I know this is a bit old now, but have you read the letter KA Applegate wrote to fans who complained about the ending? It's an incredibly touching piece of writing that really brings home the real life messages and themes. I'll paste it here since I'm not sure if I can post a link: "Dear Animorphs Readers: Quite a number of people seem to be annoyed by the final chapter in the Animorphs story. There are a lot of complaints that I let Rachel die. That I let Visser Three/One live. That Cassie and Jake broke up. That Tobias seems to have been reduced to unexpressed grief. That there was no grand, final fight-to-end-all-fights. That there was no happy celebration. And everyone is mad about the cliffhanger ending. So I thought I'd respond. Animorphs was always a war story. Wars don't end happily. Not ever. Often relationships that were central during war, dissolve during peace. Some people who were brave and fearless in war are unable to handle peace, feel disconnected and confused. Other times people in war make the move to peace very easily. Always people die in wars. And always people are left shattered by the loss of loved ones. That's what happens, so that's what I wrote. Jake and Cassie were in love during the war, and end up going their seperate ways afterward. Jake, who was so brave and capable during the war is adrift during the peace. Marco and Ax, on the other hand, move easily past the war and even manage to use their experience to good effect. Rachel dies, and Tobias will never get over it. That doesn't by any means cover everything that happens in a war, but it's a start. Here's what doesn't happen in war: there are no wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt. Life isn't a World Wrestling Federation Smackdown. Even the people who win a war, who survive and come out the other side with the conviction that they have done something brave and necessary, don't do a lot of celebrating. There's very little chanting of 'we're number one' among people who've personally experienced war. I'm just a writer, and my main goal was always to entertain. But I've never let Animorphs turn into just another painless video game version of war, and I wasn't going to do it at the end. I've spent 60 books telling a strange, fanciful war story, sometimes very seriously, sometimes more tongue-in-cheek. I've written a lot of action and a lot of humor and a lot of sheer nonsense. But I have also, again and again, challenged readers to think about what they were reading. To think about the right and wrong, not just the who-beat-who. And to tell you the truth I'm a little shocked that so many readers seemed to believe I'd wrap it all up with a lot of high-fiving and backslapping. Wars very often end, sad to say, just as ours did: with a nearly seamless transition to another war. So, you don't like the way our little fictional war came out? You don't like Rachel dead and Tobias shattered and Jake guilt-ridden? You don't like that one war simply led to another? Fine. Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents. If you're mad at me because that's what you have to take away from Animorphs, too bad. I couldn't have written it any other way and remained true to the respect I have always felt for Animorphs readers. K.A. Applegate"
@@jbear3478 She wrote the last two or three books. She was also never really "gone." KA wrote all of the chronicles and megamorphs, and outlined and approved all of the ghostwritten books (which were all of the main numbered entries after 24 and before the last two or three, except for 26 and 32).
@@jessieandrews6073 I mean... she's addressing the internet. Do you think the internet was nice to her about it? Poor author probably got death threats because fan ship fantasies were ruined. And, while it may seem aggressive to you, it looks pretty straightforward to me. As someone who actually had to leave the series midway to go fight in a war, I feel like this could have and even should have been even more sharp.
I think the reason they did the repetitive recap at the beginning of every book was because it was in the age group where kids still might have picked up the books out of order. I didn't know anyone who had all the animorphs books, I had random books in the series myself, so I get it. I think the first book I had in the series was the one with the dolphin on the cover, which definitely isn't book one, but I had no idea and neither did my mom. She just got me the ones with the animals she though I liked, so I had the dolphin, the horse, and the killer whale I think. The store never had all the books available to purchase, it would only be a handful of them, and never even in order. I'm sure it's annoying when you binge-read the series now, but I think you just have to accept it as part of the mechanism for a series at that age group, especially back in the 90s with how books were marketed and sold back then.
I too never got the whole series! I think my family picked by animal as well! I ended up reading the last two or three from the school library (where there also wasn't a full set!)
Not reading the side stories was a mistake. The Andalite Chronicles, The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, Visser and The Ellimist Chronicles are very important to the series and are some of the best books writing-wise.
My intro to the series was reading the Andalite chronicles. I had no idea it was related to Animorphs until it ended. Honestly it gave me a very interesting insight into the series when I started it. And I can’t imagine reading The Prophecy without the context of the Hork-Bajir chronicles.
It's funny the mega morphs are happening in the timeline of the main series but pretty much have no consequence on the story. The chronicles (including visser) have huge story impacts.
2:17:10 "I hope they have a happy ending" (about Tobias and Rachel) me, having read the last book of this series 10-15 years ago: honey, you have a big storm coming
It’s funny how you say “all these coincidences would only make sense if it wasn’t a coincidence that THESE SIX ended up being the ones,” because that’s literally the big reveal of one of the side books: the Ellimist totally stacked the deck.
I saw a theory somewhere that Jake was chosen and Rachel was the random one, according to the theory the Ellimist originally wanted Melissa Chapman instead of Rachel because she was the daughter of a high ranking Yreek's host.
Rachel is so important to me because a lot of 90's female characters where "strong" because they had traditionally masculine aspects. And Rachel is considered a dangerous fighter but she's also unashamedly "girly" (Rachel would love Buffy basically)
In Megamorphs 4, Cassie describes Rachel's shopping as being similar to determined and skilled hunting. Even when she is doing something as frivolous as shopping, Rachel does it with her whole self.
Name ONE 90s female protagonist who was actually masculine or gender nonconforming in any way. Even Xena wore a miniskirt and a corset with a push up bra.
A lot? Name one strong 90’s female who was actually masculine or gender nonconforming in a significant way. Buffy was a literal cheerleader and even Xena wore a miniskirt and corset so it seems to me that the opposite is true. Femininity is treated as the norm and women who are strong were expected to be even more feminine to overcompensate for this.
La Femme Nikita- had long, bleached blonde hair, wore makeup, heels and dresses Buffy- cheerleader, generally a typically feminine straight woman Xena- wore a miniskirt and corset with push up bra and had long hair Dana Scully- had a feminine haircut, plucked eyebrows, usually wore lipstick and earrings- but she wore pantsuits so I guess she’s butch right? 🙄 Sailor Moon- hyperfeminine to the extreme, no explanation needed Now compare this to actual strong women in real life. Look at female MMA fighters for example. Most have a physique that’s far more muscular and “masculine” than any of the examples I gave. Some may have more feminine styles but many are extremely masculine in their personal style and even the feminine ones don’t show up to a fight in heels, long nails, makeup, jewelry, coiffed hair, etc. So if there are some strong female characters who happen to be more masculine/gender nonconforming/not stereotypically feminine, what exactly is the issue? Those characters are more true to life and serve as better role models to girls than misleading them into thinking you can fight just as well in heels, corsets, with nails and loose long hair vs without those things. You know what I think the real issue is? Unfeminine/masculine women make you uncomfortable and you’re grossed out at the idea of being associated with them. It has nothing to do w femininity being underrepresented in media though, that’s for sure.
I feel like you're missing a very important detail on book 13. You see the Eliminist basically promise to give Tobias "what he wanted". Tobias assumed that meant the Eliminist would turn him to a human. Instead the Eliminist gives Tobias the ability to morph.
@@GavinReadsItAll as your Russian viewer I wasn't introduced to the 'Animorph' books as a child so you talking about each and every book in the series sort of gave me the experience of reading it this series is truly WILD 😂 I enjoyed the hawk pov idea so much!
That twist in book 5 takes me back to losing my absolute MIND over it as a child, like running around the house telling anyone who would listen "You wont BELIEVE who Visser 1 is!!!!" lol my poor parents
Same here except I got my small handful of books from a sale in 2010 so nobody around me would be able to celebrate in an almost (at the time) 14 year old book series with a mostly dead fan base . My little haul was books #3-6 #10 #16 and #23 imagine my surprise at the reveal in #23 lol. A little later I got book #35 at goodwill and did that knock my socks off I couldn’t wait to grow up and buy them all which I did at 18. Now our little fan base is getting a revival, new fans getting the graphic novels and audiobooks, old fans getting into it again , I love it
Gavin, it’s not ablelist to recognize that disabled people are ten times more likely to die in combat than an able body person and therefore it would be a waste of their potential and lives if they are expected to fight without curing their disabilities first. The book already does an excellent job at showing how stupid the aliens were for disregarding disabled people.
It’s also not ableist to recognize that (a) yes, the auxiliaries died but they knew that was a risk going in and they weren’t forced to accept the powers, and (b) recruiting the auxiliaries in the first place is one of the many examples of the Animorphs loosening their morals as the war goes on, and you’re not necessarily supposed to agree with it.
Also, isn’t it instead ableist to go, “how could they kill the disabled animorphs?” His whole problem with the auxiliary Animorphs being used as pawns and being sacrificed was that they were disabled. That’s ableist to go, “oh it’s fine to use auxiliary animorphs as pawns, but only if they weren’t disabled.”
