thanks @thejakeformerlyknownasprince for this post making me think again about my not-one-but-two AUs of Aftran deciding to stay in the fight instead of becoming a whale.

Left - human nothlit AU; right - morph-capable yeerk AU (she lives in a tank in Ax's scoop in the woods). Number One animorphs side character appearing in only two out of fifty-four books of all time.

If you haven't taken a chance on wanna fly away, @petrichorca and my Animorphs AU, now's a great time to dive in!

A selection of endorsements from the comments:

i need a tag for “fics that wormed their way into my brain and moved right in and redecorated a bit and maybe adopted a cat or something”

Each chapter update in my email was a soothing balm to my soul. There is just so much love and detail in the writing and I'm so sad that it's finished but filled with inexplicable joy that I got to experience this beautiful fic.

This is honestly in the top 5 fic for this fandom hands down and I've read a lot of fic. Laughter. Tears. The whole range of human emotion.

The raw (perhaps even obscene) joy of being with stedeth and co. on this journey of gender and identity and belonging and intimacy is overwhelming. How am I gonna explain to people that animorphs changed me and also I have never read a single word of an animorphs book.

I’m so grateful for my autistic gender-species-fucky alien and my adhd gender-species-fucky human and my whole crew of gender-species-fucky randy queers.

The word I keep coming back to is catharsis — just how incredible to have a lifetime of not feeling comfortable in your own skin, and then to not only find the one individual who gets you more than anybody, who sees you in all your shapes and at your most vulnerable, and LOVES you.

SWEET JESUS HE FUCKED THAT BLUE ALIEN i know you promised it and i knew it was coming but i was somehow UNPREPARED for how incredibly hot it would be???

We wanted to tell a story about family and identity and gender and love. I think we did that <3

Come hang out with our blue guy and maybe save the world along the way.

daeneighrys

I am very sad about the final-final news that OFMD may be done, at least for the foreseeable future, but I'm not done with fandom or creating within this lovely world we were given. There's so much more to explore, friendships to build, connections to make, things to learn, efforts to support - if you want that.

Earlier this week I wrote and posted a fic based on this giraffe-centaur comic as a birthday gift for my OFMD Animorphs AU collab author. It's meant to make @ghostalservice and everyone else who reads it smile. Stede (a blue, furry, four-eyed mouthless centaur-deerlike alien) contends with, and loses dramatically to, a vending machine. But don't worry, his boyfriend (his boyfriend!) Ed will sort him out.

Read the very silly fic here. And of course if it in any way intrigues you, please check out our AU 😶🌠

In any event, I am deeply sad about OFMD and hope it has a future despite the depressing news David Jenkins shared with us this week. He, Rhys, Taika, and the rest of the cast and crew have given us something deeply monumental and special. It remains ours, it will stay meaningful. I'm gonna be the epitome of that "OK grandma" meme one day talking about OFMD 🤣 and, like Ed says while folding socks, that's OK. (Pretty great actually.)

So, I continue! I enjoy writing and reading fic, hyping people, teasing out new ideas, talking about the show, playing in the sandbox, making meaning and meaningful connections. That brings me joy.

Love to everyone involved with OFMD and the fandom, however you interact with it. 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈

Nina: “Would you still love me if I was a worm?”

Fabian, with zero hesitation: “Of course! I would build you a little home in a jar. With a little house. And I would talk to you everyday :)”

Sketch based on an idea I had based on another idea where the Andalites are the bad guys taking over the universe by turning everyone into Andalites. Supposed to be an Andalite convert who snapped out of the mental programming and ran away, and is now assessing the damage in a shop window.

I drew this around 6 AM.

