Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: CounterInstinct on June 30, 2010, 09:36:30 AM
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Remember the book where Rachel, as a starfish, splits into two? I always wondered what Cassie would be if she was the one who had two of her.
Until the final arc, where she was convincing some disabled kids to be Animorphs.
She has this manipulative side of her. She's good at reading emotions, to the point that she can manipulate them. Sort of hypnotism. She's even deadlier than Marco or Jake in this field.
Too bad this part of her wasn't elaborated, and they had to go on about morality and had Cassie bear the burden all on her books.
If Cassie became a manipulative hypocrite, would she be more interesting? To us? Knowing she's the least popular character.
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Mean Cassie would promptly go down to the Yeerk pool, kill Visser 3, and take over the invasion.
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I never understood why there was so much Cassie hating!! Cassie was one of my favorite characters growing up, and even more so now as an adult. I think her constant search for some kind of moral peace with everything that she had to do was far more interesting and relatable than, for example, Rachel's blind bloodthirstiness. I think many readers liked Rachel so much (and Marco for that matter) because we all secretly wish that how we would be able to be life threatening, war-like situations; brave, efficient and unemotional. When in fact, most of us would have had the kind of internal struggles Cassie often voiced. That being said, I guess characters like Rachel and Marco are more fun to read.
But I totally agree that she had the potential to have a dark, manipulative side. Though I think we had enough darkness with Rachel, especially towards the end there.
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Cassie was also one of my favorites. I think the main problem with her and the fans was that Cassie made a lot of stupid decisions based on either her morality or her just being naive.
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i'd rather her have been killed off than have a different side to her.
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I like how Cassie was technically the only Animorph to survive. It showed that at least one Animorph was able to move on with their life after the war
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She does have a manipulative side, which shows in some places like when she convinced David to become a ****roach to escape, and when she got Jake to continue leading instead of letting someone else lead.
I'm not really sure what would happen if there were two of her. Her bad side would likely be a manipulative hypocrite, and the good side would be her strict moral and empathic side.
I disliked Cassie because she holds onto her beliefs so tightly that she'd be ok with any bad thing that happened as long as she didn't have to cross any lines. She's a moral extremist.
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I never understood why there was so much Cassie hating!! Cassie was one of my favorite characters growing up, and even more so now as an adult. I think her constant search for some kind of moral peace with everything that she had to do was far more interesting and relatable than, for example, Rachel's blind bloodthirstiness. I think many readers liked Rachel so much (and Marco for that matter) because we all secretly wish that how we would be able to be life threatening, war-like situations; brave, efficient and unemotional. When in fact, most of us would have had the kind of internal struggles Cassie often voiced. That being said, I guess characters like Rachel and Marco are more fun to read.
But I totally agree that she had the potential to have a dark, manipulative side. Though I think we had enough darkness with Rachel, especially towards the end there.
Hi char, welcome to RAF! I'm Tara, you can post an intro thread here: http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?board=7.0 and, if you'd like, a personal thread here: http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?board=30.0
I also don't get the Cassie hate! Cassie was always my favorite character, too. I sympathized much more with her moral debate and animal-loving than Marco's humor or Rachel's battle-craziness, as interesting as the other characters were. I think it would have been interesting to see Cassie's dark side, which was only hinted at in #41 when she and her Yeerk became a terrorist-slash-rebel against the Yeerk Empire. Blowing up buildings. The extreme peacemonger: Fighting and killing innocents and the enemy because it's "the right thing to do". Killing them to free them. So I think that side was there, or at least hinted at, just never fully explored.
Was Cassie really being stupid, giving Yeerks the morphing cube rather than stopping the man she loved from killing his own brother? It gave the Yeerks a big advantage, and was the one thing the Yeerks didn't have that the Animorphs did (barring Visser Three/One), but she was acting out of a rash decision to protect someone she cared about. I can't say I would have done any different.
