If the other Animorphs had morphed Starfish

[NateSean]

[spoiler]Rachel is split in two after morphing starfish. The result is the dual nature of her personality splitting in to two distinct people.

Good Rachel is breezy, kind natured and posesses the tenacity and focus.
Mean Rachel is blood thirsty, dominating and posesses the wrecklessness.[/spoiler]

So what would the other Animorph be like if they had been split in two? Lets keep the focus to the Animorphs and anyone else with the morphing ability. That includes David, the Auxilliaries, any "on screen" Andalite characters, etc. (Melissa is a stretch, since we only get a glimpse of her as an Animorph in MM4. I'll allow it on the basis that you keep the focus either in the context of MM4's alternate universe or what we've seen of her character in The Visitor.)

[MoppingBear]

Jake: Supreme Leader (which megamorphs book was it?) and the innocent kid he locked away in his mind sometime around book 5.

Tobias:  Tobias has compartmnetalized himself into Hawk and Human pretty well, his split selves would reflect those two aspects.

Cassie:  Both aspects of her personality are wrapped up and interdependant on each other.  She could not be the master manipulator she really is without her supreme sense of empathy.  Lets factor in the [spoiler]sub temporally grounded anomally[/spoiler] aspect and say that her two halves cause reality to start shifting around itself through random alternate timelines until she was reintigrated.

Marco:  The harmless practical joker, and the guy who goes down to the yeerk pool, kills visser 3, and asks if anyone has a problem with him taking over the invasion.

Ax: The dedicated andalite warrior, and the carefree kid personality that glimpses out when he morphs human.

[EverEstreen]

^ I think those are the most probable splits, though Marco's "sad clown" character makes me think his personality is better split into three parts.

[DinosaurNothlit]

I think you guys have pretty much nailed Jake.  He definitely has that duality between the fearless leader and the scared kid.  Interesting point, purp, he is a lot like Rachel in that sense.  I'd never have noticed that.

Ax, too, sounds like you guys have him right.  He's definitely split between being a warrior and a kid.

I agree with Russianspy about Tobias, so I've got nothing to add there.

As for Marco, I think he would be split between the reluctant joker who just wants to live his life without any complications and go out with girls, and the ruthless practical strategist who knows what to do and how to get it done.  The second one being the one who sees those 'bright clear lines' he described in book #30.

Cassie is tough, though.  But I think she'd probably be split between 'morality' and 'necessity.'  Part of her is troubled by what she's doing, but there's another part of her that knows what she needs to do and does it.  That's how she can kill innocent Hork-Bajir on one hand, but be guilt-ridden by morphing a dolphin or killing a termite on the other.  Not sure which side would get her sense of empathy, though.  On the one hand, her empathy is a tool she can use to manipulate people when it's necessary, but on the other hand, it's also the main driving force behind her morality.  Maybe it's such a core tenet to her personality that both sides would have it.  After all, both Rachels still liked to shop.

[NateSean]

Ax with all arrogance and no interest in humanity and another who's humble, weak, and desperately wants to be a human (possably grow up to be a chef)

Are you thinking of AniTV? That's the only instance where I can remember "Ax" taking an interest in cooking. Although I agree with your assessment of Marco and Jake, Ax never had a real desire to be human. He had to learn to fit in and he enjoyed eating, but I see that as more of a making lemonade situation.

For me, Ax's biggest character development was his journey from propaganda fed warrior zealot for the Andalite empire, to realizing that different species each have something unique to offer. He went from thinking of humans as weak, primitive and so low as to only being useful for vinegar and Cinnabun.

I could see one half of him still being that hardcore zealot. The warrior who is steadfast to Andalite morals and disciplines and sees himself as the superior lifeform on a primitive planet who is willing to stop at nothing to defeat the Yeerks, even if it means breaking a few eggs so to speak. Basically the Andalite army on the quarantine path all in one fifteen year-old Andalite.

