don't think it warrants any sort of warning but this is an opinion post, if you're a diehard mobuhan stan maybe scroll away huehehuehhejhs 🥹
well. i suppose i should explain myself. 'cause there are reasons other than me being a levihan shipper why i don't think mobuhan is all that. or anything tbh (wait that sounds rude. i'm sorry)
first, i prefer ships with some sort of chemistry or history (which is why i never have much interest in most rarepairs in a lot of my fandoms. now you might be asking oh but you ship erumiche they only interacted once!! see here man. they've been friends since the training corps so they don't count). moblit being hange's assistant barely counts as anything to me
uhh how do i say this,, moblit being hange's assistant was all that he was to her. i think it was hange's character interview where she said that "the stuff moblit says is motherly" so it's not romantic at its core (though if i'm taking it out of context or misinterpreting it correct me ofc ❤️❤️). i'm not saying they didn't care about each other, they cared immensely for one another, were friends and i'd never erase that, but there was literally nothing that ever implied they were in love. or anything like that idk. to go from motherly to romantic is a bit of a stretch i'm not willing to take personally.
second--- i'm gonna be so honest with you here and i feel shitty for saying it but i forgot all about that man when i first watched aot. there was nothing overly exceptional about his character (which pains me to say). his main purpose was to be hange's assistant and keep her from endangering herself. this sort of leads to how i don't like the way he's only seen as a romantic interest to her through the fandom and ignored otherwise, which adds to my dislike of the ship.
also idk but based off how hange is i don't think it'd be a good dynamic. not that hange'd ever be the type to willingly hurt her partner, but that much constant stress on moblit is in no way healthy
"but he was the last thing she saw with both eyes! they had so much chemistry!!" that's not inherently romantic. his death was his last act to protect hange as her assistant which is probably the only thing that could be truly read as romantic but with everything else considered it kinda gets torn down.
NOW!!! this is my opinion. i'm not asking anybody to take this to heart, i'm not trying to pass this off as gospel i'm merely stating why i don't think it's that awesome of a ship coming from someone who likes substance (i don't know how to say it)
oh my god i didn't mean to sound so aggressive while writing this i'm so sorry fuck
I like the idea of Levi visiting moblits grave often to thank him and to just talk about what he’s missing. Like no he didn’t know moblit well but he appreciated what he did
Moblit was afraid when the Metal Titan known as Optimus Prime showed up in Trost and helped protect both soldier and civilian. This titan took out at least 100 titans. At least according to the official report. The titan could have killed way more. However, he grew more fearful when Optimus Prime was given to the Survey Corps. It wasn't because he feared the titan at that point. The altruism it displayed in the courtroom was a marvel. No, he feared what Hanji was going to do to it when they had the chance.
But Optimus Prime was putting effort to have them exhibit restraint and patience. It helped, but not that much in his opinion. He still had to help out Hanji with experimentations, so he kept a close eye on the both of them. Now he sat in another one of Hanji's many experiments with this titan. Thankfully, it seemed that Optimus was keeping them in line, so Moblit continued to study the titan in his own way.
Moblit wanted to be an artist when he was younger. He practiced and took lessons, but being an artist was competitive, and he needed to find a way to make a living. The Survey Corps were enrolling people, so he joined. His sharp mind and desire to learn caused him to be placed under Hanji. The squad leader's heart was in the right place, but they stressed him out so much to the point where he would have to get alcohol poisoning in order to get drunk. Still, Moblit was able to cover some of Hanji's weaknesses, and create diagrams of perfection for Hanji to further analyze and speculate.
His art allowed him to capture the beauty and the details that many with a normal eye would miss. The shine in the eyes of a living human and the lack of warmth in a dead one, the dead yet manic expressions of a titan, the strands of someone's hair, the wrinkles in the fabric of someone's clothing, he used his artistic ability to capture the life that someone had once lived.
Drawing humans and titans was one thing; however. Drawing a titan, or Cybertronian, like Optimus was another. The titan...was a marvel in terms of art. Humans and titans are detailed in their own way, but many vital organs and details of the human body are covered with a layer of skin. The titan's body had metal parts sticking out of him that wasn't covered by his skin, or armor. Metal protruded out of his joints, he could physically see the muscle lining of his abdomen, the wheels attached to his feet had groves and indents, and he could see rocks and pebbles stuck in between it. His armor had scratches and indents, he could see his reflection in the silver of the Prime's gun and sword. The way his eyes rotated and shined was so fascinating.
His first time drawing the Prime was...lop-sided. Uneven. Ugly. It was the first time in a long time that he's been stumped with a new project like this, since this was his first time encountering a titan like this. But time passed. Pages upon pages of his sketchbook filled with the titan in order to study him. To understand him. Hanji understands the world through science. He understands the world through art.
And Optimus Prime was...magnificent. Beautiful. A marvel to behold. Wherever he had come from, and whoever created him, took time love, and care into making someone as mighty and powerful as him, but ensured that despite all of his power, he would still have a kind heart.
Moblit's pencil continued scratching along the paper as he finished up another sketch of Optimus' face. This time he did put more detail into crafting his facial features instead of a contour pose. He did draw him with the mask because without it made him feel weird. It was so weird seeing someone without a nose.
"Moblit, how's the work coming along?!" Hanji called out to him.
"Fine, Hanji!" Moblit reassured, "Just doing another study of Optimus."
"Oooo, that means he's drawing you!" Hanji grinned to Optimus as they walked up to him.
"Drawing me?" Optimus questioned in surprise.
"No! He doesn't need to see!" Moblit tried to hide his drawing, but Hanji grabbed the sketchbook and showed it to the Prime. Moblit grew nervous at the thought of the Prime judging his art as he examined it, but...the Prime's expression morphed into something of amazement.
"You are very talented, Moblit," Optimus complimented.
"It's nothing," Moblit proclaimed as he snatched the notebook back from Hanji.
"I do mean it," Optimus reassured, "You have an amazing gift."
"Oh...thank you." Moblit rubbed the back of his head.
"Although that was still rude to take his belongings without proper permission," Optimus scolded Hanji.
"Moblit is a great artist, but he sells himself short," Hanji retorted.
"That is still quite rude," Optimus insisted.
"Fair enough," Hanji sighed before turning to Moblit. "Sorry about that."
"It's fine," Moblit reassured.
(I did Moblit dirty in AOP so I thought I'd show him a little love. 32 has been asked but everything else is free game.)
