#skunks have tongues but they can't speak to humans on their own behalf

[rays-animorphs]

Book 9 Part 2: For The Trees Have No Tongues

Hmm. I think Spider-Man might be able to surprise Batman with something creative and unexpected. I don't actually know Batman that well though, so I'm not willing to stand by that.

As far as I can tell, Jake only gets called good-looking when Cassie's describing him. Which, that works.

("Good looking inside and out") I don't know why she thinks he has good looking intestines or whatever, though. Maybe she means his tonsils?

“Don’t worry. I don’t look down on you for being short, Marco. I look down on you just for being you.”

Rachel's humor is scathing, but she doesn't mean it.

“trying not to make the fake, shrill sound I always make when I’m lying.” Oh, Cassie. Why am I not surprised she's a terrible liar?

Tobias: literal dehumanization -- losing his human form -- leading to figurative dehumanization -- Applegate not treating him as a full character. "even less human than Tobias" is one way to put that, I guess.

They keep calling Tobais formerly "sweet" and "gentle" but I don't know that we ever actually saw that. I don't mean to go all "show, don't tell" on a published author, but, uh.

I mean, "sweet and gentle" and "was targeted by bullies" aren't entirely the same thing.

The Yeerks are logging the forest! Oh no! The Yeerks are logging the forest! *dying*.

Hey, did you know that, depending on where you live, there can be laws prohibiting logging next to roads or in parks, basically anywhere people might reasonably enjoy the scenery. Which means that a lot of people get the impression that way less logging happens than actually does, or that the logging must be selective rather than clearcutting, since it's out of their sight.

If you look out the window of a plane, though, you can see patchwork areas of forest and ... former forest.

I used to do phone canvassing for a forest protection advocacy group.

Sweet! turns out there's a downside to Visser Three believing that the Animorphs are all Andalites.

Actually, National Forest land, unlike the National Park system, allows some for some resource extraction, cattle grazing, that sort of thing. Not enough to demolish habitats though.

I had an SCA internship with the National Forest system one time.

Even espionage could be risky. A few books back the Yeerks were vaporizing random wildlife.

Knees...reversed...direction...ow ow ow ow ow ow.

Current soundtrack: Holiday by Green Day (unrelated reasons), Evergreen Everblue album by Raffi.

Very open to suggestions for other conservation-themed music that can function as background music for reading.

<Animal smells, but weird, you know?>

<Hork-Bajir?>

<Could be,> Marco said.

These kids have got to learn what Hork-Bajir smell like.

Oh shit.

“The net above me fell. I was racing the falling edge, racing, racing…”

Wow, gravity really is slow in the Animorphs world.

I’m not that big a fan of the trope of “never leave anybody behind, no matter how likely it is that staying will get both/all people killed” but I’m generally willing to suspend disbelief on it.

In the real world, where people do not have plot armor and million-to-one odds aren’t a virtual guarantee of success: scene safety, people.

Ax to the rescue!

Stormtrooper aim.

If gravity is super slow in the Animorpsh world, maybe bullets and vaporizing death rays are also unusually slow.

These kids get almost killed almost every mission they go on.

Well. I guess that’s just the genre. But sometimes it’s a little odd to have realism come up in some ways but not others. “(Gunfire) is much louder in reality than it is in the movies. And it’s much scarier to have it aimed at you than it is to see it in a movie. Basically, getting shot at is absolutely nothing like a movie.” Except for the part where you didn’t get shot and you’re not dying, even though the enemy have vaporizing death rays and you were staying still while trying to rescue Marco, and even when you’re running away you’ve got to be pretty close range and they have automatic rifles. Like, I’m not against the kids being freaked out at the danger and having it wear them down and affect their personalities and so on. It’s interesting. But the idea that the series is somehow more realistic for that when it’s also got scenes like this, it’s…it’s not realistic. It’s still extremely goofy sci fi. It’s just extremely goofy sci fi with a dark and effed up atmosphere, rather than extremely goofy sci fi with a bright, optimistic atmosphere.

There isn’t anything intrinsically more realistic about protagonists with plot armor who almost die several times per book but never actually do and who react as though they almost died, compared to protagonists with plot armor who almost die several times per book but never actually do and who react as though they were never actually in real danger.

It is an aesthetic choice, a choice of mood or tone, not a choice about realism.

I’m sure the eye stalks are in fact great for not being snuck up on, but they’re probably very vulnerable in battle. Or, just, if you bump your head against something.

I wonder if the eye stalks suggest that Andalites tend to be mostly solitary rather than a herd/social species. If there’s a lot of you, you can have different members of the herd facing in different directions. If you’re on your own, you need to be able to see around you.

Of course eye stalks also counter the main downside to having eyes in front rather than to the side. (Why do Andalites have front eyes plus eye stalks rather than side eyes? They eat grass, through their hooves. It’s not like they need front eyes to catch prey.)

I associate eye stalks with squishy things like slugs, things with short lifespans which don’t have the protection of a hard skeleton anywhere anyways.

I guess the tail could be explained as defense. It’s a little odd though. It’s a very lethal form of defense.

Maybe it’s not a natural selection thing. Maybe Andalites decided to genetically engineer it in at some point. Like, maybe they always had defensive tails, but they use some form of body modification to make them sharp.

From a good writing perspective, Marco being cynical about the environmental stuff makes sense. Applegate knows a lot of her readership aren’t going to be treehuggers, so if all of her characters take it as a terminal value that environmental destruction is bad and worrying about other species is good, it’s going to turn away some of her readership. So, you have a voice for those “does it really matter though?” reservations. It’s basic persuasive writing.

Within the story itself though, I suddenly like Marco a lot less.

(The problem of writing books about fighting some mythical Big Evil when you also want to talk about mundane everyday evils that just aren’t as interesting in comparison.)

OMG finally someone suggested a way of solving problems that 1. does not necessarily carry a risk of imminent death and 2. is a way you can solve problems in the real world when you can’t morph into a tiger yes yes yes.

Oh, never mind, it’s another “let’s go on a spy mission” thing. Silly me, I thought they might actually make some phone calls or something.

I mean, if they have permission from somewhere, presumably the government department they got permission from also has those records.

They need to get some human adult morphs, that would open up so many more possibilities for them. They could probably do their parents while they’re sleeping or something. If it doesn’t seem safe enough to let a few adults in on the big secret.

What? Presumably there’s no reason they can’t morph into other humans. Ax can morph into them.

OK, first, it’s hilarious that Cassie’s dad is afraid of skunks. Secondly, Cassie is going to get a skunk morph now, awesome.

“Marco had been driving, and Marco cannot drive.” Not how he’d describe it. Heh.

“Don’t forget your gloves. You know skunks are a major vector for rabies.”

“Dad, I have had the shot.”

“No vaccine is a hundred percent,” he said.

I like Cassie’s dad. Also, nice little safety PSA there.

My dad is also obnoxiously safety-conscious. Dads.

Aww, “how to tell if you’re about to get sprayed by a skunk” PSA combined with “skunks are actually really nice”, yeah, love it.

I could just read "skunks are misunderstood but actually really cool" propaganda all day.

The amazing thing about skunks is they’re mustelidae. Weasel family. Most weasels are, y’know, the berserkers of the animal world. They’ll fight anything, for any reason, with absolute viciousness and unending enthusiasm. (Edit: OK, I checked to make sure, and apparently they’re not considered mustelidae any more, they used to be but they’re now their own family. Huh.)

Incidentally, if you like to geek out about taxonomy (how living beings are classified) as much as I do, I strongly recommend the tree of life website.

I wonder what the adults are going to make of the skunk's Dracon beam injury.