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Rizzo, I can see how you're frustrated about Nimona answering "I'm Nimona" to the questions, but to me it always reads like the perfect answer. Seeing myself in Nimona, as someone who's your existence is "not normal" or "weird", I don't need an explanation to exist. I am just me, don't owe anyone some crazy story that's gonna validate my existence. And also, being able to just be yourself (I'm Nimona) should just be enough because... That's all that matters isn't it? Why Nimona is or what Nimona is... You know?

Nimona is more of an analogy of gender identity/expression rather than sexuality, the most direct comparison being gender fludity.

My favorite part about the movie is that in the comics Nimona doesn’t come back. They are hinted at being alive but it’s an all around sad ending. The creator said this was a reflection of how he said about himself and his trans identity at the time. So now Nimona does come back and there is more of a happy ending for them, basically a sign that the creator is now in a much healthier headspace :D

The early people of the kingdom: “oh no the greatest evil! Genderqueer people!”

I personally don't think Glorith was evil- she was just a kid who was misguided by her parents. She didn't have a problem with Nimona until her parents told her to. If you remember at the beginning of the story, Glorith is first introduced to us as a grown woman fighting a monster. But in actuality, she was a child when she met Nimona. This tells me that the adults in power used her story to reshape society. Who knows if she actually approved or if they forced her to become a silent figurehead.

The thing about Nimona is, she's not actually a monster. She was just a kid who could shapeshift, she didn't use it for anything bad. But society rejected her anyway. The villagers' first reaction was calling her a monster, they didn't even try to understand, didn't hestitate before they attacked her. Nimona wasn't a monster, and they branded her as one anyway, so with time she just started to go with it, lean into it. Like "If they're gonna see me as a monster, I might as well be one" I read that as part of the allegory on oppresion. People are marginalized not for anything they've done, but for who they are. They're shamed, disenfrachised, attacked, and when they lash out, it's taken as proof that the oppressors had a reason to oppress them all along. But they didn't. It's like if Jack hits Paul and then Paul hits him back, and Jack claims "See, that's why I hit you, I knew you were gonna hit me, too" It's completely backwards.

If I had a nickel for every time Chloe Grace Moretz wreaked mass destruction to the The Dickies cover of The Banana Splits theme, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice…

Both me and Benji as soon as we saw the Director: "It's her." 🤣

I feel like Nimona as a character represented an idea of trans culture. The questions Bal asked in a sense were kind of small minded : “why can you just be normal” or “just be a girl, it’ll make it easier for you”. I think Nimona shapeshifting represented transitioning where people always say, just be normal, it’ll be easier for you but at the end of the day, you don’t feel like you’re truly living if you don’t. Theres this whole stigma of trans people being dangerous and small minded people wanting to just get rid of the community just because they don’t understand it and I think that’s the similarities they were trying to pull. Nimona mainly resonates with me because everyone is trying to define her and push her into a box of what she is (“what are you”) and every time she says “I’m Nimona” and that’s enough for her.

Ambrosius is voiced by Eugene from the Try guys which I LOVE. I love this movie. Also, I love the line "lets finish this before the whale gets here."

9:43 After Nimona's backstory, it makes so much sense she would think of someone you have these feelings for as a 'nemesis'

The issue I have with Rizzo's take on the metaphor is that you can say Nimona's potential for harm is greater than a human's, but at the end it was a human about to do something exactly as monstrous as what Nimona is capable of. Obviously it's with the aid of systems and technology but given enough determination and resources humans can be as destructive as anything non-human. They aren't exactly the same, but imo it's enough to give more validity to the metaphor than he's giving it credit for. Loved the reaction though, of course. I was so surprised with how well-done the humorous moments were in this movie and how well it balanced the absurdity of its setting with the gravity of its message.

