Attack on Titan / Shingeki No Kyojin

[John Cribati]

I meant that I was done in a good way.

Usually, the fandom leaves me done in a "y'all need [insert religious figure here]" way.

[Cobalt]

What is it? TUmblr is blocked where I'm at.

An Attack on Titan rap to the tune of the Danny Phantom theme song, with a link to the inspiration, which is a series of one-minutes sketches of Eren with the lyrics scrawled on them. It's kind of incredible.

[Kato]

Oh, that was Danny Phantom? I haven't seen that show in... forever.

Well, I find the fact this exists much more irritating... And that they are probably going to make a fortune of it. But then, I think it's not the first time they do something like that.

[Cobalt]

Oh, that was Danny Phantom? I haven't seen that show in... forever.

Well, I find the fact this exists much more irritating... And that they are probably going to make a fortune of it. But then, I think it's not the first time they do something like that.

Same here. The art style for that picture of Eren turning around is what got me to go "Oh yeah!"

So would Armin's smell like Titan mouth, or

[John Cribati]

Really, guys? The Danny Phantom Theme Song is basically the new millenium's answer to the DuckTales Theme Song.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I meant that I was done in a good way.

Usually, the fandom leaves me done in a "y'all need [insert religious figure here]" way.

Y'all need Levi.

[John Cribati]

Speaking of Levi, I just realized how ridiculous this part was, even compared to the other stunts. Rollin' around at the speed of sound...

[LaZodiac]

Speaking of Levi, I just realized how ridiculous this part was, even compared to the other stunts. Rollin' around at the speed of sound...

....so that's what that looked like animated.

Levi the Hedghog confirmed.

[John Cribati]

....so that's what that looked like animated.

Levi the Hedghog confirmed.

Sonic the Heichou

[Kato]

Really, guys? The Danny Phantom Theme Song is basically the new millenium's answer to the DuckTales Theme Song.

In my defense, I was actually too old to watch nick when I saw the few episodes I did Also, I only saw the German version which had translated lyrics. And finally... I don't think it's that great? Noz bad, but the new Ducktales... nah.

Speaking of Levi, I just realized how ridiculous this part was, even compared to the other stunts. Rollin' around at the speed of sound...

It looked ridiculous in the manga already but yeah, the animation really puts Levi on the same level as Kira Yamato when it comes to ridiculous fighting feats.

[t209]

In my defense, I was actually too old to watch nick when I saw the few episodes I did Also, I only saw the German version which had translated lyrics. And finally... I don't think it's that great? Noz bad, but the new Ducktales... nah.



It looked ridiculous in the manga already but yeah, the animation really puts Levi on the same level as Kira Yamato when it comes to ridiculous fighting feats.

You know? For the start, we thought it was deconstruction of Shonen genre. All we get is acrobatics and MMA fighting (instead of "implication" on MMA by various webcomics like Penny Arcade).

[John Cribati]

You know? For the start, we thought it was deconstruction of Shonen genre. All we get is acrobatics and MMA fighting (instead of "implication" on MMA by various webcomics like Penny Arcade).

Well, it still sort of is. We see the problem with having an army of teenagers, Eren is portrayed as borderline psychotic anyway, not to mention that no matter how big a Titan Fist he can create, he can't use it to solve his political squabbles like other Shonen protagonists can.

[Kato]

Well, it still sort of is. We see the problem with having an army of teenagers, Eren is portrayed as borderline psychotic anyway, not to mention that no matter how big a Titan Fist he can create, he can't use it to solve his political squabbles like other Shonen protagonists can.

Now that's not true. As well all know, there is nor social problem that can not be solved by a sufficiently large explosion. In the same vain, there is no problem that can not be a solved by a sufficiently large titan. It's just that Eren can't turn into a big enough titan (fist) to "solve" what's left of humanity.

[John Cribati]

Now that's not true. As well all know, there is nor social problem that can not be solved by a sufficiently large explosion. In the same vain, there is no problem that can not be a solved by a sufficiently large titan. It's just that Eren can't turn into a big enough titan (fist) to "solve" what's left of humanity.

I think you're joking, but just in case you're not, here's what I'm trying to say:

One main "political" problem in the show is that the soldiers that are the best at killing Titans are the ones offered positions farthest away from the actual killing of Titans. Well, it's still sort of works, in a sense, since it's only the top 10 from any given graduating year, and if you honestly can't get more than ten competent soldiers out of a hundred or two, you've utterly failed at being a military academy. Still, those top ten soldiers would be better with the Garrison forces protecting the outer wall from Titan Attacks, but nope! Put 'em in the inner wall to guard the mayor (or whatever).

Eren can't go Titan and punch the guy in charge of making that rule, because... he'd get killed. And that would be terrible.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Sonic the Heichou

Yes.

Yes.

YES.

I applaud the clever.

[John Cribati]

In my defense, I was actually too old to watch nick when I saw the few episodes I did Also, I only saw the German version which had translated lyrics. And finally... I don't think it's that great? Noz bad, but the new Ducktales... nah.

