3.0+1.0's Troll Potential

[intermediateO]

I thought it might be fun to discuss all the ideas that people have come up with over the years about how 3.0+1.0 might troll everyone once it's finally released.

I feel like some people like to say that the ending of the TV series was a big troll, or even that Anno was trolling his fanbase with EoE and calling them out, but I think he was just doing the best with the resources he had available at the time. (though fan feedback definitely did influence EoE)

With 3.0 though, I definitely think that Anno was trolling. In a fun way. Not malicious. And mainly just in regards to the time-skip. With the whole "Curse of Eva" schtick and revealing the first footage months before its release with the Asuka-in-space fight, and then using that same fight as a promo that aired on tv the night before 3.0 came out. I definitely think he was trying to set people up for whiplash when the movie started and they found out that 14 years had passed.

So here are just some things I think he could troll us with this time.
･Avant 1 and/or the teaser footage we've seen isn't actually in the final film (ala the 3.0 preview at the end of 2.0)
･parallel universe hijinks (the TV series is directly referenced in some way)
･time-travel hijinks (Shinji literally goes back in time to 1.0)
･this is actually not the final film, ends with a preview of 3.0+2.0 (based on the mystery of the wierd three date listing on Anno's lantern)

SPOILER: Show

･he sets up a shared universe with Shin Ultraman
･meta live-action sequence revolving on our actual reality as a plot point

Then you have the more straightforward "trolls" like:
･Sequel Theory CONFIRMED

So has anyone else thought of any "Oh my GOD! What if he did that?!" trolls? Doesn't have to be serious or anything. And I'd love to hear any strong reactions anyone got from the idea of any of these trolls actually coming to fruition.

Personally, I really love the dumb time travel idea and I think it would be so dumb and crazy I would accept it. It would be hilarious if half the movie was 3.0 timeline and half was 1.0 timeline.

More realistically though, I wouldn't be surprised if we get one last time-skip at the end of the film to act as the final scene of the movie ala "One More Final".

[Reichu]

The seven-part god (True Evangelion) that forms (from Lilith, the four Adams, Yui, and Gendo) splits into seven individual gods after Final Impact is complete. They all leave Earth and go to separate planets. Troll the people frothing at the mouth for an NGE sequel by implying it was an NGE prequel the whole time. (Blame goes to Lavinius for this idea.)

The ending is otherwise just RahXephon with an Eva coat of paint, complete with the counterpart mecha fusing together and the world being retuned and rainbows and eggs and things. This is a "take that" at the people from the late 90s who wouldn't shut the fuck up about RahXephon being an Eva ripoff.

[Blockio]

I'd be down for just about any ending troll. The fallout would be glorious to watch unfold

[Justacrazyguy]

-The movie contains messages from the internet about people that disliked 3.0, including Evageeks.
The internet presumably explodes right after.

-Shinji gets over his problems and learns to love himself in the first 20 minutes of the movie.
He and the rest of the cast go to space and Hideaki Anno finally makes a Yamato anime.

-A completely new character pops out of nowhere and eats up all of the runtime.
Becomes a fan favourite immediately.

-The movie is just plain bad
I slit my wrists.
Or get disappointed for at least a year.

And I'm sure people can come up with more.

[intermediateO]

Troll the people frothing at the mouth for an NGE sequel by implying it was an NGE prequel the whole time. (Blame goes to Lavinius for this idea.)

Prequel Theory is galaxy brain. We were the FAR all along.

-Shinji gets over his problems and learns to love himself in the first 20 minutes of the movie.
He and the rest of the cast go to space and Hideaki Anno finally makes a Yamato anime.

Honestly, I would have been totally fine if those twenty minutes were tacked to 3.0, and we were just left for 8 years on a cliffhanger of the entire world gearing up to take down Shinji's awful dad in a 2 hour finale battle.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

It feels like I'm one of the few who doesn't believe Anno is a troll, but it's a fun meme, so....

Mari is discovered to be a miniaturized Evangelion unit. She drinks LCL and turns into a Beast Mode of her own.

Misato discovers that the NGE timeline has been occurring just out of frame the entire time, complete with its own, mostly identical cast.

The animated bits we've seen so far are the only animated scenes in the movie. The rest is live-action, fully making it a "Shin" movie from Anno. (Both Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman are live-action films.)

[Justacrazyguy]

The animated bits we've seen so far are the only animated scenes in the movie. The rest is live-action, fully making it a "Shin" movie from Anno. (Both Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman are live-action films.)

This one would be great

I don't think the stuff from EoE will be repeated, I don't expect live action at all, for me even a few minutes of that would be surprising.

