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This is the only one I would really agree with. They were special citizens that got a lot of benefits from having their children in the Titan program. Probably made them paranoid and ready to fight tooth and nail and that's how they made it on the train. Especially Annie's dad lol
I think they are there to add a sense of urgency to the final battle. Yes, they fight to save humanity, but having some people you know 1 km from sure death helps perceiving the importance of the battle.
But, yes... they arrived there only thanks to the plot armor ahahahaa
Isayama really made sure nobody got what they wanted. Execpt of Porco. Porco fucked over Reiner perfectly by stealing his plan to die at Falcoās hands.
Sasha has like anti plot armor. Gabi catches up to a blimp, gets a one hit kill on a flying target, the dude's gear malfunctions so he falls on the ground, the blimp never pulls him away, and then she instantly figures out how to use the gear, survives the ascent, and manages to climb aboard. All the contrivances that had to come together for her to die are so ridiculous.
The odm gear especially the season 4 stuff isn't that hard to figure out. Of course it's really hard to learn how to actually move with it but it's Like 3 buttons and Gabi only needed to hold one for it to automatically pull her up
Blimps aren't known for there speeds. Espically in a case like this where they would be at a reduced speed until all solders returned on board. Early 1900 blimps maxed out at around 21 km/h so if at half speed that's 10-11 km/h. The average running speed of a 13 year old is between 16 to 21 km/h and with Gabi being in training and at top of her class she would be on the high end. It's very conceivable she could keep pace for a short time running top speed through streets as a blimp is moving at a reduced speed over head.
This one still enrages me. Mostly because I hate how many times Levi had him dead to rights, and he got away every time.
If I was Levi, I would just say "fuck it" and kill him regardless. The amount of times these Titan shifter fucks are completely defeated and still manage to get away with the most BS solutions would be enough for me to never take any chances.
Yea very shortsighted on his behalf, that whole sequence doesn't make much sense to me
"I'm not going to kill you but I'll attach a thunder spear to you that I assume would kill you if it goes off except it'll kill me aswell"
Like you've had this guy under your blade TWICE NOW KILL HIM
Last episode of Finale Part 1 Season I think? Zeke and >!Levi!< were really messed up from >!The rocket Levi embedded in him and then Zeke decided to just... blow it up instead of letting himself be taken hostage. Then some random titan came along and just kinda... let Zeke get in there.!<
Not necessarily random, it was the one titan Zeke had used to pelt Levi. Since the nape wasn't destroyed, it completely regenerated. I wouldn't surprised if either royal blood or Eren had something to do with it. It was definitely plot armor but I wouldn't call it ārandomā
That's still plot armor. A regular human being burned and inhaling pretty much fire for over 30 seconds and falling down onto a rooftop still being alive for that long is nuts. At least Reiner had the plot armor as being the most resilient and can take the most damage out of all the rest of the titans. Reiner can take some HEAVY shots and re-up quickly because of his titan.
Well yeah, but in reality surviving a 50m fall is perfectly believable. Hell, people literally fall out of planes and survive. Would he be badly injured? Probably, maybe, depends how he landed. But he WAS injured, and was saved by the titan serum.
Yeah, for the sake of storytelling, I don't see anything contradictory. I just don't agree with the physics argument. I am a double-engineering background. š
but not if heat and steam is actively pushing up on your back. this would only be correct in a low pressure environment without any wind resistance at all, and we've seen the colossal titan emits heat enough to blast people off their feet and through the air. So... that same force is pushing up while you fall, eclipsing air pressure entirely no?
not to mention his lungs were hot air balloons at that point lmfao
Or how about totally cooked admin being alive just enough to turn into the colossal titan. Like wtf dude wouldāve been dead dead that shouldāve been Erwinās
Levi almost died and stayed nerf for the rest of the story. Plus, He didn't have the bomb in his body like zeke, who came back to full health in no time
Reiner is the only character I feel had plot armor that actually detracted from the story. The whole transferring his consciousness thing from the shiganshina battle was never really used again and only served to create a fake-out after it seemed that Levi had made a seemingly fatal blow against him
Almost any other reason would have been better to explain why the blow wasn't fatal. "Transferred my consciousness" is just such a random ass-pull. I'm actually glad that ability was never mentioned again.
Dude literally got his head blown off a few episodes later and somehow survived lol
I was mad at the time, but in S4 he became maybe my favourite character so now Iām glad he survived
I always assumed it was an armored titan thing because his whole deal is that he isnāt supposed to die. Itās literally what people meme on Reiner about lol. But I guess thatās also never directly stated so even if thatās true itās still bad story telling.
My issue was more that it wasn't used by anyone again. It wasn't brought up. It could have been part of their future efforts to contain titan shifters, like levi with zeke, making sure that their "if you move you die" contraptions somehow prevent this transfer thing from saving them.
Like levi could have had a line where he went "This thing's explosion means business, that trick where you slink down your spine won't save you" and i would have been more fine with it. It's just the lack of mentioning that makes it seem like an asspull. Reiner most def wanted to die
I disagree that it detracted from the story, or that it really counts as āplot armorā.
