#forever on my reiner bullshit

[pinkmirth]

i want his dick down my throat so bad it’s not even funny

[l0sercat]

I didn't expect Bertholdt to win lol. Back a couple years when I was in my AoT bullshit I was a die hard fan and simp for him. But many people hated him and would shit on me for liking him so I'm happy to see that people like him. It makes me happy that he is getting the love he deserves :,) So without further ado here is....

Yandere Alphabet w/ Bertholdt Hoover

Affection — how do they show their love and affection?

He'll leave lingering touches on your body and always give you small things. Like flowers he found or something you said you wanted/mentioned.

Blood — how messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

He would get messy but prefers not to. Now he wouldn't massacre a whole town unless necessary, maybe only slit a few throats if need be. He much rather deal with people in other means.

Cruelty — how would they treat their darling once abducted?

He is not too cruel but step outta line and his words will be harsh and if needed you might get slapped. He doesn't want to hurt you but your hurting his feelings by trying to escape and physically hurt him.

Darling — aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

I don't see him forcing himself on you unless somehow someway Reiner got into his head how if he doesn't Darling will never love and respect him. Bertholdt really needs to be pushed over the edge of have some serious convincing by only Reiner that he needs to do it. Bertholdt wants to have you willingly and it makes him psychically ill just to think about forcing himself on you.

Exposed — how vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

He can be pretty vulnerable especially when you fall to Stockholm syndrome. He will open up about himself and his past. But in the early stages he is more weary about opening up but still bears some of his heart out for you.

Fight — how would they feel if their darling fought back?

He wouldn't like it and would be upset. On one hand he understands why your acting this way. He kidnapped you away from your loved ones but, on the other you should love him because he protects you and cares for you and will do anything for you. You were meant to be his and he was meant to be yours why can't you except that?

Game — is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

He wouldn't like it. It's not fun it's not amusing infact everything but that. It pisses him off and he wishes you wouldn't do this to him. Do you you know how much he panics we he finds you gone from your room. He breaks out into tears and tears up the whole place and spends forever searching for you.

Hell — what would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

He would threaten darling and their family and prove he is not bluffing, comes back with one of the relatives items(or hand). He only did this because darling was acting up and tried to escape.

Ideals — what kind of future do they have in mind for their darling?

One where you can live peacefully in Marley with him. Reiner visits every so often and your a loving stay at home darling. Bertholdt is obviously the money maker and he makes sure his sweet darling has everything they need and want.

Jealousy — do they get jealous? How do they handle it?

He does get jealous because he is a little insecure. When Reiner comes over he can't help but feel jealous of him. He's muscular and confident and great with people. Sure Bertholdt is tall and somewhat strong and can manage conversations here and there. But he doesn't have big muscles and isn't really confident and conversations quickly die as soon as they start. So when Reiner comes over and starts to cling around Darling more than necessary and Bertholdt is getting real jealous. He'll walk over to Reiner and start to push him towards the door and ignore his comments and tells him to leave and he is making Darling uncomfortable. He then quickly grabs Darling in his arms and holds them for a while.

Kisses — how do they act around or with their darling?

He is gentle and kind. He is mostly just a obsessive and possive yandere. So he is still semi normal around you just more clingy and you never go out.

Love letters — how would they go about approaching their darling?

He would probably slowly insert himself in your life. He would appear here and there and try to talk to you. Then he would befriend you and be glued to your side. He would try to date you normally but if that doesn't work when you go on a mission he'll fake your death. But in truth he kidnapped you and now your living in a secret house with him and occasionally Reiner.

Mask — are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Not really. He still nervous around you, but a little more talkative and bold.

Naughty — how would they punish their darling?

He would chain you up and strip you of your senses. You can't see, hear, and your submerged in water some times. You won't know what's happening until it happens.

Oppression — how many rights would they take away from their darling?

He would take away your freedom. You can't go anywhere until he allows it. If you are allowed outside it's definitely not in town just in the yard and you have a leash on to make sure you don't escape. You have privacy to an extent but abuse it and it's all gone.

Patience — how patient are they with their darling?

He's pretty patient and willing to wait for his darling. Until darling spits in his face and it's looking like they won't submit willing. Then he might snap.

Quite — if their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

If darling dies he will be broken and might forget everything and shut himself away. If they leave he's hurt and upset and will stop at nothing to get you back. And when he does he is not the same gentle giant he once was. He will never move on no matter what happens you mean too much to him.

Regret — would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling?

Yes. He feels bad you can't see your family and friends anymore. But this is what's best for you and you need to understand it. You don't need anybody, but him only he can fulfill your needs.

Stigma — what brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

He never had anyone special and the person he did love didn't give a damn about him. He always wanted someone to hold and to have.

Tears — how do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

He hates it. It makes him feel shitty and he wants to comfort you and explain how this is for the best. He hates hearing your broken painful screams. It breaks his heart for you to isolate yourself from him.

Unique — would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

You actually have body autonomy. He doesn't whip you and he's actually very sweet just obsessive and possessive. He won't ever force you to do anything sexually unless you want too. He is aware of how he acts and knows your scared so he let's you know he wont do anything like that to you unless you want it.

Vice — what weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

How he can be away for a while and he is sensitive. When he is gone darling can try to escape. Also sensitive in general wether sexually or emotionally. So get him weak and you might have a shot at overpowering him.

Wit’s end — would they ever hurt their darling?

Physically? I don't think so. Emotionally and mentally? Most likely yes. He doesn't want to but if he needs to do be it. And it will be slow and drive Darling crazy to a point they break down.

Xoanon — how much would they revere or worship their darling?

He thinks your a god/goddess sent from above to help him survive in this terrible world. You give him hope and he doesn't want anyone tainting you.

Yearn — how long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

1-2 years. He's a little slower than most yandere's but remember he wants you willing. So if it takes a year or so that's okay for him.

Zenith — would they ever break their darling?

Accidentally yes. He didn't mean to but sometimes things happen. He's a little upset but at least now your compliant.

[fatsamsgrandslamspeakeasy]

Justice has been served on November 5th and 6th, 2024!

Congratulations to our true POTUS, Donald J Trump, on your rightful win as POTUS #47!

A huge FUCK YOU to a huge list of crybaby so-called "celebrities". The list is so huge, I apologize to anyone who I may leave out: Taylor Swift, Harrison Ford, Cardi B, Jesse The Nobody Ventura, Mick Foley, Robert DeNiro, Stephen (Pedo) King, Jennifer Lopez, Whoopi Goldberg, Quentin Tarantino, Mark Hammil, Christina Applegate, John Cusack, Wendell Pierce, George Clooney, Katy Perry, Cher, Mark Ruffalo, Meryl Streep, Rob (Meathead) Reiner, Miley Cyrus, Lena Dunham, Alec Baldwin, Amy Schumer, Chelsea Handler, Zendaya, Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, Rosie O'Donnell, George Takei, America Ferrera, Madonna, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jack Black, Will Smith, Barbara Streisand, Trevor Noah, Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, Stephen Colbert, Susan Sarandon, Jimmy Kimmel, LeBron James, Ben Stiller, Samuel L Jackson, Bette Midler, Jane Fonda, Ellen (Degenerate) DeGeneres, Eminem, Harpo, Richard Gere, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Evans, Alyssa Milano, Chrissy Teigan, George Lopez, The View hosts, Pope Francis.......

No true patriot gives a flying fuck what y'all think. Go back to your perverted Hollywoodland, and keep y'alls MF-ing mouths shut while y'all cry rivers of tears. Y'all and y'alls' sick demented fans and followers should crawl into a hole and disappear forever. Better yet, if y'all ain't totally full of shit, and wish to leave America, the Great....I would be only too happy to personally pay for y'alls 1 way ticket the hell out of here! Good bye and good fuckin' riddance........

An even bigger FUCK YOU to: Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, Fani Willis, Juan Merchan, Arthur Engoron, Lewis Kaplan, Merrick Garland, Mehdi Hasan, Tanya Chutkan, Jack Smith, Shenna Bellows, Jena Griswold, George and Alex Soros and of course.... Joe Biden. Y'all led a witch hunt against an innocent man, tried unconstitutionally to get his name off of state ballots, convict him of bullshit crimes, imprison him, empower the DOJ as a weapon against him, simply because he dared to love our country's freedom by opposing your NWO Globalist masters. Because of the rhetoric that y'all helped spread, y'all are directly responsible for the attempts by the crazy leftists loonies who tried to take this great man's life. Thank God that you failed in that attempt. Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves, but when y'all look in the mirrors, y'all must recognize the true Fascists that have been in power for way too long.....yourselves! Each and every one of y'all is an indelible stain on the American Way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. History will NOT be kind to any of y'all. Y'all do understand that your un-American actions were crucial in getting DJT re-elected. Live with that knowledge daily, as it burns a hole in each of y'alls miserable stomachs.

FINALLY: a well-deserved FUCK YOU to Kamala Harris, puppet extraordinaire to the Globalist regime. It turns out, darlin' that YOU were at the wrong rally, all this time!!!!! You don't get to diss our Lord Jesus and not suffer the consequences. You and your fellow Satanic followers will be finding that out for eternity someday soon, one can only hope! But really, sweettums.....your whole platform was a complete sham and a slap in the face to all hard-working, intelligent, decent Americans. Any true public servant... which you clearly are NOT..... would know that, in order to secure my vote, you need to convince me why I should vote for YOU, not why I should NOT be voting for your opponent. All you had in your arsenal was "Don't vote for Trump, because....". Never once could you say "Vote for me because....." and come up with a legitimate, valid reason why I should cast my vote for you. A lesson that you should have learned long ago! The fact that you didn't, shows you for the charlatan that you are, have been and always will be. The fact that your supporters could not see that is testimony to their brainlessness and/or their indoctrination. Now, please just do the American people a great big favor and pull yourself into a huge hole, go off into oblivion, and leave the adults to clean up the big mess that you and your partners-in-crime have created.

Thank you truly to my friends, family and followers for putting up with me the past 4 years in my time of indignation, depression and rage. While I still plan to keep my blog's finger on the pulse of political events, and especially, any and all injustices that may ensue this historical win, I really need to make this blog more fun and relaxing for myself, the way I initially envisioned it to be. Thanks for putting up with my craziness and for being my support when I felt that the world was going to Hell in a hand basket. I respect and love you all, patriots! Have a blessed day and a great life!

Finally, Thank you to Donald J Trump for being an inspiration to myself and for being a great POTUS for all Americans. Your mantra of FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT will forever be my blueprint of action for future navigation thru turbulent waters.

[coffeecatcraze]

"Pieck still wearing her stolen Scout Regiment coat in the final battle is just a meta aesthetic choice and a way to have the wings that symbolize freedom and have been such an iconic part of the series visible during that fight, it has no character relevance" well maybe not to YOU, but as a serial over-analyzer of my faves, I have my own thoughts on the subject.

Honestly, Pieck shouldn't have hesitated before throwing that coat away as soon as she didn't need it for her undercover mission anymore. It's the crest of the people who attacked her home; it's the crest of the asshole who's about to destroy the world. She took off the medallion, but kept the coat, even with all the downtime they ended up having. Why? Practical reasons? Forget it; even if the weather's cold, she's wearing long sleeves under the coat, and as the Cart Titan, she knows she's gonna be in a warm Titan body for a good amount of time. So why keep it?

(Besides the fact that she looks better in it than most of the actual Paradis soldiers, of course.)

