And it's got me asking questions. It'll be fun to put my OCs through "the separation" and see what comes out, good character writing exercise and all BUT FIRST, the rest of the Animorphs:

Cutthroat Marco:

Instantly sees the "clear line" that'll win the war in 2 days top. It'll work, most likely. Survival of the team? Not likely at all. In Cutthroat Marco's eyes, everything and everyone is expendable if it means victory, even himself.

Obnoxious Marco:

Jokes and pranks and insults for everyone! You really, REALLY don't want him around when shit gets real. Maybe throw him to the Yeerks as a distraction? A very distracting distraction? He'll drive them crazy in 10 seconds tops- if they don't dracon his ass the moment he opens his mouth.

Puppet Master Cassie:

She'll read you like a book and make you her slave. Cutthroat Marco's right hand woman and recruiter.

M: (points your way) "I can use them"

C: "Say less"

And that's it. You're theirs

Mother Cassie:

All compassion and love, no rationality. Cutthroat Marco and Puppet Master Cassie have her locked in their evil lair's dungeon because she still has an use: she is their "conscience". In the back of their minds (their ruthless, psychotic minds) they still harbor some regard for the lives of their "tools", so they run their plans by Mother Cassie and tell her to chose who lives. They keep her bound and gagged so she doesn't kill herself.

Overlord Jake:

You either obey or you die. Basically Visser 3/Esplin but worse. His reign was short lived: Cutthroat Marco and Puppet Master Cassie "dealt with him", but not before acquiring him- his morph will prove useful when dealing with a certain pair.

Emo Jake:

"I am not enough", he repeats to himself, over and over. He sees himself as worthless, a lesser version of his brother, a burden to the Animorphs, a weight holding them back. 

"I should kill myself, really. Why do you keep me around?"

Probably as a "token" to threaten Mother Cassie with. He's also locked down in the dungeon too (separate cells)

Andalite Pride Tobias:

He acquires Ax and almost nothilits himself again but remembers how much he likes flying and changes his mind with less than a minute left in the timer (he can tell time now btw). He swears his undying loyalty to Prince "Jake" (there's two of them now, poor "Jake"!) and becomes a meat shield, basically. If he manages to survive long enough he'll challenge Visser 3/Esplin to a duel to avenge Elfangor's life. There's a very bad fight with Ax to decide who gets to duel the slug (and I don't know how that will end)

Chicken Tobias:

Goes back to hawk, looks around and decides all that Yeerk shit is not worth it. He flies away and is never seen again. 

Warrior Ax:

Pretty much the same as Andalite Pride Tobias (that Andalite pride runs deep). "Jake" has two meat shields now (yay...). Key difference: he can't stand the other Animorphs, those lowly, primitive humans. He only keeps following "Jake" cuz he already swore himself to him so no take-backsies (sad Ax noises).

Cinnamon Bun Ax:

Mega 1 (1 to 3) is missing :(

Mega 2 has seen better days

Mega 3 is fine though

Wait PAUSE. Enhance 👀

I don't remember ever reading the first Toomin book wtf??? Did I skip this one?

Wtf is a "Taxxonita" ??? Translation team, why??

Aaaaand

Helloooo random #25 that hit the stores one day totally skipping #10 to #24 for some reason. I remember the whiplash, the horror, because short hair Marco looks just like one of my classmates did back then

yep and tbh he probably was huge in love with jake who would be what a dreamboat

I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT TOBIAS AND RACHEL

I DON’T WNAT TO TALK ABOUT HOW I STILL LOOK FOR RED-TAILED HAWKS AND FEEL A LITTLE BIT OF AN ACHE IN MY SOUL.

I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACHEL AND HOW OF COURSE IT HAD TO BE HER BECAUSE WHAT WOULD HER LIFE HAVE BEEN LIKE POST-SERIES IF IT HADN’T BEEN

I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT HOW SHITTILY TOBIAS DEALT WITH IT BECAUSE I AM NOT OKAY NONE OF IT WAS OKAY CAN I ALSO NOT TALK ABOUT HOW ACCURATE THIS SERIES WAS IN TALKING ABOUT THE IMPACT OF WAR ON A PSYCHE AND HOW BADLY PEOPLE ARE AT HELPING VETERANS GET THROUGH LEARNING TO LIVE AGAIN THIS HELPED ME KNOW WHAT PTSD WAS BEFORE I EVEN KNEW ITS NAME

And decapsing now but know that I am still at that level of feels I also don’t want to talk about how important it was to me to see POC characters in a series like I’ve been looking back at the stuff I read as a kid and I’m like 99% sure that the only reason I didn’t end up even more messed up is that I had books like the Animorphs with those sorts of beginnings of representation

aND tbh i don’t remember enough of Marco’s storyline to comment on that last bit nor did I really have the lens for that sort of thing when I read them but aslkf that makes me super happy