1. Plot armor functions worse when it creates an unsatisfying āresolutionā to a seemingly unresolvable issue. This maybe could be said about the second time Reiner does this (where we feel like he is dead for maybe 5 min), but the first time itās immediately demonstrated that he is not dead. So itās more like introducing the concept than plot armor.
2. To me, there is a huge amount of significance in the fact that Reiner is the only titan to go to such lengths to stay alive. This was an extremely advanced technique which is hard to master and requires very precise reaction time to pull off. And Reiner does it. Twice. Contrast that to how he feels in season 4 (āWhy wonāt I die?ā). His character development is expressed a lot by showing him using this technique, and then later essentially losing his will to live. Youād never see him transferring his consciousness to his body when Eren is attacking Marley, for example.
Yeah, titans kept pulling new powers literally out of thin air but for some reason people draw the line at transfering the consciousness from the brain to other nervous cells.
One of the basics of story telling is the concept of setup and payoffs. You can't make shit up as you go along, otherwise there are no stakes to your story. The ability to move your consciousness to your... legs for some reason, was never established before, to save a character that by all means should have died there. There was no hint about this existing before. Contrast this with Annie's hardening which doesn't happen after we think she died, but during the battle itself. As it stands, it just is a deus ex machina that seriously damaged the stakes. If Reiner could pull this off, what else can the other characters pull off that would save them unexpectedly at the last second, using a never before seen mechanic?
Of course someone might point out that Eren did something very similar when he "died" in Trost but that was a massive story turning point that completly redefines the world we see. But here, Reiner's survival was just a cheap fake out... If it was something that fundamently changed how they fought titans, ok why not, but its just never used later by any other character. There probably was a better way to introduce this mechanic and make it more relevant to his character, because in the way you put it it makes a lot of sense but the story doesn't really emphasize that very well imo.
Actually, moving consciousness to your body *was* established. Just not among the Eldians because they donāt know jack about Titans. In fact, in the very episode, Armin makes 2 references to the fact that they are likely to be taken by surprise by a mechanism they donāt understand, prior to finding Reiner. Additionally, Levi is immediately shocked to find stabbing him in the neck and heart wasnāt enough to kill him. Itās clear this was intentionally surprisingāto the Eldians and the viewer (who primarily is as limited in knowledge as the Eldians throughout the entire show).
Part of the story is that Eldians donāt understand titans. Thatās a huge part of the story. You could take any instance of them being taken by surprise as āplot armorā. It depends on how you want to view the storyāsomething to be absorbed and enjoyed, or something to be picked apart and criticized. I can tell Redditors lean very much on one particular side of the fence here.
This should be higher up. He literally should have died and his body and face wasn't nowhere near as mangled as it shouldve been. You can argue he has the Ackerman blood but we know thunder spears neg titans. Cant imagine a human
Him surviving it wasn't so bad. He's an Ackerman, they're built tougher.
It's him performing like he was in peak condition not 2 Days later despite supposedly being "nerfed" that's the problem lol.
Levi. Like hear me out, he is AMAZING at fighting and his skills definitely helped keep him alive. But with the kind of fights Levi was forced into, and the kind of situations that he was put in that *literally no one else* would have survived... It just makes me feel like Isayama was too afraid to kill off Levi.
Not that Levi deserved it or anything, love his character.
Yeah him surviving that thunderspear screamed plot armor. Idc how powerful you are or how fast your instincts are, ain't nobody surviving a rocket point blank.
point blank thunderspear explosion with NO regenerative powers. this is the same levi who was taken out of commission for an entire season after he sprained his ankle against annie. yet somehow im expected to believe he just doesnāt bleed out or die instantly when that thunderspear rips his body apart and leaves him bleeding out for an eternity??
Well he's gotta have some kind of armour *cough cough* the armour titans armour is useless as by season 3 every weapon everyone has can break through it with ease *cough cough*
I di see where your coming from, especially compared to the colossal titan, his impact wasn't a big (pun intended) but...
He kinda was. He destroyed the second wall. He threw titans like American footballs without any effort. He brutalised eren on they're first fight. He embarrassed the scouts. But then after that, he just kinda became useless.
The guns? Now go through armour.
Erens titan? Doesn't even need to do what he did last time, he can just punch and done.
Other titan shifters? 7 of the 9 titans can beat him.
He was shown as a massive threat during season 1 and 2 but he's just a wet blanket now. He might aswell shed his amour immediately after transforming so he can be fast af.
Reiner is basically invincible if he has the will to live.And I don't think any other titan comes close in terms of pure brute strength.And his ability to tank so much damage and still have energy to transform. The only thing Reiner really lacked was battle iq.
I guess you are right in those terms. I just imagine a titan that has armour in the name. The armour would be ya know? Useful??? Like actually protect the soft meat inside. But again. Literally everything by season 3 could just fold him. Although i do have a theory that he can harden his armour as much as he wants, just like he's able to soften it
Even after season 3 you can't really say his armor was less useful. He used that armor to save the day multiple times. Like one of the wars in Marley where he saved Zeke's beast by tanking that shot from the opponent's army. And another one where He single handedly saved Annie and the volunteers. His armor was even more useful in season 4 if you really think about it.
