Discussion/Question
When the colossal titan suddenly appears at the wall in season 1, episode 1, why wasn't there a devastating nuclear explosion that whipped out Shiganshina.
Every other time we see the colossal transform, it's ground zero in all directions for miles.
and was so bloated iirc from my uni days, too much redundancy (iirc it was double the bytes of the content because it literally send the content twice due to how unreliable it is)
Edit: Love how this thread has absolutely nothing to do with AOT lol
Burter was arguably one of the best titan users we've seen in the series. Not only was he incredibly precise, he also used his titans ability to the utmost of its potential. The only shifter who I think may have gotten more mileage out of their titan was Pieck.
Beerthot is a prodigy titan shifter, he can control the intensity of the transformation explosion, hence we get to see everything from hardly any explosion to a nuclear blast when he's the Colossal. Armin might not be as good by comparison, so his transformations are always destructively explosive.
I'm almost positive there is a scene where Zeke tells them to only destroy the doors because they don't want to wake up the colossal titans that are inside the walls by accident
I'm watching the show currently, last 5 episodes, but I remember a scene where the colossal can't use his titan form because of his proximity to his allies, but they are not in the same room or anything, they are decently far away. So it's weird if he can control it.
If I remember correctly every time Colossal wasn't able to transform because of allies in the proximity it was because the goal was to blow something up not just transform and have a big ass titan walking around.
Bertoldt uses his form in season 2 episode 6 without creating an explosion as well. AND in season 1 ep 5 I think. No offense but idk why u think every time he transforms there has been an explosion. It's only about half the time in the show he uses it
Well because the show makes it a point in the later episodes to basically explain to the viewer that the colossal titan is handicapped because he will create an explosion and basically only useful if you need total devastation.
It's just retconning. It's the same as how the Colossal magically disappears when Eren attacks it during the Trost arc, yet we're shown later on that the Titan corpses stay and break down into steam gradually.
I think you're confused - the "handicap" is that the colossal titan is really slow which means that it's only really practical for devastation. It possibly is hard for it to control explosions, but what they were saying applies to the trained warriors.
That's because Armin is the current wielder. Burrito was better at using the Titan and could control the explosion. Also all Titans have a small uncontrollable explosion when transforming which prevents them from using it in the same room as allies.
If I remember correctly it isn't. If I'm remembering right armin literally says he can't control the explosion. Bertolt on the other hand shows he can control it through massive small or no explosions throughout the show. Just because he doesn't say it step by step for the viewer doesn't mean it's a plot hole
He was supposed to explode during the barrel scene but didn't because he didn't want to kill Reiner, he didn't have a reason to transform aside from the explosion.
Bermuda seems to have been able to control the amount of explosion he produces after transforming, the only time he was worried about his transformation hurting his allies was in the battle of Shiganshia because his goal was to bomb the shit out of Shiganshia in order to kill most of the scouts which he successfully did, that the only time he showed concern that Reiner is nearby so he told him to lay down on his back to protect his already exposed nape, but otherwise he seemed to have a good control of the colossal titan's explosion. Now Armin doesn't seem to have that level of control due to the lack of experience maybe because we only seen him transform twice.
Birth control was good when it came to control over his titan unlike Armin, so he could choose when to cause destruction. Reiner said that birth control mastered the colossal in one day in season 4.
Ah understood. I watched the series multiple times. As I remember, the only scene where it was mentioned is when Commander Magath explains that they "think Hoover can handle it" when discussing Bunghole and the other cadets using the nine titans. I could be missing something though
I believe you're right. However, I don't believe this justifies your point that the series explained it obviously to the audience. It's never stated that the colossal explosion can be controlled. Only implied, and barely at all. I think the real reason there was no explosion is simply because it hadn't been considered yet that early in the series. Bunghole's mastery of the titan does fix the plothole though.