Listening to you recap the series that defined my childhood has been a bit of a revelation to me. I remember how much I hated the ending because they killed Rachel and ruined all of the relationships at the end. The cliffhanger was particularly enraging as well, since my brain automatically decided they all died in the final act. Looking back at it (without having to reread it myself - thanks, lol) has given me a perspective 13-year-old me couldn't have, especially pre-9/11 and the dumpster fire of the last 20 years. It is definitely a commentary on war and it's side effects, as well as how it never really ends, not for the soldiers, not for the innocent people caught up in it, and the ending of one war just heralds the start of a new one. As a high school teacher, I am appalled at the idea that children the age of my students were put into those positions and forced to make those decisions, as too many children that age and younger are even today. It also really explores the moral gray area of war, and in retrospect, this book series probably helped me open my eyes to just how much darker history and war actually was versus what I had been taught is school up to that point. That definitely influenced me during my later studies in university in history. This series affected me more than I realized, even as most of the finer details of it completely escape me 20 years later. Thanks again for reintroducing me to my favorite childhood book series and giving me a new perspective on it.
You are so right re: the effects of war and what it does to people, and how this series actually did something incredible with its themes. So glad I can add to some of the conversation on that and you enjoyed the video! I know Animorphs isn't perfect and I had my issues every now and then, but I can't deny its power in what it was saying.
Devil's advocate: In the 90s, *nobody* read them in order or started with book 1. We just read whatever we could find in the order that we found them. I checked out all the copies that my school library had. Because of this, I think the recaps were pretty important at the time.
I think I'm one of the rare few who managed to start with book one, but I have my brother to thank for that. He started with book eight or nine and then managed to track the older ones down and when I showed interest he basically threw the first one at me and said, "read them in order or don't read them at all. You'll go mad otherwise."
I started with 14 and then got like 12 or something and then as they came out going forward. Only eventually getting the earlier books and having to guess what happened in them.
I can't believe I watched this whole video in one shot. Great to see your reactions! I think the treatment of the auxiliary animorphs was meant to be horrific, I always took it that way, anyway. It's right while Jake is going through his arc of just taking more and more desperate, morally gray acts, and then he takes advantage of a group of children with disabilities and uses them as sacrificial child soldiers, talk about dark. I'm disabled, myself, and I was ok with how things were portrayed. Maybe because it felt like they got to choose whether they wanted to "be cured" or not. Some ppl with disabilities definitely don't want to be cured and resent that idea, but it's far from everyone. I have violent seizures during my sleep that happen with no way to predict and medication only partially controls them. I go to sleep every night knowing I might just stop breathing and die with no warning... I would be THRILLED to give it up. I wouldn't want to be sent into war on a suicide mission because I'm disabled, but I don't think they portrayed what happened to the auxiliary team as a good thing. Anyway, I'd love to see you do another video on the rest of the books. I don't really remember the megamorphs novels, so they may be fillerish, but the Chronicles books go wild, I always really liked them.
I also like that they were able to gain back some agency. They died free, in a way. Not completely, they were still drafted, but they were able to take control of their destiny after spending so much of their lives in an institution being forgotten.
Regarding recaps- Animorphs gained traction as a series from Scholastic book fairs. Yes, they were obviously available at stores at the time, but most kids first saw these at their school's book fairs. That was great, but generally they only had the most recent 3, so you were basically buying them for the crazy covers and were surprised to find that the stories were actually decent. It made recaps repetitive, but 100% necessary.
The recaps functioned like the opening lines of certain cartoons. It was for these episodic shows for kids. Because you were often going to get in later than episode 1.
The hardest part of being an Animorphs fan, is convincing people that haven't read it, that it's good. Definitely should read the side stories. Most of them are the best books in the series for me.
I'm sure the comments have this covered at this point, but the "Chronicles" books (Andalite, Hork-Bajir, Visser, and Ellimist) are both some of the most integral to the overall story, and some of the best-written entries in the series. Like, I'd prioritize them over at least half of the "main" entries. The Megamorphs books get little more than a throwaway line here and there in the main series, and can be largely ignored, though if you're after more series content, I certainly wouldn't say avoid them.
"I'll only read the main 54 books." Oh, that is a MISTAKE. Important background stuff happens in the Hork-Bajir Saga, and the plot of Visser ties into the main series in a way that really makes you feel for a character or two. (I own every ebook of this series, they were put up on a website with the blessing of the authors.)
@@breckenc Oh, yeah, sorry, that's unfortunately where the "were" comes in. They apparently got taken down by Scholastic. It's called Richard's Animorphs Forum, or RAF.
@@breckenc if you're still looking the ebooks are no longer permitted to be up... but people shared them a lot. As of this week, there's at least one reddit post with a zip of every book.
I broke it up into four or five segments. 1) After getting home from work at 0200 until bed around 0300. 2) Waking at 0930 until getting to church at 1045. 3) After church at 1945 or so until Walmart at 2030. 4) From Walmart at 2130 until 2220. All times are rough estimates only I am sorry to say. It also helped that I listened while driving much of the time, or was busy running things from the car to my apartment.
Gav, you are going to be known as the one to come to for feature length film style vlogs. I don't know if they do well for your channel, but I love these long vlogs. I'm only on your sixth review so far but love that you having better luck with this series so far than you did with goosebumps.
Thank you so much Libby, I love doing these longer videos and I love the challenge of reading a whole series in one go, whether they do well or not, I'm so happy you seem to enjoy them 😊
He didn't even cover when Jake ripped parts of Rachel's unconscious body off her to make ants go to war over which colony would get to eat her so she'd have time to wake up and demorph.... I can't believe my parents let me read these when I was young.
I only ever read the Andolite Chronicles (book 12.5) because I found it at a garage sale when I was like 9 and I loved it. It was all about Elfangor the Andolite war prince. If you haven't read that one, I swear by my 9 year old self it's good and you should read it lol
@@GavinReadsItAll The Hork- Bajir Chronicles, The Andalite chronicles, the Ellimist chronicles, and the one called Visser are all important to the main plot. But you are actually supposed to read each one after a certain “arc” in the story. From the time they were released. After the first 15, 1st side book, so on and so forth. Think of the side books as movies released between seasons of a TV show, you won’t be completely lost if you skip the movies but you’ll definitely miss out on some references in the next arc of books and may not understand why certain characters behave the way that they do.
A boy becomes a man story, but aliens. A war journal about a conflict we have no context for. A galaxy spanning epic where earth is one small stop on the journey. A struggle against fate where the hero is only the beginning of other's destiny.
I’m pleasantly shocked to hear someone use KA’s originally intended pronunciation of Elfangor. Most fans call him El-fang-gor, even though she intended it to be Elfan-gor. Loved the video!
It's a shame that you didn't add the chronicles books into the mix because they weren't side or extra books, they were directly related to the story and in interesting ways they did move the plot on because we got key pieces of historical information. If it weren't for the idea of marketing (to promote them as special books) and being strict with keeping the main pov cast directly involved then those chronicle books would have just been numbered in the series. Your video has convinced me to re-read the series myself and create a comprehensive reading guide that cuts out all of the fat but does diligence to retain all key plot points and character growth. I might even go to a level of only recommending some chapters (or even paragraphs) of the filler books (that were likely ghost written) if the information carries over to the rest of them.
I feel like you didn't give the Erik/chee introduction story enough credit. Erik is a peaceful Android that will essentially live forever. He was temporarily reprogrammed to save the others and slaughtered their enemies with such cruel efficiency it had even Rachael in tears(keep in mind they were also severely overwhelmed with enemies). What Erik did will live on fresh in his mind for the rest of his life as androids can't suppress it or forget like humans. He has to re-experience his horrible deed every day.... This messed me up when I first read this, the idea of knowing too much and never forgetting the most horrible day in your life in extreme detail is a living nightmare.
I'm sure the reason she has the intro and the description at the top of every book is because of how most of us were reading these: from getting them at the Scholastic book fairs. You'd see a title and get it and you'd have to be able to sort of dive into the story wherever that book fit into the broader narrative. Thanks for the recaps, this is great! I'm reading through these right now
I love that Gav starts to go off about "Who is even pick this series up in the middle?!" on book 12, which, incidentally, was the only book in the entire series that we owned when I was a kid.
Thank you for this. I grew up reading the series and it was a thrill hearing your thoughts on each book. The ending was crushing. Rachel was my fav : (
Omg I remember seeing these at the library when I was a child all the time and I was weirdly fascinated by them but always too scared to read them haha
Please please read the side stories. A few of them are some of the best installments to the series in my opinion and are 100% worth your time (The Andalite Chronicles, Hork Bajir Chronicles, and Visser are the best in my opinion). Also thanks so much for doing this and reminding me why these series has such a special place in my heart ❤
@@thekawaiislartibartfast42 my parents made me downsize my bookshelf when I went to college and I actually saved the 2 books I mentioned. I just found them 😭 I can’t wait to get on this.
okay i am literally screaming - i became a fan of yours from your video where you read all the goosebumps books and did a little summary of each one. i have watched it many times over because your long form videos are just comforting & absorbing, like sitting with a friend who is telling you something they are passionate about. i am SOOOO excited to see another long form video from you and i LOVE this theme of reading all the books in a series - it takes a lot of work and commitment, but WOW i think its impressive and pays off. you just get SO MUCH information, like i read the series myself 😂 love this and love you! cant wait to watch this 10 times lol
Thank you so much 😭I am glad you like the recaps too, I was worried about doing that but then I think it's hard to review a book fully without it cause then you'd have no idea what I'm referring to when I say "this is good" or "this is bad" so I like to paint a complete picture, even though I may not do the best job sometimes. But thank you so much for the kind words, I really do appreciate it Drew 🥰
Animorphs was UNDOUBTEDLY my favorite book series as a child. I related so much to Tobias as the outsider - I would have also 100% given up my human form to be a bird, also because I always had a certain affinity for birds. But the way Tobias was written, his perspective, it helped me understand that escaping your problems by running away doesn't solve them, and being someone different presents its own set of problems. Truly incredible character writing and development for all of the main characters, really. I will admit, I never finished reading the full series - pretty sure I stopped somewhere around 27/28, but as the main stories and plots became increasingly bizarre and far-fetched, and I also got older, I really loved the Megamorphs side stories. You really get a good look and insight from the Andelite perspective and a better look at the universe as a whole. Among the books I remember, it was definitely the David trilogy that I kept returning to over and over and over. I just loved the idea of a person coming in by accident and eventually becoming a rat to them - literally and figuratively. The video was amazing, thank you so much Gavin for helping me relive my own nostalgia and childhood. You're doing amazing work.