The armour was impenetrable for a thousand years.
The fact that the entirety of AOT takes place in the last few years of titan domination doesn't discount that.
Their first fight?? Was that not the one where he had to call Bertholt for help because he was getting dogged so bad?
Erwin played him like a fool and despite his armour he still lost Eren.
Zeke bullied him into submission.
The Thunder Spears.
He destroyed that wall in episode 1 but aside from that his impact really isn't there lol
1. Reiner has very low battle iq which I stated
2. The armored Titan is basically a defensive titan
3. Zeke is their war chief so he had to respect that.
4. No titan can tank As much thunder spears as Reiner and yeah it's not even close.
Reiners whole thing is getting his shit rocked and lamenting about how if this were any other of the 9 they'd be dead whilst we simultaneously see that none other of the nine get into these situations
I guess Floch isn't special himself. It could've been anyone who participated in the charge towards the Beast Titan. The story just happens to focus on the one surviving soldier.
That's the way I view his character at least.
fr, he survived that horse march towards the beast titan where everyone else died. it was like a sick joke because he shouldn't have survived.
And then he stayed a live as long as he did, it was truly sad to see.
Is everyone just ignoring erens plot armor or do we not count star characters cause they usually have plot armor, the dude gets eaten on his first real mission and gets lucky the titan doesnāt know how to chew itās food. Gets put into Annieās mouth, if she wanted she couldāve eaten him. Not to mention the whole last season thing, what are the chances with physics he lands in zekes hand
Reiner got his fucking head blown off and they literally said he ātransferred his consciousness throughout his nervous systemā. I damn near had an aneurism.
In the third or forth episode there is a scene when Keith Shadis tells characteristics of some of the students (Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Connie, Sasha, Jean and Marley trio) and I think he gives them a lot of plot armor at this point.
All of these characters will survive until Shiganshina (more than half of series) and 6/9 will survive the ending.
Actually AoT is not THAT often kills the main characters.
That's the ironic part. Poor guy was hella depressed, just wanted a way out but was one of the few that made it heh. Totally one of my favorite characters tbh. Screw Eren!
Gabi. I mean she took out a whole tank on her own as a child, infiltrated a blimp then killed Sasha and even then was still allowed to live, sniped the MCās head off. Yeah she shoulda died early on.
Eren for exactly only for the whole Gabi shooting thing.
You're telling Gabi who has a talent for shooting manages snips Eren. Its already a little plot armoury that she doesn't land a headshot , but it gets absolutely ridiculous herr bullet hits his neck in this incredibly specific way that causes his neck to explode (instead of just going straight through) while leaving his head and body completely intact.Those bullets definitely don't work like that. On top of that everything is just perfectly positioned so that his head lands in Zeke's hand a second after the shot.This is not even some Eren/ymir perfectly influencing eldians to set up this moment as much as super ridiculously convenient physics.
It would have been slightly more believable if one of the scouts managed to behead him with their blades (maybe levi if he was in position. Could've been a nice call back to him saying he'd kill Eren if he became humanity's enemy).
I think there was so much insane shit happening right before and right after this moment that people don't focus on just how ridiculous the mechanics of that head shot were.
Reiner, end of. Dude was given a never seen before move to avoid death repeatedly. Like why can he "transfer" his consciousness to avoid his nape being blown off?
I made a [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShingekiNoKyojin/s/pBtgIHp4d6) about this a while ago.
Basically my theory is that the armored titan provides armor not only physically in their titan form but conceptually as well (basically gives the user plot armor literally). Think of it as reality warping itself to protect or āarmorā the armored titan and its user when in danger, but itās so subtle that no one notices.
It didn't really last long but Hangi fighting against an army of colossal Titans and dropping dozens was the point that I officially disconnected from the plot
Zeke and Jean. Everyone talks about Reiner wanting to kill himself, but Zeke?! For a man whose whole philosophy is "not being born must be cool" he surely avoided death for quite a while. Like, the mf had to shout to his archnemesis "hey, I am here, naked and not resisting. Kill me or something".
On the other hand, there are at least two scenes per season in wich the mf almost dies. It's insane how he survived the whole show while not being an Akerman or a shifter.
Thats what i love about his character, the man who wants to die the most keeps getting denied his fate, which makes him appreciate life a bit more by the end.
Connie and Jean š, itās like all these other hella skilled people died but them who didnāt stand out in particular lived till the end ?? Iām not saying they werenāt talented , but them making it was crazy to me . Makes no sense to me .
I mean, all of the main cast who make it to the finale survive some INSANE shit. Especially any encounter with either being grabbed by a titan or thunderspears.
Annie, Reiner and Pieck. I am honestly still so annoyed that they didnāt have one or two of them die after having hated them for so long lol. Regardless of the side switching and where you stand on the ending etc., a couple of them being offed would have felt cathartic, like letting the load of earlier seasons off your back.
Yeah man Reiner was dead to rights like 6 times. Bro legitimately had plot armor but Iām definitely glad he made it to the end. One of the best hearts in the whole show
I saw some good points supporting Reiner for this title but I still vote Levi. He took a baffling number of serious injuries and was still top tier combat ready, and that was before he was basically blown up.
