#animorphs headcanon

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

so, about that baseball au? 👀

Tobias plays right field. It's all about those insanely long catches and those even more insanely long throws. He's fast and light, able to spot a ball in the air and be sprinting to intercept it well before it's even reached the top of its arc. Tobias can not only run and not only throw, but he can jump like nobody's business to intercept a ball in the air. He can't snatch every single home run that clears the top wall, but if it clears the wall by less than 12 inches, you bet that he'll be there making one hell of a grab to intercept it. What he lacks in power he makes up for with speed and accuracy.

Marco is their starting pitcher. He can coordinate and communicate, but more importantly he can be tricky. Marco's the classic ambidextrous change-up knuckleball trickster, not the fastest fastball thrower but an absolute expert in lying with his body about where the ball's going and how it'll be spinning when it gets there. Pitching is about dividing attention between the guy inching down the third-base line, the catcher throwing signals, and the batter getting into position. The ability to read all that, and to hide a fastball in a curved-looking throw, is where Marco excels.

Rachel bats cleanup. She plays center field as well, but her strength is in batting. Her greatest weakness is her greatest strength: she swings at too many pitches. That runs the risk of strikeouts, but it also means that she can sometimes turn a curveball into a double or even a home run. She's the power hitter, able to rocket pitches into the nosebleed section often enough that she sells more t-shirts than the rest of her team combined. That said, when all else fails she can also be counted on to make a sacrifice bunt.

Ax is on third base. It's a position that requires keeping a close eye on the batter and the infield all at once, managing the risk of steals while also being ready to intercept smash hits. Above all, being on third base requires being fast: able to grab a 120 MPH hit out of the air and wing it back to a teammate before there's even time for the runner to think about making it to first. Third basemen are likely to go overlooked, but they're crucially important for the defense of the whole infield.

Jake catches. It's the position most associated with being able to take punishment. Runners collide with you, pitches hit you, backswings can take you out, and your knees are shot to hell within five years. But the catcher faces the field, and the catcher has to communicate with the field. The main line of contact is with the pitcher, everything from requesting pitches to signaling an impending steal, but the catcher has to be able to shout to the field as a whole with a second's notice. The catcher is up and down, up and down, throughout the game, and the catcher has to decide judiciously when to argue with the umpire.

Cassie is their shortstop. Of course. This position is all about support, about being where your teammates are not so that they can focus on covering their own bases. Shortstops have to be flexible, to float between positions and play backup to the basemen and outfielders alike. Shortstops are the most overlooked, the least understood, the most likely to be dropped from Little League teams that are short on players. But an actual MLB team cannot function without a shortstop, because their ill-defined role is actually to hold the entire rest of the defensive team together.

[duskys-dreams]

I had an Animorphs headcanon that Rachel was transgender (MtF). I imagined the conversation in my head, when the rest of the gang finally pieces it together. They discussed in another room and were completely supportive, already using she/her pronouns.

I started imagining Rachel’s past, how she would have been the tough macho man to hide that something felt off about herself. She was close to Jake before the whole Animorphs thing was even a thing. I even started writing an animation script for her, using the song Empty by Jaiden Animations.

I realized that I didn’t have any ideas for what her deadname could have been, so I went on the internet to search for baby names. I wanted it to be related to water in some way, but when I googled “baby names related to water,” I noticed that my favourite name website didn’t show up. This meant I truly was a writer.

I went inside the first website I found, and it wasn’t names at all. It just had a bunch of little symbols of random things. Even so, I found one thing that had clay on it, and that was a good enough name.

I decided to poke around the rest of the building. It was one of those Pay Per View YouTube websites, and it honestly looked like a classroom full of kids watching a movie. I went inside one of them, then immediately left and saw a bunch of kids in the hallway, watching as well. I thought that the whole premise was stupid and nothing was stopping people from just screen-recording, but I saw a rule on the wall preventing that.

I went to leave the building, and someone came up to me and started talking. I instantly forget what they were saying, but I went up the stairs and found myself on a sort of balcony, with a huge window on my right that looked down into an auto-repair shop.

