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Radio Free Kobold posted:Mid to late teens, I thought. Like, 14-16. Old enough to run around town and More early. Jake's brother Tom is in high school, and, if you remember, Jake was upset that he didn't make it on Tom's old (junior high/middle school) basketball team. Their ages are actually stated later in the series, and I'm sticking it in spoiler tags. In the next to last book, Jake tells us he's 16 and that he was 13 when the first book started
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# ? Mar 27, 2020 17:52 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 13:08 |
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Epicurius posted:"So, you guys playing video games? Cool, cool. Hey, you know what would be crazy? If alien parasites infected people's brains. You guys.don't know anybody who thinks that, right? No? Ok. Hey, if anybody says anything like that, tell me, so we can laugh at them together. Well, I got stuff to do. Mom says make sure you set the table before she comes home. Later!" Tom is the absolute pinnacle of unsubtle for a while and it's actually pretty funny. It's be totally fine if Jake wasn't one of the people it was looking for is the best part.
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# ? Mar 27, 2020 18:44 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 12quote:I swung my fist and caught Marco in the side of the head. So, see, there's Jake's dilemna, and he's in denial because the more he thinks its true, the less he wants it to be true, so the more defensive he gets. quote:Just then I heard this fluttering noise at my window. Like someone beating on it very softly. I went to the window, followed by Marco. And Tobias has now gotten his second morph. This one a red tailed hawk. This also confirms that even if the animal you absorb from is injured, it doesn't matter. You're strictly pulling its DNA. quote:"I was looking around. I guess I thought I might be able to see something from the air," Tobias said. "I was looking for something that might be a Yeerk pool." So this is basically the first weakness we see that the Yeerks have. No matter who they become, every Yeerk has to go back to a Yeerk pool every three days and get Kandrona particles, or they'll die. This section also explains what Tobias was doing at the construction site when he stayed by Prince Elfangor while the rest of the kids ran away. quote:"What does this have to do with you flying around playing Superman?" I asked.
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# ? Mar 28, 2020 01:10 |
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Epicurius posted:Their ages are actually stated later in the series, and I'm sticking it in spoiler tags. Jesus christ, that young to be thrown in the midst of all this? God, Tobias, you absolute lad. What a good human being.
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# ? Mar 28, 2020 01:39 |
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Tobias is a good person.
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# ? Mar 28, 2020 01:40 |
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One of the things Michael Grant said in interviews lately was that in his view Marco was bisexual. Though I think he caveated that with "I probably should have wrote him that way then" so as not to stray into JK Rowling territory, but still it does colour a lot of his interactions with Jake in a much more interesting light if you keep in the back of your mind that Marco probably has a very confused and very repressed teenage crush on Jake through the whole series.
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# ? Mar 28, 2020 01:58 |
One interesting thing about the dynamic here is that in a lot of other books, Tobias would be the viewpoint character and ultimate protagonist of the series. He's the kid with the tragic background who's really latched onto the alien thing and is embracing all of his powers and the mission much faster. While Jake has been given the leadership role, he's much more of a skeptic and still undecided on what to do. Tobias is sticking around to hear extra info and already trying to hunt down Yeerks from the first minute.
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# ? Mar 28, 2020 02:49 |
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I like that they used up all the impressive morphs by the end of the series so when poo poo starts heating up towards the finale the covers are like duck, beaver
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# ? Mar 28, 2020 05:50 |
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Daikloktos posted:I like that they used up all the impressive morphs by the end of the series so when poo poo starts heating up towards the finale the covers are like duck, beaver You forgot the most impressive of animals: Navy Pilot
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# ? Mar 28, 2020 06:37 |
It comes along a little further on, I forget if it's in Marco's first or second book, but there's an amazing depiction of impotent rage. Seriously, this series gets deep.
