#rachel/tobias

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Rachel/Tobias

Love it/ Hate it/ Tolerate it/ Would write it/ Have written it/ Would never write it/ Would read it/ Have read it/ Would never read it/ That would be a TRASH FIRE (affectionate)/ That would be a TRASH FIRE (derogatory)/ Squick/ Yay/ Fits with canon (affectionate)/ Fits with canon (derogatory)/ Makes no sense with canon (affectionate)/ Makes no sense with canon (derogatory)

Other: They're so good to each other, and they're so bad for each other. They love each other, they pull each other into the war, they ruin their own lives for each other.

[carlandrea]

sure hope nothing bad happens to these kids

[quartings]

Thanks for all the positive support on my other animorphs posts and sorry in advance, haha

[ghostofbriggiesmalls]

marco in a Cassie, Jake, Rachel, Tobias, or ax book: “ha ha Jerry Springer would have a field day with our group we’re so dysfunctional with bird boy and ax-man the alien. all the girls want me like Snackwell Devils Food cookies. I’m not short I’m fun sized, Xena Warrior Princess.”

Marco in a Marco book: “on they came. And I didn’t care. I didn’t care. I wanted battle. I wanted pain. And I wanted to inflict pain. I wasn’t the calm, emotionless shark. I was a boy who’d watched his mother die. Again.”

[wolfziedraws]

Would you still love me if I turned into a *BALD eagle

[sage-nebula]

Something I've been thinking about over the past week is that Rachel's expectation over whose death would fuck Jake up the hardest vs. whose death actually fucked Jake up the hardest wasn't right, and how that says so much about their characters and how it also hurts really badly.

Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that Jake wasn't affected by losing Tom, because he very obviously was. Tom was his entire reason for joining the war in the first place and part of him held onto hope until the end that Tom could still be saved. And I'm also not saying that Rachel didn't think Jake didn't care about her at all, because that's not true either. She knows Jake does, but that he's doing what he has to do.

But when you think back to the conversation they have when Jake gives her the assignment, and he tells her that he won't have a way out for her, Rachel's concern for him isn't how her death would affect him, but Tom's. "It won't just be the yeerk. It'll be Tom." And while she acknowledges that of course Jake doesn't want her to die in her opening narration in book #54 and is making this call because he has to, at the same time there isn't a sense that Rachel thinks her death is going to be the one to hit him hardest here. It's Tom's, she's sure of it. Emotionally, Jake could afford to lose her, but Tom? That one gives her pause.

But one year after the war . . . again, Jake does still mourn Tom, obviously. He carries the guilt and grief of everything. But one of the strongest images of #54 that has always stuck with me is Jake sitting at Rachel's grave for several hours at a time, after hours, with regularity. It sticks out to me because you know Tom must have had a grave or memorial as well, I'm sure Jake's parents would've had one set up, but in all of Marco's stalking he doesn't see Jake sit and visit with it. Jake doesn't visit Tom. He visits Rachel.

And it just, to me, speaks to a complete subversion of Rachel's expectations, which were predicated on her own perception of how the rest of the team saw her. They "loved [her] in their way" but she was also a monster, blood thirsty, the garbage disposal, the one to do the dirty work. And she was as fine with that as she wasn't. (It was the biggest point of inner conflict for her—the war between her fear and her need to appear brave, her need to protect her friends from the gruesome vs her revulsion at what her actions said and made her out to be, etc.) Jake cared, sure, but also he saw her as a blood knight who might as well die in battle because that was her role, that was what SHE did, better her than anyone else on the team. Jake knew that, it would help him recover from his correct choice, far more than he could ever recover from losing Tom, who—unlike Rachel—was wholly innocent.

But Jake didn't recover. Because yes, he loved Tom and Tom was a wholly innocent victim from day one. And Rachel was overtly aggressive, and reckless, and part of her scared him, as much for her as anything else. But also, he talked to and fought and bled beside her for three traumatizing, agonizing years. They saw the best and worst of each other. Jake left her in charge when he had to leave on that trip. They talked about leadership after, about hard choices, understood each other on a level that would lead to that final choice in the last battle. Rachel couldn't see it because she couldn't see her value in the team as anything other than the brute and garbage disposal, but she WAS more than that, to Jake. She meant so much more to him than that, and it hurts so bad that she didn't realize it.

[thelesbianthespianposts]

bored, have some of my favorite animorphs quotes

[brothermouse-skeleton]

Just finished reading Animorphs #49: The Diversion where Tobias finds out that his mom is still alive and in danger.

It's super stressful because Applegate would murder that poor kids mom right in front of him just to make some kind of point.

But also I think it's interesting to see how the other parents react to finding out about everything: Cassie's parents are instantly compassionate, they hug her, tell her it's going to be okay. It's no wonder Cassie is who she is.

Rachel's mom tries to fight a bear (Rachel) with a spice rack. Very genetics. Much lineage.

Jake's parents are already controllers. He can't save them. It makes sense that he doesn't get to have his parents with him, he hasn't been a child for a long time.

[arrietty-rune]

I wish you a great happy new year c: 🌟

Check my art here for more Gumball art ♥

[kooldewd123]

The scene of the Animorphs voting whether or not to make David one of them might be one of the best character moments in the entire series. You can read into everyone's actions in this scene so well.