Link to the original idea discussion between a friend of mine and I. https://www.tumblr.com/sarifel-corrisafid-ilxhel/187845041026/role-reversal-au?source=share

weird little sea slugs (or, i tack down my yeerk designs on the off chance i draw more of them outside of their hosts).

based on the fact that i saw a documentary that talked about scientists trying to catalogue sea slugs and them mentioning how tiny they can be-- the labelling in the first pic may be a little inaccurate, but i was lost in the sauce of painting a little guy

body horror warning under the cut for diagrams on yeerks infesting a brain. its not in detail and the brain is abstracted/vague to the point where it doesn’t look like one, but still

What if they were all nothlits except Tobias?

This is one of the AUs I can't figure out a way to write, because I'm pretty sure the kids would be dead of starvation within weeks as the yeerks handily took over the planet. Maybe if this is the scenario from #3 where almost everyone but Tobias is nearly nothlited, but Ax is still out in the Pacific somewhere, then the team could mount a resistance with 4 wolves and 1.5 andalites. But that's all I got.

Anyone else have a better suggestion?

Wanted to draw some Andalite kiddos after several conversations on discord about Andalites- are they mammals? How do they feed their young?

They absorb nutrients through their hooves, so maybe they hop on mom's back to absorb from her?

(That's Marytine-Sirinial-Allamby, by the way, with her two kids).

I'm not sure about the background, still messing around with that.

Edited to add:

Go read like a bird by @petrichorca and @ghostalservice which features these Andalites' daddy

I love it when an AU fic uses the popular coffee shop setting even when it's wildly inappropriate for the tone. Like...

Tobias (wearing tiny cap and apron on his hawk body): <Welcome to AniBucks, the coffee shop that is for some reason run by the Animorphs. Don't question why I work here when I don't have thumbs. Can I take a name?>

Totally regular human: "Err...I... Floor. Fl-flooooor. My name is Mr Floor, and I de-desire the foodstuffs."

Tobias: <Ax, come on man, you know you're not allowed in here anymore, not since Jake caught you drinking the syrup. Marco still has nightmares about your last sugar rampage.>

Totally regular human: "Me, why sir, si-si-suuiiiiiiir, I am normal human worker busy enjoying by l-lunch break in between toiling for my Prince and I desire a large pumpkin spice Mo-Mo-Mocha twelve cinnamon BUNZ, and a side of cigarette butts. Butts. Buhhhhhh-"

Tobias: <Yeah? Okay Mr Floor, what's your first name?>

Totally regular human (blank stare of panic before they hurl themselves over the counter and start furiously eating the used coffee grounds by the handful)

Tobias: <Goddammit not again! Security! Security, Rachel get the bear morph it's happened again!>

What the fuck is an animorphs and why are you going insane about it

OOOHHHKAY. WELL.

animorphs is a childrens sci fi book series most people know best from the fucked up covers that feature children turning into animals. like so:

anyway behind these goofy late 90s-early 2000s covers is a devastating story about the horrors of war and the difficult moral decisions that the characters (who are like 13 at the beginning of the story, mind you) face while trying to save their planet from an invasion of brain-controlling slug aliens. and also goofy as hell things like instant maple oatmeal being a drug, god being an alien gamer, and an alien obsessed with cinnamon buns. there are 52 books in the main series each told from the pov of one of the six animorphs and several side books that provide more lore or supplementary adventures. featuring:

- jake, who is the leader and #1 killjoy ever and i always thought he was boring so i dont remember much about him

- rachel, gymnast shopping queen and ruthless murderer slash battle addict. absolute tragedy of a girl. imagine if sasha waybright was allowed to transform into a bear at will and commit murders on screen. if youre into oversimplification thats pretty close to rachel.