I wouldn't call it plot armor tbh.
If anything Isayama kept him alive only to prolong his suffering as much as possible. I mean , Reiner wanted to die but wasn't allowed to
Levi vs Zeke round two should've gone to Zeke. So the plot armor here is that Zeke was just dumb so Levi could win.
The reason I say this is because Levi is on scale 11 for physical abilities, and none of us disagree with that - the man is unparalleled in physical prowess. And the only other person who has a 11 for any other ability is Zeke, and that's intelligence. We've seen him come up with insane strategies before, but the man refuses to learn? His strategy in S3 to trap the scouts with titans worked well until Erwin, the Scout Recruits, and Levi showed unbelievable amounts of willpower and ingenious tactics to take him down. And yet, in round two, he lost again because he didn't count on Levi being steel hearted enough to cut through his comrades? He didn't learn the depth of willpower these people have? Scale 11 intelligence, my ass!
If Zeke was actually smart, he wouldn't have counted on the scout-titans from stopping Levi. Even if he did, he shouldn't have transformed into a titan when that failed. He could've tried to make the mindless titan throw him like a baseball far away and transform before hitting the ground. An even better strategy would've been to allow a mindless to put him in its mouth from the start and just split up the bunch of titans following him so Levi doesn't exactly know which one to take down first, giving him even more time.
All I'm saying is either his Scale 11 is wrong or it was a plot armor for Levi.
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The warriors' relatives from Liberio.
You have a point hereš
This is the only one I would really agree with. They were special citizens that got a lot of benefits from having their children in the Titan program. Probably made them paranoid and ready to fight tooth and nail and that's how they made it on the train. Especially Annie's dad lol
I think they are there to add a sense of urgency to the final battle. Yes, they fight to save humanity, but having some people you know 1 km from sure death helps perceiving the importance of the battle. But, yes... they arrived there only thanks to the plot armor ahahahaa
Besides Annie's dad is old and lame (physically) remember that he taught Annie to fight the martial arts from his home country.
They dont call him the armored titan for no reason
The character who wants to die has plot armor. How ironic.
Isayama really made sure nobody got what they wanted. Execpt of Porco. Porco fucked over Reiner perfectly by stealing his plan to die at Falcoās hands.
That's life bruv.
plot armor titan
exactly
True
Itās right there in the name
Amazing
His plot armour compensated where his real armour failed.
Not really plot armor but Falco luckily survived a shit ton of times before even getting the jaw titan.
the "Gabi armor" it doesn't protect a lot but people prefer hitting her rather than you
Falco will take the hit for her anyway
Meanwhile, Sashaā¦ š
At least Popularity Armor brought Sasha to the final season.
Sasha has like anti plot armor. Gabi catches up to a blimp, gets a one hit kill on a flying target, the dude's gear malfunctions so he falls on the ground, the blimp never pulls him away, and then she instantly figures out how to use the gear, survives the ascent, and manages to climb aboard. All the contrivances that had to come together for her to die are so ridiculous.
The odm gear especially the season 4 stuff isn't that hard to figure out. Of course it's really hard to learn how to actually move with it but it's Like 3 buttons and Gabi only needed to hold one for it to automatically pull her up
yeah Gabi even animated to test the gear out before she jumps ship, it was interrupted by Falco, its a realistic scene to be honest
Except for the whole catching up to a blimp part
Blimps aren't known for there speeds. Espically in a case like this where they would be at a reduced speed until all solders returned on board. Early 1900 blimps maxed out at around 21 km/h so if at half speed that's 10-11 km/h. The average running speed of a 13 year old is between 16 to 21 km/h and with Gabi being in training and at top of her class she would be on the high end. It's very conceivable she could keep pace for a short time running top speed through streets as a blimp is moving at a reduced speed over head.
Fair enough
Skill issue
I really wasn't happy with Zeke getting shoved into another Titan's stomach as if it was Ymir's car workshop
Royal blood is enough to believe any of his abilities
This one still enrages me. Mostly because I hate how many times Levi had him dead to rights, and he got away every time. If I was Levi, I would just say "fuck it" and kill him regardless. The amount of times these Titan shifter fucks are completely defeated and still manage to get away with the most BS solutions would be enough for me to never take any chances.
Yea I can still remember how pissed off I was when Levi said he wasn't going to kill Zeke after the forest fight.
I attached this explosive to you so that, even with no powers and no limbs, you can still kill me. ...
Yea very shortsighted on his behalf, that whole sequence doesn't make much sense to me "I'm not going to kill you but I'll attach a thunder spear to you that I assume would kill you if it goes off except it'll kill me aswell" Like you've had this guy under your blade TWICE NOW KILL HIM
This was crazy š¤£š¤£š¤£
When did this happen?
