I should really post a picture of the main piece of the Shamshel (classic) resin kit by Hobby Shop Rettpu next to a ruler. The kit allows you to build Shamshel in relaxed and erect state, and for some reason it is sized like a slightly oversized human penis...

The "Shamshel is a dick" thing was always a misreading of the design. Shamshel is actually a disembodied VAGINA (abdominal segment) with a uterus (thoracic segment) and oviducts (arms & whips) on top. The episode is about Shinji struggling against female authority, after all...

(And yes, needless to say, the vagina has both a collapsed and a ballooned state.)

So a more clam-like design would have communicated the point across better?

The idea was apparently to combine an arthropod body plan with the internal female genitalia. One does not execute that idea better by changing both parts of it (arthropod to mollusk and internal to external). Though I'll note that the movie version of Shamshel (the 5th Angel) had the design fine-tuned to make the abdominal segment hollow...

Reichu wrote:The "Shamshel is a dick" thing was always a misreading of the design. Shamshel is actually a disembodied VAGINA (abdominal segment) with a uterus (thoracic segment) and oviducts (arms & whips) on top. The episode is about Shinji struggling against female authority, after all...

(And yes, needless to say, the vagina has both a collapsed and a ballooned state.)

I’ve never realized this design choice until today. I now understand more about Evangelion than I ever have before. I’m gonna have to rewatch Episode 3 to experience this new dynamic.

(To be fair, mistaking the vaginal body for the dick that is meant to fit that shape is an understandable mistake to make for those who don’t dwell on cross sectional anatomy diagrams.)

Shamefully enough, I too fell for the whole "Shamshel is a penis" meme, despite my own tendency to dwell upon the wonders and absurdities of anatomy, and despite knowing that Shamshel's own designer (Yoshitoh Asari) depicted Shammy as female in a silly short comic from a doujinshi anthology, where she and Sachiel consummate their love . For bringing light where once there was darkness, we have imprimatur13 to thank.

Ya know what? In concert with the “Shamshel is a dick” meme, the “Ramiel is Best Girl” meme is also an absolute lie. Ramiel clearly performs in a masculine fashion in both Episodes 5 and 6 (and in Eva Jo if you want to be liberal with the naming.) He even has the dick to prove it, using it to burrow down into the Geofront.

We’ve been blindly misgendering these angels for the sake of some crusty old memes this whole time. Shamshel was always Best Girl, and and people are just unwittingly being GAR for Ramiel.

It's 2019, girls can have penises if they want.

Sheesh. Reichu will educate you on how Shamshel is a huge flying vagina. It has Fallopian tubes and everything.

Boys can be vaginas if they want.

MirrorUniverseAsuka wrote:It's 2019, girls can have penises if they want.

I did specify that Ramiel “performed” masculine. Given what we see in the series, this is his preferred way to be identified. That was his chosen method of penetrating the Geofront.

FelipeFritschF wrote:Sheesh. Reichu will educate you on how Shamshel is a huge flying vagina. It has Fallopian tubes and everything.

I never even saw that till it was pointed out to me and when it was it was like "Why have I never noticed this before its so obvious?"