There were two people already here, a boy that seemed to be a bit younger than me, and his mother. They were friendly, and I went up next to them.

The boy wanted to show me a trick. He took out a playing card, then flung it toward the window. The force of the strike made it completely shatter. His mother was very surprised that this was possible, but I told her that I saw a YouTube video about this a while ago.

He then threw a piece of paper, and it went down to the table down below and picked up a small stack of papers, then returned to the boy. I was very impressed, and said as much. The boy seemed to be a bit flustered, but he accepted the compliment.

I looked down and saw the car that they were working on was actually my dad’s. I waved, but Dad did not see me.

I realized I should probably leave. I looked at my fortune cookie paper, which declared that I would drive home today with a driver’s license. I was confused, because I was only fifteen in the dream.

The mother laughed and said that I should get a move on, because her boy would get it in that determined little head of his that this was something he had to help me with. I nodded, and left the two of them to go home.

I checked Discord, and found that Noah (@ultimatefanwing) was trying to draw himself in the front yard. I went out as well, and moved my drawing there piece by piece. The face didn’t fit quite right on the head; the chin was too short and the forehead was too long.

We had a scenting dog with us, and Noah sent it to look for something in the yard. We watched from the camera placed on the dogs head, and it stopped in a corner of the yard. I had taken the place of the dog, and I asked Noah if he could come see these small purple flowers I found, since I was confused about them. It wasn’t what we were trying to find, but he came over anyway, dodging the dog poop in the front yard.

The song Take A Hint was emanating from me, and there was this weird bug flying around me that looked like a cross between a bee, a cockroach, and a June bug. It landed on my face, and I didn’t flinch, just wondering what Noah would do if he saw it.

Noah sat down next to me, completely ignoring the bug, and I held up the flowers. He examined them, then shrugged. He didn’t know much about flowers either.

I decided to work on the Ultimate drawing here, and got the idea to flip the face horizontally. It fit perfectly now, but the mouth was too big. I redrew it, and it looked like a D. Third time’s the charm.

[gros-chat-fait]

Just six normal teens hanging out in the woods. --

100th post and final drawing of the year. Happy holidays and new year, everyone <3!

[atsadi-shenanigans]

Thinking thoughts. In a lot of popular books, usually YA, I’ve noticed that when the mc (usually a girl) goes through Some Shit, at the end of the series or whatever to show healing and growth, the authors often have her married off and possibly with a kid. The ~normal ideal~ and all.

But for me, that don’t resonate. I appreciate to hell that Animorphs author K. A. Applegate said, “Sometimes the wounds left really fuck you up” and, like, spoilers for a 30 year old book series:Jake’s life collapses, Rachel fucking DIES, Tobias fucks off from society completely, Marco is sitting pretty on fame and fortune but that boy had a 50/50 chance of completely cracking and collapsing his own life, and Ax went back to his militaristic, authoritarian by the sound of it war-mongering society of holier-than-thou xenophobes. Cassie is the ONLY one who got out and stayed out, and she had major issues about the whole thing from the start.

I’m so glad that was one of my formative media obsessions. I didn’t really grow up with, in my very personal opinion, was this idea of “A bad thing happened but you just need to get married and have a baby or two and all better!”

And expanding on this (insert Tom Cardy as JRR Tolkien ripping off his sweater), “I’m not even HALFWAY started!”

Astarion. Some of y’all really love papastarion and you go, Glenn Coco. I ain’t trying to shame you or say you’re doing it wrong. Y’all seem really happy and that’s genuinely awesome. I love some of y’all’s work myself.

But for me, I LOVE the idea that, even romanced, Astarion doesn’t “settle down” in the aforementioned traditional context. That man has been through A Lot, and after the events of the game, so has his LI. I am feral over the idea that he alone, or with LI if he has one, just fuck off. Never married. No kids. Just spending decades and decades figuring out who he even is and what he wants to do with that. That’s comforting in the extreme, to me. You don’t have to be married and with kids to be happy and fulfilled, and I just really appreciate that.

(For those of you creating absolute gremlin children of his, I do salute you, that shit is amazing and hysterical).