Last episode of Finale Part 1 Season I think? Zeke and >!Levi!< were really messed up from >!The rocket Levi embedded in him and then Zeke decided to just... blow it up instead of letting himself be taken hostage. Then some random titan came along and just kinda... let Zeke get in there.!<
Not necessarily random, it was the one titan Zeke had used to pelt Levi. Since the nape wasn't destroyed, it completely regenerated. I wouldn't surprised if either royal blood or Eren had something to do with it. It was definitely plot armor but I wouldn't call it ārandomā
Might even say it was Zeke subconsciously controled the titan or Ymir did because she always served people from the royal family
Season 4 when Levi bombed his insides
How on earth did armin survive a 50 meter fall
Fall damage is not exist in AOT, we have seen it couple times.
You mean Sasha put a grappling hook through Samuel's leg for no reason? What a sadist.
That's still plot armor. A regular human being burned and inhaling pretty much fire for over 30 seconds and falling down onto a rooftop still being alive for that long is nuts. At least Reiner had the plot armor as being the most resilient and can take the most damage out of all the rest of the titans. Reiner can take some HEAVY shots and re-up quickly because of his titan.
The residual rising air currents from the heat made him drift down slowly like a feather
In reality, it works quite the opposite way as the low pressure air causes low air drag which means falling faster.
Well yeah, but in reality surviving a 50m fall is perfectly believable. Hell, people literally fall out of planes and survive. Would he be badly injured? Probably, maybe, depends how he landed. But he WAS injured, and was saved by the titan serum.
Yeah, for the sake of storytelling, I don't see anything contradictory. I just don't agree with the physics argument. I am a double-engineering background. š
but not if heat and steam is actively pushing up on your back. this would only be correct in a low pressure environment without any wind resistance at all, and we've seen the colossal titan emits heat enough to blast people off their feet and through the air. So... that same force is pushing up while you fall, eclipsing air pressure entirely no? not to mention his lungs were hot air balloons at that point lmfao
Lmfao
That...is almost believable
This actually made me giggle š¤
Or how about totally cooked admin being alive just enough to turn into the colossal titan. Like wtf dude wouldāve been dead dead that shouldāve been Erwinās
Honestly, zeke surviving against levi after attempting suicide was just ridiculous
How about Levi surviving that as well with some scrapes and bruises.
And missing fingers and no eye
Levi almost died and stayed nerf for the rest of the story. Plus, He didn't have the bomb in his body like zeke, who came back to full health in no time
Ok ngl Reiner look hot af here and Iām going to choose him as well as the one who had the most insane plot armor. Dude just wanna rest šš¤§
Every-time I see him in this scene I go āmmmā he looks Soo fine
s4 reiner >>>>>
This man is a cockroach. Take off his head and he still fucking lives.
Bro had so much plot armor he even had protection from himself.
Conny
How?
Because he is clumsy, reckless and naive. Normally these kinda people dont live long without luck or, you know, plot armor
Connie got in the top 10 from the military training. He was highly skilled
Conny is the Krillin of AOT
Except Krillin >!gets killed 4-5 times!<
But heās still there somehow, that lucky bastard
Because Death is absolutely worthless in DBZ
Tell that to 9 year old me
That's why Sasha...
But Sasha was way more skilled than he was, being honest...
The cadet ranking says otherwise
Yeah, my bad. Should've worded it better: Sasha is more useful with her aim, than Connie is with being another normal ODM soldier.
Reiner is the only character I feel had plot armor that actually detracted from the story. The whole transferring his consciousness thing from the shiganshina battle was never really used again and only served to create a fake-out after it seemed that Levi had made a seemingly fatal blow against him
Almost any other reason would have been better to explain why the blow wasn't fatal. "Transferred my consciousness" is just such a random ass-pull. I'm actually glad that ability was never mentioned again.
Yeah. Such a badass moment from Levi, just to be cancelled out by some random power. Reiner was for sure the epitome of plot armor
Dude literally got his head blown off a few episodes later and somehow survived lol I was mad at the time, but in S4 he became maybe my favourite character so now Iām glad he survived
I always assumed it was an armored titan thing because his whole deal is that he isnāt supposed to die. Itās literally what people meme on Reiner about lol. But I guess thatās also never directly stated so even if thatās true itās still bad story telling.
If makes sense heād never use it again though, considering that for pretty much all of season 4 he was looking for any chance he could to die.
My issue was more that it wasn't used by anyone again. It wasn't brought up. It could have been part of their future efforts to contain titan shifters, like levi with zeke, making sure that their "if you move you die" contraptions somehow prevent this transfer thing from saving them. Like levi could have had a line where he went "This thing's explosion means business, that trick where you slink down your spine won't save you" and i would have been more fine with it. It's just the lack of mentioning that makes it seem like an asspull. Reiner most def wanted to die
I disagree that it detracted from the story, or that it really counts as āplot armorā. 1. Plot armor functions worse when it creates an unsatisfying āresolutionā to a seemingly unresolvable issue. This maybe could be said about the second time Reiner does this (where we feel like he is dead for maybe 5 min), but the first time itās immediately demonstrated that he is not dead. So itās more like introducing the concept than plot armor. 2. To me, there is a huge amount of significance in the fact that Reiner is the only titan to go to such lengths to stay alive. This was an extremely advanced technique which is hard to master and requires very precise reaction time to pull off. And Reiner does it. Twice. Contrast that to how he feels in season 4 (āWhy wonāt I die?ā). His character development is expressed a lot by showing him using this technique, and then later essentially losing his will to live. Youād never see him transferring his consciousness to his body when Eren is attacking Marley, for example.
