[OOC] Animorphs

[Captain Jordan]

I'd be up for a collab post.

[Dedonus]

DotCom said
Not to worry! I'll have something up tomorrow, then maybe we can discuss a mini collab between the three of us en route to the construction site. Glad to see this back up and running! =D

I wold agree to a mini collaboration.

[Captain Jordan]

How do you guys typically do your collabs? Via PM? Email? Google Docs? Instant Messenger? Telepathy?

Now that DotCom has posted, I wouldn't mind starting up the collab.

[Dedonus]

Captain Jordan said
How do you guys typically do your collabs? Via PM? Email? Google Docs? Instant Messenger? Telepathy? Now that DotCom has posted, I wouldn't mind starting up the collab.

Well, Dot and me did our collabs via PM. I think it worked out quite fine, but I will listen to other options.

[Captain Jordan]

Dedonus said
Well, Dot and me did our collabs via PM. I think it worked out quite fine, but I will listen to other options.

PMs work for me!

I prefer PMs or email, it gives me enough time to think about what I'm writing, and there's some semblance of a notification system (which sucks right now for PMs unless you memorize your count, but at least it's there). Google Docs doesn't notify you when there's new content, and I hate typing while others watch. IMs tend to move too fast for me to collect my thoughts. And I haven't quite mastered telepathy. ;)

I just asked because others are sometimes more comfortable with the latter options. I can do PMs, though.

Anyone want to start or should I?

[Dedonus]

Captain Jordan said
PMs work for me! I prefer PMs or email, it gives me enough time to think about what I'm writing, and there's some of a notification system (which sucks right now for PMs unless you memorize your count, but at least it's there). Google Docs doesn't notify you when there's new content, and I hate typing while others watch. IMs tend to move too fast for me to collect my thoughts. And I haven't quite mastered telepathy. ;)I just asked because others are sometimes more comfortable with the latter options. I can do PMs, though. Anyone want to start or should I?

Check your PM's.

[Captain Jordan]

Dedonus said
Check your PM's.

Got it, and replied. Tags to you and DotCom.

[Captain Jordan]

I have a quandary for you all.

So I've been re-reading the Animorphs books the past few days (what better thing to do when you're laid up sick?!) and something struck me. Yeerk names seem to reflect their rank, with Temrash 114 mentioning he had just moved into the 100s. This seems to imply that Yeerks change their name as they move up, and thus when one member moves up, everyone now below moves down.

Then I got to thinking. Visser Three is named Esplin 9466. We learn this in the Hork-Bajir Chronicles, written quite a time after The Capture, in which Temrash mentions his promotion. Even after his promotion to Sub-Visser Twelve, Esplin 9466 still refers to his name as separate.

This is the question, how do Yeerks rank themselves? Do you think they retain their final names and numbers once they reach the Sub-Visser/Visser ranks? Or is Visser Three just a sentimentalist and Yeerk names are synonymous with their ranks?

[Terminal]

That may have just been an K.A. error (she's admitted to making a few significant ones over the course of the series, which is no great fault considering how many books there are).

As you said, it may have just been sentimental - he was promoted VERY rapidly, and so he may well have still thought of himself as 9466.

On the other hand, the number could reflect /social/ ranking rather than military rank, which might explain why he might have kept the designation even when he became Visser One. He had a high military rank, but pretty much everyone in the universe - including other Yeerks - hated his guts. Perhaps an unchanged designation would reflect this animosity, sort of like the President not signing off on a bill (if that makes any sense).

Personally, I like the idea that the name would have changed if K.A. had managed to catch that detail. That would mean every Yeerk would know exactly what their place was in the hierarchy of their entire species - and so out there, somewhere, there is the lowest ranked Yeerk ever. And they are never having a good day. That sort of small detail emphasizes how much drive and ambition the Yeerks have as a species, which meshes neatly with their theme and dilemma of a need for control and conquest.

[wonderlandalli]

" That would mean every Yeerk would know exactly what their place was in the hierarchy of their entire species - and so out there, somewhere, there is the lowest ranked Yeerk ever. And they are never having a good day."

Oooooooh.... he needs to be stuck in Bradbury on some shit duty :D We'll give him a very bad day indeed, lol!

[Captain Jordan]

Terminal said
Personally, I like the idea that the name would have changed if K.A. had managed to catch that detail. That would mean every Yeerk would know exactly what their place was in the hierarchy of their entire species - and so out there, somewhere, there is the lowest ranked Yeerk ever. And they are never having a good day. That sort of small detail emphasizes how much drive and ambition the Yeerks have as a species, which meshes neatly with their theme and dilemma of a need for control and conquest.

That's pretty much what I was thinking. Silly Visser Three, sentimentalism is for the Skrit-Na.

wonderlandalli said
" That would mean every Yeerk would know exactly what their place was in the hierarchy of their entire species - and so out there, somewhere, there is the lowest ranked Yeerk ever. And they are never having a good day."

Oooooooh.... he needs to be stuck in Bradbury on some shit duty :D We'll give him a very bad day indeed, lol!

LOL! We do need to run into this guy.

[DotCom]

^ Love it. I'm in. =)

[Dedonus]

I never read the books and only saw a few episodes as a kid, so I don't have much input on this matter. So, do whatever you all decide on and I will go with it.

[Captain Jordan]

Dedonus said
I never read the books and only saw a few episodes as a kid, so I don't have much input on this matter. So, do whatever you all decide on and I will go with it.

I'd highly recommend picking up the set, your local library possibly still has copies. I own most of them, but they happen to be at my parent's house while I'm away at college, so I 'borrowed' a copy from the Internet for the moment (shh!). Even for books written for kids/tweens in the 90's, they hold up surprisingly well, especially after most of the establishment books are done (#10 and on start to really get into the good part of the story).

Anyway, it was just a silly question. It doesn't really have any effect on our story, only tiny details that barely matter.

Here's another silly one: how do you pronounce Visser? Viss-ER? VI-sser?

[wonderlandalli]

I've always said it Viss-er, like pisser.

[DotCom]

^This.

[Captain Jordan]

wonderlandalli said
I've always said it Viss-er, like pisser.

Yep, that's pretty much how I say it now. I think when I was a kid reading these books, I thought it was VI-sser, so more like Visor. I think I read a book somewhere where they rhymed it, and then it all made sense.

Anyone got a pronunciation for Hork-Bajir? I'm never comfortable with saying that name.

[AmazinglyVivid]

I've always said it "hork (rhyming with cork) BAA-jar," but with a soft J.

[Terminal]

Hmm, looks like Jason and Iikka have some mad catching up to do.

Ali, would you have time for a collab post sometime this week?

[Captain Jordan]

Hehe, we were just too impatient, we had to get to that all-important construction site goodness.

Plus, you guys started this like 2 months ago, right? Vivid's only ever gotten to write once in that time. Poor Vivid. :(