's risking discovery by Security to go play with the Dolphins. Anyway that's book four done.

Obsidianwolf X Re-Reads Animorphs 2020 Book Two: The Visitor

So Book two it's not as strong as the first one but it does have one of the most powerful illustrations of the effect of the Yerk Invasion on folks not involved in teh fight. The opening of this book has the kids being kids and since it is Rachel's first turn Narrating we get to see her view point for the first time.

I mentioned last time that they read like the type of friends only young kids form. The ones based on proximity and time spent together. I'm sure everyone has friendships like that in their past and it is very obvious here. Rachel talks a lot about the others in the beginning when they are playing around as birds but at the same time it reads more like a group held together by proximity instead of real friendship. The only one she talks about having things in common with is Jake. Everyone else she talks about just mentioning a few generic traits. It's an interesting question if they'd have remained friends without the sheer forged in fire banded together by the fight nature of what happened over the next few years.

She was already drifting away from Melissa because of being unaware of the stress in Melissa's life. Whose to say it wouldn't have eventually happened with Cassie as well. Speaking of Cassie this is an interesting book because her actions in the book are helpful and actually playing the peace maker she's often said to be with on real evidence. However, knowing what comes later and how she'll eventually come to think of Rachel it adds an edge of manipulation in how I read her words. She's quick to agree with Jake and Marco and then soothe Rachel's ego about the stunt with the creep.

Which let's talk about the creep following a teenage girl and trying to get her into the car. To the kids it's a fun sequence where Rachel scares off someone to an adult reading it well it's a lot more chilling since the odds are very good if he'd gotten her in the car she'd be in for a bad time and very possibly dead. Strategically it was stupid to spook the guy but it was understandable.

Speaking of strategy we get our first look at Jake's talent for seeing the big picture and Marco's strategic thinking. Marco is the one who sees how exactly reckless Rachel's actions where and Jakes has already figured out that Tom is expendable to the Yerks and realized they can't use Tom to spy on the Yerks.

Which now brings us to the adventures in cat catching. I get that this is meant to be a light moment in the book but it goes on a bit too long. Though it does show how out of touch Cassie is about things she keeps recommending her friends get a rabies shot which is a good idea but she seems completely out of touch at how difficult that would be for folks not living and working on a wildlife rehabilitation clinic. I mean they could take turns turning into an animal and biting each other to get the shots(by saying a stray bit them) but otherwise there would probably be questions and at least it would need parental permission if they showed up at the doctors asking for them.

This brings up a point completely unrelated to this book but Cassie's parents are by far the least involved of all the parents in their kids lives. In the previous book Cassie didn't come home to eat Dinner and her parents were really chill about that. Their twelve/thirteen year old kid didn't come home and a friend called looking them and no alarm bells. In some ways they almost seem more like plot devices to supply animals than actual people. Sure all the parents are out of focus but hers are even more so.

Anyway back to the get the cat sequence. The whole shrew bit is really just for flavoring about morphing and of course there's the mistake where Cassie says Rachel has more morphs than any of them when she only has the same amount as Jake. Of course screw ups like that are all over the series and are something you just have to deal with.

We then get one of the series lovely nightmare sequences culminating in a rather enlightening scene involving one of Rachel's siblings. This moment begins to show how the animorphs are drifting away from their families and gave a hint of how close Rachel was to her siblings before this. It does fit with how I see Rachel as someone who needed to be needed.

Then we get to school and see the beginnings of the reveal about Melissa's life with her breaking down just after Jake and Rachel bond over having nightmares after morphs that have gone wrong. Next we get a skip over a few days and then it's time for the mission. Rachel of course is warned not to get cocky with her natural confidence mixed with a cat's attitude.

The sequence in the basement is a very well done one tense but in a realistic way. The fact Visser Three several times admires cats of various sizes has always amused me. It is one of the most human for lack of a better word moments with him.

We follow that up with the first real show of how the Yerks under him hate his guts and the signs that he's completely and utterly incompetent. We also then get the absolutely heartbreaking moment where Rachel finally understands what has happened to Melissa. This moment is also telling because we see Rachel's sense of justice and how she's willing to do whatever it takes to end the threat. A moment that foreshadows the rest of her arc very well.