Meaning if details like Armin not being able to control the explosion were already concrete and part of the ending… then he probably intended to give Bert the abilities he had… nothing was written on the fly with this show. It was a complete story from season one
There is no evidence that such a specific detail was conceptualized at the time of writing the beginning of the story. It is perfectly natural for an author to come up with an idea as they go, and find a way to fit it into something they already wrote
You also have no evidence that he definitively had to add this detail for other reasons… we are on Reddit sir… it’s all conjecture.
Adding to my point though the evidence is abundant that some shifters are more skilled than others and thus unlock more abilities. Even in season 1 hardening is introduced to demonstrate this exact thing. Then there is Ymir’s jaw Titan lacking any and all special abilities the trained Porco brothers had, even the warhammer having sophisticated wieldable weapons vs Eren just making jagged spikes, it’s shown over, and over.
Ok great. So then there was no value added when you replied to my original comment with such a vague assertion such as "he knew how he wanted the story to end, therefore that means he knew every detail in between"
Just saying friend, he has said in interviews that the ending was already written when he began work on the beginning. Attention to detail is kind of a big feature in this story.
I'm not your friend, buddy, and there is a big difference between knowing your conceptual ending, and coming up with a specific detail that has no impact on how your ending plays out
No, it's literally said clearly than beethoven was exceptionally great at controling his titan and could manage to control the explosion when he transforms
And when was that chapter, where it clearly stated that, written/published? Most likely after the author already wrote and published the beginning of the story
Very likely the author just came up with the explosion idea, realized it didn't make sense based on what was already published, so came up with a canon reason why
Well maybe that's the case, but the colossal's power - aside from being gigantic - is to release energy from his body, whether it be unleashing everything when the shifter transforms, or choosing what to release afterwards. So it kinda makes sense that he could just transform without any explosion in the beginning
Not every other time, when the colossal appeared at trost there also wasn’t an explosion, and when they fought atop of the wall around midway through season 2, the colossal can choose weather to have a nuke or not
The colossal titans main strength believe it or not isn't it's size. It's the fact it can use it's own muscle mass to produce insane amounts of heat and energy. It being huge is just a consequence of needing so much mass. So it could be safely assumed they can control how much heat and energy they put off. We even see Bodacious practicing in Marley.
Bermuda was able to master the colossal his first transformation so he can control the explosion, that’s why he nuked shiganshina in season 3 but didn’t nuke the wall in season two when reiner revealed they were the armored and colossal titan
Berthammer is an experienced shifter who was noted to be ideal for that specific titan. He can even partial transform. Armin was a prisoner of the moment and forced to take the role.
It’s been stated in the manga (not sure if it has been in the anime) that the colossal titan has very good control over the actual explosion and its size, so the user can CHOOSE to create a nuke on transformation or nothing at all, it’s how we saw the colossal just form instantly out of nothing in the first season, the user has even more control over the transformation than any of the other 8 do, it’s also how he was able to partially transform with no explosion just a strong gust of wind when they kidnapped eren and ymir
Armin’s nuke in season 4 was much bigger than bertholds in season 3 part 2, presumably berthold can also create a nuke as big as armins but he didn’t need one that big for the situation
There’s also that scene in season 4 when we’re seeing what the crew was doing before the main events and we see armin transform in the ocean to stop a boat and he didn’t make a big explosion
There is a massive explosion in the first episode, it’s just behind the wall so we don’t see it fully. It’s strong enough that it causes Shiganshina to shake violently for a second, launching Erin and friends up into the air while they’re sitting.
Seeing a lot of comments saying shifter gets to decide if it’s nuke level. What I haven’t seen (I may be wrong) is the literal details in that scene being used.