Well, where I'm from, you can hum the little opening riff and 9/10ths of the immediate vicinity will respond with "He's a Phantom."

[BRC]

I think you're joking, but just in case you're not, here's what I'm trying to say:

One main "political" problem in the show is that the soldiers that are the best at killing Titans are the ones offered positions farthest away from the actual killing of Titans. Well, it's still sort of works, in a sense, since it's only the top 10 from any given graduating year, and if you honestly can't get more than ten competent soldiers out of a hundred or two, you've utterly failed at being a military academy. Still, those top ten soldiers would be better with the Garrison forces protecting the outer wall from Titan Attacks, but nope! Put 'em in the inner wall to guard the mayor (or whatever).

Eren can't go Titan and punch the guy in charge of making that rule, because... he'd get killed. And that would be terrible.

Plus, if Eren DID do that, it would only reinforce the idea that "The Best Soldiers are needed to protect the most important district".

Remember, people have been hiding behind these walls for as long as anybody can remember, and until the start of the series, Titans had never broken through. The Recon Corps goes out and fights Titans, but that seems to be a token effort done out of a sense of "Well, we should be doing SOMTHING" rather than any real feeling that they're going to succeed, or any strong desire for them to succeed. The Recon Corps goes out, kills some titans, dies in large numbers, and comes home battered and beaten.

Obviously after Wall Maria was breached this changed, but a few years isn't much time to undo generations of inertia. The Recon Corps don't exist to take back the outside world, their only real reason for existing is to prove a point: Humanity hasn't given up.

Only it basically has. The vast majority of people are fine with living behind the walls. They send out the Recon Corps to die out of a sense of duty, but if you sent out ten thousand Clones of Mikasa organized into squads each led by a Clone of Levi, people would just expect them to kill more titans before getting eaten.

The problem isn't a system designed to keep the best soldiers away from the Recon Corps, since almost nobody wants to join the Recon Corps anyway, it's that nobody actually expects the Recon Corps to do anything. Because really, what can they do, Kill Titans? There are always more titans, and unless you can build a giant wall they will just keep coming.

As far as people know, when the Wall was breached, the titans that came in were just the ones that happened to be nearbye. It's possible the Titans are clustered around the city somehow, but as far as people inside the walls know there is a fairly even distribution of Titans worldwide, just wandering around looking for people to eat.

Also, remember that most of the world is open terrain. The only weapon humans have against titans is the 3dMG, which relies on walls or giant trees being nearbye. A pair of recon corps veterans were able to, with difficulty, take out some titans in open terrain.


That said, if Eren's Basement contains the ability to manufacture HumanTitans, that might change things.

Of course if they were serious about killing all the titans they would just drop Sasha outside the walls and promise her a steak for every dead titan.

[Tectonic Robot]

Woah, BRC, that's some inspired stuff you're spouting. I totes agree completely.

[John Cribati]

Yes.

Yes.

YES.

I applaud the clever.

I wish I could take credit for that pun, but it was actually some guy named JET.

[Cobalt]

Episode 23.

I'm not sure which I like better (spoiler):

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But they're both delicious.

I mean, clearly the anime looks better, but the idea of it is where I'm conflicted. I like the subtly of the first, but the second has an insane quality to it I can't ignore. The whole sequence is interesting, really.

Basically, Annie best girl-villain.

So my reaction:

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I was impressed with the part they added about the two corrupt officers selling equipment, but I really, really wanted to see Annie go on her longer speech about "special" people and "normal" people. The point of it mostly came across, but she didn't actually stand there and say that good people are not normal in the same way that she did in the manga. Oh well.

I didn't expect her to start laughing at the end there, that was new. God, though, this episode left off at the worst possible point. I understand the time constriction, and that we're running towards the end of the season, but man! I feel like this whole exchange should have been extended out, you know? It felt like it ended far too soon.

Maybe I just want more Annie; it's possible that I'm just a sucker that way.

All in all, mostly it lived up to my expectations. Now for another week~

[BRC]

okay so

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What was the big deal about Annie not being willing to go underground?

At first I thought that she wouldn't go underground because she couldn't transform down there in case they attacked, but they seemed to make it pretty clear that they wouldn't have attacked her had she gone into the tunnel with them.

[Flickerdart]

okay so

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What was the big deal about Annie not being willing to go underground?

At first I thought that she wouldn't go underground because she couldn't transform down there in case they attacked, but they seemed to make it pretty clear that they wouldn't have attacked her had she gone into the tunnel with them.

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I'm guessing that she didn't trust them not to attack her if she went underground. That, or a legitimate fear of enclosed spaced.

[LaZodiac]

okay so

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What was the big deal about Annie not being willing to go underground?

At first I thought that she wouldn't go underground because she couldn't transform down there in case they attacked, but they seemed to make it pretty clear that they wouldn't have attacked her had she gone into the tunnel with them.

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The idea is, the way they're acting, they KNOW she's the Female Titan. She knows they know, and they knows that they know she knows, so this is a test. If she comes down with them, she won't be able to turn titan, and she absolutely knows that they'll try to capture her so they can interrogate her. She saw what they did to the captured titans.

