Nimona Spoilers - Tumblr Posts

I was able to get the Nimona graphic novel from the library and read it the other day! And it was INCREDIBLE. And I also have Thoughts. (More like delayed live-reactions.)

Under a cut because there are lots of photos!

The Agency sent me

Right off the bat, this reminded me of Starkid haha. That's when I knew this was gonna be good.

Can toss

I love when this happens. It's so satisfying, even when you're watching another person make the throw.

D o e s i t K I L L P E O P L E

Nimona's got her PRIORITIES straight!

Wait and see

Us: Are we there yet?

Neil: Wait and see and/or We'll get there when we get there

Evil mad scientist

Mad scientist = crazy crazy sexy. No wonder Ambrosius fell head over heels. Mad scientists my beloved 🥰🥰

Sir Goldenloin's codpiece

I don't even know what to say about this lmao. I almost cackled out loud in a cemetery, that's how funny this was xD (Don't question why I was in a cemetery--I was reading with my late grandma.)

Also please tell me Nimona was the reporter because that would be hilarious. I know it's heavily implied, but I am having trouble figuring out if it's actually her lol.

Science nerd 2.0: Anatomy nerd

I became so obsessed with anatomy after taking a dual credit course my junior year of high school. My teacher was fabulous and made the class so fun.

Anyway yeah, I am 100% Ballister here hahaha.

Robbing a bank

I adore this little chaos gremlin, her chaos reminds me so much of my own xD

World Domination

This was such a fun scene to watch, I'm so glad it was just as fun in the novel! I love this scene.

Fuck the Director

Does what it says on the tin. Fuck the Director.

And poor Ambrosius' lil blush 🥺🥺 Someone get him out of there.

Homoerotic swordfight

HOMOEROTIC SWORDFIGHT

Communication

Finally they're COMMUNICATING. Thank fuck, I was about ready to slap them both haha. Communication is severely underrated.

If I don't make it

The-- the classic-- The "I love you" before a big battle-- Because you know one or both of you might not make it-- ARRRGGHHH I ADORE THESE TWO. WHO GAVE ND STEVENSON THE RIGHT.

Baby shark (doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo)

She's not a girl, she's a SHARK *chomp chomp*. The shark drawing made me so fucking happy.

EARRING

Men in earrings. MEN IN EARRINGS. Need I say more?

Someone please give me more art of Ambrosius in earrings, please and thank you.

Awww this was so sweet. I love this shot of the two of them.

This was such a good fucking book. Go read it if you have the ability to!

obsessed with this whole sequence. the pre-ceremony public canoodling. the heart eyes. ambrosius' glower. ballister's little glances back at him. how ambrosius catches him. the hand holding ambrosius back.

Details I noticed in my third watch through of Nimona:

(I’m so normal about this movie)

Ballister’s sword originally had a G engraved on it which has been made into a makeshift B via scratchings.

My guess is that the sword either used to be Goldenloins or his families and Ambrosius gave it to Bal at some point as kids (given that Ambrosius is the only one I can think of with a G name)

Also about the sword: people have been pointing out the religious themes (like with the T in “true villain” looking like a crucifix) on that note the symbol on Bal’s sword in this shot looks a lot like the Christian fish

Ballister literally hopped the fence and broke into the knights practice to beat up a dummy as a kid before getting tackled by a bunch of knights

I just thought he was doing an obstacle course when I saw it before but nope! This makes everything about him becoming a knight so much funnier. Also the fact they have this footage? Amazing 100% Ambrosius has it saved to tease Bal with, no way he isn’t embarrassed about that

On a sad note; dang the institute really drilled in “do what I say, be a good kid and don’t break the rules” cause Bal as an adult didn’t even want to break the rules when his life was on the line vs as a kid breaking and entering into an ongoing knight practice while being chased

The director asks Ambrosius for a sword during the roof scene but Ambrosius looks at her and back at Ballister before telling her she needs to get to safety

