Neomorphs

"Marco: It sounds to me like we’re talking about another Yeerk invasion here. Another war like the first one.

Jake: Sounds like it. Animorphs version two-point-oh. The rematch of the millennium. If you want out, say so now."

- Neomorphs #1: The Prologue (a.k.a. Animorphs #55)

Animorphs was a Sci-Fi book series that ran from 1996 to 2001, about five kids fighting off an alien race. Many fans were upset by the ending, and it has spawned massive amounts of fanfiction. Neomorphs, like many, was an attempt to continue the story from where the series ended. Unlike many, Neomorphs did not attempt to do so in a single story but, rather, continue the series with many new stories, similar in length, structure, and diction to the canon counterparts.

At the end of the canon Animorphs series, Jake, Marco, Tobias, Jeanne, Santorelli, and Menderash go into space to rescue Ax from the Yeerks, only to find out that he has been possessed by a being called The One. The Animorphs learn that The One was the being that banished the Crayak from its own galaxy and agree to fight The One with Crayak on the condition that the Crayak and the Ellimist leave Earth alone in their game for the fate of the galaxy. They learn that The One is using a small group of Yeerks to invade Earth again. After they fail to head him off, The One, the Crayak, and the Ellimist agree to a deal: provided that the war for Earth remained a secret, none of these beings would use their powers directly. However, if the war became public, they would fight each other directly, which would destroy the universe. So, like in the canon series, a small group of Animorphs (Jake, Marco, Tobias, Cassie, Jeanne, and Santorelli) have to fight a secret war for the freedom of mankind.

As time goes on, it is revealed that the stakes are larger than that. The One is a being with power over life and death, testing mankind via the Animorphs to see if unleashing the humans upon the galaxy would be a good thing or a bad thing. If the Animorphs fail his test, then regardless of whether they defeat the Yeerks or not, all humans everywhere will die.

Especially long for a fanfiction series, Neomorphs currently encompasses 20 regular-series stories, as well as 2 extra-length specials and 1 extra long backstory special, with many more expected to be released.

This series provides examples of:

