Animorphs Relaunch covers and updates

[Slushie Man]

I don't see him as any lighter then some of the classic cover models used for him.

[warren_bearclaw]

For those of us who are upset about how Caucasian Marco looks,

I can see that model being hispanic,

Guys, maybe I'm not being sensitive enough or something, but I don't think Marco looks Caucasian...

I don't see him as any lighter then some of the classic cover models used for him.

And thus, we have entered the realm of personal opinion.... It appears that some people beleive that Marco's model should look more stereotypical Hispanic (darker features being one of the dominant desired changes) and some people feel that the current model is just fine. Yes, I believe that we all understand and accept that Hispanics can (and often do) have a variety of coloring, etc. My personal opinion is that Marco should be easily identifiable as Hispanic as the books suggest.

But... to each his own.

[SuperBlue]

I would have signed the petition if I didn't have to pay for it

[LisaCharly]

You don't. You sign and then it will ask for a donation, which you don't have to pay.

I'm not going to defend some of their choices of cover model (urgh #20), but if you think this model is darker-skinned than #30 or #10's model, you might need to adjust your screen. But the point isn't to compare this model to past models so much as to the contents of the books, where Marco is described as having darker features, a trait which is underrepresented as protagonists in children's media.

But yeah, YMMV. I'm not going to browbeat anyone into signing.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     His skin bothers you? I'd be more concerned about the small animal living on this guy's head!

[LisaCharly]

Actually, the thing that bothers me the most is that I can't decide whether he looks more like Corey from Boy Meets World or Louis from Even Stevens. :3

[SuperBlue]

now THAT's scary

[AniDragon]

I find he looks like a younger version of my brother in law. (Who's Lebanese, so still not the "right" race for the character, but not white, either)

[Aniviel]

I follow Michael Grant on twitter, and he's been having the following conversation with a fan:

@thefayz btw MG has someone contacted you about whitewashing of models for the Animorphs rerelease? There's movement in Ani fandom over it

@LisaCharly I haven't heard anything about this. We haven't seen a Cassie cover yet. Do you have a link?

thefayz: @LisaCharly I just saw: Marco does look a wee bit anglo, doesn't he? Sigh. They don't really clear stuff with us. They barely talk to us.

@thefayz Fans have a petition going here http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/marcomodel_animorphs/ and sending emails to Mr/Mrs Van Stratten

@LisaCharly Who is Van Stratten?

@LisaCharly I see it now. Don't know him/her.KA is out of town will discuss when she gets home.We do NOT approva of whitewashing (more)

@LisaCharly But to be honest they may have showed us & we may not have clicked.Dont think so.But maybe.Honestly we're buried in work (more)

@LisaCharly Related example: on GONE I have a character described as overweight. Cover model not so much. Let me talk to KA. Tweet me again.

@LisaCharly We love the anifans.When Scholastic didn't care, you guys still did.We don't forget that.Good night.

[goom]

nice find.

[Slushie Man]

It's really not that big a deal. People are treating it like it's the end of the world or something.

[LisaCharly]

It's not the end of the world, but for some readers, especially some readers who remember being racial minority kids, it matters. Not saying every person who's a minority cares, or even most, but clearly a lot of people do, since there are over a hundred signatures on the petition already. It's certainly a bigger deal than Storm vs. Xena.

Also, a more complete copy of the conversation is here.

[Aniviel]

Sorry for missing some of the things you said, LisaCharly.  I'm not a regular twitter user and I got frustrated clicking around trying to figure out what was in response to what.

[LisaCharly]

No problem! Twitter is a pain in the neck, I ended up having to click through a million windows trying to get the conversation in one page.

[QIfry]

No problem! Twitter is a pain in the neck, I ended up having to click through a million windows trying to get the conversation in one page.

Oooo! You're on Twitter?! I just added you, I'm 'kheetor84'.