Taking a little break from the relaunch stuff, I came across this neat trailer a little while back that I think is worth sharing. It uses a few scenes from the TV show, but is otherwise filmed entirely by fans:
There are also a few fans out there that have written their own scripts for the adaptation of the books. The first one is by Dogman15, for Animorphs #1: The Invasion. And the second one is actually a theatrical production for Animorphs #6: The Capture by Drake. He tells me that this has already been staged and is in production for a play-writing college class in Florida. He’s going to try and get this filmed, and pass it along to us if possible! I have added links to both scripts in our fan fiction section.
To close off today’s post, here is another great little clip I found that the Animorphs TV Show fans will appreciate. It’s Nadia Nascimento (Cassie) being discovered at a party:
Sadly, no full image for the Animorphs #3 morphing process, but we’ll be sure to post about it if we find it! The images for #4 have been added in the relaunch Missions page. Until next time!
UPDATE: The launch of the video and L.A. Times event is further covered by Scholastic’s OOM (On Our Minds) Blog. Full article: oomscholasticblog.com.
Interesting thing to note: Kheetor84, who we previously mentioned in our community highlight post, got a mention in the article as well! In addition to this, there is also another K.A. Applegate interview posted by the Scholastic Kid Reporter. You can read it here.
Alright folks, today is all about the community. I want to take a little break from the relaunch stuff and highlight a few of the interesting things that the fans have been doing.
First up: Webcomics! We have a lot of dedicated artists in our community who have been using their talents to re-create the Animorphs books into graphic novels. All of these are a work-in-progress, however new pages are added every week through scheduled releases! Here are some examples:
Next we have Animorphs Smilies! These are some very cool and original animated gifs that are being made by DinosaurNothlit and Goom from the RAF Community. They feature everything from morphing regular animals to alien creatures like Andalites and Crayak (see right).
Another project that really caught my eye was the Animorphs Infographic List. This ambitious project was started by Kiriska at the Animorphs LiveJournal Community. It’s where each fan is given a specific Animorphs book, and then asked to tally up the number of 90’s references that they find through it. The end result is pretty interesting, and you can see the current progress of it over at: livejournal.com/animorphs (Example on left).
Moving away from that, here is a really cool recreation of the Animorphs TV show theme on the piano by Arizash! I found it impressive, considering he played it by ear. I believe he plans on making some sheet music for it later:
All of this has been listed in our Projects section, so head on over there if you would like to see more details on any of these projects listed above. I have also made a new addition in there by Kevin, who has created some Animorphs Spore models as well. These are very popular over at Youtube, and people have already created several simulations of Andalite/Hork-Bajir/Yeerk battles as we previously posted about a while back.
However, before I end this post, I also want to give a quick shout out to Jeff Sampson. For those who don’t know who he is, simply flip to the start of Animorphs #22, and you’ll see that the book is dedicated to him. He was the co-founder of Morphz.com, which was easily the best Animorphs fan site back when the series ran. It provided many exclusives that the official site never even revealed!
He later on became The Informer, and even helped K.A write a few of the Remnants books as well. And now, he’s a published author! His YA debut Vesper was released earlier this year. I have personally read it, and really enjoyed it. I definitely recommend everyone else to check it out as well!
I think that covers everything new in the Animorphs fandom for now. You’ll find that the Projects section has also been cleaned up, and I have removed many of the ones that are cancelled, or no longer active. If you have any interesting projects that you’d like to share, then please feel free to forward them to me. Until next time!
It was inevitable that when the new models were released on the official website, that the fans would compare them to the original models they grew up with from the first run of the series. However, one particular issue took priority over all other nitpicks as fans quickly noticed that the new Marco was paler and lighter from any of the previous models, and who did not match the half-Hispanic “dark complexion” (with dark skin and dark hair) that the character was often described by.
For those unfamiliar, this practice is most commonly known as whitewashing, where characters from minority backgrounds are often misrepresented in the media by being given favour to models or actors with lighter and paler skin. (If you’re looking for a more in-depth discussion about this, take a look at The Book Smugglers. They wrote a great article about some of the more popular cases from last year.)
Once fans realized what had happened, they sent out a petition and contacted both Scholastic and Michael Grant (co-author/co-creator of Animorphs). Marissa from Racebending also published a really well written article on her blog, as a show of support to the fans. The topic and concerns from the fans were well covered in that article, and I would recommend everyone to go read it at racebending.com
However, the issue didn’t linger for very long. Scholastic replied back quickly and confirmed that they were already going ahead to change the Marco cover model. The change will be reflected onto the new cover and official website once the photo shoot and morphing animations have been completed. Here is their full response, thanks to Blue Rampion:
“Thank you again for getting in touch with us about the Marco model for the cover of Animorphs #5: The Predator. We always appreciate hearing from Animorphs fans, and we want you to know that we have heard and share your concerns. We will, in fact, be using a different model for the actual books from the one that currently appears in our catalog and on the Animorphs web site. The first Marco book won’t be published until December 2011, so there is plenty of time to make sure we have a model who truly represents the description of the character in the books. (Please note that the website will be corrected as soon as the new photo shoot has been completed and the morph animation can be redone; in the meantime, the placeholder Marco will remain.)
