I agree that Rachael books are not the best, but I absolutely love her in everyone else's books. The thing I like about Ax is that he's totally brainwashed by andalite propaganda and gives the reader a peek into that
Rachel was the character who resonated with me most deeply, but that was also probably because I was a small blonde girl with anger issues whose parents weren't together. I feel like she taught me not to let my rage get the best of me and to use it productively. Seeing myself in a character for the first time at the age of seven is something I've never forgotten. Someday I want to thank KA because honestly.... if I hadn't taken "let's do it!" As a personal mantra from a very young age I wouldn't be who I am today.
Rachel is great, I think there is probably a solid cohort of people who feel the same about each character. It speaks to how impactful the series is. You should write KA a letter! I've thought about doing it, and probably will at some point. An author I like a lot once tweeted something to the effect of "write letters to the authors you like they usually appreciate it", and I think about that a lot.
Your list is almost the inverse of mine! Jake and Cassie's relationship was pivotal in the final arc. It meant that Tom got the morphing cube, and it also allowed Jake to manipulate Cassie in The Sacrifice. Interested to know your reasoning behind Tobias being the main character. It irked me how the Elfangor-father revelation never amounted to anything.
My ranking has already changed due to this third reread of the series, I already regret making this 😂 I do feel like Tobias has the strongest arc in first half of the series, but a weaker one for the latter half. But I am far away from getting to those analyses 😎
Re: Cassie and Jake's relationship, I absolutely agree. The first time *I* as the reader *feel* their relationship is in book 52!! ((When jake strokes her hair saying "its okay" about The Thing with Tom)) Eta I love the return & will defend it: a) in this book, Rachel slurps V3 like soup b) "I'm not sure I can do [the thing she will do to David] either. Will you do it, Cassie?" c) The Thing she does to David is not known to us because it doesn't matter, whatever she did was the morally wrong choice because there was not a morally right choice to be made d) most of the series to this point had been an exercise in gaslighting Rachel about What Kind of Person she was and this book conveniently brings almost every instance of that back up so she (and us, as the audience) could go into the finale firm in the belief that she would be uniquely incapable of readjusting to civilian life Eta 2 re: relating to Tobias-these days Rachel is my favorite character but when I was a kid it was Tobias and Tobias is the character I was most similar to as a child. I used to tell people to read 23 to know what being inside my head was like, when Tobias literally told himself how stupid he was SO HARD that he fell out of the sky. The last time I reread the book I found it particularly challenging because while I was given a chance to grow up & grow out of those thought patterns, Tobias wasn't and that's something I feel deeply Great video! My ranking, from least to most favorite, goes Ax, Cassie, Marco, Jake, Tobias, Rachel but they're all a breath away from each other and are jostling all the time
So, I just discovered your channel through part three of the Tobias Tragedy Trilogy popping up on my suggestions. It's awesome to see new creators talking about Animorphs, because that's basically my favorite book series. So, I was right about one prediction I made about this video: I guessed Cassie was in last place. That's a general consensus, AFAIK. For me ... trying to rank them is ... next to impossible. I connected with each character for different reasons. My favorite, probably for how much I ended up coming to mirror them in viewpoint, is Marco. Because Marco is pragmatic (his solution to keep Tom from having to go to the funeral), ruthless (His decisions re: Visser One in later books), and able to deal with his emotions. Ax is probably tied in second with Tobias, although they both only narrowly trail Marco. The outsider viewpoints were always something I connected to because Ax reminded me of myself at a time when I had recently been diagnosed as autistic, so seeing a basically neurodivergent character was nice. Tobias was more just a general outsider feel that vibes with me. Rachel and Jake are tied a bit behind Ax and Tobias. I admire Rachel's struggle with her violent side, her gradual acceptance of it. I had *severe* anger management issues as a kid. Seeing Rachel being honed into a weapon ... I was disappointed most by Thd Return for both not really being Rachel Vs. David 2: Electric Boogaloo and for not clarifying how she resolved that final loose end. Jake is ... I will say, your use of the word quintessential instead of essential is still an apt description of his arc. He is the Commanding Officer in a war where things are way above his pay grade and just weigh so heavily on him. So, in last place by far is Cassie. Cassie is ... so, here is my issue with Cassie: she is not just an annoying hypocrite; she is an annoying hypocrite with extremely rigid and sometimes incomprehensible morals. Her solution to the David problem is ... far less humane than simply killing him. Her moral gymnastics allowed her to conclude "fate *worse* than death is *better* than killing him because at least we don't murder him directly this way. But, if we expand the favorites list to include recurring characters, two move up into the top 5: The Ellimist (Ellimist Chronicles is the best book, change my mind) and ... Taylor.
