#collette animorphs

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

You’ve probably been asked this before, but: what if Jake hadn’t sent Rachel off on her suicide mission to kill Tom all by herself? I mean, he could easily have sent a few Auxiliaries with her instead of using all of them as a ‘distraction’. Don’t get me wrong, I know Rachel was the only one who could carry out this mission (and I also know that KAA wrote it that way to make the horrors of war and the pain of loss clear to young readers), but there is always the chance she could just as easily have been shot by a dracon beam before she could kill Tom. Therefore, it seems plausible to me personally to send her reinforcements, so that she is more likely to complete the mission.

You're right — this seems like the clearest solution that Jake doesn't hit on. Jake notes in #53 that he needs all four of the other original Animorphs in other roles: Tobias for his ability to semi-control a taxxon morph, Cassie for her fast morphing and understanding of what Tom's yeerk will do next, Ax for his ability to communicate with the Andalite Electorate, and Marco to adapt their plans on the fly.

However, by that point Jake has ~25 other Animorphs he could send! He only really needs James and 4-5 others on the ground with General Doubleday. Rachel mentions liking both Elena and Collette at different points, so either of them seems like a good choice for backup, but it could be any Auximorphs. It'd probably be a suicide mission, but so is joining James on the ground.

Heck, if they could get Elena or whoever a whale morph in <12 hours, then that opens up a whole new strategy: Elena and Rachel ride Tom to the Blade ship, Elena morphs so big that she takes down several controllers and the ship itself, Rachel morphs something smaller but deadly and mops up. I guess Rachel could morph sperm whale while Elena mops up, but I don't know that an Auximorph has the experience necessary to hold her own against 20+ morphers for long enough to kill Tom the way that Rachel does in canon. This likely still ends with Rachel, Tom, and most Auximorphs dead. But it would at least prevent the Blade ship from getting away even after Erek sabotages Jake.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I'm not sure if you already answered that question but how many of the Auxiliary Animorphs survived the final battle in Eleutherophobia besides Collette?

I've been remaining deliberately vague on that, but I've confirmed Pedro, Collette, and Elena are alive, and that James and Timmy are dead. Ray, Tricia, and Liam are all confirmed dead onscreen in #50 or #53, and TBH it feels like we'd hear about it if James survived. I always assumed Elena had the best odds of surviving, since she's the one who ends up living in the hork-bajir valley with Marco's parents and we never get confirmation she was sent into the final battle, whereas I just wanted Collette to be alive. Other than that, I don't think it has come up.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

is there anything you would change about the series plot wise? any decisions or something?

I think I've mentioned before, but the biggest change I would make to the series would be to change the fate of the Auxiliary Animorphs.

If I could controller-ify K.A. Applegate for a day, I just want something different for their eventual fate. I really like James as a character, and appreciate the amount of development he gets in #50 - #53, so that's part of why it bums me that he gets killed off-screen. But I'm also super frustrated that we get a rare instance of several well-rounded disabled characters who have agency and drive the plot... and then they get mass killed off-screen so their nondisabled teammate (Jake) has emotions.

James is cool. Collette is funny and snarky and interesting. Timmy helps remind us why morphing is fun. Kelly... is an asshole, but still an interesting character. IMHO they deserve a better ending.

After #50 spends an entire book introducing them, it feels like a huge letdown to have them killed off en masse during the final battle. Not only that, but they're killed in a situation that Jake forced them into — James tries to opt out on behalf of a lot of his fighters, and Jake basically announces that they can fall in line or they can become yet another problem he has to eliminate. Not only that, but we don't get any details about what they do in the final battle, or their deaths — they're just wiped out all in one go as Visser Formerly-Three and Tom's yeerk idly converse about it.

So I don't even necessarily want the Auximorphs to live. But I want them to have more of a conclusion than they do, and I want them to be more individuated at the time.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Why do you seem to ship Marco/Collette? I mean, if you don't, sorry for asking, but it seems like that because a lot of your Auximorphs stories have Marco/Collette? Thanks!

Oh yeah, they’re totally my go-to ship any time I find myself wanting to ship Marco with someone.  Partially that’s because I’m a bit of a canon-worshipper and they’re the closest we ever get to a canon relationship between Marco and another Animorph (besides Rachel in MM4, of course).  Partially it’s because I love how much they hit it off in #50.  Their flirtation is such a great little sidebar to the foreground plot with Jake and James and Cassie [looks at smudged writing on hand] saving the human species?  Or whatever.  Marco and Collette don’t care; they have BMX to talk about.

I also honestly don’t know if Collette and Marco would be good for each other if they did get together, but I can 100% guarantee that they’d be entertaining to watch.  They’re a couple of natural-born bullshit artists who both spend so much time concerning themselves with looking cool in others’ eyes that you can almost miss how much they both care about their friends.  They’re both sarcastic and fast-talking and a little bit mean, both a lot more willing to look out for their friends than to admit they’d ever need help themselves.  Like I said: not necessarily a good combination in terms of their overall relationship health, but undeniably an entertaining combination in terms of pairings that are fun to write.