#nimona spoilers tw

[mischiefxmuses]

HW INTRO - NIMONA

Was that [JESSIE MEI LI]? Oh no no, that was just [NIMONA], a/an [CANON CHARACTER] from [NIMONA]. They are [UNKNOWN] years old, use [SHE/THEY], and [ARE] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long

how long has your character been here

Three years

what is your character's job**

Professional Sidekick! They're too energetic to stay with one job so she's jumped around some jobs included: Waitress, bartender, tour guide and most recently settled on Museum security.

where has your character been pulled from in their fandom

After the ending of the film

has any magic affected your character

Not really.

and any other information you might find useful for us and the other members to know!!

For those who do not know the film, Nimona is a bundle of energy. They are incredibly old but look around their twenties. She is a shape shifter and can take literally any form. They tend to shift to animals most common: Rhino, Gorilla, Horse, Otter, Cat, Wolf and Dragon but can do anything. All her life she was seen as a monster, the kingdom hell bent on destroying them. She always just wanted to be accepted, to have a family. And prove everyone wrong that they were not a monster. Their nature didn't help though as they are a little bit manic. Their mind runs at a million miles an hour and their thoughts can be very intrusive (often violent) though they are learning.

Plots:

Roommate

Have to be ready for nightmares and pretty much constant shifting. (She shifts in her sleep often). And a lot of chaos but also fun.

Friends

They've never really had friends except for Ballister and Gloreth before they fell out. So she's keen for friends.

Fellow chaos makers

pretty self explanatory.

Ship

I am not sure about this yet. If I will ever ship Nimona. If I do it will be completely chemistry based.

[backstepping]

ambrosius and nimona: arm chopping is NOT a love language

ballister: actually, it's complicated

[the-irreverend]

I think it's very interesting (and very poignant) that despite Angel Dust and Nimona being very different characters in very different works of fiction, both of their characters share an incredibly tragic theme.

They've both endured so much trauma, cruelty, abuse, and exploitation for so long that they're willing to hurt or even destroy themselves as a means to escape it. They've been pushed so close to the edge of the abyss that they're willing to fall into it because they've lost all hope of being able to save themselves from it.

So it makes it all the more inspiring when you eventually see them triumph over the pain that they've experienced and those who have inflicted it upon them.

P.S. Those two need like all the hugs (and therapy) in the world.

[agrebel18]

idk if someone else has mentioned this but whatever: in the scene where Ballister and Ambrosius are at the bar and The Director is being live-streamed and claimed that the video was fake, she said something like “the monster can come after us, and could be anyone: your spouse, children, or even the person next to you’’ and that TOTALLY REMINDED ME of conservative “Christian” bigots trying to scare people into believing that queer people are “dangerous” and “grooming your children” 

[collabwithmyself]

Nimona + glowing eyes

Inspired by @crackinwise!

[candyskiez]

It is so fascinating to me how both of ND Stevenson’s defining classic works (SPOP and “Nimona”) have main antagonists who are completely and utterly…nameless. They have no identity or names of their own. They are just…the Director of the Institute and the Prime of the Horde.

Holy shit I never realized that. Honestly considering both of these works feel very much like religious allegories it kinda reminds me of like. How do many times you'll hear religious figures just be called. The Pope. The priest. Like they have names but your first impulse is to just go Priest. Pope. And also god just being God. Also the Director always acting like "I exist to serve gloreths will." But her own bigotry is wrapped up in it. She uses Gloreths will as a justification to others and herself, where have I heard that before. And Horde Prime is just. Do I even have to say anything. All beings must suffer to become pure. The deadset on suffering as redemption. The fucking BAPTISM. The light. The fact he sounds like he's speaking in damn Bible verses in his last lines. It all feels very purposeful ngl. So yeah it all feels very That to me.

[myersesque]

thinking a lot abt the line "[the institute] protects them from WHO? villains like you, or monsters like me?" in the context of ballister being a cis gay man and nimona being a trans person.

thinking about the real life cis gays who support anti-trans perspectives without even thinking about the fact they're the exact same arguments used to oppress them, just repackaged. thinking about "because they hate you too". thinking about the shift from ballister asking questions to judge her vs ballister asking questions out of a genuine desire to understand her, and how nimona's demeanour shifts as she notices the change. thinking about ambrosius looking up from the wreckage as innocent people scramble around him and wondering, "what are we doing?". thinking about nimona, a trans kid, attempting literal suicide out of the belief she's a monster, and ballister, a cis gay man, being the one to stop her. thinking about ballister gathering nimona in his arms and promising she's not alone, she's never alone, he's right here and he's sorry he ever believed she was a monster. thinking about ballister and ambrosius holding hands and staring at nimona's memorial. thinking about how queer solidarity tore the walls down and freed their world.

[dagger6art]

[linkisanenby]

I've been thinking a lot about that scene near the end of Nimona, where she's at her lowest point and is moving towards the town, embodying the monster everyone there believes her to be.

Almost all of the damage that was done was a consequence of Nimona being attacked, rather than something she intentionally does herself.

Example 1: More damage was done to the city than to Nimona, all for the sake of hurting her.

Example 2: People at risk of harm, glass shattered, people running scared because of something their supposed "protectors" are doing.

Example 3: She has done nothing but walk peacefully forwards for a while. Violence from the authorities causes her to fall, injured. It also causes fear, screaming, running away, and destroys another part of their city.

There's something really powerful here about the damage communities do to themselves when they violently reject those they perceive as different. Because they are not just attacking a monster, but a part of their own community as well.