Nimona is more about Genderfluid/Transgender than about sexuality. The point of this movie is to show this important message about people being people despite what we see as “differences”, and to say that “animation movies need to stop trying to tackle stuff like this” gives the impression that you think that animation is only for kids/ that using a story to convey something is worse than just saying the thing.

an interesting fact is that the combination of technology with the Middle Ages was more important. To convey that even though we are in the future, sometimes we still remain in the Middle Ages with some beliefs

I love being a dumb*ss cause I never pick up on foreshadowing in movies and the plot twists genuinely always has me dramatically gasping lol

I get what Rizzo is saying about gay analogies in animation, but I think Nimona is still a nice representation. Everyone involved had good intentions (plus, the comic author is trans). I attended a webinar with the Head of Animation, and he said he wished Nimona win the Oscar because being an Oscar winner will get more people to watch the movie and the message will spread. He wanted it to win for the benefit of the queer community, and I think that's so sweet ❤

To your point Rizzo: I don’t think Nimona (the story) was actually meant to be a one to one comparison (not how I read it anyway). I think Nimona (the character) was a representation for people who are socially different and have been othered or made to feel like they have no place in the world. Her character was for people in the minority groups who have felt like they were being treated like a “monster” just for existing. The comparison about how society treats those who are different wasn’t her, it was the wall. It’s shown/not directly stated that there were literally never any monsters outside the wall. The people of the city had built up walls and trained guardian knights for a thousand years for absolutely no reason. It’s interesting that you referenced using nature Rizzo, because that’s actually what they did - the fear was directed at the dangers of the forests “outside the wall” which is why nobody ever went outside. But as soon as the wall was destroyed, they realized there was never anything dangerous out there to begin with. Just trees, rocks, rivers and nature.

Nimona is Nimona, and that's enough. I am who I am, and that's enough of an answer.

i don't really know why Ambrosius parents gave him the name of a Grindr profile but it's so funny

I’ve heard great things about this. Also, such a momentous occasion with Eugene being in it.

Ok, but, Ballister looks exactly like Rizzo.

This entire reaction is just Benji being psychic and Rizzo screaming at him for it😂 "BENJI!!😩" had me dying every time🤣

I need a Rizzo as Bal cosplay immediately

25:23 shame on you Rizzo and this is why Benji has never shaped shifted in front of you😂

It gets me emotional as well is seeing the credits, where there's a whole section dedicated to the people at Blue Sky (miss them o7) who iirc started the production of the movie b4 Disney disbanded the studio

eugene absolutely slaying the sad gay role

I see the it not being a one-to-one comparison argument & understand/agree to an extent, but it's also the closest I've seen something come to explaining to how maybe you would a child a trans or gender-fluid person by using Nimona as a sorta comparison. Like, I can see my sister's frustration every time someone asks her things like how or when she knew she was trans, and all my sister really wants to say is she just knew/is. My sister doesn't cry over things like movies easily, but we watched this as a group (her, her fiancee, my mother, and myself), and we *all* kinda came undone; I think it was the closest she felt to seen by a work of fiction~ And the whole Nimona is an actual threat? Some people are convinced trans/gender fluid people are an actual danger, and it seems somedays like an impossible task to convince them otherwise... In fact, all it takes is one unconfirmed story to convince some people the threat is real. Which is sickening, cause the only person I think my sister could ever be a danger to is herself, because of how others that have never met her think she is...

I think the question, what is Nimona and the answer being I'm me makes more sense in the story since I'm assuming that Nimona doesnt know what they are but has come to as far as to accept that they're probably not people and that should be fine but people don't accept that answer 😅

Not Benji just using his magic psychic powers to perfectly guess the entire movie

Oh my god I'm so glad you're reacting to Nimona. ✨🥺 It was such a special watch for me as a non binary person.