He saw how angry she looked and knew she’d try to hurt Bal so he sent her away instead

Where Nimona as Ambrosius broke the wall on the miniature of the city being foreshadowing for the end of the movie

Bal batting Nimona off when she starts mocking him for caring about what Ambrosius thinks

So clearly a recurring conversation given Bal’s ‘whatever’ gesture here lmao

Ambrosius being really timid with this crowd of people and overly polite

He’s chasing down a criminal/the love of his life and barely even says excuse me 😭😭 and he half heartedly asks them to move before immediately folding and giving an autograph, we love a man whose great at public speaking but still has social anxiety

Ambrosius’ eye roll as soon as Todd shows up

(He’s so done with him)

Todd’s actual name being Thodeus

Idk why I just assumed this was a different guy the first watch through

I didn’t like Stevenson’s take on She Ra so colour me surprised that I fell in love with this movie

The feels

My favorite thing—which I also find the most heartbreaking—about Nimona movie is that they could've easily made the Big Terrifying Monster has an angry, terrifying growl but no. What came out of her was a painful, agonized scream.

That's not an angry 'monster' seeking vengeance and wanting to inflict harm. That's someone in pain.

Smart knight

the fact that he could Tell something was wrong. is so

I just watched Nimona for the first time too and ADORED all of the representation and little easter eggs!! I thought it was also so cool how the city was futuristic and still had traditional knights and queens and such from the middle ages (this may not be the right time stamp). I absolutely loved the movie so much and definitely want a sequel where it's just family fluff and maybe some murder here and there :))

The animation was so smooth I was absolutely blown away!!! The character designs were also amazing and complex and interesting and so so so awesome!(It reminded me a lot of Arcane on Netflix 👀)

I also headcannon that Bal and Ambrosius will adopt Nimona and be one happy family in their decrepit tower ❤️❤️❤️

I can't wait to rewatch it with my family!!

NIMOOONAAAAAAA

watched the movie ! now i must emotionally recover from this !

god this movie hit me like a sack of rocks in a sock, when i watched it for the second time with my parents i was so happy to see them get into it as much as i did, see them laugh at the same parts i did, as well as cry when i did. See them speculate and ask questions just for me to shrug and not give anything away, when my mom first saw Nimona come on screen she asked "do you wanna cut your hair like that ?" and i love her for that ! ive always been adventurous with my hair and seeing my mom find a style she'd think id like was heart warming, and seeing both my parents awe at the relationship between Ambrosius and Bal mad me so happy, my mom commented on how theyre such a cute couple at the end ! my dad also now wants the comic book ! and a sequel and tbh so do i, this movie was such a joy to watch, seeing myself in aspects of the characters really just hit. I cried so hard the first time i got a headache, ,

NIMONA SPOILERS

Ok ok ok hold on wait a minute wait, wait.

Did anyone else hear the part where Nimona said,

"shall we pillage a village? Lay low until they don't remember you and then we rise like a fiery Phoenix from the ashes to overthrow the government?"

and then during the climax THATS WHAT THEY LITTERALLY DO?!?! NIMONA TURNS INTO THIS LIGHT CREATURE TO DESTROY THE CANNON AIMED AT THE CITY TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT!!!! SHE PREDICTED THE FUTURE (or followed what she suggested they do)!!!

I can't take a screen shot on my phone but if ANYONE ELSE KNOWS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT- you'd help a guy out here.

Okay my rant is done! Thank you for attending my Ted talk :))

shark: the ultimate gender

I enjoy all the headcanons of Ballister and Ambrosius becoming Nimona's dad's, because it ignores that she's actually at least a thousand years old. Just two gay men trying to father an eldritch being that's literally older than the hills

tumblr tuesday: something something something, we win.

Everyone's being entirely normal about one scrunkly meow meow dad and his very gender sidekick 🤘

We've tried to be as spoiler-free as possible here, but if you haven't seen Nimona, go watch it and then come back for the pretty art, we promise you will have no regrets.