Of course next is the meeting where Marco is clearly in full deflector mode and we get the second time in the book when Cassie actually does what her defenders claim she does. This time doesn't have the manipulator vibes that the other scene does to me as this one feels far more natural. Or it does until she clues in that Rachel is hiding something and then definitely goes manipulative. It's one of those moments that again remind you of how things could have gone if Cassie wasn't a creator's pet that was never allowed to be wrong. Because Cassie would have been far more interesting if the series acknowledged her dark side.

So next we get the Jake as a flea and Rachel getting caught sequence all in all it's interesting but not really worth discussing. What is worth discussing is the moment with the Real Chapman and his wife fighting to keep their daughter from being infested. It is one of the few moments that truly brings home how horrible the yerks are and makes the track the books occasionally take about the yerks should be pitied really hard to take seriously. It is also why I absolutely hate the inclusion of Chapman in the Andalite chronicles as one of the ones at fault for the invasion but that's a rant for when I get to that book.

The ending action sequence is again pretty good but not stellar outside of the human Chapman getting to tell off Visser Three. Then after they escape we have the ending where Rachel leaves the note for Melissa. I some times think Melissa should have eventually become more involved in the plot but sadly she just drifts away which is it's own way is realistic.

Anyway I don't like The Visitor as much The Invasion but it's still over all a good book.

I did two before the Re-read Post with my thoughts on some characters I will reproduce both in this one.

First One The Animorphs:

Okay before I begin my re-read this is my thoughts on the main cast based on my memory of the last times I read the books (which varies between a few months ago for some and several years for others)


Let’s get the hard one out of the way first. I’ll start with my thoughts on Cassie. I make no secret that Cassie is the only Animorph I actively dislike. In a way it is tragic because as I’ve said before Cassie had potential as a character. A character with a very black and white viewpoint and a strong desire to stick to their point of view no matter the cost being confronted with the messy nature or war could have been a gold mine for interesting story lines. Instead Cassie is cast as the voice of morality and the conscience of the group which is a role she is absolutely terrible at. Because in the end she’s no more moral than the rest of them (arguably actively even less moral) and her being right is more a function of being creators pet than any real logical story progression. Things work out for her because the creators say even when it breaks the story or contradicts established facts.


In Essence everything wrong with Cassie is everything wrong with the books as a whole which makes her a pretty big example of what not to do in writing. However, even if you ignore all that and focus only her personality she is still lacking. When first introduced Cassie is your typical childish self centered idealist. She puts great value on the things she cares about and tries not to thinka bout things that contradict that view point. Then she doens’t really change she’s a static character.


There is one redeeming factor about Cassie that is interesting but since it was unintentional I can’t give complete credit to the creators for it. Cassie is a perfect example of everything wrong with Empathy as a stand in for goodness. Cassie is actually a very empathic character but she is also a very selfish character. Once she empathises with someone they become “Good” in her mind and she’ll bend over backwards to justify making decisions that would negatively effect folks she isn’t empathising with. It also informs how she is determined to stay in others good graces and only fights them when she can play the martyr. Which reminds me of my wish that David had stuck around longer and been a foil to Cassie for a while because they really are starkly similar characters in most regards except Cassie has an almost over developed sense of Empathy (to the point she can be okay with horrendous shit if she empathizes with the ones doing it) and David has almost none outside of the things he cares out. They are both also able to manipulate people to get what they want. And they read people very well to keep in their good graces or really hurt them if they piss them off enough.


But that isn’t what this post is about so to sum up my view on Cassie is that she had potential but what we got was a horrendous character and the biggest disappointment of the books.


Now let’s move onto another hard one to talk about and that is Tobias. When I first read the books oh so long ago I way over identified with Tobias but then I was a messed up lonely kid so it’s not that surprising. Looking back on them as an adult it flew over my head back then how utterly fucked up Tobias is. This is not a healthy kid even before he got stuck as a hawk. Tobias was clearly already borderline suicidal even before the hawk thing and afterwards it and everything else in many ways turned into a much slower long and detailed decline into an early death. Tobias hated himself so he chose to give up all humanity forever. Which brings us to the problem with Tobias and that is the narrative never acknowledges how fucked up his situation is. Sure some of the other characters come close but they never fully grasp it.Tobias is in many ways one of the other great disappointments of the books because early on they clearly drop hints that he has a major role to play in things to the point where the freaking Ellimist preserves his existence by bending space time twice once to keep him around and then to ensure the animorphs happened and then the plot line is abandoned in favor of creators pet Cassie being the most important and special.