I'd bet Reiner told the other Warriors what those wings mean: the desire for freedom from being preyed on, freedom to explore the world, freedom to have choices and stay safe and be yourself. So why wear the enemy's symbol when she doesn't have to anymore? Because those are all things she, as an Eldian who's lived under the oppression of Marley and had to forfeit her life to the military just so her father could see a doctor, understands and desires for herself. None of the Warriors have ever been free; they never even had the illusion of it. They've been constantly reminded that their race exists to be hated and oppressed for their whole lives.

She's also accepted that after Eren's bullshit, Eldians might be even worse off than before; that means what little freedom she managed to glimpse will likely be gone forever, if she even survives. Besides, the Scouts were formed to give their hearts for humanity's future, and isn't that what they're all doing? Charging into almost certain death for the hope of giving humanity a future of freedom?

When Jean tells Reiner they're Scouts, that doesn't just extend to the people who signed up for the Scout Regiment at some point. It's also everyone else who's fighting Eren not just for themselves, but for the people around them and for the comrades they've lost. They're fighting selflessly, not for vengeance or for their own sakes. They can try and find a safe place to wait out the apocalypse, but they choose not to.

The people who signed up for the Scouts charge towards the most dangerous bastard in the world for humanity's sake without hesitation; Pieck and Onyankopon are right there with them; and when Falco realizes he can get to them, Gabi and Annie go with him, putting their lives on the line for the sake of protecting others when they could just as easily have stayed behind with Kiyomi. The fact that Keith Shadis, who hasn't worn the Wings of Freedom in years, decided to put on a Scout's jacket when he came to the port to help only reinforces the point: it's a symbol that represents going against everything Eren wants to do. It's the symbol of those who want to create a future for humanity, and it's something worn by those who fight against the extermination of humanity outside of the island.

Floch and the other Jaegerists weren't Scouts by the end. They'd turned into the nobles from the old regime, the ones from before Historia became queen: obsessed with defending the people they consider elites, even if it means sacrificing thousands of "lesser" lives. The only difference is they were willing to be active participants in those crimes against humanity.

So, in my character-oriented overthinking brain, that's why Pieck kept the coat. She understands what those wings are supposed to mean, and she has the spirit of the a true Scout in her: refusing to give up, fighting for humanity's future, and hoping to find freedom even while being willing to give everything she has.

And the Scouts do win this time; they are given their freedom; and they accomplish their goal of creating a future for what's left of humanity. They dedicate their hearts, and they win.

Also we don't know how many times her Titan form was killed offscreen, but we do know she estimated she's capable of over a hundred transformations before her energy runs out. She was willing to fling herself out of a badly injured Titan body and transform again, over and over. Please keep in mind that we've seen Titan users experience the pain of their Titan bodies. Now imagine having a body that gets killing and crippling blows over and over, and jumping right back into the fight with a new body that can get just as damaged as the last one. The exhaustion and trauma from that, holy shit; and there's no time for a break between the adrenaline of the fight, the adrenaline of seeing her father who she thought was dead, and the adrenaline of having to jump into another fight after the father she just reunited with got turned into a Titan.

Please let this woman have a good 12-hour nap. She deserves it.

[aki-mochi]

Levi x Reader: Competition

Warning: contains language (it’s Levi, duh) and slight mentions of sexual content. Word count: 1012 ~Levi~

Trying my best to ignore Hanji and her fucking titans, I sipped my tea while waiting for my girlfriend to finish her errand. No sooner did shitty glasses (finally) finish her rant, (Y/n) came through the dining hall doors and got her food before sitting beside me across from Hanji. Glancing over in her direction, I caught her looking at me before seeing a smile tugging at her lips. I almost smiled back but Hanji would never live it down if she saw and I did not want to put up with more of her shit then what I do now. Then (Y/n) and Hanji started talking up a storm. Well, mostly Hanji about her experiments. Couldn’t blame them for being childhood friends, though. Lately, Hanji came up with this stupid game of who knew (Y/n) better. (Y/n) and I tell each other everything, from favorite books, to our hobbies, and even the best method for cleaning. Even though she says lavender is better than lemon, which I say is bullshit. Unfortunately, everyone knows of the little ‘game’ Hanji made and started to bury my girlfriend with questions of her relationship between her, me, and Hanji. As I sipped my tea, I saw Eren getting up from his table and walk over to ours looking nervous. This peaked my curiosity slightly but remained stoic as a single brow rose. as he  the table, he gave a salute then turned his attention to (Y/n) who in return gave him her attention.

“Hello, Eren. What questions do you have this time?”

Eren rubbed the back of his neck. “I-If I may ask...if you had to choose between me or horseface-”

“Hey!” yelled Jean.

“-who would you tolerate most?” he finished.

“You” Hanji and I had said at the same time.

“They’re right, Eren. You may go now.” you said.

The titan brat nodded before joining his friends with a grin on his face as Jean glared with a pout. It wasn’t an oblivious question. (Y/n) had come over to Hanji’s lab one day while I was scolding her about her experiments and had said how much Jean was a complete flirt towards her. Saying how annoying it was to see his shit-eating smirk whenever he tried to flirt with her. Key word: tried. It usually ended up with his ass on the ground during combat training.

“Man. You two know everything about me. I’m honestly surprised you both remember all this stuff.”

“Well, I’m your best friend so I’m supposed to~” Shitty Glasses gloated. I rolled my eyes.

“Tch. Why wouldn’t I know everything about my girlfriend? Idiot.” I grunted, no bite in my words towards her whatsoever. You just giggled and continued to eat as I did the same.

~Timeskip: Normal POV~

As the days went on with Hanji’s little ‘game’, (Y/n) was starting to get very annoyed at all the cadets asking questions about her relationships between Levi and Hanji. At first, she didn’t mind it since they were all curious on how she’s friends with a psychotic scientist and a scary- yet badass and sexy- corporal. But that changed when they started asking personal questions.

‘Have you and Corporal done it?’

‘What was your first time having sex like?’

‘Are you loud during sex?’

‘What size breast cups do you have?’

And to say that the game is getting old is an understatement. Levi was fuming. Hanji was now unsure if the game should continue. And you? Well, let’s say that you were so fucking embarrassed that you couldn’t even answer the questions anymore without trying to hide behind the two competitors. Right now, the three of you were somewhat hiding from the cadets and their -ahem- ‘curious questions’.

“Hanji, can you please call the game off….? I can’t take this anymore…” You whined while being curled up sideways on Levi’s lap as he held you close.

“She’s right, Four-eyes. This has gone far enough. Either you stop the game or I’ll ban you from experiments for a month.” He glared.

“Alright, Alright. I agree with you both that this game has taken itself too far. I’ll call the game off when we get to dinner, which is in a few minutes.” she hummed.

“I really don’t wanna go….” You pouted as you got up from your comfortable spot before stretching her limbs.

As the three soon made their way to the dining hall, they all were greeted with cadets spotting them from their seats with a ‘curious’ glint in their eyes. (Y/n) gulped quietly while following the other two towards your usual table. As you all at down, one of the cadets stood up and placed himself up on the table with his arms in a salute confidently. You eyed him suspiciously while taking a sip of your tea.

“Squad Leader, (Y/n). We would all like to know, what's your biggest kink during sex?” Reiner yelled out so boldly.

Glasses cracked.

Eyes had widened.

And liquid had been spit out in shock.

(Y/n) was coughing up a storm after almost inhaling her entire drink. Her face was a dark shade of red from both the question and from choking as Levi rubbed her back to help soothe her. He shot the most menacing glare at the blonde before suddenly standing up from his seat.

“Listen up, you fucking brats! This shitty game is now banned from this day forward and ALL of you will be receiving MONTHS worth of cleaning duties for asking your superiors personal questions! AM I CLEAR!?”

“Yes sir!” they bellowed.

“Good. Now, about that question. If you really want to know, it’s bondage.” he bluntly stated before sitting back down, making all the cadets turn red to the ears.

Hanji stared in shock then turned to you “I-Is that true…?”

“....Yes.” You weakly answered as you face planted the table, wishing to disappear from the earth forever while Levi sipped his tea in silent victory with a smirk hiding behind his cup.

Winner: Levi

[glassbead-xx]

Attack on Titan chapter 138 spoilers

I haven’t done this in a while. Let’s go for the second to last time

This whole chapter was pain, I haven’t been ok since yesterday

I’m going to reread it with the oficial release but it’s going to be twice as painful I’m sure

The Warrior’s reunion with their families was so beautiful, and then Connie realized what was happening and I got so sad

I hurt every time I remember Jean, Connie and Gabi being turned into titans

Like Jean and Connie remembering their graduation and Connie being like ‘we saved the world because of you’ my heart ;-;

After Connie’s bullshit with Falco and his mom, Falco and Gabi reuniting made me think that they wouldn’t be separated again. They got separated again, probably forever now

Unless they’ve got a way to turn mindless titans back into humans without eating a Shifter this is the end for all three and that makes me so sad

Armin being like ‘you must really like this hell’ to Eren. Like seeing them fight was always too heartbreaking but this is too much

Annie’s dad being turned into a Titan, just as they’re being reunited

Levi’s order to leave the others behind when you know it’s probably the last thing he would’ve wanted

Pieck looking back at the others and crying

Falco looking back at Gabi ;-;

Titans Jean, Connie and Gabi (sorry I’ll probably never get over this, I just love those three so much ;-;)

Eren’s vision to Mikasa and showing her what could’ve happened if she had told him the truth in the chapter 123 flashback

Him telling her to get rid of the scarf and live a long life after he’s gone

The callback to chapter freaking 1 ‘why are you crying?’ ‘See you later Eren’

Mikasa pulling the scarf and wrapping it around her neck

Eren’s face when he and Mikasa saw each other broke me

I stopped shipping Eren and Mikasa because I was convinced that it wouldn’t happen. Eren was trying too hard to make Mikasa hate him and I knew that she would have to be one of the people (if not the one) to end him

It was never a question about love though, Mikasa still loves Eren more than anything in the world, and I never doubted that

If Isayama didn’t put any kissing scenes until now because he was saving it for this, then it was totally worth it

Sure it looks weird, but Mikasa kissing Eren as a way of goodbye was probably the most heartbreaking thing about this chapter (which is saying a lot)

There are probably more things that I want to ramble about (like Reiner) but if I don’t stop I’m going to be sad

To the boy who sought freedom... goodbye

RIP Eren, you might be a little nuts and done shit I don’t agree with, but my 16 year old self will still love you forever, you suicidal blockhead

I’m not ready for the series to end ;-;

[rm4ever]

Therapy Session w/ Ships!

Therapist: so, what did you guys say you went through?

Levi: oh well…My mom died in front of me when I was young, my sick uncle that is a killer trained me to kill, then he left me, then after that I met some real nice friends named Farlan and Isabel, but then we were forced to join the Survey Corps, meeting a lunatic Titan addic named Hange and a guy with weirdly big eyebrows called Erwin. My first friends died and I saw the insides of Farlan and I also saw the severed head of Isabel, and a few years later, I had my own squad, but then I saw their dead bodies as well, and then I had a new squad but all of them were brats…except for you Mikasa :) and also, Erwin, the only one who knew of my past died, and I also had to choose between him and Arlert, but after a few years the only sign of joy and happiness went away, Potato Girl, and a few days later, Hange, even though she was a bitch, died for honor. And then, I also saw all the people that died, in front of me.

Therapist:*shooketh* So…miss Ackerman, how about you?

