Fans of the Animorphs

Love triangle thing? /blink

Perhaps it's just me, but I always got the impression that Marco only had a crush on Rachel in the beginning of the series. It seemed to me that later on, while they were still friends their antagonism was too great for them to ever have real romantic feelings. They're both full of sharp edges, and they'd end up cutting each other too much. I think early on (as MM4 shows), yeah a relationship was possible. But later on? I think Marco genuinely found that Rachel becoming such a loose canon and so out of control a turn off, and I think that Rachel genuinely didn't need nor want Marco when she had Tobias. If they ever did anything, I imagine it'd have to be some one off angry fling followed by a gigantic argument, if anything.

...okay I have so much more I could ramble on about Marco but I have no time for it right now, sob. WHEN I RETURN, I WILL BE ALL OVER THIS THING

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natural-blue-26.livejournal.com

I believe love triangle is in reference to Marco's dad Peter marrying Marco's step mother, Nora, (because he thinks Marco's mother, Eva, is dead) and then Nora is mysteriously never mentioned again in series after Eva is freed from being Visser One.

(Or at least that's how I read it.)

Awwwww but Marco/Rachel is totally my crack (verbal) slap slap kiss kiss pairing in the series! ;) ;)

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natural-blue-26.livejournal.com

I'll have to get back to this tomorrow, but Marco's always been in my top three characters-nearly all the best lines/scenes from the series involve him, and he manages to take having a hugely tragic story (VISSER ONE and his father falling into an emotional coma/blackhole) and make it (at least publically).

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Oh wow, there is SO MUCH I can say here, but I need to go. D:

So I'll just register that one of my biggest beefs with the ghostwritten books ever is when they turn Marco into a two-dimensional clown. GODDAMNIT, THAT'S NOT ALL HE IS, YOU SHALLOW ASSES. HUMOR AND SARCASM ARE COPING MECHANISMS, NOT AN ENTIRE PERSONALITY. GRAHH.

I'll be baaaack!

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It's a small thing, maybe silly to remember, but if I recall, in one of the first Marco books, there's this one line about his dad after Marco's mom disappeared. Something like,

"he comes home and watches TV with the sound off."

I'm such a big fan of SHOWING instead of TELLING, and just that little detail has stayed with me since I was a kid. Just... How clear and devastating a picture is that? God.

</3

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But think about the angry, bitchy makeups. x3 LOVE HATE LOVE HATE SLAP SLAP KISS AAAHHH!

... I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.

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iapetusneume.livejournal.com

That's the first of Marco's books, book 5. It was at the very end of the book that his dad picks himself up again to keep trying. The two years or so is still a sore spot for Marco, but after that his dad starts to get on the road to healing. (He gets his old job back, they're able to move into a house again, etc.)

One time, in one of my writing classes, we had to bring in a small piece from a writer who influenced our work. I brought in the first two pages of the first book, and got to read it to the class. My teacher said she immediately could see that in my writing, and it's one of the best compliments I've ever received. K.A. is fantastic.

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buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com

Yes, that.

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buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com

I will be waiting, oh Marco-mun

You better have some deep insight LOLOL

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Man, I need to read these again. xD Seriously.

But aww, that's wonderful. <3 And yeah, she really is.

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skirtsandtea.livejournal.com

That's definitely on my list of biggest beefs, too. (The others are Rachel in The Weakness - or "The Damn Cheetah Book," as I like to call it - and Visser Three being portrayed as a bumbling buffoon.)

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D: I really don't remember that one, what happened? (But then I never remember them by title or number, in my head it's always "THE ONE WHERE THIS HAPPENED...")

But yeah - Visser 3 does not FAIL SO HARD. :| There's a reason Esplin climbed as high as he did, damn it.

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I thought we were going in narrator order so this wouldn't be until next week! OMG! Huzzah!

So anyway, Marco is my favorite. Duh. I just love how through the whole series, he walks that thin line between humor and deadly seriousness, between confidence and crushing insecurity, between meltdown and full-blown repression, between being straightforward and stuck in fantasy, between being a jackass and being a team player, between just being a kid who wants his mom back and being a ruthless, deadly, hopeless tactician. I don't know how to do this without bullet points because I have like a million thoughts on Marco, so.