Now I love stories where the chosen one isn’t that chosen after all but that needs to be intended from the beginning when you heavily lay on the foreshadowing that this is going to be an important element you need to address it. Instead the potential story line just peters out in a way that doesn’t amount to anything not even a subversion. Tobias then sticks around to be a general misery magnet and to have the most unhealthy relationship possible with Rachel.


I mean I know stories change direction in production and over time and some times that leads to better stories and some times it leads to obvious dropped plot lines and a general degrading of quality. Animorphs sadly is in the second category. Part of it of course was the real world rush to churn out the books for Schoolastic but parts of it were clearly the writers getting a bit too enamored of their pets and how they wanted things to end.


I’m getting off topic again. My view on Tobias is that he’s an interesting character and one that you can pity but man is that boy fucked up.


Now let’s move onto Ax the Andalite Animorph and the other one besides Cassie and Tobias who ends up kind of one note. Ax plays an interesting role since hes alien and the books do a good job of showing an alien viewpoint. Far better in his case than many of the other aliens. It helps that he’s basically a slacker alien who was a poor student and probably only got brung along on the ship because his big brother pulled some strings.


Ax is also a prime example of another time when the potential of the story gets left by the way side. Ax’s torn loyalties should have come up more than they did and should have had more lasting repercussions. Way too often he’ll get reduced to joke one note status when he should be figuring into things more. I don’t have much more to say about him since I really remember as liking him but thinking he was wasted several times.


And now we’ll move onto Marco a character who when I first read the books annoyed the crap out of me but as I grew older grew on me a great deal. Marco is a wonderful example of a character who can be obnoxious to protect themselves and despite being the other creators pet he is allowed to actually change in ways that are both good and bad so he’s not another Cassie. The fact he’s even allowed to disagree with her at least temporarily and call her on her BS very rarely also helps. Marco is also very realistic in that he reacts like many people would and for a lot of folks it would take somethign that affected them personally to make them fight as hard as the kids had to end up fighting.


Of course there is still one irritating thing about Marco and that’s how he’s often forced into the role of the complainer is wrong some times for the others (esp Cassie) to be right. It’s a role he shares wtih Rachel she’ll suggest the violent solution so it can be rejected and he’ll suggested the better strategic solution but it’ll be rejected for being wrong.


So final thoughts on Marco slightly annoying at times but very realistic and really grows on you.


Now let’s talk about Rachel and this is the character whose fate pisses me off the most. I have no problem with character death in a story but Rachel’s death is treated by the creators as necessary and it bleeds into the narrative abit and that really pisses me off. She’s also unfortunately the one who gets the most chaotic characterization as depending on teh writer how aggressive she is varies. Not to mention the books that paint her as a control freak. Of course you can hand wave it as the stress getting to her in different less pretty ways but that raises it’s own problems with with how the narrative treats her. She’s often also used as a foil to shill for Cassie and that bugs me. She and her cousin get the most discussion of Cassie’s moral superiority though everyone gets a turn on it.


And what is really sad is that she only gets to really call out Cassie and the others very rarely even though they are some of the most satisfying moments in the entire series. She’s right when she calls out that the others need her to be the blood thirsty one. She’s actually someone clearly sacrificing for the greater good but the narrative treats her as a blood knight. It really pisses me off and while her relationship with Tobias isn’t even remotely healthy it makes a lot of sense because the others treat her as damaged and thanks to his neediness he’ll never look at her as a monster like the others tend to do to make themselves feel better.


I’ll make one final observation and that’s that poor Rachel may have died twice in the series the first time being the starfish incident. Cause the Rachel that was split in half would never exist again. The two Rachels may have been re-merged but they had each had time to begin to diverge so what was formed out of them would be a new Rachel. Hell a lot of her issues later in the series could have been a direct result of that and it would make perfect sense.


