#nimona meta
Text
I read the comic in one sitting less than an hour after finishing the movie, and wow I have many Thoughts™.
- It's very obvious the two versions were meant to cater to different audiences AND tell different messages. I don't get why people are going "But the comic was better! It had more nuance!" just because Nimona was easier to root for in the movie.
- The comic was written back when ND Stevenson was still trying to process a lot of stuff, so all the characters are morally grey/straight up evil and the climactic battle is between a Ballister who regrets turning against Nimona, even if it was to save others vs. a Nimona who's too hurt to care if her lashing out was going to hurt innocent people.
- By the time Nimona got a movie adaptation, ND was a lot more secure in his sexuality, so the climactic battle was Nimona vs. the Director, the symbol of religious oppression and bigotry. It's not just about your friends turning on you because you're "too much" for them anymore, it's also about a society that would rather bring itself to the brink of ruin than coexist with you.
- (I totally get why people were upset about Ballister's surname change, though. Like come on, the media dubbing him Blackheart just to be mean was RIGHT THERE).
- Nimona's metaphor for not shifting is such a neurodivergent thing. Even in the comic, Nimona's parents insisting she's a monster who replaced their daughter is reminiscent of the changeling myth, which is what many parents thought their neurodivergent kids were—changelings who replaced their "real" children.
- Ambrosius being trained to cut off HIS BOYFRIEND'S WHOLE FUCKING ARM instead of merely disarming him is a very cop thing to do. As much as cops claim they're trained to de-escalate situations, their training still teaches them to treat everyone as a potential threat, and that level of constant vigilance can turn anyone into a trigger-happy/arm-choppy bastard. Even the Director, who can use a sword but probably hasn't actually fought someone in ages, STILL can't see Ballister reaching for the squire's phone without assuming he has a weapon.
- And on that note, the Queen getting killed simply because she was trying to reform the Institution and allow commoners to become knights? That's the best "no such thing as a good cop" metaphor I've seen. Because even if there ARE good cops and they ARE in leadership positions, the system will crush them before they make any meaningful change. It's not a good institution that turned rotten, it's an institution that only exists to spread its rot and refuses to be good.
- That's why Ballister's characterisation is so different in the movie vs. the comic. Comic Ballister had 15 years to come to terms with his trauma and the Institution's evildoing, while Movie Ballister is still freshly traumatised and hasn't found a way to define himself beyond the role he was assigned by the Institution.
- Not to mention Comic Ambrosius was not very noble to begin with and genuinely believed Ballister was better suited to villainy than heroism, while Movie Ambrosius never wanted the glory that came with his lineage in the first place and only antagonised Ballister because of indoctrination he needed to unlearn (which he did, all by himself, after witnessing the lengths the Director will go to just to kill Nimona).
- It really shows how important it is to surround yourself with loved ones who are open to change. Comic Ambrosius can love Ballister all he wants, but he'll still blast his arm off because he thinks Ballister deserved it anyway. Movie Ambrosius will stop to question what "the right thing" even means, even if he didn't love Ballister enough to defend him unconditionally.
I have so many more thoughts bubbling beneath the surface, but I'll probably address them some other day. In conclusion:
[ID: A pink-haired Nimona grinning evilly while holding up a knife.]
Watch Nimona. This is not a request.
Edit: Added more thoughts!
14K notes
·
View notes
Text
YOOOOOOOO the fact that nimona’s voice as a demon baby is the same voice actress as gloreth’s in the flashback. yes the logistical explanation is it’s cheaper to have one young voice, but the sexier in-narrative explanation is that anytime nimona ever portrays a young child (other than themselves) it’s in the voice of the first and only friend they ever had. until Bal.
#when nim asked bal 'not a lot of children in your life huh?' it was a canonball being chucked from a glass palace#nimona#nimona spoilers#nimona meta#owl post
3K notes
·
View notes
Text
Everybody likes the line from Nimona "If you don't then you're going to die in this closet!" bc it's a funny little queer joke but I think that Ballister's response is actually more interesting.
He says, "Die?" and you can see on his face he has no idea what she's talking about. This is the first time that he's actually being confronted with the fact that there will be no mercy shown for him. He thinks if he talks to Ambrosius or the Director they can work something out, but Nimona knows better. It takes him half of the movie to figure this out but I think this line does a good job of demonstrating how he's thinking of the situation.