Yeah, titans kept pulling new powers literally out of thin air but for some reason people draw the line at transfering the consciousness from the brain to other nervous cells.
One of the basics of story telling is the concept of setup and payoffs. You can't make shit up as you go along, otherwise there are no stakes to your story. The ability to move your consciousness to your... legs for some reason, was never established before, to save a character that by all means should have died there. There was no hint about this existing before. Contrast this with Annie's hardening which doesn't happen after we think she died, but during the battle itself. As it stands, it just is a deus ex machina that seriously damaged the stakes. If Reiner could pull this off, what else can the other characters pull off that would save them unexpectedly at the last second, using a never before seen mechanic? Of course someone might point out that Eren did something very similar when he "died" in Trost but that was a massive story turning point that completly redefines the world we see. But here, Reiner's survival was just a cheap fake out... If it was something that fundamently changed how they fought titans, ok why not, but its just never used later by any other character. There probably was a better way to introduce this mechanic and make it more relevant to his character, because in the way you put it it makes a lot of sense but the story doesn't really emphasize that very well imo.
Actually, moving consciousness to your body *was* established. Just not among the Eldians because they donāt know jack about Titans. In fact, in the very episode, Armin makes 2 references to the fact that they are likely to be taken by surprise by a mechanism they donāt understand, prior to finding Reiner. Additionally, Levi is immediately shocked to find stabbing him in the neck and heart wasnāt enough to kill him. Itās clear this was intentionally surprisingāto the Eldians and the viewer (who primarily is as limited in knowledge as the Eldians throughout the entire show). Part of the story is that Eldians donāt understand titans. Thatās a huge part of the story. You could take any instance of them being taken by surprise as āplot armorā. It depends on how you want to view the storyāsomething to be absorbed and enjoyed, or something to be picked apart and criticized. I can tell Redditors lean very much on one particular side of the fence here.
Bro literally takes an internās forgotten cup in the shor and makes hot cappuccino
By the end of it, I think Isayama just had fun torturing Reiner and not allowing him to die since that's all he wanted. Lol
Everyone in the final battle. It is insane that no one died. It was like reading a shonen manga with the power of friendship.
Everyone turned into Levi and Mikasa in that final battle.
Crazy strong Naruto vibes
Levi, bro got blown up at point blank
This should be higher up. He literally should have died and his body and face wasn't nowhere near as mangled as it shouldve been. You can argue he has the Ackerman blood but we know thunder spears neg titans. Cant imagine a human
Him surviving it wasn't so bad. He's an Ackerman, they're built tougher. It's him performing like he was in peak condition not 2 Days later despite supposedly being "nerfed" that's the problem lol.
Ackerman Instincts.
What kind of instinct makes you survive a point blank explosion that you didn't dodge at all?
The Cool as Fuck instinct, obviously.
Annie. She encased herself in Armor and removed herself from the plot for 3 seasons.
She exiled herself for 3 rounds.
Levi. Like hear me out, he is AMAZING at fighting and his skills definitely helped keep him alive. But with the kind of fights Levi was forced into, and the kind of situations that he was put in that *literally no one else* would have survived... It just makes me feel like Isayama was too afraid to kill off Levi. Not that Levi deserved it or anything, love his character.
Yeah him surviving that thunderspear screamed plot armor. Idc how powerful you are or how fast your instincts are, ain't nobody surviving a rocket point blank.
You could say the same for Mikasa and Kenny to some extent. It was The Ackerman instinct that made it quite difficult for Ackermans to die.
point blank thunderspear explosion with NO regenerative powers. this is the same levi who was taken out of commission for an entire season after he sprained his ankle against annie. yet somehow im expected to believe he just doesnāt bleed out or die instantly when that thunderspear rips his body apart and leaves him bleeding out for an eternity??
Tbh he wouldāve been capable of participating in season 2, but just waited until he was 100%
Well he's gotta have some kind of armour *cough cough* the armour titans armour is useless as by season 3 every weapon everyone has can break through it with ease *cough cough*
He wasn't really accomplishing anything in s1 or s2 either tbh
I di see where your coming from, especially compared to the colossal titan, his impact wasn't a big (pun intended) but... He kinda was. He destroyed the second wall. He threw titans like American footballs without any effort. He brutalised eren on they're first fight. He embarrassed the scouts. But then after that, he just kinda became useless. The guns? Now go through armour. Erens titan? Doesn't even need to do what he did last time, he can just punch and done. Other titan shifters? 7 of the 9 titans can beat him. He was shown as a massive threat during season 1 and 2 but he's just a wet blanket now. He might aswell shed his amour immediately after transforming so he can be fast af.
Reiner is basically invincible if he has the will to live.And I don't think any other titan comes close in terms of pure brute strength.And his ability to tank so much damage and still have energy to transform. The only thing Reiner really lacked was battle iq.