[Shun]

- A giant hand comes out of the Guf, he is Hideaki Anno dressed as Ultraman, he eat toffee and Moyoco slap him
- Anno destroys fiction, looks at the camera and starts clapping: congratulations!

[robersora]

I feel like the biggest troll already happened, by having the movie delayed indefinitely for the time being.
(of course that's due to a pandemic outside of anyone's control, but still)

[Derantor]

Oooof, there are so many ways that Shin could troll the audience ...

･Avant 1 and/or the teaser footage we've seen isn't actually in the final film (ala the 3.0 preview at the end of 2.0)

Since you asked for reactions: I'd really like that, to be honest. As ridiculous as that sequence was, I'd rather not see it again.

Worst thing I can think of: Only characters seen in Avant 1 appear at all. Everybody else is never mentioned again. There is no dialogue besides technobabble, and the whole movie is just a sequence of disconnected action sequences (only piece of character development and most important plot point is that Maya manages to put in the USB the right way around on the first try in the end).

Alternatively, Shin turns into a romantic comedy half way through. Basically the TV-ending alternative universe, but played straight. That restoration of Paris bit we saw is meant as literal wish-fullfillment: Characters caught in the effect just forget everything that happened and nothing gets resolved at all. Movie ends with Rei tripping over Shinji with a piece of bread in her mouth. Circular fade to black (as if the aperture was closing), focused on Gendo and Yui peacefully smiling in the background, roll credits (set to some generic J-Pop song about bicycles).

[Blockio]

I mean sure, Shin could just throw some random curveball, yell "sUbVeRtInG eXpEcTaTiOnS!!!!111" and call it a day; but I like to think that Anno is a bit more capable at his job than that :P

I'm expecting one of the main trolls to be a massive backhand to one or another widely spread theory or pairing; beyond that, I'll just wait and see

[Reichu]

It feels like I'm one of the few who doesn't believe Anno is a troll, but it's a fun meme, so....

"Trolling the audience" is the same thing as "challenging the audience" (to an audience that doesn't want to be challenged).

[Derantor]

I mean sure, Shin could just throw some random curveball, yell "sUbVeRtInG eXpEcTaTiOnS!!!!111" and call it a day; but I like to think that Anno is a bit more capable at his job than that :P

Like releasing a trailer that has nothing to do with the movie that gets released eventually? So why not say "Shin will be an ending for all of Eva" and then it isn't an ending at all? Seriously though, I thought we were talking about trolling; trying to rile people up just for the fun of it. (Edit: And I don't think Anno is that kind of troll.) If we are talking about what Reichu said above, that's something entirely different.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

"Trolling the audience" is the same thing as "challenging the audience" (to an audience that doesn't want to be challenged).

I can see how they’d think that, sure.

[UrsusArctos]

The ending is otherwise just RahXephon with an Eva coat of paint, complete with the counterpart mecha fusing together and the world being retuned and rainbows and eggs and things. This is a "take that" at the people from the late 90s who wouldn't shut the fuck up about RahXephon being an Eva ripoff.

Since Shinji now has Ayato's glowing eyes (while fighting for a girl he swore to protect, no less) and the Wille uniforms look like they're at least a partial ripoff of the Terra uniforms from Rah, I'd say this is looking likelier than I hoped it'd be.

[Blockio]

Like releasing a trailer that has nothing to do with the movie that gets released eventually? So why not say "Shin will be an ending for all of Eva" and then it isn't an ending at all? Seriously though, I thought we were talking about trolling; trying to rile people up just for the fun of it. (Edit: And I don't think Anno is that kind of troll.) If we are talking about what Reichu said above, that's something entirely different.

Fair, point taken

[Velorex]

Remember what happened to the Harry Potter Forums... Twas a nightmare.

[Arcadia's legacy]

Remember what happened to the Harry Potter Forums... Twas a nightmare.

Dare I ask what happened to the Harry Potter forums?

[Velorex]

Dare I ask what happened to the Harry Potter forums?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t95aLo7R1NM
this video has a good rundown of events...
go to 3min mark
all the potter books had trolls spoiling the next book when people purchased it at stores; the last installment was particularly bad; it was all out war...
but basically after a long battle against spoiler-trolls; the site admin got hacked and the hacker emailed all the spoilers to all the user's by email... they had to shut down the forums for a few months

[UrsusArctos]

but basically after a long battle against spoiler-trolls; the site admin got hacked and the hacker emailed all the spoilers to all the user's by email... they had to shut down the forums for a few months

And I thought someone driving by and yelling "Snape kills Dumbledore!" was bad enough.

Japan's not likely to have a spoiler-troll problem, but I can imagine genuinely bewildered forum users posting things like "WTF did I just watch?" and unintentionally spoiling it for others while trying to make sense of what they've seen.