They're literally chopping down the door behind him, nearly hitting his head with axes, and he's still convinced that they wouldn't kill him if given the chance
#it's just a very interesting interaction#also the gay joke is funny as fuck lol#nimona#nimona meta#ballister blackheart#nimona 2023#nimona movie
591 notes
·
View notes
Text
One detail I really like in Nimona is that everyone is a terrible detective
Ballister is in the spotlight the most bc he’s actively trying to prove his innocence. Except he’s real bad at it. Like the first time we see him after the whole Queen killing fiasco, his notes on the wall show that he already suspects the Squire knows something.
But then he does literally nothing about it.
Instead he strolls into the Institute with an iron-clad “trust me bro I’m innocent” argument that leads to extremely predictable consequences.
After Nimona gets him out of that mess, he actually talks to the Squire and miraculously get proof of his innocence! And then he promptly decides to not make a backup copy of the recording... or secure a witness statement... or even ensure the safety of his single witness (some knight he is). Instead Ballister simply walks straight back into the Institute again with a new “trust me bro, I’m innocent just look at this thing in my pocket first” and predictably looses all his evidence.
Then a third time, he and Nimona get sneaky and record the Director’s actual confession, uploading it for everyone to see. But they only take a small soundbite, which backfires on them later when the Director makes the very logical “we have proof Boldheart is working with a literal shapeshifter, so maybe it was a shapeshifter that said that.” Ballister and Nimona didn’t even show that the Director was in possession of Ballister’s sword or that she tried to stab Ambrosius.
And Ballister (and by extension Nimona) aren’t the only terrible detectives. It’s implied that nobody did a proper investigation after the Queen’s death or else the Squire’s testimony would have been uncovered.
Plus Ambrosius‘ suggestion that ‘hey maybe we should watch the clip for ten seconds longer to see if there’s anything else we missed” seems like a novel idea instead of standard practice. And upon discovering Ballister’s real sword, Ambrosius also makes no attempt to secure evidence of it’s existence within the Institute (which could prove Ballister’s innocence) and instead gives it away.
Taken at direct face value, this makes the characters seem incompetent and unintelligent. But the genius is that it makes perfect sense within the larger narrative of the story why the knights are not taught investigative or problem solving skills.
They live in a society where “monsters” exist.
If monsters were allowed to have a voice, to prove to others that perhaps they are actually innocent, it would fundamentally shatter the perception that the accused were evil monsters to begin with. And this, in turn, would bring the entire system crumbling down.
Their society is one where anyone can be labeled a monster and there is no room for questions or analysis.
Truth does not matter.
Facts do not matter.
There is simply blind obedience to those already in power.
And this leads to innocent people being hurt.
#nimona#nimona meta#nimona analysis#original post#i promise this was going to be a funny post about how the knights are all dumbasses but then the allegory was RIGHT THERE
958 notes
·
View notes
Text
one thing i noticed (and loved!!!!) in nimona is the different eye-shine shapes. specifically the way they changed as the story progressed, specifically focusing on ballister and ambrosius
[ID: screenshots of Ambrosius and Ballister speaking. They both have a similarly shaped, rhomboid, square diamond eye shine. /end ID]
in this first scene their eyeshines are a very similar square diamond shape. they still share it right after the part where ambrosius cuts ballister's arm off
[ID: screenshots of the two of them looking at each other, both still with a matching eyeshine shape. /end ID]
however immediately after, when ballister falls through the hole in the platform we get a brief shot of his face:
[ID: slightly blurry closeup of Ballister's face. His eye shines now seem more square. /end ID]
later we see ballister creating his new arm, and immediately after when nimona knocks on the door we see his eyes again, and the shines are completely square. not really any ambiguity to it, the tilt of them is entirely gone
[ID: closeup of Ballister's face, the eyeshines now square with the flat edge on the bottom. /end ID]
ballister isnt super consistent with this, but from here on his eyeshines remain mostly square. there are a few moments when they tilt again to resemble how they were in the first scene, eg. when he's telling nimona he's not a villain, and when she reminds him that ambrosius cut off his arm and he tells her its complicated, as well as more later that i wont get into now
[ID: screenshots of the above mentioned scenes, in both Ballister's eyeshines have a more oblong rhomboid vertically-oriented shape. /end ID]
BUT!!! a bit later, when he and nimona bump into ambrosius as they're breaking out of the castle,
[ID: screenshots of Ambrosius and Ballister looking at each other, both again with diamond shaped eyeshines. /end ID]
wow look at that they match again! ballister's are a bit more square and ambrosius's are more elongated, but again they have a very similar shape! however immediately after...