Mikasa: *sigh* okay. I was living a carefree and happy life throughout until I was 9 years old my dad got stabbed in the heart and my mom’s skull got split. I was knocked out cold and was about to be sold to the black market until Eren came into my life and killed 2 of them, only to be suffocated and almost die. I awakened my Ackerman powers and killed the guy in one swoop. Me, Eren, and Armin became the best of friends. A few months after though, I had a new family but then the Colossal and Armored titan took down Wall Maria and I saw so much people die, and my adoptive mom, Carla, got killed in front of me. Then my adoptive dad, Grisha also dissapeared and now I know that Eren actually ate him. Then I also joined the Survey Corps to follow Eren’s dream of killing all the titans, only to see more people die. Eren turned into a titan, I got some depression inside because of that, and we almost got killed by a high-ranking officer named Kitz Woermann. I saw Eren get beat up by this irksome shorty, and I even saw Eren get killed…again right in front of me. Also, we got betrayed by Annie Leonhart. Then after that he also got himself stuck with a wooden piece at his heart, and he got hurt in front of me multiple times after that. I saw Hannes, one of the only people that was with me Eren and Armin get killed by the same titan that killed my mom, watched Eren laugh at himself for being useless, and also having to deal with his bullshit forever. We also found out the hard way that Reiner and Bertholdt were the Colossal and Armored titans. I got sad again when I realized that Eren was always leaving me and Armin behind. Few months from then we learned that we had new enemies, but it was humans. We had to kill multiple to get Eren and Historia because they were kidnapped, and we almost died. Then we had a chance to recapture Wall Maria, but 95% of the Survey Corps got caught up in the Colossal Titan’s explosion. Armin kinda died and…that was terrifying. Also, my best friend and roomate Sasha died. Eren said he hated me…Then I also had to go through and see what Eren became after that. I had to kill Floch, and even see all my comrades turn into pure titans, and even resulting to killing the one person I loved, Eren. Well, now I’m with Levi though :)

Therapist: holy fucking shit how are you guys still alive?!

Levi and Mikasa: we don’t even know ourselves :)

[aotopmha]

Attack on Titan in 2020

I've sort of dropped doing detailed chapter posts on the series because that type of writing wasn't very fun for me anymore and I have taken a liking to a bullet point kind of approach where I list the elements that stood out for me in the chapter or make a separate post for some specific topic I'd like to talk about in it.

I've started like 10 different posts to attempt to talk about AoT this year and I always end up with incoherent rambling because of all of the elements I'd love to to talk about.

This year's chapters were 125-135 and this year's episodes episodes 1-4 of season 4.

The anime episodes in particular have given me a lot of food for thought, so I'm just saying fuck it.

I think the biggest misstep of the story for me will forever be the fact that it decided to use fairly specific historical imagery.

The Eldians are clearly supposed to have allegorical equivalency with Jewish people, but the Jewish people were never the oppressors. There weren't any Jewish empires. That's conspiracy theory bullshit.

But on the other hand, the series clearly takes great effort to not stereotype any of the groups it's portraying and gives complex reasons for what both sides do. It's one of the few Japanese series that I've seen not stereotype Middle Eastern-coded people (Ramzi and Halil) or black people (Onyakapon). Everyone are people, it says. It even champions diversity:

(Chapter 118)

It is also very much true that a bunch of fascist states use long-term history as an excuse for their actions:

(Chapter 127)

Nation did X 2000 years ago therefore our conquest of them is justified.

This makes discussion about the series' themes like a minefield.

The people who are very critical about its imagery are right, but the people defending the series aren't wrong, either because it condemns all of those nasty ideas of conquest and hurting innocent people.

You can't have a more clear-cut condemnation of genocide:

(Chapter 127)

If you combine all of these details instead of zoning in on them one by one, to me what the story is saying is that *even if* all of that conspiracy bullshit is true, innocent people don't deserve to be slaughtered no matter the reason because they are still people who have their own feelings, thoughts and wishes.

The story clearly gets the baseline, but fumbles the details. I decided to look up some more discussion surrounding this these past few days and I just wish there was more good faith discussion about it. A lot of it feels like a moral superiority contest.

I think it's these kind of flawed stories that actually deserve detailed scruitiny over stories that are rotten to the core because they are *almost there*. Talking about them is a good topic starter in what to do and not to do in a story like this.

Speaking of rotten to the core, I think the absolute highlight of the chapters this year is Eren and some of the chapters this year finally gave me a pretty clear picture of what is going on with him.

Context from 123 certainly helps, though:

(Chapter 131)

This is about Eren's perspective. He can't accept the destruction of Paradis.

It's not that this solution was inevitable looking in from the outside (which is one of the interpretations I see around for Eren's actions), it's that *Eren* can't see any other way out of this except the most extreme because of all of the horrible things he has seen from the outside world. It is very similar to the way suicidal people can only focus on the negative.

You can tell them everything is going to be okay, but those words won't reach them because their mind won't let them and loops them back to those negative thoughts.

Eren can't see the ice cream or silly clowns. But he can see how the other Eldians in the league of Eldians are willing to push Paradis under the bus. He can see how Grisha's sister was killed. He can see how racist and cruel Marley is towards the Eldians in Liberio (and how the people have racist leanings towards other nations, too).

He can only see those bad things. But he also understands how everyone outside of the walls are human just as the people inside of the walls are.

So he is torn to pieces by guilt.

He doesn't want to do this, but he can't see any other solution.

This is why I also think he can't rob his friends of their agency. He is fighting for them to have a good future:

(Chapter 133)

(Chapter 131)

What really stood out to me on a revisit is that Eren considers himself much worse than Reiner.

I've seen criticism on how the story pushes the narrative of both sides being the same and this detail is really important to me because this is the story acknowledging that what Eren is doing is worse and gives all of the following exchanges about this the context of it being a similarity in principle.

Both sides have killed for what they think is right and have to deal with how they have killed people. This is such an important detail in the Uprising arc, too, where Erwin firmly acknowledged that overthrowing the government might not actually be the right choice by him. It was simply what he saw as right. On a narrative level this avoids absolute truths and preference of one character perspective over the other and once again makes it about individual perspectives.

The theme of individual perspectives is so ingrained in this story at this point in my eyes that it's another cornerstone in understanding what is going on with Eren to me.

I think it's great.

I also really appreciate Annie and what was done with her in this chunk of chapters.

(Chapter 127)

There has been this narrative going around that proposes that the story is in Eren's corner too much. But these chapters are nothing but questioning Eren and Annie is one of the main voices in this. It's the Marleyan girls, really and I think this is a very necessary part of making the narrative work. Once again, it separates the narrative and character perspective.

It says that the Paradis side caring is about character perspective, not what the narrative sides with and Annie is even sympathetic to Mikasa in that instance.

She gets it. Unexpectedly, I think Annie might play a bigger role in taking down Eren than expected. Her character arc about deciding to no longer go with the flow because she doesn't want any more tragedy to happen is basically calling for it.

(Chapter 128)

Another element I've seen brought up is the fact that nobody seems to address the Bert-sized elephant in the room, but some of our characters are certainly thinking about him.

This is such a thematically strong element and really interesting because Connie joined the military to make his mom proud and be a good soldier. This is the motivation behind his claim when he says they are going to save the world. But what does becoming a good soldier mean, exactly?

Well, apparently possibly gunning down people you care about.

This moment is so good because it's another moment where the idea of glory in war is taken down a peg.

The moment with Connie declaring they're going to save the world is so often criticised, but it is actually turned on its head in 128. There is no heroics in this. This is actually Connie's big "killing a person" moment because it strips away the final bit of comfort in killing in war, the excuse of killing for good moral reasons.

It is also a wonderful complex evolution of the series' themes. Trost was about fighting monsters. In the Female Titan and Clash of Titan arcs some of those monsters turned out to be human. In the Uprising, Return to Shiganshina and Marley arcs all of those monsters turned out to be human and here in the War of Paradis arc, everyone is human and the only separating system is what everyone views as right.

I really hope the anime will let this chapter breathe a little bit more.

Moving on, I guess it is time to address the rumbling.

I love it as a horror spectacle.

(Chapter 130)

And I really I think it needs to be non-CG when animated. CG is fine in spectacle battles, but not in horror settings because it is too clean.

The rumbling needs to be disgusting and dirty.

Chapter 132 gave me one of the few moments in which I truly cared about Levi. I think him telling Hange to dedicate her heart was a very good moment to cap off their relationship. He sent another SL commander to fulfill their duty.

The speech about hatred in chapter 134 also stood out to me. I think it definitely should be fitted in there somewhere in this, but I also see a bunch of criticism for it.

I want to point out that this is the side of present Marley talking here. It's the military dictatorship.

It's the Nazis. I think the Nazis should feel regret for exploiting innocent people and admit they're wrong.

I also like how the horrors here are undoing the brainwashing and showing the truth to the citizens.

I guess you could read it as heavy-handed, but it is also something that needs to be addressed and in principle, it's not wrong.

I'm also going to put a mention of Historia here. I've talked about how this is my biggest and most glaring problem with the series because of how thematically unfitting it feels, but I've also talked about it in many posts. I wanted to focus more on other stuff in this post.

So now, we make it back to chapter 135.

I think having stewed on it for a month now, I like the element of mindscrewing our cast with the Titans of the people they love is the strongest element of it. It's making them face their personal traumas and we also get some great character moments and payoffs from it.

Mikasa ended off the year in a very good note in my eyes.

Even this deep in the story, this chapter left me in a situation where I have no idea how things might turn out.

I might have rough ideas, but not anything specific and that's fun.

Well, this is it on my retrospective.

2021 is confirmed to be AoT's final year of publication as volume 34 is set to be the story's final volume.

Those who hate the story can finally be free of it and those who care for it, can look back on it with fondness and sadness and many other emotions and evaluate.

It's been 7 years for me. What a wild ride.

So, I'm asking everyone, what are some of your observations on AoT in 2020?

Is there anything you'd like to add or do you have any observations or counterarguments for anything I've said?

I'd be curious to see what everyone else thought of AoT in 2020!

[cosmicjoke]

Ugh, effing GOD, I swear with each chapter, my hatred for Zeke grows more and more.  I’m up to 119, and the entire sequence with Falco and Colt was just... sickening.  Zeke’s really trying to act like it’s such a burden to him, to have to turn Falco into a Titan and kill Colt in the process.  It’s absolutely appalling, the way Colt pleads with Zeke to just wait until Falco is out of range before he screams, not even asking him to give up on whatever his plan is, but just asking him to wait, reminding him of the entire reason Colt agreed to inherit the Beast Titan in the first place, because he wanted to protect his family, and still, STILL, Zeke is unmoved.  But the most disgusting thing, I think, is how Zeke says to Colt, “You care for your little brother.  As do I.  So it is truly a shame.”  Alright, back up just a second here.  You know what this is?  It’s called hypocrisy folks.  This is, once again, Zeke absolving himself of his crimes by framing them as mercy.  This is, once again, Zeke installing himself as a martyr, taking on the burden of hard and painful decisions to do what’s “right”, because, you see, he’s really a hero, just doing what needs to be done to save humanity.  So even though it might seem heartless and cruel and mercenary for him to turn on all of his comrades and use them without hesitation against their wills, murder them all and leave them psychologically damaged for life, no, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong!  Zeke is doing this out of compassion!  Out of love, and care, and mercy!  See, he cares about Falco JUST AS MUCH as Colt, and he really is so sad about having to then turn Falco into a fucking Titan so he can sick him on Reiner, really very upset about literally using him as a tool to achieve his goal of him and Eren touching.  And see, because Zeke tells us he cares about Falco, we’re supposed to believe it.  And we’re supposed to believe that it’s really Zeke who’s the one actually suffering here, by having to hurt the ones he supposedly loves and cares for.  By having to kill people who trusted him and believed in him to the very end, and still, despite everything, cared for him, enough so to try and talk with him and show compassion towards him.  Because it’s all for the “greater good”.  And what is that greater good?  Oh, the euthanization of an entire race of people, that’s all!  Making sure no one can ever reproduce again so that an entire race of human beings goes literally extinct.  Deciding that the lives of entire, unborn generations are so worthless, that he should get to prevent them from even taking place.  That’s Zeke’s greater good.  Zeke is the heroic one, because he’s willing to take on the burden of this pain all by himself, the burden of stabbing every person who ever cared about him in the back, and doesn’t that just make him so special.  See, by MAKING people suffer, that’s how Zeke is going to save them from suffering!  What a genius!  What a noble, good, and kind man!  This is how he frames it.  This is how he sees himself.  He won’t just own up to the things he’s doing.  He won’t admit that they’re terrible, or define what he’s doing for what it actually is, won’t own any of it.  He redefines it all as some noble and heroic deed, frames it all as his noble and selfless sacrifice, his great gift to mankind, his generosity and kindness.  I guess him getting off on crushing people beneath boulders is just a manifestation of that kindness, huh?

