Board Thread:Manga/@comment-27321453-20190508212248/@comment-35822279-20190508231250

Marco1995mega wrote: I wouldn't say that the whole "lone wolf" train of thought is a theme of the current arc. Sure, Marley took them by surprise and got the upper hand at the beginning, but Eren himself said it would only be temporary, as they are fighting on their enemy's territory, with limited men, supplies and knowledge of the land.

Besides, Paradis definitely wasn't stronger during RTS; I believe the boatload of dead Survey Corps soldiers would agree, Erwin Smith included. Sure, they managed to retake Shiganshina but barely, and their only enemy had been a few Titan shifters. Now, Paradis, is fighting a force of several hundred men with advanced, anti-personnel weaponry, blimps, and two Titan shifters coordinating with them. As far as I'm concerned, Eren is holding his own remarkably well. Plus, the Survey Corps now was in no way tactically an logistically prepared to deal with Marley; too reactionary, too indecisive, and without the means to fight back effectively. Eren's attack on Liberio killed a significant number of military higher-ups, their port and ships, he took the War Hammer Titan, and created the means of bringing Zeke and his Beast Titan to their side (though I know the old Survey Corps would disagree on the last part, if only out of spite and vindictiveness).

I'm not saying Eren's methods haven't been extreme and questionable, but have anybody's among those trying to make a change? We can't count types like Jean or Mikasa, who, while skilled and smart, have more of a lap-dog mentality than true initiative. And Armin... well, beating him up aside, I'm pretty sure Eren was spot on about Bertolt influencing him, rendering him, if not a traitor, effectively compromised. Eren is shown to blatantly ignore orders from Yelena (attacking Reiner rather than retreating) and he also dragged Paradis into a war it wasn't prepared to handle nor wanted to engage in and that shows that Eren is basically being righteous in his conviction but also arrogant to think that he can do this on his own compared to how he was in RTS. I guess the thing about unity isn't particulary about military strength where Paradis has always been at a disadvantage but more about strength of conviction as that army fought with one goal in mind and accomplished it, freeing the island from the grip of Titans and exposing the truth even if it did come with loads of sacrifices. Whereas here Eren abandons his troops, Yelena, and his friends leaving each in vulnerable positions just to fight Marley and even though he himself was able to defend the first wave he also came close to death numerous times and would have worn himself out if not for Zeke's intervention (which was Magath's strategy and a good one). I will admit that it was a brief criticism I was going to put down in my summary was that Reiner and Porco didn't come across as big enough threats with Magath of all people being the most effective fighter by far and this is a result of Isayama using the flailing Yeagerists to make his point (poorly disciplined, easily ambushed, and frankly not worth even a single Mikasa)  rather than Eren struggling which is common in most media form Star Wars to GOT as it serves to make fights seem more tense than they actually are by killing off waves of no names rather than main characters actually struggling.