Some Wyllop Items Look New

Info From HERE

Some things are looking new around Subeta. There are new items and some old items are getting revamped.

Some Wyllop items have gotten revamped recently. Specifically the Wyllop plushies from the Plushie Parlour and the Wyllop elixirs from the Magic Box.

They look adorable as always, of course!

Animorphs Re-Read: #6 The Capture (Chapters 5-8)

 Chapter 5

Marco comments that it's weird practicing a morph since they usually just go into a mission in new morphs with no practice. Jake says the reason is because they are going in as spies this time and understanding roach senses can be hard.

I just realized...this IS the Animorphs' first real spying mission. Whenever they morphed before they were either fighting or doing something with the morphs. I admit that Rachel and Jake were the first real spies in #2 The Visitor, but that wasn't something the whole group was involved in. At least not the actual spying part.

Turns out that Marco is now in a new and better apartment. His Dad has a new job that was announced at the end of the last book.

Cassie, the animal lover, says that she's grossed out by cockroaches and if it's possible that they could morph something so gross that they wouldn't exist anymore. Ax is confused by Cassie's disgust as he is still learning about humanity.

Jake thinks that it's surprising how used the group has gotten to Ax so quickly. Ax who is an Andalite and the brother of Prince Elfangor, the alien who gave the group the power to morph. He also remarks on the weirdness of watching everyone, but himself and Tobias, morphing roaches seeming normal now.

Jake looks away when the gang gets to the disgusting part of the roach morph and looks back at four cockroaches. Marco starts to say something and Jake thinks that they all look alike. He says 'Hello' and tells Tobias to tell the others he said 'Hello'. The group then tries to really 'hear' Jake say 'Hello'.

They quickly figure out how to 'hear' 'Hello'. They then spend time really grasping how to understand human speech while in cockroach morph.

As the group demorphs, Jake remarks that even Cassie can't make the cockroach morphing process look attractive. Why is it that it seems like in every book Cassie is pointed as the best morpher and then the comment is made that she can't make a certain morph attractive? If it's so rare for her not to make a morph attractive why has it happened in every book so far?

Once the gang has demorphed, Ax compliments the cockroach's body. I must admit that I love Ax's love for Earth.

Rachel, though, is disgusted by the roach morph. And then Marco has to be an ass and bring up the ant morph again.

Jake says that not everyone has to go and Rachel questions him about the statement. Marco then wonders why. It is Cassie who figures out that Jake is afraid for Tom's life.

Marco says that they won't hurt Tom, but Jake reminds the gang how involved Tom is. That Tom would kill any of the Animorphs if given a chance. Tobias reminds Jake that the Yeerk is the villain, not his brother.

I love you, Tobias!

Jake then tells the others about the nightmare he's been having. About him in tiger morph chasing Tom and Tom turns around but it isn't Tom. Jake doesn't go into detail about who Tom turns into and I want the answer right now, dammit!

Jake then goes on to say that if they succeed then Visser Three may get so angry that he kills Tom. Marco says that they don't have to make a decision now.

I like this part of Marco and feel it's often overlooked. He is kind and caring as well as liking to make jokes all the time.

Jake agrees with Marco about waiting until later to decide if they should do the mission or not. Jake doesn't feel relieved.


Chapter 6

Rachel wonders how long whatever they're doing will take as she hadn't set her VCR to record the movie of the week and Cassie reassures her that she had recorded it for her. For all my younger readers who have never lived in the era of no-DVR and only VCR: back in the day we used the VCR as you do the DVR.

Ax complains about his human morph and Tobias complains about his hawk morph since it's night time. I swear Tobias is the biggest owl fanboy in existence. There is no equal.

Jake recounts how Ax is uncontrollable around food and loves making sounds with his human mouth.

Marco jokes about falling down and Ax seems not to get the fact that the human is just messing with him.

They arrive close to their destination and it turns out they're going to a Sharing building. Jake and the others go into a basement. Really great commentary by both Rachel and Marco. Rachel sarcastically saying that being an Animorph is glamorous and Marco commenting on Tobias banging one of his wings.

As Ax demorphs, Jake repeats one of the rules of morphing: You can't go from one morph directly into another one.

Before they morph into cockroaches, Cassie reminds everyone that this is just a spying mission. They're not going to attack anyone. Cassie is really talking to Rachel since she brings up an elephant morph specifically. Cassie is also reminding everyone that Tom will be one of the Controllers which Jake is embarrassed about.

