8-Bit Book Club: Bonus Chapter - Animorphs Wiki Wander

"I gave that to you, that's a gift!" Is so raw

ALRIGHT Y'ALL DID YOU READ ANY MORE OF THE BOOKS? I read a bunch of them as a kid and I read all of them as an adult as a challenge in 2022!

Genuinely though Murph coming out the gate with “Rachel dies.” Is insane

I can’t believe Murph ruined animorphs for all of us.

There’re so many silly (awful) things that happen in this series

evergreen ep. i always forget how immediately the spoiler comes into play and it makes everything so much funnier 🧡

The greatest NADDPOD spoiler of all time.

Love to come back to this one, and I always crack up at “Was hitler a yeerk?”

listening to this with my brother made him look up wether or not olaf actually dies in frozen 2

as a kid who read the whole animorphs series when i was 10ish years old, this podcast is hilarious. I loved those books and they got so dark as the series went on, like those kids fought a real war. one of my favorite book series as a kid. KA Applegate also wrote a crazy YA book in which an asteroid hits the earth and kills almost the entire human race - scared the shit out of me as a kid, her books for kids were batshit crazy in a very fun way

Spoilers abound.... Gets mad at spoiler. Poor Murph getting razzed like crazy.

The only good yeerk is a dead yeerk

Late to the party, but I cannot believe you guys didn't discover the best tidbit of the whole series... 🥦 Broccoli is native to the Hork-Bajir home planet. It's legitimately an alien food. The best throwaway fact of the series. 😂

I'm desperate to know if Jake read more

One of my digital painting teachers in college did the Animorphs covers- fun fact he did the photo manipulations pre-photoshop!

Not me loving this 2 years late lol

TIL that the author of Animorphs would go on to become the Newbery-Award-winning author of The One and Only Ivan, a truly excellent and emotionally affecting middle grade book. 🤯

I literally need a shirt that says “if you can’t handle me at my 3-minute morph, you don’t deserve me at my Murph,” so I’m going to make it 😭

Sometimes I go back and listen to this whenever I need a pickmeup.

So late to this but did anyone else read the authors other series, The Remnants? I read it when I was between 10-12 and holy fuuuuuuck they are so intense like way beyond animorphs. I’d love for them to read it for 8 but book club read those cause they are crazy, their reactions would be so good

I was definitely going to start reading this series but Murph spoiled the ending for me!

I read this series as a kid, but in random order because I would just pick up whichever ones weren't checked out at the library, so I never knew what was going on 😂

How did anyone expect to do a spoiler free wiki wander? #MurphWasRight

Absolutely died at Jake and Emily’s reaction to the first spoiler. Murphy sounded dumbfounded

... Tobias killed hitler absolutely killed me

NOOOOOO lol

I loved Animorphs as a kid and I fully started an adult reread of them (regardless of Rachel's death being spoiled), and I was always quite amazed at how good the animal psychology was already in the '90s. The Applegates did their research. However, the one thing that always annoyed me is the descriptions, regularly, of the knees inverting, because the thing that they thought was the knee back then is, structurally, the ankle. A morph would not require a knee to invert. And the fact that they refer to the inverting knee in almost every book really still grinds my gears, haha.

No one's gonna bring up the oatmeal addiction!!!?

Joined patreon just for this - I'm only a couple of minutes in BUT if y'all actually want to read the whole series, Katherine Applegate released pdfs of ALL of them online for FREE bc she's awesome. Just give it a google. They... vary in quality, but the complete story is a horrifically dark epic thats pretty sick. And all the books are still short light reads so they're super digestable.

Joined Patreon just to listen to this. The only content I've heard of NADDPOD was the Animorphs book 1 review. I kinda wish it was longer, though! A lot of the questions asked were on the wiki, but on book pages. This was great though!

I wish I could be there when they talked about this. Cause DAMN I'm such a nerd about this series. I want them to go through all the books.

I joined just to get access to this call, and I would 100% toss more money in to get access to an Animorphs talk! Love the series so much!

I did actually start binge-reading the series after this!! Emily, the "not being able to have a full dinner & movie date" problem with Rachel and Tobias does actually get explicitly mentioned in chapter 2 of book #27 "The Exposed". So far that's the book that talks the most about their relationship in case you wanted a quick dive into their dynamic!

I'd 100% bump up my patron level for a side-podcast of Animorphs talk, even if it was infrequent. Animorphs is wild and deserves all the love it gets (so do Applegate and Grant, who are just good people). Genuinely think Jake and Emily would love the journey regardless of the spoilers.