One thing I’ve enjoyed a lot about making these videos, though they haven’t reached any substantial viewership as of yet, is that the people who do enjoy them clearly love the series. That is to say, I appreciate that you took the time to write this comment, and I enjoyed reading it quite a bit. I also had a difficult time ranking them- in truth, this video idea was mostly just to keep some level of creative momentum up while I decide what longer-form series I want to do next. Fully agree about Marco, though. In my literary life I’ve met a lot of characters like him, but none were executed so endearingly. I was pretty disappointed by The Return too; the entire David arc, while an obvious choice to stir up some conflict in the series, gave me a ton of stress at the time. In my childhood I read mostly for escapism and comfort, to counterweigh the lack of stability I felt in my home life. Any time something happened that interrupted the familiar formulae of a series I liked, it always gave me some small amount of pain. Given my penchant for speculative fiction, this is a quality counterintuitive to enjoying a narrative, but I persevere lol. In terms of Cassie, you make a very good point. The rigidity and opacity of her moral reasoning is something that I think is sometimes overlooked in discussion of her character. It’s like she has a few core tenets that she learned pre-war, and has no interest in amending them- in fact, she often reacts with volatility when pressed. I tried not to lay the hate on too thick here because I really wasn’t interested in making an argument for Cassie being the worst character, but yeah, it does kind of speak for itself doesn’t it. Expanding the list: absolute yes to the Ellimist, and interesting you’d put Taylor on there. I can see why, I think for me the only thing that keeps her from being more memorable is that she came along relatively late in the series, and wasn’t super present outside of Tobias books. More Taylor would be great, though- if there’s ever an adaptation I hope they give her a ton of screentime. Finally, re: Toomin. Yes. I will not attempt to change your mind on The Ellimist Chronicles because I too worship at the altar of that book. I would be hard-pressed to rank the Animorphs books, but if I did, it would have to be in the top five at least. I have a video in the works where I plan to go through all the information I can find about the Ellimist, including, obviously, quite a bit from TEC. Thanks again for watching/commenting. I think you and I will likely be internet friends, as I enjoyed reading your thoughts quite a bit.
@@marcellom I was both disappointed and elated to see how small your channel is. Disappointed because there is so little here and I want to just devour all the Animorphs content even though I already know basically everything. And *ELATED* because I am going to be following you from just near the beginning of your appearance on RUclips. I love seeing people on RUclips talking about Animorphs with the same passion I do. I enjoy watching your videos because you love it as much as I do and it shows. There's another RUclipsr on here, Lord Ravenscraft, who has so far done three videos on Animorphs and who is just so obviously passionate about it. In his first Animorphs video, Lord Ravenscraft actually does a good job defending Cassie while still acknowledging her weaknesses. The reason Taylor is so memorable to me is because of her trauma and the clear battery of untreated mental illnesses. She is very clearly extremely damaged. I felt like there was a lot more potential for a dynamic between her and Tobias. They're both damaged and broken. But while Tobias lost his human form and yet *retained* his humanity, Taylor regained her human form, but *lost* her humanity. Here's the best comparison: if you've seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, Taylor is very similar to Azula. And I sympathize with and remember them both for similar reasons. But if you ever want to do something like discussing the books in a freeform fashion with like a guest ... I mean, seriously, I would be willing to blather on about Animorphs for *hours* in a video with someone who loves it as much as I do.
@@marcellom going back to Taylor for a moment, I feel like it was trying to set her up as a nemesis to Tobias and she was definitely an excellent foil. Like Tobias, she suffered an accident that ripped away her previous life. And yet, unlike Tobias, she not only failed to adapt to her new circumstances, but her deal with a benefactor to get her old life back carried a price. I always found the bit where Tobias was morphed as her and, despite them being physically identical and considerably attractive, Tobias got more attention from guys because he seemed more alive, warm, and human. Frigging *BIRD BOY* gave off better "human" vibes than she did.