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# ? Mar 28, 2020 08:51 |
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Daikloktos posted:I like that they used up all the impressive morphs by the end of the series so when poo poo starts heating up towards the finale the covers are like duck, beaver
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# ? Mar 28, 2020 16:15 |
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The Invasion- Chapter 13quote:We find the Yeerk pool," Tobias said. "And when we do, we blow it up and kill every one of those evil slugs." Ouch quote:"It's not exactly some video game, is it?" Marco said. "This is reality. You don't know anything about reality, Jake. Nothing bad has ever really happened to you. You have this perfect family. Like I used to have." It's probably good Jake realizes this. quote:"So maybe we just walk away from this," Marco said. "Let someone else fight this fight. Sorry about the Andalite, but I've got enough death in my family." Probably good Jake realizes that too. quote:He hesitated. He sent Tobias an angry look. But he said, "Okay, it's just a meeting, right? We go and see. I'm in for that," I want to see a bunch of Taxxons playing volleyball. I also see Visser Three waving the members of his team away from the volleyball and then getting pissed at them when he misses it. quote:I was thinking maybe we were all just nuts. The Sharing was probably just like some new kind of coed Boy Scouts or something. The real Tom's still in there, then. That must be pretty horrid if you think about it. quote:Marco and Cassie came over. They had just finished playing Frisbee in the surf with some other kids. Marco was laughing.
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# ? Mar 29, 2020 03:10 |
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Oh yeah, Marco's mom being Visser Two was an oh poo poo moment.
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# ? Mar 29, 2020 03:40 |
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quote:"They're all going off to a separate meeting," I said. "All the full members. I'd sure like to know what goes on in that meeting." I struggled to sound normal, but my insides were churning. So Jake's using his morph to become a dog for infiltration, as did Tobias which is the first time we see them using morphs for what they're intended to be used for. Also, Tobias is really into eating mice here. quote:I nodded. "Good job. Tobias, you've been in that body for more than an hour. You need to morph back." Tobias is more comfortable being a hawk than he is a person. Maybe not all that surprising, given that his life experience so far as a person hasn't been that great. He says that returning to human form is like a "prison", and I guess for him that's true. He certainly doesn't have much freedom, stuck with family that hates him, shipped back and forth on a whim. quote:I took a deep breath. It was only my second morph. It still seemed totally ridiculous that I was even thinking about becoming a dog. But as I concentrated, I could begin to feel the itchiness and the squirmy feeling as Homer's DMA combined with the Andalite's technology and began to change me. There. If you wanted to see more of the good boy, there he is. quote:I approached the edge of the area. There were high dunes all around. About twenty or thirty people were standing together. Unfortunately, with my weak dog eyes I couldn't see them very well in the darkness. And that's how you end a chapter! And Jake gets confirmation that two people he knows have been taken over by Yeerks....Tom, and assistant principal Chapman.
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# ? Mar 30, 2020 00:46 |
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It's very 90s YA to have the assistant principal be a controller, but it gets ridiculous later on when Chapman is doing EVERYTHING...he's running over people with his car! He's trying to take over an aircraft carrier! You end up with the impression that there aren't really that many Yeerks after all.
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# ? Mar 30, 2020 07:56 |
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von Metternich posted:It's very 90s YA to have the assistant principal be a controller, but it gets ridiculous later on when Chapman is doing EVERYTHING...he's running over people with his car! He's trying to take over an aircraft carrier! You end up with the impression that there aren't really that many Yeerks after all. <Innis, I need you to go to Bangkok for me. Don't ask questions. Your flight leaves in an hour. You'll be briefed when you arrive.> "I... uh... Yes, Visser."
