I was in high school when K.A. Applegate published the first of a series of books about a group of youngsters who attained the power to morph into other animals in order to fight an alien menace. The concept intrigued me, but I wasn’t quite aware of my fascination with transformations at the time, so I never checked them out.
I didn't yet realize that I had what is called a "transformation fetish," that I was sexually aroused by any literary, film, or other references to people or creatures changing their physical form. I thought it was a coincidence, or at most I was just fascinated by them and nothing more.
It wasn't until after college that I discovered the internet had a plethora of art, stories, and videos to satisfy transformation enthusiasts. When I explored some of these communities, it intrigued me that many of those artists, authors, and video producers credited their well-developed fetish to reading the "Animorphs" franchise in their youth. I was intrigued. So, one day, I decided to do some research.
When I set out to pick up a copy of “The Invasion,” the opening book of the “Animorphs” book series, it was an uncomfortable experience. I’d already started writing erotic stories centered around transformation, but had to peruse the children’s section of the bookstore to find it. I got a strange look from the clerk when I brought it to the desk. I felt a little guilty at first. It was clear in reading the book that it was intended for a much younger audience. The book was quite short and very reliant on casual dialogue and a “good vs. evil” battle that kids would be able to grasp.
But there was something else there, something strangely intriguing. And that was the way the actual transformations were described.
For a kids book, there was a surprising amount of intimacy regarding the transformations. And, since this element was the core of the story, “The Invasion” becomes an experience of seeing a mundane tale of kids hanging out together turn into something much, much more.
The first way "Animorphs" accomplished this was by telling the story in the first-person perspective from one of the main characters. This offered a unique perspective on what these powers meant to each character, and how each experienced their transformations. The narrators spoke quite candidly about what morphing was like, including what it felt like, how terrifying their sequences can look, and what preparations they had to take in order to keep their powers a secret. The characters were young, yet-unsullied by sexual desire, and their curiosity about transformations reminded me of my own, back when I wondered why they interested me, not knowing how my libido was involved.
There was also intimacy in how the transformations could come about. To activate their powers, each character had to first touch the creature they wanted to turn into while concentrating on that animal’s appearance. A strange DNA transference would occur where the animal would go into a trance and the human character would accept the DNA into their body. I really liked the sense of oneness this created between man and beast, much like how we bond with our pets or, as the book described, how native peoples sought to attain the powers of the animals around them during their rituals.
And, most of all, the transformations were extremely beautiful and even sexy, even though there was absolutely no sexual stimulation described. To morph, each human character would again concentrate on the animal’s appearance, its mannerisms, its energy. They would then feel the changes happen, watch them happen, and feel their minds be swayed to the abilities of that animal. Applegate did a fantastic job in conveying this in short, but very effective blurbs, allowing her to describe a lot of exciting internal action of the transformations without slowing down the action happening around them.
My favorite transformation scene is in the latter stages of “The Invasion,” during an action sequence where the humans face their alien enemies. Several characters transform simultaneously, including the narrator, who in just a few lines gives a vivid image of what it’s like to turn into a powerful tiger and become as fearless as the beast. He then watches another friend change into a gorilla, describing in just one sentence how the beast's “massive body was ripping its way out of [his] slight frame.” I found this section to be beautiful, thrilling, and also quite stimulating.
On top of this, the characters adopt a very artistic method to the transformations - no two are alike. One character is credited with morphing “better” than her friends as she allows her changes to progress differently than those of her friends. There’s also tales of characters staying halfway between human and animal, and how strangely beautiful or horrifying such a creature can look. Throw in the fact that the characters seek to transform into more and more animals in future installments, and it’s plain to see why transformation enthusiasts praise them.
I’ve only read a few more “Animorphs” books since then, but “The Invasion” remains my favorite by far. The transition of everyday people into shapeshifters, of how much their personalities are augmented by each DNA strand they acquire, and the oneness each character has with the animals living inside them, all made that story extremely entertaining and inspiring.
And now, I write transformation stories of my own. But not stories for children - stories for grown-ups like me who enjoy the sexual pageantry of a mysterious change.
It is my hope that, one day, I can do for adult audiences what K.A. Applegate did for children.
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