@@marcellom also, Ellimist Chronicles was one of the first Animorphs books I read. It's just ... So, honestly, all the Chronicles books are more clearly imprinted in my memory than most of the other books, and it's because they were all unique glimpses into the minds of these major players in the Animorphs lore at these points that are vital to that lore. Because we got to see something outside the main team's viewpoints. And reading Toomin's story, how this ordinary teenage alien gamer endures such tragic circumstances and slowly winds down this path that leads him to becoming a god, it's heartbreaking. But I have one question that AndaChron and HorkChron raise: so, Esplin 9466 in both AC and HBC is portrayed as not merely a competent strategist, tactician, and Andalite expert, but also significantly less "I want to make Darth Vader look like the world's best boss" in his emotional control. Whereas throughout the main series he is little more than a raging maniac with insane and convoluted ... So, an analogy: Esplin 9466 in AC and HBC = Scrooge McDuck. Esplin 9466 in the main series = Flintheart Glomgold. So, here's my question: WTF happened to him that turned him from competent, intelligent, and fairly controlled into that idiotic megalomaniacal villainous caricature.
Tobias, Marco & Ax are my top three as well (although for me I'd rank it Marco, Tobias & Ax.) Ax & Tobias can be interchangeable sometimes, but I think Ax's cow book brought him down a notch. For what it's worth, I also mispronounced Tobias as a kid (I said Toe-bee-us). Toby's introduction to the series as being named after Tobias didn't help lol. also also, I don't think Tobias is the real main character. To me, Tobias was _intended_ to be the chosen one. Remember, he's one of the four "deck stacked". The son of Elfangor. But then he was trapped as a hawk & the two 'random' members of the team ended up being the most integral. Which is kinda beautiful in its own way.
I agree that Tobias comes across as the main character in Animorphs more than any of the others. It's like he's the Ellimist's special "Original Character Do Not Steal" but, because this is Toomin we're talking about, instead of getting favorable treatment he just constantly gets dumped on.
I always felt like Toomin intended him to be the main character but then Tobias was like 'what if I was a hawk instead'. To the point where Toomin essentially engineered it so that Tobias could get his powers back, to somewhat course correct the situation. But I always found it cool that the two people Toomin never accounted for ended up playing the biggest role. Both of them were also on Crayak's personal list.
Ill postt mine before watching. Tobias, Ax, Marco, Jake, Rachel, Cassie. You could move Jake and Rachel around but Tobias is the MC and Ax was just interesting being an alien. Marco is a solid contender because he is probably the smartest and most well adjusted.
Growing up Rachel and Tobias were tied for my favorite character, and Marco was my least favorite. Rereading as an adult, Marco has shot up to tie with the #1 spot for me. Now I really appreciate how smart he is, all of that was lost on me as a kid apparently.
Same! I actually liked Tobias more but, I thought it was weird, so I kind of just grabbed Rachel. I love her, don't get me wrong, but I just favorite him over the rest.
There is a solid chance that it is my taste that is mistaken here- I'm rereading the entire series again, so I'll report back if that winds up being the case. Honestly doing these videos has already changed my mind on a bunch of things about the series.
Rachel was the BEST. An interesting, nuanced character with flaws and dimensions. A strong woman whose was actually done right. A true warrior, who went down fighting. The biggest wasted opportunity in the series was that Rachel didn’t really get a final book. Everyone got one but her. The Worst, easily Tobias. Just whining, whining, whining.
She could've gotten one if they didn't waste 48 on the David-Crayak thing. Which wouldn't have been bad if they actually did it justice. Imagine if Crayak restored David to human & allowed him to morph again? What if they made is so that David's return in 48 is how the Yeerks found out Animorphs were human, thus leading into 49? There was potential there. Instead we got some weird fever dream.