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# ? Mar 30, 2020 08:22 |
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quote:Either make him ours . . . or kill him. Conservation of characters hits again. The cop is the same cop as the one who confronted them before. quote:We got back to the spot where Rachel, Marco, and Tobias were waiting. I didn't even want to morph back into my human body. I knew that I could just let myself go again, and in a few minutes my dog brain would forget why my human brain was sad. If someone would just throw a stick out into the surf I could go after it. The water would make me happy. The chasing would make me happy. I sort of find this interesting, transformation as escape....not having to worry about human concerns, just being the animal. quote:I began to morph back into my own body. Cassie and Rachel turned and looked out toward the water. So Marco still isn't on board with this. And really, in a lot of ways, he's right. The odds do seem really stacked quote:I pulled Cassie aside. "Listen, Cassie, I need an animal morph that will let me watch Chapman without him seeing me. What do you have at the farm?" That's a hero for you, crawling beneath cages of sick buzzards looking for lizards.
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# ? Mar 31, 2020 02:35 |
I like how quickly Applegate gets psychological, with the drive to repress your humanity and give in to the simpler but more pleasurable animal instincts.
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# ? Mar 31, 2020 05:40 |
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quote:I did it Monday morning in my locker at school. I turned into a lizard. In case you do care, here's a picture of a green anole showing off his dewlap. They do it when they're trying to be threatening or as courtship behavior. He's the one showing off on the cover. And they are related to the iguana. quote:I waited till the bell rang for first period, which was English class. When everyone else was out of the hallway, I just climbed into my locker. I tried to act cool about it, just in case anyone was watching. Jake not realizing that it's impossible to act cool climbing into your locker. quote:The locker was about two inches shorter than me, so I had to crouch. And it was so tight I couldn't move. The only light was from the three small ventilation slits. I could hear my heart pounding in the cramped, dark space. I was afraid. He should have practiced quote:It had been fairly creepy, just touching it to acquire its DNA pattern. Now I was going to become it. Definitely should have practiced. quote:Then my lizard brain sensed the spider. It was a strange thing, like I wasn't sure if I saw the spider, or heard it, or smelled it, or tasted it on my flicking lizard tongue, or just suddenly knew it was there. I don't know that I can say anything but yum? But here's another good example of the morph and its instincts taking over and Jake struggling to control it. quote:I heard the ground shake. It was a noise like a giant stomping across the land.
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# ? Mar 31, 2020 23:55 |
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Can he turn into that spider, now?
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# ? Apr 1, 2020 11:35 |
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Avalerion posted:Can he turn into that spider, now? Probably not. It would prove the point of the old adage, "You are what you eat", though.
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# ? Apr 1, 2020 18:53 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 17quote:In panic, I tried to run. But my tail was caught. Anoles can lose their tails in times of stress or to fool predators. quote:The giant walked on, shaking the ground as it went. Yes, it is convenient that the first person he runs into is Chapman. Is it realistic? Not really, but, you know, it is what it is. quote:Suddenly he stopped. Were we at his office? Well, that's kind of creepy.
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# ? Apr 1, 2020 23:27 |
Not as creepy as the feeling of swallowing a live spider whole and having it still writhing in your stomach.
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# ? Apr 1, 2020 23:46 |
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Oh man, I forgot there was a pool entrance in the school. "One Happy Meal with extra happy!"
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# ? Apr 2, 2020 02:08 |
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Many kids would be thrilled to have a legit excuse to burn their school down.
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# ? Apr 2, 2020 08:35 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 18quote:"Screams," I said. "Human screams. They sounded far off, but that's what they were." It is sort of a good point, and one brought up before. Marco's loyalty to his father is what's preventing him from being more enthusiastic about this. quote:"He's not the only one who's got people to worry about," Rachel said. "I have a family. We all do." Now I'm sad, and a little touched. quote:"Look," I said. "I'm not asking anyone else to go with me. But I don't have a choice. I heard that scream today. And I know Tom is going down there tonight. He's my brother. I have to try and save him." I held out my hands, helpless. "I have to do it. For Tom." It's sort of interesting looking at their motivations here. Jake is doing it for his brother, Tobias for the Elfangor, who really touched him, Rachel, because nobody else will, and Marco out of loyalty to Jake. quote:Only Cassie had remained silent. She was looking dreamily off over the heads of the mall crowd. "You know, back in the old days - I mean, the real, real old days - the Africans, the early Europeans, the Native Americans . . . they all believed animals had spirits. And they would call on those spirits to protect them from evil. They would ask the spirit of the fox for his cunning. They'd ask the spirit of the eagle for his sight. They would ask the lion for his strength." Cassie, as having been mentioned before, has the whole "nature girl" thing going on. Marco, as having been mentioned before, is a smartass. quote:"Cassie is right about one thing," Rachel said seriously. "The only thing we have going for us is this animal morphing thing. And so far the only morphs we've acquired are a cat, a bird, a dog, a horse, and a lizard. I think we need a little more firepower. We should head for The Gardens. We need to acquire more DNA - from some animals that are not going to be easy to acquire." They said the title of the series! That's probably worth some points.
