#Nimona autism

[deerteetharepretty]

Trans Ballister Headcannon and intersectional queer theory thoughts about the movie Nimona

I absolutely ADORE the Nimona movie but as an Autigender, genderqueer, who is specifically somewhere encapsulating genderfluid and trans masc nonbinary lesbian, this movie made me sob. 

I related to Nimona so SO MUCH. But due to my love of studying the intersectionallitys of queer struggles as my special interest, i saw a specific headcannon among fans that has my entire heart. 

I dont wanna put down anyone elses, i love them all, but i wanted to take a moment to talk about the beautiful lense you could look at queer intersectionality with the Trans Man Ballistar Boldheart headcannon. 

I want to be clear i do not mean this in a weird way at all!

I think theres a lot to discuss with how we could view there kingdom as being accepting of gay people (at least a bit more progressed past where we are where there may not be hate crimes or any problems but some people are still terrible homophobs far and few) 

But through the eyes of our child Nimona we see that the society only accepts queer folks who are “the good ones” aka constantly repressing little parts of their true self to appease others. The accept gay people and say they are willing to try with binary trans people but the bigotry and outward threat of violence to anything different has kept people in the coset, hiding beautiful, normal, facets of queer joy to be seen as acceptable to the kingdom.

That's why i am so inspired by the headcannon of Ballistar, maybe not openly trans but fully living as himself accepted by doctors and the queen fully at a young age, striving for his best life, with a loving and understanding boyfriend who truly sees him.

Because its him realizing Nimona isnt the enemy, they are just a transgender/shapeshifter child. Much like he doesnt understand shapeshifters at first, he doesn't understand their gender, but you start to see him see Nimona for who she is and love her so much.  This headcannon also makes me think so much about the scene on the sword of Gloreth and the ones right before. After he hurt her Ballistar immediately regretted it. The look in his eyes and the way his hand went weak in shock when he realized he almost threatened her. He sees the fear on her face and it strikes me so much in the headcannon of them both being trans because he realized he was threatening a child, and a queer one like himself who clearly wanted to just be accepted and not hurt. I also want to talk for a moment about the ending with Ambrosius. I may need to make a part two because theres a lot to unpack with ambrosius being a cis gay man who is very supportive of the trans community and having a closeted trans partner. i feel like when the dust settles he would feel so horrible for how much he rejected Nimona in the first place.  GOD I WANNA WRITE A FANFIC ABOUT THEM WORKING TO HEAL THROUGH THIS SHIT 

[piss-in-boots]

My brain:

[powerofmettatonneo]

Honestly the vast majority of trans and neurodivergent allegories work just as well for the other group too. Take this scene from Nimona for example:

"Honestly? I feel worse when I don’t do it. Like my insides are itchy. You know that second right before you sneeze? That’s close to it. Then I shape-shift, and I’m free."

"What if you held it in? If you didn’t shape-shift?"

"I’d die."

"Good Gloreth, that’s horrible!"

"Don’t be so gullible. I wouldn’t die die. I just sure wouldn’t be living."

Like are you talking about gender expression or stimming here? The answer is "yes".

[rosemary-frog]

VERY important doodle

[lorelynx]

it’s wild that the entire plot of the Nimona movie only happened bc The Director felt threatened that an unfair system she thoroughly believed in was making a change to be more inclusive, causing her to overreact in a desperate attempt to preserve her ‘way of life’ by ultimately causing more harm not to just the people she held a prejudice against, but to everybody

this movie is an unapologetically trans and/or queer allegory story from head to toe

[cosmicbucket]

hey hi. about nimona. yes it's 100% about being trans. but as a nonbinary autistic person? this movie was really touching in ways I didn't even realise were possible.

the entire train scene actually killed me.

"Can you please just be normal for a second? I just think it’d be ... easier if you look human."

"Easier for who?"

"For you. A lot of people aren’t as accepting as me."

then, when Ballister asks what shapeshifting feels like - if it hurts - the way Nimona responds hits very close to home on my experience with stimming.

