Editing Animorphs

{{disambig2|the toyline based on the book series and television show|the organic beings empowered with the ability to "morph"|Animorph}}
<div class="center">[[Image:AniLogo.png|none|242px|]]</div>

[[Image:Animorphspromoart.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Fortunately, there were no sexy brooding vampires to be found.]]

In 1999, [[Hasbro]] released a small toyline based on the popular '''''[[wikipedia:Animorphs|Animorphs]]''''' book series by K. A. Applegate. The line was released under the ''Transformers'' brand name, though the two franchises have no relation to each other, story-wise. ''Animorphs'' toys were stocked on shelves alongside ''[[Beast Wars (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'' [[Transmetal 2]] toys, and their presence may explain why the Transmetal 2 series was so small (only 17 toys.)
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==Toys==
''Animorphs'' toys featured a small cast of human characters that transformed into various animals. Most figures also had a third "mid-morph" mode that represented a halfway point in the morphing process. There were also 2 alien "[[Andalite]]" characters, one hero and one villain. The villain, [[Visser Three]], had 2 figures.

As the line trickled to a close, two of the later figures ([[Marco]]/beetle and [[Ax]]/panther) became fairly rare and difficult to find. Another pair of figures, ([[Jake]]/stingray and [[Taxxon]]/Battlebeast), never saw release in the United States at all, though a few fans were able to get their hands on foreign versions.

With the cancellation of the line, a series of planned animal-to-animal toys were [[Retool|retooled]] and released under the ''Beast Wars'' banner as the [[Mutant (BW)|Mutants]].

===1999===
'''Deluxe'''

''(Each Deluxe toy came packed with a small [[Yeerk]] figure in either orange, purple, or red translucent plastic.)''

*[[Ax]] (human/panther)
*[[Cassie]] (human/wolf)
*[[Jake]] (human/tiger)
*[[Jake]] (human/bear)
*[[Marco]] (human/gorilla)
*[[Marco]] (human/beetle)
*[[Rachel]] (human/lion)
*[[Tobias]] (human/hawk)

'''Mega'''

*[[Ax]] ("Andalite"/scorpion)
*[[Visser Three]] ("Andalite"/"inferno creature")
*[[Tobias]] (human/hawk)

'''Ultra'''
*[[Visser Three]] ("Andalite"/"Hork-Bajir"/"inferno creature")

'''Super'''
*[[Tri-Rex]] ([[combiner]])

:*[[Cassie]] (human/''Tyrannosaurus rex'' tail)
:*[[Jake]] (human/''Tyrannosaurus rex'' head)
:*[[Marco]] (human/''Tyrannosaurus rex'' body)

===No US release===
*[[Jake]] (human/stingray)
*[[Taxxon]] ("Taxxon"/"Battlebeast")

==Fan reaction==
For the most part, the ''Animorphs'' line was, politely speaking, poorly received by ''Transformers'' fans for a variety of reasons:

# The franchise was totally unrelated to the ''Transformers'' universe, and many felt that Hasbro was [[Star Wars|trying to]] [[Crossovers|milk the]] [[Disney Label|brand name]] by using it on the ''Animorphs'' line.
# The main characters of Animorphs were organic beings and not robots. In-fiction, instead of drastically re-arranging their body parts, the Animorphs "transformed" by fluidly morphing from one state to the other (i.e. while morphing into a horse, a human's hands and feet would become hooves). This, of course, was impossible to recreate in toy form, so the toys fell back on the Transformers' method of rearranging the character's body parts. As such, the toys' "human" modes often had animal [[kibble]] hanging off them, if not still blatantly visible in both forms, and many of the animal forms required separate pieces that slid over the human hands to turn them into paws or claws.  Some fans found this design approach <strike>sloppy</strike> unaesthetic.

==Notes==
*Several Animorphs toys with a human form feature articles of ragged clothing being worn by a character... But what exactly is happening to them is unclear. The clothing being ripped and wrecked seem to imply that the clothes are being destroyed due to the characters morphing, as is described happening in the Animorphs novels. Yet, the toy line advertises more heavily the television series over the books, and in said program the characters' clothes morphed alongside them into their animal forms, and the toys' sculpting and paint details hint that this is what is also happening with these figures. It can be speculated that either their garments are getting first torn to shreds and then subsequently morphing along the character into their animal forms, or that the Animorphs' clothes are in shambles due to being worn in combat.

== External link ==
*[[wikipedia:Animorphs|Animorphs at Wikipedia]]

[[Category:Animorphs franchise| ]]
[[Category:Franchises]]