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# ? Apr 3, 2020 00:41 |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u0wg3t6osM
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# ? Apr 3, 2020 01:54 |
This scene would have really ticked me off as a kid. You can turn into a lizard! Why are you paying admission?
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# ? Apr 3, 2020 01:56 |
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I'd forgotten how creepy the Sharing stuff is. The Sharing is a good name for a creepy cult thing where alien slugs are implanted into your brain.quote:"Flying saucers," he said. He laughed again. "Only complete dips believe that kind of stuff." I forgot about the use of "dip" as an insult in the 90s. I remember one time some teenager was babysitting me as a kid and I mistakenly broke his Exo Squad action figure and he called me a dip.
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# ? Apr 3, 2020 02:15 |
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Ytlaya posted:I forgot about the use of "dip" as an insult in the 90s. I remember one time some teenager was babysitting me as a kid and I mistakenly broke his Exo Squad action figure and he called me a dip.
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# ? Apr 3, 2020 02:40 |
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Psh, only complete dips play Exo Squad. You wouldn't touch that lame crap, right?
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# ? Apr 3, 2020 15:31 |
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^^^ Controller account spotted
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# ? Apr 3, 2020 16:35 |
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The Invasion-Chapter 19quote:We left straight from the mall, hopping a bus out to The Gardens, which is clear across the city. On the way, I tried to catch up on my homework. I had missed a lot of classes that day, so I borrowed class notes from my friends. Rachel kept perfect notes. Tobias had terrible notes with all kinds of little drawings in the margins. It took a while before I could figure out what they were. They were buildings and people and cars, the way they looked from high up in the sky. Tobias is hawk crazy here, but Rachel is right. Morphing is really the only thing they've got, so refusing to acquire morphs is just not useful. quote:"What kind of animal morphs are going to be able to deal with Visser Three when he turns into that big monster that ate the Andalite?" I asked. There was nothing in this zoo or any other that was going to kick that big monster's butt. I'm thinking the Gardens is based off of Busch Gardens. If you've never heard of it, Busch Gardens, which was originally owned by the Anheiser-Busch company, has parks in both Williamsburg, Virginia and Tampa, Florida, and like the fictional Gardens in the books, is amusement park, water park, and animal park. quote:Cassie led us to the main building, which holds all kinds of exhibits. It has everything but the really big animals that need lots of space. You have to admit, it's a problem for teenage alien fighters. "Young lady, you can't go out and save the world tonight from alien invaders, you're grounded!" quote:We shuffled along the hallway, feeling like we definitely did not belong. Which we didn't. On either side of the main hall, there were side paths that led to the different exhibits. Unfortunately, the doorways to the exhibits just had numbers on them. I knew we'd have to rely on Cassie's knowledge to find our way around. Behind some of those doors were animals you didn't want to just walk in on. Tobias is not helping. quote:Suddenly I heard a whirring sound. I looked down the hall, then back. It was one of those electric carts, like a golf cart. It was coming toward us. These kids are really into splitting up when they get chased. quote:"Stop! You kids better stop!" Point. quote:"We haven't beat anyone yet," I said grimly. Well, at least it ends on a cliffhanger. I have to be honest, I don't like this chapter. It's one of the longest of the book, but not much actually happens. They go to the Gardens, get into the employee area, Marco acquires a gorilla, and they get chased by security. It's long, but not substantial, and a lot of it is broken up by dialogue. Almost half of it is Marco and Jake having a wacky golf cart chase, and the humor there is that Marco isn't very good at driving a golf cart. Part of it too, are just that the chapter is trying to build up tension....will they get caught by