#hermann so much

[thekenobee]

@occasionallynotwatchingroger

Hermann Appreciation Post

I’m a 25-year old cane-user and I’m gonna yell praises about Hermann Gottlieb for a while

I’ve had nonstop pain in my left leg since I was 12 that’s gotten so bad that I’ve been on a cane for over 10 years, and in all that time of searching for someone like me in media I have never, ever come across someone like Hermann. The way he’s written and acted both just destroy every single upsetting trope I usually find in a physically disabled character (if I can even find a physically disabled character at all):

No character ever mentions Hermann’s disability in dialogue

All too often if you see someone with a cane in media, there is at least one blatant conversational reference to it (which is often delivered as insult or teasing) and Pac Rim ain’t having none of that

Everyone is there to be a professional and use their various talents to fight monsters, and everyone is professional and respects everyone else’s various talents that they use to fight the monsters

And the man’s been around the PPDC for a decade; the cane isn’t a new thing so of bloody course there’d be nobody pointing it out because it’s as much a daily sight for everyone else as it is a daily use object for Hermann

Even his lab partner, whom Hermann trades arguments with like Pokemon cards, never stoops so low as to make any kind of cheap reference to it

Said lab partner in fact (albeit in a deleted scene) is conscious of Hermann’s needs to the point that he actively helps keep Hermann upright in a situation that strained him physically

There’s not a character arc around it

He never has to “come to terms” with the cane, as is very appropriate for the time, setting, and place in his life in which the story happens

He’s had this thing for a -solid- amount of time, of course he doesn’t need to be thinking about it

It is the middle of a war

It is a non-issue in story terms, and the story lets it be that way

Which is why it’s MORE poignant to see as a viewer in media res with their own chronic pain

(And yeezus can I emphasize how grateful I am that he’s not addicted to painkillers, that is a flaw thrown onto physically disabled people in fiction with depressing commonality)

His disability isn’t for “plot reasons”

Related to one of the points above, do you know, do you KNOW how uncommon it is to see a disabled character not just being disabled for the sole point that it will have some bearing on the story later on

In Hermann’s case we don’t have to swallow any exposition about how whatever’s causing him the pain happened

Because again, it refreshingly has nothing to do with what’s going on

It is not a main motivating factor in fighting against the kaiju, for instance, which would be an all-too-easy lazy-writing-fest that would make his character one-note

And there’s not any “tension-raising” b.s. about him having to “overcome” anything to do with his leg during the climax in order to accomplish a task

His age

This is self-explanatory

Because  w h e n  do you see “young” characters with canes

(hint: you really don’t. I’ve looked.)

*scrawls  “canes are not just for the elderly”  x10,000*

Pain and disease do not discriminate and it is just so refreshing to see that remembered

HE USES IT IN THE CORRECT HAND

Seriously you have no idea how often I see this flagrant idiocy in both fiction and real life

You use it in the hand OPPOSITE YOUR INJURY, people

You will hurt yourself long-term using the cane on the injured side because you are not balancing your weight correctly

That is not effective use of your mobility aid

His physicality is spot-on

I could go on FOREVER about Burn Gorman’s performance

Literally everything the man does is something a long-time cane user would do

There are so many subtleties that he absolutely nailed I don’t even think I can list them all

His posture, the way he shifts his weight, his gait–they’re all such seemingly little things, things that non-disabled people wouldn’t even know to look for, but IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT GET YOU, MAN, and he’s the only one I’ve ever seen to get them perfectly, and, and,,,,,

Also he uses his cane for things other than walking, which makes me !!!!!!! inside!

Spinning it in his hands, emphatically pointing with it at things, hooking it onto stuff–you really do start acting out with a cane in that manner if you’ve got one in your life every day!

It is possible to make a cane useful for things other than walking, almost in a fun way, and to watch him doing some of the same quirky things that I do is just a delight

There’s no “miracle cure”

The notion that a disabled character can be useful -and- badass?? And STAY disabled??? In a futuristic sci-fi film where it would be all too easy to write him some kind of “fix”?????

WHAT KIND OF ICONIC, I MEAN

Dude has a cane, and that works for him, and the narrative lets him keep it by god, and now look at me tearing up just thinking about it because how many other stories let that just be the end-all-be-all of it, how many

Not. A. Lot.

Like I can’t even think of any

So yeah, just…bless this boy and bless these movies for putting someone like me at the forefront who I can cheer and cry for and just be generally giddy about being able to relate to

[groovygrub]

[meziniart]

Something about science and PDAs

[cowabinah]

[unnonexistence]

hermann thoughts: if i discredit newton and his approach enough, the martial won't give him the equipment for his kaiju drift, and i can protect him from himself. if he despises me for it, so be it. there is little i wouldn't sacrifice to see him safe.

newt thoughts: this is a Best Science competition and i have to Win

[elijah-loyal]

they make me so SICKKK-UHHHHHHHHGH

[fauchart]

Can you draw Herman Hermann.