The other half would probably be more sympathetic to humanity. But he'd be that clumsy eager-to-please juvenlie who only wants to live up this brother. Like others have said, he's essentially the warrior and the kid, but each side is amped up to 11.

[Aquilai]

If I may, I think an interesting split would be Visser 3 because of the host and Yeerk. Some sci-fi (take Dax from Deep Space Nine) the host and symbiote become a whole new unique character with memories and personalities from both. We're not sure how splitting a starfish really affects morphed beings. The curious part being that the Yeerk and host morph together. If you're the uninterested type then you might just be happy with the idea that Alloran and Esplin 9466 just split both with Yeerk and Andalite bodies BUT with their own minds. ie 2 Andalite(+Yeerk) but instead of 2 minds they become 1. Esplin would control an Andalite+Yeerk merge and Alloran controls another Andalite+Yeerk merge. This is just fictional convenience...

Assuming that doesn't happen however is more interesting (and more confusing )! This is the case where both Esplin and Alloran are split in the same way as Rachel. Contrasting personalities in a pair of Yeerk+Andalite host bodies. Of course there's also the possible combinations of weak-submissive, arrogant-dominating personalities in mixed bodies. To clarify the possible match ups:
Pair 1:
1 scared lacking in confidence, unambitious Esplin Yeerk matched with mentally confident Andalite War Prince Alloran.
1 arrogant confident ambitious Esplin Yeerk controlling a submissive insecure Alloran Andalite host body.

Pair 2 vice versa a mix up of minds: Yeerk in Andalite, Andalite in Yeerk.

Pair 3:
1 Both arrogant Yeerk + proud Andalite both fighting for control (Yeerk Esplin given their biology) probably wins.
1 Lacking in confidence Yeerk + Weak beaten down Andalite host.

Their interactions would be very interesting because Alloran might be able to overcome the Yeerk control in certain cases whereas he couldn't and had given up before.

Of course I used the simplistic assumption that the personality split are confidence (and ambitious) and lacking in confidence. There are way more descriptors and possibilities for personalities.

[Darth Zakryn]

Jake would be split between the strong, decisive leader and the hesitating coward. The leader, of course, would get all the confidence but no brains, whereas the coward would have all the intelligence.

Rachel... already saw her.

Tobias... I'm going to go out on a limb and say, obviously, he would morph back as a bird in both forms, but he'd be split between the nerdy little boy wanting to be the hawk and the tough kid who can defend himself. In the end, the nerd would go back to being a human and the hawk would stay a hawk and get along a lot better with Rachel.

Cassie would be split between the killer she thinks she is and the side that thinks they're doing the right thing. All in all, neither side would be able to act without the other.

Marco would be split between the funny kid with insecurities and the cold, ruthless madman. The funny kid would be stupid whereas the madman would get all the intelligence.

[Noelle]

This is an interesting topic

Ax

For Ax, I think we could get a huge hint from mm4 and book 52.  I would think one half would be an insufferable, egotistical snob that probably wouldn't even want to associate with the humans and do things his own way.  Except for the food, maybe.

I think the other half would be a scared, shell-shocked kid (from, you know, watching his entire dome ship get blown to bits, his brother dying, and being stuck alone on the planet) completely dependent on Jake and the other humans for direction.  However, I think this half would care deeply about the humans and be extremely dedicated to them because they take care of him.  While I would guess that he would perhaps feel hostile for the Andalites abandoning him, I don't think he'd want to be human.  He never expressed any interest in being anything other than Andalite, except once when he contemplated running off with Estrid, but that was more about escaping war and being with her than about being any particular race.

Jake

Jake I think would be half strong, ruthless, fearless leader.  And he would do ANYTHING to win.

The other half would be extremely conflicted and guilt ridden, incredibly paranoid about the lives of others.  I can't even seeing him being leader, he'd probably refuse to make any decisions.

Marco

For Marco, I think one half would be his joking, happy go lucky personality.  He'd probably be done with the war and want to just run around chasing girls and feeding Ax weird things, morph a surfer dude or something like that.