Final thoughts on Rachel she deserved so much better and was probably one of the more selfless animorphs but gets written off by the narrative as just a blood knight too damaged to live.


Now let’s move onto Jake who is actually my favorite character. I know a lot of folks find him boring and generic at first but that’s exactly why he’s the character that interest me the most because even more than the others he was just a kid when this mess started. You can see the seeds of who everyone else turned out to be in who they were at the start but Jake was just a kid who was slightly more mature and better able to mediate. That got him forced into the leadership Role and from there for good or ill that’s the role he got stuck with. Like Rachel he became exactly what the others needed him to be and at times it wasn’t pretty.


I mean it’s so easy to picture how the others would have turned out, Cassie would have ended up one of those activist who says a lot of good things but is very much a walking illustration of perfect is the enemy of good with her probably doing more harm than help to her causes by turning folks off with her my way or the highway stance. Rachel would have excelled at whatever chosen path she took with incredible zeal and bending herself to be what folks in her life needed. Ax would have lived in the shadow of his brother as a semi competent warrior at best, Tobias would have remained very fucked up and Marco would have done what it took to not be poor and mask all his hurts with laughter and entertaining folks. Jake on the other hand is the one that just sort of was. He could end up really generic or find something he’s good at and make it his life.


Instead he was given the role of responsibility and for the most part he carried the burden though his putting Cassie on a pedestal constantly was one part character flaw and one part character shilling by the creators. It was a realistic flaw he liked her and wanted her to like him. That was very human and relatable but his constant support for some of her more stupid moments crossing the line into plot induced stupidity.


One part that is really sad is that he’s often compared with Elfangor and the narrative takes the appraoch that he falls short but honestly to me Jake comes off as more of a success than Elfangor and I wish the narrative acknowledged it. Of course I’ll share my thoughts on Elfangor in another post.


There is more I could go into but this post has gotten long enough for now so final Thoughts on Jake generic kid forced to grow up even faster than others. Has an irritating blind spot when it comes to Cassie but over all my favorite of the kids.

Now the Second Post I did on a few others.


Before the re-read more characters

This is my second and last before the re-read post. I was going to do more but the local libraries have closed so family members who also read are going to reread the books after I do so I’ll just cover a few more of the big characters here.


Let’s start with Elfangor who is often hailed as along with Ax the only reason the Andalites aren’t seen as even bigger dicks. I have to admit I have mixed feelings about Elfangor and that’s because even after the shall we say tarnishing of the Andalites shining image the writers were afraid to tarnish his too much. I actually feel it’s to the books detriment and The andalite chronicles bug me a lot. However, that’s a discussion for when I get to that book. I will say I’ve always found the moment where Jake vents the tank being negatively contrasted with Elfangor not venting it to really bug me but again that’s a discussion for the actual book. There’s a strong argument for it being necessary for their victory when Jake did it and it just being petty when Elfangor stopped it.


Now let’s talka bout his rival Visser Three. I absolutely love that Visser Three is completely incompetant as a leader. He’s a perfect illustration of someone who had one advantageos moment that helped him rise to prominence and then proved to be incompetent but thanks to a combination of privilege (his host) and the corruption in the ranks of the Yerks he was never held accountable. One only has to look at idiots in charge on our current world stage who can’t handle situations but are still unfortunately sitting in massive positions of power to see how easily it happens even in the real world.


Now let’s discuss the Ellimist who is less of a character and more of a plot device. Frankly I always thought it was mistake to try to demystify the Ellimist because his origin doesn’t make him any more relatable and actually makes him even more clearly into the lesser of two evils.


Now let’s speak about the greater evil Crayak and the Drode. The fact the Drode always speaks for Crayak is the more interest thing about them. You can easily read it as Crayak has lost it’s direction in it’s ascension to a higher plane and that the drode is the real intelligence behind their game. Or you could until the Ellimist chronicles.



I think I’ll stop here and begin my re-read. First post should go up in a few days because I’m going to hopefully take a bit of time on them.

And so here they are ranked from worst to Best with my thoughts. Now up front I don’t actually view this movies as a series. In my head This is Ten Seperate alternate Universes in which the earlier installments only happening in broad strokes before each movie. It is the only way I can enjoy these films without finding the many many plot holes caused by the making it up as they went along film making approach.