[ID: closeups of Ballister's face. In the first his eyeshines are square, in the second they are more diamond shaped. /end ID]
the first screenshot here is when he says "did you see the way he looked at me?" to nimona. the second is right after he says "he really thinks I killed the queen." by this point you probably can tell where i'm going with this post
also this is the part where i just now noticed nimona's upper earring on her left ear is a star hoop :) very neat
nimona snaps ballister out of his daze (square again), makes him promise he wont freak out (still square) and then he rides off on rhino-nimona (square). when he sees and almost runs over ambrosius in the hallway, the brief seconds he's looking at him, his eyeshines tilt again into a diamond. no screenshot of this one because it's hard to get the timing right on motion shots
when ballister wakes up back at the lair they're square again
[ID: screenshot of Bal in the lair, his eyeshines square. /end ID]
when he's looking at the photo wall (at ambrosius's photo specifically) i expected them to become diamonds again, but here they stay square! i am quickly realizing this post is mostly an excuse to stare closely at ballister's big baby seal eyes
[ID: screenshot of Ambrosius's photo, where his eyeshines are upright triangles. /end ID]
in the photo ambrosius's eyeshines are triangles which isn't a shape we've seen on him before. i dont think this really means anything though its just neat
skipping to the part where ambrosius says he'll be the one to hunt down ballister, his eyeshines are triangular here too, in person this time
[ID: closeup of Ambrosius's face. His eyeshines are triangular. /end ID]
during his declaration to "find ballister, and bring him to me" however his eyeshines are briefly diamond shaped again
[ID: Ambrosius looking down in sadness or resignation, with diamond eyeshines. /end ID]
back to bal. in the subway, both nimona's version of ballister and the real ballister have square eyeshines.
[ID: Nimona-as-Ballister with a pathetic expression, and the real Ballister with a disapproving one. Both have square eyeshines. /end ID]
in the next scene where the knights are looking at the subway footage, ambrosius's eyeshine shape has changed again:
[ID: closeups of Ambrosius's face. He has oblong reverse triangle eyeshines. /end ID]
they are now long triangles. my eyesight isnt awesome so the first time i watched this part i thought they were hearts :) but theyre triangles
i dont have it in me to rewatch the entire movie for this post so skipping to way later when ballister is trying to convince ambrosius the director is the one behind the queen's murder. the lines said are important here too
[ID: Ambrosius's face right before Ballister pulls out the phone with the video proof. Second image is Ballister's face after the phone is shot from his hand. Ambrosius has diamond eyeshines and Bal has square ones. /end ID]
the line bal is saying in that screenshot is "it doesn't matter. you shouldn't need proof. you know i'm not a murderer." then:
[ID: Ambrosius is pointing a sword at Ballister. Ballister's eyeshines are square, Ambrosius's are hard to see but resemble diamonds. /end ID]
AND THEN:
[ID: Ambrosius looking up at Nimona when she shoots into the air. His eyeshines are triangles. /end ID]
during their nacho meetup at the [checks notes] tavern? bar? nacho place? whatever. their eyeshines are square and triangle respectively
[ID: three consecutive shots of their conversation. Ballister has square eyeshines; then Ambrosius has triangular eyeshines; the last picture is of Ambrosius putting his hand over Ballister's prosthetic one. /end ID]
their shapes remain this way for a while until a key moment where ballister looks at nimona's rampage and realizes he fucked up BAD
[ID: closeup of Ballister's face, with distinctly diamond eyeshines. Behind him a fire rages. /end ID]
it's not clear in the screenshot but the fire in the background is ALSO diamond shaped which probably means nothing but again, is pretty neat
and then yeah basically from there their eyeshines stay the same shape to the end of the movie including the epilogue. i cant add any more images to this post though so i will have to stop here!!! just take my word for it. their (i say their but i really mean ballister's, because ambrosius doesn't get any more good eye shots after the beginning of the epilogue) stay their respective shape until the very end
"wow, nik, this post was beyond pointless" you might be thinking and yeah maybe!!! this may be all coincidence and i may be looking for things that are not even remotely there!!! but guess what i sat here for over an hour taking screenshots and putting this post together so by god i WILL see it to its end
my idea is that the changing eyeshine shapes represent their paths splitting and then coming back together again. at the beginning they have the same eyeshine shape; they're together, they understand each other, they think the same way. (this is a good time for me to note that the director's eyeshine shape is also a vertically oriented rhombus.)