The other half would be kind of like the first Jake, but more a cold and calculated and brilliant strategist.  I would think he'd be almost totally devoid of emotion, since most of his emotion is either comprised of or covered up by the first personality.

Tobias

Tobias, I'm not sure, that one is rough.  I think one half would definitely be human and go with Rachel, learn to deal with his human past and be happy with her.

Honestly, I think the other half would want to still escape human life, but go be Andalite with Ax.  I think the one book with Jake where he morphs Ax and stays Ax is a huge tip off for that.  Also, he had so much emotion: mostly excitement and happiness when Ax suggested he morph Ax, and though for some reason he refused to let Ax know, he desperately wanted to know everything about Andalite culture.  I don't think he'd want to stay hawk, but then again, I don't know why he didn't go Andalite in book 54, probably mourning Rachel.

Cassie

Cassie is another rough one.  I think half of her would just go quietly along with the group, doing whatever they said, the guilt eating her alive.

The other half, honestly, I think would have left the animorphs and joined the Yeerk peace movement and tried to fix the war on that angle.

Melissa Chapman
(Based on book 2, 31, and MM3)


I've actually thought a lot about Melissa, because I'm currently in the planning stages of a fanfic series featuring her as the 7th animorph.  Its rough researching and trying to portray her accurately, because there isn't a lot to go off of in the cannon.  A lot of this is probably speculation and just taking things out of context (I have an entire degree in taking things out of context, woot English BA, lol.)

I think this split would actually be kind of sad.  In the first book she is extremely depressed and down and out, and even then Rachel says there's still strength in her.  But despite that she was like a total stranger to Rachel.  I think if you took that strength out of her she'd be depressed to the point of suicide.  Even though Rachel says she has strength, I think there would be a part of her that is mentally fragile and easily traumatized.  Even though her parents are still around, she mentally fared much worse than Marco when he though his mother was dead.

I think the other half would have the potential to be a warrior personality, though not like Rachel's.  There's the strength aspect that Rachel mentioned.  Also, despite the fact that her parents essentially began neglecting her to the point she wholeheartedly believes they don't love her, and she has no idea why, she still is extremely worried about them and, in her own way, fights for them.  I mean, I don't care if I had the coolest, best, most loving parents in the world...if a freakin gorilla tied me up and kidnapped my dad after trashing my house...I ain't looking for them, I'm letting the police sort it out.  Yet despite the fact her parents treat her like crap and she's clearly scared out of her mind (since she was calling for mommy and daddy, and I don't blame her) she's running around town looking for her daddy.  It takes balls to run around town at night, let alone after you just got tied up, your house got trashed, and your dad got kidnapped by someone when you probably weigh 98-115 pounds soaking wet.  (From a former description of Rachel's in book 2.)  I don't get the sense that she would like fighting just to fight like Rachel (because she is genuinely frightened and didn't tell off the gorilla or anything like Rachel would.)  But I think that she loves her parents so much that if she had the chance to fight, she'd give it everything she had to try and free them, and she'd be much happier doing so like she seemed in MM3.  (Though she got like, two sentences so its hard to determine what her mood was.)

Though, I definitely get the sense that she's a bit of an airhead too, from the description in MM3, where she is portrayed as never getting Marco's humor.  (I mean, how hard can it be to get his humor?  Its not particularly sophisticated.)  I don't know where that would fit in, I can't see that fitting into either extreme of a personality, if she's depressed she's too depressed to be air-headed (like in book 2) if she's focused and fighting, she's too focused to be air headed...actually.. .ok...running around the street at night can be kind of air headed, but I think that would be more of a bravery/focus thing.  I think as her mentally healthy self, she has the potential to be a real ditz.  (Though that is probably just my head canon running wild, lol, well, its a fanfic, I can take some artistic license.  I mean, if Rachel won't lament about how morphing makes plastic surgery impossible, someone has to!)