The first three I'll talk about are the ones I consider Watch if you have to see it all but these are the worst in the franchise set.

10. The Absolute worst of the worst is Jason goes to hell. This movie is just bad there are really only three scenes that are even worth watching. The opening where Reality ensures with the Government finally acting against Jason. The scene in the Diner where a Waitress does a dang good job of pummeling the man possessed by Jason before her death and the brief joking end teaser (that wasn’t meant to go anywhere) where Freddy’s clawed hand drags Jason’s mask down. I mean the rest of it is just terrible and it fails to really deliver on the primary appeal of the Jason films and that is watching the Final Girl (or Tommy Jarvis) beat the tar of Jason and finish him off until next time. Jason’s niece is just not that interesting and her movements are very slow. There is no freaking urgency in any of her scenes where she’s supposed to be running to get the dagger or anything else.

9. The second worst is Jason takes Manhattan again the final girl just isn't that interesting and a lot of the characters act in stupid ways even for this franchise. That said there are still a few moments that are fun like Jason scaring the street punks and while the final girl is not the best actor her and her designated love interest are at least attractive.

8. My pick for number eight is where a lot of Friday fans are going to hate me but it has to be Part VI Jason Lives. I mean yeah Jason is finally back and is finally the undead Zombie everyone thinks of when they think Jason Voorhees and that gives the film some punch. However the guy playing the adult Tommy Jarvis just cannot act even by horror film standards. His entire relationship with the final girl makes no sense and she is arguable even more useless than the ones that took the top spots. Still there are some interesting side characters who die and an example of the most wasted potential ever. Namely the head female councilor who took one look at Jason on the street and tried to get the hell out of dodge before her idiot boyfriend got them both int a situation where Jason killed them. I just can't help but imagine what would have happened if she'd made it to the station and the cops didn't believe her or Tommy and they teamed up to stop him. It would make so much more sense than rebellious daddy's girl thinks Tommy is hot and helps him escape Jail. Also if the unused ending had actually been used with Jason's dad it might have improved things a bit.

The next seven are IMO all worth watching every so often unlike those three stinkers I listed above.

7. The very first friday the thirteenth falls here. The film is pretty good for what it is which is a blatant rip off of Halloween. The twist about the mother would have worked better if we'd ever seen her before in the film. They could have easily set her up in town as one of the locals saying that camp shouldn't have been reopened or even just had her in the back ground walking around. And Keven Bacon in a speedo is always nice to look at.

6. Friday the 13th part two goes here. I mean the living Jason trilogy is collectively the best of the franchise but taken on thier own they aren't as good. On one hand Part II is in almost every way a better film then the first one and improves itself by once again ripping off Halloween by creating the adult living Jason. Sure it makes no sense continuity wise but it works. The film would be much higher if not for the confusing ending that was real according to the director but as shot looks far more like a dream sequence.

5.Here is where I put The Final chapter or Part IV. See here's the thing I love the film but there are just some things that bug me about this one enough that it ends up here. The Tommy and his sister subplot is great but Rob has to be the most useless fake hero ever and in this franchise that is saying something. ON the other hand we see Crispin Glover's ridicules dance and even knowing the bts stuff that made it even more awkward it is still funny.

4. We leave the living Jason Trilogy here to jump to the end of the Franchise when it went into space. Jason X falls here not because it is a good movie but because it is a bad movie that knows its a bad movie and revels in it. Jason on the holodeck, Jason verses Space marines, UberJason and classic him getting his ass kicked by a robot. I just love it for all the sillyness it is just fun and some times fun is enough.

3. Part V falls here and again I know elitist friday fans are shaking thier heads in horror but I like this one. I like that Tommy is a complete train wreck after what happened and I really like the actor's portrayal and maybe it's shallow nostalgia but I first saw the film as a queer teen and I really appreciated the actors looks too. Plus I like that the town wasn't stupid and the guy they thought died three times and kept getting back up was cremated sure later films ignored it but again I look at them as a multiverse so in this universe he was cremated cause the town wasn't stupid. Plus Tommy as the new killer really could have been a really nice way to get away form the Halloween copy cat ness. Since being smaller and smarter he could have taken the new Jason in a different way but alas this film's bad reception ruined that chance.