 * Achilles Heel: The two-hour time limit from the original series still applies, as does the 3 day rule for Yeerks.
 * Action Girl: Still Rachel. Melissa as well.
 * Adults Are Useless: Subverted since now most of the main characters are adults.
 * A Form You Are Comfortable With: The One appears to be a human (and actually resembles an elf at times), and even uses a human name, albeit an archaric one:.
 * Alien Among Us: Ax and Al.
 * Aliens Are Bastards: Though heavily present in Animorphs, this is subverted in Neomorphs. Many alien races are actually helpful.
 * Alien Arts Are Appreciated: Guraff seems to enjoy Hamlet as he quoted it in one book while strangling Al.
 * Alien Blood
 * Alien Invasion: Yeerks and Kelbrid trying to invade Earth.
 * Aliens Speaking English: Usually either justified or subverted.
 * Almighty Janitor: Subverted. Though he works as a security guard for a suspected mafia organization, Tobias - leader of the Animorphs - actually holds the rank of War-Prince in the Andalite military.
 * And I Must Scream: If you're infested by a Yeerk, there's really no end to your suffering in sight. Can also refer to the Kelbrid, slaves to their bloodlust.
 * Animorphism: The Trope Namer.
 * Anti Hero: Tobias.
 * Anti Villain: Guraff
 * Anyone Can Die: Oh yes. Some main characters have been killed, some with no warning at all.
 * Arch Enemy: Guraff and Tobias, Ax and the Visser, Jake and Mersa
 * Ascended Extra: Quite a few. Naomi, Dan, Chapman, Melissa, Ronnie, Jacques, Rook, Alloran, Sergio, and of course Captain Nerefir.
 * Ascended Fanboy: Tobias. He is fascinated by China's Three Kingdoms era and gets to visit in one book.
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: Subverted. Though he can arguably kick the ass of anyone in the galaxy, Guraff has resisted most attempts to promote him to any especially high rank.
 * Author Filibuster: Many stories, especially early on, tend to end with one of these related at least loosely to some issue that arose during the novel.
 * Occasionally subverted as the author has stated that he sometimes disagrees with his characters completely, even during these moments.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: The Visser, Guraff, the Apostates, Tobias, Rook.
 * Subverted in the cases of Salheer and Kalroth.
 * Badass Crew: Still the Animorphs. Also the Apostates.
 * Badass Normal: Naomi. She can't morph, she can't shoot, she isn't an elite commando of any kind or brilliant military strategist, but if you get in her way GOD CAN'T HELP YOU NOW.
 * Bad Boss: The Visser got a little better with this, but he's still the Visser. Arguably Sergio, though he at least seems to be effective.
 * The Battlestar: The Blade ship and Dome ships qualify.
 * Balance Between Good and Evil: Between the Crayak and The One. Subverted for two reasons. 1.) The One could easily restore the universe if it was destroyed, so there is no real balance at all. 2.) Neither faction qualifies as good according to any traditional morality.
 * Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Still Rachel.
 * The Berserker: Rachel.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Turns out Ronnie and James are full of rage. Who knew?
 * Big Bad: The Visser, Guraff, and The One.
 * Big Badass Bird of Prey: Smoke 'em 'cuz you got 'em.
 * Big Badass Wolf: See above.
 * Big Eater: Al and David in human form. And Ax is still the king, though his is downplayed.
 * Black and Gray Morality: Pretty much constant. Tobias's Arch Enemy is, by conventional standards, more upstanding than he is.
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: Hork-Bajir.
 * Blood Knight: Rachel still. Ronnie falls into this as well, and Tobias slips into this from time to time.
 * Bond One Liner: The Visser, Marco, The One, the Drode.
 * Bored With Insanity: "Putin and James were flies on his back and I was the leader of Russia...Animorphs are the only people who ever have to say things like that." - Cassie
 * Breakout Character: Guraff was originally just supposed to be a large Hork-bajir who would appear in book 60 and never be seen again.
 * The Bridge: The Blade ship and The Reliquary.
 * The Brute: The Visser still solves most of his problems by decapitating offending subordinates or morphing into an enormous monster and eating his antagonists.
 * Broken Masquerade:
 * Bring Him to Me: The Animorphs have been invited into the Visser's Blade ship and into the headquarters of Mersa's rebel faction (though in both cases the invitations were cordial).
 * Butterfly of Doom: Subverted several times. The Animorphs travel to the past, only to learn that it was their own actions that caused things to turn out the way they did.
 * Bullet Time: Often used in particularly important battles, sometimes going so far as to give a blow-by-blow account of a fight.
 * Can't Stay Normal: Cassie and Ronnie
 * Catch Phrase: Rachel still says "Let's do it," and in order to k