-Humor! Personally, I love that his humor isn't always funny. It strikes me as very true to a young, smart teenager: pop culture references, hyperbolic babble and dry sarcasm, and only about 70% of it is actually funny and it's sometimes downright mean. That makes sense to me given his age range. The humor also aids in the emotional repression, which I'll get back to. Basically, Eva taught Marco how to deal with the world by using humor, which works for most things but for the life of a child soldier caught between killing and saving his mother, just makes him really, really repressed and confused about his own emotions.

I think Marco's sense of humor and sense of strategy originate in the same place: he's essentially an opportunist. He sees the silver linings, punchlines and weaknesses in the enemy (and when he puts himself in the enemy's position, weaknesses in their strategies) because he's always working an angle to make the best of any situation. Marco's the type who doesn't ask for much so as not to seem needy, but will happily help himself to whatever opportunities present themselves - ref: dragging all that crap in Ax's scoop by #49.

-Confidence and insecurity! Marco exudes probably the most confidence of any character besides Rachel, and is very good at laughing at himself as well as everyone else. However, I will posit that this is actually because he's deeply insecure. Throughout the series, we see indications that he cares very deeply about what the other Anis think of him, especially Jake, and is very insecure about his position within the group. We see indicators of this throughout the series - in #2, Rachel jokes that he's not her friend and he seems genuinely hurt, and she mentions that he's really bothered by his size. In #4 and #6, it's mentioned that the others think he's really embarrassed by his financial situation. Throughout the early series, he says he doesn't care what the others think, but when he feels he's being called a coward he shoots back with low blows and potshots. In #15, he explains that he can't talk to Jake about his problems because he thinks Jake only likes him as the smart, funny friend. And most tellingly, in #30, when he's justifying his actions to his theoretical people, one of them is to Jake - "don't ever doubt me again". I think the confidence and ego Marco puts on is a front for the fact that he wants to be a valued member of the group; he's confident because of his insecurity, not in spite of it.

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-Meltdowns! Marco has some key meltdowns throughout the series. I believe they're the rage monologue in #10, the swimming pool and the shark attack scenes in #15 and the entireties of #30 and #35. The rest of the time, he's pretty ~~totally repressed~~ laid-back. And as the series goes on, these meltdowns transform from dangerous, stupid berserker moments to cold and calculating slow-burns, probably the eminent example being #30.

The entirety of #30 is one slow-motion meltdown for Marco, because he can't handle the uncertainty of not knowing if he'll ever free his mother anymore. While the official goal is to protect the Hork-Bajir valley, Marco's personal goal is to reach some kind of finality with his mother. I don't think he realizes that that was his intention until he's facing her on top of the mountain, either. He's convinced himself he's totally in control and acting rationally when he's absolutely not. The mission was mostly unnecessary and over-ambitious and really only existed so he could attempt to finally get some closure. And that's the thing - Marco wants closure more than he wants his mother back. It's such an inconceivable thing that he can't admit it to himself until he's about to knock her off a fucking cliff. I mean, wow. Heavy shit.

#30 and #15 are my favorite books within the series, because any other author might've gone with a "save mommy!" storyline. Instead, those books posit the idea that it's easier to live without hope and move on than it is to cling onto something nearly impossible. It's way more complicated and thoughtful, and way more sad, than a more straightforward take on the series would have managed.

And it makes the scene in Visser all the more heartbreaking. I mean, Marco already gets a Crowning Moment of Badass in Visser ("I know my mother loves me, Yeerk"), but he also gets some really beautifully-executed angst. Because he gives his mother up when the hope that she would be back, that the nightmare would be over, that he wouldn't have to be scared of himself and of his emotions about her anymore, that he wouldn't have to lie about her to his dad, that he would have closure, all gets dashed in about two chapters. HE WAS SO CLOSE. It breaks my heart and makes me cry every. Single. Time.