- cassie, animal lover and moral center of the group. people will gush about how animorphs makes you think about difficult moral quandaries and then call cassie annoying like shes not the reason we get that kind of introspection in the first place. girl is Literally always trying to do the right thing and Spoilers: she is right about A Lot. never trust a cassie hater

- marco, the platonic ideal of the sad clown. silly guy, full of jokery and stereotypical middle school boy-ness. also cynical and ruthless to the max and very interested in self preservation. where cassie is the voice of moral reason, marco is the voice of practical reason. his mom is dead so thats fun. hes also bi coded as hell

- tobias, loser bully magnet turned full-time bird boy. the trans animorphs fans have claimed him as our representative due to his perpetual identity struggles. he was my favorite as a kid alongside rachel hmmm i wonder why anyway i cant say much about him thats not spoilers but he's sad and trapped in this by destiny even more than the rest of them and i love him so goddamn much

- ax, blue scorpion tailed centaur stranded on earth who is the equivalent of a stereotypical elf. snobby and elitist bc of his species being composed of assholes but once the teen disillusionment sets in hes a good kid. and bc the andalites dont naturally have mouths, watching him play with word sounds and obsess over food is hilarious and kind of heartwarming in the best cheesy space-alien-meets-human-culture way

anyway the moral is u should read animorphs the pdfs are easy to find online there's a graphic novel series with a few books out now and im pretty sure theres also audiobooks (theres also a 1998 nickelodeon live action tv adaptation. dont watch it its bad and also it got cancelled before the books even finished coming out)

MARCO TOLD HIS DAD ABOUT THE ANIMORPHS?

Prompt 22?

Imagine an Animorphs-esque Batman au

 Like, either Alfred as an andalite who crash-landed on the Wayne’s property and they just kind of pack bonded with him or some other andalite crash lands at some point. Either way, Bruce ends up being allowed to touch a morphing cube after the death of his parents. Perhaps is even given it to keep hidden- the one thing he has no files on just in case. 

 So he goes off on his training trip while hiding his whole shapeshifting, seeing as he doesn’t want to get stuck in animal form. (Though who knows, magic might be able to help if he ever does.) Only practices said shapeshifting or gathering animal forms when no one else is around, trying to get down the time and changing some things before others. Bruce doesn’t really use it for Batman, except for stakeouts. Honestly, who expects a vigilante to appear when there’s no one around but the birds perching on the buildings? And flying is always freeing. 

 Now he doesn’t mean to give his Robins the same ability, it’s not his power to give in his opinion even if it’s beyond useful. Also Dick and the others would have a far easier time sneaking out before they even became his official partner and kept trying to go off for revenge. But then Dick got separated from him and got hurt, then Jason nearly got killed, then Barbara nearly couldn’t escape something, and he brings them through the twisting tunnels one by one to the cube. There’s no take backs, only two hours in each form before they need to return to their base one. He doesn’t care about keeping secret identities, as long as they stay safe and alive. 

Some Animal form ideas:

 Alfred Human (If an alien) Raven Bobcat Polar Bear

 Bruce Wolf Capybara (Comfort to his kids) Tiger Hoary Bat Unicorn (He did in fact ride one before) 

 Dick Dog (Comfort thing) Squirrel Falcon Cassowary

 Barbara Queen Snake Owl Rattlesnake Komodo Dragon

 Jason Alley Cat (Easiest to nab) Red Fox Eagle Red Kangaroo Brown Bear

 Cassandra Cat Black Bear Mouse Eared Bat Python

 Tim Owl Raccoon Bobcat Crocodile

 Stephanie Pigeon Rat Porcupine Cape Buffalo

 Duke Goose Eagle Hippo Lion

 Damian Cat Leopard Brown Bat Elephant Demon-Bat

 Jarro Human Dog Robin Blue-Ringed Octopus

sorry i just had the coolest thought. Animorph au/not really an au it is just a thought

Techno gets stuck in a morph. EXEPT, he gets stuck HALFWAY. Halfway between boar and human, and it is honestly horrific but also thats cool as hell. Body horror vibes right there

Tommy would also be an animorpher, and he would prefer a raccoon morph for the stealth of it. Noteble that he is not yet stuck

Maybe Phil would either be a normal guy, or a human stuck in a crow morph.

