Line #84 YMMV/ANIMORPHS


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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5	[[folder: The Books]]
6	* ArcFatigue: The series was never meant to go on as long as it did, and it really shows towards the end — other than a single Megamorphs and ''Visser'', nothing between Books 35 and 45 contributed to the overarching plot at all, instead defaulting to filler books the entire time.
7	* AudienceAlienatingEnding: [[spoiler:While it's bad enough that the (still living) main characters are just as, if not more, broken and traumatized despite defeating the Yeerks, the knife twist comes when they decide to initiate what is most likely a suicide attack against [[DiabolusExNihilo an extremely powerful enemy that had only been vaguely alluded to in the previous books and just sort of shows up out of nowhere.]]]]
8	* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Romas Kukalis' beautiful cover art on the Chronicles books.
9	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
10	** Cassie. Is she TheEmpath who genuinely does not like to emotionally hurt people and persuades others to not hurt others as well, but [[IDidWhatIHadToDo did what she had to]] in a war where the stakes were humanity and Earth? Or is she a {{sadist}}ic, [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical]] and {{manipulative bitch}} that will ''leap'' at the chance to put someone to the psychological thumbscrews if the opportunity arises? Or is she simply an insightful but naive teenager struggling through the war?
11	** Tobias: Emo with wings, or TheLancer who, as he spends the first books unable to morph, is the only one able to objectively see the risks and benefits of each morph?
12	** Rachel, valiant and skilled fighter who just struggles with PTSD or [[AxCrazy unhinged psychopath]] using the Yeerks as an outlet for her violent urges? A third interpretation is that she is mainly a [[ThePerfectionist perfectionist]] whose drive for success led her down dark paths during the war.
13	** Marco, TheLancer, tactical and strategic genius, or just a mean-spirited DirtyCoward who's only good for coming up with horrifyingly ruthless plans and complaining?
14	** Jake, skilled leader, hardened manipulator who use his friends as tools, or just some insecure jock who made everything up as he went along and led five child solders to their inevitable War-is-Hell mental breakdown? [[spoiler:His decision to [[KillTheHostBody kill Tom]] is also open to interpretation: was it a MercyKill, was he [[TheNeedsOfTheMany putting aside his feelings for the greater good]], or did he just want to get rid of his burden?]]
15	** David, a lost and confused boy who's had his life completely destroyed and doesn't know if he can trust his "saviors", or a ruthless sociopath who has no qualms about murder and doesn't give a damn about the human race as long as he's safe?
16	** And Taylor: Cold-hearted torture technician or mentally damaged BrokenBird who can only express her bizarre love for Tobias by breaking the bird? And where does the Yeerk end and the human begin?
17	** Erek: admirable pacifist or manipulative {{hypocrite}}?
18	** Visser Three (aka Esplin 9466): Andalite-hater who wants them dead both because they're enemies of the Yeerk empire and because he's jealous of their natural freedom, or secretly an Andalite-lover who sees Elfangor as the one he admires most, plus harbors a twisted crush on Aldrea? Or possibly all of the above? Is he an incompetent villain that was only promoted because he got lucky and managed to infest an Andalite, or do his actions in the Chronicles indicate that he was once TheChessmaster with just as much ability to plan ahead as Visser One only for the power he gained when he infested Alloran to [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity drive him to madness]] (or at least [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind complacency]])? Or is he a genuinely competent character when in his element who just suffers from the fact that he was assigned a task requiring a set of skills he never got much opportunity to develop?
19	** How even ''was'' the war between the Yeerks and the Andalites? While most sources within the books claim them to be deadlocked and Earth as the keystone that will win the war, [[https://medium.com/@johndoc86/never-bring-a-dracon-beam-to-a-morphing-fight-the-inevitability-of-yeerk-defeat-61b0e63893fd at least one article]] has claimed that there's a lot of clues that the Andalites were beating the Yeerks handily and Earth is more like their only hope for victory--if true, it definitely doesn't cast the Andalites in a positive light.
20	** Yeerk high command is a circus of failures, with Vissers seemingly given invasion plans diametrically opposed to their skillsets. Fans have joked that this is because the Emperor and the Council of Thirteen are just that StupidEvil, but there's an argument to be made that this is deliberate. Yeerk politics are toxic and run on KlingonPromotion. Deliberately invoking ThePeterPrinciple is a good way to keep hungry young vissers from getting ''too'' successful and [[TheStarscream threatening to replace the very people who promoted them]]. And even if it's ultimately detrimental to the Empire's long-term plans of conquest... well, that never stopped the real-life fascists and authoritarian empires that inspired them from politically interfering in military business, did it? Consider VetinariJobSecurity and the Iron Law of Institutions described therein.
21	** Does Visser One have any genuine affection for humanity, or is it all a manipulation? She's not all that sure herself.
22	* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Megamorphs #4 seems like it's saying that if the Animorphs just come forward and scream the Yeerks are here, it'd be much more effective than secretly working to dismantle the invasion. Seems similar to criticism leveled against Pope Pius XII for secretly doing what he could to help Jews in World War II instead of coming out loudly decrying Hitler and Mussolini.
23	* {{Anvilicious}}: The final arc of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' makes its WarIsHell message very clear, to the point where that moral was the entire point of the final book. When some readers complained that the ending wasn't "cool" enough, Applegate took them to task by saying that the ''whole point of the books'' was the war isn't something to venerate or find fun--it's something that tears families apart, kills innocents, and destroys lives forever. In it, [[spoiler: Jake had gotten PTSD from his experiences, Rachel was dead, Tobias had shut himself off from the world, and while Marco and Cassie were better off, neither were really happy. What makes this particularly effective is that K.A. Applegate deliberately didn't have a grand, glorious final battle with the Animorphs finally triumphing--Rachel's death was done with a quick blow, the Yeerks surrender and peace is declared through negotiation, and Jake's PTSD results in his choosing to kill nearly ''18,000'' defenseless Yeerks.]]
24	* ArcFatigue: A good portion of the books are standalone adventures of the Animorphs (This was [[ValuesDissonance fairly standard practice for young-adult series at the time]]) and a few plot developments happen here and there, then [[AsYouKnow get explained in another book]]. As a result, it can feel as if the overall MythArc doesn't really move a whole lot. Then later on, it turns into full on ContinuityLockout.
25	* AssPull:
26	** ''The Threat'' ends with the cliffhanger that Tobias has been killed, showing David gloating over a very dead red-tailed hawk. Cue the beginning of ''The Solution'' and it turns out that Tobias is very much alive, handwaved as just having 'gotten lost' looking for David, and the hawk David killed was just a random red-tailed hawk.
27	** [[spoiler: In ''The Departure'', we suddenly learn that metamorphosis resets the morphing clock, meaning that as soon as Cassie became a butterfly, she was no longer a nothlit. This was never mentioned before or after that book. Admittedly this one is somewhat justified, as there wasn't really a ''reason'' for it to come up prior to this book (any attempt at introducing it earlier would have come across as a painfully obvious ChekhovsGun), but it's still pretty jarring to have the climax of the book rely on a rule the audience was never aware of.]]
28	%%* AwesomeEgo: Marco, full throttle.
29	* BizarroEpisode: Has [[BizarroEpisode/{{Animorphs}} its own page]].