I think my ranking would be as follows: 1. Tobias (one of the best characters in the series. His character arc is fantastic) 2. Rachel (she was the most consistent Animorph of all of them. She grew the least, but she did not waver or change. She was the solely reliable one where you knew where she stood, and what her role was.) 3. Marco (Best arc of them all. Where he lands at the end is some of the best storytelling.) 4. Jake (started great, but where he went by the end just... Tanked. To a point where he became almost unrecognizeable.) 5. Ax (great character, and you can connect with him, but by the end, I grew to dislike him. And, his schtick with food or human culture got old by book 20.) 6. Cassie (I would have put her higher on the list when I was younger, but she's now my least favorite main-story Animorph. She becomes manipulative, devious, and uses pacificm to justify her horrible, risky actions and dumb decisions.) And, because he technically WAS an Animorph... 7. David. I hate David.
Tobias was the best character for none of the reasons you stated. Tobias really had the most going on out of all the characters and being stuck as a hawk made him a lot more unique than rhe others.
I honestly don't like Tobias. Yes, he's a tragic character but he became so out of pocket as the series progressed that I got annoyed with him. Tobias had the audacity to start resenting Jake because Jake became matter of fact about using people for the war yet Tobias hardly ever tried stepping up to the plate to lead the team. If he wasn't the initial angsty outsider, I doubt people would care for his character.
There is a solid chance that you're correct, I'm currently rereading the entire series through a more critical lens and this ranking has already changed. But to your point, I am an angst junkie which draws me to his character.
@marcello I love a good dose of angst too, but Tobias screams pissy angst. Jake warned him before their first mission to the yeerk pool, and Tobias insisted on being a hawk. From the first book, Tobias had hints of hating being told what to do. As the books progressed, he started to show his true colors and how salty he could get, and would act like the rest of the gangs' struggles aren't on his level, when in reality, they go through more personal struggles that'd probably break tobias. I don't hate Tobias, but he is so overhyped for someone with a sour attitude.
the most annoying thing about cassie to me isn't that she's always on a moral high horse, tho i felt the same as you reading the books as a little kid. now the most annoying part is what a mary sue she is, it's like even if she doesn't seem like she's making the right decision at the time, the books are always written so that she did in the long run. it's to the point that when she makes that decision at the end with jake and tom, i'm kind of glad she did because it means she's not completely flawless. kind of too little too late but it's better than nothing. i think KA noticed this and so gave her multiple grueling trials to do on her own to sort of balance her out, like 19, 29, and 44(lol), but again it just doesn't feel like enough. she deserves a jesus level of punishment to balance out how perfect and omniscient she is as a character
she is highkey liberal white guilt the character, but idk when society will be ready to have that conversation lmao. i feel weird even saying it and i'm black
Sorry for replying so late, I have no idea how to stay on top of comments, I have to figure out how to be a creator lol. Great observations. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't read comments, because people like you come and drop bombs that make me want to go back and rethink everything again. I think you're right about KA giving her these trials, and Cassie as a liberal white guilt character has left me kind of mind blown. Super obvious, but not something I noticed. Sick comment. Thank you. I'm rereading the series again, and trying to be super analytical and critical so I'm curious how I'll feel about Cassie when all is said and done.
I remember Ax in book 52 talking about how for the longest time he thought Rachel was the most dangerous of the Animorphs but it's actually Cassie. How she's like Seerow; they place their moralities so high and try to make everyone adhere to it, but it makes things worse. Look at David & John Berryman. David had issues, yes, and he killed Saddler. The humane thing to do would be to kill him. But Cassie's high horse morality resulted in her pitching the idea to trap David as a rat & leave him to die on a trash barge, because she didn't want her friends to kill a human. Because to her, "that's worse." and Berryman? He did nothing wrong, he just happened to find the Time Matrix. But Cassie then "fixes the situation" by preventing his conception, because now it doesn't make her or her friends into murderers.
"What's poppin my Pemalites" omg.
I agree that Rachael books are not the best, but I absolutely love her in everyone else's books. The thing I like about Ax is that he's totally brainwashed by andalite propaganda and gives the reader a peek into that
Rachel was the character who resonated with me most deeply, but that was also probably because I was a small blonde girl with anger issues whose parents weren't together. I feel like she taught me not to let my rage get the best of me and to use it productively. Seeing myself in a character for the first time at the age of seven is something I've never forgotten. Someday I want to thank KA because honestly.... if I hadn't taken "let's do it!" As a personal mantra from a very young age I wouldn't be who I am today.