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There was a third option, you know. That being take Tom alive. It's like a lot of sadistic choices that heroes get where they have to choose one of two things, and both would end badly. Except they're supposed to find a third option. A tiger and wolf can take down a Human controller, even if he has a dracon beam.
If anyone is going to be praised for saving earth by giving morphing power to another species, it's Elfangor. Not Cassie.
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There was a third option, you know. That being take Tom alive. It's like a lot of sadistic choices that heroes get where they have to choose one of two things, and both would end badly. Except they're supposed to find a third option. A tiger and wolf can take down a Human controller, even if he has a dracon beam.
If anyone is going to be praised for saving earth by giving morphing power to another species, it's Elfangor. Not Cassie.
Yes, but if they took down Tom, the Yeerks and the Taxxons wouldn't even think about using the morphing power to [do genocide] themselves into nothlits! Having morphing power was that unthinkable.
Cassie had the foresight to see this.
The third option is. Well. What was it again? First option was to take down Tom, second was to let him go.
Jake can't go on, he had only three legs. I don't think a wolf can drag a person fast enough till the Visser catches on.
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Cassie did not have the foresight to see this. She wasn't thinking that far ahead. also I think it's well established that Cassie can morph quickly, not to mention they didn't have to worry about their identities. They could have carried him off in their natural bodies while Visser Three was still distracted by everything else and out of sight.
Giving Yeerks morphing power to get them to turn away from V3 is an admirable plan. But not done in a way that hands V3 the box so they have to fight groups of golden eagles and stuff. It was done all wrong with no forethought at all. She was not thinking straight on any kind of level.
If she really had the foresight then, it would have been explained in the book. Instead they edited out a line that was originaly in there where Cassie said or thought "What have I done?". Then she makes some excuse in a later book. I haven't read it in forever, but fans use that, or the fact that it didn't turn out as bad in the end as it could have, to justify what she did.
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hmm, I like this. Cassie was always the quiet conscience of the group, yet willing to put those aside when the time came. I don't think there would necessarially be a good and evil should she split, there would be a moral side (if an animal is suffering, you can't put it down, because there's still hope while it's alive) and her other side would be, essentially, Marco, just more in tune with people. Point A, Point Z, I'm not getting there, you're getting there for me...
Mean Cassie would promptly go down to the Yeerk pool, kill Visser 3, and take over the invasion.
No, she'd convince him to give her control of the invasion. No need to kill him, that's wasted effort
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@chad:
I halfway agree with you.
\halfway, because, she DID saw THAT FAR ahead, it's just that, unlike Marco or Jake, she doesn't see the road from A to Z. She just sees A and Z, and the road, well, she kinda manipulates others to work itout for her.
And I think, her reason wasn't just added later. I think she said that she kept it secret. Plus, for two books, only Jake and Cassie knew what really happened with the cube. So she didnt have a chanceto explain.
Point A, Point Z, I'm not getting there, you're getting there for me...
No, she'd convince him to give her control of the invasion. No need to kill him, that's wasted effort
Yes, she'd be scary like that. Kind of like an evil Elfangor or such.
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I think her constant search for some kind of moral peace with everything that she had to do was far more interesting and relatable than, for example, Rachel's blind bloodthirstiness. I think many readers liked Rachel so much (and Marco for that matter) because we all secretly wish that how we would be able to be life threatening, war-like situations; brave, efficient and unemotional. When in fact, most of us would have had the kind of internal struggles Cassie often voiced.
I can't speak for everyone, but I would say that there is nothing wrong with struggling to decide what is right and what is wrong and reach a moral peace. I would be OK with someone voicing out against doing something wrong even if "it's necessary," I would even be OK with someone willing to die and even loose the war for humanity because they weren't willing to do something wrong (A point made early in the series was along the lines of "what's the point of wining the war for humanity if we give up what makes us human?") but the problem with Cassie is that she decides that something "Doesn't feel right" and therefore "May be wrong" but rather than ever coming to a stance on something ("This is wrong and I will never do it, no matter what the cost" or "This is not wrong, it's weird and feels creepy and against my nature, but isn't actually wrong so I need to prepare to do it if I must") but instead is ready to throw a wrench in things when they need to decide. I can respect when a person has morals and am OK with this aspect that her character brings to the team, but I can't respect when a person is going to say that they 'have morals' when they are not willing to sort out vague feelings into beliefs, because being unwilling to sort out what is or isn't right for you in Cassie's case means being willing to let people die because she's unwilling to decide.
