Cassie

[Red]

But does she really want the war to be over? Do people here subscribe to the idea that she really does love the fight, or that she's just prepared to do more to speed up its end?

[LisaCharly]

I really don't get how Cassie is the most hated character when Jake doesn't even get interesting until 53 books in, but whatevsies.

Personally, I love Cassie. I love that she's a hypocrite and self-righteous, because flaws are what makes characters interesting. How boring would it be if Rachel wasn't an abrasive action junkie, if Marco wasn't an uncooperative jerk, if Tobias wasn't an angst factory with a martyr complex, if Ax didn't start off unquestioningly loyal to a society that makes crappy decisions? I think a lot of people take exception to the way Cassie is never cussed out by the others, but really, she is, usually by Marco and Rachel. Off the top of my head she gets cussed out in #16, #19, #28, #50 and #52 in fairly significant way. Compare that to, say, Marco, who blows their cover twice and never gets called out for it.

I generally think that the others put up with Cassie's moralizing because they're kids. Kids tend to draw arbitrary lines in the sand as to what is or isn't okay without really thinking about the long-term consequences, and kids tend to lift others onto pedestals and accept their declarations of morals as absolute truths. Especially in a war scenario, they need to feel like at least one of them knows where the line is, so that Cassie can tell the others when they're going too far. So it's not that Cassie's beyond reproach, just that they've set her up to be the good guy, so if they want to play the bad guy and call her out, they've got to have a really good reason. I don't really think that's Cassie's fault so much as the group psychology of the team. As much as they've designated Rachel, and to an extent Marco, as the bad guys, they've also set up Cassie to be the good one, so they can all measure where they fall on a moral scale in relation to each other. To them, the fact that Cassie's still with them stands as a testament to the fact that they're still the good guys - that's why everyone reacts so harshly to her decision to quit in #19, because they not only take it as a betrayal but as her calling them immoral.

Am I making any sense?

Anyway, I think Cassie is probably one of the most accurate to her age range. I feel like she's the one who tends to make the stupid mistakes (1234-5678), shift blame around, act on desperate and well-intentioned impulses (#19, #50), and put short-term goals (not killing, protecting Jake) over long-term successes (winning the war, keeping the morphing box). And it's not like her morals don't shift over the series. Certainly she doesn't get a big dramatic shift like Ax's "I betray the Andalites!" or Jake's sending James' people to die, but she does start going along with more and more morally questionable things. I mean, in #43 she refuses to blow up the Yeerk Pool. In #52, she's one of the people riding the subway on in.

I MEAN WHATEVER. TEAM CASSIE YO.

[Chad32]

The thing about Jake is that even though he's a bit bland, he isn't abrasive either. I don't dislike him because there's not much to really dislike about him. I don't really like him because aside from leadership abilities which any one of them could have with enough effort there really isn't anything about him that stands out.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Exactly. As the stereotypical leader character, Jake's just kind of...well, he's there. That's about it for most of us I think, that's how it is for me anyway. He's the same to me as say Cyclops from X-Men or Leonardo from the TMNT. They're the leaders that are always going to be the one you turn to in a crisis, but they're usually not the most interesting of characters, even if they're arguably the most important one to a story (I'm assuming on the X-Men front though, cuz if the live-action movies showed us anything, it's that Wolverine's more important ). There's always that background character who's funny (Marco, Ice-Man, Michelangelo), or the one who kicks a lot of butt (Rachel, Wolverine, Raphael) who's far more interesting and gets more fan-love.

Bringing this back to Cassie though, Jake is a lot blander than her, but since he is just the required leader, nobody really smacks him with it. Cassie's preaching love in a war, which is a good thing, someone has to do that. But there's times to where she really should have just given it up and fought as hard as the rest of them, I believe that if she'd done that, events in the end of the series would have turned out much happier. Rachel would have been alive probably, because the Yeerks never would have had morphing power, for example.

Though, I do like that they gave them the power to morph to become nothlits later. And from an 'upping the ante' point of view, giving them the power to morph before then was a really cool idea. It was just a bad move on Cassie's part.

[Alex Oiknine]

Most of my issues with Cassie could have easily never shown up with just a little editing of her pieces and a lot of editing of Rachel books so I felt that a wider variety of the books by all characters would be things I would actually be willing to just go out and read at some points. As my avvie might suggest to some people, I actually do pick up the Cassie books a lot. I think, plot-wise, she's given a lot of the best material aside from Marco.

Jake is bland (I know, I'm trying to narrate with him right now) but he often got cool plots, IMO. So he doesn't come off as unlikable. I mean, he got #6 which has to be my favorite book or really close to it. And it doesn't even have an adequate amount of Ax in it because he's playing Jake most of the time. So that says a lot.

Because, as one *might* think based on my avvie, if it doesn't have Ax in it, it's hardly worth reading.

[CounterInstinct]

Well, Jake's "blandness" what makes him real as well, like how you say Cassie is a real character. He's your average joe, with average grades, average athletic ability, and an average family. Then BAM! He gets to lead the only force hindering Earth's enslavement. It's as if Chad29 suddenly became the leader of the Animorphs. 