Alright, I think I’m gonna puke.

This mother fucker.  

Guess what?  Actions speak louder than words.  And all of Zeke’s sad frowny faces aren’t going to convince me for a second that this bitch actually cares at all, about anyone, or anything.  He’s so completely delusional, that he’s convinced himself of his own line of bullshit, that by murdering people, he’s saving them from suffering.  That he’s saving people from suffering by robbing them of their agency, their future, their lives.  And that he doesn’t actually have anything to be sorry for, because what he’s doing is mercy, and he’s the hero, because he’s the only one who can do what it takes by betraying everyone who ever gave a shit about him and believed in him.  Colt says to Zeke that “The Zeke I know would never bring children into this.”, and that reveals everything, doesn’t it?  Because, see, Zeke’s ALREADY brought children into this.  He already got two of the three warrior candidates killed in Liberio, could have and even intended to kill Gabi and Colt too, in the process, would have killed Falco, if Eren hadn’t kept him with him and Reiner in that basement.  He’s already gotten children into this by deciding that he was going to rob every future child of even being born.  

The Zeke Colt knew, the Zeke Colt BELIEVED in, was a lie, and always was a lie.  He really thought, by reminding Zeke of their connection, reminding him of why he became a Warrior in the first place, reminded him of the bond they all shared, that Zeke would realize what he was doing, remember how much he cared about all of them, and stop.  But Zeke didn’t stop, didn’t even hesitate, or consider for a moment what Colt was saying or asking, because the truth about Zeke is that he’s never connected with another, single human being in his life.  He’s a severe sociopath, who feels nothing for anyone.  He just said “Oh, what a shame.”  and then turned Falco into a Titan and killed Colt on the spot.  He took the information Colt willingly shared with him about Falco ingesting his spinal fluid, and USED IT, intentionally turning Falco into a Titan then and there because he knew it would be advantageous in getting Eren to make contact with him.   It’s Zeke saying “Then it is truly a shame.” that makes me sickest of all, because once again we have Zeke acting at regret, pretending he’s sad and hurting over having to kill two children, like it’s such a burden to him to have had to do something so awful.  If you ever needed proof of Zeke’s egotism, of his utterly self-centered world view, well, here it is.  It’s his own pain that matters in this scenario, see, his own sacrifice.  It’s too bad about Falco and Colt, but I’m the one who’s truly suffering.  Fuuuuuuuck yoooooouuu Zeke.  

Zeke does this shit again and again.  He did it during the battle of Shinganshina, when he killed countless soldiers, swinging wildly between uncontrollable rage and glee as he treated killing them like a game of baseball, literally using them as scapegoats for his anger at his father, to spouting off about how “sorry” he felt for the very people he was murdering, about how pitiful and sad their lives were, and how he was truly doing this for their own good, if only their little minds could comprehend his grand, genius vision.  Oh, poor Zeke, how awful the burden of uniqueness must be, to forever be so misunderstood.  Boo fucking hoo.  He did it again in the forest with Levi, after turning 30 soldiers into Titans and musing to himself about how deeply he regretted having to do it, how he didn’t want to, but how he had no choice, because Levi could “never understand” him, while in the next breath mocking them and Levi, bragging about how there wasn’t even a fight, laughing about it and weaponizing it in an attempt to hurt Levi even further.  And he does it again here, claiming he cares about Falco, and then turning him into a Titan and using him as a tool.  This guy is the biggest, most shameless hypocrite in the history of ever.  Everything, and I mean everything out of his mouth is a lie and a manipulation.  Doubletalk and deflection and delusion.  He doesn’t mean anything he says, other then his obvious, deluded belief in himself as some kind of uniquely special hero who’s going to save the world through his brilliant understanding of all it’s problems.  Even if he has to create those problems himself, apparently.  

I just can’t with this guy.  I can’t.  His sense of self-aggrandizement, delusions of grandeur and self-centered egotism, coupled with the obvious pleasure he takes in hurting others, makes him a rank piece of trash.  I don’t care what anyone says.  That’s what he is.

[kuchenackerman]

This comes from an Eren stan: I love him and yes, he’s done bad things and made mistakes.

He basically forced the SC into engaging in an attack in a whole different continent. It wasn’t much of a choice but an ultimatum. Even if in the end it was necessary because it gave them a tiny bit of time (?), the surprise factor as a Grim Reminder 2.0 and they got the WH, he still basically told them to go help him or let him die (he was/is the only actual advantage they have). And welp, Sasha, one of the people he wanted to live a long happy life, ended up dying because of this...

It was collateral damage in the middle of a seconds before declaration of war, but he still killed innocents in Liberio, yup. No one can deny that, even if he was aiming at the Marleyan army.

He manipulated his own father into murdering the Reiss family. He clearly didn’t enjoy it, but he still did what he did. He had his hands stained with children’s blood even before (?) Liberio. 

He was a jerk to his friends for whatever reason. It could have been for them not to follow him into hell and who knows, but he still was a big-ass jerk and they didn’t deserve his bullshit. Plus he didn’t even really gave them a choice, he got triggered at them insinuating he was being controlled / being a slave himself, leashed out on them and just put them and the rest of the 104th in a cell... Way to go with other’s freedom, Eren *thumbs up* you see this is why he lost his thumbs

He abused Falco’s trust and exposed him to hurt and even death when he transformed right beside him and Reiner. It was pretty unfair. He must have a soft spot for Falco but again, he still did what he did.

He rudely manhandled Hange, his commander. Yeah, Hange was getting into his nerves and all but Eren pls.

Levi getting hurt also was basically collateral damage to Eren’s decisions (and Levi’s own mistakes bc come on, we know how it went), and probably also Historia and her “timely” pregnancy while looking miserable

Eren have had the advantage that he saw glimpses of the future and the past that belonged to others. He’s the character that has the biggest power so far and maybe he’s gotten even more powerful now that he won Ymir’s side, the source of all that power who’s been passive for two thousand years. What I mean is that Eren has become someone that Kenny would respect since he’s really the “strongest guy” around, and... lately he’s essentially been submitting even the people he loves to his power and “knowledge” while claiming that he, at least, is free... lmao. Oh, and that ignorance sucks because “there’s nothing further removed from freedom” than that, right?

In chapter 122 we saw Eren give Ymir such a nice speech and all. After all she’s suffered, she at least deserved to be validated as a human. I liked it, but I can’t help but think about Eren’s actions so far and feel like bitchslapping him anyway. In my country we have a saying: “Padre Gatica, predica y no practica” (Gatica is just a lastname that rhymes with the other two words). In English it would translate to someone that preaches and is all talk like priests but doesn’t practice what he preaches. Lately, ever since the big timeskip, it feels like Eren has been kinda behaving like that.

Eren working so hard to reach Paths and finally freeing a victim like Ymir is / would be amazing, don’t get me wrong. He wants to change things regarding the word they live in, the one forged by people like that disgusting King. In this chapter Eren said he would end the world after the King’s speech about the power of the Titans ruling forever, and hence ending Ymir’s and the essence of Eldians being enslaved forever, and that fight is valid. However, I’m gonna quote something I already said last month after replying an ask for chapter 121:

For about a couple of years we’ve been denied Eren’s POV and his actions have been turning more and more confusing for both other characters and us, readers. We’re finally getting some answers and exposition, but we still don’t know what exactly his plan is. Is it something as straight-forward and extreme as the rumbling? Is it something more complex but still as terrifying as that? Is it a mix of things? Is it something we haven’t even really thought about yet?

All I know is that the rest of the world wants Eldians dead and gone for good, and that Eren doesn’t want that. Does he, in exchange, wants the rest of the world gone for good? We still have to see. If by stopping the genocide of his people he genocides the rest of the humans that aren’t “his people”… then lmao. I love Eren but his “if other people are going to steal my freedom, I’m going to steal theirs” doesn’t rub me the right way atm, because honestly, what’s the point of freedom if you just go and steal other people’s freedom? How does that make you any better or different than the ones that steal or try to steal your own freedom? Nelson Mandela once said “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

I’ve always rooted for Eren as a character and for his fighting for freedom, simply because it’s beautiful to fight for a basic right. Oppression must be fighted and never accepted, so I’d certainly feel upset if he for real just goes ahead and finally, and completely, disposes of anyone that doesn’t think like him or that isn’t a Walldian.

*

Now, at the end of chapter 122 we see the Wall Titans were finally released. The walls are no longer standing. I’ve always thought that the Walls shouldn’t remain forever because of what they symbolize in more than one way, so I’m glad they basically won’t longer exist... Though at the same time, if Eren means to literally end the world using the Wall Titans - with the Full Rumbling™ and all - then he would be no different to others, or Zeke. 

However, it’s important to notice that he said “that’s it” after the King’s speech about the Titans ruling the world, so if he intended to use the Rumbling against the whole world then he would basically do what that King wanted: the world being helpless against the power of the Titans. The world would be meeting its own end dominated, destroyed and crushed by the Titans, making their power indeed the ultimate ruler. It will obviously also send the wrong message and will contradict what Eren just said to Ymir: she’s just a human being. Ymir is a human being just like the other Eldians and the rest of people in the planet. If being a human is valid enough and we all have a choice, then why should humanity be invalidated and swiped out by such a strong force without further question? 

I’m here considering the times Eren has preached and not practiced and, even though I have faith in him and his love for his friends (he still loves them even if he’s behaved like a lil bitch towards them), I’m almost prepared to keep on hurting because of his actions and wanting to bitchslap him for it. I’m sure Carla would.

Oh, and Eren is my fave SnK character regardless of what he does. Loving him as a character doesn’t mean I approve or get behind all his actions and words. 

[ghostmartyr]

SnK 118 Thoughts

Zeke gets shot, Falco gets a hug, everyone who makes sense is out of jail, and for a brief time, everyone is united in being perfectly fine fucking Marley right the fuck up.

Minus the characters who live there.

But all told, for the first time in months, it’s a happy chapter. :)

:)

:)

In a rare turn of events, I think I’m going to specifically aim to talk about things out of order. I say this with no real sense of how I usually construct these posts, I just make blanket assumptions about how they’ve probably gone in the past without corroboration.

SO WE’RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT CUTE KIDDOS HAVING FEELINGS AND BEING DUMB.

The ones who aren’t legal adults, to be clear on the definition of ‘kiddo’ as used here.

Falco.

Gabi.

You get to go back to the hellscape that is your brainwashed existence, I’m so happy for you both.