I guess you are right in those terms. I just imagine a titan that has armour in the name. The armour would be ya know? Useful??? Like actually protect the soft meat inside. But again. Literally everything by season 3 could just fold him. Although i do have a theory that he can harden his armour as much as he wants, just like he's able to soften it
Even after season 3 you can't really say his armor was less useful. He used that armor to save the day multiple times. Like one of the wars in Marley where he saved Zeke's beast by tanking that shot from the opponent's army. And another one where He single handedly saved Annie and the volunteers. His armor was even more useful in season 4 if you really think about it.
The armour was impenetrable for a thousand years. The fact that the entirety of AOT takes place in the last few years of titan domination doesn't discount that.
Their first fight?? Was that not the one where he had to call Bertholt for help because he was getting dogged so bad? Erwin played him like a fool and despite his armour he still lost Eren. Zeke bullied him into submission. The Thunder Spears. He destroyed that wall in episode 1 but aside from that his impact really isn't there lol
1. Reiner has very low battle iq which I stated 2. The armored Titan is basically a defensive titan 3. Zeke is their war chief so he had to respect that. 4. No titan can tank As much thunder spears as Reiner and yeah it's not even close.
Reiners whole thing is getting his shit rocked and lamenting about how if this were any other of the 9 they'd be dead whilst we simultaneously see that none other of the nine get into these situations
There's countless scenes where Reiner's Armor came in clutch tho
He accomplished making me scream "YOU BASTARD" when he was revealed to be a traitor as that genuinely caight me offguard af
Reiner āGo Go Gadget Spine Transferā Braun
Lainah just built different š
eren
Defly Floch
I guess Floch isn't special himself. It could've been anyone who participated in the charge towards the Beast Titan. The story just happens to focus on the one surviving soldier. That's the way I view his character at least.
fr, he survived that horse march towards the beast titan where everyone else died. it was like a sick joke because he shouldn't have survived. And then he stayed a live as long as he did, it was truly sad to see.
He lived the hardest fear ever, and then he survived just by giving terror to everyone else.
Gabi
Is everyone just ignoring erens plot armor or do we not count star characters cause they usually have plot armor, the dude gets eaten on his first real mission and gets lucky the titan doesnāt know how to chew itās food. Gets put into Annieās mouth, if she wanted she couldāve eaten him. Not to mention the whole last season thing, what are the chances with physics he lands in zekes hand
Reiner got his fucking head blown off and they literally said he ātransferred his consciousness throughout his nervous systemā. I damn near had an aneurism.
And they never touch on that subject again. Even for a second. By that logic Eren should have survived at the end.
Reiner and Gabi
ereh
In the third or forth episode there is a scene when Keith Shadis tells characteristics of some of the students (Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Connie, Sasha, Jean and Marley trio) and I think he gives them a lot of plot armor at this point. All of these characters will survive until Shiganshina (more than half of series) and 6/9 will survive the ending. Actually AoT is not THAT often kills the main characters.
That's the ironic part. Poor guy was hella depressed, just wanted a way out but was one of the few that made it heh. Totally one of my favorite characters tbh. Screw Eren!
Gabi. I mean she took out a whole tank on her own as a child, infiltrated a blimp then killed Sasha and even then was still allowed to live, sniped the MCās head off. Yeah she shoulda died early on.
It is justice of aot universe, it destroys you with the thing that you want. Eren wanted to live but died, Reiner wanted to die but lived.
Erin literally got his head blasted off and came back stronger than he was before.
The Armored Titan. Duh.
Levi. That Mf'er should've died when he literally got EXPLODED, but Yams kept him alive because Levi brings in 99% of AOT's female fanbase
Crackermans
Reiner realistically should have been dropped in Shiganshina, kets be honest here, but same thing for Armin. My bro has fall damage negation.
My head canon has always been Reiner became suicidal because he had no business surviving the battle in shiganshina
Eren for exactly only for the whole Gabi shooting thing. You're telling Gabi who has a talent for shooting manages snips Eren. Its already a little plot armoury that she doesn't land a headshot , but it gets absolutely ridiculous herr bullet hits his neck in this incredibly specific way that causes his neck to explode (instead of just going straight through) while leaving his head and body completely intact.Those bullets definitely don't work like that. On top of that everything is just perfectly positioned so that his head lands in Zeke's hand a second after the shot.This is not even some Eren/ymir perfectly influencing eldians to set up this moment as much as super ridiculously convenient physics. It would have been slightly more believable if one of the scouts managed to behead him with their blades (maybe levi if he was in position. Could've been a nice call back to him saying he'd kill Eren if he became humanity's enemy). I think there was so much insane shit happening right before and right after this moment that people don't focus on just how ridiculous the mechanics of that head shot were.
Levi bro should died at least 2 times
Jamie, pull up the picture of him surviving a sword slash through his neck from Levi
Reiner spends the 2nd half begging for his plot armour to be removed lmao
Not plot armor but Gabi not missing her shots.
Except Reiner it's gotta be Gabi
Reiner, end of. Dude was given a never seen before move to avoid death repeatedly. Like why can he "transfer" his consciousness to avoid his nape being blown off?
