Shipping Confessions: Tobias/Marco (Animorphs)

Animorphs was the first thing I really read. I was obsessed with it to the point where my parents had to take the books away from me so that I'd read other things (of course Mom had this idea of making me read shit I didn't want to so I could 'expand my horizons', but that's not a rant for Shipping Confessions).

When I first read the series I wasn't even close to being the shipper I am today. I only went for canon ships (in the main series it's Cassie/Jake and Tobias/Rachel) and didn't explore non-canon ships like I do today. I also didn't really cuss when I read them which should also surprise a lot of people that know me.

But upon my Re-Read (now up to Book #5 The Predator) I noticed a ship that escaped me from my previous readings of the series. It was one that connects to the previous Shipping Confessions (aka Science Husbands) in the way the ship connects.

It is: Tobias/Marco!

Before the Animorphs became the Animorphs and got their morphing abilities from the Andalite Prince Elfangor, Tobias knew none of the other group members. Well...he did know Jake who saved him from bullies, but they weren't close friends at all.

Before Tobias became an Animorph, he was someone who was pushed between two uncaring relatives and beat up at every opportunity. If Tobias' story had been different, he would make a great start for a genderbent Carrie.

When the group met Elfangor, Tobias finally found a cause worth fighting for. He was the strongest supporter in the beginning.

By the end of the first book (#1 The Invasion) he trapped himself in morph and throughout the series he tries to deal with being stuck in the body of a red-tailed hawk. This is also a problem for Rachel (his canon girlfriend) whose relationship with him is strained at points.

Out of all the Animorphs, Tobias is the one that is ACTUALLY TORTURED!

Marco starts off seeming like a person whose sole purpose in life is to joke. He is also the only Animorph to be extremely resistant to fighting the Yeerks until #5 The Predator.

However, Marco's character is much more than the joker he first appears as. He basically believes you can be drowned by the sorrows of life or laugh at the insanity that is life.

Also, while he is reluctant to fight, he is the one to remind the other Animorphs when they would be making a mistake. In #3 The Encounter he tells the group that they should wait since them leaving when they had wanted to would be suspicious.

There is so much I could say about Marco's character but I'll save that for another day.

Tobias and Marco, like Bruce and Tony, seem to be the opposites of each other in many respects. A combination that shouldn't work but does.

Tobias is the outcast who doesn't have a good handle of interactions with other people. When he finally does get his ability to morph back he has a hard time readjusting to his human body (which is now a morph he can only stay in for two hours at a time or he becomes a nothlit again).

Marco is the one ends up with the fame by the end and is the one that created the name Animorphs. I really wish he had been able to get suits for everyone because that would've been awesome!

Since I'm not that far along in my Re-Read, I don't have a ton of examples of shipping moments for this pair. However, the fact is that Marco gives Tobias the ability to cope with being stuck in hawk morph that he needs. Instead of being worried that he'll hurt Tobias' feelings, like the others, he takes a chance with treating Tobias just like everyone else.

Marco tells Tobias, in this manner, that he's not a freak and is just like everyone else in the group.

Oh, and did I mention it was Marco's action in #3 The Encounter that made it so that Tobias' suicide attempt wasn't successful?!

While I'll ship Rachel/Tobias until I die, I have brought in this ship for a Tobias rp tumblr I have.

What will I talk about in the next Shipping Confessions? There is a ship I was shipping before I was a shipper. A ship I didn't realize was not canon but felt so real to me. So I was disappointed, and confused, when it didn't work out. It is from the Jedi Apprentice series and is between a human and a Mon Calamari.

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