Would Rachel be older than Tobias?

[Darth Zakryn]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever noticed this, but since I couldn't find any recent threads detailing it, I figured I'd start it.

Tobias acquired his 13-year-old self, but it was a morph, and like all morphs, it didn't age with him. That technically means that as Rachel grew older (some believe she was 14 at the start of the series or at least close to it), she was technically dating a much younger boy. What do you guys think about this? What would have happened if she HAD survived? Would they have had to wait three or four extra years before... I dunno, whatever happened between them happened, if you get my drift. *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

Personally, I like L'Angel's theory in The After-Earth Chronicles, that Tobias's human morph aged with him, and was "probably an Ellimist trick."

[Stephquiem]

I actually always assumed the Ellimist had tweaked Tobias's morph so it would age with the others. Not the most elegant solution, but there you have it.

Yeah.  Yeah, that was it.  This is why we hate answering speculative questions -- you guys always have better answers than we do.

Regarding discarded ideas you want to bear in mind that ANIMORPHS was a very hectic thing from where we sat.  Most writers put out maybe a book a year.  We were writing 14 ANI titles plus other projects (Barf-O-Rama, some leftover stuff from previous gigs, later Everworld.)  Plus having a baby who was a preemie, moving from Florida to Minnesota then to Chicago.  Also we were running just six months ahead of publication so that any delay -- a vacation, an illness -- would mean no book for a given month.

So the things you can now read at leisure were not written at leisure.  There's an old classic bit from I Love Lucy:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wp3m1vg06Q

It was more like that than it was us sitting around sipping wine and having deep thoughts.  Normal authors can spend all day working out the exact wording for a pungent metaphor.  We had maybe 30 seconds.  Plus of course ANIMORPHS just generated an amazing amount of backstory.  Dozens of characters, dozens of species, time travel . . . So basically anything you read that looks contradictory or stupid wasn't secretly clever or brilliantly thought-out on our part, it was probably just stupid.   Jake was born during book #11 as we recall and for the year after that neither of us ever slept, so the most likely explanation is:  they were stupid tired.

Ha! I found it! *cough* Right. KA/Michael's answer to that question. Full thread here.

[Darth Zakryn]

Damn, that's efficient. Nice job, Steph. Well, if I recall correctly, it wasn't the main focus of the thread, so it's about time it finally its own thread about it!

[Stephquiem]

Super Steph to the rescue! (...Yeah, let's never call me that again...)

...But it's already been answered? I mean, did you want more discussion on it?

[Darth Zakryn]

Why not? Let's discuss everything we can!

[Ember Nickel]

I'm not sure it matters? Are you assuming he would have become a human nothlit (which we can't really take for granted)? It depends on what specifically you're talking about--like, if it was actually filling out marriage forms (say he's a nothlit, actually twenty but in a seventeen-year-old's body--the specific numbers don't matter). He would have, or not have, the right documentation either way, and three years isn't that much for someone to go "oh, you're actually twenty?" "yeah, I just look young, whatever." If he was staying in his hawk body but was actually much older than thirteen...couldn't he just do a Frolis maneuver of Jake and Marco (or other willing volunteers of the right age?)

As for...more physical actions...I'm not sure they'd really let the "age gap" make any difference.

[Darth Zakryn]

And I'm sure Rachel's lawyer mother would have a field day with that...

[Chad32]

I don't think three years is much of a gap, even if those three years difference is just how it looks. I'm sure different people have different opinions on what an acceptable age range is, but I don't think Rachel would be considered a MILF next to Tobias. Besides, anyone stupid enough to say "Wow, she looks so much older than you." wouldn't be saying it again.

[Darth Zakryn]

Yeah, but you all KNOW how fanatical the courts are about that sort of thing.

[Stephquiem]

The courts wouldn't have anything to say about it. Tobias's birth year doesn't change just because his body's younger than it would normally be. All legal documents (eg his birth certificate) would state that he and Rachel are the same age, even if they aren't physically.

[Darth Zakryn]

That would definitely be an interesting court case... When Rachel's physically 18, he's physically 15 or 14... even though he's mentally older. Hmm....

[Stephquiem]

There wouldn't BE a court case. They can't say you're younger than you are just because you look young. That would be a fiasco. The legal age to do anything would have to go up just because so many people that are 18 or 21 or however old don't look that old.

Legally, his physical age has absolutely no bearing whatsoever. Legally, he and Rachel are the same age.

Physically... well, that'd be for them to handle. XD And after a few years, there wouldn't be much of a difference. Also, dude, girls live longer than guys, this would be a bonus!

[Darth Zakryn]

Yeah, if they waited four years. That's why I like the "The Ellimist's trick aged his morph with him" idea, even if it's never substantiated.

[DinosaurNothlit]

To be fair, the books never actually state that their morphs don't age.  Everyone just assumes that they don't, mostly because flies have lifespans measured in, what, weeks?  But hey, who's to say that they don't just re-acquire flies every couple of weeks?  Loads of stuff happens off-camera in Animorphs, so you can't really rule it out.

Just thought I'd put that out there.

In any case, I agree that the age difference between Rachel and Tobias would not be of legal concern.  It might be an issue to the public perception of their relationship, but woe to whoever points that out within earshot of Rachel. 

[Stephquiem]

I think it's... implied? Maybe I just think this is implied because this is what I assumed happens. -_- At any rate, I think it's implied that morphs only age if you're a nothlit--that is, it stops being a morph, effectively, and starts being your proper body. Tobias says his hawk body's getting old in #54, KA and Michaels said morphs don't age... and yeah. That's all I have to work off of. XD