Let’s get ready to MEGAMOOOOORPH!!! Animorphs fans, were you ever impatient to get to the next book in the series narrated by your favorite character? When you realized everyone got a turn to narrate in Megamorphs, was it a dream come true? Join Maddie and Lydia as they discuss Megamorphs 1: The Andalite’s Gift and manage to talk for over an hour, despite a lack of literary analysis and animal facts. Visser 3 has a pet! Ax has fleas! And somebody (not naming names) seems to really hate trash cans. Spoilers for all of Animorphs.
It took a while, but it’s finally here! We are talking, of course, about Rachel’s iconic bear morph. In this episode of Centipedes and Slugs, Maddie and Lydia discuss the always-confusing mechanics of morphing and the always-annoying powers of The Ellimist. Prepare to learn a little bit about K.A. Applegate’s misunderstanding of bears (not carnivorous, not nearsighted) and the ways in which the Animorphs do (and do not) resemble real-life child soldiers. Spoilers for all of Animorphs.
Maddie the Yeerk sympathizer is so excited, because in The Capture, Jake bonds (in a literal sense) with a Yeerk! Jake also…*checks notes* kills several Yeerks. Meanwhile, Lydia’s got some things to say about roach motels (don’t use them) and speculative science. What’s the evolutionary history of the Yeerk homeworld? Are the Yeerks performing a version of photosynthesis, or are they eating radiation? And who’s that mysterious eyeball!? Spoilers for all of Animorphs.
Holy cinnamon-buzah, the gang’s all here! With Ax now officially on the team, it’s only natural that Maddie and Lydia spend most of their time this episode talking about everything but the Animorphs. That’s not entirely true – did you hear there is going to be an Animorphs movie? Will Centipedes and Slugs be invited to the premiere? And will this movie cover any part of The Predator? Speaking of The Predator, come for the Yeerk politics talk, stay for the ant rehabilitation campaign that Maddie and Lydia are waging. The listeners can have a thoughtful discussion of bias in scientific research, as a treat. Spoilers for the entire Animorphs series.
A note from Lydia: I didn’t mention this in the podcast but a friend reminded me that the ants in California would have all most likely come from the same colony since California had basically been taken over by a giant, global megacolony of Argentine ants circa Animorphs time.
Van Wilgenburg, E., Torres, C. W., & Tsutsui, N. D. (2010). The global expansion of a single ant supercolony. Evolutionary applications, 3(2), 136–143. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-4571.2009.00114.x
Do you remember the nineties? Remember Free Willy? Or Friends? Then The Message is for you! Join Maddie and Lydia as they try to paint a picture of just how mainstream it was to revere whales and dolphins as uniquely enlighted beings back when this book was written. They also begin to unpack Cassie’s status as the easiest Animorph to dislike, and why. Last but not least, sharks can have just as much fun as dolphins! Spoilers for all of Animorphs.
This is the episode where Centipedes and Slugs finally gets its name. It’s also the heaviest episode to date. Maddie and Lydia discuss The Encounter, a children’s book that really snuck some heavy yet important topics past the censors. It’s also a book with some outdated info about wolf behavior. Friendly reminder: there will be spoilers for all of Animorphs
Content Warning: suicide and suicidal ideation, body dysmorphia. If you want or need to skip that part of the episode, the conversation begins at 17:28 and ends around the 44:00 minute mark.
“Alpha status, dominance, and division of labor in wolf packs” by L David Mech, Canadian Journal of Zoology, 1999, 77(8): 1196-1203, https://doi.org/10.1139/z99-099
Centipedes and Slugs still hadn’t been named when this episode was recorded, but that doesn’t stop Maddie and Lydia from diving into The Visitor. They tackle the important questions like: Why does Visser 3 like cats so much? Would therapy be good for Visser 3? What is Yeerk culture, anyway? There is even some discussion of non-Yeerk matters, including Rachel and Tobias’ relationship and just how much Scholastic let Applegate and Grant get away with right from the jump. A reminder that there will be spoilers for the entire Animorphs series.
In the inaugural episode of Centipedes and Slugs, Maddie and Lydia haven’t yet settled on a title for this Animorphs podcast, but they have settled on their allegience to Taxxons and Yeerks. But they also support the Animorphs, they swear. While discussing The Invasion, Maddie tells us all about how Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant came up with this smash 90s hit, and Lydia tells us all about how Applegate and Grant get animal behavior (mostly) right, at least in this book. Just a heads up: there will be spoilers for the entire series.
