Who are we? Grown-ass neurodivergent millennials who are still hung up on our elementary-school hyperfixation. Why are we here? To take children's books way too seriously, or to acknowledge how serious these children's books are, depending on your perspective. What's our purpose in life? Purposes include:
- Examining cultural and psychological themes that appeared in Animorphs,
- Telling K. A. Applegate et al. how much we love them, but occasionally acknowledging we have some concerns,
- Comparing Animorphs to other works of sci-fi, primarily Deep Space Nine,
- Screaming nonsensically about our feelings,
- And more!

Real life cult recruitment tactics along with how they apply to The Sharing. Also discussed: the 2016 US election, toxic religious groups, Scientology, and sexual assault. The doxxing will begin in 5, 4, 3….

Books heavily covered: 1, 2, 6, Visser, and Megamorphs: Back to Before.

Check out Telltale Atheist and Genetically Modified Skeptic on YouTube, along with these additional resources:

https://bigthink.com/the-present/four-cult-recruitment-techniques/
https://people.howstuffworks.com/cult3.htm
https://medium.com/@cosseymelanie/how-cults-entrap-people-d2f012c10149
https://www.alittlebithuman.com/the-bite-model-of-cult-mind-control-explained/
https://youtu.be/KSf5ib-mCDI

A 55-year old sci-fi nerd reads Animorphs for the first time. Phuckery discussed: religious trauma, censorship, addiction, The War on Drugs, cannibalism, getting eaten alive, torture, Rodney King, suicide, slavery, genocide, sex trafficking (specifically in Maine?), sexual assault, trans rights, dysmorphia, women's rights, broken homes, 9/11, and the War on Terror. You know, because these are kids' books. 

Back in the 90s Hannah and Shannon were isolated homeschoolers who didn't have much in life, but DID have Animorphs. Being tiny little blonde girls with attitude problems the importance of Rachel cannot be overstated. Then Mama Applegate murdered Rachel. Then Hannah and Shannon met Mama Applegate. Hugs and hate mail ensued.

Phucked up topics include: PTSD in war veterans, beating a man to death with your own severed arm, murdering your family for the cause of the war, Native American genocide, 90s Feminism, gender fluidity, 9/11, Columbine, Desert Storm, The Holocaust, and defeating Nazis with cocaine.

Many tangents including The Hunger Games, Dear America, The Royal Diaries, The Giver, Number the Stars, His Dark Materials, and Grace and Frankie, somehow?

See more of Shannon (and sometimes Hannah) talking about controversial literature at https://boundandgaggedbooks.wordpress.com/

Are you sick of Rowling's TERFy nonsense? Do you want to stop supporting Harry Potter but don't have a good replacement lined up? Have no fear, everyone; anything Harry Potter ever did right Animorphs did better. 

Topics include family, race, representation, free will, neurodivergency, trauma, whimsy, good and evil, and gay aliens with Space AIDs living in suburbia. 

A HUGE thanks and shoutout to the Animorphs Yeerkposting Facebook group for all their suggestions. https://www.facebook.com/groups/891899307817393/permalink/1631466913860625/

Chelsea is a schoolteacher and it shows. Hannah majored in Political Science and minored in History. We both had A LOT to say about Imperialism and Animorphs!

Topics include: The Irish diaspora and Potato Famine, the Hong Kong and Panama 99-year treaties, the Spanish-American War, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, one-child policies, third-culture children, white saviorism, 9/11 and the War on Terror, women's history in STEM, and the Native American Genocide (with a strange amount of focus on the Pennacook tribe). Also, it is now headcanon that COVID is an Andalite STI.

READ "WITCH CHILD" AND "SORCERESS BY CELIA REES. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

The dog picture described at 1:05: https://twitter.com/animorphuckery/status/1485051648061763584?s=20

Resources:

Outline of American Imperialism: The Territorial Expansion of the United States by Adam Burns (https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12432) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfsfoFqsFk4 

Introduction to the Age of Empire (https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/age-of-empire/a/intro-to-age-of-empire)

“Who Built the Panama Canal? with Professor Kaysha Corinealdi” from Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

CW: This episode discusses the misguided belief that disabled lives are not worth living or preserving. If now is not a good time to be in that headspace, please have a wonderful day listening to something else <3

Animorph topics include: the Auxiliary Animorphs (obviously!), no wheelchair ramps at the yeerk pool, yeerks/taxxons/gedds/nothlits/oatmeal-poisoned-yeerks as allegories for disability, Vecolism, Loren as the only good amnesia representation in all of literature, morphing technology as a miracle medical cure, and the incessant desire to morph into a grizzly bear to beat ableist doctors over the head with your own severed arm. 

Disability topics include: strokes, POTS, EDS, MCAS, hypothyroidism, mono, seizures, spinal taps, mystery diagnoses, invisible illnesses, deadly allergies, COVID, brain fog, and several doctors who really should have been beaten over the head with a severed arm by a grizzly bear.

Read Shannon's (AMAZING!) short story in the "Nothing Without Us" anthology, which does NOT end with a doctor getting beaten to death by a grizzly bear with a severed arm but I promise you you'll like it anyways:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51796332-nothing-without-us

Travis, aka @WlkngCntradctn, has the coolest Twitter bio ever:

"Bi/Pan white cis male poly kinky quadriplegic therapist published philosopher/author semi-professional origami artist and canonical Animorph."

After reading that I just HAD to hear everything he had to say about Animorphs, and sure enough, he was full of great things to say. 

Topics include: Avatar The Last Airbender & Korra, disability, grief and acceptance associated with becoming disabled, various forms of privilege, The Trolley Problem, The Prisoner's Dilemma, Spiderman 2, the therapeutic uses of pop culture references, Don Quixote, Logan, elder care, and more.

NOTE: This episode (and most other episodes of Animorphuckery) contain full-series spoilers. If you followed Travis here from Animorphing Time and are reading the books along with them, wait a few weeks; you're almost there!