Animorphology

Book 30: The Reunion In this episode: Marco’s “Clear Bright Line” Lots of great relationship moments From where does Marco get his strategic abilities? Visser One is very cool The humility of Andalites Ghostwriter corner Marco makes bad decisions Gray makes a number of very specific predictions

In this episode: What kind of time travel is this and is it the best kind Wars and soldiers throughout history Violence and weaponry (and Marvel) An alien learns about the Holocaust What counts as “important” history Crayak’s successful mindgames Why are the Animorphs so precious about killing people? Lazy alternate history Melissa Chapman and OT3s Jake’s shoe and bicep size Tokenization Animorphs...

In our second mailbag episode: We respond to reader questions and comments! We rerank the books to determine our favorites so far; Which of the Animorphs has changed the most? What if Animorphs were written for adults? Or without commercial considerations? Does the Ellimist wear clothes? The effect of stable family in the Animorphs' lives; Where did Rachel and Tobias meet? Tobias's real name; If t...

Book 29: The Sickness In this episode: Guest Host Emily used to play Animorphs in elementary school Book 19: the Sequel Gray is irrationally angry Cassie is a BAMF Who gets to be the leader if Jake is out of commission? Yeerks are gross A brief immunology lesson Jake/Cassie/Marco OT3? A Yeerk pyramid scheme Andalites are the size of ponies or tiny deer Nice is neat

Book 27: The Exposed In this episode: Thematic plot holes Slaughterhouses are bad but they’re worse in real life Grazers and hunter gatherers Sentience, sapience, and free will Cow corner Ax gets a TV The shipping gets out of control Moses facts(?) KA Applegate and the hosts reflect on vegetarianism IRL Jenny crowns the new tallest Animorph

Book 27: The Exposed In this episode: We evaluate Rachel and Tobias’s banter; Rachel’s issues with violence and normalcy; How are the ghostwriters affecting character dynamics? How are the Animorphs still alive?? The Drode’s true motivations; Some more gross morphs (even Jenny thought so) What was really going on with Pemalite nonviolence? Some high-quality funny adventures; How does the acquiring...

Book 26: The Attack In this episode: The Animorphology council decides: Crayak rhymes with Kayak Small things that matter Created species and symbiotes The Iskoort are v. annoying How much are the Ellimist and Crayak interfering? More about the Howlers Jake <3 Cassie Marco gets gutted The Chee’s moral obligations Jake’s leadership

In this episode: Jenny, Ted, Gray, and guest Kevin discuss the first ghostwritten book in the Animorphs series Minor character revelations such as Ax developing a true sense of humor and Marco acknowledging Rachel/Tobias Effective coping strategies as the war escalates How many damsels Rachel has Chlorine-based life forms Being really cold and being warm again

In this episode: HBC through the lens of post-colonial theory Why didn’t the Andalites build a quantum virus to infect the Yeerks? Yeerks probably had more culture once It turns out we have more to say about intelligence The Hork-Bajir home world is really cool How big is an Andalite, really? A letter from a fifteen-year-old to his nine-year-old self

Book 24: The Suspicion In this episode: Another guest host: Rena Helmacrons are very silly (as is this book) What does Marco need in a partner? Lots of description of items at a large scale, some of which make sense Science corner! Lots of different whales Helmacron technology Everyone go get a ruler and see how big 1/16 of an inch is Math happens Godzilla anteaters Can Andalites grow mustaches? T...

In this episode: - Title talk - Visser Three’s method acting - Yeerk gender - What does Rachel’s confession mean for the Tobias/Rachel relationship?!? - Shorms - Tobias realizes that humans are animals too - The Council of Animorphology votes on the pocket universe theory - What is a metaphor… - Rabbit vision - Jake is less ruthless than a four-month old - As always, some 90s moments

The Hork-Bajir Chronicles (part 1) In this episode: We share our feelings on Dak & Aldrea’s romance How important is intelligence, really? The Andalite patriarchy is not our fave Hork-Bajir children grow up suspiciously fast Visser Three is perhaps a nerd Can you ever go home again? Gray uncovers all the Animorphs Easter eggs We have a surprise two-parter!

Book 22: The Solution In this episode: What happened to Germany? David continues to be the worst The Animorphs find a solution A fate worse than death? Rachel and Jake’s relationship A dramatic reading Toxic masculinity strikes again What Would Gray Do? The importance of solidarity

In this episode: - The Animorphs face the consequences of a bad decision - More Animorphs news! - Now Jenny and Ted can be honest about David - Cartoon villainy and who counts as people - Jake’s new confidence and ability to own his flaws - Jenny boards a new ship - Racy observations - Lions

In this episode: -The blue box is found -A new Animorph is created -Marco is truly terrible with people -Jenny, Ted, and Gray disagree with everyone’s decisions -We contemplate a world in which Voldemort sided with the Yeerks -How would this have gone differently if David had been a girl? -We finally settle the important question of which Animorph is which Clue character -What's going to happen wi...

In this episode: - Jenny, Ted, Gray, and guest host Claire closely read The Departure, discussing premise rejection and what we owe to each other - Why is this one so good, you guys?? - The toll that war is taking on Cassie and the Animorphs - Cassie’s moral instincts and the imperative to change - Plot holes and earned happy endings - Yeerk empathy, society, and gender - Ableism in character, met...

In this episode: Dinosaurs! Gray has been confidently mispronouncing “deinonychus” for years Is this the best Rachel book? Revisiting the Band of Five roles More time travel philosophy Outer space provided broccoli and ants K.A. Applegate keeps up with scientific theories A song about Deinonychus

In this episode: Which Animorph is which Disney princess? Is Animorphs sci fi or magic? How DOES Visser Three visit the Yeerk Pool? The debate rages on about Andalite truth; We rank our favorite (and least favorite) books; Gray predicts the ending of the series

In this episode: Another guest star; Ax struggles with his loyalties; Andalite job-hunting advice; Jake attempts to make a joke; and was that really the easiest way to get the group into Z-space?

Content warning this week: we discuss suicide and mental health, drug use and claustrophobia, including references to the highly inappropriate terms this book uses. Please use caution in listening if you need to, and see the episode notes for resources. In this episode: Rachel deals with fear A surprising fact about instant maple-and-ginger oatmeal Gray holds the Animorphs to a really high standar...

In this episode: - Some exciting announcements! - Discussions about bad decisions, the difference between being a killer and a warrior, whether the Animorphs can go back to being normal kids, and leadership - What is tiramisu? - A deep dive into Cassie/Jake - True neutral stances on murder and privacy - 90s internet and airports - Eventually, why Jake morphs a rhino - Plus, another long-hidden tru...

In this episode: Marco’s issues with vulnerability; Marco’s obvious crush on Jake; Visser One as a cool villain; Gray’s true identity; What animals will the Yeerks try to take over next?

In this episode: Another guest host! What does a robot horse sound like? The Yeerks make bad plans Mental health language Identical twin animals A comparison to Tamara Pierce’s Wild Magic series

In this episode: - Overall thoughts on the Andalite Chronicles - A solid thirty minutes about time travel - Did Tobias lay the Time Matrix? - Andalite communism - Forgiving Elfangor - Hoobers and Mortrons - The importance of grass on Earth - SOFTBALL! - Up close and personal with Z-Space - Ellimist update: Gray still hates him - Gray predicts the Hork Bajir Chronicles