But if she stays up above surface, that confirms what she is without even transforming, since she knows that they know the truth. So either way she's kinda ****ed.

[Kato]

new episode stuff

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While I didn't quite that much joy out of Annie there, I have to agree with Cobalt on the changes in her speech about normal people. I guess the added scene was kind of nice (I wonder if we will ever see more of Mallow(?)) but I liked the dialogue in the manga a bit better.


Also... I don't really think they knew she knew what they knew? I mean, yeah, to some extent it was a test at some point... But I'm sure the original intent was to get her underground so she couldn't transform. (Which seems kind of stupid as Eren yould transform when he was eaten alive and the lightning that seems to accompany transformations would break the ceiling anyway)
I'm not saying it wasn't some kind of test but I still think the most important intent was to keep her from transforming, so...

[John Cribati]

new episode stuff

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Also... I don't really think they knew she knew what they knew?

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She got the upper hand in the Titan fight by revealing herself, because Eren was too shocked to react, so she knows he was lucid in there. And if Eren knows, then so do Armin and Mikasa. And Armin would have extrapolated that.

[t209]

I think you're joking, but just in case you're not, here's what I'm trying to say:

One main "political" problem in the show is that the soldiers that are the best at killing Titans are the ones offered positions farthest away from the actual killing of Titans. Well, it's still sort of works, in a sense, since it's only the top 10 from any given graduating year, and if you honestly can't get more than ten competent soldiers out of a hundred or two, you've utterly failed at being a military academy. Still, those top ten soldiers would be better with the Garrison forces protecting the outer wall from Titan Attacks, but nope! Put 'em in the inner wall to guard the mayor (or whatever).

Eren can't go Titan and punch the guy in charge of making that rule, because... he'd get killed. And that would be terrible.

Remember the Royal Police (spoiler from manga)

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They're being sent to aid the scouting corps and got ripped to shreds by Titans.

Also Star Wars Attack on titan.

[VariSami]

Speaking of Levi, I just realized how ridiculous this part was, even compared to the other stunts. Rollin' around at the speed of sound...

I got such an "ending of Silver Fang" moment there. As ridiculous as ever.

Oh, and the newest episode was really great. I have not read the manga but I have managed to spoil quite a few things from myself with wiki use (it is a bad habit). However, while not knowing the truth about Annie might have made the episode enjoyable in another way, knowing it made it great in another.

[LaZodiac]

However, while not knowing the truth about Annie might have made the episode enjoyable in another way, knowing it made it great in another.

This is why some series REALLY benefit from a second viewing. See "the first episde of Madoka Magica" as an example.

[Rising Phoenix]

I totally called it.

People will drop like flies...again...

[CarpeGuitarrem]

This is why some series REALLY benefit from a second viewing. See "the first episde of Madoka Magica" as an example.

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGH. *dies from feels*

(No, seriously. I know what you mean. You-know-who's lines change from being a bit overblown and dramatic to having all the painful pathos ever. It hurts.)

I've decided I'm gonna start mulling over things somewhere, and this thread is as good a place as any. No denials or confirmations, I haven't read the manga so this is all as of Episode 23.

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We've seen three different levels of Titan transformation at this point. Eren transforms into a muscly Titan with good control over its body, able to beat up the grunt Titans with ease, and able to fight off the Aberrant Titans.

Annie transforms into a skinless Titan with even better control, able to harden parts of her body to prevent damage; this is attributed to her higher skill (and probably better ability to practice--likely, she entered the Corps for the sole purpose of infiltrating them, already having the ability to control her transformation).

The Colossal Titan is an even more impressive type of transformation, containing the ability to control a massive Titan body and dismiss it at will. (I'll need to rewatch earlier episodes to develop theories on who the Colossal Titan was. Irregardless, somebody's using the lesser Titans as weapons against humanity, controlling them by transforming into a massive Titan.)

These are presumably levels that vary according to how much control a Titan operator has over their body.

So this leaves the ever-present question of "where do the little Titans come from?" I'm sure other people have already figured it out. I'm a bit of a slow thinker, so I need to talk it through myself. The obvious answer here is that, given how other things work, the lesser Titans seem to be humans who have almost no control over their body; the Titan impulses take over, and they become mindless seekers of humans.

But then why are there so many Titans? I think the answer probably is hinted at with Eren's emergence as a Titan: he transforms in the midst of another Titan's body, ripping out and smashing it to a pulp. He transforms as a human. I don't see any particular reason why other people swallowed by Titans couldn't do the same thing. And if they're not so destructive in their exit, the "parent" Titan could readily regenerate from the wreck, and suddenly you have two Titans where previously there was one.

And if that happens for even half of the people swallowed by a Titan...that's a lot. Bam, cue Titanpocalypse. Again--the zompocalypse with giants.

Still haven't worked out how Titans work, why their density is less than expected, and where it all comes from (especially why they're super-hot to the touch), but that's coming eventually.