Yes to all of this! Every time I engage with the series again I'm just reminded of how dear the story and characters are to me. There really was nothing like it, and while I know it's common to look back and go "how the hell is this story for kids?" it was so formative for the things I like in fiction, for expanding upon my own empathy as you mentioned, that I'm forever grateful I did read the series as a kid. Even though there were definitely aspects of it that went over my head, a lot of it I did understand, and it's part of what drew me in. I was there for the drama and sadness just as much as the animal adventures.

Overall I really loved it! Every time I revisit the series I'm hit with such a strong wave of love for all these kids. My brother and I always talk about how hard it is to pick a favorite because they're all so great. Obviously a lot of that is nostalgia talking: the series was very formative for me, probably even moreso than things like Harry Potter or FMA, since I started reading the series when I was eight. And unlike some things where I've gone back and been kind of disappointed by the quality or some of the messaging that I'd missed as a kid (*Harry Potter* again being an example there) Animorphs feels like it's only gotten better with age. Of course that doesn't mean it's flawless. It came out in the 90s, and there are always aspects that are going to be dated and etc, not to mention the frenzied way the books were published meant that the authors had to write as fast as possible, and couldn't really plan anything out. And yet...this series, to me, is still so fucking good. And this graphic novel brought all of that back, and still made it it's own. There are some jokes here that are new and really sweet, the design of the aliens is similar and yet different from the official images, and it's striking the balance between violence/darkness and humor the way the original always did.

I think the expressions in particular are fantastic. This panel when Jake first sees Elfangor's ship really got me. He's joking and smiling one second, and then Tobias points out the ship, Jake sees it and his smile falls, and that's it for these kids. Their old lives are gone.



And then Tom's face here at the Sharing party on the beach. You can see the real Tom trying to come through. It honestly makes my stomach hurt to look at it. (Spoilers for the end of the book series) Rfcrpvnyyl trggvat guvf er-vgrengvba bs ubj Wnxr fgnegf nyy bs guvf gb fnir uvf oebgure, naq abg bayl qbrf ur abg qb gung, ohg ur fraqf Enpury gb xvyy Gbz naq *obgu bs gurz* qvr. Vg'f pbzcyrgryl urnegoernxvat.

I'm not sure how many people here will find this of interest, but the first volume of the Animorphs Graphic Novel came out the other day, and it has given me all the feelings. I posted about it at the end of the week before, but I wanted to make a new post for those who may have missed it.



Plaintext spoilers for the first volume, anything referring to the rest of the book series will be vague or in ROT13.

Oh, and the preview image for the next volume looks *awesome*.

Overall I really loved it! Every time I revisit the series I'm hit with such a strong wave of love for all these kids. My brother and I always talk about how hard it is to pick a favorite because they're all so great. Obviously a lot of that is nostalgia talking: the series was very formative for me, probably even moreso than things like Harry Potter or FMA, since I started reading the series when I was eight. And unlike some things where I've gone back and been kind of disappointed by the quality or some of the messaging that I'd missed as a kid (*Harry Potter* again being an example there) Animorphs feels like it's only gotten better with age. Of course that doesn't mean it's flawless. It came out in the 90s, and there are always aspects that are going to be dated and etc, not to mention the frenzied way the books were published meant that the authors had to write as fast as possible, and couldn't really plan anything out. And yet...this series, to me, is still so fucking good. And this graphic novel brought all of that back, and still made it it's own. There are some jokes here that are new and really sweet, the design of the aliens is similar and yet different from the official images, and it's striking the balance between violence/darkness and humor the way the original always did.

I think the expressions in particular are fantastic. This panel when Jake first sees Elfangor's ship really got me. He's joking and smiling one second, and then Tobias points out the ship, Jake sees it and his smile falls, and that's it for these kids. Their old lives are gone.



And then Tom's face here at the Sharing party on the beach. You can see the real Tom trying to come through. It honestly makes my stomach hurt to look at it. (Spoilers for the end of the book series) Rfcrpvnyyl trggvat guvf er-vgrengvba bs ubj Wnxr fgnegf nyy bs guvf gb fnir uvf oebgure, naq abg bayl qbrf ur abg qb gung, ohg ur fraqf Enpury gb xvyy Gbz naq *obgu bs gurz* qvr. Vg'f pbzcyrgryl urnegoernxvat.

I'm not sure how many people here will find this of interest, but the first volume of the Animorphs Graphic Novel came out the other day, and it has given me all the feelings.



Plaintext spoilers for the first volume below, anything beyond that will be vague or in ROT13.

When you said "Why does the Princess like Sokka when she doesn't really know him" I just kept thinking "wait until you meet her fiancee" lol. I think if you'd been made to be engaged to someone like that, even brief interaction with someone who was nice and showed genuine interest in you would be pretty enticing, and easy to get swept up in.

V zrna V jnf whfg gelvat jbex jvgu ynathntr gung jnf jvguva jung gurl'ir frra fb sne, naq vs V vzcyvrq bgurejvfr vg jnfa'g ba checbfr.

Bu fher, V whfg jnfa'g tbvat gb fnl bgurejvfr gb fbzrbar jub unfa'g frra gur fubj.

While it's possible that only the men would have learned waterbending in Katara's tribe too, there haven't been any waterbenders at her tribe for a long time, so I think that's why she was surprised by it. She hasn't had anyone around to tell her otherwise.

That Katara fight is one of my favorites. You really see how far she's come.