Richard's Animorphs Forum

Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Chad32 on June 17, 2008, 10:22:02 PM

Title: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Chad32 on June 17, 2008, 10:22:02 PM
Ax's books start at 8, and happen every ten books. Tobias' books start at 3, and are the same way. However, the others go in order of Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco.

Did anyone ask the Applegates why they did this instead of just going Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, Ax, and so on?

Is it because Ax and Tobias don't really have social lives like the others? That they live in the woods and don't really have separate lives besides Yeerk resistance?
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: morfowt on June 17, 2008, 11:01:36 PM
I think it says in the anibase these words:

"I guess they thought that tobias and ax wouldn't be as popular. Boy, were they wrong (me: yes they were)"

or something like that.
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: musicman88 on June 18, 2008, 09:48:05 AM
I agree, the Tobias and Ax books were almost always better than the others.
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Phoenix004 on June 18, 2008, 10:52:32 AM

Did anyone ask the Applegates why they did this instead of just going Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, Ax, and so on?


'Cause KA said so!  ;)
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: esplin on June 18, 2008, 11:02:28 AM
i always wondered this too
cause they were good characters
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: morfowt on June 19, 2008, 02:06:48 AM
well even if this wasn't the answer, it would cause problems for the cover morphs. Tobias doesn't regain his morphing power until #13. they already did hawk to tobias for #3. what are they gonna do for #8 if it was a tobias book. they could have tobias regain his power in #8, but I don't know. it gets confusing then...
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: CounterInstinct on June 19, 2008, 05:48:57 AM
Well, since they were the most popular characters... making their own stories rare makes them even more popular.... in a sense right? Rarity makes things more valuable.
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: mrlarry on June 19, 2008, 05:56:35 AM
I think the editors said to give them fewer books. They probably thought kids wouldn't be able to relate to Tobias and Ax as much. They were, of course, wrong; every kid knows what it feels like to be an outsider.
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Chad32 on June 19, 2008, 09:10:59 AM
What Morfowt and MrLarry said is very true. #8 could have been the book that Tobias got his powers back, but I think it was likely better they did it a little later. That was something that never crossed my mind.

And many kids know exactly what it feels like to be an outsider. Children can be cruel beasts. Do you think Ax and Tobias might actually have been less popular if they had fewer books? Rarity does increase value in many things.
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Mr. Guy36 on June 19, 2008, 11:48:27 AM
The original order was Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco. Ax was originally just going to trade with Tobias, making the order Jake, Rachel, Tobias/Ax, Cassie, Marco. Near the end, they moved Ax to the end of the sequence, making the order for the last few Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, Ax.
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Estelore on June 20, 2008, 05:25:48 PM
I view it as a way to force the masses to delay gratification, thus making the Ax & Tobias books infinitely better.

If every book gave detailed descriptions from the points-of-view of an alien and a bird, they wouldn't be so special.
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: estrid on June 22, 2008, 01:44:12 AM
tobias was my fave character, and the character i related to the best of the 6, which is proly y he was my fave. it def mad me mad that he had so few books. but i never saw an actual explanation. there should have been one tho >:(
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Duff on June 22, 2008, 11:04:20 PM
maybe it was harder to come up with plots for them because they were so different and seperated from the rest, where the regular 4 could have more human interaction fuel their plots, easier to progress them
it makes sense that the editors or w/e asked for less tho
who knows
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: estrid on June 22, 2008, 11:38:06 PM
but even tho ax and tobias were spaced out from the rest, they still did stuff. it woulda been cool to have them go human and just chill at the mall. ax at the mall could always be an awesome plot in and of itself. maybe KA was just lazy to think of plots for those 2 cuz yes, it musta been harder but still, im sure she coulda thought of good plots had she tried :-\
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Duff on June 22, 2008, 11:56:28 PM
maybe KA was just lazy to think of plots for those 2 cuz yes, it musta been harder but still, im sure she coulda thought of good plots had she tried :-\
*cough* 36-44 *cough*
i guess not haha
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: estrid on June 23, 2008, 12:02:16 AM
maybe KA was just lazy to think of plots for those 2 cuz yes, it musta been harder but still, im sure she coulda thought of good plots had she tried :-\
*cough* 36-44 *cough*
i guess not haha


