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Eren Jaeger didn’t change, he regressed back to his pre-armin self.

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i need to know if they still do this to him post time skip

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i will honestly NEVER forgive the people who hated on Mikasa’s hair cut in 2021 when S4 first came out! I absolutely loved it personally, it really suited her straight forward and strong personality. Personal opinions aside, i will never forgive the short hair Mikasa haters because MAJORITY IF NOT ALL were men. I still remember I was active in the AOT tiktok fandom even back in 2021. I vividly remember as soon as the episode came out, BAM! A crazy amount of people roaring about how Mikasa looked like a man with her new hair and on and on about how mappa removed her pink lips. Like BE SO FR RN… she’s a goddamn soldier in the army. Plus, it was just straight up misogyny. I absolutely hated the people making art of Mikasa with long hair just to prove that Mikasa in S4 “looked way too masculine”. I remember i was so infuriated… even until now to be fair. Mikasa is a character about suffering with never truly being able to move on from her lost opportunities and lost ones along the journey of her eventful yet harsh life, she should NOT ever be treated or seen as just a trophy wife for Eren.

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I crash tf out every time I see an eremika edit

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Titan shifters appearances in AOT is a reflection of who they are.

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I feel like a common misconception about the titan forms of titan shifters in aot is just that its them but.. titan. I also see a lot of theories on the appearances of the shifters titans and a lot of curiosity. SO I AM HEREE TO GIVE MY PERSONAL OPINION !!! I personally view the shifters appearances as a reflection of not just their humanly appearances but also who they truly are deep down.

I feel the most often misconception i see is about Armin’s colossal titan. Its due to the fact that there is a LOT of questions on why his titan lacks ears, compared to the other 8 shifters titans. The MOST common response i hear to this question is “Armin’s colossal lacks ears due to him not wanting to hear the screams of his many victims!”. I absolutely hate this idea not because its sorta silly but i think it undermines his character. If you pay close attention, you’ll realize that Armin’s titan form bears a huge resemblance to a skeleton, unlike Bertholdt’s colossal titan. The human skeletal structure does NOT have ears. My take is because Armin’s whole relationship with his titan is very much related to the whole concept of death. The whole reason why Armin even inherited the colossal titan in the first place was VERY MUCH related to the decision between either saving him or Erwin from death, as well as Armin bearing the guilt of taking Bertholdt’s life. We all know that the responsibility of bearing the colossal titan always haunted over Armin for both of the dooms of Erwin and Bertholdt. I think this truly shows that Armin surely had a difficult relationship with his titan.

Another proof of this idea is the Beast titan. Its a well known fact that the beast titan takes after the form of whatever animal the current shifter of it has a special bond to. For Zeke, it was a monkey. This is because in a scene in the anime, he is seen playing and attached to a monkey doll during his tumultuous childhood, indicating that the monkey doll was a huge.. maybe even ONLY comfort that young Zeke had growing up under the pressure of Grisha and Dina. As for Mr Xavier, the guy who guided Zeke, we are told that he faked his marleyan identity and when found out by his marleyan wife, she took their son and committed suicide together in their house. In the scene where it shows the two lifeless, a sheep doll can be seen in the back of presumably the son’s nursery. And we all come to know.. that Xavier’s beast titan form was a sheep before he was eaten by Zeke. I think this shows that the deaths of Xavier’s wife and child took a huge toll on him even though he lied to both of them about who he was.

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anywaysss that was just an idea i had pent up and sry for the yap but i hope smbdy else can share their opinions on this 😞

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I think I’ve read ever armin fanfic there is on this app and ao3 😭

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refreshing to see ppl appreciate armin for being well written instead of criticising the fact he shouldn’t have been chosen to live over erwin 😓

Armin’s character and what he represents about bravery within the story means so much to me.

I feel like so often in shonen and general action story media traits like ‘bravery’ and ‘courage’ are considered synonymous with strength or risk-taking- and that’s certainly accurate in a lot of cases. But just like in so many other ways, AOT subverts or critically examines this trope within its characters- particularly in the main trio of the cast.

It’s so easy to reduce Armin to his easiest defined trope- the smart one- and while that’s definitely true and you could write a million meta essays on his intelligence, strategic thinking, etc, I think we don’t talk enough about the ways Armin’s character begs the audience to reexamine what it means to have strength and bravery.

Armin’s strength is not in the physical realm (although it’s worth dedicating another post entirely to the fact that Armin is certainly not that weak either- simply the weakest of an already exceptional group) and his strength is not solely his mind either. But also his determination, conviction, and the way he is willing to sacrifice himself to save others with hardly a second thought- all while not being as rash as Eren and Mikasa can be.

In a recent rewatch of the Trost Arc, there were so many moments that stood out to me that I had previously either taken for granted or not noticed the significance of. In that arc alone, after Eren’s “death” -

He follows Mikasa without hesitation to rescue her when she runs out of gas

Offers Mikasa his gas canisters and blades knowing he won’t survive without them

Defends Eren to the Garrison (this is obviously a pretty big moment that isn’t usually overlooked, of course)

Rushes off from the decoy squad and runs the ENTIRE length of the Trost district wall when he sees the red smoke flair- just to be there to help Mikasa and Eren

Stays by Eren’s titan form on foot in a titan infested area right before he places the boulder

And there’s probably some more I missed.

Armin at this point in the story has no false confidence about his ability to survive- in fact he probably has an abysmal lack of confidence that he can’t affect much, but he does it anyway.

(Obviously, this self-sacrificial tendency reaches a head and ultimately culminates in the sacrifice of his life in the mission to retake Shiganshina…)

All of this to say, what Armin represents about bravery and courage is so important to me because he dedicates his life with the purest of intentions- he is not scared of death in such a noble way and he brings it up again and again. He would die for the cause- nearly does.

Which I think creates an interesting parallel between him and Eren in the sense that Eren is frequently referred to as a “suicidal maniac”- clearly meant to refer to the reckless way he rushes into danger. Whereas Armin’s instinct towards self-sacrifice is never viewed this way, because it’s not a glaring flaw in the same way that Eren’s behavior is.

Another way the story examines this is through his interactions with Annie- who is opposite in that she is fiercely dedicated to her own survival at any cost. This is brought up in their interaction during the ODM gear inspection when she asks him if he would die if someone ordered him to and he easily answered that he would. Armin’s ability to understand this difference between himself and Annie without judging her for it is also unique to him.

Because Armin doesn’t expect anyone else to give their life or view others as cowards for not rushing into danger- because he sees the value in every life. He just feels the cost of his own life would be worth it to preserve someone else’s. It’s this love for humanity and unwavering optimism at the core of his character that gives him so much conviction.

And like so many others have pointed out, this is what saves him (and, to an extent, later the world) in the end when it comes to Levi’s choice to revive him. Erwin was successful because he was able to set aside his humanity and sent countless soldiers to their deaths to gain victory. Armin, more than anyone else in the story, was able to plan and make a difference in such a way that always assumed he would either ask others to take an equal risk or put himself at more risk to reach the goal. And he wasn’t driven by anger, hatred, or rage to do it.

Clearly, there’s a lot that can be said about the way Armin shows strength and bravery in dire situations without being, stereotypically, the strongest character- or even the die-hard risk taking typical protagonist that Eren represents for most of the story.

But I think ultimately the story is trying to show us that Armin’s version is the version that is within reach for everyone- and that will make the biggest difference in not just winning a battle but in making a better world. And it’s so important to me that AOT- despite being such an inherently violent story- took the time to present that message as emphatically as it did.