Thank you so much for watching! I love your perspective on Tobias and I can imagine he was someone a lot of people related to in their childhoods, and had I read this when I was younger, I also think Tobias would have been the character I gravitated towards. Agree on everything you say about the series, so well developed, and the David trilogy truly was a great moment in this series 😊
I haven't finished this yet, but I still remember the pain I felt over this finale, probably a good 20 years since I read it. Such an intense series for books I read as a kid! Glad to see them getting some love!
Thanks so much for doing this. I enjoyed every minute of it. I'm an adult -- actually, I'm ancient, tbh -- and read this series for the first time last year. I found it absorbing and frequently thought-provoking. Your video was the next best thing to reading them in a book club or with a friend.
The side books intertwine with the main book series , mega morphs #1 takes place right after book #7 ect they make references to the mega morph books throughout the series , sometimes it could get confusing if you haven’t read them chronologically with the main story The chronicles are the ones that are way before animorphs but are some of the best written books in the series , the hork Bajir chronicles is by far one of the best , heart wrenching stories ever!!! Visser is extremely important to read between #35 and #36 like Omggg!!!
I've had to start and stop several times, but I've finished! I loved this vlog. And I want to say that I appreciate your honest commentary or serious issues. I do know that these books are older and certain topics weren't handled with nuance and grace in the 90s, but it still deserves addressing. I always know I can come to you when I need recs for my boys, because I will know when topics my need some extra discussion from me and I can help them work through what the character should do differently. You are doing good things Gavin, never doubt that moral compass of yours!
Thank you so much Libby for the kind words and for watching the vlog too! I feel like I should give you something for watching 4 hours 35 minutes of me rambling on, you're a hero 🥰
Yeah, the reason why so many books seem repetitive is because as you pointed out many were written by ghost writers and their books were basically filler to be released between the books that continues the plot being written by Applegate so no matter how crazy the story they couldn't have a permanent effect on the status of the main plot
Gavin I hope your dad is well, idk what your religious stance is and don't want to say the wrong thing, but he and you will be in my thoughts and I will be sending all the good vibes and positive energy I can your way. We love you!
Animorphs are kinda the main reason I started reading in English: I used to read them in Italian when I was 11-13 which was the period they were coming out, and they stopped translating and releasing them in Italy at volume 52!!! Fast forward 5-6 years: I was living and studying in London and I finally felt comfortable enough with my level of English to be able to read a full book so I went and bought the last 2 volumes. Always loved the series. I remember also reading like the first ten volumes of Everworld when I was young and those were really promising too!
Yeah, kinda like what I did. Never found the last ten and kinda forgot about them after a while. Time skip 15 years, I stumble upon the wikipedia page in a fit of nostalgia, I come to know that there was an actual ending and the last two didn't even got published in Italy And decided to read them all again in english (since by that time on a subreddid there were all the ebooks available)
First of all oh my god thank you so much, the effort this took!! I always love when people talk about Animorphs. Haven’t reread it since college but this series was an essential part of my childhood. This video was such a treat! ❤ As to the filler-like books in the series, I saw a video on youtube saying Animorphs was like a tv series in book form, which is why there are books that feel like filler (because they are)! That was really interesting, as someone who isn’t familiar with how this series was published back in the 90s.
Excellent video Gavin. I remember going to book fair just to get a handful of these. I don’t think I ever finished but I could never resist the covers. I still remember some of the side stories being some of my favorites. Tobias was always my favorite character probably because he was the more outsider character but also his stories always tended to be the more introspective. The one thing about being obsessed with these as a kid though is it sort of ruined other books for me at that age as if you fall in love with their plotting, characters, and how dark they are. There were almost no other books like it and not any really since then. I should also say at least in the US they were basically the only books people talked about for years and years and then they basically disappeared.
Excellent vid man, I love these long form vids. I remember Animorphs really impacting me because of how dark it got, and I like how the theme is really anti war, and that in war there are no victors, only survivors.
Omg yes, like even as a reader, I didn't feel like we really had a victory at the end, as much as I wanted the Animorphs to win of course, overall I was just left feeling numb and exhausted from it. The series was so well done as a whole!
Definitely should’ve read at least the Andalite Chronicles and the Hork Bajir Chronicles. The HBC is probably the best book in the series from world-building to plot to the characters. The AC, the parallels between El Fangor’s and Tobias’ story easily make it worth the read. The auxiliary Animorphs really help show wat Jake has become. The plan required for everyone to think the real Animorphs were dead. So, as grisly as it was, the auxiliaries served their purpose as cannon fodder. Think about it like this, the war was a hot one at that point. Most of the secrets were out. And the auxiliaries were thrown right into the front line. Highly unlikely a group of just assembled disabled kids survive that. And they don’t. But Jake felt he needed to be as ruthless as the opposition to win at this point so everybody became pawns. The only thing he didn’t really account for was Eric the Chee being pissed and disabling the ship after they blackmail him. Definitely one of the best reviews of the series tho fam.
I wish to preface the following by stating a few quick facts. 1) I very much enjoyed your review. 2) I am not offended by anything you said. 3) It is not my purpose to cause offense. 4) The following statement is entirely my sharply worded opinion about politically correct "ableism". As a person with muscular difficulty, I have little patience with the idea that people who look at disability as a problem or difficulty are bigoted, or that people who are blind, deaf, lame, or have other difficulties should nor desire to see, hear, walk, or have other physical ailments corrected, if they so desire. I spent time in a wheelchair, and I have no desire to again be so restrained. I will not presume to speak for others, but while I do consider wheelchair ramps and crossing areas to be beneficial, I consider it to be more toxic for the unimpeded to tell me that I should be content and happy with my position in life. Granted, being angry and bitter about that which can not be changed is useless self-pity, for which I also have no patience...reality is harsh and wishful thinking about daisy chains will do nothing to lessen the truth. I therefore had no problem with the use and final outcome of the Auxiliaries from a writing perspective. I did not approve of the in universe plan to use these kids as cannon fodder even though you could tell that was exactly the intent. The fact they needed their disability to be healed before they could serve in the battle meant nothing to me as it would be no different in an authentic military unit. The body MUST be able to meet basic requirements in order to take the strain that combat places upon it. This has been and always will be the case, and calling such realities "ableist" is to construct fairy castles. If perhaps you have read my entire statement and are contuing to read, I wish to say how much I enjoyed your review. I believe, though I would need to trace your listing through the series against confirmed authors by comparison, your lowest ratings are almost universally reserved for the ghost written novels, especalially the few that entirely revisited previous character development. You also requested response about how many times the "split of a personality between two or more bodies" has been done. The original Star Trek did this, Star Trek: Voyager did the opposite and composited a single individual from two disparate beings, Star Trek: Next Generation, and one could argue StarGate also did this. However, the first documented incident that occurs to my mind would be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the 19th century novel of that name. This would be a common science fiction trope. BTW, how many books do you own? Your library looks to be substantial.
Just finished watching this whole masterpiece! I had so much fun watching sections as I did my hair and makeup in the mornings! 💕 I felt so invested in all the characters stories you did a wonderful job recapping!
YES IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS OMG. I was a huge animorphs fan! I couldn't afford the books when I was a kid so I always bought them out of order. My first one was actually the attack and i was hooked. Loved this!!
As a teen I was under the impression that each of these books was about a different teen learning to morph, I assumed there was a lab testing on them somewhere, kinda like Maxiumum Ride. I never did pick one up and I’m glad, because I’d never get my hands on all 54 books 😂
I think he would really enjoy them since they're usually more full-length novels instead of one shots like the regular books. Would love reactions to Andalite Chronicles and Hork Bajir Chronicles. And maybe the dinosaur megamorphs. XD
Just binged this today, and wow???? I've been meaning to read this series (I'm don't freak out a lot if I hear spoilers) and it just makes me want to pick up the series. I think my elementary school library had about 20 copies of the series and i regret never picking them up (I was too freaked out my the covers).
Did you get to read them? There's an easily found link to all the books, and side books (gotta read the chronicles, they're spectacular), in pdf form. KAApplegate has said she's perfectly fine with folks reading them that way, given how hard it can be to find physical copies nowadays.
Also I have to say, if there was only 1 really outstanding representation issue I think it can be called a success, especially given the time period it was written in. Doesn't excuse it, but definitely shows that a lot of thought went into it and it was in some ways ahead of its time.
Absolutely agree! I would still recommend Animorphs as a great series that did so many great things in terms of its themes, and it's really hard not to fall in love with the characters and feel attached to them. I'm going to remember them for a long time!