then the betrayal happens. ballister kills the queen, ambrosius cuts of ballister's arm. they still have the same eyeshine shape here; but then ballister falls and ambrosius doesn't fall with him. this is where they separate - this is the betrayal
after making himself a prosthetic ballister's eyeshines are a different shape, more clearly now. he is apart from ambrosius, they're no longer a unit. however his eyeshines still appear as diamonds occasionally, namely in moments where he's with or thinking about ambrosius (or the institute, im mainly thinking of the "im not a villain" line when he's thinking i'm still a knight, i'm still good)
ambrosius's eyeshines are still the same diamond-like shape. when he and ballister see each other again they briefly share a shape again. it's not as similar anymore, and they're not the same as they were. there's still this rift of betrayal between them. but in that moment they're having, well, a moment
in the closet when he's thinking of ambrosius's betrayal (did you see the way he looked at me?) his eyeshines change between square and diamond
then cut to ambrosius, who's eyeshines are also a different shape now: when he's formalizing his betrayal to he and ballister's relationship, officially declaring that he will be the one to hunt him down. but there's a moment where his armor is being put on where he looks down with guilt and diamond shaped eyeshines
i dont even want to talk about the subway footage part because i still keep mistaking the long triangles for hearts which is killing me. killing me DEAD. if his eyeshines were really hearts when he was saying things like "something doesn't feel right, he hates freestyle jazz" i think i'd just explode or something. moving on
during the confrontation at the institute, before ballister tries to pull out the phone and is telling ambrosius he has proof, ambrosius's eyeshines are diamonds! just like in the beginning! i think here it's more representative of how he wants to believe ballister, despite the director whispering in his ear not to, how he badly wants for all of this to be a misunderstanding and for proof that ballister didn't betray the institute, didn't betray him. he doesn't want to lose his best friend (and more)
but ballister's eyeshines are square here- like he says a few seconds later, "you shouldn't need proof." he's being betrayed again, ambrosius doesn't believe in him after all. but even when pointing a sword at ballister he looks at him with diamond eyeshines. when nimona begins doing her thing his eyeshines are triangles again, like he and ballister are fully diverging paths again
you get the idea. their eyeshines are representing of their emotions about, and relationship with each other. so then why don't they go back to the diamond shape at the end of the movie? why are their eyeshines different even when it's clear that they've made up, they're happy now, things are different?
well i DO have an explanation for this. things are different now! they're no longer under the thumb of the institute (is this a good time to mention again that the director's eyeshines are also diamonds), a section of the wall is down, the kingdom is different! it's changing!
and so have they! the way i'm choosing to read into this, is that they're not the same people as they were at the beginning of the movie. they're not both brainwashed into thinking the same way, having the same ideology where cutting off your boyfriend's arm instead of disarming him isn't only justifiable, it's what's expected. now they're their own people, who aren't under constant pressure of a legacy or an institute. they've grown! and now it's okay that they don't think the exact same, because they love each other, and are now capable of loving each other like this
tldr this movie is great i love it here :)
obviously this might all just be a coincidence and im just overthinking it lol but whatever i spent this long reading into it i might as well hit post
edit: people have mentioned that ND retweeted stuff relating to this so it IS intentional! yayy i love being right
also for the love of god do not add undescribed images to this post. it takes like two seconds to describe a screenshot just use the same formula ive used for every single image here. please i can't keep doing this
#nimona#nimona spoilers#nimona 2023#ballister boldheart#ballister blackheart#ambrosius goldenloin#nimona meta#i think?? does this count as meta#oh yeah read my fucking post boy#goldenheart
840 notes
·
View notes
Text
something about how ballister's move for his sword and a bunch of knights subsequently showing up triggers nimona's ptsd and she literally runs for the hills. how we the audience witness her struggle as she flashes between past and present, returning to the best and worst memories of her life: loneliness, friendship, then betrayal. how her traumatised mind sees the same pattern with ballister as there was with gloreth, of trust suddenly turning to violence, and it becomes easier to listen to that voice that tells her she is an aberration - the voice of the institute.
