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The faces of the Commander.

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Under your command.

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My first and second attempt at gouache.

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"It paid off".

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Can we talk about Erwin’s pain tolerance?

Yes. Yes we can. Apologies Anon, I've had your ask in my inbox since November, which is a crime. However please know that barely a day has gone by without me thinking about this.

I think Erwin's sheer balls to the wall courage and resilience are often overlooked. He always led from the front and he was insanely brave. He had complete disregard for his own safety, and never hesitated to risk his own life and limb, either on the field of battle or during the uprising. 

One of the things it’s easy to forget, particularly if you read the manga as it was being published, is that all the events from the Battle of Trost to the Return to Shiganshina happen within a matter of months, and the uprising happens only about a fortnight after Erwin loses his arm rescuing Eren. 

“Loses” his arm is putting it lightly of course. Erwin’s arm is bitten by a Titan, he continues shouting orders, while hanging from the Titan's mouth, frees himself, apparently by slicing off his arm, and rescues Eren by slicing through the Armoured Titan’s fist. He then makes it back to the walls before finally collapsing, presumably from shock and loss of blood.  He spends the next few days in a coma, unclear how many, and when he awakens he almost immediately starts planning to overthrow the royal government while joking about his missing arm. As you do.

As part of this plan Erwin allows himself to be captured by government forces, who torture him and threaten to hang him.  All this with a freshly amputated arm, and presumably no pain relief lol. Madman.

(Love the way that Nile is the one who looks afraid here. Erwin is completely focused.)

Despite all this trauma, abuse, and what must be excruciating pain, Erwin still has the wherewithal to keep his head and his wits about him to execute his plan perfectly. Insane.

Then no sooner has he installed Historia on the throne, he starts planning the return to Shiganshina.  

It’s hard to overstate how worn out Erwin must be at this stage, and of course Levi calls him out on this.

Erwin’s physical pain tolerance may be unparalleled however you can see the cumulative effect that all these events had on his mental health. Despite his resilience, Erwin is physically and mentally vulnerable after the uprising arc, which is one reason why Zackley is able to manipulate him so effectively, and set him on the downward spiral that led to his moment of despair in Shiganshina.

So yes, Erwin has phenomenal resilience to physical pain, but like so many of us, he is much more susceptible to emotional and psychological pain, and that’s what he almost succumbs to. Thankfully he had Levi there to help shoulder that burden and ease his pain when he needed it most.

Erwin Smith the man that you are.

PS. If you're interested, I once wrote a fic about the physical and emotional aftermath of the uprising once: Aftermath.

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Sun

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erwin smith🎀

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Lost! Do you remember the day the first visuals of MAPPA’s art were released? Newbie here and I’m wondering how everyone reacted since the art styles are so different. And do you remember which art they showed first? I love this fandom and your page is amazing!

According to @snknews, which is an invaluable archive of official releases, the first official MAPPA key visual, of Reiner looking up at the Attack Titan, appeared in August 2019. I think we had to wait until the following Autumn to see Levi in the second key visual.

The next image of Levi that appeared was this one from the MAPPA Fall Show Case later in 2020. It's fair to say that this one sent the fandom crazy, though tbh, I don't think this art is at all typical of MAPPA Levi.

The third key visual, which again featured Levi, appeared in December 2020 just before the new season aired.

The other images I remember being released around the end of 2020 were the MAPPA character design sheets.

There had been a fair bit of skepticism about MAPPA taking over from WIT, given their very different art styles, but as far as I can recall, most fans responded really positively to the new character designs. Levi in particular was really popular as MAPPA made him look older and also gave him a more realistic body shape and proportions. Inevitably, some fans preferred the older WIT style, particularly from season 3 where they pulled all the stops out for both Levi and Erwin.

The first MAPPA image of Erwin appeared unexpectedly in the official MAPPA SnK calendar at the end of 2020. Needless to say, the fact they chose to include their own version of the famous crate scene, drove the Eruri fandom wild. Although there was some a lot of grumbling about Erwin's nose, I think we were all just over the moon that he appeared at all.

While I really appreciate MAPPA's character designs and more realistic body proportions, sometimes their faces seem just a little bit off to me. I think it's something to do with the way they draw noses. MAPPA Levi really grew on me, however I don't think they really managed to nail Erwin until the final scenes of the very last episode.

Personally speaking, although I think MAPPA made a fabulous job of animating the final seasons, I'll always be a WIT fangirl at heart. WIT Season 3 Erwin and Levi remain unsurpassed for me 😔

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You need to relax, Commander. Let me help you

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First one of the year.