He's a pretty interesting character too. Many people dislike book 11 because of the Sario Rip plot, but it gives us an idea on how mentally difficult Jake's position is. He takes blame of anything wrong that happens, and that just shows how leaders must be. Leaders shouldn't just order around, but should be responsible for their decisions, and most importantly should be willing to do the very things he orders. This Jake subtly implies throughout the series.

And to Cassie, like other people already said, her "imperfectness" was ruined by being right every single time.

[Chad32]

It's as if Chad29 suddenly became the leader of the Animorphs.

Yeah!....Wait. What?

Yes, Jake is kind of a classic protagonist. One of those with a nice peaceful if boring life when something happens suddenly that changes his world forever. You see this in video games like Legend of Zelda, and whatnot.

[estrid]

I would change the fact that she existed

ME TOO! she totally dragged down the series

[Alex Oiknine]

And to Cassie, like other people already said, her "imperfectness" was ruined by being right every single time.

Exactly. It could have easily been changed so that wouldn't work. My original response was and included some of the things that would make me feel better reading about her as an adult, but that's the basic truth. She had lots of abilities, basically all her decisions end up all right (the same cannot be said of Jake, Marco, Rachel, Tobias, Ax, or anyone else - even if they manage to recover from it) and sometimes the other characters' moralities were toned down just so Cassie could make a self-righteous statement. (MM#2... Because Marco really is a complete sociopath and believes morals don't really exist??? Among other examples...)

And then at least all the other characters had some cool books and plots. Rachel had essentially zero. I know people disagree with me here, but I basically thought #2, #7, #12, #17... Wait let me fix this: Other than the Crayak book (maaaaybe) and The Solution I felt most of Rachel's narrations were just a huge, gigantic waste of time. I don't ever sit there and go, "Hey, you know what would be a really fun read right now, a [insert Rachel-book title here]." And it has nothing to do with her being a bad character. Her plots just, IMO, generally suck as far as plot, series development, and often character development go.

Cassie definitely develops and changes and molds as a character, has a lot of plots that I think are cool (peoples' problems with The Prophecy aside because let's face it, it had huge potential had it been written properly), but she's a superhero more than anyone else. They could have easily not made her such a superhero. Instead of accomplishing morphing miracles in spite of Aldrea, she could have accomplished a morphing miracle no Andalite has ever accomplished with Aldrea's help. Some of her decisions just maybe could blow up in her face more than ultimately being the right decision, make it a hassle for the rest of the team (as often happens with Jake or Marco or Rachel or occasionally even Ax.)

I don't wish Cassie didn't exist. And my ability to like Cassie could have easily been fixed, with some editing.  As it is, Cassie is not my favorite character. Used to be in the top three, now is in the bottom three. But I mean... They're still Animorphs :3

[Chad32]

I agree with most of your post, and it does seem like Rachel gets a lot of filler books, though 7 introduced the Ellemist. 17 was the one that introduced Drode, wasn't it? Awesome villain.

[LisaCharly]

27 is the introduction of the Drode, whom I've personally never seen the appeal of. He has some good lines in #27 and then is never utilized well again, not to mention you have to wade through waist-deep obnoxious waste to find his good zingers.

[EscafilDevice]

stfu Rachel had AWESOME early books

honestly i felt like the only filler book pre-ghostwriting was #11. #2 introduced the Chapmans, which opened the door for an interesting sub-plot that was never fleshed out and revealed Rachel's motivations for fighting. #7 developed her character with the conflict with her dad, introduced the Ellimist, and they DESTROYED THE KANDRONA. hello, huge setback for the yeerks.

#12 and #17 weren't major plot books, but i love reading them because they're REAL Rachel. early Rachel is an awesome character, like i've always said, #21 still gives me chills. #27 and #32 were not as good as they could've been, #48 was an embarassment, and #37 is unspeakable.

rachel ftw

[estrid]

what i hated most about cassie was that she gave this big hypocritical spiel about how killing hostless yeerks was bad, cruel and evil; yadda yadda. yet she didnt have the same reserve for killing the host to kill the yeerk. DESPITE knowing the host was a slave to the yeerk being forced to do evil things, and who other wise would be a peaceful non violent person. wth?

[Terenia]

Hm, I have to disagree with you on the Rachel books, Alex. I found that most of Rachel's narrations were quite interesting as far as plot and character development went (especially 7, 22 and even the dreaded 48). I think her personality helped to carry quite a few of the plots that were more abysmal (#32, for example). She was relatable to young readers in a way that Cassie just wasn't able to be.

On the other hand, many of Cassie's books, despite important events occurring (like #4, the discovery of Ax) fail to capture my interest. The better points of the plot are overwhelmed with moral rationalizing and it really becomes grating after awhile. That said, there are definite exceptions to the rule: #19 and #29 are two of my favorite books in the series.

[LisaCharly]

#19 is one of the most vital books in the series, to me.