Do I hate Cassie? No. But she did spend time acting as a weak link instead of a moral compass (Which isn't to say that the other characters didn't have flaws or that character flaws are a bad thing).
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Since I'm involved in the rereading, I will get around to rereading books 50 and beyond, and make a more informed decision than trying to remember from way back when I read the final arc.
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I think the problem people are having with Cassie was that Cassie was very human. She made stupid, arrogant, foolish decisions based on some desperate desire to cling onto her morality in the face of war. Ironically I kind of like her as a character because of these psychological failures. It's exactly what a real, self-centered person with her sort of mind would do.
Though I think the other issue people are having is that the author favored her as a character. This is probably true.
My personal closest sympathies belong to Jake, actually. He's at once the most peculiar and the most ordinary of the Animorphs. A regular kid thrust into a position only he can take but doesn't want. Fun stuff.
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Actually, Cassie made the abrupt decision to bar Jake from killing his own brother all for the sake of the morphing cube with the possible future in mind. If I'm not mistaken, the book says that something inside her told her to let Tom take the morphing cube. So she did. And later on, even Jake questions her angrily, saying that her wolf morph could have stopped Tom without killing him. Why didn't she go after him? And Cassie isn't quite sure of her actions but she totally believed that what she did was correct, and I'd even go as far as saying she'd probably do it again, given the same circumstanes. It wasnt till later that she saw her actions as justifiable.
Cassie does things for a reason, this seemed like a more mystical reason that even she could not fully comprehend, but she went with her gut. It wasnt till after she did what she did that she began to see the many possiblilities. And even Ax and Jake were floored by her actions once she openly discussed them with the group.
Cassie was one of my favorite characters. I loved reading about her from ther perspective of the other Animorphs. But i really was not fond of her own books. Ugh, she was not entirely the same person. She was less hopey, more average, and had way more enthusiasm then she's been shown to exhibit. I guess its her actions in the other books (minus her own) that really bring out her character.
I esp love when its her and Rachel in a scene together. You can really see the chemistry and the reasons for why they're best friends. They play off each other well
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I never understood why there was so much Cassie hating!! Cassie was one of my favorite characters growing up, and even more so now as an adult. I think her constant search for some kind of moral peace with everything that she had to do was far more interesting and relatable than, for example, Rachel's blind bloodthirstiness. I think many readers liked Rachel so much (and Marco for that matter) because we all secretly wish that how we would be able to be life threatening, war-like situations; brave, efficient and unemotional. When in fact, most of us would have had the kind of internal struggles Cassie often voiced. That being said, I guess characters like Rachel and Marco are more fun to read.
But I totally agree that she had the potential to have a dark, manipulative side. Though I think we had enough darkness with Rachel, especially towards the end there.
They were people's favorite b/c they were more entertaining to read....I mean, the only entertaining book Cassie had was the Helmacrons book. With them 2 being more entertaining to read, we easily grasped their personalities and character...well that's my opinion.
And honestly, Cassie's my least favorite, but I still liked her character in the book series. She was a lot braver than people realize, we saw it against the Veleek, and many times her morals were put to the side for the greater good of the fight.