30	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
31	** Cassie is practically the walking personification of this. Half of the fandom has practically taken up "[[WebVideo/ThePoparena Cassie is a moron]]" as a catchphrase thanks to her numerous instances of poor judgment and criticizing her as a CreatorsPet, while the other half sees her as the most human, kind, and relatable of the Animorphs. Much like anything involving David, this can lead to ''major'' backlash, so we'll just leave it at that.
32	** The Helmacrons are either stupid, pointless {{Filler Villain}}s or manage to single-handedly provide some of the series' funniest {{Breather Episode}}s.
33	** The Ellimist and Crayak are contentious for a number of reasons. The main ones are because people feeling like SufficientlyAdvancedAliens don't really "fit" the setting, and that having the entire story being part of a CosmicChessGame played by the two makes the mortal character's actions less significant. There are also a fair amount of people (such as ''WebVideo/ThePopArena'') who think that, while the Ellimist is meant to be the BigGood, he's ultimately [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks a pretty big jerk as well.]]
34	* BrokenBase:
35	** Some fans liked the secret-guerilla-war aspect of the series, and thought the final story arc ruined the series. Others, conversely, see the final arc as ten shades of epic, and see it as the best-written and greatest part of the series.
36	** Similarly, some fans liked the [[NoEnding open-ended]] conclusion, as it brought the series full circle and tied in well to the WarIsHell message of the series. Others thought it was just an easy (and lazy) way for Applegate to get out of writing a more conclusive ending.
37	** ''The Experiment'' gets a lot of flak for being a [[ShaggyDogStory poorly-plotted]] anti-meat screed (which even Applegate herself thought was obnoxious), but it also has its fans for the genuinely funny comedy throughout.
38	** The second Megamorphs book. Fans either love it for the fanservicey premise (The Animorphs go back in time to fight dinosaurs!) and its fun action-movie pacing, or they absolutely ''hate'' it for its questionable logic, inconsistencies with the rest of the series, and a particularly character-derailing ending. It's almost like the ''[[ComicBook/XMen Planet X]]'' of ''Animorphs'' books.
39	** Whether the Animorphs' actions, especially [[spoiler:Jake's killing of 17,000 defenseless Yeerks]], count as war crimes.[[note]]For the record, none of the alien factions are signatories to the Geneva Conventions, and neither are the Animorphs. And the concept of war crimes was developed in a context not considering alien invasion as a possibility.[[/note]] Not helping this is the fact that the phrase "war crimes" has been frequently overused and misused when talking about fictional works.
40	* CompleteMonster: In a series full of shades of grey and with a theme of WarIsHell, a select few stand out as truly monstrous and evil individuals.
41	** [[AxCrazy Esplin 9466 Prime]], better known to the cast as [[BigBad Visser Three]], is the only Andalite-Controller in existence, and is the sole Yeerk with the power to morph. Cruelly scorning his weaker twin, Esplin 9466 Lesser, and eventually sentencing him to exile to die of agonizing starvation, Esplin begins his career in the Hork-Bajir war where he is responsible for untold war crimes in his attempt to seize an Andalite body. Later claiming Prince Alloran Semitur-Corass as his host, Esplin uses Alloran's knowledge to launch a series of nightmarish attacks, killing countless Andalites and civilians in a wave of conquest and enslavement. Serving under Visser One on Earth, Visser 3 finally ends his rivalry with Prince Elfangor by devouring him alive. Having acquired countless monstrous Morphs through Alloran, the Visser is keen to use them to kill and torture. Forsaking all subtlety to embrace his personal [[{{Sadist}} sadism]] and cruelty, the Visser [[BadBoss slaughters his own subordinates by the shipful]] for any real or imagined [[YouHaveFailedMe failures]], even morphing into a Yeerkbane, one of the few Yeerk natural predators to [[MonstrousCannibalism consume them]] in an ultimate taboo for his species. Behind the infestation and murder of numerous humans, Visser Three eventually arranges the downfall and agonizing execution by starvation of Visser One to [[TheStarscream seize control of her rank]] in order to lead the invasion and institute a fully armed assault to slaughter humanity into submission. Unwilling to be cowed, Esplin will sacrifice untold thousands of his own, planning the complete extinction or enslavement of the Andalites and countless others to satisfy his cruel ego and petty spite toward Elfangor.
42	** [[GreaterScopeVillain Crayak]] is an alien and member of The Highest Powers who acts as the series' GodOfEvil. A nearly omnipotent [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinist]], Crayak seeks to create a universe ruled by one species and one species alone. To that end, Crayak engineered the Howlers, a race of psychopathic {{child soldier}}s who think that killing is a game, and used them to gruesomely exterminate countless species, including the pacifistic Pemalites and Graffen's Children. In order to ensure that the Howlers' HiveMind is never contaminated by memories of defeat, Crayak obliterates any Howlers who [[YouHaveFailedMe fail him]]; he also destroys any Howlers who realise that their victims are people too. Not content with having created one of the most feared races in the galaxy, Crayak also lends his godlike might to other vicious species, secretly backing the Yeerks and other would-be {{galactic conqueror}}s; he plans, for example, to have the Yeerks enslave humanity, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness only to then be wiped out by the Howlers]]. In a series filled with shades of grey, Crayak was as close to pure, unadulterated evil as one was likely to get.
43	** [[SociopathicSoldier Subvisser Fifty-one]], also known by her host's name, "Taylor", is a cruel Yeerk. Infesting the mentally ill girl, Taylor becomes an angry monster who serves as Visser Three's TortureTechnician. Using a device that [[MindRape tampers with the pain and pleasure centers of the brain]], Taylor captures Tobias and makes him relive the worst moments of his life and inserts agony to the recollections of his best memories. Returning months later after Tobias is rescued, Taylor reveals she severed her mental link with her host, regaining her sanity but not an ounce of morality. Taylor [[ManipulativeBitch manipulates the Animorphs]] into helping her kill Visser Three, taunting Tobias about the suffering she put him through, hoping to provoking him into attacking her so she has an excuse to hurt him more. Revealing that her actual plan is to kill thousands of her fellow Yeerks, Taylor intends to [[FrameUp pin the blame of her attack]] on the Yeerk Peace Faction.
44	* CreepyAwesome: Despite appearing in only one book, Joe Bob Fenestre stands out as one of the series' most intriguing antagonists, possibly because he's the Animorphs equivalent of [[Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Lecter]].
45	* DesignatedHero: Rachel in the ''Alternamorphs'' {{Gamebook}} ''The Next Passage''. During the adventure on Iskoort, Cassie is shot and killed by a Howler. Rachel blames the narrator for responsibility and demands a promise from him. If he doesn't give it to her, she and the other Animorphs lure him into a trap, making him permanently a housefly. This is supposed to reflect the fate of [[spoiler:David, who became permanently a rat]]. Unlike [[spoiler:the aforementioned David]], however, the narrator never intentionally attacked or betrayed the Animorphs. He's just in the wrong place at the wrong time when Cassie is killed by a Howler. This act of the Animorphs makes them, especially Rachel, very questionable heroes in this moment.