 * The Chessmaster: The Crayak, the Ellimist, and The One.
 * The Chains of Commanding: This is interestingly subverted in Neomorphs. Tobias accepts the job of leader readily and really doesn't complain about it. It still applies to Jake, though.
 * Character Development
 * Character Focus
 * City With No Name: In addition to still refusing to name their hometown, the Animorphs also never name the second city in which the Yeerks are invading.
 * Comes Great Responsibility: The Animorphs are the only ones in a position to not only fight the Yeerks but also pass The One's test. Failure to do either would result in the enslavement of extinction of humanity itself.
 * Commander Contrarian: Marco and David. In fact, David's job is explicitly stated as being to point out holes in Tobias's plans.
 * Competence Zone: Subverted. The Animorphs now range in age rather widely, and they have numerous allies, someo f whom may be more competent than the Animorphs are.
 * Contest Winner Cameo: Carl Yastrzemski sort of falls into this.
 * Continuity Nod: Numerous examples, mostly consisting of the Animorphs talking about previous missions or events.
 * Cool Starship: There are a few of these. Dome ships, Pool ships, Blade ships, etc. The Reliquary and The Beast are particularly good examples.
 * Creator Provincialism: Subverted. Vladimir Putin, leader of Russia, is a major player and heavily involved. Also, Andalite politics and their military situation are issues of concern for the Animorphs.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: At one point, Tobias and Guraff team up to fight off a bunch of Pythagi, who really don't stand a chance.
 * In the fight between Guraff and Ax, Ax gets pretty badly stomped by Guraff.
 * Really, pretty much anything involving going one-on-one with Guraff.
 * Cult: Still The Sharing.
 * Dead Man Writing: Elfangor via memories experienced by Tobias
 * Deadpan Snarker: Marco, Tobias, and Rachel. Sometimes David and James as well.
 * Deconstruction: Quite a few, especially with tropes pertaining to character morality.
 * Death From Above
 * Death Is Cheap:
 * Derelict Graveyard: Still the Nartec city.
 * Did Not Do the Research: The author has never been on an alien capital ship and has, in fact, never met an extra terrestrial.
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu: On several occassions involving the Ellimist, Drode, and The One, the Animorphs treat them more as an annoyance and a distraction than anything else.
 * The Dog Bites Back:
 * Double Consciousness: Happens when you morph an Animal. Tobias lives in a perpetual state of this. He has all of his own memories, as well as some memories from Elfangor and the Howlers, as well as many of the instincts of a hawk.
 * Dumb Blonde: Subverted.
 * Dungeon Master: The Ellimist, the Crayak, and The One.
 * The Drag Along: Cassie, though she eventually got over it.
 * Drama Preserving Handicap: According to a deal made by the superbeings who run the war, the invasion of Earth must remain a secret.
 * Drives Like Crazy: Jake cannot drive a boat.
 * Drop in Character: Erek reprises this trope, as does Mark, another Chee. Other characters who just drop in throughout the series include Adrian Rook, Alloran-Semitur-Corrass, Dan Berenson, and Vladimir Putin.
 * Dying As Yourself
 * Earn Your Happy Ending
 * Eldritch Abomination: The Crayak, the Drode, the Ellimist, as in the previous series. They are now joined by The One.
 * Escalating War: The war has expanded far beyond the original scope. In addition to fighting in a second city on Earth, the Yeerks are waging war all across the galaxy, and many of the Neomorphs 'supplementary' books address the larger war directly.
 * The Eternal Churchill
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Guraff is almost a walking example of this.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The Visser and Guraff are close friends and seem to feel genuine emotional turmoil when one is in actual danger.
 * Everyone Calls Him Barkeep: All of the extra-dimensional beings go by pseudonyms.
 * Everyone Meets Everyone: Somewhat subverted. Most of the main characters already had a strong connection to the others, and many of the secondary characters are close friends or relatives of the main ones.
 * Evil Gloating: The Visser does so love his evil gloating. David was prone to this during the time when he was a villain.
 * Evil Overlord: Still the Visser.
 * Eviler Than Thou: Originally, the Yeerk hierarchy is based off of this concept. The Yeerks later attempt to subvert it, with questionable results.
 * Exposed Extraterrestrials: Most of the aliens in the series.
 * Fallen Hero:
 * Family Unfriendly Violence / Family Unfriendly Death: Keeping true to the original Animorphs, Neomorphs is packed full of gratuitous, lovingly detailed violence.