Great vid this is one of my favorite book series I have all of them as pdfs and planning to buy the physical copies. These books definitely have shaped my world view
My sister had maybe 20 of the Animorphs books, out of order of course, which didn't keep us from reading them all. I never read to the end, but it was nice to get there with you!
I’m just about to start my watch of this video but I just have to say I love all your long video projects! You are so entertaining and your ideas are so creative, you have become my second favorite booktuber after BooksandLala ❤️❤️
Ok I can’t watch this whole thing because I’m currently trying to read through them myself and I don’t want to get spoiled but I just wanted to say that I am SO HERE FOR THIS CONTENT
FAIR ok omg I hope you enjoy the rest of the series, it's such a rollercoaster of emotions 😭this video will still be here to console you when you finish ❤
These books bring back so many memories + nostalgia from my childhood. They were my life back then! I wrote so many stories inspired by this series and it really got me into writing. Looks like there is a tin set for sale with the first 6 books (original covers!) that I'll have to snag now. Thanks for resurrecting Animorphs!! 👂🪱
I wonder if the character recaps were in case readers couldn’t keep up with all of them? I read the Babysitters club as a kid, and my mom was like, “you don’t need them all” or “you don’t need to read them in a certain order,” and I like that the recaps made that possible. And considering how much I forget between fantasy series installments, I kinda wish they’d do something a tad more subtle, but at least allowing you to catch up. I was so happy when Epic Reads asked Roseanne A. Brown for a recap of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, ahead of the release of A Psalm of Storms and Silence! And in romance, with most series being interconnected standalones, I like how they often give you the information you need if you’re a new reader/forgot a prior book, without beating binge readers over the head.
Yeah I kinda wish I didn't complain about it so much now in the video haha I see the need for it, but they were so repetitive at the time I was pulling my hair out every time it happened 😂fortunately the positives outweighed the constant recaps
this feature length film is an incredible feat. I’ll be watching on and off throughout my day as I have time but wow I’m so impressed and I love it! You’re really out here giving us free entertainment and no one does it like you 💅🏻
It took me a couple sittings to finish this video, but I loved every second. Thank you for the time you took to film and edit this. I read the letter the author wrote after the backlash she got from how the book ended and it really put the ending into context. Honestly, I think we are so used to big series having a relatively clean conclusion that it's hard to have one that's more "realistic" and representative of the aftereffects of war, especially on kids. So many YA protagonists are so young when they are going against real threats that want to kill them with no mercy. It's interesting to have a book series show that characters who don't just bounce right back and look on the bright side after so many tough decisions. It's also interesting for a book series for kids having so much death and true morally grey decisions. Normally characters have to wrestle with making a tough decision and a deus ex machina comes out of the clear blue and they don't have too anymore. I remember watching the animorphs show but I don't remember much about it outside of it existing in general. I wish I was into reading when they were coming out regularly, I think I would've really enjoyed them.
I watch these videos over the span of a few days so I'm still in the middle, but when the line brought up says "is it possible to die of total willies" and Gavin says "I don't know Cassie but that's how I'd want to go" I laughed so damn hard. Thanks for that one haha
This thumbnail is almost as cursed as the book covers haha. I had never heard of these books before you talked about them, this should be fun and possibly slightly disturbing *grabs popcorn*
Thanks for such a great overview of the series. I’ve always wanted to read the books as a kid but never did. Now I want to pick it up. It would be great for you to give like a five minute review of the series sometime after you’ve thought about it.
Great video Gav! It seems like you enjoyed this series more than you did Goosebumps. I remember reading a few of these when I was younger, but I never really got to into them.
You are an inspiration! It makes me want to try doing a Magic Tree House series vlog for the nostalgia ^_^ With that said, it in no way feels as daunting as this would!!
If you read these in ebook format, you don't get to flip the pages and watch the morph happen in the bottom corner of the page. You're missing out. XD Also, behind each cover is an illustration and some of the art on those is pretty crazy. I remember being excited to get the next book to look behind the cover and see what was there.
Took me five days to finish it, but I LOVED this video 🥰 Your dedication truly is unmatched. 🏆 I applaud thee, ruler of nostalgic childhood trauma. 👏😁😅 I'm gonna go watch the goosebumps one next. 🤩
Another 4+ hour CZcams video on Animorphs? SIGN ME THE F UP! And yes I did watch this all immediately in one sitting, thank you so much for all your work to put together this video, I absolutely loved hearing all of your reactions to each book. I am surprised I haven't seen more comments for this (or maybe they're just buried) but if you haven't already, I would LOVE to see a reaction vid to the message from KAA about the ending. It really puts the whole ending into perspective and made me appreciate it so much more.
Hope your father is well. This was really fun to watch. I'd recommend reading the companion books. The chronicles books serve as the 'mid season specials' and the megamorph books the 'season finales'. Alternamorphs are completely skippable though. Also you said to let you know if you forgot to link the earthisours website, so I figured I'd mention it. As for your question about the audiobooks, they're actually in the middle of producing them right now. They release 2 a month and the book you asked about (26) is the most recently released.
Thanks for reminding me about the website, I knew I'd forget 😂added it now! Glad you liked the video, and my dad is doing much better, thanks for asking 😊
I know this is a bit old now, but have you read the letter KA Applegate wrote to fans who complained about the ending? It's an incredibly touching piece of writing that really brings home the real life messages and themes. I'll paste it here since I'm not sure if I can post a link:
"Dear Animorphs Readers:
Quite a number of people seem to be annoyed by the final chapter in the Animorphs story. There are a lot of complaints that I let Rachel die. That I let Visser Three/One live. That Cassie and Jake broke up. That Tobias seems to have been reduced to unexpressed grief. That there was no grand, final fight-to-end-all-fights. That there was no happy celebration. And everyone is mad about the cliffhanger ending.
So I thought I'd respond.
Animorphs was always a war story. Wars don't end happily. Not ever. Often relationships that were central during war, dissolve during peace. Some people who were brave and fearless in war are unable to handle peace, feel disconnected and confused. Other times people in war make the move to peace very easily. Always people die in wars. And always people are left shattered by the loss of loved ones.
That's what happens, so that's what I wrote. Jake and Cassie were in love during the war, and end up going their seperate ways afterward. Jake, who was so brave and capable during the war is adrift during the peace. Marco and Ax, on the other hand, move easily past the war and even manage to use their experience to good effect. Rachel dies, and Tobias will never get over it. That doesn't by any means cover everything that happens in a war, but it's a start.
Here's what doesn't happen in war: there are no wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt. Life isn't a World Wrestling Federation Smackdown. Even the people who win a war, who survive and come out the other side with the conviction that they have done something brave and necessary, don't do a lot of celebrating. There's very little chanting of 'we're number one' among people who've personally experienced war.
I'm just a writer, and my main goal was always to entertain. But I've never let Animorphs turn into just another painless video game version of war, and I wasn't going to do it at the end. I've spent 60 books telling a strange, fanciful war story, sometimes very seriously, sometimes more tongue-in-cheek. I've written a lot of action and a lot of humor and a lot of sheer nonsense. But I have also, again and again, challenged readers to think about what they were reading. To think about the right and wrong, not just the who-beat-who. And to tell you the truth I'm a little shocked that so many readers seemed to believe I'd wrap it all up with a lot of high-fiving and backslapping. Wars very often end, sad to say, just as ours did: with a nearly seamless transition to another war.
So, you don't like the way our little fictional war came out? You don't like Rachel dead and Tobias shattered and Jake guilt-ridden? You don't like that one war simply led to another? Fine. Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents.
If you're mad at me because that's what you have to take away from Animorphs, too bad. I couldn't have written it any other way and remained true to the respect I have always felt for Animorphs readers.
K.A. Applegate"
I thought there was a ghost writer at that point..?
@@jbear3478 She wrote the last two or three books. She was also never really "gone." KA wrote all of the chronicles and megamorphs, and outlined and approved all of the ghostwritten books (which were all of the main numbered entries after 24 and before the last two or three, except for 26 and 32).
Seems ripe for a sequel series
even though her words are true, they come off unnecessarily aggressive.
@@jessieandrews6073 I mean... she's addressing the internet. Do you think the internet was nice to her about it? Poor author probably got death threats because fan ship fantasies were ruined. And, while it may seem aggressive to you, it looks pretty straightforward to me. As someone who actually had to leave the series midway to go fight in a war, I feel like this could have and even should have been even more sharp.
I think the reason they did the repetitive recap at the beginning of every book was because it was in the age group where kids still might have picked up the books out of order. I didn't know anyone who had all the animorphs books, I had random books in the series myself, so I get it. I think the first book I had in the series was the one with the dolphin on the cover, which definitely isn't book one, but I had no idea and neither did my mom. She just got me the ones with the animals she though I liked, so I had the dolphin, the horse, and the killer whale I think. The store never had all the books available to purchase, it would only be a handful of them, and never even in order. I'm sure it's annoying when you binge-read the series now, but I think you just have to accept it as part of the mechanism for a series at that age group, especially back in the 90s with how books were marketed and sold back then.
That makes so much sense! Thanks for clearing that up for me.
I too never got the whole series! I think my family picked by animal as well! I ended up reading the last two or three from the school library (where there also wasn't a full set!)
I sure as fuck did read it out of order. Got book 1.... first...ish?
My first Animorphs book was #26, the one with the tiger. It was also one of the more continuity-heavy books.