Marco asks Tobias if he can protect them from rats and Tobias says he's the 'rat-killer of the universe'. You two! Marco is not only making a joke but also reminding Tobias that he's a useful member of the group.

Jake makes sure every member is ready and Ax seems overly eager to please Jake.

Rachel comments that if cockroaches weren't so gross, she'd really be enjoying being one because it's cool. Tobias says he still feels the need to step on them even though he knows they aren't real cockroaches. Marco shoots back about what Tobias eats. I really really enjoy how Marco seems to be at ease helping Tobias by reminding him he's useful and helping him get through his new life. Of course he always does this while not breaking his mask.

Jake notices Tobias has seemed to become used to his new life. But Jake focuses on the mission.

Tobias says he's still watching them but is going to be airborne. Jake reminds the group that they're sneaking into a Yeerk area so there will be Controllers looking for Andalite bandits. The really funny part of this is Jake says to act like normal cockroaches. Marco jokes about going into a cereal box since he had nearly eaten a bug that crawled into a cereal box before.

Jake feels better once they enter a crack into the Sharing building. Well...until he starts thinking about demorphing in that small space. Jake tells Tobias that they're in and to stay safe. Tobias flies away and wishes the group good luck.

They finally get to an area that they hear Controllers talking. Marco jokes about it sounding like a pep rally and everyone but Ax laughs at the joke.

Jake tells the group to spread out so that they don't look suspicious being in one big group. Before he can say otherwise, everyone is heading off in a different direction to spy. Jake is worried that this will look odd to the Controllers but he forgot that the Yeerks didn't have to keep up the human act right now and so they go unnoticed.

Tobias is able to contact the group and says that a guy arrived in a limo. He also says that he has a bad feeling about the guy. When the guy arrives in the room the gang is in they hear that Visser Three has arrived.

Jake is confused as Tobias didn't report seeing an Andalite. Feel free to facepalm. Marco is surprised that Visser Three can morph a human. Luckily there is Ax to basically tell Marco 'No Shit'. Humans are animals so they have DNA. The whole group has seen Ax get his human morph so there shouldn't be 'how can the Visser morph human'. But 'dammit, Visser Three now has a human morph' is a logical reaction.

Visser Three talks about the plan with the hospital. He states that he plans for around two-hundred new Controllers a month. Shit!

Things get even better when the Visser announces plans to make a Controller out of the Governor. Rachel is the only one to really know how screwed Earth would be if that happens. Rachel says that the Governor will be running for President the following year. The gang realizes that if they allow the Governor to become a Controller then the Yeerks will have won.


Chapter 7

Jake decides that they've learned what they needed to know so they can leave now. Plus being in the vicinity of Visser Three can't be all that comforting.

Jake realizes the implications of what they had just learned. It is one thing to fight a secret war but if the enemies got hands on more power...shit would really hit the fan. They are only kids and learning that they might have an even bigger war ahead is just daunting.

Jake's roach mind is spooked by a vibration. Someone had nearly stepped on him!

A Controller points out that there are cockroaches while another one says it's nothing. Visser Three is a highly paranoid being and is extremely hateful, so he says for the second Controller to be killed since the cockroaches might possibly be the 'Andalite bandits'. While this paranoia is somewhat humorous, it's easy to understand why the Visser would be so cautious.

Jake is worried that the second Controller had been Tom. Jake runs.

Visser Three orders for them to be killed so Jake says everyone for themselves. The funny part of this is when Jake tells the others for the roach brain to guide them. He thinks to himself that roaches are disgusting but they're great at staying alive.

Some of the others have close encounters and Cassie screams that she doesn't want to die like this. This is a kid's book!

Jake is nearly squished against a wall and jumps out of the way and onto the shoe. Then he's flying through the air and I'm laughing my ass off at the image. Of course I'm imagining Jake going, "Weeeeeeeeeee!" and waving a little flag too.

Cassie announces she found a way out and Jake suddenly remembers that he has wings in cockroach morph. But it's too late as Jake is flung against another wall and runs underneath a paper as Ax and Rachel announce they're safe.

Marco is inside a toilet as he thought it would be safe. Of course the joker would hide in a toilet. He says he decided to hide there since it seemed like a place a cockroach would normally hide. Marco also says that he'll be able to make an escape soon.

Jake says that he would prefer to hide but has to make a run for it.

The two wish each other good luck and then a new enemy appears: bug spray!

Visser Three gloats after Jake gets sprayed and all seems lost. This is a kid's book and it seems like one of the main characters is going to die as a cockroach!

