Thread by @Chartweetts

Look. I don't need K.A. to weigh in on canon 20 years later. We all know that's bad. I dont *need* to know what happened to all the Taxxons. I just sometimes want her to say that "they all turn into snakes" (if thats what happened) is also genocide.

Like why am I always mad about Taxxons? A. Cuz I like bugs but also B. because they're the least defined allegory in a whole space opera about war, colonialism and slavery.

Despite all those themes, the Taxxons death is never questioned because they are monstrous.

Hork-Bajir get the shocking mid-series reveal, that they are non-violent herbivores. And then the Animorphs stop killing them whenever possible.

Taxxons get a horrifying last minute reveal that the whole species is headfucked. But there's not enough series left to explore that.

It's that genetic panic that makes Taxxons monstrous, cannibalistic, uncontrollably violent. But it's that same fear that the Yeerks exploit to manipulate them, enslave them, colonize and destroy their planet and steal it's resources.

This is so clearly important, and nuanced, and speaks of real world analogies. And there is just enough about this in the books to put it together if you spend 20 years thinking about it like me and 3 other people have.

But when the books don't spend any time on this information, the work becomes complicit in the justification of Taxxon death.

By not having any Taxxon characters, by making the leader of the Taxxon Rebellion an Andalite, the work is complicit in their erasure.

Because people don't think about Taxxons, even people that spend a whole lot of time thinking about Animorphs deeply. The fandom likes, Hork-Bajir and even Yeerks more than Taxxons.

Taxxons? I feel pitty for them I guess, but they're gross and scary and horrible.

To me this is the same kind of justification used historically and currently.

If they're "violent", "savages", "unsavable", "pitiable", "better off dead", "subhuman/(subsentient)", "wrong", "they volunteered". You might convince yourself lo let a lot of bad happen to people.

And Taxxons are people. We're told this straight up. There's a lot of hand wringing about weather chimps and whales count as sentient. But Taxxons are unquestionable, though sometimes begrudged?

"Even the barbaric Taxxons in their own way" "Who can say what Taxxons think."

Um... A Taxxon could.

The Hork-Bajir reveal, gives you your noble savage stereotype, and problematic as it may be, makes you question your perception of them as big dumb scary razor lizards, to *friendly* still dumb but lovable reptilian salad shooters.

The Taxxon reveal is a slap to the face. It makes you pity them, but it's the uncomfortable pity that comes with the horror and revulsion that you feel for a homeless person yelling in the street. The kind of useless pity we have for the mentally disbled.

That's a huge part of the allegory I see in Taxxons that makes me care and be this mad about it.

Because most people don't get past that knee-jerk reaction on their own. The books would have had to put in the work, put in the word count to get readers to sympathize w Taxxons

and to understand that what happened to the Taxxons is as wrong as every other war crime in the series.

But it doesn't, so most readers that even made it to the last like 4 books in series, didn't stop to think about Taxxons in their own.

Hork-Bajir, have no home world to "return" to had they even wanted to. Idr how much of their pop had already been born into slavery after the destruction/genocide of their world. So they end up in a reservation on Earth. We know what's going on there, we understand that allegory.

And the books do mention this as an imperfect solution and alude to problems that can and will arise with that.

The fate of the Taxxons is unclear. We don't know if they have a world to return to. We don't how many generation Taxxons have been servants of the Yeerks.

What is a Taxxon generation? Where do Taxxon come from? All we know is they have hives/colonies on their home world. Are the Yeerks still getting them from their planet? Can they even reproduce outside of that?

Whatever. I don't need canon answers to that.

The Taxxons on Earth, (Idr if all of them or just the ones with the rebellion) are given the ability to morph into a different permanent body of their choice (mostly big snakes) and also end up in a reservation.

The only problem with this mentioned by the books is poaching...

Like that's the whole solution for a people who's planet was destabilized and destroyed and can't fit in to any other society because of their intrinsic monstrosity. "Stop being Taxxons" oh and also you can't have new Taxxons now.

That's!!!?? Eugenics!!??

I 100% understand, that many Taxxons would take that, as many cronically ill people might happily become a literal eagle for the rest of their life if it would relieve them of their illness. But many wouldn't. Especially at that high personal cost.

So it's suggested Taxxons find no intrinsic value to being a Taxxon? or was this a difficult desperate choice? Do those Taxxons, who had a will, a role and power in the outcome of the war, and are now mostly anacondas, still want/get to participate in society?

We're not told

Morphing is presented as the solution, both for Yeerks and Taxxons. It's not widely questioned. It's the end of the last book.

The Yeerks do mull it over, several times, in previous books. They get all philosophical about it.

The Yeerks were defeated and idk how much of their empire they really lost but they had developed a space-faring society. I'm not totally concerned about whether Yeerks survive as a species/culture. They'll b fine.

Taxxons did not have a central society outside the Yeerk empire

unless they still happen to have a home world left.

If all free Taxxons go snakxtinct, and any leftover Taxxons are still under whatever still passes as Yeerk rule... Do they survive as a species?

And I don't need to know. And its fine if they don't. It's fitting.

This entire series sees the genocide of many species. I just want the fate of the Taxxons to be acknowledged with the same gravitas and critical lens as the rest of the series, by the people that are so inclined to examine the series critically.

And sometimes I just wish Mom had just put the words into text: What happened to the Taxxons was just as bad. They didn't deserve it for being less palatable than the dino-sword friends. Fear is used as a weapon to justify atrocities. Beware of who you fear and what it let's u do

Ok the last two, are more or less in the text constantly but it's almost never applied to the Taxxons. Which is my point. Taxxons are treated as justifiably scary, so Taxxons are treated without remorse.

Also sorry for calling K.A. Applegate Mom, I was at word limit and liked the whiny tone it gave the sentence.

And to be fair, I do think she mentioned in interviews somewhere that they coulda/shoulda/woulda done more with Taxxons if not for whatever constraints had come up

I'm making some bold ass accusations in this thread but I do think they're just oversights.
There IS just enough there in for me to overanalyze and point out. It's just never picked up so it feels like something's missing.

Which there is: The non-existent Taxxon Chronicles

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