Post Merged: July 07, 2010, 01:54:22 AM
If i'm not mistaken, didn't Jake mention it in The Answer? He said something like "you knew this would happen all along?" Cassie knew wat she was doing, or at least, had an idea and got lucky when it worked out
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It's interesting, when I was a lot younger and starting to read the series Cassie and her books were always my favorite. At like 8 or 9 I, get this, I liked her because of the animals she morphed on her book covers best. But that aside, once I really started getting into the books I felt like I could relate most to her character and her morals. As the series progressed and I got a little older I found her morality to be just too much and she fell to be my least favorite of the Animorphs. Not saying that I don't like good characters, because I do, but I think that books where Cassie's shown more "edge" and is more manipulative I find to be the most intriguing for her. After re-reading the series it's easy to see that Cassie really has the least character development compared to everyone else so it's kind of nice to see her every now and then break out of character and not always being the saint that the writers made her out to be (this excludes her "betrayal" at the end of the series, I'm more specifically talking about like the David incident).
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get this, I liked her because of the animals she morphed on her book covers best.
I agree, i think the wolf cover is one of my favorite ones
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Even if she did know, I still don't think that would make it more right. She took it upon herself to do something that would change things as dramatically as possible, when they always vote on important decisions.
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I did like what happened to Cassie in Book #41. Although it struck me at the time as quite far out of character, the manipulative side of her shown in that guerilla war was probably an accurate shift in her personality. We got to see so few examples of the part of her mind closest to my own, unfortunately. :P
It's interesting however that Jake would see that as a logical progression. Considering he was in love with her. And it was created from his fears and memories. I guess that proves that somewhere in there he knows there's more to Cassie than what he sees daily.
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When I was a kid, Cassie was one of my favorite characters, aside from Ax and Tobias. (The only one who has remained one of my favorites is still Ax, though to be honest it's not like I actively dislike any of the characters - though I do have lots of complaints about Cassie.)
The thing is, when I got older and read the stuff, I was constantly stuck wondering this or that about the series. Cassie's an estreen. Okay, we can say she works with animals or that she's more spiritual, etc., etc. Cassie's the only one other than Tobias (who turns out to be Andalite in some strange way, so I guess this could be called forshadowing unless that wasn't planned at the time) who can hear Ax's call under the ocean (Cue blame on morphing powers). Cassie can do morphing anomalies that apparently haven't been duplicated even by Andalites who have done careers like morph-dancing their entire life - and she's never had training in the act of morphing, this talent is au natural. (Well, everyone has a right to be special?) Cassie's a space-time anomaly. Well, I guess anyone can get lucky twice... Cassie is so magnificent and awesome she can get through three missions where she's basically the only useful or present character and still win (Okay, this is getting a little unrealistic.) Any mistake Cassie makes (or risk) turns out to be the benefit and major turning point in the war (What? Really? No real mistakes?). Three of the books are essentially solo-Cassie journeys - The Departure, The Sickness, and whichever one she ends up with Aldrea.
So when I've read as an adult, my problem with Cassie is not that she's human - it's that somehow, unlike the other characters in the series, Cassie always manages to come out looking like an infallible goddess. The other characters, by contrast, have a lot of problems and seem way more human to me...
That, and when I read later on I'd also note things that really bug me. I haven't mentioned my problem with "noble savage" type commentary or "isolated from the world" types of commentary put in either by Cassie or just a general book, but there definitely were a few problems with them.
I could go on, but there's lots of reasons Cassie fell out as one of my favorites.
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I agree with everything you said. It's weird especially since as a kid Cassie, Ax and Tobias were my favorites and now, like you, only Ax is still among my faves. What really bothered me I guess is how the writers made Cassie into such a saint. Like yeah she had human qualities and morals and stuff, but on the other hand she did no wrong. The favoritism towards Cassie just got to be too much in my opinion. After re-reading through the series, and being a bit older, I feel like the human qualities of what they were going through and the emotional turmoil of what they were doing/had done were better shown through Jake's character and the voice of morality was better shown through Tobias...
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That's probably the main thing that irks me about what Cassie did in 50. I don't remember anyone except maybe Jake verbally thrashing her for what she did. Tobias even told Jake that excluding her from a meeting was beyond wrong, and he didn't even defend himself. He even did it by accident and I think felt guilty about it.