2. Part VII the new blood. This would be number one if it wasn't for the slow beginning. This film takes so long to get going but when it does it quickly becomes one of the most enjoyable ones to watch and the Make up for Jason is just awesome best in the series hands down and Kane Hodder does so much with just a look and body language. Plus it is basically Jason versus Carries and that is just fun.

1. And now at Number 1 we have part III why is part III the number one its because I absolutely adore the final girl in this one. She fights in a very realistic way against Jason and there aren't any glaring moments where script stupidity bite her in the ass. The things that go wrong in her escape are not her fault. Other folks actions caused them and she reacts to them in a realistic and competent manor.

If anyone is curious about the two other films the remake and Freddy vs jason. I liked Freddy vs jason but it is much more a nightmare on elm street film than a Friday film and the remake was just bad.

It's always pointless to wonder why someone you were following blocked you in the last month or so esp when you never really interact with them and they were never a mutual. I actually agreed with them on many issues (not all but there is no one I follow I agree with 100% of the time) but other than the occasional reblog from them we never interacted. Still I can't help being a little curious but it is one of those things you'll never know.

Ah well c'est la vie the only thing that really bugs me is one of my favorite things to reblog had a comment from them added on so I had to go track down an earlier version of it to keep reblogging it often.

So much later than I intended I finally got back to my animorphs reread and read Book 22 the Solution.

This is the best book of the David Trilogy and serves as the pivot point in Rachel and Jake's arcs. This is the book where Rachel begins to fear what the conflict is doing to her and both she and Jake are shown to be changing in ways that disturb both of them.

David completes his transition into a real monster and my earlier comparison to an overly privileged person who snaps at imagined slights and goes on a rampage still applies more neatly than ever. David's goal post shifts constantly to whatever makes him feel the like he's winning.

Which means now we have to talk about the ending of this book. It is a point of debate among fans if it was more merciful than killing him. Before I get to that I have to say it makes perfect sense why they all made the choice. Jake and Rachel are both afraid of crossing the line and killing someone. Their discussion in the hospital makes that clear, Ax goes along with Jake and while Marco and Tobias may see it as necessary as soon as an option is presented that keeps them from doing it. They jump at it. Cassie is the one most naturally opposed to killing him so of course she comes up with what in her mind is a better idea.

Now I've said before that at this point in the series all of them not just Cassie are operating on a childish morality and this is the book that shows the real horror such a view can create. Because let's be honest they did kill David. Rachel even thinks about it in those terms once but doesn't seem to follow it through. This is no different than poisoning someone with a slow acting toxin and telling yourself that sure you shortened their life considerably but it was the poison who killed them not me.

David was condemned to a short hellish life by them because they had the childish view that they weren't actually killing him. An adult morality would accept all the options and the reality that they were still hastening his death just adding a lot of torture and horror to it. An adult would then weigh which option they could live with better and make the call.

It is perfectly natural that they would make the decision they did and it fits all the characters at this point. It just wonderfully illustrates the cruelty inherit in more childish moral attitudes that define things with no shades of grey.

Now lets discuss the haunting ending where Rachel she never saw David again and how the rock they left him on got a reputation for being haunted. We don't know when these books were supposedly narrated but it does seem odd that we get never saw again when we do see David again. But we can just chalk that up to the issues caused by real world factors.

I won't bring up the risk of a controller going near the rock and hearing thought speak many have.

Now for the negative. This book is where the what will happen to Rachel after the war starts and the thing is it's a compelling question. The problem however is that it is being used by the author(s) to set up Rachel having to die. I have never cared for the implication given in various statements that Rachel was too messed up to live after the war. It is frankly insulting and ableist.

This book also has elements of shilling Cassie that are obvious in hindsight. Cassie sees the solution because she gets people the problem is Cassie getting people is something that comes and goes. It all goes back to the fundemental lack of arc for Cassie.

The really sad thing is that David and Cassie are very much potential foils to each other and if she'd been able to have a decent arc it could have been neat. Cassie is just as manipulative as David and just as willing to twist facts to support her view that she's done the right thing. The difference is David's morality is very much different if we had gotten a book of those two at war with each other well that would have been a fun read.

