Character Discussion : Marco

[buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com]

Now this guy had a lot of complications all the way through...mostly it was the "my mom is Visser One" stuff, but then toward the end there was the whole love triangle thing. I wish they had explored it more in the last book.

I do like how he always coped with humor...even if not all the jokes were funny lol

Comments

[iapetusneume.livejournal.com]

Marco is my favorite character of the series, for sure. I know it's partially because of the humor - he recognized more than anyone that they needed humor to keep them from going crazy from everything. The humor doesn't stop with what he says aloud, it's also in his storytelling.

I wish I had the exact quote, but Ax once said about humans in general their incredible ability to adapt. He used Marco as the example, saying that he hadn't believed in aliens before, and then went from not believing to believing, coming to terms with his new reality, and being able to see things that even Ax would miss. Now, Marco is totally the strategist and often saw holes where the others would not, but the point still stands.

I love how much he cares for his family, and we see that right off the bat with his dad.

To me, Marco has become *the* example of how a story needs comic relief. He's also a great example of how a comic relief character can be that, and also really smart.

Anything involving his mom completely broke my heart.

[blue_rampion]

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

[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).

[sylverlining.livejournal.com]

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!

IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY

[lisacharly.livejournal.com]

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.

[redsilverchains.livejournal.com]

Woe, I am late to the Marco party! D:

I LOVE THIS BOY LIKE CANDY. I'm grinning because this thread has exploded with Marco-love and meta. He'd be so proud.

Will read this whole post and possibly share thoughts later, but for now:


“Sorry, Mom,” he said to me. “But we have to make it look realistic.”

The tiger’s paw moved, withdrew, and left behind four deep, bleeding gashes in my good arm. Another too-fast-to-see movement and the Andalite slashed a shallow groove down my cheek.

“Has to look like you fought,” Marco, cold, calculating Marco said as his throat choked off the words and his eyes went blind with tears.

-from "Visser"

THIS DOES THINGS TO MY HEART. EVERY. TIME.

[anijen21.livejournal.com]

ugh I can't believe I missed this

[tobiahawk.livejournal.com]

Late to the party, but...

I didn't like Macro, and for more reasons than my Rachel/Tobias shipping. To me, he never seemed to grow over the series in the way the others did. Yes, his conflict with his mother being Visser 1 and the issues with his father in the beginning were promising, but they didn't really turn into much. Macro remained, I think, sort of immature, even in his tactical nature. As much as people criticism Tobias and Rachel, to me, Macro was always *so* "me, me" about everything (in some cases, his mother was an exception, I admit--but even that wasn't consistently affecting). Macro primarily aim always was saving himself, getting what he wanted, and he never grew out of that--never really bonded with the other Animorphs, sans Jake, never moved beyond that shallow approach to relationships, never acknowledged the war on a grander scale. To me, all the other Animorphs grew up, but Macro seemed more static than dynamic to me, and it bored and annoyed me.

That being said, however, there are a few Macro moments I love:
-Macro saving Tobias in 33 (I wish we had seen more of this)
-Macro in Visser
-Macro reflecting on his dad and mom, particularly in #5
-Macro/Jake moments surrounding Tom (basically, I did like Macro when he was showing some dimension... but those moments were WAY too rare, IMO)

-On a purely entertainment level I also did really enjoy book 25, if just for the tension brought on by the aspect of the inescapable, deathly cold.

*ducks tomatoes*

[almighty-patsy.livejournal.com]

HOLY SWEARWORDS PEOPLE! WHAT HAPPENED HERE?

Be back in a year, just going to go read comments.

[tissalynn.livejournal.com]

Hello. I'm new. Very, very new. For a couple of weeks now, I've been visiting this one...page I guess you can call it, and have been reading some animorphs fanfiction. And then I stumbled upon something very miraculous: other people who love Marco as well. Because, you see, I've kind of had a character crush on Marco since I was like, ten. And I thought this wasn't normal and I kind of..."disliked" myself, to put it nicely. And then I came upon this particular website and found other Marco freaks like me (meant in the best way possible). And now there is purpose to life! *dramatic cartwheel* (I love the astrik action thingies because you get to do anything you want)
Okay, sorry. I'm not that great of a writer, so it might read kind of frazzled. So, to cut to the chase, I'm just putting myself out there to let my fellow Marco-lovers know about me. Like I said, I'm new and have no idea what I'm doing, which accounts for about 99% of the time, so tips and general information are welcome.
Okay, sorry, sorry. One more thing. Must. Leave. Comment. Pertaining. To. Marco.
If Marco were a real person, we'd totally be friends. I mean, come on. Funny, hispanic, superhero, who wouldn't want to be his friend? I hate the fact that K.A. gave him bullies (no hate towards ya, Applegate-you my homie). I guess it's kind of cute for him to have bullies in a tortured-comedian-thrown-in-a-war-to-save-humanity-while-simitaneously-keeping-his-dad-from-committing-suicide way. I think it would have been better if he stomped their asses, though. But I guess that would be OOC (see, I'm catching on).
Anyway, I'd have more to say, but I'm still really nervous about being a newbie.