lindowyn:

At any given moment my SnK thoughts are about Armin as he’s my fave, so naturally I have thoughts. Predictions? Not so much. 

4 years is a really long time for a story like this where so much can happen in the space of a month that making predictions are more like taking potshots with a musket in the dark. 

So here is what I vaguely think: 
Appearance-wise, this boy may take his bowl cut to the grave. And I mean it’s not really a bowl cut, it’s basically Mikasa’s do with a trimmed fringe. I remember an interview, distantly in the mists of my brain that said if he’d wanted to change it he had opportunity to by now but it suits him fine. I think the only thing that might convince him away from blonde coconut-dome is if he had been given rank and felt he need to make a change. The others all kindof let their hair do what it wanted to do and grow it out, and as silly as it is he may have chosen to do the opposite. Hair cutting is a big deal in some Asian cultures (and others, but our author is Japanese) as meaning a new beginning or reinvention of someone or marking a grievous loss of self or another. It’s possible he felt this was appropriate after his new lease on life following the serum bowl fiasco and everyone’s expectations of him being Erwin-high and Higher. Personally and for no other reason, I vote longer hair.

Attitude-wise: I believe he and Hanji worked together to organize Eren’s retrieval, for sure, but I don’t know if he approved of Eren’s mission ( I doubt it). I can’t imagine the kid barfing his stomach against a tree for killing that mp in defense of Jean’s life going “you know what, innocent people are acceptable losses” but also…I can’t pretend that Flocke’s words haven’t settled into him like a gd plague. Or Hanji’s. He’s always been sensitive to his perception of worthlessness, casual suggestions that he die, the words of bullies, etc. I think he perceives his life as no longer being his, that he’d given it up in Shiganshina to defeat the colossal. I can see him pulling in and functioning as a war machine if he felt he had to: to keep the SC assured that he was still a good option for revival, that he is worth something to the SC more than simply being Eremika’s friend (Even Erwin Smith knows he is). They put a fuckton of pressure on him not only to be AS GOOD AS Erwin but to surpass him also. Hell, I’d love so much for him to reappear as the Armin we know and love, but the reality is that from here out, he is only allowed to Shine under pressure. I just don’t think that’s what we’ll be getting. It honestly depends on how he’s integrating the pressure he received. 4 years is such a long time. And he’s always had that darker sense of humor; I just hope he hasn’t become that dictator character the fandom fears because of that whole Araki/Isayama interview. Will he pull a full reversal of his character? Probably not. I cannot imagine his friends letting him do that without stressing the importance of his own ideas. 

But then, I know of past friends who are *complete* strangers now. People do change. I just hope whatever plan he has was a bit more elegant than “Eren Smash Theater, Leave Bad Review”, and he’s ready to deal with the worldwide repercussions intelligently. Regardless, I have hope for that.