dude, obviously she thought of plots for them, once in a while. BUT the point of this thread is they had less books, and im saying she could only sumx think of a plot, unlike for the others where she could always think of a plot in a timely schedule of some sort. which is proly why ax and tobias had less boox. duh ::)
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Duff on June 23, 2008, 12:07:41 AM
maybe they just didnt think people would respond as much to ax and tobias at first and then once they were like hey people like them the whole structure was kinda locked in so why rock the boat lol
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: estrid on June 23, 2008, 01:06:29 AM
nah, if she really wanted to she coulda fit it in. she just didn't. lazy it is
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: CounterInstinct on June 23, 2008, 06:15:30 AM
maybe she found it hard to think of other plotlines... lazy or not, I think Tobias and Ax had the least of issues to deal with.
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: musicman88 on June 23, 2008, 09:35:45 AM
Yeah, how many times can you have Tobias out looking for food and Ax tinkering with something in his scoop?
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: estrid on June 23, 2008, 03:36:04 PM
maybe she found it hard to think of other plotlines... lazy or not, I think Tobias and Ax had the least of issues to deal with.

i dont know bout that. id say they had the most issues to deal with. ax has to stay outta site, tobias is one cofused little birdie, she coulda made it wrk. its not like EVERY book woulda been about them. just every other book
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Estelore on June 23, 2008, 07:04:13 PM
I think that Ax probably had the MOST problems.
He's marooned on a planet that supplies all his physical needs, once he gets acclimated (recall in the Andalite Chronicles that Loren responded badly to the Andalite atmosphere, which means that their lungs require a different chemical composition in the air than Human lungs).
His only social contact is with people not of his species.
He's been thrown right into the front lines of a MAJOR war, and he's just a kid.
He's expected to know more than he really knows.
He's viewed occasionally with major distrust.
He may never get home, as far as he knows.

This guy has ISSUES, folks. You would, too, in his position.
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: estrid on June 23, 2008, 11:34:37 PM
well yes, ax has alota issues, which is y he shoulda had more books so they coulod talk about them
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Tim Bruening on July 05, 2015, 09:30:32 AM
well even if this wasn't the answer, it would cause problems for the cover morphs. Tobias doesn't regain his morphing power until #13. they already did hawk to tobias for #3. what are they gonna do for #8 if it was a tobias book. they could have tobias regain his power in #8, but I don't know. it gets confusing then...

So KA didn't want the cover artist to have to draw just a boring red-tailed hawk that can't morph a thing, so she postponed the next Tobias book until she could arrange for him to get his morphing powers back?
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Dylan on July 05, 2015, 10:59:30 AM
So KA didn't want the cover artist to have to draw just a boring red-tailed hawk that can't morph a thing, so she postponed the next Tobias book until she could arrange for him to get his morphing powers back?
No. The official reason why this happened was that the editors weren't sure that Tobias and Ax would be as popular as the other characters. Boy, were they ever mistaken!   
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Chad32 on July 05, 2015, 11:04:07 AM
Spacing them out did keep them from being overdone, which probably helped their popularity.
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Tim Bruening on July 06, 2015, 06:33:46 PM
Spacing them out did keep them from being overdone, which probably helped their popularity.

Tobias' 1st book was #3.  The cover showed him morphing from human to hawk, even though he was frozen in hawk form at the time.  That could be excused, since it WAS Tobias' first narration.

However, if any more Tobias books had been written during the time he was unable to morph, what would the cover artists have drawn?  (Just a boring hawk that can't morph?  A series of hawk images that don't change?).
Title: Re: Why were Ax and Tobias' books spaced farther apart from the others?
Post by: Quaf on July 07, 2015, 02:07:04 AM
He was able to morph and that''s all there is to it. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if K.A. introduced tobias's ability to morph just for the cover artists.