Rachel is great, I think there is probably a solid cohort of people who feel the same about each character. It speaks to how impactful the series is.
You should write KA a letter! I've thought about doing it, and probably will at some point. An author I like a lot once tweeted something to the effect of "write letters to the authors you like they usually appreciate it", and I think about that a lot.
Your list is almost the inverse of mine!
Jake and Cassie's relationship was pivotal in the final arc. It meant that Tom got the morphing cube, and it also allowed Jake to manipulate Cassie in The Sacrifice.
Interested to know your reasoning behind Tobias being the main character. It irked me how the Elfangor-father revelation never amounted to anything.
My ranking has already changed due to this third reread of the series, I already regret making this 😂
I do feel like Tobias has the strongest arc in first half of the series, but a weaker one for the latter half. But I am far away from getting to those analyses 😎
@@marcellom Will you consider posting an updated re-ranking?
Re: Cassie and Jake's relationship, I absolutely agree. The first time *I* as the reader *feel* their relationship is in book 52!! ((When jake strokes her hair saying "its okay" about The Thing with Tom))
Eta I love the return & will defend it: a) in this book, Rachel slurps V3 like soup b) "I'm not sure I can do [the thing she will do to David] either. Will you do it, Cassie?" c) The Thing she does to David is not known to us because it doesn't matter, whatever she did was the morally wrong choice because there was not a morally right choice to be made d) most of the series to this point had been an exercise in gaslighting Rachel about What Kind of Person she was and this book conveniently brings almost every instance of that back up so she (and us, as the audience) could go into the finale firm in the belief that she would be uniquely incapable of readjusting to civilian life
Eta 2 re: relating to Tobias-these days Rachel is my favorite character but when I was a kid it was Tobias and Tobias is the character I was most similar to as a child. I used to tell people to read 23 to know what being inside my head was like, when Tobias literally told himself how stupid he was SO HARD that he fell out of the sky. The last time I reread the book I found it particularly challenging because while I was given a chance to grow up & grow out of those thought patterns, Tobias wasn't and that's something I feel deeply
Great video! My ranking, from least to most favorite, goes Ax, Cassie, Marco, Jake, Tobias, Rachel but they're all a breath away from each other and are jostling all the time
So, I just discovered your channel through part three of the Tobias Tragedy Trilogy popping up on my suggestions. It's awesome to see new creators talking about Animorphs, because that's basically my favorite book series. So, I was right about one prediction I made about this video: I guessed Cassie was in last place. That's a general consensus, AFAIK.
For me ... trying to rank them is ... next to impossible. I connected with each character for different reasons. My favorite, probably for how much I ended up coming to mirror them in viewpoint, is Marco. Because Marco is pragmatic (his solution to keep Tom from having to go to the funeral), ruthless (His decisions re: Visser One in later books), and able to deal with his emotions.
Ax is probably tied in second with Tobias, although they both only narrowly trail Marco. The outsider viewpoints were always something I connected to because Ax reminded me of myself at a time when I had recently been diagnosed as autistic, so seeing a basically neurodivergent character was nice. Tobias was more just a general outsider feel that vibes with me.
Rachel and Jake are tied a bit behind Ax and Tobias. I admire Rachel's struggle with her violent side, her gradual acceptance of it. I had *severe* anger management issues as a kid. Seeing Rachel being honed into a weapon ... I was disappointed most by Thd Return for both not really being Rachel Vs. David 2: Electric Boogaloo and for not clarifying how she resolved that final loose end. Jake is ... I will say, your use of the word quintessential instead of essential is still an apt description of his arc. He is the Commanding Officer in a war where things are way above his pay grade and just weigh so heavily on him.
So, in last place by far is Cassie. Cassie is ... so, here is my issue with Cassie: she is not just an annoying hypocrite; she is an annoying hypocrite with extremely rigid and sometimes incomprehensible morals. Her solution to the David problem is ... far less humane than simply killing him. Her moral gymnastics allowed her to conclude "fate *worse* than death is *better* than killing him because at least we don't murder him directly this way.