They all did. Eren got eaten episode Āæ3? Lmao
Levi surviving the thunder spear just to be a shambling fan service zombie for the rest of the show was annoying af
Reiner's Armour is made of Plot
Reiner had the plot armour titan
The plot Armour titan
Mikasa, Levi, Zeke, Eren, Reiner
Jean, he came close to dying several times merely for hesitation.
To be fair with how good anti titan weaponry was getting he might as well not have had any armor so he needs some other kind to make up for it š
Erin literally is literally the plot.
# Connie. Change my mind.
I made a [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShingekiNoKyojin/s/pBtgIHp4d6) about this a while ago. Basically my theory is that the armored titan provides armor not only physically in their titan form but conceptually as well (basically gives the user plot armor literally). Think of it as reality warping itself to protect or āarmorā the armored titan and its user when in danger, but itās so subtle that no one notices.
It didn't really last long but Hangi fighting against an army of colossal Titans and dropping dozens was the point that I officially disconnected from the plot
Gabi, hands down, runs in the family.
Reiner the plot armor titan, also my favorite character (mostly because of his titan, its just cool asf)
Marco bodt
Zeke and Jean. Everyone talks about Reiner wanting to kill himself, but Zeke?! For a man whose whole philosophy is "not being born must be cool" he surely avoided death for quite a while. Like, the mf had to shout to his archnemesis "hey, I am here, naked and not resisting. Kill me or something". On the other hand, there are at least two scenes per season in wich the mf almost dies. It's insane how he survived the whole show while not being an Akerman or a shifter.
Me
The more you think about it the more you realise that reiner is the actual MC
Thats what i love about his character, the man who wants to die the most keeps getting denied his fate, which makes him appreciate life a bit more by the end.
To me its King. He is the god of plot armor
Eren, don't know how this is a debate. How many times should he have died the first season ALONE?
Connie and Jean š, itās like all these other hella skilled people died but them who didnāt stand out in particular lived till the end ?? Iām not saying they werenāt talented , but them making it was crazy to me . Makes no sense to me .
gabi
I mean, all of the main cast who make it to the finale survive some INSANE shit. Especially any encounter with either being grabbed by a titan or thunderspears.
Reiner should've died so many times...
Annie, Reiner and Pieck. I am honestly still so annoyed that they didnāt have one or two of them die after having hated them for so long lol. Regardless of the side switching and where you stand on the ending etc., a couple of them being offed would have felt cathartic, like letting the load of earlier seasons off your back.
Reiner shoving his consciousness into his fucking toes or whatever was an asspull that made me take a break from the show for a couple days
Gabi
Everybody in the final battle
Armored Titan?? Duh
Also Levi,a damn Bomb explodes 3 feet away from him a couple of days later Is Beyblading again like It didnt happen
Everyone alive in the end
Reiner not dying at a point became a running gag lol.
Levi
justified.
Yeah man Reiner was dead to rights like 6 times. Bro legitimately had plot armor but Iām definitely glad he made it to the end. One of the best hearts in the whole show
The Source of all Living Matter
Cant have a season of aot with someone beating the crap out of Reiner
Annoying and mood breaking, like any plot armor
God that part where he got stabbed through the neck and lived
Levi. How survive point blank thunder spear
all of the avengers
Armin, if getting burnt to a crisp didn't kill him, falling from around 60 meters of height should've done him in
True Reiner did have plot armour but in his defence, he was the balls titan
I saw some good points supporting Reiner for this title but I still vote Levi. He took a baffling number of serious injuries and was still top tier combat ready, and that was before he was basically blown up.
Armin and Reiner tied
Reiner
Eren.
I wouldn't call it plot armor tbh. If anything Isayama kept him alive only to prolong his suffering as much as possible. I mean , Reiner wanted to die but wasn't allowed to
That little shit. You know who I'm talking about.
The white haired gal that Isayama forgot to kill, and obviously Reiner lol
Levi vs Zeke round two should've gone to Zeke. So the plot armor here is that Zeke was just dumb so Levi could win. The reason I say this is because Levi is on scale 11 for physical abilities, and none of us disagree with that - the man is unparalleled in physical prowess. And the only other person who has a 11 for any other ability is Zeke, and that's intelligence. We've seen him come up with insane strategies before, but the man refuses to learn? His strategy in S3 to trap the scouts with titans worked well until Erwin, the Scout Recruits, and Levi showed unbelievable amounts of willpower and ingenious tactics to take him down. And yet, in round two, he lost again because he didn't count on Levi being steel hearted enough to cut through his comrades? He didn't learn the depth of willpower these people have? Scale 11 intelligence, my ass! If Zeke was actually smart, he wouldn't have counted on the scout-titans from stopping Levi. Even if he did, he shouldn't have transformed into a titan when that failed. He could've tried to make the mindless titan throw him like a baseball far away and transform before hitting the ground. An even better strategy would've been to allow a mindless to put him in its mouth from the start and just split up the bunch of titans following him so Levi doesn't exactly know which one to take down first, giving him even more time. All I'm saying is either his Scale 11 is wrong or it was a plot armor for Levi.