46	* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Ax's mannerisms (SpockSpeak, being LiteralMinded, his obsession with human food and television, his use of random facts for "making conversation") are already heavily autistic-coded, but this may just be how Andalites react to having a human body and all these new experiences. Except no other Andalite acts like Ax does (the closest would be Estrid, but for her it was just the SenseFreak absession with a particular food, and she got it under control fairly quickly), and he still acts like this after living on Earth for three years. Because of this, some fans have decided that he has whatever the Andalite equivalent of autism is.
47	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
48	** Toby Hamee gets a lot of love, for being generally smart and cool, co-starring with Tobias a lot, and being a walking reminder of ''The Hork-Bajir Chronicles'', widely seen as one of the best books.
49	** In general, if you played a major part in a ''Chronicles'' book, you're probably one of these - most of the protagonists of those stories are at best supporting characters and at worst {{Posthumous Character}}s, but they're pretty much universally popular in the fandom.
50	** [[ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter Tom only appears Yeerk-free once]], but he's popular due to his tragic story and HeroicSacrifice in the first book. Many a FixFic will give him a happier ending.
51	** Despite only appearing in one book (that isn't well-regarded), Mertil and Gafinilan stand out in fans' minds for being the series' closest thing to a gay couple, and because the concept of other Andalites living on Earth is fascinating.
52	* EscapistCharacter: Tobias counts as this for a lot of first-time readers. What kid doesn't want to just fly away from their problems?
53	* EthnicScrappy: Some of the one-off side characters like Derek the Inuit from #25 and Yami the Aboriginial boy from #44 dance on the edge of this due to having little characterization beyond their respective ethnic stereotypes. At least Derek gets to be a Trekkie and an UnfazedEveryman.
54	* FanNickname: Emohawk for Tobias. Hawkward for Rachel/Tobias moments. Visser Mom for Edriss/Eva. KASU for "Katherine Applegate Screws Up[=/=]Screw-Ups", or the mistakes between books by the author and her ghostwriters. Applegrant for the Applegate/Grant co-author duo.
55	* FandomRivalry: Though it's mostly an UnknownRival situation on the other end, the ''Animorphs'' fandom has one with ''Literature/HarryPotter''. There are several reasons: bitterness over the latter series displacing ''Animorphs'' as the most popular middle-grade children's book series, the perceived pro-status quo message in HP vs. the WarIsHell message of ''Animorphs'', and most of all the authors' differing views on transgender people (Applegrant support trans rights, Rowling doesn't).
56	* FandomSpecificPlot:
57	** There a lot of {{Elsewhere Fic}}s that just focus on a random pair of human/[[PuppeteerParasite Yeerk]] OCs.
58	** A common plot point in {{Alternate Universe Fic}}s is Tom being freed partway through the series and helping the Animorphs.
59	** Many fics envisioned what would happen if Crayak restored David's morphing power, just as Ellimist had done for Tobias. Notably, these cropped up before ''#48 The Return'', and continued since [[spoiler: that book hinted at an alliance between the two but never actually followed through]].
60	* FanficMagnet: You'll be hard-pressed to find an AlternateUniverseFic that doesn't give major roles to the real Tom and/or Melissa and/or Loren. All three of them have a personal connection to one of the Animorphs, but the nature of their roles means they don't have much pagetime and they're difficult to fit into canon-compliant fanfics as a result; Tom only appears uninfested once, Melissa needs to be kept in the dark for her own safety, and Loren [[spoiler:became a blind amnesiac]] between the events of ''The Andalite Chronicles'' and the series proper.
61	* FanPreferredCouple: A lot of people think Rachel should have paired up with Marco instead of Tobias, as they are VitriolicBestBuds, and definetly have a hint of BelligerentSexualTension, or, at least the PuppyLove version of it. They do date briefly in the alternate universe from Megamorphs 4
62	* {{Fanon}}:
63	** Marco is gay or bi, and the fact that he's [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday pretty openly interested in girls]] is just self-denial. In particular fans want to put him with Ax, both for PairTheSpares and because the two grow a bit closer near the end of the series, when they're temporarily forced to live together.
64	** Marco had long hair up until book #10, where he mentions cutting it short. The covers reflect this. The fanart, however, is prone to showing him with long hair throughout the series. Ironically, the [[Comicbook/{{Animorphs}} graphic novels]] went in the other direction and gave him short hair from the start.
65	** The Yeerk hierarchy is called a Visserarchy. Note that, technically, the Vissers aren't even at the top, being subservient to the Council of Thirteen.
66	** Many fans assume that Tobias' surname is "[[spoiler:Fangor]]," since that's what his biological father was using at the time. The fact that Tobias thought a different man was his father, however, seems to discount this.
67	** Near the end of the series, we [[GivenNameReveal learn]] that Jake's last name is [[spoiler:Berenson]]. Technically the series never states that that's Rachel's name too, but they're cousins who seem to be related through their fathers, so it's what most fans assume.
68	** While we'll never know for sure how he felt, it's a widely-accepted headcanon that the real Tom was okay with [[spoiler:Rachel killing him.]]
69	** There are many fans who assume that Jake was chosen by the Ellimist as well since like Marco, Tobias, and Ax, he does have a stake in the war due to his brother being a Controller and his natural leadership has helped out the group many times.
70	* FanonDiscontinuity:
71	** A lot of fans simply gloss over some of the more awful ghostwritten books.
72	** The ending of the series (spread across several books) is this for many people, partly for the lack of a proper conclusion (featuring an infamous BolivianArmyEnding), partly for being much DarkerAndEdgier than the rest of the already fairly dark series, partly for making several protagonists extremely hard to root for, and partly for being full of NightmareFuel.
73	** The ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' Animorphs tie-in action figures are disregarded by both Animorphs and TF fandoms because, like the TV series, they sucked, though the concept ''sounded'' pretty good on paper. It was the ''execution'', specifically the KibblesAndBits syndrome that hit the line hard (due to the fact that toys can't mimic the Animorph's transformation fluidly); ''that'' was the downfall. (The Mutant Beast Wars animal-to-animal toys that came out afterward were intended for this line; you can tell because one head is clearly an Andalite head.) The later ''Star Wars'' and Marvel TF toys have been better received.
74	* FollowTheLeader: Considering the RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude set-up, the title of the series has the word "Morph" in it, and it started publication in the mid-'90s, it's clear this series was published to appeal to the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' audience.
75	* FriendlyFandoms:
76	** There was one with ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'', as both were in the height of their popularity at the time the books were being published.
77	** There's also one with ''Literature/{{Gone}}'', since both involve kids getting superpowers by an alien force, and it was written by Applegate's husband and co-writer, Michael Grant.
78	* GrowingTheBeard: ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' at first did it with the third book in the series; while the first two had helped to establish the core plot and the setting, the third book took a more unique turn, centering around Tobias, the most mysterious member of the group who in the previous books had been [[ShapeshifterModeLock trapped in the form of a hawk]]. Book number 19, ''The Departure'', coupled with books 20-22 ("the David Trilogy") are also noted for elevating ''Animorphs'' beyond usual middle reader books. Other points later in the series' 54-book run could also be considered growing the beard, depending who you ask. Perhaps when [[spoiler: Marco's mother is revealed to be Visser One, when the conflict escalates to a full scale war in the later books, and more gradual as the characters grow more mature over time.]] There is also a very notable beard-growing for the companion books such as ''The Andalite Chronicles'' and ''The Hork-Bajir Chronicles'', with much more mature and engaging storylines following on characters on exotic alien worlds. On the other hand, some fans argue that the later books in the core series saw a decline in quality, where Applegate had many of the books ghostwritten (though she heavily edited them to fit), and in the climax of the series where some were upset at [[spoiler: Rachel and Ax's deaths]]. It's telling that the only book in the mid-to-late range that is generally well-received by fans is a take on ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'''s "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E5TheEnemyWithin The Enemy Within]]" which is also the only book not ghostwritten until the final two.
