Animorphs Creator Looks Back On The Beloved Series 20 Years Later

Animorphs creator looks back on the beloved series 20 years later

Written by K. A. Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, the Animorphs books first hit shelves two decades ago. The beloved 1990s series told the story of five human kids — Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Marco, and Tobias — who stumble upon a dying alien prince and are recruited into saving the Earth from the Yeerks, a parasitic alien species taking over peoples’ brains. In order to give the teens a fighting chance, Elfangor (a kind of alien known as an Andalite) armed the kids with the ability to morph into any animal they touched, from a cat to a hammerhead shark to yes, even a starfish.

The series, which consists of 54 books, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and EW spoke to Applegate — who has since gone on to write the Newbery Medal-winning The One and Only Ivan — about Animorphs‘ famed run.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What is it about the series that you think the fans really responded to? Being able to turn into animals is just plain fun, and we made it scary and creepy and mind-bending. So there’s that. But what we think cemented fan loyalty was that we were clearly not talking down to them or taking it easy on them. We used the premise to talk about big things with kids and we think they appreciated that. And then we’d have a fight between an alien and a kid-turned-tiger, and seriously, how is that not cool?

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thedudesareawake

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thedudesareawake

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Guess I Have Enough Stuff For Another Sketchdump? Ahah!

Guess I have enough stuff for another sketchdump? ahah!

I have all the four guys “pinuppish version” (this is as close as I might be to a drawing series whitout getting bored) all in one place and this makes me happy. Also yay new stuff! And I have an headcanon on George’s favourite T shirt. Don’t agree? Fight me!

Now a sidenote I feel really guilty drawing these - but I am in time with my work and I really need to sketch in colors to throw the stress out. And this universe happens to be awesome and very greenish. And with very plenty of shit out of my comfort zone. Perfect playground to sharpen my pencils.

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thedudesareawake

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I saw this on Instagram and honestly I can't stop laughing

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thedudesareawake

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oversized hoodies make me feel safe and cute

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thedudesareawake

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here’s the link to donate to george floyd’s official memorial fund if you are able to contribute. if you can’t donate, please share. being black shouldn’t be a death sentence.

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thedudesareawake

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amazing double dance by hao ruoqi ( in blue)and wang xuerou(in red)

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This is some badass shit! I love this guy!!

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thedudesareawake

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I know it’s 2020 but Merlin AU where Uther notices a bunch of problems that could only be solved by magic ~spontaneously~ getting solved around Arthur, and concludes that this must be a side effect of Arthur only existing due to magical intervention. An intense bigotry-versus-parental-love internal conflict commences, followed by some that’s-pretty-hypocritcal-of-you-isn’t-it-dad screaming external conflict, generally upending everything. Merlin is standing in the corner the entire time holding a serving jug of mead and sweating.

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