Hacks and coughs out dust......,. sure. Tuts and shakes my head as I draw him so delicately to show I don't agree with him. Whatever it's not like I care about this massive asshole. Baka

Second pic is from one of the scenarios @cherryberg writes to make my life worse. Yeah i'm tagging you bastard I know you're the one to have sent this ask

[robot-carl]

Guess who rewatched Pacific Rim for the millionth time.

[tuttle-did-it]

As someone who has worked on war and history in an academic setting, the rise of Trump all felt incredibly familiar to everything I've read and seen.

When Trump started shouting into the void, I said that he reminded me of Vollmer, the character Dennis Hopper played in The Twilight Zone episode, 'He's Alive.'

(First thing's first, please try to go watch this episode and then read the rest of this, because the episode was incredibly well done.)

Everyone told me that Trump was just a harmless clown-- that no one would really vote for him. That I was inventing absurdities just because I don't like Republicans and Trump. He's just a joke. He's a sexist, homophobic, racist, transphobic rapist. And no one would vote for him. We're too civilised for this, now. We've evolved as a species, and that will never happen again.

Everyone got a pretty clear reality when people did, enthusiastically, salivate over the idea of having a sexist, homophobic, racist, transphobic racist in power. And over the past few years, he's become enveloped in his own conspiracy theories and hatred. And I am still strongly reminded of Vollmer every time I see Trump speak.

For those who are not aware, the episode is about a tiny, useless little white man who craves power and adoration. (spoilers for a 61 year old show below.)

A man in the shadows teaches Vollmer how to capture the attentions and hatred of the white audiences and rise to power. The phantom is eventually revealed to be Adolph Hitler.

S4 E4, Episode aired Jan 24, 1963, Written by Rod Serling, directed by Stuart Rosenberg.

Rod Serling's Opening Monologue:

Key scene where the Phantom (Hitler) teaches Vollmer from the shadows. Tell me that Trump and the other Republicans have not learned these lessons just as well as Vollmer ever did.

Rod Serling's End Monologue:

All of this has happened before. All of this IS happening again. Make no mistake-- Trump is unstable, and doesn't know about half the lies that come out of his mouth every day. But if you think, for a second, that this man has your best interests in mind? You are going to get a very, very harsh dose of reality. But not before millions of people suffer at the hands of this monster, and will for many, many years to come.

[canonfanon]

Rewatching Pacific Rim right now, and there's this tiny moment between Mako and Raleigh that I really love

Toward the beginning of the movie, before any of the main action, Mako is showing Raleigh around the shatterdome, introducing him to the newly-renovated Gipsy Danger

Directly after this, Mako shows Raleigh to his quarters and the two of them have this conversation:

They talk a little more, Mako reveals her amazing simulator score, but also confirms that she is not one of the pilot candidates. They then discuss Raleigh's abilities. He asks Mako for her opinion - she thinks he is skilled but too unpredictable and reckless. She ends with this:

Raleigh thanks Mako for her honestly and says she may be right. Then goes on to say this:

And the tiny detail in this scene that drives me crazy is right here

He says when. Not if, when. Mako has just explicitly confirmed that Marshal Pentecost is not considering her for Jaeger pilot. It has already been established at this point that there are only 4 Jaegers left anyway, and that the program is nearing its end, one way or another. In all likelihood, they have very little time left until the end of the whole damn world. Hell, Mako herself just criticized Raleigh, and he could very well wish to get back at her for that, were he a different person. AND YET, despite all of that, he says when. Raleigh has faith in Mako from the very, very beginning, before they even drift together, before he even sees her fight.

And that drives me crazy! I love their relationship so much

[gilsart]

another day, another older fratte being husbands (with the doggos)

[that-one-stressed-person]

Herman Gleib Headcanons!

He’s illiterate 

He loves to draw, and he tends to draw pictures of bats in the dirt

His name is actually supposed to be spelled “Hermann”, but because he can't read, he doesn't care if people spell it differently

He has a developmental disability and the thought process of a young child

He’s very sensitive to large crowds and loud/overlapping sounds, which is part of why he tends to be alone

His favorite food is apples, particularly the juicy red ones.

He lived with his grandparents when he was really little, and was very sad when they passed away. He would visit their graves every winter and leave a baby bat and some flowers as gifts.

[groovygrub]

[rosquinn]

are hesse's books just philosophical yaoi

[cowabinah]

[unnonexistence]

imo a core part of the newmann dynamic is like... you've got these two very very intelligent people who have spent most of their lives being Smartest Guy In The Room. which feels great! but also, it's very hard to form close and trusting relationships when everyone else sees you as Smartest Guy In The Room. and if you maybe don't have great social skills to begin with, you can't figure out how to compensate. and it's hard to build up solid self-esteem when the only thing people value you for is your intelligence, and a lot of them resent you for that, too. so really it is very very lonely.

and then they meet! and neither of them is the smartest guy in the room anymore! and that is both EXHILIRATING (omg! someone who gets me!) and TERRIFYING (the fragile pillar i built my whole self-esteem on is crumbling! help!).

they do NOT know how to cope with this. best they can do is being obsessed with each other.