They wrote it like a TV show that you could have an adventure without changing the status quo you know like transformers or GI joe
Not reading the side stories was a mistake. The Andalite Chronicles, The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, Visser and The Ellimist Chronicles are very important to the series and are some of the best books writing-wise.
My intro to the series was reading the Andalite chronicles. I had no idea it was related to Animorphs until it ended. Honestly it gave me a very interesting insight into the series when I started it. And I can’t imagine reading The Prophecy without the context of the Hork-Bajir chronicles.
Absolutely! Visser is integral to understanding why/how the yeerk empire collapses in the end!
I kind of sucks I was hoping you read the side ones that’s why I started watching this video
It's funny the mega morphs are happening in the timeline of the main series but pretty much have no consequence on the story. The chronicles (including visser) have huge story impacts.
i actually thought the Ellimist book was kinda weak. the others were great. but the Gamer-turned-God thing was ,well... ass
2:17:10 "I hope they have a happy ending" (about Tobias and Rachel)
me, having read the last book of this series 10-15 years ago: honey, you have a big storm coming
That part of the vlog really didn't age well 😭
@@GavinReadsItAll, I paused at that moment to tell my partner "oh no, this poor person is about to relive the trauma of my childhood"
Gavin: Animorphs is my therapist now.
Me, knowing how the series goes: ....oh HONEY.
Yeah that comment aged worse than some of the series 😂
This series literally ruined my life.
I almost "Lord have mercy'd" for once I'm glad I kept scrolling 🤣🤣🤣
It’s funny how you say “all these coincidences would only make sense if it wasn’t a coincidence that THESE SIX ended up being the ones,” because that’s literally the big reveal of one of the side books: the Ellimist totally stacked the deck.
Yep. Sorry, the side books aren't optional.
The Ellimist chose Ax, Tobias, Marco and Cassie.. Jake and Rachel were not chosen.
@@mcgryko I simply don't believe the Berensons were random. The Ellimist is capping.
I saw a theory somewhere that Jake was chosen and Rachel was the random one, according to the theory the Ellimist originally wanted Melissa Chapman instead of Rachel because she was the daughter of a high ranking Yreek's host.
The way this video is 15 minutes longer than Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition.
What a treat.
My ultimate goal was to make a video longer than an extended LOTR movie 😂
Rachel is so important to me because a lot of 90's female characters where "strong" because they had traditionally masculine aspects. And Rachel is considered a dangerous fighter but she's also unashamedly "girly" (Rachel would love Buffy basically)
Racheal kinda of reminds me of Buffy but like times 10
In Megamorphs 4, Cassie describes Rachel's shopping as being similar to determined and skilled hunting. Even when she is doing something as frivolous as shopping, Rachel does it with her whole self.
Name ONE 90s female protagonist who was actually masculine or gender nonconforming in any way. Even Xena wore a miniskirt and a corset with a push up bra.
A lot? Name one strong 90’s female who was actually masculine or gender nonconforming in a significant way. Buffy was a literal cheerleader and even Xena wore a miniskirt and corset so it seems to me that the opposite is true. Femininity is treated as the norm and women who are strong were expected to be even more feminine to overcompensate for this.
La Femme Nikita- had long, bleached blonde hair, wore makeup, heels and dresses
Buffy- cheerleader, generally a typically feminine straight woman
Xena- wore a miniskirt and corset with push up bra and had long hair
Dana Scully- had a feminine haircut, plucked eyebrows, usually wore lipstick and earrings- but she wore pantsuits so I guess she’s butch right? 🙄
Sailor Moon- hyperfeminine to the extreme, no explanation needed
Now compare this to actual strong women in real life. Look at female MMA fighters for example. Most have a physique that’s far more muscular and “masculine” than any of the examples I gave. Some may have more feminine styles but many are extremely masculine in their personal style and even the feminine ones don’t show up to a fight in heels, long nails, makeup, jewelry, coiffed hair, etc.
So if there are some strong female characters who happen to be more masculine/gender nonconforming/not stereotypically feminine, what exactly is the issue? Those characters are more true to life and serve as better role models to girls than misleading them into thinking you can fight just as well in heels, corsets, with nails and loose long hair vs without those things.
You know what I think the real issue is? Unfeminine/masculine women make you uncomfortable and you’re grossed out at the idea of being associated with them. It has nothing to do w femininity being underrepresented in media though, that’s for sure.
1:33:52 "There is a moment where Jake is almost swatted" They peeled that boy of the ceiling, ain't no "almost" about it
I feel like you're missing a very important detail on book 13. You see the Eliminist basically promise to give Tobias "what he wanted". Tobias assumed that meant the Eliminist would turn him to a human. Instead the Eliminist gives Tobias the ability to morph.
The way Rachel’s death was written is literally my worst nightmare and still haunts me to this day. You go from being to nothing.
everyone: the future of video content is short tiktoks
Gav: wELL, I DISAGREE
*comes up with a 4 hours video*
bravo, Gav 👏
thank you so much!
Honestly wish I could have done all of this in TikTok format but I talk too much 😂
@@GavinReadsItAll as your Russian viewer I wasn't introduced to the 'Animorph' books as a child so you talking about each and every book in the series sort of gave me the experience of reading it
this series is truly WILD 😂
I enjoyed the hawk pov idea so much!
That twist in book 5 takes me back to losing my absolute MIND over it as a child, like running around the house telling anyone who would listen "You wont BELIEVE who Visser 1 is!!!!" lol my poor parents
Wait, I read all of these and.... Book 5? REALLY? That early?
Same here except I got my small handful of books from a sale in 2010 so nobody around me would be able to celebrate in an almost (at the time) 14 year old book series with a mostly dead fan base . My little haul was books #3-6 #10 #16 and #23 imagine my surprise at the reveal in #23 lol. A little later I got book #35 at goodwill and did that knock my socks off
I couldn’t wait to grow up and buy them all which I did at 18.
Now our little fan base is getting a revival, new fans getting the graphic novels and audiobooks, old fans getting into it again , I love it
Gavin: Welcome to my 4 1/2 hour reading vlog of all of the Animorphs books.
Me: I AM SO READY.
YYEESS 🎉
Cassie's parents jobs were the source of almost all of their morphs so it was kind of an important plot point
"they forced these kids into a situationt hey shouldn't have been handling" is 100% the story of every book. and kind of the point of the books.
I was thinking the same thing! He said that and I was like "oh wow, he ran face first into the point"
Gavin, it’s not ablelist to recognize that disabled people are ten times more likely to die in combat than an able body person and therefore it would be a waste of their potential and lives if they are expected to fight without curing their disabilities first. The book already does an excellent job at showing how stupid the aliens were for disregarding disabled people.
It’s also not ableist to recognize that (a) yes, the auxiliaries died but they knew that was a risk going in and they weren’t forced to accept the powers, and (b) recruiting the auxiliaries in the first place is one of the many examples of the Animorphs loosening their morals as the war goes on, and you’re not necessarily supposed to agree with it.
Also, isn’t it instead ableist to go, “how could they kill the disabled animorphs?”
His whole problem with the auxiliary Animorphs being used as pawns and being sacrificed was that they were disabled.
That’s ableist to go, “oh it’s fine to use auxiliary animorphs as pawns, but only if they weren’t disabled.”
Listening to you recap the series that defined my childhood has been a bit of a revelation to me. I remember how much I hated the ending because they killed Rachel and ruined all of the relationships at the end. The cliffhanger was particularly enraging as well, since my brain automatically decided they all died in the final act. Looking back at it (without having to reread it myself - thanks, lol) has given me a perspective 13-year-old me couldn't have, especially pre-9/11 and the dumpster fire of the last 20 years.
It is definitely a commentary on war and it's side effects, as well as how it never really ends, not for the soldiers, not for the innocent people caught up in it, and the ending of one war just heralds the start of a new one. As a high school teacher, I am appalled at the idea that children the age of my students were put into those positions and forced to make those decisions, as too many children that age and younger are even today. It also really explores the moral gray area of war, and in retrospect, this book series probably helped me open my eyes to just how much darker history and war actually was versus what I had been taught is school up to that point. That definitely influenced me during my later studies in university in history.
This series affected me more than I realized, even as most of the finer details of it completely escape me 20 years later. Thanks again for reintroducing me to my favorite childhood book series and giving me a new perspective on it.
You are so right re: the effects of war and what it does to people, and how this series actually did something incredible with its themes. So glad I can add to some of the conversation on that and you enjoyed the video! I know Animorphs isn't perfect and I had my issues every now and then, but I can't deny its power in what it was saying.
Devil's advocate: In the 90s, *nobody* read them in order or started with book 1. We just read whatever we could find in the order that we found them. I checked out all the copies that my school library had.
Because of this, I think the recaps were pretty important at the time.
Yeah totally understandable for the 90s, I get it, but not so great for the present day and reading them in order.
Oh they were
Man finding the later books was so hard
I think I'm one of the rare few who managed to start with book one, but I have my brother to thank for that. He started with book eight or nine and then managed to track the older ones down and when I showed interest he basically threw the first one at me and said, "read them in order or don't read them at all. You'll go mad otherwise."
I started with 14 and then got like 12 or something and then as they came out going forward. Only eventually getting the earlier books and having to guess what happened in them.
I can't believe I watched this whole video in one shot. Great to see your reactions!
I think the treatment of the auxiliary animorphs was meant to be horrific, I always took it that way, anyway. It's right while Jake is going through his arc of just taking more and more desperate, morally gray acts, and then he takes advantage of a group of children with disabilities and uses them as sacrificial child soldiers, talk about dark.