Nimona is more of a trans allegory (i say its nit even within the sub text but the text itself is trans) So Nimona existing that causes chaos in the institution is like how our society dominated by cisgenders feels like when trans people exist And how alot of people would just try to make trans people "explain themselves" when theyre just being themselves (hence why her answer is always just her being Nimona, she doesn't have to explain why she shapeshifts just how tran people don't have to justify why they exist)

Benji I did/do the exact same thing with guessing movie plot twists 😂. I don’t even do it on purpose, it’s just an automated “well obviously xyz”

I love this movie and have been waiting to see when this reaction would happen, so excited! The animation is amazing! This was the best Queer+ film I had seen in a long time, and one of the most powerful! Nimona is a badass! It's based off the Graphic novel of the same name written by ND Stevens ( he created She-ra and the princess of power)

OMG YES! I read the graphic novel like 2 years ago I think, it’s different from the movie but I love both so much!

This movie was made from Blue Sky studios (most known for Ice Age)who were bought and shut down by Disney along with this movie but then the movie was sold to Netflix 😅

"i would distrust somebody that could shapeshift" and that's exactly why this is the perfect analogy for being trans (specifically being genderfluid)

The way i screamed when I saw this

17:38 Chloe Grace Moretz is the VA for Nimona😅

Ok, no shade to all other KZfaqrs, but that’s how you do a sponsor lol! Normally I skip the promos on other channels but yours was hilarious! 😂💜 Love your videos btw!!

YES! You should a 100% watch Peter Pan from 2003, no no. You MUST watch Peter Pan from 2003!!! Love your videos and your reactions to my favorite movies and series❤Never stop:)

Disney dropped the wrong movie, that’s all I’ll say 😌✨

It’s funny how you said you’ve heard this song in kick ass and nimona has the same VA as the girl in kick ass ( sorry I forgot her name )

I think the reason she says violent things and acts like a villain is because of the principle: you want a monster/villain? Then I’ll give you one. But she really doesn’t want to be that

I have been waiting for this reaction for so long . Finalllyyyyyyyyyy.🎉❤😂

rizzo brings up a very interesting point, but i think the metaphor in this case is more about the fact that people are scared of nimona and deem her dangerous without actually getting to know her. the things they have been taught, their preconceived notions inform the way they see her and inform their decisions to kill her and hunt her down without a question because she *might* be dangerous. this is how a lot of transphobes feel. they won't even speak to one of us, they don't know anything about us, but they have already decided that we are dangerous. and at the end of it, is nimona actually dangerous? sure, she looks like an animal from time to time, but she doesn't actually turn into one (as the beloathed fin-legs of the anatomically innacurate shark so helpfully hint) - she is still nimona who just *looks* like an animal. the dangers of an animal are, after all, mostly to do with their savage and unpredictable nature - sure, the claws and venom are dangerous, but you don't automatically think a person who owns a gun will shoot you. that's just a tool they've got that they might never even use. and at the end of the day, nimona can't cause any more harm than so many of the humans in the movie have caused, so why is it that nimona needs to explain herself and make sure everyone understands what she is and her motivations, but - say - the guy who chopped his boyfriend's arm off without hesitation does not? and in the wake of all this, the dehumanisation, the loneliness for thousand(s) of years, being asked to explain why you are the way that you are (the way you have always been, the way you were born) and why you can't just stop changing and instead look "normal" and the way everyone else does will feel like small-minded questions, because they do come from that kneejerk fear that mostly inspires hate in others and they are still opposed to the possibility of just... getting to know someone without them having to make themselves easy to understand and instantly palatable.

This shit literally made me cry it was a great movie I had to rewatch it 😭

Kenny ortega finally got the rights back for Julie and the phantoms🙏🏽 can we get a reaction? There's a petition to get a 2nd season for 4 years now and on April 8 and the 30th all the fans are rewatching it for the views to go up!!!!

Nimona is Nimona. We see nothing that indicates they know anything of their history and having to justify your existence is not something anyone should have to do anyway. All anyone can do is connect with others and hope we're accepted. Does Nimona not deserve to be accepted because they're not human? They still have to live in this world. This is not the same problem as Zootopia.

