Highlights
- The Colossal Titan is a main antagonist in Attack on Titan, responsible for the Fall of Wall Maria and numerous deaths.
- Its transformation is explosive, with the ability to cause massive destruction and create a mushroom cloud.
- The Colossal Titan's immense size gives it unparalleled physical strength, but it lacks mobility and has weak upper body defenses.
An emblem of the series, whose image is now synonymous with the grim, morally gray world of Attack on Titan, the Colossal Titan is perhaps the most harrowing embodiment of the human race's helplessness against Titans. Its massive frame towers over everything in its surroundings, and it is the only one of the Nine Titans that can peer over the Walls of Paradis. As a consequence, the Colossal Titan — also referred to as the Colossus Titan in the manga — was one of the main perpetrators behind the Fall of Wall Maria, at the very start of Attack on Titan's main storyline.
This qualified it as one of the main antagonists of the series until the time skip, when the truth about the world beyond the Walls was finally revealed. Over the course of the franchise's narrative, both Bertholdt Hoover and Armin Arlert have held the power of this Titan, as it switched allegiances from Marley to the Eldians of Paradis. Having first appeared on Paradis in the year 850 just prior to the Fall of Wall Maria, the Colossal Titan made its second appearance five years later in the Battle of Trost, where it instigated the conflict that led to Paradis' discovery of Eren's Attack Titan.
An Explosive Transformation
One of the Colossal Titan's most prominently used traits is the nature of its transformation, as well as the degree of control a user can exert over it. While most other Titan transformations feature minor explosions, the Colossal Titan takes form with a much larger blast, which can range from a gush of strong wind to the force of a small nuclear weapon. Furthermore, the user can regulate the extent of the blast with enough training, and this is partly why Titan's power is so feared.
In the most extreme instances of this transformation, the surrounding area was razed to the ground, most built structures were destroyed, and all life in the vicinity perished. Subsequently, the blast also yields a massive mushroom cloud, which further reinforces the idea of this transformation providing a means to perform a very calculated nuclear strike of sorts.
Bertholdt Hoover pushed this explosion's range to its limit during the Battle of Shiganshina, where he destroyed most of the area around him and killed innumerable soldiers from the Survey Corps. Similarly, Armin Arlert used this aspect of the Colossal Titan's power to completely decimate the Marleyan Naval Fleet in Liberio, which allowed the Survey Corps to invade the city in their bid to recapture Eren.
The God Of Destruction
While its explosive transformation may be terrifying enough on its own, what comes next is equally nightmarish. Standing 60 meters in height, the Colossal Titan is nearly four times as massive as most of the other Nine Titans, with only certain versions of the Founding Titan able to dwarf it in terms of scale. Although the Wall Titans on Paradis do bear many similarities to its stature and appearance, even they fall slightly short of its height.
This immense size grants the Titan an overwhelming degree of physical strength, to the point where virtually no other Titan can contend with it by normal means. For instance, Bertholdt's Colossal Titan was able to send Eren's Attack Titan flying towards the top of Wall Maria with just a single kick. Colossal Titan users also trample practically any sort of terrain that they walk upon, which makes this ability ideal for wiping out massive swarms of troops or vehicles that do not possess anything akin to the anti-Titan artillery used by the Mid-East Allied Forces.
Alternatively, the Colossal Titan's size is also its main weakness, where the sheer force of moving its limbs is so great that it lacks mobility and is extremely slow to react or defend itself. Moreover, the Colossal Titan's upper body is relatively weaker when compared to the lower half, due to its disproportionately slender arms. In comparison, the Colossal Titan's legs are far more muscular and almost pillar-like in their profile, which is why this Titan's most devastating blows have generally been dealt through kicks. The effects of this can vary from blowing away entire houses, to destroying the outer gate of Wall Maria.
A Titan Like No Other
Unlike the other Nine Titans, the Colossal Titan possesses virtually no skin on its face or body, leaving most of its musculature exposed. In addition, the Titan's skeletal structure is also laid bare on certain parts of its body, most prominently along the face. Bertholdt's Colossal Titan had a heavily deformed appearance, with skeletal ears, no lips and a facial structure that drastically differed from his human form. On the other hand, Armin's Colossal Titan had some skin around its lips but lacked ears entirely. Armin's Titan also had its windpipe exposed, which is one of its more unique features.
In all cases, the Colossal Titan's distinct ability apart from the explosive transformation and massive size, is to control the amount of steam emitted from various parts of its body. All Titans disintegrate and release steam when dealt a killing blow or while regenerating wounds, but the Colossal Titan can release even greater volumes of steam to repel enemies — especially if they approach its nape. The force of the steam is so intense that it can send opponents flying, or even burn them up entirely if they get too close. However, the drawback of this ability is that it can lead to the evaporation of all muscle across the Titan's body if overused.
Attack on Titan is available to stream on Amazon Prime.