something about how ballister regrets reaching for his sword as soon as he does it. how he doesn't witness her ptsd flashbacks as we do, doesn't have access to the full story, and only sees nimona at her most monstrous, the giant shadow creature stomping and stumbling into the heart of the city. how he realises that his behaviour is what has triggered this and that nimona's is a path of self destruction. how he knows that all she needs is a friend, and finds the right words in her moment of crisis to let her know she's safe with him.
119 notes
·
View notes
Text
So... Idk maybe this was obvious to everyone and there's no point in me bringing it up. But can we talk about Ballister's armor?
The plate that the knights wear is standardized. It's their uniform. All the knights we see in the film are wearing the same armor and use the same swords. They're standard issue. With a couple exceptions.
Ambrosius gets much flashier armor, with the obvious gold and white colour scheme and the lion (?) design on his chest plate. He also has large lions on the sides of his pauldrons with embedded sapphire eyes, which - wow, talk about ostentatious. This is presumably because of his connections to Gloreth - his blood is special enough that he gets an entirely different and considerably flashier set of armor. Is it a family heirloom? Was it commissioned specifically for him? We'll never know. But the Institute designated this little boy Special enough to be exempt from the dress code in order to demonstrate his status as the Specialist Boy.
Todd gets a slightly altered version of the uniform, with black bottoms instead of grey, and larger pauldrons. If we assume Ambrosius gets fancy armour because of his family connections, then that seems to imply Todd also has some ancestry notable enough to set him aside slightly from the rest of the knights. Not anywhere near as famed as Gloreth of course, but maybe a notable general or war hero or something along those lines. That would explain some of the ego. Whatever.
Both of them seem to still be using the standardized swords though.
And then there's Ballister. With his black armor.
In the book I just sort of assumed he chose that armor in order to compliment the whole aesthetic he's got going on. But in the movie that is explicitly not true. They gave him that armor, to signify in the most literal and inconspicuous way possible that he is the black sheep. He does not belong and he never will, no matter how hard he tries, because the Institute will make sure everyone who sees him immediately recognizes him as other. Street trash who has been graciously permitted into their ranks, but will never be allowed to wear the untainted, pure colours of their order, the divine white and gold. It was decided for him, before he even became a knight, that no matter what he did he would never escape that shadow. That he was let in, not born in. Allowed to exist. Always on their terms.
He doesn't even get to use their swords. He gets a black sword to match his armor, one which (by the looks of it) is significantly lower-tech than the standard issue swords, at least until it was tampered with.
The Queen could have stopped this, but she didn't, which indicates to me more than ever that, to her, Ballister was first and foremost a token. A gesture meant to inspire loyalty and goodwill from her subjects, to prove that she was willing to change. Slowly. And only so long as people remembered who really had the power. Am I saying she was evil or whatever? No. We haven't seen enough of her as a ruler to make those kinds of judgements. But to me she represents a very milquetoast, left-of-center, "Equal-rights-for-everyone-so-long-as-it-doesn't-negatively-affect-me-or-my-standing-in-any-way" kind of leader.
There was no way he could have ever been one of them. Never. And they made sure knew it.
#nimona#nimona 2023#nimona analysis#nimona meta#ballister blackheart#ballister boldheart#nimona ballister#ambrosius goldenloin#nimona ambrosius#I'm in one of those Gay Autism Death Spirals about this movie sorry guys
284 notes
·
View notes
Text
one thing that's fascinating about the world building of Nimona I've been thinking about is...what did the knights do in this society for 1000 years?
we're told they are meant to fight and kill monsters, to protect the city. but the twist in the film is that Nimona was the 'monster' from a 1000 years ago. additionally her journey is all about her finding a place to belong because there is no one like her.
so the implication is there are and have not been any other monsters/attacks.