But, if we expand the favorites list to include recurring characters, two move up into the top 5: The Ellimist (Ellimist Chronicles is the best book, change my mind) and ... Taylor.
One thing I’ve enjoyed a lot about making these videos, though they haven’t reached any substantial viewership as of yet, is that the people who do enjoy them clearly love the series. That is to say, I appreciate that you took the time to write this comment, and I enjoyed reading it quite a bit.
I also had a difficult time ranking them- in truth, this video idea was mostly just to keep some level of creative momentum up while I decide what longer-form series I want to do next. Fully agree about Marco, though. In my literary life I’ve met a lot of characters like him, but none were executed so endearingly.
I was pretty disappointed by The Return too; the entire David arc, while an obvious choice to stir up some conflict in the series, gave me a ton of stress at the time. In my childhood I read mostly for escapism and comfort, to counterweigh the lack of stability I felt in my home life. Any time something happened that interrupted the familiar formulae of a series I liked, it always gave me some small amount of pain. Given my penchant for speculative fiction, this is a quality counterintuitive to enjoying a narrative, but I persevere lol.
In terms of Cassie, you make a very good point. The rigidity and opacity of her moral reasoning is something that I think is sometimes overlooked in discussion of her character. It’s like she has a few core tenets that she learned pre-war, and has no interest in amending them- in fact, she often reacts with volatility when pressed. I tried not to lay the hate on too thick here because I really wasn’t interested in making an argument for Cassie being the worst character, but yeah, it does kind of speak for itself doesn’t it.
Expanding the list: absolute yes to the Ellimist, and interesting you’d put Taylor on there. I can see why, I think for me the only thing that keeps her from being more memorable is that she came along relatively late in the series, and wasn’t super present outside of Tobias books. More Taylor would be great, though- if there’s ever an adaptation I hope they give her a ton of screentime.
Finally, re: Toomin. Yes. I will not attempt to change your mind on The Ellimist Chronicles because I too worship at the altar of that book. I would be hard-pressed to rank the Animorphs books, but if I did, it would have to be in the top five at least. I have a video in the works where I plan to go through all the information I can find about the Ellimist, including, obviously, quite a bit from TEC.
Thanks again for watching/commenting. I think you and I will likely be internet friends, as I enjoyed reading your thoughts quite a bit.
@@marcellom I was both disappointed and elated to see how small your channel is. Disappointed because there is so little here and I want to just devour all the Animorphs content even though I already know basically everything. And *ELATED* because I am going to be following you from just near the beginning of your appearance on RUclips.
I love seeing people on RUclips talking about Animorphs with the same passion I do. I enjoy watching your videos because you love it as much as I do and it shows. There's another RUclipsr on here, Lord Ravenscraft, who has so far done three videos on Animorphs and who is just so obviously passionate about it.
In his first Animorphs video, Lord Ravenscraft actually does a good job defending Cassie while still acknowledging her weaknesses.
The reason Taylor is so memorable to me is because of her trauma and the clear battery of untreated mental illnesses. She is very clearly extremely damaged. I felt like there was a lot more potential for a dynamic between her and Tobias. They're both damaged and broken. But while Tobias lost his human form and yet *retained* his humanity, Taylor regained her human form, but *lost* her humanity.
Here's the best comparison: if you've seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, Taylor is very similar to Azula. And I sympathize with and remember them both for similar reasons.
But if you ever want to do something like discussing the books in a freeform fashion with like a guest ... I mean, seriously, I would be willing to blather on about Animorphs for *hours* in a video with someone who loves it as much as I do.
@@marcellom going back to Taylor for a moment, I feel like it was trying to set her up as a nemesis to Tobias and she was definitely an excellent foil. Like Tobias, she suffered an accident that ripped away her previous life. And yet, unlike Tobias, she not only failed to adapt to her new circumstances, but her deal with a benefactor to get her old life back carried a price.
I always found the bit where Tobias was morphed as her and, despite them being physically identical and considerably attractive, Tobias got more attention from guys because he seemed more alive, warm, and human. Frigging *BIRD BOY* gave off better "human" vibes than she did.