Suddenly a new shape comes towards Jake and he can't move to avoid it. But everything is okay since it's Tobias who picks him up and takes him away from the Controllers.


Chapter 8

Tobias drops Jake on the roof of a restaurant. The roach part of Jake doesn't understand what's going on as it loses control of its body. But Jake understand that he's dying. Tobias yells at him to demorph. Jake remembers how he used to laugh at killing cockroaches but now it's not funny as he's in the same situation. The dying part at least.

As Jake concentrates on demorphing he recalls the dream about him being a tiger and chasing Tom. When Jake is about to kill Tom, Jake changes into Tom and is about to be killed. Don't worry, Jake, you won't strike the final blow against Tom.

Jake opens his eyes and he is fully demorphed. Tobias is looking at him and asks if he is okay. Jake asks if Tobias thinks he is. Tobias replies that it was an odd morph since Jake was unconscious while demorphing. Tobias says that they're on the roof of a restaurant.

Small little error I found: At the beginning of the chapter Jake knows where he is but now he has to ask Tobias?

Jake thanks Tobias and Bird-boy says no problem.

Tobias says everyone is safe but worried about him. Tobias also says he has heard the big news including Visser Three's human morph. Jake says he doesn't know what the morph looks like to sight like a human's and Tobias reassures him that he saw the Visser leave.

Jake realizes Tobias is hiding something as he's being too talkative. Tobias finally says that Tom left with Visser Three. This means that whatever is being planned is both big and will endanger Tom's life.

The chapter ends on the realization the two have, but don't outright say to each other, that if they succeed then Tom will die.

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Animorphs Re-Read

Sayings Sundays (May 25, 2014)

The second season of NBC's Hannibal ended last Friday. And with the finale came another throwback to the Hannibal books by Thomas Harris. Yes, I know, the tv series has lots of easter eggs for long-time Hannibal fans to munch on. So this isn't exactly the first time it's happened.

This time a conversation between Hannibal and Will was eerily similar to one Hannibal and Clarice had in the book (and movie) Hannibal.

On a Theory of a Deadman binge I ran into this song. It is catchy as hell and one I don't mind being on repeat.

It also reminded me of Loki from The Avengers. Now I'm not a big Loki fan and I don't kneel at the mere mention of his name. But I really do feel that the song suits him.

Loki is a villain and yet he has legions of fangirls that, at times, seem to prefer him over the actual heroes. So I can't help but listen to this song and think of Loki.

New Beginnings and Second Chances 2

In my darkest moments, during and after the war, I always felt glad knowing I could fly. The power of flight that the hawk body gave me helped cancel out darker thoughts. Flying allowed me to find peace that nothing else could help me achieve. Alcohol couldn’t give me this peace and sex couldn’t give me this peace.

But flying alone didn’t help me deal with things in the long run.

As I was enjoying the mood, an Osprey dove down beside me.

Holy shit, Marco! I screamed and he laughed. You do know actual predators hunt me, right?

Marco’s reply was just to laugh. I admit I wasn’t really mad at him. I couldn’t be. Marco could be the biggest asshole in the world, but he could never make me mad for long. Behind Marco’s jokes and laughter was someone who would always be there for you. He was loyal and, with Rachel gone, he was one of the only ones I truly trusted.

Yeah, you fight the Yeerks and get killed by an Osprey, Tobias. Marco joked.

I think that’s called irony. I replied and would’ve smiled if I had had a mouth.

It would be funny if after all the battles we fought that I was killed by something as common as a bird.

What if I killed you? I joked as I started to chase him.

We ended up chasing each other for a little bit through the clear blue sky. It was one of those days where there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and things felt perfect. It felt like nothing could go wrong. And I hoped nothing would go wrong as I had decided on telling Marco about the Frolis maneuver today. I knew what my adult form was would get a chuckle out of him at least.

Well, can you kill me a little faster? We’re getting close to the two hour limit. Marco reminded me.

My main form was now a hawk so I didn’t have to worry about a time limit when I went flying. Marco, on the other hand, would have to demorph or not be able to resume his usual adorable form. I was jealous of him for that at times.

He didn’t have to go through learning to adapt to a new life as a bird. He didn’t have to wonder what he was when he had time to think. But, at the same time, he couldn’t fly all the time.

Yeah, we should head back. I told him and we started to head towards his mansion.

Alfred can make you something if you want. Marco replied.

His name isn’t Alfred.

It should be.

Marco was going to have to demorph when we landed which meant I could finally show off my adult morph. I was nervous that it wouldn’t be attractive to him. But he’d want me no matter what I looked like, right? Hopefully.