One thing to take into mind is that a lot of her actions are based on others precived vision of her. Be told you are a monster/bad guy enough you will eventually fall into that mentality.

Absolutely what I needed today

Anything other than what is CONSIDERED ‘NORMAL’ is feared and targeted! No two people are exact replicas of each other in this world! Instead of embracing the ‘differences’ which is the beauty of every living thing on the earth, it is looked down upon, feared, targeted.. 😢 I am a 31 yo straight woman and I love to watch queer content! And my primary reason is that I am ‘different’ as I have epilepsy. 12 years back I was diagnosed with it and since then I am on medication and seizure free because of meds. Whoever came to know about it looked at me differently, I was looked down upon and it hurt so bad so I stopped telling people. But I want to tell people so that I can be my true self. So I always resonate with coming out scene in queer movies. I also want to ‘come out’ and be accepted for the way I am. Anyway, hilarious reaction guys! You put so much effort into sponsorship bits! Kudos! 😊

0:40 your guys’ sponsorship segments are the ABSOLUTE BEST 😂🤣

I felt a bit frustrated watching this reaction because it felt like the trans narrative completely flew under your radar. Rizzo did say "oh I see what they're trying to do" but there was no trying, the shapeshifting was an allegory for genderfluidity, and the original graphic novel was created by a transgender author. At the same time, I get it though, I cannot tell you how to react to things, etc, it's your genuine reaction and that's valid, especially since both of you are cis you cannot speak on the trans experiences, but I just think this story raises a lot of interesting questions and is the great example of trans rep, so that can be a bit of a sensitive subject for me and other trans folks considering what's happening in the world (and US as well)

I love that version of Peter Pan too!

If either of you are Interested, this movie is actually based off the Nimona graphic novel by Noelle Stevenson. Who also did art (and I think co-wrote)for the lumberjanes graphic novel and was I believe director of the She-ra series!

10:53 i just realized that she says "cold in here?" and looks down XD

Ahh, it’s a great tragedy to watch this movie without knowing who ND Stevenson is! He created the Nimona comic while still in school, was the main writer for She-Ra: Princesses of Power and publicly transitioned a few years ago. Nimona is inherently a story written by and about queer people who don’t fit the roles or categories society makes for them. While I don’t personally relate to Nimona’s brand of queerness, it resonates with me as someone who, throughout the past four years, watched an artist who I deeply respect embark on an identity journey that I didn’t and still don’t quite understand. I think Nimona is the closest I will ever get. Interesting side note: the Nimona character of the movie is far more textured and knowable than the Nimona of the comic. Here, I can confidently say the viewer knows who Nimona is, but in the comic, it feels as if the reader never knows her at all.

HII SO SORRY IF SOMEONE HAS COMMENTED THIS ALREADY, but future (hopefully) marine scientist here and im happy to inform you that, at 13:07 , fins DO exist down there! Many many shark species have two pelvic fins that they use for stability close to their tail fin, one on each side! But yes they do look extremely weird when enlarged and bent to look like legs. Though, I'm just glad they chose not to add the anal fin to the design also.

the "evil character is actually good and the good character is actually evil" trope is SO predictable and yet i eat it up every time! i get what rizzo is saying and agree, but i also love when they flip that on its head, like in x-men (think abt the whole thing where they're creating anti-mutant legislation to sneakily surveil the masses. the movies are kind of annoyingly neutral, but it felt v much like my experience as a muslim in the early 2000s. i'm not dangerous but people point to propaganda and go "see! you're all evil!" or "you're one of the good ones" because they're comfortable never questioning anything. these allegories are almost always clumsy and borderline offensive when you spend time thinking for 10 seconds though lol). it's a fine line because the people who make these movies want to make it an "understandable" prejudice so that they can redeem characters easily, but it ends up justifying that prejudice as if bigotry comes from stupidity and not hatred, doubly so in cases when the company who makes it is on the payroll of an imperial army (i.e. marvel). it's either the autism or the gay/non-binary/commie in me, but the way villains were coded when i was a kid (queer, socialist, anarchist, etc) just made me like them more, like magneto is cool as fuck and i don't think he did anything wrong tbh. also the "villain" always monologues abt their reasons and the "hero" is just like... doing what they're told and doesn't know why. almost like US imperialism requires heavy brainwashing and anti-intellectualism. that's when they hit you with the killmonger and have the villain do literally everything right and then one cartoonishly evil thing to make sure they have no credibility!

