Status Report

Okay, here is that ridiculously large update that I promised. Lots of new things, as you can tell right away from the title, so let us not waste any more time. First up:

The Mission (Book) Database: There are 80+ new international Classic covers added (And by Classic, I mean the 90’s books, so don’t freak out thinking that it’s for the relaunch). There is also 1 new inside cover added for Megamorphs #2, thanks to Matt. It was the last inside cover we were missing, so we are now officially complete with those! (I think.)

On top of this, I have also gone through all of the book pages and added videos for the ones that had their cover animations released. You will be able to see these videos right on their individual pages as opposed to the way we had it before. The book page layouts have also been slightly tweaked and rearranged to give everything a more uniform and organized look.

In addition to this, the Database has a Relaunch books section now too! I debated on how to handle this for a while, but I eventually decided that it would be best to separate it from the current Classic book pages, rather than try to merge them together. For one, it would be clutter-hell to try and organize the different marketing campaigns, promotions, products, etc, that would be related with the two book runs. I also thought it would be best to not compromise on the comprehensive amounts of detail on those current Classic pages, for fear that new readers would start reading them. Hopefully the two sections will keep things organized and at the same time be spoiler-friendly for those new to the series. I may merge them in the future, once the relaunch has run its course, but for now they are best to be kept separate.

Moving on from that, the Articles Section is now also updated: A relaunch category has been added, along with all of the official news for it so far: Scholastic’s library webcast, press release, K.A’s video, cover animation, etc.

This brings me to our very last part of the update: The Video Section. Everything is changed in there, from the way it operates, to the way it is structured behind the scenes. I have new categories set up for future Relaunch related media, and all of the videos so far have also been added in there, along with stuff we had before: morphing animations, tv show clips, trailers, etc.

So, to sum up (and for those that didn’t bother reading any of that), here is a brief rundown of everything added in for this update:

 
ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS

– Scholastic’s 2011 Spring Library Preview Webcast
– Scholastic’s Relaunch Press Release, including:

• K.A. Applegate’s video
• #1 Cover Animation

 
VIDEOS

– Restructured and new layout redesign.
– Categories and videos added for Relaunch Media (from articles).

 
MISSION (BOOK) DATABASE

Relaunch Books:

New pages for #1-6.
01: Cover Animation, Alternate cover, and related media.
02: Alternate cover, and related media.

Classic Books:

01 – Morph animation.
02 – Morph animation.
03 – Morph animation.
07 – U.K. Cover.
13 – Cover animation.
16 – U.K. Cover. Cover animation.
17 – U.K, German, and French Covers. Cover animation.
18 – German, and French Covers. Cover animation. New Trivia.
19 – U.K, German, and French Covers. Cover animation.
20 – U.K, German, and French Covers
21 – U.K, and French Covers. Cover animation.
22 – U.K, German, and French Covers. Cover animation.
23 – U.K, and French Covers. Cover animation.
24 – U.K, and French Covers. Cover animation.
25 – U.K, German, and French Covers. Cover animation.
26 – U.K, and French Covers. Cover animation.
27 – German, and French Covers
28 – U.K, German, and French Covers
29 – U.K, German, and French Covers
30 – U.K, German, and French Covers. Cover animation.
31 – U.K, and French Covers
32 – U.K, and French Covers
33 – U.K, and French Covers. Cover animation. New Trivia.
34 – U.K, and French Covers. Cover animation.
35 – U.K, and French Covers
36 – U.K, and French Covers
37 – U.K, and French Covers
38 – U.K, and French Covers
39 – U.K, and French Covers
40 – U.K, and French Covers
41 – U.K, and French Covers
42 – French Cover
43 – U.K, and French Covers
44 – French Cover
45 – U.K, and French Covers
46 – U.K, and French Covers
47 & 48 – U.K Combo Cover
49 $ 50 – U.K Combo Cover
51 $ 52 – U.K Combo Cover
53 – French Cover
54 – French Cover
MM#1 – U.K, German, and French Covers
MM#2 – 7th Inside (thanks to Matt), German, French, & U.K Covers.
MM#3 – French Cover
Alternamorphs #1 – French Cover
Andalite Chronicles – U.K, and French Covers
Visser Chronicles – French Cover
Hork-Bajir Chronicles – French, and U.K Covers (Didn’t notice this until now, but the U.K one has Aldrea looking at the reader!)

Phew! At this point I’d also like to add that I will forever hate Amazon and other book sites for unnecessarily adding white space to all of their cover pictures. I had to individually crop every one of those covers folks!

Anyway, I think that’s it for now. The archive is no where near complete, but we are making progress, and this update was another huge step forward. Look around, enjoy. If you see anything wrong that needs fixing, or if you have something that I don’t already have (or have it in better quality), then please get a hold of me as usual. I will do my best to get it up there as soon as I possibly can.