@@marcellom also, Ellimist Chronicles was one of the first Animorphs books I read. It's just ... So, honestly, all the Chronicles books are more clearly imprinted in my memory than most of the other books, and it's because they were all unique glimpses into the minds of these major players in the Animorphs lore at these points that are vital to that lore. Because we got to see something outside the main team's viewpoints. And reading Toomin's story, how this ordinary teenage alien gamer endures such tragic circumstances and slowly winds down this path that leads him to becoming a god, it's heartbreaking.
But I have one question that AndaChron and HorkChron raise: so, Esplin 9466 in both AC and HBC is portrayed as not merely a competent strategist, tactician, and Andalite expert, but also significantly less "I want to make Darth Vader look like the world's best boss" in his emotional control. Whereas throughout the main series he is little more than a raging maniac with insane and convoluted ...
So, an analogy:
Esplin 9466 in AC and HBC = Scrooge McDuck. Esplin 9466 in the main series = Flintheart Glomgold.
So, here's my question: WTF happened to him that turned him from competent, intelligent, and fairly controlled into that idiotic megalomaniacal villainous caricature.
maybe it's because i haven't seen GoT, but marco's arc makes me think more of breaking bad with how he gradually becomes more and more ruthless
My list: Rachel, Ax, Marco, Tobias, Jake, Cassie. But I enjoyed the star fish book
Tobias, Marco & Ax are my top three as well (although for me I'd rank it Marco, Tobias & Ax.) Ax & Tobias can be interchangeable sometimes, but I think Ax's cow book brought him down a notch. For what it's worth, I also mispronounced Tobias as a kid (I said Toe-bee-us). Toby's introduction to the series as being named after Tobias didn't help lol. also also, I don't think Tobias is the real main character. To me, Tobias was _intended_ to be the chosen one. Remember, he's one of the four "deck stacked". The son of Elfangor. But then he was trapped as a hawk & the two 'random' members of the team ended up being the most integral. Which is kinda beautiful in its own way.
I agree that Tobias comes across as the main character in Animorphs more than any of the others. It's like he's the Ellimist's special "Original Character Do Not Steal" but, because this is Toomin we're talking about, instead of getting favorable treatment he just constantly gets dumped on.
I'm tickled that you referred to the Ellimist as Toomin, I'm 100% doing that in my videos from now on lol
I always felt like Toomin intended him to be the main character but then Tobias was like 'what if I was a hawk instead'. To the point where Toomin essentially engineered it so that Tobias could get his powers back, to somewhat course correct the situation. But I always found it cool that the two people Toomin never accounted for ended up playing the biggest role. Both of them were also on Crayak's personal list.
Agreed
Ill postt mine before watching. Tobias, Ax, Marco, Jake, Rachel, Cassie.
You could move Jake and Rachel around but Tobias is the MC and Ax was just interesting being an alien. Marco is a solid contender because he is probably the smartest and most well adjusted.
Prediction, number one... David 😂
Growing up Rachel and Tobias were tied for my favorite character, and Marco was my least favorite. Rereading as an adult, Marco has shot up to tie with the #1 spot for me. Now I really appreciate how smart he is, all of that was lost on me as a kid apparently.
Same! I actually liked Tobias more but, I thought it was weird, so I kind of just grabbed Rachel. I love her, don't get me wrong, but I just favorite him over the rest.
I guess I need to go back and read "The Seperation" again, I remember really liking that one.
There is a solid chance that it is my taste that is mistaken here- I'm rereading the entire series again, so I'll report back if that winds up being the case. Honestly doing these videos has already changed my mind on a bunch of things about the series.
Rachel was the BEST. An interesting, nuanced character with flaws and dimensions. A strong woman whose was actually done right. A true warrior, who went down fighting. The biggest wasted opportunity in the series was that Rachel didn’t really get a final book. Everyone got one but her. The Worst, easily Tobias. Just whining, whining, whining.
She could've gotten one if they didn't waste 48 on the David-Crayak thing. Which wouldn't have been bad if they actually did it justice. Imagine if Crayak restored David to human & allowed him to morph again? What if they made is so that David's return in 48 is how the Yeerks found out Animorphs were human, thus leading into 49? There was potential there. Instead we got some weird fever dream.