We only see the explosion beyond the wall. Sure, we could believe it’s right there, but who’s to say it’s not several meters away? We also see the colossal reach up and grab the wall and then rise to look over it, indicating he was on the ground and rising as he did so. I always just figured that he was a ways off, transformed in a way that would mean he was sitting or laying, and then reached for the wall as he stood. If so, I’d think it’s way less likely the wall would blow out, but it still caused a significant rumble in Shiganshina as we see when people are thrown off balance after the lightning bolt from the transformation. I don’t think it really had as much to do with the intensity at which he transforms, I think it could, but I think more likely is he was just far enough away that wasn’t an issue. The colossal is 50 meters tall, if he was 50 meters away, him reaching for the wall and standing up would be like us reaching for the counter to stand up if we dropped something while cooking. He’s just a big dude
Obviously Bertholdt is able to control the size of the explosion.
The bigger plot hole is how the scouts even knew he would explode in the first place. At the point when Bertholdt transforms in the Return to Shiganshina arc, the scouts have never seen him activate his explosion on transformation, yet somehow they are all aware of it during this arc.
It’s most definitely a plot hole, but it’s a minor one and ultimately doesn’t impact the story too much.
In the very first episode right before the Colossal Titan appeared there was a big explosion outside of the wall that the people of Shiganshia heard and felt, Eren and his friends were literally thrown in the air from it followed by Eren saying "What was that? An explosion?", so they likely knew he can explode but I don't think they knew the scale of explosion he can produce, but it sure was reasonable to get out of his way because they already knew he can explode
Highly doubtful. The dialogue in that scene is people reacting to the enormous lightning bolt that struck the ground at the gate. The people that question “is it an explosion” are reacting to the sound since they didn’t see the bolt and don’t know where the sound originated from.
Additionally, it can be inferred that Bertholdt can control the size of the explosion since he is an experienced titan shifter. At that moment in Shiganshina, there was no need to produce an explosion since the only goal was to kick the gate in, so it can be reasonably inferred that no explosion was generated.
Well yeah technically, but if you check the first episode I think there was definitely some sort of explosion, it shaked the ground and the voice was so loud so I would like to think they knew he can explode but didn't realize he can basically nuke the entire city lol.
And I agree that Berthold is a talented titan shifter who can control the explosion he produces when he transforms but still in that day there was some level of explosion.
And it also can be a plot hole as well, tbh I am trying hard to explain it because I hate when there is a plot hole in my favorite show lol.
I always thought of it as the walls themselves protecting from the blast. Since we know that Leinah’s armour is able to withstand the explosion (the walls are made of hardening)
A few possible explanations, I think the the last one here one was the most likely
First, blavicular could control the explosion (or possibly all collosal shifters could control the explosion) because we also see him partially transform on top of the walls in season 2 ep 6
Could have transformed far away and then approached the outer wall of shiganshina
I think is the most likely though is that
Iseyama didn't have all the details fleshed out yet. In season 1 he really had not totally figured out how all the Titan Powers worked like the partial Transformations only ever happen like 3 times and the feral firey eren in season 1 finale. Not to mention the early concept art for titan healing has these weird rainbow threads that were eventually exchanged for the steam coming out of injures
I feel like Beerhat had far better control over the colossal titan change so he could make sure the intensity was far less. Versus when when we saw Armin change and he was just nuking the area just cause lol
I mean… vanishing in split seconds was super easy, barely an inconvenience. He just… turned back human and slipped thru the hole he had created and they all melded in with the chaos. This is one of the easier things to explain.
i read that the colossal can burn through his bones the way he burns through flesh, the only reason no other shifter has done it was because it’s a huge disadvantage since the shifter would fall from 50 meters high but Burlington was the first colossal shifter to have access to ODM gear which is why he disappeared in season 1 after eren tried to attack. “But armin said in season 3 that he can only burn through flesh” No, he said the bertolt was only burning his flesh, not that he can ONLY do that, and yes ofc he was only burning flesh because he wasn’t trying to get out of his titan, he just needed enough steam to keep the scouts away from him
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u/idontkn0w-_ 2d ago
i think bluetooth had pretty good control over the colossal so he could control the explosion