so you have a group of elite knights, trained from childhood with a mission passed down to their children. the elitism is important here because Ballister's entry into the ranks is seen as such a threat. but none of these knights have ever actually fought a monster. they're just a small group of elite families holding onto to their wealth and power by making people believe their swords are needed (remember we know they aren't and never were)
so what do the knights actually do? they are treated in story like celebrity athletes. they do endorsements and commercials. there is also a lot of allegory to them being cops (mostly in the critique of their over zealous training/use of force, Ambrosius not just disarming Bal but ...well literally dis-arming him, the Director being able to destroy evidence of her corruption by claiming Bal has a gun and Todd shoots before he verifies this)
its fascinating world building because the social role of the knights in this society literally impacts the plot. the reason Ballister being a commoner and being allowed to hold a sword is a threat is because suddenly their special culb where they get all the wealth, adoration and importantly get to hold the swords without ever having to actually fight a monster is threatened. suddenly their club where they get all the power with no actual work isnt so special anymore. suddenly the director realizes the queen , who should on paper be the person she is most loyal to has to go. cause the queen isn't treating them as special anymore.
236 notes
·
View notes
Text
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.
#nimona#nimona spoilers#nimona meta#trans issues#trans rights#lgbtqia#queer#queer community#suicide tw#transphobia tw
255 notes
·
View notes
Text
spoilers for nimona (2023)
just watched the new nimona movie and it was fantastic! great children's movie, excellent animation and clean plot progression. but it's missing something: the subversive morality that i first experienced when reading nimona as a kid.
in the actual comic, nimona killed people. she was morally gray- she took that step into murder and atrocity. in the movie, she's a punk kid who likes to make (admittedly pretty scary) faces and joke around about death, but it doesn't seem like she's actually gotten around to the real murder part.
and you know what? i get it.
this movie isn't meant to be the book, and that's fine. it's a wholesome misunderstood hero story for kids and a non-controversial way to have positive queer representation without compromising the themes with characters that aren't 100% good and sweet and lovely. it's great for a mainstream audience.
here's the thing: it would've been so much more INTERESTING if nimona WAS the killer. i was expecting it as a plot twist the whole movie- nimona impersonating the director (who was, tbh, not a very interesting twist villain, especially with her lack of forshadowing and her very easy and quick admit to her crimes- you'd think such a high-ranking individual would know better than to confess her sins and then murder the direct descent of gloreth in her office)
nimona has been trying and trying to convince ballister to reform the system the whole movie, saying that he SHOULD be mad, the INSTITUTE is what's in the wrong, not JUST the director. they can't run away- they have to fight back! that would've been such good foreshadowing for her having orchestrated the whole thing, with her being clearly shown to be able to shift into other people.
i'm almost convinced that the writers initially planned for that as the plot progression and then edited it to make it more family-friendly.
so in an ideal world, here's what i think should've happened:
nimona actually does frame the director for the murder- but as revenge for experimenting on and torturing her, as in the book. ballister is pardoned by the public and by ambrosius, but then the director shows the video footage of nimona shapeshifting into her, and the consequent sword-swapping. in a nutshell, nimona uses ballister to kill the queen and tries to manipulate him to help the world change, for a place where she isn't tortured needlessly just for being different.
ballister, betrayed, fights with nimona (insert key weakness that she has told only him here) and she is captured. the director informs him of the experiments on nimona (while dismissing her as a heartless monster) and he is horrified. the director reveals her new plan to get rid of (non-existent) potential monsters in the city like nimona (witch-hunting, reference to eugenics, you get it). ballister and ambrosius free nimona, and they work together to stop the enby-murder laser or whatever, nimona sacrificing herself in the process (or does she...). the ending remains the same from there.
the unfortunate issue with queer media at the moment is that people need it to be pure- a depiction of a morally gray queer character right now might throw the whole theme into question. after all, if queer people aren't perfect, than they're dead. which is interesting, because that's kind of the theme of nimona, in a sense. a narrative about people who are different, and for that reason alone are unforgivable monsters.
queer and disabled folk (see attorney woo, a show i love, for a similar problem) aren't allowed to be flawed in media. if they're not paragons of humanity or supergeniuses, they can't be accepted. nd stevenson was one of the first authors i ever saw really subvert that in widely known media meant for teens.
real life people aren't going to be as forgiving as the movies make it look. i liked the old nimona because she reflected that- she was not a sinless matyr in the end- she gave into her rage and despair and let it warp her. did that make her a monster? no- it made her human. queer media is trying its best, but in the end the issue is the very inhumanity of perfection.