Benji predicting what happens make me miss “called it “ in every video what happened to that ? 😂😂and I didn’t even know You guys had a new video coming up even though my notifications are all on . KZfaq doesn’t wanna see y’all win 🫠. Great video as always And also ! I never see anyone mention the amazing effort you guys put out into the sponsor videos ! They’re fun to watch 💖

The hunt that y’all might do my favorite movie of all time “Peter pan” (2003 universal version) got me so excited. Just the reference to the movie had be giddy lol. It just makes me so happy when I find people who have seen movies like that

Yeah, the movie was very heavy handed with the analogy 😂. They were like, "let's make it VERY clear, it's for kids!" The graphic novel is much more ambiguous, Nimona as a monster is mysterious, and it's much darker in general. I read along with it as a webcomic, and reading ND's current thoughts on it is fascinating. He's like "oh this was about being trans and I i can't believe I didn't realize sooner"😂 It's just SO cool to see this go from webcomic to published graphic novel to development hell to cancelation to an actually completed movie! (I miss Ambrosius' long flowing locks 😢)

I also relate to diverting questions when it comes to gender. I am not a male or female, im just myself, an entity that is not confined by gender rules. It does get exhausting though to always be told to just conform to 'normalcy' when to my culture that idea of being only two genders is part of the colonist idea.

Just discovered this channel with your Pride & Prejudice reaction. See this was on your channel and had to watch. Less than 10 minutes in and Benji has guessed the entire freaking movie! Lmao! Cracking me up!

Rizzo tapping into his radio demon voice for his rocket money man. Love it 😂

The laugh I loughed the second you said "bad like on Tumblr" because the comics were originally posted on Tumblr. It's the quintessential Tumblr movie. It's a shame the fraught development kind of ate away at the script. But it's such a good kids movie!

absolutely love every time Rizzo stops himself from putting his head on Benji's shoulder whenever he laughs 😍

the way rizzo immediately got ru paul

The way I squealed when I saw this was posted omg!!!!!!! Your videos always make my day!!

Oh my... I think I predicted this video since I was searching a few days ago whether you reacted to this movie. I love how the line between evil and good is blurred in this.

The movie was based off a graphic novel by ND Stevenson btw.

11:38 ah yes “nemesis green” 😂

6:57 AHHHH!! Love the Ryan George shoutout! ❤

Don't be mad Rizzo you had that epic Call it in Bridgerton season 2

Literally loved this episode so much! Nimona is my favorite movie and seeing you guys react to it made my day! Also Benji keeps guessing all the endings! We need to keep count of how many movie endings he guesses correctly 😂😂😂

So happy you guys did this, one of my absolute faves! I gotta say, the queer analogy kinda works better with this film because a) the original writer of the graphic novel is trans and b) because it's not Disney or Dreamworks it can actually be a film rich with countercultural material. if Disney had followed through with this film (which they wouldn't cause they're capitalist cowards) it wouldn't have had the same impact, because now the film has its own success story AGAINST the industry. it's like a punk-ception that calls into question every power structure that limits art. sorry, gush over. love this film and love you guys tonnes

Love this video 💗

Omg! Frances Conroy (AHS queen) voices the director!

OMG, I love this movie and i actually saw it when they put it here on YT for free (I do have Netflix) but it was a good move from Netflix specially because it was before the Oscars and the movie was nominated, I found that interesting and it Is on one of my fav movies now, thank you so much for reacting to t!!!