Until next time! 🙂

It doesn’t look like much, but we finally have a custom header for our blog! It took about a month’s worth of frustration, and for me to learn just enough PHP in order to figure out how to do it.

So what does this mean? Well for one, the rest of the site will no longer remain isolated by that framed header I had in its place before. You can link away to individual articles all you like, without worrying that people can’t see the entire archive. The rest of the sections on the site are still framed up top, just to simplify the 100+ pages (900+ files!) I have for updating needs, but the blog is no longer held back by it, which was my biggest concern of all.

I think that’s all for now! Our blog link is hiracdelest.com/blog, so please update your bookmarks! If you notice any problems or issues, then be sure to let me know right away. I would most definitely appreciate it! Also, be on the lookout for another archive update soon. I’ve got a big one coming!

Amazon has released a higher-res version of the Animorphs #3 cover that we revealed a little while back. (Click picture below to enlarge).

For pre-order and plot details for the rest of the Animorphs relaunch books, go here: http://www.hiracdelest.com/blog/?page_id=1021

In addition to this, I have now also gone through all of the blog posts to organize them a bit better, and created two new categories: Animorphs Relaunch and Movie/TV News (see right). Hopefully this will be useful to fans who want to get all the straight facts right away, rather than having to go through our 100+ blog posts to find them.

That’s all for now. Until next time!

I still surprise myself when I get a little adrenaline rush from stumbling onto something like this, and realize just how much of an impact this series still has on me. Here is a very exciting new promo by Scholastic that features K.A. Applegate herself. In here, she talks about the story origins of Animorphs, about the 90s culture, and about the new relaunch coming next year! On top of that, the video also gives us our first glimpse of the new Rachel model from Animorphs #2! (Why are you still reading this? I know most of you have already clicked play):

You can also see it directly by going to Scholastic’s website!

As for Rachel’s new cover model, you can see her along with Jake at the 1:40 mark, or by clicking on the snapshot I took (above). Also, as last time, if anyone is able to get me a downloadable copy of this video, then please forward it to my email so that I can save it for the archive.

UPDATE: Thanks to a speedy response from Veronica, we now also have the actual video file for the interview! I’ll be sure to add that into the archive once I get some time.

That’s all for now! Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more updates like this on the Animorphs relaunch. Until next time! 🙂

Thanks to a speedy response from Elaine, Dameg, and Nguyen to our post yesterday, we now have a copy of the morphing animation from Animorphs #1’s lenticular cover!

Elaine was kind enough to give me a GIF of the animation (posted below), while Dameg and Nguyen gave me the original SWF (which I’ll be placing in the video/book database later). I also went ahead and stripped the animation file of its frames, so that we can see the entire morphing process from start to finish (in the form of the older books). Here it is:

(Click here to see the animation in action!)

As you can see, this Jake model is a different Jake from the first lenticular cover that was released. We have no idea why they did this, but there is a definite difference of age between the two models, and the lizard seems to have been changed as well.

That’s it for now! Thanks again to Elaine, Dameg, and Nguyen for sending those files in! We’ll keep you posted on any more updates and changes.

In case you missed our earlier post today, Scholastic published a press release about the relaunch of the Animorphs series, and also gave us a look at the morphing animation for Animorphs #1’s lenticular cover. To read the full news regarding that, go here: http://www.hiracdelest.com/blog/?p=1328

In the mean while, it looks like Scholastic is going ahead with one of its marketing plans and updating the Official Animorphs Website (The last update was back in 2001, when #54 and the Anibase were released).

Right now they only have a new banner (which is strangely featuring the old covers, when we have already confirmed the new ones), but I’m guessing that this is just a temporary sign to go up with the press release as they get a new design ready. Here are some pictures for the before and after:

OLD DESIGN (Last Updated 2001)

NEW UPDATE (December 9th, 2010)

We’ll keep you informed on any further changes and updates made towards the Animorphs relaunch.

About an hour ago, Scholastic made an official press release for the Animorphs relaunch, and at the same time revealed the morphing animation for Animorphs #1’s Lenticular Cover! You can see the animation here: http://bit.ly/fSdVQp. (The animation is in flash, so if anyone is able to save a copy of it, either as a gif or avi, please email me!)

As for Scholastic’s press release, it highlights a new quote by K.A. Applegate:

“I am thrilled at the re-launch of Animorphs,” said K.A. Applegate. “Animorphs had far more impact on readers than I ever expected. Animorphs fan sites and works of fan fiction number in the thousands even today. Every library I visit has the old tattered copies, some now barely held together with glue and tape. So I’m very excited at the chance to retire those dog-eared old books, to ratify the enduring faith of the die-hard fans, and most of all, to reach a whole new generation of readers. The invasion is on, the Yeerks are everywhere, and the only ones who can stop them are the small band of kids with the power to become any living creature: the Animorphs are back.”