This is the hill that Jake dies on, dies with Rachel, please Murph! Please take it back!

Jake is genuinely pissed about this spoiler, he’s not himself, I’m scared for how this will effect the podcast going forward. Please pray.

Single best book of the animorphs: the Ellismist. If they ever revisit it they should read that one

If y’all don’t have video of the spoiler drop it’s a crime, I need to see their faces when Murph drops it

Okay, but what if an Animorphs animated series? Like, Stranger Things style nostalgia for 90s culture for sure but also Rocket Power.

Yeah that werewolf in London movie i watched when i was like 9 that was some crazy transforms

Have you ever watched the movie Slither. The aliens in that make me think of the yeerks but there are no animorphs to stop them

There are confirmed good yeerks! Aftran 942 is a peaceful yeerk that Cassie saves and chooses to permanently morph into a humpback whale

Too late about getting sucked into 8 bit, I even went back to the original 8 bit.

Now they need to watch the Animorphs TV show!

I know you went hard in this wiki, but I just want to say I've listened to an entire podcast run of a couple people just rereading Animorphs (I fuckin love Animorphs, and the podcast was Fandalites) and I would do it again if you just wanted to read them all.

No idea when this was recorded, and I know they try to avoid diving too much into content outside their own podcast, but id be interested to hear murph and Emily talk more about brain slug ethics given that they did a whole campaign with Zac playing a brain slug on Dimension 20

This is one of my favorite episodes now

literally resubscribed just to listen to this. hell yeah animorphs i love animorphs

MY PARENTS ARE FIGHTING

No but like maybe definitely I was gonna read all the books possibly! i haven’t even read the first one but I still feel Jake and Emily’s pain :,( not that I stopped listening to the episode lol I did audibly gasp tho

Marco got two moms for the price of mom

As someone who never got into animorphs but was curious about the books, these 8-bit book clubs have been INCREDIBLE and very fun. Definitely need some more of these! Maybe try to invite the guest back too!

I absolutely love Jakes reaction to the Rachel spoiler

You guys should REALLY do an 8-bit book club on the Gone series. It's a really good series written by Michael Grant.

#murphdidnothingwrong

This episode is what friendship is all about. Loved it.

Murf is a menace this episode.

They're so shocked that Marcos mum was viser 1, even though she disappeared mysteriously into a pool leaving no body.

Positively unhinged, thank you so much

I was with Murph I thought that was what spoilers were going to be.

Just like a week ago I finished a year-long project of reading every single Animorphs book and this was the synchronicity of this was the push I needed to finally become a patron

Jake if you’re in LA and want to get a drink and nerd out about Patrick O’Brian hit me up.

As an asexual, I feel like I could be in a relationship with a Tobias-esque spouse. The ten minutes he spends violently morphing in the bathroom during our dates are ten minutes I could spend checking the reviews of the movie we went to see. Easy.

Would pay extra for an “Not Another Animorphs Podcast” spin off pod just sayin

I’d sign on for a part 2 Wander just to hear the crew delve into Ax. His human morph is a combination of all the Animorph’s DNA so he’s ethnically ambiguous and model-hot. He has an insatiable appetite because Andalites don’t have tastebuds and he’s crazy for flavors. He eats everything to the point of maybe having pica - the group catches him eating the cardboard in movie theater popcorn boxes and stuff.

I will just say that, as an adult in my 30s, I did a reread of this entire series and it went super fast. I'm not as busy as these folks but it's really not the massive reading undertaking that "54 books" sounds like 😂 they're middle grade books barely 100 pages long

just started this series 3 books in and now what is the point murph.

Muuuuuuurhp! You spoiled the book series hard! I thought we were going to listen to more animurphs, as Jake said! As Jake I’ve also started reading the huge Patrick O’Brian series 👍

the actual enactment of sol and albin’s spoiling their comic books in murph and caldwell giggling about the spoiling of animorphs has me cracking up on all of the levels, i love this episode

Lmaooo MURPH amazing. Such a spoiler king

Please read all the books! I want to read it along with Jake

Murph I absolutely agree with all reactions you had. If your friends wanted to not get spoiled, you should have just done this by yourself, on the fourth moon, of the second planet, next to a dying star.