Then again, I'll have to get around to rereading the final arc to really talk about it.
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Cassie is as obvious of an author-insert as Bella Swan.
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Alexolknine, I agree 100% with your assessment of Cassie.
Even if she did know, I still don't think that would make it more right. She took it upon herself to do something that would change things as dramatically as possible, when they always vote on important decisions.
What bugs me even more about the unilateral decision was that she still could have gotten her way if there was a group meeting. She would have easily gotten support from Tobias and Jake. Marco would have been on board once he figured out the strategic benefits. Rachel has always been supportive of Cassie. Understandably, Ax would've been the biggest holdout, but he has grown up enough to make decision based on doing what's right rather than what the Andalite military wants.
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I agree with everything you said. It's weird especially since as a kid Cassie, Ax and Tobias were my favorites and now, like you, only Ax is still among my faves. What really bothered me I guess is how the writers made Cassie into such a saint. Like yeah she had human qualities and morals and stuff, but on the other hand she did no wrong. The favoritism towards Cassie just got to be too much in my opinion. After re-reading through the series, and being a bit older, I feel like the human qualities of what they were going through and the emotional turmoil of what they were doing/had done were better shown through Jake's character and the voice of morality was better shown through Tobias...
You know what's really funny? Ax betrays them at least three times in the series that we know of (The Decision, The Deception, and The Sacrifice). There are several times where he goes out of his way to be a traitor to the humans and the human cause, only to come back because these are his comrades and he just can't accept the Andalites treating humans as inferior at the cost of their entire species. Twice or more he referred to himself as human, and completely ignores that later on. The Decision and in The Sacrifice? He's just plain mean until he is put in a situation where he has to remember he loves them and they're his comrades. Unlike his brother Elfangor around the Taxxon Home World, he suggests and flushes the Yeerks of the Pool Ship around Earth into space.
Yet in some ways these disappointing decisions make him really human and believable. He's separated from his people, he's proud of being an Andalite, the Yeerks are his primary goal, and he's hardened by war - unlike Elfangor, who tried to make the honorable decision long before he'd become war-hardened.
Hahaha, we had this conversation in the LJ community too, so I've had the opportunity to really think about the reasons why Ax remained a favorite while Cassie did not.
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It's his motives more than anything else. Ax has loyalty issues because he's not Human. Cassie has loyalty issues because she doesn't want to change herself. Any time Ax has loyalty issues it's because he wants to be loyal to his friends and his people. However Cassie's people are the same as her friends, so any time she does something stupid she's betraying her friends and her people.
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You know what's really funny? Ax betrays them at least three times in the series that we know of (The Decision, The Deception, and The Sacrifice). There are several times where he goes out of his way to be a traitor to the humans and the human cause, only to come back because these are his comrades and he just can't accept the Andalites treating humans as inferior at the cost of their entire species. Twice or more he referred to himself as human, and completely ignores that later on. The Decision and in The Sacrifice? He's just plain mean until he is put in a situation where he has to remember he loves them and they're his comrades. Unlike his brother Elfangor around the Taxxon Home World, he suggests and flushes the Yeerks of the Pool Ship around Earth into space.
Yet in some ways these disappointing decisions make him really human and believable. He's separated from his people, he's proud of being an Andalite, the Yeerks are his primary goal, and he's hardened by war - unlike Elfangor, who tried to make the honorable decision long before he'd become war-hardened.
Hahaha, we had this conversation in the LJ community too, so I've had the opportunity to really think about the reasons why Ax remained a favorite while Cassie did not.
I know I do find Ax frustrating when he constantly has his inner battles of humans vs Andalites, but like you said it's understandable since he's an outsider on Earth among his friends. I guess I find all of his betrayals excusable since for #18, he was so much more naive and it was the first time he was among his own species, #46 he was doing what he knew had to be done and he even got support from half the team, and #52 yeah he contacted the Andalite fleet, but he never really went through with anything with them.