67 notes
·
View notes
Text
difficulty with managing anger and the urge to fit into the constructs you’re familiar with are both understandable but unhealthy reactions to being systemically treated like shit and both Nimona and Ballister get better over the course of the movie okay thank you
#nimona and ballister are the two voices in queer people's heads#nimona#nimona netflix#nimona comic#nimona movie#nimona 2023#nimona meta#my post#cy talks#my meta#ballister boldheart#how do you tag the character and the movie slash comic when they have the same name#character analysis#nimona the character
39 notes
·
View notes
Text
Hey guys, Nimona movie questions:
Y'all think there's like, normal criminals in this kingdom? Like, obviously no one's ever killed royalty in live television in front of hundreds of people before, that's a new thing. And the Knights of Gloreth have never actually fought a "Monster" because there haven't been any "Monster" sightings in a thousand years.
But like
Are there murderers who go around killing regular civilians? Is there petty theft and property damage and whatever other crimes? Do the Knights of Gloreth also deal with regular every day crime like a police force would? Or are they just around as figure heads "just in case a Monster comes"?
Cause, in the jail scene, there's no other prisoners, there's only Ballister. All the other cells are empty. You'd think, if the Knights dealt with criminals like police do, there would be other people in jail with Ballister.
Unless there's no crime in that society... which honestly I doubt. Like, I can buy most people being intimidated by the Institute into never breaking the law but, just like in the real world, you can't use intimidation and be 100% effective, people are still gonna break the law even if they know there are scary consequences. You can't tell me every single person in the kingdom is too scared of the Institute that they wouldn't dare do crimes.
You can't tell me Nimona is the only rule breaker in the whole kingdom, there's no way.
Tldr, how does this society deal with criminals.
35 notes
·
View notes
Text
I think Nimona can control electricity (to some extent)
Three times lightning/thunder cracks as she talks during the movie. It doesn't seem to be raining before or after these events and there's no more lighting except for on these important lines. The first time it happens is when she tells Ballister he's been unconscious for fifteen years, the second is when she yells "Don't call me a monster!" after he remembers the rhino, and the third is during the dance montage when she jump-scares him at the door as the Director. The third time we can clearly see outside and it's not raining. But what if that's just a really crazy coincidence that lightning strikes every time she, and only she, wants to emphasize something or push a joke? That doesn't mean she has electricity powers.
Well, before the climax, during the fight she has with Ballister over the scroll, she changes the color of the TV. The static on the TV is blue but as the conversation gets more intense, it changes to pink. At first it's just little flashes but once he's like "You know what you are" it gets bigger. As she gets angrier, her form gets bigger but also the static on the TV turns pink. Once he pulls his sword out, the whole screen is pink. As soon as Todd flashes the floodlight into the tower, she changes back to her normal human form and the TV goes back to blue.
I don't know if she's able to control it consciously or if it's more of a reaction to her emotions, but I think it's a bit of both. Idk how far she can take this (like could she control Bal's arm?) or if this power is somehow related to her shapeshifting that she just doesn't use as often, but does it really matter? She's Nimona and it's just smth she can do
#i do think it opens a lot of possibilities in fanfics and headcanons tho#nimona#nimona theory#nimona headcanon#nimona meta#ballister boldheart
113 notes
·
View notes
Text
okay but like the Director was fully intending for Ballister to die in that arena
she created a replica sword that that self destructed. meaning Ballister was left defenseless and completely surrounded by people that already hated him
it was only by complete chance the chandelier fell, creating an opening for Ballister to escape
otherwise Ballister would’ve been swarmed and killed. and once dead, no one would’ve been able to speak up for him or know his true motive, so the Director would have been able to twist the rhetoric to be about anything she wanted
330 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hi hello!! Hope you have been well :]
Gently requesting more of your thoughts on Nimona (movie and comic), bc I love what you’ve been saying thus far, like you’ve been spittin’ facts left and right and I’m absolutely here for ittt!!! 🔥
Hope you have an amazing day!! ✨✨
Thanks, anon! I rewatched Nimona with my cousin just last week AND reread the comic, so you're in luck because I have a bunch of new thoughts and headcanons.
(WEEWOO WEEWOO, SPOILERS for the comic and the movie below, proceed at your own risk.)