The threat is the part of the trilogy I'm mot conflicted about. It works very well as a Jake book but it also brings home how much Jake was following the others on the David thing. It brings up a flaw in his early leadership that even he acknowledges in this book his dependence on how well he knows them.

Now as I said last time I think David jumping off the slippery slope was inevitable but the situation wasn't helped by Jake coasting along and dragging a kid in who should have been kept back. It wouldn't have killed them to leave him out of the mission they were on at the time. Reading this book honestly makes me think the David arc should have been longer with more character POV's. I actually think we really missed out by not getting a Cassie book because she was clearly the most in favor of David as an Animorph and after that she sort of drops back and is just undecided untils he comes up with their horrible solution. (more on that next time)

This book does set up a fatal flaw of Jake's that the narrative glosses over alot. He's constantly putting Cassie as an authority on people or morality and it really bites him toward the end of the series. The fact Jake gives different weight to different folks opinions based on his personal feelings is the type of flaw that I would have loved to see exploredl in depth in the series.

I do like that we begin to see Jake's alienation from his family that only grows worse as the series goes on.

I'll reread the third book some time tomorrow got things to do tonight.

I've been dreading getting to this book because it is in many ways IMO the book where Cassie's arc becomes fundamentally broken and her static creator's pet status asserts itself. Sure she had her less than stellar moments before but before this book they could have been signs of an arc where she went from a childish form of morality into a more adult one.

Because IMO that is the biggest problem with Cassie she has a very immature morality that lends itself to her hypocrisy and making frankly bad or horrific decisions. Then her creator's pet status kicks in and she's shielded from all the fall out.

It really shines through in this book because the beginning of this book is just awsome Cassie reaching the breaking point, quitting and some real hard necessary truths are said by the others to her. If she'd had an actual over arching arc then this should have been the pivot point where she began to change. What that change should have been doesn't matter if it was staying idealistic but embracing a more adult view of how to stay that way and interact with the war or learning to set aside her concerns for the greater good. It doesn't matter just something but instead Cassie's morality doesn't change at all and instead the novels that follow this one constantly excuse it or have the others acting as if her morality is so much more developed then theirs when it is actually very shallow and child like.

I'd even be fine with her keeping the shallow and child like morality if the others and the narrative actually called her on it and realized its limitations. That could have been an interesting conflict later in teh series Cassie learns the others don't value her opinion and lie to her face to keep her from sabotaging mission but that never happens. Instead it is plain to see that she is the creators pet espousing the creators views on topics. I mean I have never cared for author tract creators pet characters regardless of my opinion on the views they state.

Anyway after a stellar beginning we reach the Aftran conflict and this is where the book gets shaky. It is actually a good idea but it begins to fall apart as Cassie begins making reckless dangerous choices with no forethought and no follow through by the narrative that culminates in the whole Cassie decides to prove her commitment by becoming a caterpillar. The others then decide to let Aftran fulfill her deal with Cassie out of sentimentality and everyone is rewarded with the ass pull of the century when Cassie becoming a butterfly lets her demorph despite going over the limit.

Which makes the end of this book in the same realm of bad as some of the worst books of the series. So it makes it a hard book to comment on. I mean there is no real follow through on the Karen situation(I mean how did they free her and keep her safe) and it is abundantly clear that despite this whole victory being mostly luck. Cassie was followed by the only vengeful yerk who was able to convinced to give up the life even the narrative says yerks should be pitied for not having. There is nothing in later books to imply Cassie every considered doing anything wrong.

There are never any moments where similar events happen and it backfired spectacularly making it clear how lucky Cassie was and maybe making her reconsider doing that in the future. None of that and it really hurts Cassie as a character. The static creators pet role the narrative forces her into really hurts her likability.

Up next the David trilogy which I will not post about till I've reread all three so it might be a few days.

Just finished the Decision this book on its own is a favorite but as part of the larger series it is disappointing.

Largely because the writer admits to forgetting about the plot line set up in this book that some Andalites are siding with the yerks.

So it's a great book that sets up a great potential plot line and then it never comes up again. SUre the Ax torn between two worlds plot line continues and Cassie remains a ginormous hypocrite but that's to be expected.

welp up next the second megamorphs and then one of my least favorite books in the entire series.