Battle morphs.

[Cloak]

And Jake was a lion.

I disagree.  I'm kinda glad he wasn't.  I feel like lions tend to get too much "screen time" in comparison to tigers, if you know what I mean.

[Mira]

And Jake was a lion.

I disagree.  I'm kinda glad he wasn't.  I feel like lions tend to get too much "screen time" in comparison to tigers, if you know what I mean.

I know what you mean! And I agree!!

[Cloak]

Thank you Mira.  Of course, male Siberian tigers are larger and about two hundred pounds heavier.  And in most places where both are included lions always turn out to be the leaders.  It's a bit cliche.

[Chad32]

You're probably right. Give other big cats more screentime. But as far as Cassie goes, a wolf morph has no other choice but to go for the throat. So picking a morph that can nonlethally incapacitate would have fit her more.

[Venus]

Considering how the Hork Bajir were described as seven foot tall razor blades, I often wonder how a hawk or wolf did any real damage at all.

Tobias always went for the eyes, but yeah, I often wondered why he didn't get injured during battles more. I looked it up online, Red Tails weigh about 3 pounds. You'd think one good swat from a Hork Bajir would have taken him down pretty effectively.

[Mira]

That's right, I saw a red tail on a documentary once. It was fighting with a fox about a rabbit, and it seemed very clumsy. Not like an animal that would be able to fight a battle with an alien who can move that fast.

[Darth Revan]

yeah, but that's the animal fighting, with animal tactics and animal battle understanding.

With the pairing of human intellect, Tobias was able to gain enough speed, and choose the right H-B to take them out without getting hit.

Also Tobias struck when the fight was in full swing. Not many H-Bs were staring at a bird in the sky waiting to strike when they had 5 other targets right in front of them.

Tobias was the perfect scout/artillery fire.

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I think Cassie's morph was perfect for her nature and her position on fighting. Wolves have no choice but to kill. They can't hurt or maim, they kill or run. And that fits Cassie perfectly. She either doesn't kill at all, or she takes out whatever will kill her.

A lion would have been a bad choice because it's too flashy. A lion couldn't stalk it's prey unless it was surrounded by grass. A tiger can duck under cover without having to worry about its hairdo giving itself away. It has approx the same power and speed, but a tiger can be sneakier

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Yeah, Rachel's change in battle morph was one of necessity. Her elephant is too big in many situations. Also the elephant can't manuever very well, it's very slow. Sure an elephant can gain speed, but it takes a bit. The bear is more versitile than an elephant.

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I found Marco perfectly suited to the gorrila, the gorrila is big and powerful, but it can have fun and be funny when it wants to. Marco never really wanted to be a part of the fighting, so it's understandable why he would choose a less than lethal choice, plus Big Jim can still be a crack up.

[adeon222]

Tiger all the way... No question there. I also thought it would've been cool if someone had a Black Panther.

Also, Rachel did use her Elephant morph on many occasions as a battle morph... but the grizzly was just so much more "her"... Blind battle fury and raw power... It's really the only good fit for Rachel or the grizzly...

For some reason it always struck me as kind of awkward when anyone went into battle as a snake... Anyone else? I dunno, it just seems to me to be like more of an assassination weapon than a battle morph...

[anijen21]

lollll yes there was that one battle Marco was whipping Ax around like a bullwhip and I just felt so much second-hand embarrassment like "um Ax has probably the coolest battle morph out of all you guys why are you wasting it..."

I think they did use it to pretty good effect in #21, though, when it was like a stealth thing to see if the Hork-Bajir were real or not.

[Chad32]

was that when they were going around trying to tag the Horks with venom?

[adeon222]

There were a few times, right? Marco in the David trilogy a few times, and I can't remember other times... I think a rattlesnake by Ax, and Marco might have done the Cobra some more...

[Darth Revan]

I'm fairly certain that no one used a snake as a regular battle morph.

[adeon222]

You're right... I'm saying it was weird when they used it in battle at all...
Sorry if that's off topic...

[Darth Revan]

No, not at all. Your post seemed to entail that they had someone as a snake each battle, I was just clarifying that the snake morph was only for specific purposes.

[Phoenix004]

I agree that Rachel's decision to acquire the Grizzly was a psychological decison. She was confused about the thing with her dad leaving and also more nervous than she let on about going back to the Yeerk Pool. There's also the more practical reason that Elephants can't always be used in a battle situation due to their extreme size and weight, but I think that was just the logic she used to justify doing it. The fact that she went and acquired it on her own and didn't tell anyone speaks volumes.

I know Cassie's wold morph is frequently considered to be too weak for some of the battles they went through, but I think the wolf morph is underestimated. They're strong, fast, have super enhanced senses and reflexes as well as excellent stamina, a valuable trait in a long fight. There's also no reason why she would be forced to kill her opponents. Taxxon Controllers are incapacitated my minor wouds and Humans can easily be disabled by a nasty bite on the hand, arm or leg without mortally wounding them.

All the Animorphs ended up with more than one battle morph later on (eg. they all morphed Polar Bears) but they rarely used them unless they had to because it made sense to stick with what they knew was reliable. Diversity made them stronger anyway, as proved when they all went Polar Bear in #37 and Cassie was captured.