security? But the stakes are so low. If they're caught, their parents will be mad at them and they'll probably be punished somehow, maybe grounded or whatever, and that's not pleasant. But this is also a book where they met an alien, only to watch him be eaten alive, were chased by seven foot tall dinosaurs covered with blades, found out that the Yeerks are hunting for them, that both Jake's older brother and their assistant principal are being controlled by Yeerks, and they're getting ready to go down to attack the Yeerk headquarters. Compared to that, the threat of being grounded seems kind of insignificant. Something else I noticed that maybe bothered me more than it should....when Tobias says that he's good just being a hawk, Rachael argues with him, pointing out that they need to get as many morphs as they can, because it's the only weapon they have, and she's right. So why, then, after they meet Big Jim the gorilla, is Marco the only one to acquire him? Admittedly, they're interrupted by the staff person just after he does, but he doesn't care that they're there, and the gorilla seems peaceful and friendly, so why don't they all acquire him? Anyway, that's just my opinion of the chapter. What do you think?
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# ? Apr 4, 2020 01:07 |
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Epicurius posted:Well, at least it ends on a cliffhanger. I have to be honest, I don't like this chapter. It's one of the longest of the book, but not much actually happens. They go to the Gardens, get into the employee area, Marco acquires a gorilla, and they get chased by security. It's long, but not substantial, and a lot of it is broken up by dialogue. Almost half of it is Marco and Jake having a wacky golf cart chase, and the humor there is that Marco isn't very good at driving a golf cart. I think Applegate wanted to add some challenge to the process of acquiring powerful morphs, so it wouldn't feel like she was making things too easy for the protagonists. But yeah, the tension is a bit artificial and doesn't really work. Arguably if Jake got caught sneaking around a zoo, and one of the "Andalite bandits" morphs an animal Jake was sneaking around near, Tom might put two and two together. Though IIRC the Yeerks tend to be pretty bad at putting two and two together like that.
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# ? Apr 4, 2020 01:41 |
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I'm willing to let the 'only Marco gets the gorilla' thing slide because it's a YA book and IIRC they gave a different primary combat morph to each of the kids, with the gorilla being Marco's. Now making the black kid turn into a gorilla to fight, that I find harder to defend.
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# ? Apr 4, 2020 03:15 |
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Cythereal posted:I'm willing to let the 'only Marco gets the gorilla' thing slide because it's a YA book and IIRC they gave a different primary combat morph to each of the kids, with the gorilla being Marco's. Cassie is the black kid. Marco's Hispanic.
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# ? Apr 4, 2020 03:43 |
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Epicurius posted:Cassie is the black kid. Marco's Hispanic. Yep. Even as a kid I would have been like "Wait..." if Marco had been black. But nope, he's not. He's described pretty consistently as being olive-skinned and Hispanic. I think later they mostly just go with each of the kids favoring specific combat morphs as indicators of their personality.
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# ? Apr 4, 2020 10:06 |
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Kchama posted:Yep. Even as a kid I would have been like "Wait..." if Marco had been black. But nope, he's not. He's described pretty consistently as being olive-skinned and Hispanic. Pretty much:
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# ? Apr 4, 2020 10:22 |
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Ah, I somehow missed that as a kid or forgot it. I thought Marco and Cassie were both black.
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# ? Apr 4, 2020 13:22 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 13:08 |
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Marco not wanting to get in the fight is one thing, but what kid wouldn't immediately try out morphing? Wolf. Real help there, Cassie
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# ? Apr 4, 2020 17:26 |