-Dream imagery! One of the things I love the most about Marco's books is that they employ a hefty amount of dream imagery, more than any other character in the series ~~because he's so repressed he can only express his emotion to fantasy figures~~. In #5, 15 and 30 we get actual dream sequences. In at the very least #10, #15, #25 and #30, we get moderately-involved fantasies (rage monologue/future family/warm place/insomnia sections of each book respectively). I personally find it fascinating that Marco tends to work out his problems by having imaginary conversations and scenarios. It's one of my favorite parts of his narrations.

-Jackass or team player? Both. He can be and often is a total pain in the ass for the others, especially when it's him and Rachel. I feel like a lot of his lack of cooperation in #37 was mostly just "I don't want to listen to Rachel". And he tends to dogpile people when they're already down (Jake in #16, Ax in #8 and 18, Rachel in #37, Cassie in #28 and #19). Oh, and he's just generally a dick to Tobias and later, to David.

At the same time, as early as #9 he tells Cassie to leave him and run when they're in danger and he's trapped, and in #33 he goes to megaextremesuperduper lengths to save Tobias from Taylor (I fist-pump every time). He also tends to take any piece of strategy at face value, valuing the validity of the suggestion rather than rejecting it because it isn't his. And he's willing to admit when he's wrong, usually. So there's a bit of a cooperative element there, too.

- Kid or ruthless tactician? Both, obviously. Though it's interesting that many of his most ruthless decisions stem from very kid-like desires - #30's "I'ma kill mom so I don't have to deal with this shit" and #45's "I want mom and dad back together so I'ma sentence Nora to slavery".

OMG I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.

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Yeah, I get the feeling by the end that there were points where they downright hated each other. They may have had chemistry by the boatload, but his calculated, cautious approach and her bold impulsivity would never have worked together long-run. I completely agree that by the mid-series to the end he found her recklessness a turn-off.

I EAGERLY AWAIT YOUR RAMBLE.

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Let it also be noted that just because Peter is no longer a grief-ridden couch potato, he never really gets to the point of becoming a good parent. There are plenty of points throughout the series where I just cringe for Marco because Peter is such a clueless dad. It's usually played for subtle laughs (ice cream as a meal, baby aspirin for a teenager) but sometimes Marco will make snarky comments about how his Dad doesn't notice when he wakes up screaming or his Dad won't notice if he doesn't come home all night and it's like JESUS, Peter! Just because your kid is moderately self-sufficient doesn't mean he's just your BFF and not your child!

It's funny how much of it flew over my head as a kid, too. When I read #5 as an eight year-old I didn't see anything strange about sending a small 13 year-old to get groceries at ten pm through a neighborhood where people were getting mugged at gunpoint.

That's a wonderful compliment. :) Do you still write?

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OH THAT ONE.

No wonder I was confused, orz. But yes, I am sad we didn't see more of that. Or even find out what happened to Nora. ~~clearly what should have happened is that Nora was saved and that she Peter and Eva live in a happy threesome for the rest of their lives /IS SHOT~~

Hee, I don't think Rachel/Marco impossible. Just that if you take the canon reading, it's not really there so much later on. ~~and crack is always fun anyways!~~

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AND THEN IT ALL ENDS WITH RACHEL MORPHING GRIZZLY AND BITING MARCO'S HEAD OFF.

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...oh god now I have pressure ffffffff

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WHATEVER, WHATEVER, HE'D MORPH SPERM AND MAGICALLY ESCAPE.
SOMEHOW.

... gawd, I'm an idiot and really need to LET THIS GO. xD

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Alas, I think the war killed off their chemistry. I don't know if it was something that could have been regained post-war, had Rachel lived - though my instincts say no. (And I suspect that had the MM4 timeline not resulted in a Dead!Marco and a LikelyToDie!Rachel, eventually they would have had your typical teenage fallout and had lots of massive immature arguments.)

orz, now I have to think up something good...

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ksdfjlnskdl;jnfdsfds oh god not the Marco sperm NOT THE MARCO SPERM /flees in terror

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It's how they really won the war. Like back in book 2.
KA just felt like padding it out for another 51 books. And he was REALLY sperm all the way through, she just couldn't get it past censors and so replaced it all with code words like "gorilla" and "osprey."

(Honestly, I think I'm a ten-year-old. xD)

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