79	* HardToAdaptWork: While the television series adaptation had many problems, one key reason behind it failing as badly as it did and being viewed as the embarrassment that it is today is just how difficult the original books themselves are to adapt to any other medium outside literature. On the one hand, the series has a very youthful main cast (with the five founding members of the titular team all being 13 years old at the start of the series and 16 by the end) [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld who live double-lives where they fight alien invaders]] by [[VoluntaryShapeshifter turning into animals]]; a premise that one could easily be forgiven for expecting to be for the same demographic as ''Franchise/PowerRangers''. But on the other hand, the series also contains [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence incredibly violent fight scenes]] and heavy ruminations on [[WarIsHell the cost of war]] that would [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids automatically reserve it for older audiences]] if depicted in a visual format. Further complicating matters is how the need to depict [[NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals animals]] and [[StarfishAliens multiple different types of incredibly bizarre and ostentatious alien designs]] would put the ability to faithfully adapt the series well beyond a typical live action television budget[[note]]while K.A. Applegate initially wrote the alien enemies as easily adaptable RubberForeheadAliens, she later made sure to go as far as possible in the opposite direction for subsequent alien designs to spite Scholastic after they told her to be more creative, a decision that would ultimately bite the makers of the eventual attempted live action TV adaptation in the butt[[/note]], yet the largely episodic format of the majority of the books means that they don't quite work all that well as films either. All this combined resulted in the live action television series that broadcast in the 90s at around the same time as the books' initial run largely being doomed from the start.
80	* HarsherInHindsight:
81	** In book #12, Cassie morphs Rachel and complains about the morph being hard to control because Rachel's instincts keep trying to make her do stupid things. As the series progressed, readers started to see some of what those instincts were - [[BloodKnight extreme violence]], recklessness, and so on. It gets even worse once you reach book #54 -[[spoiler:Cassie's best friend is gone, and the closest she'll ever get to having her back is morphing her]].
82	** The series was published in the late 90s through early 2001, and thus has several references to topics that become harder to stomach in the context of UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror beginning roughly four months after the series' completion.
83	*** In the alternate future Jake visits in #41, the only part of the New York skyline still recognizable is the World Trade Center.
84	*** In book #37, Rachel deliberately crashes an airplane into a skyscraper.
85	*** The last several books (published during Spring 2001) have a lot of musing about how America isn't ready to defend itself because it doesn't have any enemies, which quickly became a laughably naive perspective. For example, Marco gives a rant on the current state of events in book #46 and Tobias concurs with an unintentionally sad comment.
86	---->'''Tobias:''' Marco has a point. Particularly Americans. I mean, we've got no enemies at sea, not many on land, and those aren't exactly real scary. The country's just not ready for war. Maybe it's arrogance, maybe a combination of things, but the average person on the street just doesn't think another World War is possible.
87	*** In book #54, which was published in May 2001 but set [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in 2002 or thereabouts]], Jake mentions that since the existence of aliens was revealed to the general public there's been a rise in terrorism, particularly religiously motivated terrorism.
88	*** In Megamorphs #2, the Animorphs help rescue a nuclear submarine that has gone down. After they finish, Ax asks what the submarine is for, since he figures it’s too large to be an exploration vessel. Jake explains that it’s part of the navy, which leads to this conversation:
89	----><What enemy?>\
90	<Well . . . okay, we don’t exactly have one right now,> [Jake] said, feeling fairly idiotic. <But we used to. And we may get one again.>\
91	<We're shopping all the sales,> Marco said brightly. <Enemies "R" Us, [=EnemyMart=], J.C. Enemy. Don't worry, we'll find one.>
92	** In book #22, Rachel mentions that the Yeerks could get human-Controllers to machine-gun them inside a Taco Bell and it would barely register as news to humans. For context, this book came out before Columbine, let alone before mass shootings became a regular occurrence.
93	** In book #2, Rachel thinks she's alone on the Blade Ship only to find Jake is in flea morph on her back because he wasn't going to let her go alone. Come book #54, [[spoiler:Rachel is on the Blade Ship alone... except this time, no one is there with her.]]
94	* HesJustHiding:
95	** A few people believe [[spoiler:Jara and Ax]] survived, given that their (presumed) deaths happened off-page.
96	** [[spoiler:Rachel. Technically she fulfilled a deal Crayak offered her MUCH earlier, in killing her cousin. This has led people to speculate that she might be Crayak's new warrior or something.]]
97	* HilariousInHindsight:
98	** In book 9, ''The Secret'', the gang fools Visser Three into taking a bath in grape juice to get rid of the smell of skunk, which dyes his fur purple. Later in the series, it is revealed that Andalite females are purple.
99	** More than a decade after the series ended, Applegate wrote [[Literature/TheOneAndOnlyIvan another book featuring talking animals]], specifically a gorilla and an elephant. Granted, Ivan and Ruby have no similarities to Marco and Rachel whatsoever, and since it was based of real events they had to be those animals, but it's still pretty funny.
100	** Crayak was doing [[MemeticMutation "Soon"]] before it was cool.
101	** ''The Exposed'' is about a [[Franchise/{{Splatoon}} kid morphing into a squid.]]
102	** One RunningGag had Jake and Marco arguing whether Batman or Spider-Man would win in a fight. ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' has since done a segment featuring the two ([[spoiler: Spider-Man wins with a lack of prep-time on Batman's part]]), and later still, Spider-Man ends up fighting "[[Creator/MichaelKeaton Batman]]" in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming.''
103	** Applegate apparently never watched [[Series/{{Animorphs}} the TV series]] past the second episode, yet later wrote Megamorphs #4, which has basically [[ItsAWonderfulPlot the same plot]] as one of the original episodes, except backwards: [[spoiler:in the episode, Tobias still becomes an Animorph while the others are infested, but in the book, ''he'' gets infested while they fight the Yeerks]].
104	** The reason behind the Howlers wanting to kill everybody, [[spoiler: the fact that they're basically just children who think real life is a game and don't realize they're actually killing people,]] is extremely similar to ComicBook/HarleyQuinn's "Harleyvision".
105	** In "The Warning", Ax pokes fun at Marco's internet speed--56,000 bits per second, which Marco defends as being the fastest internet on the market at the time. While just another comment on Andalite tech superiority at the time, thanks to TechnologyMarchesOn the average low-end broadband today is an average of 11 Mbps[[note]]That's eleven ''million'' bits per second[[/note]], or almost ''two hundred times'' faster than Marco's "high end" internet.
106	** The revelation that Hork-Bajir are actually herbivorous and use their massive blades to shear off tree bark became this for paleontology nerds when it was discovered that the infamous Therizinosaurus, notable for its gigantic bladed claws, was also a plant-eater. (Hell, with its long neck and birdlike head, it even looks a lot like a giant tubby Hork-Bajir.)