"Honestly? I feel worse when I don’t do it. Like my insides are itchy. You know that second right before you sneeze? That’s close to it. Then I shapeshift, and I’m free."

And then. "What if you held it in?"

"... I just... sure wouldn’t be living."

not to mention in the original comic, Nimona's parents believe that she's something synonymous to a changeling - that she's something that replaced their "real child". this myth was likely born as an "explanation" for neurodivergent or developmentally disabled children. the townsfolk talk about her getting "better" in the comic. as if there's a cure for the way she is. which is something autistic people deal with all the fucking time.

to end on a more lighthearted note, "I'm not a girl. I'm a shark." was so real of Nimona. I'm so happy they kept that in from the comic, because it was real when I was younger and it's even more real to me now.

this story is a trans allegory loud and proud. I do not want to discredit that with this post. but this story also makes me, an autistic person, feel seen. and that's so fucking important in today's world.

I love this movie to pieces. Please go watch it, and remember to be kind. You will change someone's life for the better.

[slimi-kaito]

Ok, so I know Nimona's gender fluid and the whole shape shifting thing is a queer allegory.

BUT. (Don't worry)

I also think it’s an allegory of neurodivergency and disability! And I wanna talk about it:

To me, the « I wouldn't die die but I sure wouldn't be living » discussion feels very reminiscent of autistic stimming and masking, masking being explained here as the constant state of « that second before you sneeze ».

With that in mind, Nimona and Ballister's discussion in the train hits a lot closer to home for ND and disabled people in general because Ballister says « it would be easier for you » which isn’t actually true and shows how a lot of the world views disability. For people your disability is completely fine until they see it, they say they are disability allies but will shame you if you start stimming etc…

I think Nimona’s reaction to what Ballister said also shows that she is used to that kind of rethoric, she tries to lead him to the true answer « normal? » you’re normal for people if they can’t see your disability, « easier for who? » easier for him, easier for society because if they don’t see it they can ignore it. At the end of that conversation he doesn’t understand though and even think he is a hero for it « a lot of people aren’t as accepting as me » except what he does is actually the bare minimum, treating disabled people like actual people is the bare minimum whether you can see their disability or not!

At the end, Ballister understands that he was in the wrong and goes on to actually see Nimona as a person, as who she is « I see you ». And theoretically/utopically it’s the same for the kingdom’s people BUT it took the literal sacrifice of Nimona’s life for them to start treating her like a person which again should be the BARE MINIMUM. I think it is especially sad that it’s the way our society works as well, disabled people, queer people etc… shouldn’t have to earn the right to be treated as a person.

Thanks for reading all that, byeeee!

[candyskiez]

If I had a nickel for everytime an animated media ended with the titular character having a breakdown after years of repression and mistreatment by everyone around them, causing them to go into a superpowered state and rampage towards something very specific now that all their repressed desires and anger and trauma are running wild and have to be brought back by their loved ones who heavily contributed to them having this breakdown in the first place finally apologizing to them and reaching out, I'd have three nickels.

Which isn't much, but it's weird that it's happened thrice.

[little-cereal-draws]

All the ancient Nimona art I could find in the art book

Bonus:

[mar-im-o]

Nimona's a story about autism. Shifting is stimming. She's fucking proud of her disability even when the rest of society treats it as a curse. She does it openly and joyously even when people suggest it'd be easier if she just hid it

That's autism baybe

[powerfulblob]

Are we not talking about the autistic knights in Nimona???

The ones with the otters

Please

[deerteetharepretty]

Ambrosius being autistic and adhd with sensory issues around texture, certain sounds, and heat.

Most people think he’s being a picky but polite jerk about sensory stuff because he doesn’t know how to explain it.

With clothes most of the time his skin is SCREAMING at the texture unless it’s his knight wear undergarments or his comfort but cute lade back clothes.

Him coming off as a little bratty to people controlling his image but clearly trying hard to be polite and patient because it’s their job and the weird rules he has to follow make him mask constantly and ignore sensory issues.