I'm disabled, myself, and I was ok with how things were portrayed. Maybe because it felt like they got to choose whether they wanted to "be cured" or not. Some ppl with disabilities definitely don't want to be cured and resent that idea, but it's far from everyone. I have violent seizures during my sleep that happen with no way to predict and medication only partially controls them. I go to sleep every night knowing I might just stop breathing and die with no warning... I would be THRILLED to give it up. I wouldn't want to be sent into war on a suicide mission because I'm disabled, but I don't think they portrayed what happened to the auxiliary team as a good thing.
Anyway, I'd love to see you do another video on the rest of the books. I don't really remember the megamorphs novels, so they may be fillerish, but the Chronicles books go wild, I always really liked them.
I also like that they were able to gain back some agency. They died free, in a way. Not completely, they were still drafted, but they were able to take control of their destiny after spending so much of their lives in an institution being forgotten.
If you're writing a book targeted at middle schoolers and feeling you're going too dark reminds yourself about Animorphs
This 😂
Regarding recaps- Animorphs gained traction as a series from Scholastic book fairs. Yes, they were obviously available at stores at the time, but most kids first saw these at their school's book fairs. That was great, but generally they only had the most recent 3, so you were basically buying them for the crazy covers and were surprised to find that the stories were actually decent. It made recaps repetitive, but 100% necessary.
The recaps functioned like the opening lines of certain cartoons. It was for these episodic shows for kids. Because you were often going to get in later than episode 1.
I think animorphs were the only books I bought from those fairs. 😍
Gavin is really kickstarting the year with reading 54 books and kicking all Goodreads' challenges' asses.
Literally 54 books out of 100 for my Goodreads goal done already 😂
@@GavinReadsItAll I think you're on to something with that
The hardest part of being an Animorphs fan, is convincing people that haven't read it, that it's good.
Definitely should read the side stories. Most of them are the best books in the series for me.
I really liked the Andalite Chronicles. Finding out more about Elfangor and why left was great and heart wrenching. RIP Arbron
I really enjoyed the Hork-Bajir chronicles. A beautiful love story, and a tragedy.
I'm sure the comments have this covered at this point, but the "Chronicles" books (Andalite, Hork-Bajir, Visser, and Ellimist) are both some of the most integral to the overall story, and some of the best-written entries in the series. Like, I'd prioritize them over at least half of the "main" entries. The Megamorphs books get little more than a throwaway line here and there in the main series, and can be largely ignored, though if you're after more series content, I certainly wouldn't say avoid them.
"I'll only read the main 54 books." Oh, that is a MISTAKE. Important background stuff happens in the Hork-Bajir Saga, and the plot of Visser ties into the main series in a way that really makes you feel for a character or two. (I own every ebook of this series, they were put up on a website with the blessing of the authors.)
Where is the website?
@@breckenc Oh, yeah, sorry, that's unfortunately where the "were" comes in. They apparently got taken down by Scholastic. It's called Richard's Animorphs Forum, or RAF.
And they're among the best entries in the series. I'd only rank a few of the "main" books over the worst Chronicles book.
@@breckenc there's a link on Reddit with a PDF of all the books. Just look it up.
@@breckenc if you're still looking the ebooks are no longer permitted to be up... but people shared them a lot. As of this week, there's at least one reddit post with a zip of every book.
I was complaining about movies being over 3 hours. Instantly clicks and remains unfazed of the length. Love this content.
Haha thanks Michelle, I really didn't want it to get this long, believe me 😂
I broke it up into four or five segments. 1) After getting home from work at 0200 until bed around 0300. 2) Waking at 0930 until getting to church at 1045.
3) After church at 1945 or so until Walmart at 2030. 4) From Walmart at 2130 until 2220. All times are rough estimates only I am sorry to say. It also helped that I listened while driving much of the time, or was busy running things from the car to my apartment.
Gav, you are going to be known as the one to come to for feature length film style vlogs. I don't know if they do well for your channel, but I love these long vlogs. I'm only on your sixth review so far but love that you having better luck with this series so far than you did with goosebumps.
Thank you so much Libby, I love doing these longer videos and I love the challenge of reading a whole series in one go, whether they do well or not, I'm so happy you seem to enjoy them 😊
This series seems darker than most adult series 😱😲
You know what, it really is haha
It is true
He didn't even cover when Jake ripped parts of Rachel's unconscious body off her to make ants go to war over which colony would get to eat her so she'd have time to wake up and demorph....
I can't believe my parents let me read these when I was young.
I only ever read the Andolite Chronicles (book 12.5) because I found it at a garage sale when I was like 9 and I loved it. It was all about Elfangor the Andolite war prince. If you haven't read that one, I swear by my 9 year old self it's good and you should read it lol
I shall absolutely get to that one, the side books actually look really good!
Andalite Chronicles was the one I came back to over and over. I think I reread it some crazy number of times, like 9 times 😅
@@GavinReadsItAll The Hork-
Bajir Chronicles, The Andalite chronicles, the Ellimist chronicles, and the one called Visser are all important to the main plot. But you are actually supposed to read each one after a certain “arc” in the story. From the time they were released. After the first 15, 1st side book, so on and so forth. Think of the side books as movies released between seasons of a TV show, you won’t be completely lost if you skip the movies but you’ll definitely miss out on some references in the next arc of books and may not understand why certain characters behave the way that they do.
A boy becomes a man story, but aliens. A war journal about a conflict we have no context for. A galaxy spanning epic where earth is one small stop on the journey. A struggle against fate where the hero is only the beginning of other's destiny.
I’m pleasantly shocked to hear someone use KA’s originally intended pronunciation of Elfangor. Most fans call him El-fang-gor, even though she intended it to be Elfan-gor.
Loved the video!
I use the Elfan-gor pronunciation too, I didn't know other people pronounced it a different way!
It's a shame that you didn't add the chronicles books into the mix because they weren't side or extra books, they were directly related to the story and in interesting ways they did move the plot on because we got key pieces of historical information. If it weren't for the idea of marketing (to promote them as special books) and being strict with keeping the main pov cast directly involved then those chronicle books would have just been numbered in the series.
Your video has convinced me to re-read the series myself and create a comprehensive reading guide that cuts out all of the fat but does diligence to retain all key plot points and character growth. I might even go to a level of only recommending some chapters (or even paragraphs) of the filler books (that were likely ghost written) if the information carries over to the rest of them.
Yes
It might take me a few sittings, but I'm excited to see this entire double-feature length review 😅 Bravo editing it 👏👏
Haha thank you Jessica!
I feel like you didn't give the Erik/chee introduction story enough credit. Erik is a peaceful Android that will essentially live forever. He was temporarily reprogrammed to save the others and slaughtered their enemies with such cruel efficiency it had even Rachael in tears(keep in mind they were also severely overwhelmed with enemies). What Erik did will live on fresh in his mind for the rest of his life as androids can't suppress it or forget like humans. He has to re-experience his horrible deed every day....
This messed me up when I first read this, the idea of knowing too much and never forgetting the most horrible day in your life in extreme detail is a living nightmare.
I'm sure the reason she has the intro and the description at the top of every book is because of how most of us were reading these: from getting them at the Scholastic book fairs. You'd see a title and get it and you'd have to be able to sort of dive into the story wherever that book fit into the broader narrative. Thanks for the recaps, this is great! I'm reading through these right now
I love that Gav starts to go off about "Who is even pick this series up in the middle?!" on book 12, which, incidentally, was the only book in the entire series that we owned when I was a kid.
Right? My intro was book 13. It was also the only one I ever owned. I read it a LOT, lol
Thank you for this. I grew up reading the series and it was a thrill hearing your thoughts on each book. The ending was crushing. Rachel was my fav : (
Aw yay glad you enjoyed Jessa, the ending really is crushing 😭
I would love to see him do all the Magic Treehouse books at some point.
Omg I remember seeing these at the library when I was a child all the time and I was weirdly fascinated by them but always too scared to read them haha
It's those covers, you just don't know what to expect with them 😂
@@GavinReadsItAll yes disturbing yet weirdly hypnotising
Same! 😆
Please please read the side stories. A few of them are some of the best installments to the series in my opinion and are 100% worth your time (The Andalite Chronicles, Hork Bajir Chronicles, and Visser are the best in my opinion). Also thanks so much for doing this and reminding me why these series has such a special place in my heart ❤
seriously! the side stories explain so much!
The Andalite and Hork Bajir Chronicles blew my mind as a kid, I definitely have to reread them.
@@laurenl1088 I'm 42 and the Ellimist Chronicles still does my head in.
@@thekawaiislartibartfast42 my parents made me downsize my bookshelf when I went to college and I actually saved the 2 books I mentioned. I just found them 😭 I can’t wait to get on this.