Also, I like how in all those books even when he knows he's betrayed them or he's mad at them or they him, he always says things like "I'm glad I'm going back to my forest where I live" or "I kept seeing their faces" or "Despite Prince Jake's suspicions and Rachel's anger I felt at home" which made all his betrayals even more excusable since even though his actions were doing what he thought was necessary to winning (for the most part) he still cared about all of them. I'm sorry I don't think what I'm trying to say is coming out very good. Anyways, I better stop, this is a Cassie thread not an Ax thread haha.
Who are you on LJ? I feel like I should know this since I recognize that userpic...
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Yeah, I think I agree with the points listed since then.
As for who I am, I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you. Or not. Really, it's not that hard to figure out since I plaster my fanfic account everywhere. But I don't want to subject anyone to my really boring blog posts.
My really, really boring blog posts.
Besides that, my userpics are used by lots of users... Or a minimum of three users in that community anyway. They were made by what used to be my icon account, animorphfanatic. But I got so annoyed at the ads I deleted it and it has since purged.
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I think the problem people are having with Cassie was that Cassie was very human. She made stupid, arrogant, foolish decisions based on some desperate desire to cling onto her morality in the face of war. Ironically I kind of like her as a character because of these psychological failures. It's exactly what a real, self-centered person with her sort of mind would do.
Yep. That's basically how I feel.
I could sorta of see how someone could think Cassie is a self-insert/Mary Sue but the fact that this thread can come up with bad qualities of Cassie proves that she isn't. Despite her saintly qualities, she is called out a lot on her moralizing and hypocrisy by the other characters. And while her "betrayal" at the end of the series ended up saving humanity, it also got Tom and Rachel killed and started a new war with a new enemy with morphing technology so she doesn't get away with it. I think she was a much needed voice to the group and the series to complete deconstruct the whole "kid superhero" genre by giving a perspective not usually heard in that type of media. It's usually all "kick butt and take names."
Maybe since Cassie was an unpopular character, Reynolds and Applegate took great care to establish that Cassie IS an integral part of the group and drive home the message of the series about the right and wrongs of war and not the who beat who. I don't really see it as favoritism, I actually thought Rachel and Tobias (the few books he has had) got to do cooler plots but YMMV.
And betrayal? Really?
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I could sorta of see how someone could think Cassie is a self-insert/Mary Sue but the fact that this thread can come up with bad qualities of Cassie proves that she isn't. Despite her saintly qualities, she is called out a lot on her moralizing and hypocrisy by the other characters. And while her "betrayal" at the end of the series ended up saving humanity, it also got Tom and Rachel killed and started a new war with a new enemy with morphing technology so she doesn't get away with it. I think she was a much needed voice to the group and the series to complete deconstruct the whole "kid superhero" genre by giving a perspective not usually heard in that type of media. It's usually all "kick butt and take names."
Maybe since Cassie was an unpopular character, Reynolds and Applegate took great care to establish that Cassie IS an integral part of the group and drive home the message of the series about the right and wrongs of war and not the who beat who. I don't really see it as favoritism, I actually thought Rachel and Tobias (the few books he has had) got to do cooler plots but YMMV.
Actually, considering several people here have noted a shift in their preference of Cassie to other characters, I doubt Cassie being disliked would have been a reason for giving her all those superpowers during the series being created.
After all, the "bad qualities of Cassie" tends to be that even her worst mistakes ended up being superhuman insights that the others were just too stupid to understand at the time, or something. Not that I consider Cassie to be a Mary-Sue, but she's not moving back to the top of my Animorph list anytime soon.