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

@ohthat1

@thejakeformerlyknownasprince I think

Oh yeah that's me :) Post is here.

HEY WHO WAS THAT FUCK THAT SAID THEY HEADCANONED THAT TOBIAS IS THE ELEMIST? CAUSE I READ THAT HEAD CANON BEFORE READING BOOK 54 AND THE EVENTS THERE IN HURT WAY FUCKING MORE THAN THEY SHOULD HAVE! FUCK!

[toweringclam]

I love it when you meet an alien who's Extremely Autistic and you think, oh, it's just because he's an alien but then you meet the rest of his species and find out no really he's just autistic

[cobaltegg]

TFW you realize years of war strategy were based on thirteen year-old you thinking tigers looked similar to basketballs

[wheatart]

This was a commission from years ago that fell through (also when I learned to not continue past sketches until after payment). Tom meets a cute girl promoting a new club called the Sharing.

Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/wheatart Commission info: https://wheatart.com/about

[sarifel-corrisafid-ilxhel]

I think my silliest Animorphs headcanon is this: The traditional Taxxon swear uttered when things are going very wrong is "Shit". They learned it from human television.

[please-help-this-little-lesbian]

Random Headcanons I have about modern-day Animorphs

Rachel

Would be super into thrifting. She'd post hauls on her TikTok that would have millions of followers.

Marco

Is a Swiftie. Argue with the wall. He'd love Mitski too. And unironically love country music.

Tobias

Used to post his art on Instagram as well as fanart. He also had a fairly popular Tumblr, though he's not exactly active anymore.

Cassie

Has been arrested protesting Global Warming. Republican politicians hate her.

Ax

Has been banned from Bath and Body Works for eating the candles and hand sanitizer. He's also banned from Sephora for similar reasons.

Jake

Has an Ao3 account. It is the only social media he has. His fics are huge and the bibles of their respective fandoms. Tobias has unknowingly read his fics.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

do you headcanon Tom's name to be short for thomas or is it just tom, with the modern Hebrew meaning of "innocence"/"ending"?

I always headcanon Thomas and Jacob, just because those are a little more traditional. Also, this is 100% personal preference, but I don't like using nicknames as legal names. It can result in an adult with a childish and cutesy name, and it leaves your kid with far fewer name options for choosing what to be called.

[pixelsilver]

Young andalites are born with underdeveloped eyestalks, practically nubs on their head. This is to protect the very delicate budding nerves at the end of each stalk while they're in the pouch. Once out of the pouch, the eyestalks start developing. The eyelids start completely glued closed in a similar manner to a young kitten or puppy. As they grow, the nerves lengthen and grow, causing the very elastic skin to stretch inch by inch while the eyes develop slowly at the ends of the nerves. By four months, they're completely developed. Once they're able to see out of them, the very first thing they seem to always look at is their own faces. If it's just because it's more comfortable to curl the newly developed stalks inward or if they're just fascinated with their newly discovered self, which this is around the time they start being able to recognize themselves in a mirror. But this habit soon stops when they start developing thought speak and an new fascination with the world around them.

[i-ges]

Cursed slimecicle sketches

[gros-chat-fait]

A 2-part series inspired by the #54 cover which paid homage to the Stones' Hot Rocks 64-71 Compilation cover.

The songs:

Cassie - 14/Street Fighting Man Jake - 19/You Can't Always Get What You Want Rachel - 02/Heart Of Stone

[brothermouse-skeleton]

Some Animorphs head canon that doesn't affect anything but I would include if I was ever in charge of bringing those teenage war criminals victims to the screen:

Elfangor wears a jacket and stands contra-posto (putting weight on one leg and taking it off another) making him different from other Andalites who wear nothing and keep weight evenly on all four legs. His time on earth has made him see the value of pockets.

Most Andalites keep their arms close to their chest (T-Rex style) and their tails curled up to their backs. Visser 3 keeps his arms away from his body and his tail swinging low to the ground, like a Hork-Bajir. He does this first out of habit, having had mostly Hork-Bajir hosts, but he keeps doing it to torment Alloran and keep him submissive.