@@laurenl1088 I still have the Ellimist and the Andalite Chronicles. No clue what happened to Visser.
okay i am literally screaming - i became a fan of yours from your video where you read all the goosebumps books and did a little summary of each one. i have watched it many times over because your long form videos are just comforting & absorbing, like sitting with a friend who is telling you something they are passionate about. i am SOOOO excited to see another long form video from you and i LOVE this theme of reading all the books in a series - it takes a lot of work and commitment, but WOW i think its impressive and pays off. you just get SO MUCH information, like i read the series myself 😂 love this and love you! cant wait to watch this 10 times lol
Thank you so much 😭I am glad you like the recaps too, I was worried about doing that but then I think it's hard to review a book fully without it cause then you'd have no idea what I'm referring to when I say "this is good" or "this is bad" so I like to paint a complete picture, even though I may not do the best job sometimes. But thank you so much for the kind words, I really do appreciate it Drew 🥰
Animorphs was UNDOUBTEDLY my favorite book series as a child. I related so much to Tobias as the outsider - I would have also 100% given up my human form to be a bird, also because I always had a certain affinity for birds. But the way Tobias was written, his perspective, it helped me understand that escaping your problems by running away doesn't solve them, and being someone different presents its own set of problems. Truly incredible character writing and development for all of the main characters, really.
I will admit, I never finished reading the full series - pretty sure I stopped somewhere around 27/28, but as the main stories and plots became increasingly bizarre and far-fetched, and I also got older, I really loved the Megamorphs side stories. You really get a good look and insight from the Andelite perspective and a better look at the universe as a whole.
Among the books I remember, it was definitely the David trilogy that I kept returning to over and over and over. I just loved the idea of a person coming in by accident and eventually becoming a rat to them - literally and figuratively. The video was amazing, thank you so much Gavin for helping me relive my own nostalgia and childhood. You're doing amazing work.
Thank you so much for watching! I love your perspective on Tobias and I can imagine he was someone a lot of people related to in their childhoods, and had I read this when I was younger, I also think Tobias would have been the character I gravitated towards. Agree on everything you say about the series, so well developed, and the David trilogy truly was a great moment in this series 😊
@@GavinReadsItAll If you feel that way about Tobias...don't read Megamorphs #2. Trust me on this.
#34 - Actually, she was originally an Andalite; she was a Hork-Bajir _nothlit._
I haven't finished this yet, but I still remember the pain I felt over this finale, probably a good 20 years since I read it. Such an intense series for books I read as a kid! Glad to see them getting some love!
We will never forget 😭
Thanks so much for doing this. I enjoyed every minute of it. I'm an adult -- actually, I'm ancient, tbh -- and read this series for the first time last year. I found it absorbing and frequently thought-provoking. Your video was the next best thing to reading them in a book club or with a friend.
Ah I am so happy to hear that, and glad you enjoyed the video! love that it was like a book club with a friend, that makes me very happy 😊
The side books intertwine with the main book series , mega morphs #1 takes place right after book #7 ect they make references to the mega morph books throughout the series , sometimes it could get confusing if you haven’t read them chronologically with the main story
The chronicles are the ones that are way before animorphs but are some of the best written books in the series , the hork Bajir chronicles is by far one of the best , heart wrenching stories ever!!! Visser is extremely important to read between #35 and #36 like Omggg!!!
Visser 3 is literally Team Rocket. Everytime he shows up I think “prepare for trouble”
I've had to start and stop several times, but I've finished! I loved this vlog. And I want to say that I appreciate your honest commentary or serious issues. I do know that these books are older and certain topics weren't handled with nuance and grace in the 90s, but it still deserves addressing. I always know I can come to you when I need recs for my boys, because I will know when topics my need some extra discussion from me and I can help them work through what the character should do differently. You are doing good things Gavin, never doubt that moral compass of yours!
Thank you so much Libby for the kind words and for watching the vlog too! I feel like I should give you something for watching 4 hours 35 minutes of me rambling on, you're a hero 🥰
@@GavinReadsItAll it was my me time that I broke up and sprinkled throughout the day, so it was a prize in itself!
"So this blog isnt 3 and a half hours like the last one."
Frantically checks the runtime to find it 4.5 hours long and i sigh in relief 🤣
You’re a legend for committing to reading all of these! I could never…
Thank you very much!
Yeah, the reason why so many books seem repetitive is because as you pointed out many were written by ghost writers and their books were basically filler to be released between the books that continues the plot being written by Applegate so no matter how crazy the story they couldn't have a permanent effect on the status of the main plot
This kinda thing is why I subbed to you. Gavin legit you are a legend for doing this.
Gosh thank you 😭
This is such a fun video. Keeping me company tonight ♡
Gavin I hope your dad is well, idk what your religious stance is and don't want to say the wrong thing, but he and you will be in my thoughts and I will be sending all the good vibes and positive energy I can your way. We love you!
Thank you so much, that means a lot to me ❤️
I love this video the amount of effort you put is so amazing. It also seems like this was a 10x better experience than the goosebump books
Oh it really was haha this was such a ride in all the right ways 😂
Gavin out here posting full movies 🍿 and I’m watching every minute of it.
James Cameron, eat your heart out 😂
Animorphs are kinda the main reason I started reading in English: I used to read them in Italian when I was 11-13 which was the period they were coming out, and they stopped translating and releasing them in Italy at volume 52!!! Fast forward 5-6 years: I was living and studying in London and I finally felt comfortable enough with my level of English to be able to read a full book so I went and bought the last 2 volumes. Always loved the series.
I remember also reading like the first ten volumes of Everworld when I was young and those were really promising too!
Yeah, kinda like what I did.
Never found the last ten and kinda forgot about them after a while.
Time skip 15 years, I stumble upon the wikipedia page in a fit of nostalgia, I come to know that there was an actual ending and the last two didn't even got published in Italy
And decided to read them all again in english (since by that time on a subreddid there were all the ebooks available)
First of all oh my god thank you so much, the effort this took!! I always love when people talk about Animorphs. Haven’t reread it since college but this series was an essential part of my childhood. This video was such a treat! ❤
As to the filler-like books in the series, I saw a video on youtube saying Animorphs was like a tv series in book form, which is why there are books that feel like filler (because they are)! That was really interesting, as someone who isn’t familiar with how this series was published back in the 90s.
Excellent video Gavin. I remember going to book fair just to get a handful of these. I don’t think I ever finished but I could never resist the covers. I still remember some of the side stories being some of my favorites. Tobias was always my favorite character probably because he was the more outsider character but also his stories always tended to be the more introspective.
The one thing about being obsessed with these as a kid though is it sort of ruined other books for me at that age as if you fall in love with their plotting, characters, and how dark they are. There were almost no other books like it and not any really since then. I should also say at least in the US they were basically the only books people talked about for years and years and then they basically disappeared.
Excellent vid man, I love these long form vids. I remember Animorphs really impacting me because of how dark it got, and I like how the theme is really anti war, and that in war there are no victors, only survivors.
Omg yes, like even as a reader, I didn't feel like we really had a victory at the end, as much as I wanted the Animorphs to win of course, overall I was just left feeling numb and exhausted from it. The series was so well done as a whole!
@@GavinReadsItAll with this vid I've been convinced to try and give them a reread this year. I'll try and get them done by my 30th haha.
Definitely should’ve read at least the Andalite Chronicles and the Hork Bajir Chronicles. The HBC is probably the best book in the series from world-building to plot to the characters. The AC, the parallels between El Fangor’s and Tobias’ story easily make it worth the read.
The auxiliary Animorphs really help show wat Jake has become. The plan required for everyone to think the real Animorphs were dead. So, as grisly as it was, the auxiliaries served their purpose as cannon fodder. Think about it like this, the war was a hot one at that point. Most of the secrets were out. And the auxiliaries were thrown right into the front line. Highly unlikely a group of just assembled disabled kids survive that. And they don’t. But Jake felt he needed to be as ruthless as the opposition to win at this point so everybody became pawns. The only thing he didn’t really account for was Eric the Chee being pissed and disabling the ship after they blackmail him.
Definitely one of the best reviews of the series tho fam.
I wish to preface the following by stating a few quick facts. 1) I very much enjoyed your review. 2) I am not offended by anything you said. 3) It is not my purpose to cause offense. 4) The following statement is entirely my sharply worded opinion about politically correct "ableism".
As a person with muscular difficulty, I have little patience with the idea that people who look at disability as a problem or difficulty are bigoted, or that people who are blind, deaf, lame, or have other difficulties should nor desire to see, hear, walk, or have other physical ailments corrected, if they so desire. I spent time in a wheelchair, and I have no desire to again be so restrained.
I will not presume to speak for others, but while I do consider wheelchair ramps and crossing areas to be beneficial, I consider it to be more toxic for the unimpeded to tell me that I should be content and happy with my position in life. Granted, being angry and bitter about that which can not be changed is useless self-pity, for which I also have no patience...reality is harsh and wishful thinking about daisy chains will do nothing to lessen the truth.
I therefore had no problem with the use and final outcome of the Auxiliaries from a writing perspective. I did not approve of the in universe plan to use these kids as cannon fodder even though you could tell that was exactly the intent. The fact they needed their disability to be healed before they could serve in the battle meant nothing to me as it would be no different in an authentic military unit. The body MUST be able to meet basic requirements in order to take the strain that combat places upon it. This has been and always will be the case, and calling such realities "ableist" is to construct fairy castles.
If perhaps you have read my entire statement and are contuing to read, I wish to say how much I enjoyed your review. I believe, though I would need to trace your listing through the series against confirmed authors by comparison, your lowest ratings are almost universally reserved for the ghost written novels, especalially the few that entirely revisited previous character development.
You also requested response about how many times the "split of a personality between two or more bodies" has been done. The original Star Trek did this, Star Trek: Voyager did the opposite and composited a single individual from two disparate beings, Star Trek: Next Generation, and one could argue StarGate also did this. However, the first documented incident that occurs to my mind would be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the 19th century novel of that name. This would be a common science fiction trope.