 * Faster Than Light Travel: Zero-Space is a realm of existence outside of real space, allowing objects to exceed the speed of light.
 * Fighting From the Inside: Literal in the case of most Yeerk hosts. Subverted in Guraff's case, as his host is a Voluntary Controller.
 * Also in the case of Salheer. "[Salheer's Host] was a really nice guy before he got Yeerked. He just can't stand up to the stuff Salheer's putting his brain through. He's basically just an empty shell of a man now. A vegetable. Except he's not good for you."
 * Fire Forged Friends: Particularly prevalent in the case of Al and David, who became close friends due to morphing different parts of a symbiotic alien creature.
 * Five-Bad Band: The Visser is the The Big Bad as well as The Brute. Guraff is the definition of The Dragon, Salheer is The Evil Genius, and Kalroth is The Dark Chick.
 * Flashback Nightmare: Frequently mentioned.
 * Foil: All of the characters have one or two characters who act as a foil for them.
 * Foreshadowing: Almost every Animorph mission goes horribly wrong somehow, and the narrating Animorph almost always comments on it beforehand.
 * Forgot I Could Fly: Sometimes, the Animorphs forget all of their morphs, leading them to choose inefficient bodies.
 * Four Star Badass: Alloran.  he said, '
 * The Visser and Guraff also qualify, as one is the (questionable) leader of the Yeerk Order and the other is his second-in-command.
 * Arguably, Tobias counts. It depends on how highly one values the rank of War-Prince.
 * Frickin Laser Beams
 * A Friend in Need: Commonly used plot device, mostly to reintroduce minor characters from the original series.
 * Guide in books 55 and 74
 * Estrid in book 68
 * (arguably) David in book 61
 * Ax in book 64
 * Mersa in book 65
 * Jake and Santorelli in books 66, 67, and 68
 * The Chee in book 69
 * The entire plot of Megamorphs 5
 * Erek in Megamorphs 6
 * Genetic Memory: The Howlers possess one of these. Tobias frequently accesses it when he needs an edge in combat.
 * Going Native: Al has a crush on Kristina.
 * Good All Along: In addition to the examples from the original series, the Ssri'Kai (originally seen only as Controllers) actually served as protectors of the galaxy in the past.
 * Though they did exterminate three sentient races who refused to say that their home planet of Ssri was the most beautiful in the galaxy.
 * Good Thing You Can Heal: Morphing heals most injuries. In addition, Tobias's Howler morph heals him in combat, usually allowing him to survive situations that should have killed him.
 * Grey and Gray Morality
 * Healing Factor: Morphing restores any non-fatal injury. Additionally, Tobias's Howler morph regenerates all but the mots severe damage (unless exposed to Kelbrid poison, which negates that healing).
 * Hannibal Lecture: Tobias and the Visser both during their conversation in book 64.
 * He Knows Too Much: Kicked around in many cases when someone discovers too much about the Animorphs.
 * In book 72,  specifically for this reason.
 * Heroic Blue Screen of Death: Marco, who
 * Heroic Vow: Tobias vows to end the war before
 * He ends up breaking this vow.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: [spoiler: Santorelli, Jake, and Cassie]]
 * He Who Fights Monsters: Tobias and [spoiler: Ronnie]] are in danger of falling into this more and more as time goes on.
 * Historical in Joke: Erek inspired both Dune and Star Wars.
 * Virtually all of book 70 is leading up to the joke that the strange animals in Australia are from another planet.
 * Hot Amazon: Rachel
 * Hot Mom:
 * Hour of Power: The 2-hour time limit
 * Hufflepuff House: Subverted. Most of the minor conflicts mentioned in the original series have a deep impact in Neomorphs, leaving issues that the protagonists need to resolve.
 * Hugh Mann: Occasionally applied to Al and David, though mostly Ax.
 * Hulk Speak: The Hork-bajir; subverted in Guraff's case.
 * Humans Are Bastards
 * Humans Are Special: The whole premise of Neomorphs is that humans, who are just about to venture forth into the galaxy, will change the galaxy profoundly.
 * Humanity Ensues: Tobias, Al, and David.
 * Humans Through Alien Eyes: Ax, Al, and Elfangor.
 * Hurting Hero: Everyone, though particularly Tobias, Ronnie, Jeanne, and Ax.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Like in the canon series, all of the Neomorphs books are named "The ".
 * Immortality: The Ellimist, the Crayak, the Drode, and The One are all Type I. Everyone who can morph (most of the cast) is Type III. To an extent, Elfangor is type VIII, as Tobias carries some of his memories and is influenced by them.
 * Arguably, Guraff is Type Zero
 * The Internet Is for Porn: Al implies that Marco has a lot of pornography on his computer.
 * Its Personal: Ax and the Visser
 * Its Up to You: Since the invasion of Earth cannot become public knowledge, the Animorphs are basically on their own there.
 * Killed Off for Real:
