The Animorphs as Mutants

[mickiept]

Random thought that has been in my head recently.

What if Animorphs took place in the X-men universe only without the X-men? Basically, mutants are appearing all around the world and the world is torn between acceptance and fear.

I imagine the Yeerks would play both sides of the debate: the pro- and anti-mutant. The Yeerks would obviously prefer mutants over regular humans (depending on abilities of course), so I imagine they would want to work behind the scenes of support groups to try and infest more hosts. At the same time, mutant registration would obviously speed up the process, and even normal hosts are useful, so they would have to play that side as well. Then, of course, there is the Sharing, which tries to promote peace between both groups. I can see several issues coming up from this.

1) The Sharing would not be as popular.
2) The Animorphs would start by focusing solely the pro-mutant support groups and the Sharing, but quickly realize that the Yeerks are using anti-mutant propaganda to further their cause as well. I imagine several of the Animorphs would protest this outright. More on that later.
3) Telepaths would be an obvious security breach. I'm not sure if Yeerks use the same brain waves as a human, so a telepath might not be able to read a Yeerk mind, but they might be able to read the host's mind. In fear that these hosts would be able to overpower the Yeerks, I imagine the Yeerks would just want to get rid of them. However, the Animorphs would risk losing their secret if they helped them. Conflict.

Tobias would definitely be a mutant, and that would have contributed to his bullying at school. I think he would probably be telekinetic, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure how he would have necessarily reacted to it either. He would still be trapped as a hawk.

Rachel and Jake would NOT be mutants. Rachel would be a pro-mutant supporter before Elfangor, which might cause conflicts with the family and also make her extremely reluctant to save anti-mutant groups. Jake would be more borderline. He wouldn't hate mutants but he wouldn't support them to the extremism that Rachel does.

Cassie, I imagine that she would be a mutant. Probably an empath. She would also have difficulty helping anti-mutant groups.

Marco, I could go either way but I'm leaning more towards not. His mother would be a mutant, since this would explain why Visser One would choose her as a host, but she never told Marco or his father before he disappeared. He wouldn't like helping the anti-mutant groups, but I don't think he would not dismiss all their ideologies. This would cause conflict with Rachel especially.

Ax would be confused as to why groups exist, viewing mutants as a natural part of evolution. Obviously, as an Andalite he would not be a mutant, but his human form would be, but the Animorphs wouldn't know right away. I have no idea what kind of powers he would have.

Um, thoughts?

[Cloak]

Interesting. . . .

Of course, assuming that telepaths couldn't read Yeerk minds, that, in and of itself, might make it more suspect to the telepath, especially if they've a longstandng relationship with said Controllers.

But, all in all, an intriguing concept. . . .

[Underseen]

Wow, that was amazing! I thought Tobias mutant ability will be like Angel from X-men, but telepathy is better.

[MoppingBear]

well if KAA was writing it cassie would be the only one in the group thats a mutant, and she would have the powers of franklin richards or something else equally ridiculous.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Very interesting ideas!  I would agree that Rachel would be very pro-mutant, since she is very much the sort of person who will stand up very decisively for those she feels can't stand up for themselves and are worth standing up for.

I might almost say that Marco would actually go anti-mutant.  He wouldn't outright hate them, but he would see the security threat that they pose to the rest of the populace, and so I think he would generally be in favor of the concept of mutant registration (at least until the Yeerks get thrown into the picture, then that's just a whole different ball game).

And yeah, I can see Jake weighing both sides of the issue and being borderline.

As for Tobias's powers, how about some limited form of flight?  Perhaps he can 'push' against the ground, kinda like telekinesis in reverse, but the pushing force he can exert diminishes with distance, so he could only reach a limited height.  That sort of a power would certainly whet his taste for flight, without just giving him free reign to simply fly without being a hawk.  Thus, he'd be even more likely than ever to get himself stuck in morph.