BTW, how many books do you own? Your library looks to be substantial.
I wouldn't have thought a kids series about kids turning into animals would've had a larger overall plot like that
Me too! Or that they would get that deep! Was such a pleasant surprise
Just finished watching this whole masterpiece! I had so much fun watching sections as I did my hair and makeup in the mornings! 💕 I felt so invested in all the characters stories you did a wonderful job recapping!
YES IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS OMG. I was a huge animorphs fan! I couldn't afford the books when I was a kid so I always bought them out of order. My first one was actually the attack and i was hooked. Loved this!!
As a teen I was under the impression that each of these books was about a different teen learning to morph, I assumed there was a lab testing on them somewhere, kinda like Maxiumum Ride.
I never did pick one up and I’m glad, because I’d never get my hands on all 54 books 😂
The side books are cool! They add a lot of lore to the series and interesting stories by themselves. I definitely recommend you check them out.
I think he would really enjoy them since they're usually more full-length novels instead of one shots like the regular books. Would love reactions to Andalite Chronicles and Hork Bajir Chronicles. And maybe the dinosaur megamorphs. XD
Mostly. Megamorphs #2 at least is best forgotten.
Just binged this today, and wow???? I've been meaning to read this series (I'm don't freak out a lot if I hear spoilers) and it just makes me want to pick up the series. I think my elementary school library had about 20 copies of the series and i regret never picking them up (I was too freaked out my the covers).
Did you get to read them? There's an easily found link to all the books, and side books (gotta read the chronicles, they're spectacular), in pdf form. KAApplegate has said she's perfectly fine with folks reading them that way, given how hard it can be to find physical copies nowadays.
you are one amazing person Gav 😂 a freaking 4 hour + vlog 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you Reene 😭
Also I have to say, if there was only 1 really outstanding representation issue I think it can be called a success, especially given the time period it was written in. Doesn't excuse it, but definitely shows that a lot of thought went into it and it was in some ways ahead of its time.
Absolutely agree! I would still recommend Animorphs as a great series that did so many great things in terms of its themes, and it's really hard not to fall in love with the characters and feel attached to them. I'm going to remember them for a long time!
@@GavinReadsItAll not gonna remember them? Or…..😆
Great vid this is one of my favorite book series I have all of them as pdfs and planning to buy the physical copies. These books definitely have shaped my world view
FOUR AND A HALF HOURS?!?!?
*grabs snacks*
Stock up on those snacks 😂
Okay why have I NEVER seen these before?! The covers are terrifying. 😂
RIGHT?! I saw them as a kid and said "nope" and watched the TV show instead 😂
They are !
My sister had maybe 20 of the Animorphs books, out of order of course, which didn't keep us from reading them all. I never read to the end, but it was nice to get there with you!
Collecting books like this isn't the same these days, we really can't beat collecting these 50+ series back in the day
I’m just about to start my watch of this video but I just have to say I love all your long video projects! You are so entertaining and your ideas are so creative, you have become my second favorite booktuber after BooksandLala ❤️❤️
AWWWW that means so much, thank you, my gosh I love Kayla from BooksandLala so much 🥰
I just wrapped a series on Tobias's main arc! This is solid animorphs content dude keep it coming
Ok I can’t watch this whole thing because I’m currently trying to read through them myself and I don’t want to get spoiled but I just wanted to say that I am SO HERE FOR THIS CONTENT
FAIR ok omg I hope you enjoy the rest of the series, it's such a rollercoaster of emotions 😭this video will still be here to console you when you finish ❤
#54 - Want the full story in the first character's sign-off? Read the Ellimist Chronicles.
Me at every cover that came on: "Ok no, THIS one is my favourite"
👑
Haha imagine trying to do a ranking of them all 😂
These books bring back so many memories + nostalgia from my childhood. They were my life back then! I wrote so many stories inspired by this series and it really got me into writing. Looks like there is a tin set for sale with the first 6 books (original covers!) that I'll have to snag now. Thanks for resurrecting Animorphs!! 👂🪱
I wonder if the character recaps were in case readers couldn’t keep up with all of them? I read the Babysitters club as a kid, and my mom was like, “you don’t need them all” or “you don’t need to read them in a certain order,” and I like that the recaps made that possible. And considering how much I forget between fantasy series installments, I kinda wish they’d do something a tad more subtle, but at least allowing you to catch up. I was so happy when Epic Reads asked Roseanne A. Brown for a recap of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, ahead of the release of A Psalm of Storms and Silence! And in romance, with most series being interconnected standalones, I like how they often give you the information you need if you’re a new reader/forgot a prior book, without beating binge readers over the head.
Yeah I kinda wish I didn't complain about it so much now in the video haha I see the need for it, but they were so repetitive at the time I was pulling my hair out every time it happened 😂fortunately the positives outweighed the constant recaps
@@GavinReadsItAll and that’s what’s important! I’m glad this series aged better than Goosebumps!
Oh man 4 hours and 32 minutes! I'm ready :D
I know, it's a lot 😂
0:44 "I should probably stop stalling because this is going to a very long video"
Well, you weren't wrong 😂
And I still ended up stalling, a lot 😂
this feature length film is an incredible feat. I’ll be watching on and off throughout my day as I have time but wow I’m so impressed and I love it! You’re really out here giving us free entertainment and no one does it like you 💅🏻
Oh you 😭thank you, hope you enjoy ❤
Some of those side books are really good. Hork-Bajir Chronicles is one of my favorite in the series and Ellemist is nuts.
It took me a couple sittings to finish this video, but I loved every second. Thank you for the time you took to film and edit this. I read the letter the author wrote after the backlash she got from how the book ended and it really put the ending into context. Honestly, I think we are so used to big series having a relatively clean conclusion that it's hard to have one that's more "realistic" and representative of the aftereffects of war, especially on kids. So many YA protagonists are so young when they are going against real threats that want to kill them with no mercy. It's interesting to have a book series show that characters who don't just bounce right back and look on the bright side after so many tough decisions. It's also interesting for a book series for kids having so much death and true morally grey decisions. Normally characters have to wrestle with making a tough decision and a deus ex machina comes out of the clear blue and they don't have too anymore. I remember watching the animorphs show but I don't remember much about it outside of it existing in general. I wish I was into reading when they were coming out regularly, I think I would've really enjoyed them.
I watch these videos over the span of a few days so I'm still in the middle, but when the line brought up says "is it possible to die of total willies" and Gavin says "I don't know Cassie but that's how I'd want to go" I laughed so damn hard. Thanks for that one haha
This thumbnail is almost as cursed as the book covers haha. I had never heard of these books before you talked about them, this should be fun and possibly slightly disturbing *grabs popcorn*
Hahaha that was exactly what I wanted for the thumbnail, so this makes me so happy to hear 😂
I finally finished the series, vicariously, through you. Thank you for 4h 35m of sating my curiosity!
Thanks for such a great overview of the series. I’ve always wanted to read the books as a kid but never did. Now I want to pick it up. It would be great for you to give like a five minute review of the series sometime after you’ve thought about it.
I'm most likely going to be talking about this series again in the future so that's a great idea.
Yep, the David Trilogy will do that to you.
😭
Great video Gav! It seems like you enjoyed this series more than you did Goosebumps. I remember reading a few of these when I was younger, but I never really got to into them.
Thanks for the walk down memory road!
You are an inspiration! It makes me want to try doing a Magic Tree House series vlog for the nostalgia ^_^ With that said, it in no way feels as daunting as this would!!
Oh my gosh do it!! That sounds awesome, we love the nostalgia ❤
@@GavinReadsItAll ☺❤
If you read these in ebook format, you don't get to flip the pages and watch the morph happen in the bottom corner of the page. You're missing out. XD Also, behind each cover is an illustration and some of the art on those is pretty crazy. I remember being excited to get the next book to look behind the cover and see what was there.
Wow thank you so much for taking the time to make this video. And read these books. I really enjoyed all of this video.
All 54 books. Hmm. You do miss out on a lot of plot by skipping the Chronicles, but I'm in!
Took me five days to finish it, but I LOVED this video 🥰
Your dedication truly is unmatched. 🏆
I applaud thee, ruler of nostalgic childhood trauma. 👏😁😅
I'm gonna go watch the goosebumps one next. 🤩
I liked your video. Your music stings between books were my intro recaps.
Another 4+ hour CZcams video on Animorphs? SIGN ME THE F UP! And yes I did watch this all immediately in one sitting, thank you so much for all your work to put together this video, I absolutely loved hearing all of your reactions to each book.
I am surprised I haven't seen more comments for this (or maybe they're just buried) but if you haven't already, I would LOVE to see a reaction vid to the message from KAA about the ending. It really puts the whole ending into perspective and made me appreciate it so much more.
you came from procrastinators lecture eh?
Hope your father is well.
This was really fun to watch.
I'd recommend reading the companion books. The chronicles books serve as the 'mid season specials' and the megamorph books the 'season finales'.
Alternamorphs are completely skippable though.
Also you said to let you know if you forgot to link the earthisours website, so I figured I'd mention it.
As for your question about the audiobooks, they're actually in the middle of producing them right now.
They release 2 a month and the book you asked about (26) is the most recently released.
Thanks for reminding me about the website, I knew I'd forget 😂added it now! Glad you liked the video, and my dad is doing much better, thanks for asking 😊