Also, FWIW, it seems pretty certain they would have not won the war without the Yeerks getting the morphing cube - it's what caused the Taxxons and many other Yeerks to defect, making the final battle possible (the chance of the Animorphs getting another shot before the Andalites turned the planet to charcoal wasn't very good). And in that final battle, it was Erek King who disabled the Pool Ship's weaponry which allowed the Blade Ship to get away (though it probably would have anyway - they very heavily noted its lack of agility). Rachel was pretty much doomed any way that last mission ended unless the ship could have been disabled, and that was anything but Cassie's fault.
The Andalites weren't going to let the Yeerks get away regardless of the morphing cube - they create thousands of grubs every time they reproduce; it doesn't exactly take them long to build an army the instant they find a planet with suitable hosts. And I doubt The One really cared in the least about the morphing cube.
All in all, I'm not sure how any of that could be pointed toward Cassie with any ease, unless we were going to assume Earth could be saved without being turned to charcoal without the morphing cube being forfeited.
As for plots, I'm having a hard time seeing how Rachel's plots could be considered cool compared to Cassie's :/ She basically never graces my favorite Animorphs books lists precisely because of the plot. Whereas Cassie's often do, even if I may be a disappointed with execution at times. But, as you said, to each their own and mileage may vary, etc., etc.
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After all, the "bad qualities of Cassie" tends to be that even her worst mistakes ended up being superhuman insights that the others were just too stupid to understand at the time, or something. Not that I consider Cassie to be a Mary-Sue, but she's not moving back to the top of my Animorph list anytime soon.
She's not a complete Mary-Sue but, along with being amazingly gifted, her viewpoints often reflect the author's. Of course, in fairness Cassie also ends up indecisive and hesitant about ideas that KA may have a very strong stance on. So no, not really a Mary-Sue, but it's fair to note that she does have some of those traits to some degree.
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After all, the "bad qualities of Cassie" tends to be that even her worst mistakes ended up being superhuman insights that the others were just too stupid to understand at the time, or something. Not that I consider Cassie to be a Mary-Sue, but she's not moving back to the top of my Animorph list anytime soon.
She's not a complete Mary-Sue but, along with being amazingly gifted, her viewpoints often reflect the author's. Of course, in fairness Cassie also ends up indecisive and hesitant about ideas that KA may have a very strong stance on. So no, not really a Mary-Sue, but it's fair to note that she does have some of those traits to some degree.
But as I said, I don't consider her to be a Mary-Sue. Just the most unrealistically gifted of the characters.
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As for plots, I'm having a hard time seeing how Rachel's plots could be considered cool compared to Cassie's :/ She basically never graces my favorite Animorphs books lists precisely because of the plot. Whereas Cassie's often do, even if I may be a disappointed with execution at times. But, as you said, to each their own and mileage may vary, etc., etc.
Hmm, really? Cassie is a favorite of mine, but I can't say I liked too many of her books. I think the only ones I liked were The Departure, The Sickness, and The Unexpected. The rest were kinda blah for me, even The Prophecy fell flat (I didn't like the tone really) and especially the "funny" books she got. Whereas Rachel's struggle with knowing where the line was fascinated me.
In any case, perhaps the reason Cassie got these plots and became a space time anomaly was to connect her to the war, perhaps the reason why I didn't really like her books was because she doesn't have a personal connection to the Yeerk conflict or it didn't change her as dynamically as it did Rachel. IDK.
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As for plots, I'm having a hard time seeing how Rachel's plots could be considered cool compared to Cassie's :/ She basically never graces my favorite Animorphs books lists precisely because of the plot. Whereas Cassie's often do, even if I may be a disappointed with execution at times. But, as you said, to each their own and mileage may vary, etc., etc.
Hmm, really? Cassie is a favorite of mine, but I can't say I liked too many of her books. I think the only ones I liked were The Departure, The Sickness, and The Unexpected. The rest were kinda blah for me, even The Prophecy fell flat (I didn't like the tone really) and especially the "funny" books she got. Whereas Rachel's struggle with knowing where the line was fascinated me.