This film is not subtle about the trans allegory. Nimona is rejected by people she initially wanted to befriend: Because she changes her shape, her body, to better reflect who she is and how she feels. Because of the way she expresses who she is. In this moment she's accepted their characterisation of her, as a monster, something that needs to die at the end of a sword. This scene is a suicide attempt, one that's only stopped by the acceptance of a parental figure (one who has also harmed her by rejecting her and is trying to make that right).

As the city, representing the community she wanted to find but was rejected by, attacks her they end up harming her repeatedly. She takes the brunt of the harm. But they also harm themselves too in their attempts to attack her. I think of those people whose gender expression is policed as being too masculine or too feminine, out of a fear of perceived transness. I think about how that policing ends up affecting far more cis people than it does trans people. I think of parents rejecting their children, carving a hole, an open wound into their family that will never truly heal.

I do want to clarify something here: the trans people in these situations suffer from these actions worst of all. In no way am I saying the suffering of folk who reject them is worse than that experienced by trans people suffering due to hatred. To bring it back to Nimona, she is clearly in a lot of pain during this scene.

Attacking what we've been told are "monsters" ends up doing way more harm in collateral than any "monster" could. Worst of all, those who are branded as monstrous are often in truth the most vulnerable of us, those most in need of our love, care and support.

Nimona gets right to the heart of that and isn't afraid to show it. And I love it for that.

[soundwavemain]

[plays this on repeat]

[buttercup-bi]

I wanna talk about a detail in Nimona that I see a lot of people missing that is very important to me.

When Nimona flew into the canon, she knew she wouldn’t die.

It wasn’t a heroic sacrifice. It was a heroic act, sure, but it wasn’t a sacrifice. She turned into a phoenix specifically, a shape we hadn’t seen her take before, so that she would survive. She told Ballister she would be right back, and she meant it. She chose to live.

[destinyguardians]

nimona’s shadow form.

the fact that it did no more damage than cracking sidewalk. the fact that every flame and explosion was caused by the people attacking her. the fact that it let every wound mark it even though she can heal instantly. the fact that it’s always coming apart at the seams. the fact that every time you hear it roar, there’s the sound of a human screaming in agony. the fact that she wailed when she saw the tv screen of children egging on her death. the fact that it is black and white, and there is no red, no more nimona left. the fact that she crawled through fire and pain, slumping with exhaustion and body betraying her, so that she could die. the fact that this was the second time she had summoned it. the fact that the only show of courage she was confronted with in her final moments was people throwing rocks at her. the fact that she lay there, so tired, but still dragged herself up just to end it. the fact that the last time she planned on revealing her heart, it was to the sword point. the fact that out of all the ways to die, she wanted to die by the blade of her first friend, and the first person who taught her hate. as if she wished it had ended all than.

[spinnychaircirclecasting]

hey yeah nimona spoilers ahead okay yeah cool moving on

Okay but can we FUCKING TALK about the way the villagers only love Nimona and see her true worth after she fucking sacrificed herself to save them. How Ballister's efforts to keep her from literally killing herself were basically in vain. There was no way they'd know her superpowers would protect her, hell, no way for HER to know. I saw them making their little shrine and doing their little drawings, and I hate to say it but my first reaction was not "aww yay they learned" but pure RAGE that that's what it took.

Anyways this movie is so good and I am so angry and everybody needs to watch it please.

[king-wens-king]

she really said

[candyskiez]

so. I watched nimona. I am going insane.

god. I have so much else to say and I am going to say it eventually but a thing that really stands out to me and speaks to me is. in that scary shadow nimona scene, ballister doesn't pull the typical "I know you're still in there."

he says "I see you, nimona."

that is nimona. that isn't some horrible creature nimona has been warped into she needs to be saved from. that's nimona desperately lashing out at the people hurting her trying to defend herself. that's nimona scared for her life and trying to end it so the pain stops. that's nimona. not a monster that she was turned into. just a terrified, broken kid who he'd failed.

he doesn't tell her to switch back. he doesn't tell her "this isn't you!"

he tells her he sees her.

he sees she's in pain. he sees she's trying to make the pain stop. and he doesn't call her a monster. doesn't say this form is something to be rescued from.

it's nimona at her worst. her human girl form isn't her "true" self. it's a version of her. and it's a mask as well.

he doesn't tell her the mask is who she really is. he doesn't tell her who she really is.

he tells her what she's been saying all movie.

she's nimona. no matter what form she takes, she's nimona. and they have no right to punish her for being something other than normal.

and that's what she needed to hear, I think. someone saying they're sorry at her worst. not to stop her from hurting other people, but to stop her from hurting herself. for him to intervene once it was HER at risk was proof he meant it. he wasn't just trying to placate her so he could win.

that's why he was able to talk her down.

because he saw her. every part of her. and he still said sorry.

because her being "scary" or "different" doesn't mean he wasn't the one who fucked up.

I apologize I am so incoherentbit is late at night I just watched this movie this probably made no sense but this is a fucking fantastic metaphor and I will scream and cry!

(please keep the tws if you reblog)

[little-cereal-draws]

It’s so messed up that the whole time nimona was literally on her way to kill herself, the institute was trying to kill her anyway. Like she had already decided she needed to die but that wasn’t fast enough for them

It’s almost like conservatives passing all these anti trans laws even tho the trans community has an attempted suicide rate of over 80%. The faster they ban healthcare, don’t let them have hobbies, remove them from their families, etc, the faster they’d hurry up and die. The fact that it was probably going to happen anyway with the way our country is wasn't enough, they needed to speed up the process