Watch She ra and princess of power, every second basically is queer representation 😂😂 🥺🥺 my favorite show ever!

Other comments have already explained Nimona's symbolism, but I wanted to say on first time viewing Rizzo and Benji have very valid opinions on Nimona explaining herself. The intro tells you there is a monster, and if you're not deep into animation and thinking of Disney: there is normally a black and white narrative. Good vs Evil. Nimona to us Gen Z is obviously not evil. She's never harmed anyone and we can tell from her look and rebellious way of acting that its pretty harmless. I think most of us instinctively think 'this girl might have some trauma which causes her to act this way'. But if you look at the movie without that context, it's completely valid to be like Balister and question Nimona a little, to explain herself a little. Though Bal has to, ofc question more than just Nimona. And this is one kingdom surrounded by walls they never leave. What if Nimona was the norm for the outside world? Then you can really tell how scared this kingdom is of anything different.

Awesome reaction of my favorite movie!!!!!😊😊😊😊😊😊

You lot seem very cool and I LOVE your heartstopper reactions!!

not the arrow in the knee reference lmao

I absolutely love Nimona! One of my favorite things about it is the world they created. The combination of the future (super cool technology) and the past (knights, realm, Queen…) shows that even though people and societies move forward and can achieve great things, prejudice remains. Only at the end of the movie we see the knights in regular clothes including CJ, the prejudices is slowly leaving the kingdom Sorry for the rant, thank you for coming to my Ted talk

Benji sitting there predicting the whole movie 😂

I love this movie, always makes my cry😢❤

nimona was such a good film i loved ittt

This is such an unexpected movie and unique plot. I still need to get the book to see if its just as good. I do agree i want to know how she has her powers. Like is she a fae, phoenix, just a general shapeshifter? Is she like Maleficent in that she is the last of her species? I wanna know.

For your point on relating the themes to nature, I think Moana does something similar with Tefiti.

so glad to see the reaction to this !!!! i love seeing queer creators react to this so much. nimona makes me cry every single time

I really enjoyed this movie when it came out! It was very fun, sometimes funny, and the animation is very cool. It even holds up pretty well to rewatches! Only downside is that I've seen so many movies and read so many books that I could mostly see where the story was going. 😁

Never seen that many ABCi moments xDD 2:22 I don't know if it's a joke or simply a fact lol Also, it's been a while since I watched yall's videos but I like the new editing style

idk if rizzo referenced the hit girl movie knowing that chloe grace moretz voices nimona, but either way, love

26:15 not the Wicked reference 🤣🤣🤣

Love the reaction, I would love to see Peter Pan 2003! I think something that can get overlooked with this movie is that it is also about mental health. ND Stevenson dedicated the original Nimona graphic novel 'to all the monster girls', the ones who have been made to feel like monsters and internalised that. Nd is bipolar and that definitely played a role in how he wrote the story, he has autobiographical graphic novels as well that explore that and his transition (i would highly recommend!) The original monster attack was not her fault and any damage that occurred was from self defence. But once that label of monster was on her she started to internalise that. We all know someone with horrible mental health that causes them to lash out and be destructive to others around them. The mental health is a reason but not an excuse. Yes Nimona causes damage and can be violent from a place of frustration, self loathing and self preservation. That violence then gets put on her as another mark against her. I've definitely had people in my life say they support trans people but they shouldn't get so angry or, in some cases, violent. We see it with every human rights movement, look at Stonewall, the Suffragettes (UK), Black Panthers. And the violence then gets used as an excuse to fuel fear and negativity. You're right, it's not a 1-1 comparison but i think there's a lot in there that gets missed.

22:50 my brother loves to guess the ending of movies out loud sometimes lol it annoys me so much! I just wanna sit back & go along for the ride!!

I hope you guys come out with some “Sweet Dreams Popstars”pajamas one day 🥰😂

Damn, Peter pan and hook would be amazing