Animorphs - The Tragedy of Tobias - Part III

[@popcornhero]

My favorite number has always been 23 because the Pretender was my favorite book.

[@marcellom]

Haha I love that

[@DethklokMinion]

Tobias. Toby. Tobster. Bro. You get cranky when you're hungry. Have a Snickers.

[@were-owlinwisconsin4441]

This was one of the first Animorphs books I read - possibly the fourth or fifth. It was definitely the first one I read from Tobias's POV. As a seven-year-old, I'd never read anything remotely like it before. And I reread it a lot, because it was the only Tobias book I had for a long time.

[@starlightsoiree]

I just polished off Andalite Chronicles and came here on the chance that you read the letter in its entirety, as I'm away from home at the moment, and I'm so glad you did!- 'I cannot say that I love you, my son, because I did not know you. But I wanted to love you. Know that, at least' had me in straight-up tears when I first read it, and after AC it's just so much more heartbreaking. The things Elfangor's family line gets sucked into, I swear.

[@Malakili181]

Great series of videos, I love your analysis of Tobias-our favorite war criminal child soldier bird. Something that you may have overlooked in regards to how hard Rachel is pushing him to be human throughout 23 is that this is coming immediately off of the David Trilogy; she has just had to come to terms with her role in the team as Jake's problem-solving cudgel as well as the sacrifices she makes of her own mental well being in order to save the other Animorphs from having to take the same actions she does in the name of the fight. Insisting that Tobias accept life as a non-combatant, a non-morphing human, is entirely consistent with her worldview that she has to be the one to take on the burden of the fight for the ones that she loves even as she understands that he is not the type of person who would ever abandon the fight like that just for his own comfort or benefit-that, to me, seems like the basis of their relationship. It's the common ground they share. They're both selfless fighters who, despite a decent amount of self-reflection, don't know when to take care of themselves without someone else telling them to take a break and stop fighting for a minute.

[@marcellom]

Ahhh that's a great point. I just did a reread of the whole series a few months ago, but read Tobias' books in relative isolation to prepare these scripts, so this is really good context that I totally overlooked. Rachel is going to be fun to dive into more specifically, as a kid I was mostly just in love with her so my understanding of her nuances may have been a little narrowly tailored lol

[@Malakili181]

@@marcellom I also finished a reread of the series as an adult for the first time about six months ago, I was amazed at all of the things that I must have just absorbed as a child but now see and am enthralled with. Definitely also had a crush on Rachel lol-I could not admit that she was my favorite character because "ew girls are gross" so I insisted Tobias was my favorite instead. Definitely looking forward to your analysis on Rachel (and the David Trilogy, too, as I think I'm not alone in saying that that is one of the best parts of the series).

[@krscartwright4951]

Just got my Animorphs hoodie in the mail and I'm stoked. It just says 'thermals' in the Animorphs font. But I definitely think more kinds of Animorphs merch should be available, so if u ever want to design merch for ur channel hmu!

[@alonedownthere47]

@@Malakili181 glad i wasn't the only one whose first crush was Rachel, loool

[@brandonstewart4032]

Tobias is probably wants to be with Rachel. But in his hawk is what's the main problem right❗❓ and being a animals🐶🐍🐯🐕

[@chrisschurke4151]

So, one thing that always bothered me regarding Tobias is his age. The other Animorphs are confirmed to be thirteen at the start of the series, and sixteen at the end. Tobias acquired his human self thanks to time travel, a day before he became an Animorph. But the morphs themselves don't age, so surely by the end of the series, Tobias has a thirteen-year-old human morph while all the others have grown older.

[@EmmanuelSikora]

Tobias is definitely my favorite animorph, and his mother, Loren, is my favorite secondary character: they both have this tragic extremely important arc that shapes the entire story beneath the surface. Thumbs up for the great videos!😊

[@LiirThropp2687]

Oh, Tobias. 😢 The first book character to truly break my heart.

[@anial3736]

I love your review! But one point I wish to clarify is that Tobias can’t really make up for what he doesn’t get to eat as a hawk by simply morphing human and eating a sandwich. The morph is just a mass floating in Z-space for safe keeping, it doesn’t directly affect his actual hawk body. He purposely doesn’t want to ask for favors from the others, hence resorting to eating roadkill. I do however agree with the other points! He could be going on more dates and occasionally take part in human activities like going to the movies or hitting up the library.