 * Know When to Fold Em: Virtually every fight with Guraff ends with one side or the other walking away.
 * La Résistance: The Animorphs.
 * Many Yeerks were dissatisfied when the Visser replaced the Empire with the New Yeerk Order. Many formerly powerful Yeerks work to undermine the Order and reestablish the Empire.
 * Laser Guided Amnesia: Jeanne, for several years.
 * Last Name Basis: Adrian Rook is almost always called by his last name.
 * A Lighter Shade of Grey: Most prominently displayed in the different leadership styles of Jake and Tobias. While Jake holds his people to a certain moral standard, Tobias will do almost anything if it gets the job done.
 * Literal Surveillance Bug: The Animorphs love to sneak around in bug morphs. Well, maybe not love it, but it happens a lot.
 * Literary Agent Hypothesis: Carried over from the original books.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: A casual glance at the character's index on the series' wiki shows over 50 characters; all of whom keep coming back for more.
 * Long Running Book Series
 * Made of Iron: Since morphing heals all injuries, it is pretty hard to kill anyone important in the series.
 * Magic From Technology: Most alien technology is carefully unexplained, though it does follow Magic a Is Magic A.
 * Magic Pants: Carried over from the original series.
 * The Magnificent
 * Big Jake, Fearless Leader, Jake the Yeerk-Killer, and of course, Prince Jake.
 * Tobias is first called Young Beast, and is also given the name Devil Prince.
 * Guraff is the God General.
 * Esplin 9466 is almost exclusively called The Visser.
 * Mama Bear: Naomi and Rachel.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Cassie, David, Marco, Jeanne, Jake, Tobias, the Drode, and Salheer, to name the most prominent examples. Neomorphs is full of them.
 * Mauve Shirt: A lot of throwaway characters from the original series received promotions in Neomorphs. The best examples are, who became main characters.
 * And let's not forget Esplin 9466 Lesser, who went from being thrown away at the end of book 16 to reappearing as  in Megamorphs 6 (which takes place after book 74).
 * Meaningful Name
 * David's last name is, which is the name of the killer in the Cask of Amontillado.
 * Guraff 427: the numbers are a combination of the numbers 42 (referencing the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and 007 (the code number of James Bond).
 * Prince Imrahil is the name of a minor character in The Lord of the Rings.
 * Prince Glorfindel as well.
 * Meta Guy: Marco and David are practically employed by Jake and Tobias respectively to point out flaws in their plans.
 * Million to One Chance: Somewhat subverted in Neomorphs, as both sides are working under tight restrictions. The technological gap of the first series has been drastically reduced as well. Of course, the Yeerks still have legions of Kelbrid and hundreds of thousands of Yeerks...
 * The Mind Is a Plaything of The Body: Morphing gives one the instincts of whatever the morphed creature is. David still acts like a rat (even obsessing over cheese early in the series), and Tobias has never lost his hawk tendencies.
 * When morphing a symbiotic alien, Cassie, Al, and David experience a profound emotional connection.
 * Mordor: The Yeerk pool.
 * Mundane Utility: Doesn't come up as often as it used to, as the Animorphs are older and (allegedly) more responsible now. Still, there are always mundane uses for morphing.
 * My God What Have I Done: Tobias has made deals with the Crayak (the closest thing to Satan in this universe), made an alliance with a Yeerk leader who - while he did help them fight against the Visser - was infesting people in the Animorphs' home town, refused to warn several thousand Andalites that they are going to be ambushed by Yeerks (with the obvious result that they all died), made a string of poor command decisions that resulted in  being killed, and worked for what may or may not be the Russian mafia. While he appears not to be bothered by any of this, he does admit to Rachel that he regrets all of it.
 * Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Staying in a body for more than two hours means you stay forever.
 * My God What Have I Done: Tobias has made deals with the Crayak (the closest thing to Satan in this universe), made an alliance with a Yeerk leader who - while he did help them fight against the Visser - was infesting people in the Animorphs' home town, refused to warn several thousand Andalites that they are going to be ambushed by Yeerks (with the obvious result that they all died), made a string of poor command decisions that resulted in  being killed, and worked for what may or may not be the Russian mafia. While he appears not to be bothered by any of this, he does admit to Rachel that he regrets all of it.
 * Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Staying in a body for more than two hours means you stay forever.