107	** On various occasions, Marco complains about how they aren't superheroes because they have to do things like look through the phone book to find people, protesting "ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} never has to look things up in the phone book!" ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' does indeed feature Wolverine looking someone up in the phone book.
108	** A recurring thorn in Tobias's side is a [[{{StatuesqueStunner}} tall]] blonde girl named [[{{Music/TaylorSwift}} Taylor]].
109	* JerkassWoobie:
110	** David - lost his entire life through no fault of his own, was kidnapped by kids he didn't know and forcibly recruited into a war he wanted no part of and faced the threat of death from both sides of the conflict. His [[FateWorseThanDeath final fate]] just hammers the nail in.
111	** Taylor - lost her arm, leg, and face in a fire. Became a human-Controller in exchange for getting them back. Got infested by a psychotic Yeerk, whose fusion with her own unbalanced mind drove them ''both'' over the edge. She'd be pitiable if she weren't so evil (note that this only applies to the real Taylor, not Sub-Visser Fifty-One).
112	** Alloran [[GeneralRipper released a quantum virus on the Hork-Bajir homeworld]] in an attempt to prevent the Yeerks from using their bodies. His actions resulted in thousands of innocents dying painfully. At the same time, it's kind of hard to ''not'' feel bad for him. He spent years [[AndIMustScream imprisoned in his own body]], ''begging'' Ax to kill him when he was free momentarily. He had to watch, powerless, as his body was used to murder countless people and even eat them alive. He had a wife that he named his ship after and two children that he went decades without seeing. After he was freed in ''The Beginning'', he was shouting in excitement because he could move out of his own volition. Given Visser Three's penchant for [[BadBoss torturing those under his control]], one can only imagine what additional torment Alloran was forced to endure as a captive mind in the brain controlled by the Visser. Alloran's exuberance when the Visser is defeated is palpable, as he swings his tail blade for the first time in decades on his own accord.
113	--->'''Alloran:''' <Do you know who did that? Do you know who moved my tail? I did. I did. I did it.>
114	* LGBTFanbase: Big time, between one character being confirmed bi, a pair of gay-confirmed aliens, and the whole “shifting into another body, including opposite genders when applicable” thing. Both authors being outspoken allies with a transgender daughter also helps. Also helping this is the textual acknowledgement - there are a couple of direct uses of the word "gay" in a couple of books, albiet used in a general descriptive sense rather than for any individual, but still virtually unheard of for a book series aimed towards children in the late nineties.
115	* MagnificentBastard: [[AllPowerfulBystander The Ellimist]] was once a mortal Ketran known to his friends as Toomin, who, through a series of cosmically unlikely events, ended up becoming a reality-warping being. As the SoleSurvivor of his kind, Toomin's transformation into the Ellimist begins after breaking free of "[[TheAssimilator Father]]". Toomin learns to steal the millions of assimilated minds from Father, then uses this near-limitless knowledge to integrate himself into a super advanced spacecraft, travelling the galaxy as a technological deity to help planets prosper. However, the Ellimist comes into conflict with [[OmnicidalManiac Crayak]], who seeks to eradicate all life. Unable to stop Crayak's trail of death, the Ellimist instead counters by spreading new life on uninhabited planets that outpaces Crayak's work. The two technological gods battle one another, wiping out a tenth of the galaxy in the crossfire, which ends in the Ellimist and later Crayak entering a black hole and merging with space-time to become true gods. Continuing to play a CosmicChessGame, Crayak is responsible for the Yeerk crisis ravaging the galaxy, while the Ellimist manipulates the formation of the [[Characters/AnimorphsAnimorphs Animorphs]] as his warriors. The Ellimist assists the Animorphs from the sidelines numerous times, often exploiting loopholes to give them help without technically breaking the rules of the game.
116	* MemeticMutation:
117	** There seems to be a growing number of spoof Animorph covers involving strange transformations. Sometimes [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m759l0Z8DS1r7kc6xo1_250.jpg not even between a human and an animal]].
118	** There's a rather infamous spoof cover of Cassie morphing into [[CrossesTheLineTwice a watermelon]].
119	** And then there are those with celebrities with animal names morphing into their respective animals, e.g. Pitbull, Seal, Snoop Dogg (after he renamed himself Snoop Lion)... and even [[Series/SexAndTheCity Sarah Jessica Parker]] morphing into a horse (because according to MemeticMutation she looks like one).
120	** Thanks to some offhand comments from Visser Three in the first two books about Jake's tiger morph and Rachel's cat morph, "Visser Three loves kittens!" has turned into one of the more enduring inside jokes of the fandom.
121	*** [[https://66.media.tumblr.com/81da74501f9ab1d8400847ad94f5279f/tumblr_p7zaz3R2Db1tirgj5o1_500.png This fanart]] extends that obsession to tigers, with the Visser demanding ''Zoobooks'' posters of them.
122	** "Dapsen", implied to be a vulgar word in the Yeerk's language, frequently shows up in humorous fanfics from Yeerk characters' points of view.
123	** "God is a gamer" due to the Ellimist originally being an alien who played video games. This has resulted in some [[https://64.media.tumblr.com/986752f07647a64bc10393ca74371501/tumblr_oqfxe6rmG51ryi2xfo1_540.png hilarious]] memes associating him with stereotypical "gamer" things, like Doritos and Mountain Dew.
124	** Andalites are monsterfuckers.[[labelnote:Explanation]]The first two ''Chronicles'' books are both about an Andalite who falls in love with a member of another species, becomes a nothlit, and has a child with them. This led to a bunch of jokes about how Andalites only invented the morphing power so they could have sex with aliens. Who knows, maybe they got it from the Ellimist when ''he'' did the same thing to them.[[/labelnote]]
125	* MoralEventHorizon:
126	** [[spoiler:David]] murdering Jake and Rachel's cousin Saddler is played this way. Previously given some sympathy due to his having lost his parents and been forcibly recruited by the Animorphs into a war he doesn't want to fight, [[spoiler:David]]'s attempts to kill Tobias and Jake were the start of a slide down the slope to straight up villainy. [[spoiler:David]]'s decision to unplug Saddler, stash the body, and replace him, is the point at which the characters and the narrative stop treating him with any sympathy, and the point at which the audience realizes that there is going to be no reconciliation.
127	** Some members of the fanbase--and Jake himself for that matter--view his [[spoiler:execution of 17,000 defenseless Yeerks]] as one of these. While Jake clearly feels bad about it, it's an action from which there is indeed no going back.
128	** It's hard to say ''where'' exactly [[spoiler:Rachel]] crosses it, due to #32 being a case of a SuperpoweredEvilSide run amok and #37 having some inconsistent writing, but by the time of #52 she's firmly in SociopathicSoldier territory, chasing down a deserting Yeerk {{Mook\|s}} ForTheEvulz and then nearly committing vehicular homicide on the mild-mannered Captain Olston. [[spoiler:It's implied that even Rachel herself realizes that she's too far gone when she agrees to go on that last mission for Jake.]]
129	* {{Narm}}: Rachel threatening David with a plastic fork in the ear. It's both [[NightmareFuel intensely]] [[NarmCharm disturbing]] and somehow hilarious in its simple and straightforward language.