The complications of Falco and Gabi fighting so hard to return to a world that doesn’t give a damn about them are things that... honestly, I just don’t want to do that this month. It’s a disaster. Marley’s fucked. Paradis is fucked. No one cares about the right things. Every decision is going to blow up in everyone’s face.

But Falco gets a hug from his big brother.

The youngest characters we’ve followed through this are treated with kindness.

This whole chapter is a breath of relief in the sea of unending horrors that we’ve been dragged through to get here. More on the rest later, but for the moment, we’ve got the two little ones.

Nile doesn’t even hesitate to treat Falco as a child before an enemy.

In the outside world, a man Falco tries to help is scared of being touched by him because he’s an Eldian.

Sasha’s family is still worried about the two little Marleyans they picked up and lived with for a time.

After first contact, no one needs to tell Colt not to shoot Nile. He calls the man who hands his brother over “the enemy,” and is shocked by Gabi’s actions, but Colt runs with Gabi and Falco without looking back.

Nile doesn’t follow.

Nile’s the sort of man who looks at Falco and thinks this assault might be about saving a little boy.

Colt’s the sort of young man who thinks Falco being someone who might be affected by Zeke’s scream is somehow relevant to whether or not it happens.

This story, lately, has been relentlessly cruel.

Gabi and Falco run away from home on a suicide mission to avenge and protect their loved ones after they witness the ruthless destruction of their home. Gabi watches people trying to protect her get gunned down. Falco, the kind boy who delivers letters for a wounded soldier, is the spark that enables the entire tragedy.

They reach Paradis, end up in jail because no one knows what to do with them, escape, and have to live under the constant pressure of their guilt and worldview being challenged. The destruction of Reiner’s psyche that takes a sustained undercover operation over the course of years is inflicted on Gabi in weeks, and Falco has to watch the girl he likes suffer over crimes that he aided.

Gabi watches Falco help her over and over again, and when things really start crashing down, there’s not a thing she can do for him.

They’re separated from everything they know and everyone they love, and then each other.

They make their way back to each other.

The world looks at these two tiny, traumatized children, and refuses to let anything happen to them. The world takes Gabi’s hate and uncomplicated joy in being a good Warrior and deconstructs it with kindness. The world takes a little boy like Falco, who only ever tried to help people, and lets him find his brother.

The reveal of Falco being the one who helps Eren isn’t a mark of betrayal. It’s a shared bond of pain that comes from good intentions being unfairly manipulated by people who didn’t care to be kind.

So they’re at least kind to each other.

In a tiny pocket of all this violence, things aren’t complicated. There’s a little girl and a little boy, and they deserve safety. A child who grew up in an internment camp designed to manufacture and slaughter Eldian children dreams of a world where the girl he likes won’t die, and they’ll get married and be happy.

Falco has always been kind and stable to the point of parody, but that’s honestly fine. Good. That should be allowed to exist, even if it doesn’t make total sense. The good things should be allowed to survive.

Gabi’s arc here ends with the realization that her hurt isn’t all there is to the world. Other people--other sides have their own, and they aren’t evil for that. They aren’t devils.

Falco’s trip to Paradis ends with him finally confessing why he followed Gabi to begin with.

There is something so sweet to the way Falco describes it. I hope it’s a faithful translation, because it’s my favorite thing this series has done in some time.

It isn’t just about Gabi not dying. It isn’t just about her having a long life. It isn’t just about them getting married.

Falco’s dream is for the girl he likes to be happy forever. He likes her, but the core of his dream is that she’ll live as long as she wants, and she’ll be happy through all of it.

Nothing Falco has seen in this world should give him hope for any of that.

He hopes for it anyway.

And Gabi rips off his armband.

The Yeagerists’ perverse mirror of what Marley has always done to them--what Gabi has accepted into her life in her fierce chase of changing it--and Gabi rips it off.

Their world isn’t kind. It’s cruel, and harsh.

People are kind to them.

That’s the only thing that saves them.

Naturally, it’ll be devastating when the bad things keep on coming for them, and no, sorry, this is not their finale, it’s just the finale of all the potential happiness they can have, but for right now.

For right now, kids shouldn’t be on the battlefield. So everyone fighting tries to get them out of it.

Look.

Standards.

We spend time with characters with standards this chapter.

It’s. It’s so strange. What is this.

Also, the fact that our time is spent on this instead of letting Eren and Zeke touch makes me astoundingly nervous for what’s coming next. There are very. I don’t want to say few. Uh. There are, thanks to the Founding Titan, potentially many ways for things to end not poorly.

I would say the likelihood of any of them traveling smoothly is. nil.

For instance, the entire scheme Armin concocts to explain away Eren’s behavior in this! Sounds good, sounds nice. Sounds destructive, sounds impulsive. Sounds vaguely understandable by the horrifying standards we’ve come to expect.

Sounds okay. Ish.

Still involves Eren sparking a national incident that brings a big army into their island so they can kill them all using a destructive power we’re only kind of confident in him using safely.

With the side effect of all his friends being in the splash zone.

I realize that even Armin’s kind of on the fence on that making real sense, but it’s not a bad explanation for everything. Eren’s backed into a corner when Yelena does her reveal. He’s held hostage by it, but hey, by playing along, he’s found a way to make things okay.

Even in that elaborate AU Armin came up with on the spot--

--things remain less than good.

Unless we consider most of the MPs and other top brass, the majority of veterans, and assorted civilians turning into titans and possibly dying--unless we consider all of that a good thing.

There’s a school of thought where Eren can just magic touch everything back to Okay, but the levels of Not Okay being pounced in with reckless abandon are a bit. uh. geez, what’s the word...

Bad?

There is a very good chance that this is all very bad, and running might be in their best interests.

In the non-AU version, all of Eren’s friends are scrambling to keep him alive because he has fucked them all over so horribly that literally their only chance at not dying slow (or very fast), brutal deaths comes from protecting the fucker who fucked them over.

And Armin, realizing this, digs down deep to try and find some of that good ol’ fashioned Friendship Power to bullshit all of them into agreeing to this plan of attack for reasons beyond generously optimistic pessimism.

While kind of wondering if Eren maybe wasn’t kidding about killing everyone.

Armin’s whole role in this chapter is embracing a truth that he secretly thinks might be a lie so that his friends have a prayer of feeling positive about this fuckery.

You’re trying so hard, Armin.

I am so sorry for you.

And Connie.

Like, good grief. Falco gets a hug. Someone needs to give Connie a hug. There’s been a serious shortage of Connie hugs since Sasha died, and I realize how that works, but it should really go the other way around.

Realistically, I am so happy that Connie’s the one who’s at his breaking point. He’s always been a team player, and over and over, it turns out that the people he thought had his back weren’t on his team. He’s a simple guy. This is a simple problem.

So, simply, fuck everyone who has anything to do with it.

Connie is Best Boy.

Onyankopon’s okay too.

This is the meta commentary on Yelena qualifying as a serial killer that we deserve. She is so great. All of you new characters with your new disasters are so great.

It’s a little on the nose, because bless this series, it is not subtle about most things, but thank you Onyankopon for injecting some hecking positivity in this here jail cell.

The concept of a future has been humanity’s fight all along. A better world.

Then Paradis met the rest of the world, and was all, “o fuck.”

“o fuck,” has interlaced every inch of the plot in the current day. Whatever hope there was, Eren’s decisions in Liberio tarnished them, and the rise of the Yeagerists threw it into the trash.

This chapter is kind enough to bring it back.

This is what the heroes of this world do.

They look at the impossible odds, and choose to fight. Because to do otherwise means that this is the way the world stays. This is what they’re left with, and that is unacceptable.

We’ve strayed a bit from that point, lately. It’s a relief to have it back in plainspeak.

Then there’s Mikasa, and. Aaaaah.

Armin only truly starts championing the possibility that Eren can still be a force for good when Mikasa comes back to his words about her Ackerman blood. Really, I think he does it for both of them. He refuses to believe Mikasa’s life doesn’t belong to her, so Eren has to be lying, so things have to be salvageable.

Mikasa knows him too well. She knows there’s room for doubt.

She leaves her scarf behind.

Mikasa is someone of great principle. She has a deep sense of responsibility that has been present from day one. She takes charge of Eren. She takes charge of other recruits. She feels the weight of the entire world, and fights for it. Her focus on her family has never made the burdens everyone shoulders disappear in her mind.

I don’t think she has a better explanation for why she can’t let go of Eren than the one he’s provided.

He’s killed children. He, by Connie’s word, laughs when he’s told about Sasha’s death. He abandons them and runs off on his own, risking all of their lives. He spits hateful vitriol at them and throws them in prison, where they would have likely died without someone going behind his back.

How can wanting to protect someone like that be natural?

Her very first argument to Eren is that he wrapped the scarf around her. When the world went cold, he brought warmth and a home back to her.

How does that compare to what he’s done recently?

How could she feel warm at all when she just watched Eren murder people? How, when by his command, she killed for the first time?

She has a genetic predisposition to comply with something like that.

Doesn’t that make more sense than loving this monster?

Children are dead.

Eren killed them.

Her first instinct is still to protect him.

That can’t possibly be right.

Mikasa doesn’t defend monsters. She slays them. That’s who she is.

If she’s defending this one, there must be a reason. Something deeper than just loving her family with all her heart.

To which I’ll say, for my personal stance... sorry, Mikasa. Your love does run that deep. It’s always been at war with your principles. Protecting Eren and Armin at the expense of everything else has always put you in pain. Being willing to let Armin go during the Serum Bowl is almost as agonizing to her as watching him die.

Mikasa’s strongly held principles and strongly held love have always been in conflict, but in the background. In side remarks about overprotectiveness, interspersed with her guilt over what that overprotectiveness has led to.

Eren’s cruelty gives her the excuse.

Here’s how she can be both; one isn’t real.

Whether she fully believes it or not, it’s what makes sense, for a person like her. She shouldn’t still care so much for the fate of this monster. Caring so much is why Reiner is still alive. Caring so much is why Bertolt lived long enough to char Armin to a crisp.

Mikasa learns. Always.

She should be fast enough at taking down the monsters now that they can’t hurt anyone first.

In case I’m not putting this clearly enough, Mikasa is better than anyone in the history of ever, to the point that even she can’t believe how strongly she hold on to things.

And my last comment on the chapter is that Yelena and Armin’s song and dance continues to be firing at max cringe on every cylinder, one of you drop the pleasantries and pull a gun already.

It’s funny, but in the way Jean pretending to be a knife-wielding maniac is funny.

Just stab each other like normal enemies. Please.

So since things are hitting the boiling point here, I guess next month we’re doing a shift in perspective?

Levi and Hange try out their Super Mario 64 skills in not drowning. The results my surprise you.

Nothing good can come from any of this, but you know? Falco and Gabi got to be cute. Plus Colt and Falco hugged. It could and has been worse.

[katiebug445]

Small

Pairing: Jean/Armin  Fandom: Attack on Titan  Word Count: 1300  Summary:  Armin looks in the mirror and sees a lot of things he doesn't like. Mid-breakdown, Jean finds him and tries to explain that he loves all the things Armin doesn't. Whether Armin believes him or not is a different story. A/N: There’s negative self talk in this, it’s not nice. Read at own risk. Wrote as a way of venting out some frustrations towards myself. 