[NateSean]

You say the X-men wouldn't be there. But there were other teams of mutants working together in the X-men universe. The Brotherhood of Mutants, for example. Also, in the 90's animated series, Toad was with a group of mutants who lived in the sewers. I can't remember what they were called but they were brought up in a couple episodes, including one X-mas episode where Logan has to perform a blood transfusion to help a girl.

So you know there would be groups of mutants in this universe, just like you had the Yeerk Peace Movement, the inner circle of Tom's unnamed Yeerk, etc. Some of those groups would be active in fighting the Yeerks and others would probably seek any advantage the Yeerks could give them.

Also, if the mutant gene tends to come from the father, then it would raise questions as to who Tobias' father is in the version of reality the Ellemist seperated him from so that he wouldn't be Elfangor's son. Unless you threw in a twist and gave Loren the mutant ability that passes down to Tobias. Maybe her being a mutant is why her brother and sister don't want to take care of Tobias when she goes missing.

[MoppingBear]

You say the X-men wouldn't be there. But there were other teams of mutants working together in the X-men universe. The Brotherhood of Mutants, for example. Also, in the 90's animated series, Toad was with a group of mutants who lived in the sewers. I can't remember what they were called but they were brought up in a couple episodes, including one X-mas episode where Logan has to perform a blood transfusion to help a girl.

So you know there would be groups of mutants in this universe, just like you had the Yeerk Peace Movement, the inner circle of Tom's unnamed Yeerk, etc. Some of those groups would be active in fighting the Yeerks and others would probably seek any advantage the Yeerks could give them.

Also, if the mutant gene tends to come from the father, then it would raise questions as to who Tobias' father is in the version of reality the Ellemist seperated him from so that he wouldn't be Elfangor's son. Unless you threw in a twist and gave Loren the mutant ability that passes down to Tobias. Maybe her being a mutant is why her brother and sister don't want to take care of Tobias when she goes missing.

Group is the Morlocks.

Mutants can be born to two entirely human parents, so him being the first mutant in the family would actually explain him being shunned so much.

[NateSean]

Thought it was the Morlocks, but wasn't sure. Thank you.

As for the parents bit, it depends on which mythology you're going with. In the movies the X gene is statistically carried by the father. In the comics people like the Juggernaut aren't even mutants.

[mickiept]

Remember, the Yeerks are invading a small area first. The mutant gene isn't THAT common--hence why all of the Animorphs couldn't possibly be mutants. There aren't going to be that many telepaths running around the city of Santa Barbara(?) so it's entirely possible for the Yeerks to remain secret in this small area. I imagine they would kill any telepaths or empaths that they would find to keep their invasion secret. Any others would immediately know that bring the invasion to the public would be pretty useless.

There might be Morlocks or Brotherhood of Evil or whatever (I actually AM an X-men fan, it's just been a while) out there, and they might have an indirect impact by changing public views and whatnot, but they cannot be involved with the Animorphs or it makes the series too easy.

I like the idea of Cassie as an empath. It's really subtle at first and explains a lot of her abilities: her estreen abilities come from her enhanced abilities to control her emotions. Being subtemporally grounded is a secondary or even primary ability that comes into play. Cassie's way of reading people is a primitive form of her power, and eventually, she does realize what she is. This will cause a lot of turmoil for Cassie, for example, was Cassie really able to appeal to Aftran or was it her powers? Can Cassie use her power to end the war peacefully, and does she have the right to do so? She geniunely has the power to control people, perhaps even more effectively than with telepathy, but for a girl who believes morphing another person without permission is evil, this is a terrible Pandora's box.

Loren, in my head, I imagine her being a mutant. For some reason, I keep thinking super strength. This would probably explain how Loren was able to overtake a Skrit Na ship and bean Visser Three in the head with a rock. After the accident, she probably wouldn't have much control over her powers, which would cause her to leave Tobais with his aunt and uncle.

