So much pity for Tobias

[wolfev]

Why is Tobias so pitiful? Its like K.A. created the most pitiful character ever. Compared to Tobias a Kitten with only 3 legs that was drowning in a river is nothing. Its almost like the world conspired against this kid. I can relate to him in a few ways being an outsider, but are we suppose to believe that Crayak or someone is actively making his life hell?

[esplin]

idk man but I just finished reading #33, theres like 100 things to cry at in that book
this is one of the reasons he isnt my faverite character (alot of people like him)
he TOO pathetic and sought after by bad/unlucky things, Marco has a good amount of tradgey
but he backs it up with humor and stuff, so hes my fave along with Rachel and Elfangor

[Chad32]

More crap seems to fall on him than anyone else. However he did have Rachel and Ax. Applegate made it out like he was destined to be miserable, though, since he left the world after Rachel's death. He didn't stay with Ax, and we are left to imagine if Loren stays with him or if he abandons her too.

I think what Katherine was trying to do is make someone that a variety of people can relate to and empathise with. There are people out there that feel life craps on them too much and maybe they're not worth much. Those kinds of people will probably relate to Tobias more.

[esplin]

well I mean she never gave him a chance, couldnt she have allowed him some happiness, marco cassie and ax seemed to have been given alot of what they deserved, why not tobias?
I wanted him to see a happier ending more then anyone else, im tired of this realism crap, the tiniest bit of happiness would have been appreciated

[ANItiger13]

Yeah, Tobias kind of has the worst life ever. He lost every single person he loved.

[Chad32]

Yeah, Tobias kind of has the worst life ever. He lost every single person he loved.

No he didn't. That's what made it so pathetic.

[esplin]

he lives as a bird, i mean come on, i would like flying as much as the next guy but how lonely would that be, not to mention BORING.

its not like he doesnt have friends

[wolfev]

My only issue is that he pities himself sometimes. He's certainly interesting and my favorite character, but still I get angry when he starts hating himself.

[esplin]

I would hate myself if I was him.  Most of it is internal am I right?

[SageKiller]

Yeah it's true he has a sad life but maybe that's why I love him so much he's always been my favorite character

[CounterInstinct]

It's not that he doesn't have any friends left. It's just that Tobias shuns them all away in his grief. He loves Rachel, his last desperate cling to being human, so much that the loss of her just breaks him. Sure, throughout the series, he seems so miserable, but he has three things that give him hope:

1. His Friends.
2. The sky
3. Rachel

I think that, he just feels indifferent to the others because:

Jake: He despises Jake, I think he wants someone to blame, and who better to blame than the fearless leader?
Marco: Marco might just say something sarcastic or philosophical at Tobias.

Which leaves Cassie and Ax, plus the Hork-Bajir, which are the only ones he can turn to. I guess he fears that he might be comforted again by someone who is not Rachel, so he drops Ax and Loren, the closest ones to him.

[EscafilDevice]

Tobias was the second emo kid. He certainly gave Holden Caulfied a run for his money.

He was emo before it became all mainstream and warped into scene-kid commercialism - you know, back when it was actually cool.

I'd date Marco or Tobias. Marco is a genius, and invaluable member of the team, and pretty damn funny, but Tobias was different. You don't really see it as being so different these days, but Tobias was pretty deep. I like that.

Does anyone else think that Tobias was rather romanticized?

[morfowt]

no clue what that word means, so no.

[EscafilDevice]

no clue what that word means, so no.

You could look it up?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism

It's difficult for me to explain, could someone else do it?

[Estelore]

Which definition do you want?

Romantic = opposite of Classic, in the sense that Classicism is purely intellectual, and Romanticism is purely emotional.

[morfowt]

oh...my answer is still not really.

[Nomad Frog]

well I mean she never gave him a chance, couldnt she have allowed him some happiness, marco cassie and ax seemed to have been given alot of what they deserved, why not tobias?
I wanted him to see a happier ending more then anyone else, im tired of this realism crap, the tiniest bit of happiness would have been appreciated

Well, yes, you brought up realism, but as "realistic" as she says she strived to be, in writing and in movies, you have to make allowances. Meaning that there's a certain amount of blatant stereotyping that has to be done.  The loner who has everything go wrong in his life, the beauty queen, the nature-lover.  There are parts of these inside everyone, but to make the story more interesting, you can't have five people who are mildly each of these aspects, you have to seperate them.

[EscafilDevice]

Which definition do you want?

Romantic = opposite of Classic, in the sense that Classicism is purely intellectual, and Romanticism is purely emotional.

Here's where I was going with this:

Many of you think Tobias was overly-emotional, like this romanticized version of a loner kid. (He wasn't a criminal, remember?)

I don't think they were "stereotypes" in the sense that they were stock characters, but I think each one of them served a role. Jake was the jock turned leader, Rachel was bloodthirsty Barbie who wanted to do good things but got too caught up in the excitement, Tobias was the loner in every sense of the word, Cassie was the nature-lover who stuck to her beliefs, Marco was the calculating fighter who masked his concern for his mother with his jokes, and Ax was the war student who was stranded on another planet to fight an alien war. These roles were fleshed out enough throughout the series to keep them from being, one could say, a bunch of Mary Sues.

[esplin]

yeah but i mean these characters might have been a little sterotypical, stock characters if you wanna say that.

but it worked.

and we fell in love with them.

[EscafilDevice]

yeah but i mean these characters might have been a little sterotypical, stock characters if you wanna say that.

but it worked.

and we fell in love with them.

They were fleshed-out stock characters, so technically they weren't really stock characters.

And yeah, I liked all of the Animorphs. There weren't any books that I dreaded reading.