[@Luke-ow9ku]

It kind of feels like Tobias is determined to be miserable. Probably because he's never been happy and thats more integral to his identity than human or hawk. If he chooses to be happy then he isnt Tobias anymore.

[@matthewallred2166]

I was IN LOVE with the actress who played Rachel in the show.

[@ucnguyen6375]

The thing I remember most from this book is how at the start Tobias said that it is "better" to kill the baby rabbits instead of the mother rabbit because the mother can always give birth to more babies (similar to the thought process of the Ellimist's Andalite wife, which later the Ellimist follow), but a baby rabbit without mother will just die sooner or later. But in the end, Tobias killed the mother for food but morph into the mother to give the baby rabbits the mother he himself don't have

[@marcellom]

Yeah there's so much predator prey symbolism in the end. It's so good. I loved the Ellimist Chronicles, definitely going to address it at some point on the channel

[@krscartwright4951]

@@marcellom PLEASE DO that book used to confuse me when I was a kid lol 😆 also I'm looking into everything to put together a animorphs podcast (1 episode for each book, character analysis, etc) when I get everything ready I'd love to have you on if you're ever interested

[@InvasionAnimation]

Nice video!

[@alonedownthere47]

aw no #33? that one really stuck with me as a kid, easily one of my favorites. tobias got some psychologically heavy books consistently, i think 33 changed him forever the same way the book of David's return changed Rachel forever

[@marcellom]

I'm going to do a second set of videos touching on Tobias' later books, I wanted to jump around the characters a bit first. Definitely on the docket. I want to finish this reread first though, before I start making analysis videos about the end game.

[@jayt9608]

Tobias has always been my favorite of the Animorphs followed by Rachel. Personally, I think that Tobias may be the most complex character and is certainly the most cerebral. The limitations in his thinking that irritate you are very likely the challenges of a thirteen to fourteen year old. This is perhaps even more relevant to the very stark worldview that he often expresses which is consistently under assault by his mental condition. Not only is Tobias the most contemplative, meditative, and philosophical of the Animorphs, I also believe that he has the strongest emotions and the greatest range. This is why he struggles to balance the variousbparts of his being into a unified whole with everything explained.

[@marcellom]

I've always just imposed my own age onto every character I've ever read, it's a hard habit to shake. Definitely the most cerebral. Who is your least favorite? I just scripted a video where I try to rank them by preference and it was difficult.

[@jayt9608]

@@marcellom, Least favorite...that is a hard call as two character acheive my lowest levels and for very different reasons, and it sometimes feels like my dislike depends on the day or even which characters are foremost in my thought. So I will first mention he who straddles the mental fence. Jake is a solid character, and is a capable leader, most of the time. He is actually the most genuinely compassionate member of the group, which is why as the series progresses his decisions eat at his very sanity. He has neither the best plans, nor is he the best fighter, but he uses his empathy to hold the group together, even as they sacrifice their friendship to the war. Jane has an instinct for the right word, for the right person, at the right time...though there are a fair number of times he really blunders badly. Marco I often forget about until I am forced to do otherwise. I loved that he was arguably second best at nearly everything, but rather than it being a problem it was an asset because he could fill the roles of leader fighter, support, or strategist easily. He was a nice balance of Tobias' hatred of personal weakness and ruthless pragmatism, Rachel's anger and ferocity in battle, Jake's compassion and leadership, and Axe's humor. He was a tolerable character, but often his parts of the story seemed more uneven and inconsistent. I dislike almost everything about the character of Axe. Most often he feels like comic relief, especially in stories that he narrates. I know that he was loved, but I quickly found his humor tedious. To his benefit, he is a font of expositional knowledge on all things Yeerk. Again, his comedy is just a bit too much for my liking. That leaves Cassie, or David whom I am tempted to include, but as he only appears on four books, I am not really willing to include him unless asked. Cassie is the closest the series has to a Mary Sue. She is well liked, gifted, and incredibly lucky, all without a lot of explanation as to how she gets there. She also seems to continuously oppose plans on a whimsy, and is many times the source of the team's operational and interpersonal issues. Many times she appears to be a completely obnoxious hypocrite and the team's weakest link in combat. She also seems like a one track recording set continuously to repeat as it seems she goes through the types of difficuly without learning a thing. I might be too harsh, but she or Axe are my least liked team members and I would say 5.3 times out of 10, I like Axe more than Cassie.