130	-->"He stepped back, drew back his fist, and swung on me. I dodged the blow. I grabbed his head with one arm and jammed the fork against his ear. I fought a nauseating urge to [[EarAche twist the fork, to make him scream in pain]]."
131	* OlderThanTheyThink: The obscure manga from TheEighties ''Manga/DarkCat'' features boys turning into telepathic animals (only cats in this case, though) to fight off an evil invasion of creatures that parasitize their victims. For bonus points, one of their schoolteachers is one of the baddies.
132	* OnceOriginalNowCommon: Despite many things [[ValuesResonance aging well]], in many ways these books were a product of [[TheNineties their]] [[TurnOfTheMillennium time]]. The fact the series even ''had'' a MythArc was uncommon in young adult literature back then. However, despite the presence of a MythArc, it moved [[ArcFatigue very slowly]], was [[SlowPacedBeginning full of the characters restating the series' premise and rules for the first 20 pages]], and has loads of [[{{Filler}} one-shot adventures that are resolved within the span of one book]].
133	* OneSceneWonder: The ant that gained the power to morph from the blue box and has a run-in with Cassie.
134	* OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight: Frequently invoked by the fans in response to the ghostwritten books. Scholastic ''themselves'' invoked it once, when K.A. had to do a last-minute rewrite of ''#28: The Experiment''. Amusingly, the much-maligned ''[[JekyllAndHyde #32 The Separation]]'' is frequently cited as an example, [[MisBlamed when in fact that book was written by K.A. herself]].
135	* ParanoiaFuel:
136	** Thanks to their fantastic capacity for imitating their hosts, Yeerks can be anywhere, even inside the people you know intimately. Yes, you could be talking to an alien parasite who's putting on an elaborate act and doesn't mean a word he/she says while your genuine best friend/close sibling/beloved parent/significant other is watching you be fooled, and is mentally sobbing because no one realizes they're a prisoner inside their own head, and you'd have no way of knowing. ''At all.'' The Yeerks make a few rare mistakes, due to having their own agendas and personalities, but aside from a couple isolated incidents the Yeerks are absolutely undectectable. Combined with the books' LiteraryAgentHypothesis setup, this makes for some very creepy MindScrew.
137	** Also because of the LiteraryAgentHypothesis, you realize that the insect you just killed could have been one of the Animorphs.
138	** Even though the Chee are good guys, the concept of people around you being NighInvulnerable extraterrestrial robots using holograms to make themselves look human is rather unsettling.[[note]]Pretty much the only difference between the Chee and [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Terminators]] is that the Chee are [[ActualPacifist Actual Pacifists]]. Now imagine if that weren't the case...[[/note]]
139	* PopularWithFurries: Not surprising, really, with all the shifting into animal forms.
140	* RainbowLens: Tobias is often interpreted as a transgender allegory, transforming from a human body into a hawk's, in which he feels infinitely more free.[[note]]Though this may have something to do with his crappy life as a human.[[/note]] The authors have stated this was unintentional, but have given their blessing to readers who interpret it that way, and are outspoken allies of the trans community.
141	* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Not hated per se, but in its heyday, Jake was the most criticized character of the group [[StandardizedLeader for lacking the depth]] that others like Marco, Tobias, and Rachel had. CharacterDevelopment kicked into high gear during the [[CerebusSyndrome second-half of the series]], and these complaints disappeared.
142	* TheScrappy: [[DiabolusExNihilo The]] [[LastEpisodeNewCharacter One]] is widely loathed for bringing about the BolivianArmyEnding.
143	* ScrappyMechanic: The ''Sario Rip'' effect is a rare non-video game example. It's a thinly-veiled way to send the kids on fantastical journeys to places like the Amazon or the Cretaceous, and it comes with a built-in reset effect that [[StatusQuoIsGod makes anything that happens during it irrelevant]]. The kids get all kinds of cool morphs they don't get to keep because of it, and the books where it is featured are usually a lot less fun than they were meant to be.
144	* SignatureSeriesArc: The David trilogy is considered a defining arc that contains some of the best writing in the series, departs from the typical episodic structure, and demonstrates just how far the Animorphs have come since the first book.
145	* SlowPacedBeginning: The beginning of each book is loaded with the same exposition about the Yeerks and "I can't tell you my last name" and "We can't stay in a morph for more than two hours" and "You see, every three days they have to..." and so on. Some fans make it a habit to just skip the first few pages of each one.
146	* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Literature/EndersGame'', another KidHero focused SpaceOpera that [[GenreDeconstruction deconstructs]] Kid Hero focused space operas, though it should be noted that Animorphs, despite being geared toward a younger audience, is much [[DarkerAndEdgier bleaker]].
147	** Also to ''Series/{{Manimal}}'', which had a very similar concept of a human who could transform at will into various animals to fight evil.
148	* StrangledByTheRedString: OfficialCouple Rachel/Tobias is a curious case. Back when the series was originally being printed it was '''the''' Animorphs pairing of choice, to the point where the TV show reinvented Tobias from TheChewToy into the resident badass to better mesh him up with her. But as the fandom's matured, a lot of the more uncomfortable aspects of their relationship have been acknowledged, such as Tobias' attraction to other females -- namely the female red-tailed hawk -- and especially his obsession with Taylor. Then on Rachel's side, she doesn't seem interested in Tobias himself so much as she is the ''idea'' of Tobias, to the point where when she was split in two during ''The Separation'' her "good" side had no interest in Tobias at all, and her bad side -- while respecting him as a fellow warrior -- was still perfectly willing to kill him if she needed to. Also, although real Rachel has said "I love you" to Tobias, he's never said it back. Not too mention, in alternate timelines, they both dated other people (Rachel was dating Marco in one timeline, Tobias was dating Melissa in another).
149	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/{{Animorphs}} Has its own page.]]
150	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The two {{Gamebooks}}, ''The Alternamorphs'', have been criticized for leaning heavily on DoNotDoThisCoolThing. The first one for having no actual [[MultipleEndings branching paths]] and the second for ''only'' having [[DownerEnding Downer Endings]]. It doesn't help that they largely recapitulated the plots of ''The Invasion'', ''The Forgotten'', ''The Attack'', and ''In the Time of Dinosaurs'', rather than having original plots. Worse yet, the last three are all [[BizarroEpisode Bizarro Episodes]] that were divisive in their own rights.
151	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: ''Animorphs'' was never a particularly lighthearted series but by the end it's comparable to ''Series/GameOfThrones''. The main characters are traumatized anti-heroes at best and psychopaths at worst (see AlternativeCharacterInterpretation), both sides of the military in the Yeerk vs. Andalite war have been shown to have committed atrocities to the point where it's hard to say that anyone is morally superior, most of the humans are horribly outmatched and have virtually no say in their fate, when the Animorphs finally call the Andalite homeworld the aliens' response is to "Quarantine" planet Earth, thereby mark it for destruction, and to top it all off two god-like characters are locked in a "game" that might result in the universe being destroyed.