While getting a new model was something we were already planning to do, we truly appreciate you advocacy on behalf of Marco. The support and passion of the Animorphs fan community has always been a crucial part of the success of the series, and we certainly want to be responsive when concerns arise.” -Scholastic
Along with this, Michael Grant also responded (for both him and K.A. Applegate) to the fans via Twitter, thanks to LisaCharly:
So there you have it. A very big congrats to the fans for sticking up for this (especially to those in the Animorphs LiveJournal Community), as well as big thank you to the great Scholastic team in charge of the Animorphs Relaunch for being so positively receptive to the fanbase’s concerns!
As for the new model, there’s no telling how long this will take, but we’ll be sure to keep you all updated as soon as the change is reflected onto the official site. For those who are interested in reading more about this subject, I’ve assembled a collection of related links for you here:
The new update includes all of the new models for Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, and Tobias, as well as cover morphing animations for all of them! On top of this, the Animorphs #6 cover we posted today is now also available in colour (see right).
That’s all I’ve noticed at this point. I’ll be doing more archive-worthy things later, but I just wanted to update about this before I left for work. Major thanks again to TimmyTuan for letting us know!
Thanks to Ian, we now have two very cool things to share with you today!
First: The sale we mentioned about earlier this week for the relaunch books, is most definitely for current orders, not pre-orders! Scholastic is shipping Animorphs #1 & 2 out early (almost 2 months in advance!), and this is now confirmed. To prove it, here is Ian holding up his copies of both books:
We have no idea why Scholastic is suddenly releasing these so early, but I suggest fans take advantage of this while they can! Remember, this is only for The Scholastic Store, not Amazon or anywhere else. The 30% off sale is still in effect (as I am posting this), and there is no closing date posted for it yet. The advanced shipments are also only for U.S. residents at the moment, as the Scholastic Store does not ship out for international orders. (Please correct me on this if I am wrong!)
Second: The inside of Animorphs #1 & 2 features a sneak preview of all 6 relaunch books, which also finally reveals the cover of Animorphs #6! Ian, who is now lucky enough to own both books, was able to provide us a scan:
One last thing: there is also a new link! In the excitement of revealing the trailer last time, I completely forgot to mention that Scholastic has released a new link related to the relaunch. It is scholastic.com/JoinOurFight. At the moment it just redirects to the official animorphs.com site, but if it goes to anything more than that, then we’ll definitely keep you updated!
That’s all for now. Thanks again to Ian, for providing us with the pictures and scans. Also thanks to Jordan, who also confirmed the early shipments by forwarding me a copy of his shipment notice from Scholastic.
I guess I was just in the right place at the right time, because guess what? I was the first viewer as Scholastic uploaded its OFFICIAL trailer for the Animorphs Relaunch! Here it is:
Also, ta da! Here is a clear shot of the new Rachel model that the new trailer has revealed. We recently caught a glimpse of her in the previous post, but this most definitely proves we have a new (and more accurate) portrayal of Rachel for the books. What do you think?
That’s all for now. As always, be sure to check back for more updates on the Relaunch!
Jumping in for a quick update: Michael Grant (co-author/co-creator of Animorphs) just posted a very cool video of the new Animorphs Lenticular Covers in action, right from his backyard! Check it out:
The video was posted on his Facebook. So if the above video does not work, then you will have to log in! Or you can go directly there (click here).
One really important thing to note: There seems to be a new Rachel model! The video is small and blurry, but she appears to be different from the last time we saw the book morph in K.A’s Scholastic Video. I’ll post a picture once I can get a clear shot.
Good news for those that work in book stores by day, Scholastic Canada has released its 2011 Paperback Catalogue which reveals the new floor display for the relaunching of the series! Here are some screenshots:
So expect to see these at select locations for the relaunch in May. The floor displays themselves are priced at $95.88 each, and Scholastic has also released an Order Form PDF, as well as an HTM version for online orders. (Please remember that this is all in Canadian pricing, which is why the books are $7.99 in the form and picture above. The U.S books are still $6.99 each).
That’s all for now. All of this new info (with higher res photos from above) have been updated in books #1-3 of our relaunch book pages. If anything else comes up, we’ll be sure to keep you updated.
Next we have 