The more time you spend in a morph the more that morphs mannerisms bleed into your own. Near the end Rachel starts lumbering like a bear, Marco beats his chest, Jake will pace like a caged tiger, and Cassie will occasionally whine like a wolf, when human Tobias will stare at you and preen his hair.

Ax will have a weird relationship with the previous point. He develops human mannerisms when an Andalite but shows Andalite mannerisms when he's human. He can never seem to get it quite right.

Human controllers smile just a little too much. They also sometimes get distracted by sensory things. They'll stare at the way light refracts off a window pane, or subconsciously rub their hand against an interesting texture. They play music a little too loud, and tend to drown their food in hot sauce.

Whenever we see the Chee without their holograms, we see markings and old stickers all over their bodies. Like a child drew all over them.

The Chee will always introduce you to whatever dog is near by but that gets weird because....

The Chee give their dogs the wildest names because they've been naming dogs for millennia and they're not going to reuse names so with a very serious face they'll introduce you to The Throgolizer, Space Cadet Cheeseburger, and the Right Goodly Lord Paphershinerpeppinpeppershireson.

The free Hork-Bajir get it in their heads that if they're on earth they need to adopt earth culture. First they start wearing clothes. They get a bunch of stuff from a thrift store dumpster but do not understand how clothes work. Like not at all. They wear pants as hats and like to put shoes on their blades. Toby is the only one who understands fashion. She's adopted a sort of hip-hop bad girl style that leaves Rachel conflicted.

Ax fixed up an old TV for the free Hork-Bajir and that's where they get most of their understanding of earth culture. Because of this a lot of them will misquote pop culture stuff and they have started screaming whenever someone enters a room (they're still working on understanding the subtle differences between screaming and applause). They're big fans of Seinfeld, even though they don't understand any of it.

Toby has been experimenting with breakdancing in her free time. Her handle is T-body and she keeps getting her blades stuck to the floor.

[church-of-crayak]

i'm bored at work, so here are some personal headcanons abt andalite eyes!!

-andalite eyes have stronger color associations than humans, like, to the point they're physically wired for it

-their main two eyes' eyesight looks a bit like the filter over the first Twilight movie. this means that blues are common and almost overbearing, and that reds pop more than anything.

this is connected to their evolutionary history as prey animals, when reds and other, more vibrant colors signified danger, and their fellow andalites meant no harm. other andalites do not stand out as much as potential predators and, incidentally, lots and lots of peaceful aliens.

-their stalk eyes are tritanopic, only seeing in shades of cyan and red. they're also much more adept to sensing movement than anything else, like the eyes of a cat. they are also low-effort—keeping them open and surveilling does not directly disrupt sleep, but can affect REM. their motion-based sensitivity is very useful for catching assailants before they have a chance to strike.

-many andalite soldiers and arisths are suspected to have sustained damages from their near-complete lack of deep sleep. it's also been observed in retired andalites that adjusting back to a healthy sleep pattern will often come with adverse side effects such as disorientation, psychosis, and insomnia. It can take years for an andalite to stop jerking awake when their stalk eyes are closed—even after just three months of sleep training.

-there are andalite scientists pushing to stop forcing soldiers to sleep with their stalk eyes open, as it hasn't been proven to keep soldiers any safer since standardized security systems became far more accurate than the average andalite. the argument in favor of sleeping with two eyes open is generally "lack of proof" that sleeping in this fashion makes any tangible impact on their ability to fight. They also argue that the possibility of machine error is too high to unequivocally trust.

-yeerk branding and design was just a knock-off of the ubiquitous bluish andalite aesthetic (for obvious reasons, nearly all of their tech is stolen or repurposed andalite stuff), right up until visser three infested an andalite himself. upon experiencing how strong the instinctual andalite aversion to the color red was, he decided to rebrand his fleets with striking red decals and outfits in an effort to put more fear into the hearts of their main enemy. this was so effective that it was adopted by yeerk culture as a whole.

-the visser marks his elite soldiers with blue bands because it's been so ingrained into his own psyche that red equals bad and marking them with blue is his own, overtly simplistic method of telling his own allies apart.