[@jayt9608]

I decided to add David eventhough he was never a POV character. I liked the character, but then it felt like his entire personality and character was altered just to make him a villain.

[@ani_anonymuncle]

(me trying to get the algorithm to pick up this channel via comments because everyone should see it) Your wallpaper is super cool

[@marcellom]

I appreciate both of those things very much individually. The wallpaper is from Graham & Brown, they have a lot of really good, albeit expensive, shit.

[@krscartwright4951]

[@HeldLikeAgrudge]

Such a good saga

[@LyricEmmanuel]

Thank you for this. It was pure nostalgia to relive my childhood series through your retelling.

[@marcellom]

You are welcome! My output has been low lately cause I've got a newborn at home, but I should have a new video out this week ☺

[@dazanii]

Loved all of these, looking forward to more!

[@marcellom]

Thanks! 😎

[@meravl7615]

No #33? 😢 It was my favorite, as emotionally difficult and occasionally confusing as it may be, and gives quite a bit of (more) insight into Tobias, his past and also - Rachel. If her meaning was questionable here there it's just... well... problematic, to put mildly. Basically, Tobias never gets a break in his books, and his arc, while shifting, is just constant. Would have loved to hear your thoughts on it. Anyway, I'm off to look for that shorm video. 😅

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

I wanna see the video about trashing VisserIII. I wanna see that so bad 😂

[@braydenb1581]

How much time passes in the series. His human form wouldn't age. It'd be weird for her to be say 22 dating a 16 year old at least in body. If they did carry the series many years later and they did go on dates it would be interesting to see Rachels POV commenting how she can't tell family she has a boy friend or secret husband because all they'll see is a teenager and they couldn't understand and when on dates, she can't even be close to him because everyone thinks she is his mother not his girlfriend. A good play on how Rachel always points out her looks and how she doesn't care but then when they are questioned, she does and she can't figure out why that bothers her.

[@loganbigmo]

I remember later in the series, like book 43, Rachel just buys McDonalds and brings it out to the meadow and they have a date there. While it's never specified in the book that this is because of the age discrepancy, Rachel would be 16 at the time & Tobias' human morph would be stuck at 13. Maybe that's why Rachel switched to private dating instead of the school dance/mall dates.

[@Divint12]

Woohoo! It's finally 'soon'!

[@marcellom]

They just keep getting longer lol. Also I got a puppy and she is adorable and totally derailed my output for the last month 😆 thanks for waiting!

[@Divint12]

@@marcellom No worries on the waiting, puppies are way more important. Out of curiosity how long does it take you to complete a vid? Does much effort go into making the audio so nice? What kind of puppy, finally? Thanks lots.

[@marcellom]

@@Divint12 it's been changing with each video as I improve my equipment and process. This time, I forgot to record audio through my microphone for the final third, and had to shoot the whole thing over, so it took a little extra time 😅 I record audio through a USB mic into Ableton Live, and only lightly edit it, it's just noisegate and compression if anything. I'd attribute the quality more to the fact that I live in a quiet neighborhood and can work around what little disruptive noise pops up. I add any music while editing, which I get from a variety of free license/no attribution sources around the internet. Mostly the KZbin Music Library recently. She's a golden doodle, her name is Pork Chop 😄

[@stephencox8723]

great vid!

[@marcellom]

Thanks dude 🙂

[@stephencox8723]

​@@marcellom I am impatiently waiting on your next video. you easily have the best in-depth Animorphs character analysis videos on youtube. your production value is great as well. only 3 vids in and your content's quality level is dope af. best part is you're only gonna get better.

[@Delta350]

since they have the blue orb at this point,,, isnt the threat of being stuck in morph gone? because they could just give them the morphing power again, then they could morph to human and get stuck, then get the morphing power again?

[@marcellom]

I've thought of that before. My head canon is that you can only be given the power to morph once, but I've fully made that up.

[@Delta350]

@@marcellom turns out your headcannon is cannon, the andilite nothlit in taxxon morph said that he couldnt be given the morphing power because hes a nothlit in the last few books

[@PerfectYakon2219]

If Tobias father is an Andalite so does that mean Ax is Tobias uncle?

[@marcellom]

It sure does!

[@haroldparsons9727]

Good thing these were young adult novels. I can only imagine what furries would do with this series. Lmao

[@quiblydanger427]

Visser 3 did nothing wrong