152	* TrappedByMountainLions: ''Rachel'', of all people, is subjected to this in the first Megamorphs book, ''The Andalite's Gift''. The first half of the book has her contracting an unfortunate case of EasyAmnesia and wandering around the woods while her friends are fighting for their lives.[[note]]Ironically, a ''literal'' case of Cassie being TrappedByMountainLions (well, a leopard) in book 19 doesn't count, since it ''is'' part of the main plot.[[/note]]
153	* UnexpectedCharacter: Arbron and Loren, two minor characters who hadn't been seen in years and had little reason to return again, both made surprise reappearances in the final arc. Weirder still, while Arbron's fate was neatly tied up in the epilogue, Loren wasn't addressed at all, making her a weird case of this character type meeting WhatHappenedToTheMouse
154	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Joe Bob Fenestre and Web Access America are blatant references to Ted Turner and AOL Online, lending themselves to a then-topical TakeThat that AOL was an evil corporation with plans to take over the world. As of TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties, AOL has been completely merged into Yahoo! and those sorts of jokes are now lobbed at [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope Disney]] and Amazon.
155	** The society it takes place in counts towards this too. In the aforementioned review, Pop Arena discusses how the very premise of the series really only makes sense in the context of its 1990s setting, that being a time when the US was enjoying a period of perceived peace and prosperity, with no real rivals. For example, the plot of "The Deception" revolves around the idea that the United States has no serious military or economic rivals and is unprepared to enter another major war. This was a major sentiment in the 1990s, but is all but forgotten today. Tellingly, the Yeerks don't seem to stand in for any particular foreign enemy or ideology.
156	* UnintentionallySympathetic: Creator/KAApplegate all-but-admitted in a [[http://web.archive.org/web/19990420130125/http://www.scholastic.com/animorphs/accord06.htm 1997 FAQ]] that she wrote David to be a mixture of hateful and pathetic, describing him in a post-book FAQ as a "[[http://i.imgur.com/cAfF3dP.jpg weak, rotten human being]]". The problem with this example ([[BrokenBase at least for some]]) as compared to most other characters of this type is that David is a young teenager who loses his family in a single night and suddenly finds himself forcibly recruited into a guerrilla war and surrounded by strangers who don't seem to care about him or even like him very much. While his betrayal is unconscionable, there are plenty of people who see where he's coming from, even if they can't condone his actions, and it's not hard to sympathize with his desire to leave the conflict behind and try for some semblance of a normal life. He commits some of the darkest acts in a series full of them, but when you're talking about a series where [[spoiler:one of the main heroes orders the summary execution of over ten thousand helpless sentient beings]], there are some readers who fail to see what he does as deserving of special condemnation.
157	* ViewerPronunciationConfusion: Some people pronounce Yeerk as "yerk", while others pronounce it as "year-k". The TV show went with the former, while the audiobooks went with the latter.
158	* {{Wangst}}:
159	** David, who never stops whining about how unfair it is that he's "lost everything" even as he tries to murder the other kids.
160	** Rachel's personal life problems come across as a bit of this compared to the other Animorphs. Sure, her parents getting divorced sucks, but that seems pretty tame compared to Marco and Jake finding out their mother and brother (respectively) are controllers (and in Marco's case, after believing his mom was dead for several years), Tobias living with his abusive aunt and uncle and being bullied all the time, and Ax having his brother ''eaten'' by Visser Three at the start of the series.
161	* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Despite being intended for children, this was in many ways [[ValuesResonance ahead of its time]] in terms of the content presented:
162	** In ''VISSER'', there are several implicit references to drugs. Jenny Lines is heavily implied to be a drug addict when Edriss said in the narration, "The only thing she really cared about was [[GRatedDrug a certain human substance]]." They couldn't actually say what the substance was...
163	*** This also apples to Hildy in the same book; he was heavily implied to be an alcoholic. To get him to talk, Visser Three said he'd give him a "bottle", but Applegate couldn't exactly say what was in the bottle. This has spawned the popular fandom joke that K.A. told Scholastic it was a bottle of milk.
164	** In recent years, the books have had a relatively large following with adults who read the series as kids. Some adults are just now discovering it, without knowing that it was intended for children. It's not hard to see why -- it's ''incredibly'' dark and violent, and there are some concepts (such as drug abuse) subtly (or not-so-subtly) presented in the text that a kid simply wouldn't get. It doesn't help that the TV series toned down the violence.
165	* TheWoobie:
166	** Tobias starts the series out as a skinny, blond-haired loser Jake saves from bullies... and Jake is the closest thing he has to a friend, despite the fact Jake thinks he's weird. (Although Jake at least seems fond of him, despite finding him strange.) His parents are dead, his only two relatives fight over which one of them HAS to have him. He then gets trapped as a hawk by the end of the first book. He then goes on to have an epic identity crisis, start a semi-InterspeciesRomance with a girl who really wants him to drop the "interspecies" bit, realize that [[spoiler:the alien who died saving them is his father]], get captured and tortured, realize that his mother isn't dead -- she's ''[[spoiler:amnesiac and crippled]]'', and [[spoiler:watch Jake send the love of his life to certain death]]. About the only good things that happen to him are Rachel, his girlfriend, and Ax, his best friend and [[spoiler:[[LukeIAmYourFather uncle]]]]. [[spoiler:They both die.]] For a series as dark as this one, Tobias stands out for his Woobieness.
167	** Poor Tom made one stupid decision that led him to become a [[FateWorseThanDeath prisoner in his own body]] for over ''three years''. Very early on in the series, he'd rather die because he can't see another way out. By the end, [[spoiler:the Yeerks have turned him into a HumanWeapon, and he's strongly implied to be an EmptyShell. Worst of all, unlike most of the major hosts, [[KillTheHostBody he doesn't get better]].]]
168	* WoobieSpecies: Many aliens.
169	** The Yeerks are the misunderstood variety [[JerkassWoobie for the most part]]. They are blind, sentient slugs who only take hosts to compensate for their biology. Only those in power and those seeking power can be said to be really evil, as most of the footsoldiers are either swept up in the propaganda or afraid to challenge their superiors.
170	** The Taxxons suffer from terrible HorrorHunger. They're a race of terrified over-eaters, cannibalising one another out of a terror of starvation. The ones in the Yeerk invasion force have it particularly bad, as they've been removed from the HiveMind that usually regulates their hunger.
171	** The Hork-Bajir are a race of dumb, friendly bark eaters who were nearly wiped out in an attempt to deprive the Yeerks of hosts. The kicker is that it didn't even ''work''. Those few Hork-Bajir who weren't killed were successfully infested with Yeerks.
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	[[folder: The TV Show]]
175	* AssPull: The ending of part 3 of "Face Off" is really weird and comes out of nowhere: [[spoiler: The Animorphs are stuck in the Yeerk Pool, and Marco finds what is said to be the control room for the pool, [[InformedAttribute even though it just looks like some kind of boiler room or something.]] He picks up a plastic box and throws it at something offscreen, which causes the ''entire Yeerk Pool to self-destruct''!]]
176	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Many, even those who dislike the show, agree the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IfboJUVBI8 theme song]] was pretty damn awesome; it exemplifies the dark pathos of the series.
177	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
178	** Tobias is shot dead at the end of an episode while miles underground. The characters have to escape the underground by morphing into ferrets so there's no way for Tobias('s corpse) to escape. Jake even examines his dead body. [[StatusQuoIsGod Despite this, Tobias is shown to be alive at the start of the next episode.]]
179	** That one time Marco had a dream about being chased by a stop motion T-Rex (stock footage from another movie). Presumably it was supposed to be a Hork-Bajir, because it makes the exact same noises.