Eva would have an awesome, incredibly destructive power, like aquakinesis or kinetic manipulation.

I'm still torn on Tobias' power. I want him to want escape which would lead him to become a nothlit, but I think he should have a cool power. Also, him having a semi-useful power brings another dimension to the 'should I trap myself as a human argument' since he would still be able to fight. Maybe he can create force fields. He could use his powers to ascend to higher levels off the ground like DinosaurNothlit said, but still be limited. I kind of want him to have a non-telepathy power that is reminiscent of his Andalite heritage. And no, he should not grow a blade out of his butt...

I should probably sleep now.

[Tim Bruening]

Random thought that has been in my head recently.

What if Animorphs took place in the X-men universe only without the X-men? Basically, mutants are appearing all around the world and the world is torn between acceptance and fear.

I imagine the Yeerks would play both sides of the debate: the pro- and anti-mutant. The Yeerks would obviously prefer mutants over regular humans (depending on abilities of course), so I imagine they would want to work behind the scenes of support groups to try and infest more hosts. At the same time, mutant registration would obviously speed up the process, and even normal hosts are useful, so they would have to play that side as well. Then, of course, there is the Sharing, which tries to promote peace between both groups. I can see several issues coming up from this.

1) The Sharing would not be as popular.
2) The Animorphs would start by focusing solely the pro-mutant support groups and the Sharing, but quickly realize that the Yeerks are using anti-mutant propaganda to further their cause as well. I imagine several of the Animorphs would protest this outright. More on that later.
3) Telepaths would be an obvious security breach. I'm not sure if Yeerks use the same brain waves as a human, so a telepath might not be able to read a Yeerk mind, but they might be able to read the host's mind. In fear that these hosts would be able to overpower the Yeerks, I imagine the Yeerks would just want to get rid of them. However, the Animorphs would risk losing their secret if they helped them. Conflict.

Tobias would definitely be a mutant, and that would have contributed to his bullying at school. I think he would probably be telekinetic, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure how he would have necessarily reacted to it either. He would still be trapped as a hawk.

Rachel and Jake would NOT be mutants. Rachel would be a pro-mutant supporter before Elfangor, which might cause conflicts with the family and also make her extremely reluctant to save anti-mutant groups. Jake would be more borderline. He wouldn't hate mutants but he wouldn't support them to the extremism that Rachel does.

Cassie, I imagine that she would be a mutant. Probably an empath. She would also have difficulty helping anti-mutant groups.

Marco, I could go either way but I'm leaning more towards not. His mother would be a mutant, since this would explain why Visser One would choose her as a host, but she never told Marco or his father before he disappeared. He wouldn't like helping the anti-mutant groups, but I don't think he would not dismiss all their ideologies. This would cause conflict with Rachel especially.

Ax would be confused as to why groups exist, viewing mutants as a natural part of evolution. Obviously, as an Andalite he would not be a mutant, but his human form would be, but the Animorphs wouldn't know right away. I have no idea what kind of powers he would have.

Um, thoughts?

The Yeerks would infest telepaths so as to use their powers to root out traitors and the Animorphs.

The Animorphs might acquire and morph mutants (especially telepaths) so as to be able to use their powers against the Yeerks.  Imagine the Animorphs morphing telekinetics, then levitating Tom right out of the Pool!

[Dylan]

I actually could see this working Cassie being an Empath/Telekinetic and Tobias having wings like Angel is actually a pretty good idea that fits both of them. In contrast to you, I could see Rachel having mutant powers. I'd give Rachel powers like Storm or Colossus's' powers. I bet Loren and Elfangor could also be mutants, although I can't decide what their powers would be.

[Tim Bruening]

I would also like to see the Animorphs and Yeerks crossover into the Fantastic Four universe (Yeerks infest and Animorphs morph the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom), the Incredibles Universe, and the universe which contains Superman, Batman, Spiderman, the Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, etc.

God help us if the Yeerks infest Superman!