“You… You a - are…” Armin stared at himself in the mirror, blue eyes staring back at him as he fought against bile rising in his throat. He darted over every inch of his face, trying to find anything he could say about himself that wasn’t negative, any kind of compliment that he could come up with, even a superficial one. “What are you?” He asked himself in desperation. Armin took a breath, scanning his own face again and pointing out hundreds of things that he didn’t like - his too big eyes, his too small nose, too thin lips… - and felt repulsed. He let his shoulders relax a little, and with defeat in his eyes, he glanced at himself again, and told his reflection with perfect confidence, “You’re disgusting.”

Armin let his hands slip from the sink, and he left the bathroom with what felt like a hole in his chest, and went to sit on his bed. You’re disgusting he echoed back to himself, How anybody could find you as anything other than pathetic, I don’t know. Armin wrapped his arms around his middle, trying to cover himself just a bit more, and swallowed around the lump in his throat. You’re too small.

Too small. He’d always been too small. The other guys in his friend group were all damn near perfect. Reiner and Bertholdt were huge, built for football, and they were good at it. Connie and Eren both played baseball, and were the fastest on the team. And Jean…

Well, Jean was a soccer star. And a damn good one, at that. Jean himself was just damn good, period.

Tears slipped through his closed eyes, and Armin finally allowed himself to cry, trying in vain to be quiet about it so nobody would hear him. He was spending the weekend with the others at Jean’s house, and desperately needed a break from them for a moment.

He’d taken refuge in the taller boy’s room, and was hit with an incredible amount of self-hatred and he nearly drowned in. Then he remembered a technique Jean had told him about months ago: Look yourself in the mirror and say one good thing about yourself. And mean it.

Well, he’d gotten the second part right, at least.

A whimper escaped his throat, and Armin curled in on himself just a bit more, hating himself that much more for realizing that he was still missing from the group. Not like anybody’s wondering where you are, though. He told himself. Armin ended up in a ball, knees tucked up to his chest, and wept.

“Armin?” Came a voice after a moment. “You in there, buddy?” It was Jean. Of course it was Jean.

“Y - Yes?” Armin replied, furiously wiping at his eyes.

The door opened, and Jean was there, in front of him, mouth open as if he was going to speak, but then saw the look on his face. “Everything okay?”

“I -” The blond stopped, thinking better of himself, unable to actually lie to the other boy, and uncurled himself. “No. No, it’s not.”

Quietly, Jean shut the door behind him, making his way over to the bed, and sat down beside the smaller boy. “Talk to me.”

Armin had no idea where to even start. Thousands of thoughts were competing to get out first, all fighting for dominance on the tip of his tongue and overlapping so much that Armin just remained silent. He stared straight ahead, trying to find something to say, and let his shoulders fall. “I… don’t… like myself.” He finally admitted.

“What about you don’t you like?” Jean asked gently.

Another hundred thoughts all flared up at the same time, all wanting to get out, but, again, he didn’t know where to begin. “Is it too cliche to say everything?”

“No, but, I kinda need specifics here.”

You shouldn’t bring this up. He thought. He’s gonna see how stupid you are. Armin took a breath, still not taking his eyes off the wall, and said, “I don’t like my eyes.”

“Armin.”

“I know. But they’re too big. I don’t like it.”

Jean got up and stood in front of the smaller boy, taking his face in his hands, and forced him to look up. “Armin Arlert, you listen to me. Your eyes are fine. They’re big, and bright, and they’re full of kindness for everyone.” Jean swallowed, thinking for a couple seconds about something before leaning in, pressing a kiss to one of the blond’s eyebrows. “What else?”

“My - My nose.”

“That’s total bullshit, but what about it?”

“It’s small.”

“It’s perfect.” Jean argued, leaning down and pressing his lips to the tip of Armin’s nose. “I love your nose. What else?”

“Lips.”

“No.” Jean then pressed a kiss to them.

“They’re thin.”

“Nope.” Another kiss.

“Jean…”

“What else?”

Armin paused, not knowing exactly how to voice his next concern, but not wanting to keep Jean waiting forever. He was hyper aware of how tiny he was next to - or under - the other boy, as he was right then, and it made him feel worse. “Me, Jean. Just me. I’m…small. Too small.”

“Armin, what’s wrong with that? Why is you being small a bad thing?”

“Because… It just is.”

“Why?”

“Because I really, really like you, and the last thing I want is for you to feel weird about being with me, because there’s so much of a height difference, and I’m really small, and--”

“Armin. Calm down. Please.” Jean stood back a little, eyes scanning over the blond’s frame for a moment, and shook his head. “Do you really think I feel weird about that stuff?”

“I don’t know.”

“Because I don’t. I don’t see you as being so much shorter than me, or small in general. I see you as Armin. And I happen to really, really like who Armin is - exactly how he is. I think he’s handsome, and sweet, and god, he has this cute little button nose that always needs kissed, and he’s the perfect size to be hugged at all times, and--”

“Alright, I get it.”

“Do you?” Jean asked, sitting back down beside Armin. “Because it doesn’t look much like it to me. It looks like you’re just trying to get me to stop telling you the truth.”

“Is it the truth, though?”

“Have you ever known me to lie, Armin?”

The blond shook his head. “No. You’re very honest.”

“Then why don’t you believe me?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you really not know, or are you just saying that?”

“Both?”

“Well, then I guess I’ll have to keep annoying you about it until you do believe me.” Jean leaned out, cupping the smaller boy’s face in his hand, and brushed his thumb across his cheek. “You really are handsome, you know? Even if you don’t think so.”

Heat rose up into the blond’s cheeks, though he didn’t say anything. Instead, he scooted over closer to the taller boy, wrapping his arm around him, and lay his head on Jean’s shoulder. After a moment, he could feel the other boy’s lips on his hair, and Armin shut his eyes, not wanting to leave that moment for a long time.

Jean always made things feel a little easier. He didn’t fully believe what he was saying, but being wrapped up in the taller boy’s arms, it made it a little easier to think it might be the truth. That Jean really didn’t mind things the way Armin’s mind tried to make him think. Jean made him think, for a brief moment, that his nose wasn’t too tiny, or his eyes too big, or any of the other stuff.

Armin glanced up and met Jean’s eyes, and thought to himself that maybe being small wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

[millicent231-watt]

AoT - Erwin X Reader

Anime / Crossover: Attack on Titan

Songs: None

Request: @mikonikoackerman

Modern AU or just AU: None

NSFW/R-18: No

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Spoiler Warning:

SEASON 2, EPISODE 11+

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"A red smoke signal." One of the scouts says to the Commander as the four of us rode towards the forest of Giant Trees. It was me, Commander Erwin and two other scouts. Erwin fires a green flare to the left, away from the previously mentioned red smoke signal. "Erwin!" I say as two red smoke signals go up on the left. "What?" Then three more in front of us. "There is a way around, should we take it?" One of the scouts say and I speed up my horse, trying to get to the forest quicker. "Erwin, we can't. You know that if we detour, we'll never make it to Eren in time." I say and he nods. "I know. We'll force our way through. All soldiers prepare for battle." He says and we all try going as fast as we can. "Y/N, be on your toes. I don't want anything happening to you." He says and I smile. "Don't worry about me Erwin. You said it yourself, I'm one of the strongest in the military. Just make sure we get this job done. I'll do whatever I need to to get Eren back." I say and he sighs before nodding. "Alright, be safe." he says and I nod before he orders me to go ahead. "You too, Commander." I say before speeding off towards the forest. We were getting closer. I fire a flare, letting everyone know when I saw a titan or when it was safe. I kept sharp. This entire operation depended on me being at my best. I was the eyes and ears for the Commander, letting him know what was waiting ahead, and I'd sooner die than fail and let everyone down. As I get closer, I see a whole bunch of titans lining up at the forest entrance. I fire three red flares into the air, a signal for Erwin that there were a lot of titans ahead. I pull my hood over my head and steadily stand on my horses back, ready to use my 3DM gear and get into the forest. I jump and launch myself over the Titans and into the forest. I had to catch them. I didn't care what their reason for taking them was. They could say that everyone in their 'hometown' will die without Ymir and Eren, it wouldn't matter to me. The killed thousands of people when they broke the wall, including my parents.

"Or would you rather stay here and kill each other?" I swiftly change direction and go towards Ymir's voice. "Do you want me to prove how crazy I am?!" She screams, holding Berthold's face with a crazed look in her eyes. "Just a little closer and I can kill Reiner at least." Once he was gone I knew it would be easy to convince Ymir to come back with us. Reiner was persuasive, but Berthold isn't. I see Reiner look towards me and gasp before nodding. "Fine, go get her and catch up with us." He says and my eyes widen as Ymir drops from Berthold and transforms into her titan form. "Reiner!" I scream angrily before taking a swing at him with my blades. He was lucky to get out of the way. I land on the tree and see them flying off. "I'll kill you!" I say before launching my wires to chase after them, but Ymir's titan grabbed the wires and brought me to the ground. Didn't kill me, but it hurt like crazy. I stood as she hung onto the tree in front and kept me from going after them. "Get out of my way Ymir. I know you want Christa...but you won't see her if you side with them and fight me. I'll kill anyone who gets in my way, no matter who it is. So come with us and help us stop Reiner and Berthold!" I say and she stares at me for a while, seemingly considering my offer, before I hear people behind me. "Wait, don't kill her! It's Ymir's Titan! Ymir, where's Eren?" Conny asks as I see the 104th cadets around me. "Conny, get away from-" "Ymir!" I say before getting cut off by Christa. I watch in horror as Ymir launches herself and Christa and swallows her whole. I growl as she runs after Reiner and Berthold. I launch myself up to Mikasa and Armin. "Ymir's with Reiner and Berthold. Reiner has Eren knocked out and tied to his back. I need you guys to back me up while Erwin and the others have a chance to catch up." I say and Mikasa nods. "What are they gonna do once they catch up?" Sasha asks. "Erwin will have a plan, but we can't let them get away, no matter what." I say as we all chase after them.

"She's too fast! We're losing her!" Jean says and I click my tongue before pushing my speed to its limit, catching up to her slightly. "We can't let-" I was cut off by a bright light and a blast of air, pushing me back before I catch myself on a tree. I look up and gasp as I see the Armored Titan in front of me. Ymir grabs onto the back on Reiner and Berthold soon follows suit with Eren. "Oh no...Eren's being taken away..." Armin says and I growl before dropping from the trees and jumping on my horse that had followed me. I kick her into high gear and she goes at her top speed. I was soon followed by Eren's friends and Hannes. "Erwin!" I yell as I see him not far from where we were, he quickly turns and orders that all soldiers let the Titans chase them. Eventually, we caught up to them and Mikasa cut up one of Ymir's eyes but was stopped by Christa. I launch myself up to Reiner's shoulder and launch my hooks into him to keep myself stable. The others join me. I heard thumping from underneath the hands that Reiner used to protect his neck, Berthold and Eren. "Give it a rest Eren!" I hear Berthold complain before Jean starts laughing. "Good luck with that, Berthold." He says and I lean closer to Berthold, glaring at him through a gap in the fingers. "You spent three years training with us, you know you can't keep him down...and you know that we're stronger than both you and Reiner." I say, hearing him whimper. He was breaking. "Was everything a lie Berthold? the promises of growing old and going for drinks together...it was just a lie?" Conny says and I kick Reiner's hand. "Forget it, Conny. They're monsters...the enemies of humanity." Mikasa says and everyone goes quiet out of shock, but not Mikasa and I. We were seething and waiting for our chance. "T...Tell me who! Who the hell would want to kill people by their own choice?! Who the hell would like doing this sort of thing?!" Berthold screams in anger and I raise an eyebrow. "I don't know, why don't you tell us why you killed those people? I'm sure you and Reiner hold the answer to that question." I say.