~

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There is. So. Much. Art. Here's the rest.

A collection of some of my favourite Nimona reviews on letterboxd

Ballister in the opening scenes is so wound tight and so restrained, he puts up with Todd getting all in his space and is the one to hold Ambrosius back and just radiates control and holding himself up to outside standards. even his affection towards Ambrosius is small touches and Ambrosius coaxing him to open up.

and by the midpoint he's just loosened up so much even in the midst of a fight there's a relaxed confidence about him that he just didn't have before that I think comes partly from Nimona's influence and partly from the fact that he's already lost everything he was trying to hold onto with his control and he's already tried the controlled way of getting it back and that didn't work so he's letting himself go back to his core from being a kid that gatecrashed guard training to fight for what he wanted

and it just makes me think about Ambrosius, who is such an exuberant dork when it's just the two of them and prods at Ballister for being mopey/thinky, but who also definitely has some degree of understanding public/private face seeing how he is with the other knights and in the market scene but he's overall a lot freer with his actions.

After everything, will Ambroius look at the person Ballister is now and the person he was when they were together as knight-candidates, and have to think about how maybe that was the happiest Ballister could be under those circumstances but if they'd been knighted and got that conventional happily ever after, even when it was just the two of them and Ambrosius could drop the weight of public expectations, Ballister probably never would have been as confidently joyful as he has the potential to be and Ambrosius would never even have known what they were missing because Ballister had been holding himself in for so long that everybody (including probably Ballister himself) just assumed that restrained was part of his personality.

thinking about Nimona’s face in this scene because she already knows how this plays out, she’s lived this already and while Bal has the hope that she once had in his eyes, she KNOWS what happening before the sword is even raised. She’s NOT SURPRISED she’s NOT SHOCKED she’s only DISAPPOINTED that Ambrosius can turn on the man he loves because she’s already played this out with Gloreth

Nimona (the movie) | opinion

hi future me here. i cant BELIEVE i never made a post about it?? I JUST HAD IT SITTING WRITTEN DOWN

\/ thoughts from right after watching it below

i just watched nimona

i genuinely dont like ambrosius, and its just one of those things like 'yeah, okay, the ship is fine. but i dont approve of it'

he just. you dont trust your crush/partner, okay. it was blatantly obvious it wasnt intentional but okay, whatever, blame him. and then it happens a second time, believing the obvious bad guy WHO we KNOW and theres PROOF did the bad thing and blaming the other person. well, jeez buddy really dont like you. and then they get together in the end and i just. okay. thats fine, gay representation. but also fuck you id prefer an ending where the guy appreciates it, but breaks it off, because you just cant heal from that lack of trust, yknow? their relationship isnt the same, and i wish it wasnt just all made better with a kiss and stuff ughhhh

Anyway, Nimona the movie is a good movie, and Nimona the book is a good book. I loved both, although I prefer the book's narrative, but it's so good to be able to watch the movie and see these characters get an absolute happily ever after. It's like a choose your own adventure!

I keep bumping into people online claiming that Nimona comic was like soo terrible compared to the movie, that it was "poorly plotted" and "ugly" art-wise, and what the fuck is up with that. These people sound like they hadn't read the comic at all, and even if they did and didn't like it, that's Alright but nobody gives you the right to harass the novel fans who say they liked the comic book ending more or that the "happily ever aftering" disappointed them. The movie is Very different and I myself like the book ending because there's so few good tragedies that give me this feeling of "sometimes you just have to accept the good and the bad and move on". I really wish people understood the importance of these stories instead of claiming that everyone who didn't enjoy the happily ever after is "homophobic" (ahem I'm queer and trans and this movie made me feel seen, and I still will come back to the book more often than the movie, unless I'm in a very specific mood for a happily ever after that I Wish these characters could have in the book, but they COULDN'T. That's the fucking point.)

