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Mind jacking aliens and smugglers. Mid 1900s and a decade ago. Having picnics with Ginger Ale and hanging out in the Food Court. Fighting for humanity's freedom and exploring spooky ruins. England and, well, America.

You may not think these pairs of things have much in common, but in truth they lead to another pair with much more unlikely, but undeniable, connection. The Animorphs and the Famous Five.

Okay, so maybe you mightn't have heard of either the grand adventures of a group of kids in the English countryside and coastline by famous childrens author Enid Blyton, or possibly of a group of 5 kids (plus one alien) trying to use a gift to fight a silent war against the most subtle alien invasion earth has ever faced. But both these series of books written by different authors in different countries focused on largely different settings have actually a few more interesting connections then you'd think.

Let's start with the general and more obvious ones. They are both series of books by a single author, both were relatively popular with(not necessarily popular) TV shows based on them, and more thematically they both focused on underaged people going on unlikely yet exciting adventures. Both were clearly meant to be escapist, with readers imagining that they are in this world with the characters, both were targeted towards an underage audience and both had clearly identifiable villains whom the protagonists were pitted against, meaning that however humerous and popular the books were, they still were something of a cliché.

However, what really interested me in their connection wasn't so much general aspects, but something more direct: their characters. Animorphs has 6 main protagonists, The Famous Five has (surprisingly) 5, yet discounting Ax from the Animorphs (I'm not just discriminating because he's an alien alright?) you find that each character in one, has an extremely similar counterpart in the other. Admittedly, this could simply be a case of generic archetypes used, or maybe K. A. Applegate (Animorph author) happened to read a lot of books from across the pond as a child, but all the same, the similarites are somewhat striking.

Here's how it breaks down:

Julian/Jake

The leaders of the group. Ah, I think I already mentioned in a previous post how leader type characters tend to have names that begin with J. They both have blonde hair, both can ocassionaly be rather bland characters (Julian is worse at this, victim to Blyton's writing style. Less usual for K. A. Applegate), both realise they must take a mature approach for their age, taking responsiblity for keeping the rest of the their team safe and stopping them from acting their age when in serious or dangerous situations, although because both leaders are kids or teenagers, they're not 100% mature either.

Both are also guys, but it's worth noting that in every comparison I make, the gender matches up, so I won't keep repeating this consistent similarity with the rest of the characters.

Dick/Marco

The joker of the pack. Mischievous, and extremely close to the team's leader (in Animorphs, it's super best friends; in The Famous Five, it's brothers) as well as possessing much darker hair then the leader. Despite an affinity for causing trouble for fun, when it comes down to it, is dependable and willing to stand up for his friends, and be serious when the situation warrants it. Something of a second in command.

George (Georgina)/Rachel

Both are fierce, powerful temper, and probably the most violent of the group. Despite possibly being the strongest, both are a little too chaotic and hot tempered to take command or suggest courses of actions that are beyond ideas or obvious courses of action. Both pay attention to their appearances (though in wildly different ways). And get this, both are cousins to the leader, and yet despite being cousins, are not really that close to the leader at all (in Animorphs, Jake and Rachel rarely have a meaningful connection; in The Famous Five, Julian didn't even meet Georgina until the start of the first book [bit of a reference in that fantastic adventures seem to take place only when all 5 are together])

Anne/Cassie

Both the more timid members of the group. More relaxed. Demure, both in dealing with members of the group and... well... pretty much anyone. Dislikes conflict which is unfortunate given their constant adventures with the group. However, both have surprising reserves of strength and conviction and can spring to the situation when the situation calls for it. Sorta like Dick/Marco.

Timmy/Tobias

Both are animals. In one case we've got the mind of a human in a hawk, in the other we've got a dog who's so intelligent he might as well be human. On average, they are usually of more help and contribute more to the group then Anne/Cassie does. Naturally their difference from the rest of the group's members can be adventageous in the correct situations.

Well, those are the comparisons near as I can make them. There may be more, or I may be over exaggerating some of them.

It makes me wonder though about the nature of various fiction writing, whether the same tropes and characters keep popping up again and again. Of course, saying that isn't anything original, but it still feels unexpected that two book series in such wildly different areas could have such similar characters. Could this be a symptom of human psyche where somehow this balance of 5 characters seems just "right"? Could it be ingrained culture provided both these authors with similar group mechanics and they decided to implement that when creating their own group of underaged adventurers? Or could this just be a simple case of K.A. Applegate reading some English childrens books and being influenced, without even realising it, many years down the line?

I don't know, but I still found it interesting to think about.

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