Eda nothlit!Luz: Part One

She was a sweet, poetic kind of girl. The kind bullies love to pick on. She used to have short, out-of-control hair and dreamy eyes that always seemed to be looking at something no one else could see.

Used to...

Now she has striking, fierce eyes that look through you like laser beams. Now she has long gray hair, and ghostly white skin, and an angular face, and clawed hands, and a tall stature.

A piece of Belos landed on Luz instead of Hunter when he was splattered to the wall by the Collector. In the Human Realm, the unhealed scar he gave her gives Belos an opening into her body, and he slips into her system unnoticed. During Halloween, he takes control of her when she and Hunter come across a vial of Titan’s Blood. While confessing to her loved ones that she helped Belos find the Collector and showed him the Light Glyph, Luz attempts a murder-suicide on the emperor by trying to drown herself in the graveyard swamp’s waters with him in her body after she regains control. They both survive, but the possession severely prostrates Luz and covers her in scars by the time Belos leaves her body to return to the Demon Realm using the Titan’s Blood. Luz chases him to the other side of the portal with what little strength she has, her mother and friends following her.

Back in the Boiling Isles, nobody knows how to save Luz when she starts to waste away after collapsing a few feet from the portal. When she reaches the point between life and death, her spirit meets King’s father in the In Between Realm. He gives her the power to morph and tells her that she already has Eda’s DNA in her from the “body swap” spell, which was actually a morphing spell. She is able to transform into a genetic copy of Eda with the location of an Escafil Device in the Demon Realm and the knowledge of where on planet Earth another morphing cube is imparted to her by the Titan before returning to the mortal plane, but discovers that her newfound morphing powers can’t heal her unmorphed form since there is still some of Belos’s unremovable essence within her human body which - instead of being purged - is sent into Z-space along with her original form by morphing and takes effect again if she demorphs. She becomes a nothlit - a person who lost their morphing powers because they got trapped for the rest of their life in a morph by staying morphed for more than two hours at a time - to safely shunt away the leftover part of Belos that had been slowly killing her forever, though her palisman egg that she brought to the Demon Realm does not hatch despite her finally achieving her dream of becoming a witch.

Realizing that the Titan screwed her over as much as he saved her life, Luz becomes even more despondent and begins to doubt her relationship with Amity could still work now that everyone will think she is too old to be having even a crush on a 14-year-old witch. Camila can’t look at her without getting uncomfortable or sad because the body Luz trapped herself in is to her mom the copied body of a complete stranger, which leads her to think that her mother is acting as though she really did die; this gets Luz wondering if she is even still Luz or if her late father Manny would still be Manny if he gained morphing powers and used them to nothlit into another body to cure the terminal disease he had, which in my story was genetic and thus could not have been removed through any other means. Amity assures her that a way for Luz to regain her morphing powers which comes with the restoration of her human body will be found when they get their hands on an Escafil Device, and the team tries to cheer her up by saying they do not blame her for the Day of Unity as Belos manipulated her; Hunter even states that Belos most likely would've used somebody else instead if he hadn’t used Luz, while Camila asserts that she does not think she lost Luz just because her child’s only two options were to get stuck in a morph or die. Her resolve back, Luz declares it is time to fight back against the emperor.

Have fun making fanfics and fan art out of that, everyone!

My name is Luz. A freak of nature. One of a kind. I won't tell you my last name. I can't tell you my last name. Or the name of the city where I live. I want to tell you everything, but I can't give any clues to my true identity. Or the identity of the others. Everything I will tell you is true. I know it's going to seem unbelievable, but believe it anyway. I am Luz. I'm a normal kid, I guess. Or used to be. I used to do okay in school. Not great, but not bad either. Just okay. I guess I was a dweeb, kind of. Big, but not big enough to keep from getting picked on. I had brown hair, kind of wild because I could never get it to look right. My eyes were . . . what color were my eyes? It's only been a few weeks, and already I'm forgetting things about myself.