In any case, perhaps the reason Cassie got these plots and became a space time anomaly was to connect her to the war, perhaps the reason why I didn't really like her books was because she doesn't have a personal connection to the Yeerk conflict or it didn't change her as dynamically as it did Rachel. IDK.
Rachel got the Giant Squid useless plot of doom, the Oatmeal, Animorphs' version of Justin Timberlake and a few others that just drove me nuts with annoyance at wasted material and like... just entertainment stuff.
Cassie could have just as easily been destined to be an Animorph because she was an estreen! XD
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Hmm, The Unexpected I suppose was overall useless but I still liked it, putting the Anis in a high pressure situation and it was interesting to see how they would get themselves through that mess.
The oatmeal book was so absurd it ended working, thanks to all the lampshading of the characters to just how absurd the situation was.
The crocodile book was hilarious, and I still crack a smile reading it.
Oh, thread topic? Cassie? She's cool.
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Rachel got the Giant Squid useless plot of doom, the Oatmeal, Animorphs' version of Justin Timberlake and a few others that just drove me nuts with annoyance at wasted material and like... just entertainment stuff.
I don't see The Exposed (with the giant squid) as being that bad, sure it didn't progress the ongoing storyline in a meaningful way (other than introducing the Drode, all though all he ever really does is serve as plot devices rather than be an actual character), but it makes sense for those filler books to occur because their plots are usually based on the Yeerks making a move and the Anis being on the defensive rather than the other way around; which is just a much a part of the Anis' war as them making their own offensive strategies to slow down the Yeerk invasion (in this case, it wasn't a Yeerk plot, but same idea, the situation placed the Anis on the defensive and they had to act to protect their interests before they could continue their efforts).
Yes, the oatmeal was ridiculous of course, and even more annoying is the fact that they never acknowledged it as a potential weapon again even though they acted as though they were required to use it as a weapon that once as soon as they learned about it.
But what Justin Timberlake are you talking about?
Edit: Nevermind, I get it. But Jeremy Jason McCole wasn't Justin Timberlake, he was Jonathan Taylor Thomas. If all JJM/JTT's character clues (such as the fairly uncommon use of all three names as a celebrity) are not enough then look at the show he is on: Power House on which Jeremy Jason McCole is, from the perspective of a teenage girl, the star...unless you count the comedian who plays his dad. Come on get with the 90s :).
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But what Justin Timberlake are you talking about?
Edit: Nevermind, I get it. But Jeremy Jason McCole wasn't Justin Timberlake, he was Jonathan Taylor Thomas. If all JJM/JTT's character clues (such as the fairly uncommon use of all three names as a celebrity) are not enough then look at the show he is on: Power House on which Jeremy Jason McCole is, from the perspective of a teenage girl, the star...unless you count the comedian who plays his dad. Come on get with the 90s :).
You're right. I had a brain fart and meant to say JTT, who was the adorable Simba Cub and Home Improvement, etc., etc. I loved JTT, but I ended up saying Justin Timberlake, haha.
I don't know, I liked Cassie's books more plot-wise. My first book wasThe Message and it remains one of my favorites (the only useful/good book involving a cetacean, IMO). She gets the book with Aldrea, even if Aldrea was poorly portrayed. She gets the book where she rescues Ax... There are many more Cassie books I am likely to read because of the plot of that particular story in comparison to Rachel. So I feel like it's hard to argue that Rachel got the better plot-lines - she got so much irrelevant stuff to the overall story arc or character development I had a hard time bringing myself to add them to my collection whenever they came out. I am far more likely to read a Cassie book over a Rachel book to this day for the same reason.
A veerrry hard time. Whereas Cassie had the way cooler plots IMO most of the time, save maybe two books I can think of in an offhand manner, but she had a ridiculous amount of superb capabilities, whereas Rachel is just brave-going-on-bloodthirsty. Point being, my problem is Cassie is too strong a character who gets (as far as I can tell) a lot of the way-awesome qualities. The other Animorphs? Not so much, except that they're related to important heroes or villains in some way or another.