It's not just about the way the movie ends, it's about the way it differs from the original book and the message that book had. That's what some people didn't like. I myself think it's great to have two messages with these characters. We can appreciate the tragedy of the novel (TRAGEDIES ARE IMPORTANT AND CATHARTIC AND NOT JUST EMOTIONAL SADISM) and we can smile at the movie's ending which is what we all Want but realistically right now we Can't have. Both have their meaning to different people. Both are important. I love both in different ways. I'm happy the movie came out. I just wish some movie fans would stop ruining the fun for the book fans by calling the novel really unjustified words. It means so much to us and it found a lot of us in very dark times, and to be impolite for a second, if I had some wee punk tell me that the book sucks and is pointlessly sad and the art is bad while they were in one room with me and not online, I would start a physical fight and not regret it at all. The book was my suppressed anger relief and my quiet subtly queer childhood when I was 14. Many people will have the movie as their openly queer childhood. But if any of you think it's okay to disrespect what others hold dear because you don't enjoy it or dislike the art, You Suck As A Person. Grow The Fuck Up.

Another thing, ND started making Nimona as a webcomic, in art school, as a way to share feelings he didn't know how to deal with. He was a regular artist telling his story. I repeat. HE WAS A REGULAR ARTIST. Like many people on this goddamn website. It's okay to dislike things, but calling Nimona the comic poorly plotted or ugly is how you kill the young indie artists' desire to share their personal stories. Styles are subjective, feelings are messy, and if you don't like either of those things and want to be super mean abt it, first of all you're really limiting yourself and will miss so many wonderful and thoughtful works, and secondly IT'S OKAY TO JUST QUIETLY WALK AWAY. And also, excuse you, this book is what gave us the movie. Maybe don't show this level of disrespect, if you can't show respect?

Edit: i got very into the respect for imperfect endings thing But i think it's important to say that the book ending actually doesn't fit the description of tragedy, it's just how I view it in my relation to Nimona's anger, but it's actually very hopeful and the characters Do find love and things are looking up for them in the book! It's not a typical happily ever after but that doesn't mean it's just pure suffering. We have the word bittersweet for that

I ACTUALLY SOBBED AT THIS /SRS.

!!NIMONA SPOILERS!!

THE WAY BALLISTER BURIES HIS HEAD INTO AMBROSIUS...... I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE.

// NIMONA SPOILERS //

Seriously skip this if you haven't watched it for the love of all that is queer

Okay so, watched Nimona, obviously loved it a. Normal amount. Totally not obsessed. But this isn't a movie review, I want to talk about a particular scene that broke my heart the worst out of all of it (and there were a fair few moments worth that same sentiment).

Nimona's death scene.

Nimona sacrificed herself for a society that was brought up to loathe and despise her. It wasn't their fault that they were born into a 1000 year old society that raised them to fear her, but she was forced to live with the consequences of their negative mindsets. During the final climax towards the end of the movie, they hurled weapons her way for as long as they could, with as much force as they could muster. And they didn't stop hating and hurting her until she DIED to save them all.

That part will never not make me sob. Because it's a harsh and devastating reminder that some people's stories, especially people of minority groups who are shunned or attacked for being who they are, don't ever get told until the worst possible scenario comes to pass. If she had lived, something good might have happened. Or a multitude of things that would have been much, much worse. It's only because she sacrificed herself that people were able to consider that maybe she WASN'T all they percieved her to be before assuming the worst without giving her a chance. Ow.

Nothing as small as a wall could ever have kept Nimona out if she wanted to get in, and Gloreth had to have known that

What kept Nimona away for a millennium was not the wall, but heartbreak and distrust and the hostile environment Gloreth and her followers had made of the kingdom; as soon as the boredom and the loneliness got too much, there was no stopping her flitting back over the wall

And in all that time, for all those generations, all the wall protected the kingdom from was the beauty of the world