"Do you think I wanted to do this?! People hate and despise us...we've done such terrible things, we deserve to die. Things we'll never be able to take back...But we just couldn't come to terms with our sins..." I roll my eyes and wait for him to finish his speech. "The only time we had some respite...was when we pretended to be soldiers. That's not a lie! Conny! Jean! It's true we may have deceived everyone, but not all of it was a lie! We really considered you comrades-" "Enough!" I yell cutting him off, causing Conny to look at me in worry. "No more of your bullshit, Berthold...give Eren back." I say threateningly. "It's no use...I can't. Someone has to do it...someone has to stain their hands with blood!" He says, making Mikasa flinch in anger before I lift up my blade. "Then die." I say simply before plunging the blade through the unarmored part Reiners hand. I hear him gasp and I knew I had missed. "You guys! Get away from there!" Hannes yells out and I tighten my grip on my blade. "Berthold...I won't miss again. And if I do, I'll keep going until I plunge this blade straight into your heart...so give him back." I say, hearing him whimper again as I remove my blade and hold it above my head. "He's leading a horde of Titans this way..." I hear Jean say and I turn my head, seeing Erwin at the front of the soldiers, leading the Titans for Reiner. "Come on, let's go. Eren will be safe soon enough." I say to Mikasa and we all leave, jumping to our horses and following Erwin's orders. "He'll either be overwhelmed or move his hands to fight off the Titans, exposing Eren...smart move Erwin." I say to him before looking towards the roar at seeing Reiner fighting off the Titans, his neck exposed. "Advanc-" I feel my heart drop as I see a titan grab Erwin by his arm, dangling him in the air. Everyone stops. "Er-" "ADVANCE! Eren is just ahead! ADVANCE!" He yells and I avert my eyes before going after Reiner. "Come on! Our chance won't last forever!" I yell and everyone begins following our Commander's orders.

Mikasa flies towards Berthold, but he jumps out of the way...causing her to fall into a titan's hands and scream as it's grip tightened. Jean dealt with that one and the rest of the 104th cadets dealt with the surrounding so Armin and I could get in close. "You won't be able to persuade them Armin. Do whatever it takes to get Eren back. If that means threatening them, then do it. What was it you said? Those who can't abandon everything can change nothing." I say and he nods before we fly up to them. "Berthold!" Armin says as he lands on the side of Reiner's head, while I land on his shoulder in front of Eren. Suddenly Armin gets this crazed look on his face. "Are you two okay with this? Leaving behind your comrade and returning home? You're abandoning Annie?" He asks and I fight off a smirk. Bribery and threats will work. I hear Berthold gasp, he always did have a thing for her. "You know where she's at? Far north, deep underground in the Utopia district...and being tortured." Berthold looked like he was about to pass out. "It was her screams that taught us something. That even with her body healing, you can never get rid of the pain." I saw Eren look up at his friend in horror. It was a drastic change in Armin, that's for sure, but as long as it works. "Their taking special care to ensure she doesn't die. And as we speak, they're not giving her body any rest." *Just a little more...* "They're torturing her every way they know how." Armin says before Berthold snaps. "You monsters!" He yells, turning to attack Armin, but Commander Erwin slashed his chest...setting Eren free. I quickly grab Eren and Jean grabs Mikasa before we all retreat on Erwin's orders.

Time Skip

I sigh and knock on the door. "Come in." I hear Captian Levi say before I entered and saluted. "I...I just wanted to see how you were doing." I say, still a little shaken up. The full severity of the situation hit me once we got home. His arm was gone... "Pyxis, Levi, may I have a moment alone please?" Erwin says and they nod before leaving. "Come here." He says, patting the bed and signalling me to sit. I sit and look to the ground. I couldn't bear to look at his in this state. "Y/N? Are you alright?" He asks, grabbing onto my hands and pulling me around to face him. "I'm sorry...I should've done something, kept my eyes sharp and spotted the titan. If I had done my job, then you..." I look up and sigh as I see where his arm once was. "Y/N, look at me." He says softly and I look up at him. "This isn't your fault. As much as I hate being like this now...no one could've predicted this. Not Levi, not Armin, not Eren, not Mikasa and not you. Do you understand? Don't punish yourself because of something you couldn't control." He says and I nod before putting my hand on his, that had moved to my cheek, and give his palm a kiss. "Ok...I'm here to talk if you need anything, alright?" I say and he smiles sadly. "I'm glad. It'll take some getting used to...and I won't be able to do the things I used to-" "That doesn't matter to me." I say, cutting him off. "I'll get stronger so you don't have to worry about me during expeditions and I'll be by your side whenever I've got free time. You don't have to be alone in this, Erwin. Everyone cares about you. Either because you're the commander or because you're a friend. I care about you and your wellbeing because I love you. So please don't feel like you're going to have to deal with this new life alone...because I'll always be by your side." I say as he stares and me in shock. Tears slowly make their way down his cheeks and hit the bedsheet. "Thank you...really, I mean it. I love you." He says and I hug him softly. "I love you too. And nothing will change that Erwin."

[snkpolls]

SnK S3E07 Poll Results (Anime Only Version)

The poll closed with 118 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated! 

Please note this is the anime only viewer version of the poll. Manga readers, please click here for the results of the manga reader poll!

RATE THE EPISODE 110 Responses

Another episode with an overwhelming amount of positive feedback and high ratings!

20 minutes of everything that makes the series great

Best episode of the season by far. Rod is a poor guy. Historia did Destroya.

Best so far!! This season is truly getting better with every episode. Idk how I'm going to survive to the end of it tbh, I'm already dead!!!!

WE FINALLY GOT TO HEAR THE TWO NEW VOCAL TRACKS. YOUR REACTIONS?

Out of the new tracks, Kenny’s remix had its fans, but Historia’s headstrong theme got the most love!  Anyone excited for the OST’s release?

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WERE YOUR FAVORITE SCENES? 107 Responses

The rematch between Levi and Kenny was most compelling, closely followed by Historia remembering Ymir’s and stand-up against her father.  Viewers also seemed to enjoy Mikasa slicing some MPs and Eren’s emotional breakdown.

Eren's emotional monologue broke me. I teared up even on the second watch. Maybe I'm just too invested in this show lol.

Mikasa's pose when she kicked a bitch in the face

HOW EMOTIONAL DID SPRINGLESTEIN’S FIRST KILLS MAKE YOU? 105 Responses

For the most part, viewers more or less had some feelings toward Springlestein’s first human kills. They grow up so fast!

jean best boi

TRAUTE HAS A LOT TO SAY ABOUT HER LOYALTY AND KENNY’S DREAM. WHAT’RE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT HER AS A CHARACTER? 108 Responses

Almost half of you believe Kenny’s right-hand woman to be bright and rational, while there is nearly an even split between not having much of an opinion and thinking she’s being manipulated by Kenny. Two of you compared her to Annie: “bootleg Annie”/ “grumpier Annie”

She just has a different ideology than Erwin and co. and is prepared to fight to death for it.

Honestly there was just so much going on I didn't really think about her

I am open to more of her.

I’m loving her just as much as Kenny, she’s a fun villain.

HOW HEARTBREAKING WAS EREN’S BREAKDOWN? 108 Resposnes

There were a variety of responses for this one, though overall people found Eren’s breakdown to be a bit of a tearjerker.

It's traumatizing right now, but he will get through this.

Now's not the time Eren. You can do this at any other time just not right now.

HOW BADASS WAS HISTORIA YEETING HER DAD? 108 Responses

A vast majority of viewers are applauding Historia throwing her father on the ground and calling him on his bullshit!

Damn that girl always gets the best music whenever she does something awesome

Good for her:) She took a stand on her own.

I liked the reminder that she is actually a fuckin' soldier, when she tossed her pops and threw his spine out.

FAVORITE KENNY-ISM SO FAR: 108 Responses

Kenny has quite a few quotable moments, but people find his introduction line to be most favorable.

HOW’RE YOU FEELING ABOUT EREN RIGHT NOW? 107 Responses

72% of the voters sympathize with Eren’s despair and want people to cut him some slack, while a fair amount believe this is not the time or place for him to fall apart.

It's nice to see him actually consider the consequences of his actions for the first time basically ever.

Always been a cry baby and spoiled brat

I mean... they've all been through a lot.

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FOR EREN’S EMOTIONAL STABILITY AFTER HIS HEAVIEST BREAKDOWN YET? 104 Responses

Despite his breakdown, a majority of voters believe this is just another bump in the road for Eren.  There are some that think this is just the beginning of his stability worsening.

It'll take some time but with the help of his friends they'll level him out. Needs a good talking to from Mikasa

He’ll pick himself, but it will take a while.

I'm expecting a change in his demeanor. I've been reading that he sheds his hot-headed persona, so I'm looking forward to that.

He's gonna be a cooler, wiser and more mature character.

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO HISTORIA TOSSING THE SERUM? 106 Responses

Again, the support for Historia’s actions and words is overwhelming!

DID YOU EXPECT KENNY’S (NOW-ABANDONED) PLAN WAS TO HARNESS THE POWER OF THE TITANS? 106 Responses

While a decent amount of viewers suspected Kenny wanted to ultimately take the Reiss’s titan power for himself, a majority did not expect his confession.

HANGE: DOWN OR OUT? 106 Responses

Despite being grappled and thrown against a pilar, 79.2% are confident Hange will pull themself together!

My theory: Hange will be in a coma from her injuries, but wakes up upon Moblit coming back to give her a kiss :)

They foreshadowed Hange going down masterfully

HOW MUCH DO YOU TRUST ROD’S EXPLANATIONS? 106 Responses

Rod did a lot of infodumping about Grisha’s sins and his family’s secrets the past couple episodes.  What’s the truth and what’s a lie?  Most believe there is some truth to what he is saying along with a few lies purposely placed.

He is telling the truth. At the same time he's a selfish, manipulative villain hellbent on using Historia.

I trust Rod about as much as I trust the old tub of sour cream in the back of my fridge dated "12/04/2011".

The very first thing he did in the episode was manipulating Historia's emotions with her dead sister. Fuck that guy.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

And the oscar for best performance goes to... YUKI KAJI!

First legitimately great episode of Season 3. Not hindered by the breakneck pacing and/or infodumps.

I hate Rod. I feel bad for Eren. I'm excited by Kenny. Historia is doing better for herself.

I don't think anyone is getting eaten so either Rod's dumb titan form will be a threat some other way or we will finally know how people can can turn into shifters without eating another shifter.

Was It Armin who figured out Kenny's troupe maneuver gear weaknesses? Because the anime kinda implies that... And this is awesome.. he os brilliant

Fights are awesome

This was the weakest episode so far. On paper, it should be one hell of an episode, but regrettably the the way it was executed left a lot to be desired. In particular, I found Historia's and Eren's scenes to be quite disappointing. The storyboards and direction for those scenes were the most insipid and uninspired so far in the anime's entire run. The VAs did all they could, but the directors let them down. The scenes paled in comparison to Reiner+Berthold's reveal and Eren's breakdown from S2. Lastly, the art was pretty awful at various instances throughout the episode. From what I read about the production on Twitter, it seems WIT has already started to experience difficulties managing the production for this season, which probably means the art will keep on getting worse. I'm now deliberating on whether to go ahead and read the manga and watch the anime once the Blu-rays are out.

Shits getting good now.

The smokescreen was fucking awesome. And I had a laugh with a friend after we repeatedly said we would never go on an assault if it meant attacking through a narrow door.

Moar Squad Levi plz now and for forever

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 102 Responses

Thank you again to everyone who took the poll. See you back on Tuesday!