I think my ranking would be as follows:
1. Tobias (one of the best characters in the series. His character arc is fantastic)
2. Rachel (she was the most consistent Animorph of all of them. She grew the least, but she did not waver or change. She was the solely reliable one where you knew where she stood, and what her role was.)
3. Marco (Best arc of them all. Where he lands at the end is some of the best storytelling.)
4. Jake (started great, but where he went by the end just... Tanked. To a point where he became almost unrecognizeable.)
5. Ax (great character, and you can connect with him, but by the end, I grew to dislike him. And, his schtick with food or human culture got old by book 20.)
6. Cassie (I would have put her higher on the list when I was younger, but she's now my least favorite main-story Animorph. She becomes manipulative, devious, and uses pacificm to justify her horrible, risky actions and dumb decisions.)
And, because he technically WAS an Animorph... 7. David. I hate David.
You have an excellent channel. Also after having discussed Tobias could you go over Ax?
Thanks dude! Yes, absolutely. I plan to go through all the characters eventually, but Ax is high on the list
@@marcellom Is Ax high on the list because he's your favorite character's uncle? 😆
Tobias was the best character for none of the reasons you stated. Tobias really had the most going on out of all the characters and being stuck as a hawk made him a lot more unique than rhe others.
I honestly don't like Tobias. Yes, he's a tragic character but he became so out of pocket as the series progressed that I got annoyed with him. Tobias had the audacity to start resenting Jake because Jake became matter of fact about using people for the war yet Tobias hardly ever tried stepping up to the plate to lead the team. If he wasn't the initial angsty outsider, I doubt people would care for his character.
There is a solid chance that you're correct, I'm currently rereading the entire series through a more critical lens and this ranking has already changed. But to your point, I am an angst junkie which draws me to his character.
@marcello I love a good dose of angst too, but Tobias screams pissy angst. Jake warned him before their first mission to the yeerk pool, and Tobias insisted on being a hawk. From the first book, Tobias had hints of hating being told what to do. As the books progressed, he started to show his true colors and how salty he could get, and would act like the rest of the gangs' struggles aren't on his level, when in reality, they go through more personal struggles that'd probably break tobias. I don't hate Tobias, but he is so overhyped for someone with a sour attitude.
You literally verbalized my exact thoughts on Cassie. To a T. Even the specific examples are literally my specific examples 🤣🤣🤣🤣
the most annoying thing about cassie to me isn't that she's always on a moral high horse, tho i felt the same as you reading the books as a little kid. now the most annoying part is what a mary sue she is, it's like even if she doesn't seem like she's making the right decision at the time, the books are always written so that she did in the long run. it's to the point that when she makes that decision at the end with jake and tom, i'm kind of glad she did because it means she's not completely flawless. kind of too little too late but it's better than nothing. i think KA noticed this and so gave her multiple grueling trials to do on her own to sort of balance her out, like 19, 29, and 44(lol), but again it just doesn't feel like enough. she deserves a jesus level of punishment to balance out how perfect and omniscient she is as a character
she is highkey liberal white guilt the character, but idk when society will be ready to have that conversation lmao. i feel weird even saying it and i'm black
Sorry for replying so late, I have no idea how to stay on top of comments, I have to figure out how to be a creator lol.
Great observations. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't read comments, because people like you come and drop bombs that make me want to go back and rethink everything again. I think you're right about KA giving her these trials, and Cassie as a liberal white guilt character has left me kind of mind blown. Super obvious, but not something I noticed.
Sick comment. Thank you. I'm rereading the series again, and trying to be super analytical and critical so I'm curious how I'll feel about Cassie when all is said and done.
I remember Ax in book 52 talking about how for the longest time he thought Rachel was the most dangerous of the Animorphs but it's actually Cassie. How she's like Seerow; they place their moralities so high and try to make everyone adhere to it, but it makes things worse. Look at David & John Berryman. David had issues, yes, and he killed Saddler. The humane thing to do would be to kill him. But Cassie's high horse morality resulted in her pitching the idea to trap David as a rat & leave him to die on a trash barge, because she didn't want her friends to kill a human. Because to her, "that's worse."
and Berryman? He did nothing wrong, he just happened to find the Time Matrix. But Cassie then "fixes the situation" by preventing his conception, because now it doesn't make her or her friends into murderers.
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