Bruh, my body’s reaction to everyone trying to remember Animorphs lore while the answer just bubbles up from some corner of my mind… let me answer all your questions 😭

I think we’re all here for the gritty Netflix/HBO adaptation, but are any of us ready for a sexy CW adaptation? Because I’m scared that’s just as likely to get greenlit.

I read the entire series in order as a child, in real time as they were published, and still own every one except for the one I left in a Golden Corral (Rachel turning into a cow). These eps ruled thanks y’all

This is the “Caulder & Caliope gets mad Sol spoils his own childhood” bit made real

You’ve got to read Alternamorphs for another 8 Bit Book Club or Mixed Bag! It’s a choose your own adventure book where you’re recruited as an animorph.

Because I'm insane, I decided to relisten to this episode. There are at least 2 times that Rachel's death comes up as you all look up other stuff or at least things that allude to it in enough a way that people as smart as Jake and Emily would have absolutely snuffed it out. Insane to think you could look up ANY info on the wiki without that death coming up LOL

I looked up the animorphs series while listening to this episode and found out there are 2 ANIMORPHS GAMEBOOKS.

murph the DISRESPECT. jake SAID he wanted to read all the books!

To make up for Murph being Murph. Your guys could always drink and read each book together for fun to help forget what's going on and stretch it out. Could be fun content. Could just be a fun side thing to do.

For a first timer Jake really felt like a natural fit to the group. That really just shows how good Brian, Emily, and Caldwell are that they can take someone as rugged and inexperienced as Jake and make him feel comfortable. Great job you 3 bringing in a complete novice and making him sound good.

Master and commander is great

Apparently nearly every book in the series from 26-52 were totally ghostwritten, just following a plotline written by Applegate. Explains how so many books got written if you're basically paying a crowd of people to write them.

I give this podcast a B. For "barely got into the weird cosmic stuff, and no one brought up how the Ellimist's enemy might just be flat out Sauron." For real though, very fun. I almost wish you guys did a series of Animorph bookclubs.

Those kids end up war crimes and when they win it's still not happy for the kids that win

The fake that these books make children deal with the coast of war is so interesting these kids go through so much

You guys should read Legacies by Pitticus Lore! Same vibes and it gets SUPER dark. I loved it as a kid. The first book is called I Am Number Four

Adapting Animorphs lore to a Glitterhearts campaign would absolutely slap so hard

I, for one, believe that Jake would read all the books.

nothing better than murph going insane about animorphs

Omg, less than 5 minutes 😂😂😂 Murph hahahaha

There is a podcast where you can listen to the host read three chapters of Animorphs out loud every week. It’s called Audiomorphs. So far books 1-22, as well as the Andalite and Hork-Bajir Chronicles have been completed.

So after the main feed post/discussion i was on the fence about jumping in and reading Animorphs for the first time ever. But after this Wiki Wonder I have just burned multiple Audible credits on the first few books. I enjoy how deep this lore seems to get. Thanks Book Buds and Special Guest, Jake No-Last-Name. Half way through the first book now. Great content as always folks. And knowing about Rachel makes me really wanna like her and cannot wait to binge all of these children books.

holy shit this is hilarious

Wasn’t there a person that also got stuck as a rat or something like that it was crazy

Episodes like this is why I subbed to the Patreon to hear murph be exasperated af

Everyone who is into that hot bird on woman action should read the webtoon The Remarried Empress.

Oh my God, I remember reading these books and jumping around and the Rachel starfish book was one of the first. I remember loving that book and weirdly finding it relatable as a 9 year old boy.

I kept wondering if Erek King and the Chee would come up, the world of these books goes so wild. Makes me want to find all my copies or at least my choose your own adventure one

I'll be honest even as an adult the series holds up for the most part.

Murph was the best in this episode

I definitely second the comment that y'all should read the Chronicles. If I remember correctly, the Visser book has lots more about Eve, including an absolutely wild moment where she (despite being Yeerk-ed) nearly kills Visser 1 by closing a single eyelid (spoilers, sry Emily). Truly a must-read.

I bey Jeremy Cobb is loving these too episodes. It's be cool is they do Redwall.

Murphy really stepped on his own balls with the huge Rachel spoiler up top and I’m here for it. I’m starting the series this weekend.

I was such an Animorphs maniac growing up, I am so happy these episodes exist.

The movie about tragic Animorph bird love exists— 1985’s “Ladyhawke” with Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Rutger Hauer!