180	* BizarroEpisode:
181	** Even for this show, the oatmeal weaponization episode was pretty ridiculous. To be fair, it was actually adapted from the novel's own BizarroEpisode.
182	* EnsembleDarkHorse:
183	** Interestingly, Ax is fairly well liked for his ridiculously naive yet heartfelt lines, despite being DemotedToExtra in this adaptation.
184	** The Crazy anti-Yeerk Lady in "The Forgotten".
185	* FanNickname: The show is often referred to as "[=AniTV=]" for short.
186	* FountainOfMemes: '''AX.''' If you thought Ax's dialogue could be a bit goofy in the books, the show takes to the next level.
187	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Aside from all the kids, the hawk playing Tobias is surprisingly good at it.
188	* HoYay: The final episode all but confirms Ax/Marco, with Marco asking Ax to slow-dance with him at the same time as the canon couples are doing the same thing. Especially with the way Marco looks at Ax.
189	* MemeticBadass:
190	** [[AdaptationalBadass Tobias]]. The one thing fans tend to remember the most about him (whether they like it or not), is that he's MUCH more of a physical presence, is more attractive, and is TallDarkAndSnarky.
191	*** Marco to a lesser extent, for a certain thing that happened in the season 1 finale.
192	** [[RetroactiveRecognition Jake is a Mutant!]] No wonder he leads the Animorphs!
193	** Crazy Anti-Yeerk Lady. But seriously, how ''did'' she kill her own Yeerk?
194	* {{Narm}}: This show has this in spades.
195	** Generally the acting is pretty mixed. While the actors themselves are pretty good, some of the dialogue can be a bit... off.
196	--> '''Marco''': [[DullSurprise I cannot believe it about Tobias.]]
197	** The main weapon of the Yeerks is reduced to [[SpecialEffectsFailure laser flashlights.]]
198	** The fight scenes generally consist of Rachel morphing Lion and the opponents running away.
199	* RetroactiveRecognition: Shawn Ashmore (Jake) would go on to star in the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' and Paulo Costanzo (Ax) would later go onto ''Series/{{Joey}}'' and ''Series/RoyalPains''.
200	* SeasonalRot: While the first season was not well liked, season 2 is seen as worse, as it got even sillier and didn't take itself as seriously as season 1 could sometimes try to be.
201	* SpecialEffectFailure: The show is infamous for, among other things, particularly bad special effects. You can see the weave in Visser Three's tailscythe, and the Hork-Bajir model (they only had one) is memetically bad. The [[RayGun dracon beams]] were just flashlights. The morphing effects, (whenever they weren't cut away from) are also just as awful as you'd expect them to be.
202	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Actually pretty common throughout the series.
203	** Tobias doesn't become a hawk until episode 3. This could open up the chance to explore who he was before the transformation. But instead he gets an odd subplot where he gets paranoid about the morphing and runs off for a while, leading the others to worry that he sold them out until he [[BigDamnHeroes redeems himself.]]
204	*** ...Which leads to another wasted plot. Tobias is the outsider of the group, so a few trust issues would be interesting to work with. Instead, the show focuses on whether he actually ''is'' trustworthy, which most people'd be able to guess.
205	*** ...Leading into what happens next. When Tobias goes missing, they wait a few episodes to reveal what happened to him. Perhaps a little more reaction from the main cast would have been nice?
206	** Rachel Morphs a Yeerk to help Tobias infiltrate the Yeerk pool (something the novel characters are too disgusted to do). His infestation leads the others to believe he's been captured. The definitely could have been utilized for more than a brief confrontation scene.
207	*** Hell, ''infiltrating the Yeerks'' is an awesome idea, and no-one ever brings it up again.
208	** The resistance. To be fair to this one, this is when the show was abruptly cancelled.
209	** Infested Jake tries to sway Tobias into letting him go by saying the Yeerks have the Tech-know how to change him back to human. He backs this up by saying that Jake really thinks of him as the team-pet. To the show's credit Tobias (as a hawk, no less) actually manages to look rather torn about it, quickly leaving the second Rachel comes to take over his shift.
210	** Rachel gains amnesia. Unlike the novel the episode is adapted from, this is the only plot going on. During the episode a Yeerk takes advantage of her amnesia to try to get her infested, leading her friends to worry she's giving up. Sadly this is reduced to a find Rachel/restore her memory in seconds plot.
211	*** In that episode it's revealed that the conspiracy theorist/previously infested woman from the cabin is stalking/watching them. More then a few viewers wish she'd returned, or even joined the team.
212	%%* TheWoobie: Poor Marco.
213	%% ** Tobias to an extent, though not nearly as much as his literature counterpart.
214	[[/folder]]
215	!!The games
216	* AntiClimaxBoss: There's only one boss in ''Shattered Reality'' -- [[BigBad Visser Three]], fighting in a kind of {{Golem}} morph. He's not very hard.
217	%%* {{Narm}}: All three games give generous helpings. ''Shattered Reality'' and ''Know the Secret'' have truly narmalicious voice acting.
218	* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: None of these games are exactly classics of the genre -- even fans of the books tend to stay away from these things, not in the least because on top of being bad games, they don't actually represent the home series very well at all.
219	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The cutscenes in ''Shattered Reality''. It was a [[Platform/{{Playstation}} PS1]] game and a TroubledProduction and yet its three cinematics managed to look surprisingly good.
220
221	!!The graphic novels
222	* TheChrisCarterEffect: So far the graphic novels are on a schedule of one per year, and have corresponded to a single book each. Considering the number of books in the original series, unless the writers start in on some major AdaptationDistillation in the future, the graphic novels will probably never finish the entire story.
223	* ContinuityLockout: The first graphic novel manages to never establish that Jake and Rachel are cousins, leading to some jokes by fans about how the new readers it's trying to reach might start shipping them only to later find out they're related.
224	* ImprovedSecondAttempt:
225	** The adaptation of ''The Visitor'' re-writes some aspects of the scene where Rachel is harassed by an older man who she scares off with her elephant morph, removing some of the UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming that the Animorphs did to her as well as turning the older man into a younger teen that Rachel was more confident she could handle on her own.
226	** In the original ''The Invasion'' Visser Three acts like he's meeting Elfangor for the first time, even though ''The Andalite Chronicles'' would establish that they have an extensive history together, including [[spoiler: Elfangor being partially responsible for Visser Three getting an Andalite body in the first place.]] The graphic novel adaptation fixes this by having him instead comment that Elfangor has become "quite a legend" since they last met.
227	* MemeticMutation:
228	** Visser Three is thicc.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Chris Grine's Andalite designs are very bulky, especially Alloran, Visser Three's host.[[/labelnote]] Also given the moniker "Visser Thicc" or "Thiccalite".
229	** Jake punching Marco and Temrash-as-Tom endorsing the Sharing in ''The Invasion'' have both become exploitable templates.
230	** There are a lot of jokes about how [[OnlySixFaces all the human characters look the same]].
231	** Tobias will return with more disturbing facts![[labelnote:Explanation]]Another exploitable template, made by stitching together two panels from ''The Visitor''.[[/labelnote]]
232	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Many fans weren't happy with the removal of Marco's iconic "idiot teenagers with a death wish" line from ''The Invasion''.

Context YMMV / ANIMORPHS