[invaderzia1]

Reminder: Thank Reiner Later (Armin Arlert x Fem!Reader) (Modern Au)

Staring at the blond you couldn’t help but let out a sigh, wondering how someone could be so cute. You had fallen hard for Armin, so much so that you would often end up in states like this, where you just sat and admired him from a far.

You hadn’t noticed your friends making fun of you for the way you were acting, not until you felt someone whisper in your ear.

“Oh Armin, please take me now, I’m all yours!!” Your friend, Reiner, said into your ear. His voice was high pitched and dorky as he imitated what he assumed you would fantasize about.

Snapping you out of your daze you smacked him with your backpack, embarrassed that it had been so noticeable. Reiner and Bertholdt couldn’t help but laugh at your attempt to seem tough. It was too easy to make fun of your crush on Armin. How could you not make fun of someone who seemed to be living a cliche teen movie role?

The bell rang, alerting the teens that they were allowed to leave the school and head home. (Y/n) rolled her eyes and followed Reiner to his car, knowing he wouldn’t let this go. The three teens all climbed into the car and Reiner turned it on.

“You know, (y/n), you have to ask him out soon or he’s going to assume you have some sort of problem with him.”

“What makes you say that?” She said, acting defensively of herself.

“You are always staring at him, even if you are neighbors and grew up with eachother it’s obvious he’s going to think somethings up with that.” Reiner shrugged.

You rolled your eyes, wanting to ignore Reiner and his words. It couldn’t be true, could it?

Just as Reiner was about to pull out of the parking lot he got an idea. Noticing Armin getting into Mikasa’s Jeep he decided to more or less help his friend with her situation.

Rolling his window down he called for the boy. “HEY ARMIN.” This caught the attention of not only Armin, but also (y/n) and a few other students left in the parking lot. Great, a crowd. “JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW, OUR GOOD FRIEND (Y/N) REALLY REALLY LIKES YOU!!” Was all he said before pulling out and driving off.

Bertholdt looked into the back seat of Reiners car, where (y/n) sat. She looked like she may either explode or kill Reiner, probably a mix of both. She was frozen in the state for another 30 seconds before yelling at Reiner.

“IM GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ABOUT HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME IWILLLITERALLYKILLYOUHOLYSH-“

“God, calm down, I did you a favor.”

You could nearly hear her break, “A favor?? How the fuck did you do me a favor?”

Reiner laughed, as Bertholdt continued to keep himself out of the conversation. “Know you don’t have to worry about freaking him out anymore. Besides, he knows now, what’s the worst that can happen.”

“What’s the worst that can happen? ILL TELL YOU WHAT CAN HAPPEN.” And that’s what she did, the rest of the ride was (Y/n) ranting to Reiner about the worst things that could happen.

Once Reiner dropped her off at her house, she stomped off, slamming the front door closed. She ran to her room and decided to spend the rest of the day sulking in her room, upset her crush knew she liked him.

It must have been two hours later when (y/n) heard her parent open the front door and invite someone inside. Oh no, Was that Armins voice? It couldn’t be. No it had to be Armin, she could hear them chatting about how long it’s been since he was last over. No she was sure it was.

She hid under her covers, like a child trying to protect itself from monsters under its bed. She could hear Armins footsteps approaching her room before the door opened and he entered. This was it. Here he is about to tell her to leave him alone forever.

He sighed and turned on a light. Shutting the door behind him, he approached the bed. Sitting down next to the clump that was (y/n).

“(Y/n).” Was all he said, as he began to pull the blanket off of her. Once he had revealed her to him he couldn’t help but smile to himself. “Hi.”

She looked away from him, her face bright red in embarrassment, mumbling a quick hi right back at him. This was torture. She felt like she could vomit.

“I think you know why I’m here.”

“is it about that math homework due on Monday? Cuz I think it’s bullshit.” She said, trying her best to avoid the invevitable.

Armin laughed to himself, shaking his head. “Dude, no. The other reason.”

“English report?”

“Come on, (y/n). You know what I mean.”

“Is it... the Reiner thing?” She could feel her anxiety rising up. Her voice went from somewhat confident to nervous and weak with that sentence.

Armin nodded his head. Turning to look at her. His cheeks had some pink blush on it. “Is what he said true... or was this all some sort of cruel joke?” While what he said seemed to sound like he was joking, but in reality it was more like he was truly hurt.

You couldn’t help but stare at the floor, finding it easier stare at. “He was telling the truth, Armin.” You sighed, deciding there was no way around this. “I just hope this doesn’t ruin our friendship at all.”

Armin took in a breath before talking, finding confidence in order not to sound like a loser. “I want this to ruin our friendship.” Was all he said.

Well shit, that hurt. That hurt a lot.

You could feel your body betraying itself as you shook and tears began spilling out. Trying your best to hide, you threw your head in your hands.

Armin realized immediately that he worded what he meant wrong. He grabbed your shoulders as he began apologizing. “No, no, no, that’s not what I meant I mean... fuck this isn’t going right... please stop crying I hate seeing your cry.” He pleaded with you, trying his best to get you to stop crying. He brought your face up so you would look at him and moved your hands away from your face, wiping your tears away. “Let me fix this, okay. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant, I want something more than just being friends. I want you to be my girlfriend, so badly. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, ever since we were young and we were playing house, I wanted you to really be mine, I just never realized it till we weren’t as close anymore.”

You looked at him in shock, staring at him with your jaw slightly open. You had not expect shy Armin to be able to confess to you like this. Hell, you hadnt expect Armin to confess at all.

Reaching up, you brushed your hand against his face. Feeling your tears dry up and your anxiety go away. “Then if I kiss you can I be your girlfriend?” You asked.

Armin could feel himself start to get flustered, his face going from a slight pinkish to red. He couldn’t believe what was happening so he just nodded his head. Feeling your lips upon his he began to kiss back, feeling sparks fly.

Pulling away, you both laughed to yourselves.

“I guess that means I’m your girlfriend now, huh?”

Armin smiled and nodded to himself, pulling you in close to him, petting your hair. “I’m so happy I can call you my girlfriend now.” He said, his mouth right against your ear.

“And I’m happy that I can finally call you my boyfriend.” She wrapped her arms around him, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek. “God, I feel so stupid now. If i had known you would have felt the same I could have saved a lot of time.”

“Yeah, maybe you would have talked to me instead of staring at me for so long.”

“YOU NOTICED THAT?” she yelled, embarrassed that he knew about her staring. She pulled away from their embrace out of embarrassment.

Armin laughed and patted her on the back. “It’s kind of hard not to notice, you know. Especially when its your crush staring at you. I thought I made you angry.”

She began to apologize but Armin waved her off, telling her not to worry about it. The two of them spent the night talking and cuddling up against each other.

Maybe she should thank Reiner later.

[julystorms]

Hey!! May I know what you absolutely love about attack on titan please? There's so much negative asks here. Love you and your blog btw:)

A good message! Here are some things I really love about the series!

Marlowe Freudenberg. Just being positive here, but man, he was such a great character, and the fact that he was ended up being such a pleasant surprise. I fully expected him to never really matter at all beyond existing in the very background, so that he got his own little arc with Hitch really made me happy!

On that note, SnK has a lot of really interesting characters. Even the characters I personally want to kick in the teeth are really intriguing. There are few wasted characters, by which I mean, nearly every character gets to play some kind of role in the story and even if their purpose is in the end to die, they don’t do so without us ever knowing anything at all about them. (There are exceptions about this, but again, for the most part, this just doesn’t happen.)

Something I really loved about early SnK was the world. Now, you’ve all seen me harp on the worldbuilding before, so you know my thoughts about that, but something I really enjoyed early on about the series was that the world felt so…open. I felt as a reader that anything could happen. That’s not the case now to the same extent, but I like that there are always a bunch of possibilities for the future! Even though sometimes Isayama’s curveballs annoy me, most of the time I do appreciate them. Kind of like, “thank god it’s not another shounen manga where the entire plot is obvious from the start.” Sometimes it’s really nice to step back and look at the beginning again and say, “Wow, who knew it would come this far and things would be this complex?”

Even though introducing Marley made the world feel too big for me for a while, now I quite like that they’re there. I can really appreciate how fandom opinion for the longest time was that RBA were from a tiny village somewhere outside the walls with weird customs and BOOM actually the truth was that they were from another continent, Paradis is an island, and actually there’s an entire populated (and shitty) world out there! The me of 2015 would have been so shocked by this. My minor gripes regarding suspension of disbelief aside, I’m really glad that “the enemy” is bigger than a little village outside the walls. (I think it makes it easier to see things from RBA’s side this way, too.)

I’m sorry to keep going back to character things but I love that we get an extensive cast of older characters. Unfortunately a lot of them died, but at least there hasn’t been any of that “make way for the next generation” bullshit (IMO, what Erwin said was not along these lines even if on the surface it might seem like it). I find it easier to like a series that features characters of varying ages, and SnK manages to do a pretty good job. The teenagers tend to sound and act like teenagers.

More character stuff, but Jean’s character development was amazing. I also really enjoyed Hitch’s development. Eren grew a lot over the years. It’s been incredible seeing some of these characters learn things and grow. Obviously Isayama couldn’t give this to us for every character, but I think he’s managed to show us that these shifts the main characters go through have an impact on all of the characters we meet (and to a lesser extent, surely those we don’t). I’m thinking of how Eren shifted into a titan and how that must have felt to the average person to see. The main cast, too. Rico. What might it have been like to not be close to Eren and see this kind of drama unfolding in your world? I mean, hell, just the fact that Isayama’s story makes me think to ask these deeper questions is saying something.

This’ll be my last point because I’ve said so much already but I love the character interactions. Isayama hasn’t had a lot of time to develop off-screen relationships between characters (or non plot-relevant relationships), but he does an amazing job with what space he can devote to showing us that these characters are friends, acquaintances, rivals, and so on. He can be really good at giving us an atmosphere to read. Ch99 with Eren and Reiner in the basement? Man, I felt like I was there feeling uncertain and suspenseful along with the others–particularly Falco who has about as good an idea of how this will pan out as I do! But look, we’ve gotten to see Ymir and Historia’s relationship. Nile and Erwin’s. Marlowe and Hitch. Gelgar and Nanaba. Gelgar and Lynne. Mike and Nanaba. Hange and Moblit. Moblit and Erwin in S2. Erwin and Levi. Erwin and Hange. Hange and Levi. Jean and Armin. Eren and Armin. Eren and Jean. Sasha and Connie. Sasha and Jean. Pixis and Erwin. Rico and Ian. Rico and Kitz. God, this list can go on forever. My point is that he does a lovely job of showing us, with very little time or space, the kinds of relationships the characters have with one another. No, we don’t get a long drawn-out history for Hange’s squad, but we see how they interact with her enough to have an idea of the kinds of people they are and the kind of relationship they have to and with their squad leader. The thing that’s impressive about it is that it’s all done without ever turning too far away from the main plot. I won’t lie; this leaves a lot of people feeling frustrated because they want those deeper relationships; they want to see in the canon why Erwin likes Levi, for example, or what about Sasha draws Connie to her as such a good friend and close comrade. In the end, though, we really don’t need all of the little details; we don’t need to have our hands held to guide us through all of this. I think it’s an amazing feat that Isayama has given us so many characters with established relationships to one another and…all without derailing his plot. Most people can’t manage that feat, so mad kudos to him for what is probably the best job I’ve seen so far of juggling all of those things (while never really letting interpersonal relationships between characters actually suffer). (I mean I guess this could change before the end, but so far so good.)