Marco sees "the bright, clear line." David hasn't seen any of them yet. He doesn't know anything. Just giving him up to the Yeerks is incredibly cruel, but it's the safest option. At the same time, how much of this is just his personal feelings? He's the only one who dissents on the basis of personality. He doesn't really like the way David acts, but is that enough reason for concern or is he just writing him off because he can't stand being around him?

Cassie is eager to go for it. She had just taken a massively risky leap of faith with Aftran, and it had actually paid off. And if trusting a Yeerk could lead to good things, surely trusting a human would turn out even better. She's already seeing the big picture: maybe David is the first of many. Maybe they could extend their force even more and give themselves the opportunity to make a bigger difference.

Rachel starts out against it. Despite their frequent disagreements, she and Marco both share that ruthless streak and often end up on the same side of heavy decisions as a result. She's the first to agree with Marco about giving David up, and the first to voice against making him an Animorph. But Cassie's argument sways her over. Cassie is probably just thinking that more people equals more power, but Rachel frames it by saying that more people means they can afford to take bigger risks (something that Marco can't help but agree with). Cassie is thinking optimistically, but Rachel sees it from a warrior's perspective.

Tobias is for it, and of course he is. David is just like Tobias was back then: no real family, no real home, and effectively a stranger to the rest of the group. He can't give up on David. He needs to have faith that things will work out, the same way they did for him (in a way). There's literally no other choice, as far as he sees it. He says Jake should make the ultimate call but clearly doesn't actually believe that, seeing as how when Jake replies that they need to put it up to a vote, Tobias immediately votes in favor of making him an Animorph.

Ax in particular is fascinating to me here because he's the one who actually suggests making David an Animorph in the first place. At the start of the series, breaking the law of Seerow's Kindness and sharing Andalite technology with humans, let alone a complete stranger, would have been completely unthinkable to him. But now he's seen just how fallible Andalites can be. He's begun to doubt the pillars of his society, and has thrown his lot in with the humans instead. He makes a very human suggestion here. It's something you'd expect Cassie or Tobias to come up with, not Ax. When the vote actually comes around, however, he votes against it. Like Rachel, he views it from a military perspective, but comes to the opposite conclusion. More Animorphs would be good to add to their ranks, but he's been in an army before and this ain't exactly one of those. A seventh member isn't enough of an added benefit, and putting a stranger in the role is too much of a wild card when they're about to undertake such an important mission.

We don't know what Jake is thinking. He never provides an opinion, only stating the facts of the situation and prodding the others for their votes. He's presumably freaking out inside, but trying to keep a calm demeanor in the face of the biggest decision they've had to make up to this point. Any weakness at this pivotal moment could skew everything, so he has to remain as neutral as possible until he can properly collect his thoughts. He's the last of the group to make his vote, and he really doesn't end up making one in the end. David wakes up, sees them, and Jake decides to bring him into the group. If David hadn't woken up there, what would Jake have chosen: Safe but cruel, or risky but optimistic? We never get to find out what was going through his mind at that exact moment, only in the aftermath.

And of course, this is all underscored by the dramatic irony of what this will eventually lead to. The group decides against inaction, but by their actions, they will commit a horror upon David arguably just as bad as the Yeerks would have. Would it have been better to leave him behind and be haunted by what they didn't do, or to have tried to save him and be haunted by what they did do?

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

what if the animorphs got the death note?

Cassie: Would burn the thing. Doesn't care if she dies in the process. It's worth it, to get it out of the world's hands.

Marco: Would go on a fact-finding spree to figure out the names of as many yeerks as he possibly can. Would figure out that some stems (e.g. Iniss) are followed by multiple sets of numbers, and would give himself carpal tunnel writing Iniss 0000 - Iniss 9999 in the notebook. Would claim to his friends that he also doesn't know why a mysterious disease has killed so many yeerks lately.

Jake: Would ask the group what they should do with it. Whether Rachel and Marco would succeed in arguing for it before Cassie and Ax succeeded in arguing against it is anyone's guess.

Ax: Would never use it. Would probably also give it back to the group. Controversial opinion, I know, but he cares deeply about fighting fair and with honor. If he could figure out a way to use it to save his friends he might, but he'd probably vote to bury it in the woods if forced to cast a vote.

Rachel: Would use it. And then stop using it. She fights those who are stronger than her, and spares those who are weaker. Any time she can use it against a yeerk with an involuntary host she will... but those names are hard to find, and she's not going to stop mid-battle to pull out a pen. She'd conclude it's no good as a weapon, but if Marco asked she'd announce she got rid of it because it takes all the excitement out of the war.

Tobias: Even more controversial take, but. If anyone would go full Light Yagami, I think it's him. He's the one pushing to use the Time Matrix to "fix" history in MM3. He's the one who kills Hitler after learning this is just a jeep driver, because he's Hitler. He argues with the Ellimist, and thinks he could do better. He sees the world as injust, and he's angry about it. He would argue it's immoral not to use the Death Note. I could see Tobias writing down every Visser's name... and then Pol Pot's... and then Charles Manson's... and then Taylor's... and going from there.

[peetsmoss]

What if I spent the summer making Animorph fanart, then what?

[quartings]

I drew six radical 90s kids who definitely have no trauma and would never kill any civilians.

Bonus:

[ghostofbriggiesmalls]

the book where a doomed child visits his past self only to realize he had been the one to knowingly doom himself in the first place and makes the conscious choice to subject himself to the same fate once more without the knowledge of any possible reward for this decision is immediately followed by a book where the main antagonist is a space toilet

Animorphs will truly never be topped

[wolfziedraws]

2 hour limit