What I’m saying is they made this man cut his hair from the long beautiful waves with an undercut to short bangs and I KNOW HE WAS DEVASTATED AT THE SENSORY LOSS

let him grow his god damned hair back or the fans will riot. Or he might.

[crustaceousfaggot]

So... Idk maybe this was obvious to everyone and there's no point in me bringing it up. But can we talk about Ballister's armor?

The plate that the knights wear is standardized. It's their uniform. All the knights we see in the film are wearing the same armor and use the same swords. They're standard issue. With a couple exceptions.

Ambrosius gets much flashier armor, with the obvious gold and white colour scheme and the lion (?) design on his chest plate. He also has large lions on the sides of his pauldrons with embedded sapphire eyes, which - wow, talk about ostentatious. This is presumably because of his connections to Gloreth - his blood is special enough that he gets an entirely different and considerably flashier set of armor. Is it a family heirloom? Was it commissioned specifically for him? We'll never know. But the Institute designated this little boy Special enough to be exempt from the dress code in order to demonstrate his status as the Specialist Boy.

Todd gets a slightly altered version of the uniform, with black bottoms instead of grey, and larger pauldrons. If we assume Ambrosius gets fancy armour because of his family connections, then that seems to imply Todd also has some ancestry notable enough to set him aside slightly from the rest of the knights. Not anywhere near as famed as Gloreth of course, but maybe a notable general or war hero or something along those lines. That would explain some of the ego. Whatever.

Both of them seem to still be using the standardized swords though.

And then there's Ballister. With his black armor.

In the book I just sort of assumed he chose that armor in order to compliment the whole aesthetic he's got going on. But in the movie that is explicitly not true. They gave him that armor, to signify in the most literal and inconspicuous way possible that he is the black sheep. He does not belong and he never will, no matter how hard he tries, because the Institute will make sure everyone who sees him immediately recognizes him as other. Street trash who has been graciously permitted into their ranks, but will never be allowed to wear the untainted, pure colours of their order, the divine white and gold. It was decided for him, before he even became a knight, that no matter what he did he would never escape that shadow. That he was let in, not born in. Allowed to exist. Always on their terms.

He doesn't even get to use their swords. He gets a black sword to match his armor, one which (by the looks of it) is significantly lower-tech than the standard issue swords, at least until it was tampered with.

The Queen could have stopped this, but she didn't, which indicates to me more than ever that, to her, Ballister was first and foremost a token. A gesture meant to inspire loyalty and goodwill from her subjects, to prove that she was willing to change. Slowly. And only so long as people remembered who really had the power. Am I saying she was evil or whatever? No. We haven't seen enough of her as a ruler to make those kinds of judgements. But to me she represents a very milquetoast, left-of-center, "Equal-rights-for-everyone-so-long-as-it-doesn't-negatively-affect-me-or-my-standing-in-any-way" kind of leader.

There was no way he could have ever been one of them. Never. And they made sure knew it.

[ashesoriley]

Me when I'm overstimulated

[fairylando]

i was just rewatching nimona (2023) — and i really suggest you do too because it's a devastatingly beautiful movie — and tell me why it took me one year to realize how much ballister boldheart/blackheart (in the movie redesign) reminds me of carlos???

[raivos-world]

Shout out to neurodivergent characters!

Canon:

Twyla from Monster high (voiced by autistic actress in the new one)

Norma from Dead end paranormal park

Luz from The owl house

Donnie from ROTTMNT

Quinni from Heartbreak high (autistic actress)

Woo Young Woo from Extra ordinary attorney Woo

My personal head canons:

Aaron from The Mitchel's vs the machines

Nimona from Nimona

Pinkie pie and Rainbowdash from MLP

Wednesday and Enid from Wednesday

Lilo from Lilo and stitch

Hiccup and Fishlegs from HTTYD

Hunter from the Owl house

Bluey and Bingo from Bluey

Dory from Finding Nemo/Dory

Naruto from Naruto

Varian from the Tangled series

Rapunzel, Mulan and Ariel