You know the Frolis maneuver Ax performed to get his human morph? I asked.

Yeah. Marco said and it seemed like more of a question than a statement.

You know how my human morph never ages?

Yeah. Wait...did you-

Perform a Frolis maneuver? Yeah. I sort of needed something more adult. Especially when we all get older.

Tobias, you know you’ll be a child no matter what you look like.

Ha ha ha.

Then we both broke out into real laughter. His joke was sort of funny but, more than that, it was him being a loving soul without appearing that way. A lot of things seemed to be about appearances with him.

Finally we came upon his mansion.

It was a good sized one, though I hadn’t been given the full tour. The pool and a room or two was all I had seen of it. The fact was that it being such a large building frightened me. The fact that there were so many hallways made me not want to see the rest of it.

I lived life as a hawk with only a small cabin, for love making or solitude depending on my mood, as the only building I entered. I preferred wide open spaces.

Marco, on the other hand, liked the stability that money brought and a mansion was a big way to show that off. I didn’t blame him as he wasn’t financially stable during the war. And, besides, the pool held some very fond memories for me.

Marco knew where I’d be most comfortable so we landed by the pool. He had recently gotten some palm trees which provided a little bit of shade but were more for show than anything else.

Once he landed he started to demorph. Morphing is always a disturbing process to watch. Cassie, the best morpher of the group, had trouble making certain morphs look good. Maybe it was just how I was feeling, but Marco seemed to demorph in a way that rivaled Cassie.

That was probably just do to my lo-liking him.

When he finished he just looked at me. I don’t know if I hadn’t started morphing because I was admiring him or that I was afraid. Maybe a combination of the two.

I mentally sighed and started morphing into my adult morph. I started to grow human hands and human feet shortly before I started growing to the proper height. As I grew, human skin replaced feathers and the final thing to go away was my beak.

As it became more apparent what my human form looked like, Marco had been holding back laughter. Now that it was done he just started laughing and he appeared to also be partially turned on by my morph. I didn’t blame him.

“Oh my god, Tobias, you’ve morphed Mark Ruffalo!” Marco said and I didn’t know when he was going to stop laughing.

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All of New Beginnings and Second Chances

Hannibal (Thomas Harris)

Title: Hannibal

Series: Hannibal

Author: Thomas Harris

Released: 1999

Rating: 5/6

Basic Plot: Seven years after the events of The Silence of the Lambs a former victim of Hannibal Lecter seeks revenge.
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The Ending
The ending of this book is considered controversial. I can very much see why it would be, but I wasn't bothered by it. It was only after I finished the novel that I felt like I should find problems with it. It does involve manipulating a strong character with drugs but, at the end of the day, both characters stay strong and choose the path they would've anyways. In my opinion, at least.

The Character of Hannibal
Hannibal, in this book, is a more sympathetic character. The narrative has you rooting for Hannibal to succeed and Mason Verger to fail. While, I admit, Hannibal kills and eats people which is a bad thing, he is a complicated character. Even the worst things he does can be looked at as happening due to a warped sense of good intentions. This doesn't make them 100% right, of course. Another point that helps Hannibal appear to be good is that Mason is shown to be a top grade asshole.

Clarice
Clarice is shown to have created new enemies for herself after she had killed the killer from The Silence of the Lambs. Her struggle to remain part of the FBI is a big part of the novel as she not only has to deal with Lecter but others that want to take her down. When Jack Crawford leaves the picture it makes everything with her plot line even more intense.

Final Thoughts
This is a good end to Hannibal's story (chronologically speaking as Hannibal Rising was published after this). I do wish that we got a better handle on what happened to both Clarice and Hannibal after this, but what we did get was good enough. I like how Mason Verger was built up as a villain and the end of his story. I don't think I will forget the brainy dinner scene near the very end of the book anytime soon.

To Fook in the Woods

-This is a Mature Story (if in content if not plot)
-It's an Animorphs fanfic
-It's a Marco/Tobias fanfic

You can read it HERE

Tobias and Me 9

Me and the other Animorphs had done some risky things in the past. Our first mission was at a Yeerk pool and later we had followed a strange message. Luckily the latter had led us to Ax, Elfangor’s younger brother. So breaking into a Yeerk base to steal a ship to fly back home wasn’t exactly out of the norm.

What did make this seem different, at least to me, was that I was bringing Cat on this mission. Even though there was no other choice, the fact was that this was her first mission and I didn’t know how she would handle it.

Would she make it so that we couldn’t complete the mission or would she not let anything faze her?