Give us three solid minutes of human bird transformation, Netflix. No cuts, just one static shot. Don't be cowards

Im team murph. As some one who loves wiki wanders if I look up a tv show or book series I expect to be spoiled. But I guess that shows that Emily and jake are novice wiki wanderers unlike the veterans murph and Caldwell.

More Notable Trivia from the series:

I know you guys don’t really stick with a hook series but you should at least read Tobias’s first book. He’s sooooo into thermals.

i still can’t imagine the best podcast ever is actually back

Lmaoooo Emily and Jake not knowing how wiki works :(

We should make it a patreon book club thing now where we ALL read the series along with Jake and Emily 😂

Love the messy spoiler drama

Someone please buy Jake the whole animorph anthology

As someone who devoured the warrior cats books as a kid, I feel like animorphs somehow has a similar energy

I absolutely love the energy everyone brought to this episode

Team Murph - knowing a spoiler can make for really insightful reading

Jake, if you like master and commander, you should check out the lubber's hole podcast, they go through each book and discuss

An American Werewolf in London is my favorite movie ever and Caldwell is completely right

I would absolutely be fine if Mixed bag just fully committed to the Jake reads ever Animorphs book club. He just has to give a book report every month and explain what happened to everyone else. He is still the guest though.

And the Friends multiverse bleeds into the 2 crew once more. Murph and Jake have a heartbreaking Rachel/Joey “Beth dies” moment of their own. This was meant to happen.

I demand Jake DM an animorph’s campaign after reading all the books

Emily and Jake thinking this would be possible without spoilers was wild 🤣 also great s/o to the Hainish cycle Caldwell

This spoiler controversy is my new favorite NADDPOD moment

Paw Paw is a Nothlit.

There are two choose-your-own-adventure books for Animorphs, just saying.

Most (all?) of the books are in audio form with two different voice actors. I listened to the first two using Scribd, which is a single price per month of unlimited listening so that's an easier way to mainline some 'morphs.

#riprachel

The energy on this is unhinged and I'm here for it

I thought I was deep into this ep and I checked the time and I was 6 minutes in. What a intense start to a ep 😂

This is Murph’s revenge for being gaslit about the dnd movies

Captain “Skip” is a Yeerk. IYKYK.

I’m glad they got to how dark the series got! I thought I’d share K. A. Applegate’s letter responding to fans horrified by how it ended (sorry guys it contains spoilers): http://www.hiracdelest.com/database/articles/kaa_response-full.htm

this is the most unhinged short rest in a little bit and I am absolutely here for it

The rage in this episode is off the charts and I am here for it.

Chaos from Muph off the top rope.

Loved this series. Had to rewrite the ending in my head because I was NOT prepared for so much trauma.

I was surprised to be upset by these spoilers, but then I laughed so hard when Murph yelled about how the spoilers were a gift.

I'm just going to have to plug here the best Animorphs fanfiction ever written, Elfangor's Folly!

Wow. This is insane. What I pay for Patreon is not enough for this golden moment of Murph spoiling Animorphs for Jake and Emily. I feel that Murph now needs to be temporarily demoted as bailiff for the next DnD Court(s) as punishment lol

Two Crew reminding me how traumatizing the end of this series was for me as a little kid 💀 I feel you Jake!

This series is utterly perfect for the crew purely because one of the main characters/love interests is a bird...like the bird humour on this podcast just grows and grows and its incredible and I love it

Wow murph I was gonna read animorphs can’t believe it 😂😂😂

K.A. Applegate deserves what J.K. Rowling got

Oh my god this was fucking hilarious 😂 I am crying laughing at Jake and Murph screaming about Rachel dying.

Oh my god Brian *starts* with Rachel’s death 😂 the reactions were so pure!

K. A. Applegate kicks ass! Pro-trans, anti-war, and just generally an awesome person and author 💖

The best part of quiet Fridays at work is listening to the pod <3

READ ALL OF THE ANIMORPHS

Also there’s no way that Jake would’ve read 54 Animorphs books

Jake sounding legitimately disappointed that Murph ruined Animorphs for him is hilarious.

My name is Dave. That's my first name. I can't tell you my last name. It would be too dangerous. The Controllers are everywhere.

“Rachel Dies in Animorphs” is the new “Olaf Dies in Frozen 2”

I’m about to get on a 5 hour flight, thank you for this special treat Murph Daddy

5 minutes in and this episode is already WILD

Awwwwwww yeah bbs!

These books were my entire LIFE, I'm so excited for this episode!

Here for this

Wowowow thank you!