You can see the entire press release at: mediaroom.scholastic.com.

Most of the details in there are things we already know from the 2011 Library Webcast, however it now gives us an updated release date for Animorphs #4 and #5, which are now released in September and December 2011. So the new official release schedule (along with the ISBN) is as follows:

May 2011

Animorphs #1: The Invasion (ISBN: 978-0-545-29151-4)
Animorphs #2: The Visitor (ISBN: 978-0-545-29152-1)

July 2011

Animorphs #3: The Encounter (ISBN: 978-0-545-29153-8)

September 2011

Animorphs #4: The Message (ISBN: 978-0-545-29156-9)

December 2011

Animorphs #5: The Predator

That’s all for now, but be on the lookout for more news as Scholastic moves ahead with its marketing plans for next year. And be sure to let us know if you stumble across anything interesting!

Until next time!

UPDATE: I just found out that this is our 100th Blog Post on Hirac Delest! How awesome is that?! Makes this news post even better!

Amazon recently updated their product pages by posting covers for the new Animorphs books that are coming out May 2011. These covers have some slight new updates and alterations from what we have seen in the past, and I have gone ahead and posted the previous versions with these news ones in side to side comparisons. Go ahead and click them for a larger view:

From what I see so far: In #1, the border around the morphing box is gone to match the ‘glow’ that you see in #2. Also, both the cover model and the animal now seem to have a different pose. Whether this is still the same cover model from the previous version, still remains to be seen.

For #2, the most notable change is with the background. This is a good improvement, in my opinion, as everything blends a bit better with the DNA fingerprint/fur combo.

I have no idea which one is currently the final version of either book, and we likely won’t know this until we start seeing more advertisements from Scholastic promoting these books. The books are still 6 months away, so there is still plenty of wiggle room left if Scholastic wants to make any more future alterations. We’ll keep you posted if we find any more.

UPDATE: A quick look at the Scholastic Librarian Catalog for Animorphs #1 now proves that the Amazon cover was indeed the correct version. These new covers are definitely replacements for the previous versions we have seen.

Remember when we posted the new lenticular cover for Animorphs #1 a few weeks ago? Well, I went back to the Ute Körner Literary Agent (our original source) to perform a little google-fu on there server, and I ended up with a nice little surprise! I found a file which led me to the rights section on Scholastic, which then led me to a PDF, giving us an exclusive look at the lenticular cover for Animorphs #2! It was posted along in combination with the cover for Animorphs #1. And as you can see from the pictures below, I went ahead and cropped it out of that for you guys as well.

Based on what we’re seeing here, it looks like Animorphs #2 is following the same style as the first cover. Currently we are only seeing Rachel in mid-morph, but as previously mentioned with #1, you won’t see the full effects of these lenticular covers until you actually hold one in your hand. The animation is supposed to provide a transition from human to animal when you tilt them from side to side.

Also, it looks like the animal/tech skin layout is staying. Based on the covers for #1 & #2, it will likely change to whatever skin/fur/scales the featured animal on the cover has. This will hopefully be good news for those that weren’t fans of the first cover. It also looks like the animal choices for the covers are being taken directly from the first print of the series (ie. #1: Lizard, #2: Cat, etc, etc). So expect the same from the rest of the future reprints, with the exception of Megamorphs and Chronicles.

Animorphs #1 & #2 are set to be out together next year on May 1st, 2011, and the schedule for the following books are already planned for the next 2 years. Here they are:

Animorphs #03: The Encounter – July 2011
Animorphs #04: The Message – October 2011
Animorphs #05: The Predator – January 2012
Animorphs #06: The Capture – April 2012

Anyway, that’s all for now. The new cover has been updated in the pre-order page as well (on your right). Be sure to follow us on Facebook & Twitter to stay updated for future posts. We’ll let you know if anything else comes up. Until next time!

Thanks to an impressive effort by Eva, we now have fan-made English translations for the entire Animorphs #1 German audio book! This ‘book’ is actually done in a manner of a radio play, supporting a full cast, with sound effects and music.

I was really lucky to have been able to get a hold of this rare copy many years ago, and I’m so happy that I can finally understand it, and now (more importantly) share it with the rest of you!

To start listening, simply go here (or, for future reference, Database > Merchandise > Audiobooks). Simply click on one of the chapters to begin streaming and follow along with these awesome fan-made translations.

Again, a major thanks to Eva for putting in such an impressive amount of time and effort into this! We seriously appreciate it!