Remember, act natural. I reminded her as we entered the base.           

I know! She shouted.

I was very glad that I had told her multiple times about private thought speak as we walked towards the base. If I didn’t, that shout would’ve given us away.

As we were stopped by the guards, I grew highly nervous. What if they asked us something and then I couldn’t reply? I couldn’t understand the Hork-Bajir Controllers on Earth so how would I understand these ones?

Fortunately all it turned out I had to do was act confident. I looked them in the eyes as they talked and acted like I knew what they were saying. I had used the same tactic with my Aunt and Uncle. I pretended to act like I gave a shit so that they would act like they cared. In the brief moments they felt like acting as if they cared so they could give themselves a little ego boost.

This worked on the guards as they thought that I was actually listening when I didn’t know what the Hell they were saying. I looked at Cat, through the corner of my eye, to see how she was holding up. She seemed a little nervous but she was acting calm enough. Hopefully she didn’t do anything that would alert the Controllers to the fact that we were just two scared kids.

The guards waved us through after a few minutes.

Why didn’t they ask you why you didn’t have a Dracon beam? Cat asked as she patted her own that was on her leg.

 I assume they were reprimanding me for losing mine. I replied. You did give me a few cuts so it looked like I had been in a fight.

You’re sure the Yeerks can be fooled like that?

Hopefully.

With that we continued walking towards the Bug fighters. I did my best to not arouse suspicion and Cat tried to walk around confidently. There were more types of Controllers than just Hork-Bajir and I really hoped we didn’t have to fight any of them. Especially Taxxons who were just creepy. Any creature that was known for being a cannibal and self-cannibal wasn’t one I wanted to be around.

As we were close to the Bug fighters I heard some shouting and turned my head towards the sound. Shit! How would a Controller react? I didn’t know what the Hork-Bajir Controller was saying so I couldn’t even form a way to deceive him.

I was preparing to act annoyed with the Controller and suddenly I heard a Dracon beam go off. I went into a defensive stance and then saw it had been Cat firing her Dracon beam.

Guess they weren’t fooled. Cat said.

Figured that out. I replied.

So what’s the plan now?

Run to a ship and hope we don’t die.

She didn’t seem happy about that and I didn’t blame her. We were so close to escaping and now the chances of her dying on an alien planet had just been upped.

Before I could get too far into worry, a Hork-Bajir came up to me and I had to block his blades with my arm. I twisted away before he could seriously wound me but I wasn’t able to land a blow myself. Not even when I had tried to head butt him with my head blades after I had gotten up.

The Controller died from one of Cat’s Dracon beams blasts and I picked up his Dracon beam. I didn’t bother with the settings as I couldn’t tell how to read them and I just assumed that they had been set to kill. It didn’t seem like he had had time to readjust to stun.

I aimed at a Taxxon Controller and watched him go down.

Taxxon. I told Cat. Cannibalistic space worm, basically.

I watched as some of the Taxxon Controllers got distracted by the dying Controller. It was what made the Taxxons horrible. The fact that they would forget everything when presented with fresh meat was more than a little disturbing. Hell, the Yeerks couldn’t control them from that instinct.

Well…most of the Yeerks as now some Controllers, both Hork-Bajir and Taxxon, were coming after us. I raised my Dracon beam and pointed to a Bug fighter.

Let’s go to the one that’s three fighters over to the right of that one. I told Cat and she nodded.

As we raced over to the fighter, we shot back at the oncoming Controllers. While Hork-Bajir were a walking arsenal, guns did help. Some of their blasts singed my skin and I tried not to let the burns distract me. I couldn’t let them distract me.

The fight soon became a cacophony and I could tell Cat was having some trouble. She had never really heard anything, at least not to the degree a Hork-Bajir does. They have hearing that is even better than a human who is able bodied.

Soon we were rushing inside the fighter with Cat bringing up the rear. I had more experience with a Bug fighter so I had to go first. I wanted her to go in first but that wouldn’t be wise. I quickly shut the door to the fighter and raced to where I could pilot the thing.

I was soon speeding up through the air out into space. As I was rushing to try and figure out the Z-space controls, something struck me. It was Cat. She was more than just a human to be saved to me. She was something more.

I wanted to be with her no matter how little time that would be. I wanted to fly with her and have picnics in my meadow with her.

“Tobias!” Cat shouted and I came back to the present.

“Sorry.” I said as I dodged fire from other Bug fighters.

Just as a killing blast was headed our way, we went into Z-space with me hoping that our next destination would be Earth.

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All of Tobias and Me