- At the beginning of the movie, it's implied that Nimona was there for every step of the kingdom's development, or at least keeping tabs on it since she knew about Gloreth's knights. Did she disguise herself as a rando civilian, like she did in the comic when checking on Ballister? If so, how long did it take her to assume her default human form again? Until Gloreth passed on? Until there was no one alive who remembers her human form?
(I say "default human form" in like a humansona sense and not the default sense, though. She seems used to retaining a specific appearance for each form she takes, unless she's shifting for disguise purposes.)
- Baby Ballister literally ripping the head off the horse he was attacking is kinda cute, but also very sobering when you remember that if the Institution had accepted him wholeheartedly, he would have become their greatest asset but also Nimona's second greatest enemy besides the Director. It's a great way to establish that he was ready to fight and die for the Institute even before it begrudgingly accepted him, not because ND randomly decided to make him a sad little meow meow who struggled to find a purpose beyond serving the Institute.
- Meredith Blitzmeyer, my beloved, it was truly a tragedy that your character got cut from the movie but it needed to be done. A device that stops Nimona from shifting, in a movie where shifting is a metaphor for queerness and possibly neurodivergence? Nah, that would have ruined the whole plot.
- (I would have loved it if the movie revealed she was the one who developed the laser sword and the Director's laser staff, though. Give me a chaotic neutral scientist with no concept of the consequences that come with making things for evil people, any day.)
- When I first read the comic, I struggled to interpret Nimona's final words to Ballister: "I was just playing with you". After rereading it, I'm pretty sure she wasn't. Movie Nimona and Comic Nimona's arcs seem similar on the surface, but Comic Nimona canonically looks her age because she didn't become a shapeshifter until some time after Ambrosius blasted Ballister's arm off. Ballister may be the movie's freshly traumatised character, but it's Nimona who plays that role in the comics.
- What this means is she probably DID see herself as a monster even though it was an unhealthy way to define herself, and she was looking for someone who'd tell her, "You're right, this is you, and I accept it." instead of trying to comfort her by denying this part of her identity. Hence, why she was so hurt when Ballister tried that exact wrong answer with her, and she reacted by denying their bond was real in the first place.
- That being said, I highkey suspect Comic Nimona only survived because Ballister DID get through to her. When she tells Ballister that she will disintegrate after splitting herself, Ballister insists that SHE'S the strong part that will survive, not the monster and more importantly, he apologised to the monster after beating it AND calls it by Nimona's name. She saw with her own eyes that Ballister not only acknowledged both parts of her identity in the end, but also saw the humanity in her even when she herself believed what the world told her: that she was a monster.
- This definitely influenced the "Movie Nimona is passively suicidal" plot point because both near-deaths feature Nimona succumbing to the world's hatred against her, and it's Ballister who has to pull her out of that self-destructive spiral. The only difference is the movie wanted to show how disproportionate and irrational queerphobic oppression is, while the comic zeroed in on the hypocrisy of fearing Nimona's destructive tendencies while the Institute was the one who could have poisoned the entire kingdom by accident.
- (Grabs you by the face) Do you understand how feral this realisation made me? Do you understand the danger of queer people accepting their "deviance" without stripping away the label's negative connotations before it can mess with their self-perception? DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW BADLY ND STEVENSON DRAGGED QUEERPHOBES IN BOTH VERSIONS OF THE STORY?
Anyway, yes, consider this Part 3 of my thoughts on Nimona. Hope y'all like them.
#nimona spoilers#nimona#nimona comic#nimona movie#nimona meta#I am once again demanding yall watch or read Nimona#ND Stevenson thank you so much for these masterpieces we love you
28 notes
·
View notes
Text
something about how prejudice is practiced. taught by every cereal commercial that encourages a child to meet a dragon with a sword, so that by the time they encounter a "monster" in real life they will see the scales before the girl in front of them, and reaching for the sword will be an instinct, not a choice. just like how ambrosius cutting off ballister's arm is an instinct, specifically trained, to disarm a weapon. something about how the institute's narrative of good/protective violence vs monster/deviant permeates every part of life in the city, to the point where people are desensitised to the violence they have been conditioned to inflict. all in service of fear of some phantom threat beyond a wall none have crossed in 1000 years.
56 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
strengthlabldn
Strengthlab LDN
travisthomasonpottery
TravisThomasonPottery
pseudofujo
The Yaoimaster
je-suisnous
RUN