Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Yes, Ballister, sharks can dance.
- The teaser opening on a comic of Nimona setting a fairytale princess on fire. It helps that the princess is clearly made and animated through magazine images and Nimona herself is just a sketch from a notebook.
- Upon seeing Ballister's robotic arm, Nimona asks in a creepy voice and a slow-turning head if they "let him keep the old one". Ballister is appropriately freaked out.
- She also asks if it bled a lot. Sharp-eyed viewers will note that it did not bleed at all.
- The entirety of Nimona's "job interview" for the role of Ballister's villainous sidekick.
- Nimona's "resume" is just a bunch of drawings of her shapeshifted into various animals and murdering knights in disturbingly bloody ways.Ballister: Oh, look it's me. On a rhinoceros, skewering several guards like a kebab!
Nimona: Yeah! Do you like it? I thought a visual aid would really make my resume pop. - Nimona gushing over Ballister's "murder wall"—which is really Ballister's wall of suspects who could've framed him—and asking who they should kill first. She draws special attention to Todd, which is the first time Ballister actually stops protesting her presence and agrees with her.Nimona: This guy looks extremely punchable.
Ballister: You're right. He is extremely punchable. - Nimona finally realizing Ballister isn't the regicidal murderer she thought he was.Nimona: Wait. Are you saying that you're not a villain?
Ballister: (brandishing broken bottle with a crazed look on his face) YES! (realizes how "villainous" he looks and throws away the bottle, adopting Puppy-Dog Eyes instead)
- Nimona's "resume" is just a bunch of drawings of her shapeshifted into various animals and murdering knights in disturbingly bloody ways.
- Ballister refuses Nimona's help and goes off to prove his innocence on his own.Nimona: Have fun getting arrested.
Ballister: I am not gonna get arrested!
[Gilligan Cut to Ballister getting arrested.]
Knight: Murderer! (Beat, turns to second knight) Wanna get some lunch?
Knight 2: (upbeat) Yeah! I love lunch!- Ballister, despondently sitting in his cell, when his robot arm comes peaking in from offscreen right next to him.Nimona: (using robot arm as a puppet) I told you.
Ballister: (jumps up horrified) Good Gloreth!
- Ballister, despondently sitting in his cell, when his robot arm comes peaking in from offscreen right next to him.
- Nimona breaking Ballister out of his cell:Nimona: I know the code. (Begins typing on the keypad) Bee-bah-boo-bee-bah!
Computer: Invalid pass- (Nimona punches the keypad and the door opens.) - Nimona's overeagerness to resort to violence during the prison break.Ballister: If you see anyone—
Nimona: (pulls out knife) MURDER 'EM!
Ballister: HIDE! If you see anyone, hide.
Nimona: Fine, because we're still gonna break stuff. (begins walking dramatically and vocalizing)
Ballister: That's a hard no.
Nimona: Ugh! - While the duo escapes the prison, Ballister goes out of his way to be stealthy all while Nimona follows, dejectedly breaking a lot of stuff in protest of Ballister telling her not to kill anyone or break anything. She even goes out of her way to pour coffee over a long keyboard.
- During the escape Ballister's confused why the place isn't crawling with guards, or how Nimona got in, in the first place. Until he comes across a room full of unconscious, beaten-up knights.
- Ballister stopping Nimona from fighting a fresh wave of guards, causing the two to bicker while running and being shot at.Knight: Murderer!
Nimona: He is a murderer... of fun.
Ballister: Did you even have a plan?
Nimona: This is the plan! I break you out, chaos, destruction, something, something, something, we win!
Ballister: Of course, the old "something, something, something, we win." That's a terrible plan!
Nimona: It's better than your plan of, "I'm gonna sit in the dark and mope in a room with no toilet."
Ballister: I was not moping! (pulls her in an alcove to hide) Knights don't mope. We brood. I was brooding.- At the start of the conversation, Nimona casually throws away the axe she was holding, which flies across the gap in the building and hits a soldier square in the face.
- When trying to run from Ambrosius, Nimona shouts "Look, it's Gloreth!" And the knights actually look.
- Cornered in a closet with dozens of knights outside breaking down the door, Nimona decides to use her secret weapon but refuses to elaborate on what she's about to do until she forces Ballister to promise not to freak out.Nimona: Now promise!
Ballister: I promise.
Nimona: Promise promise?
Ballister: On my life!
Nimona: (catches an arrow inches from her face) Then say it again!
Ballister: (holding a plunger) I promise!
Nimona: Oh wow. Even when you see the horn?
Ballister: Horn? What do you mean, like a trumpet?
Nimona: Just promise!
Ballister: I promise, promise, promise I will not freak—(freaks out as he sees Nimona transforming) ooooouuuuu— - When Nimona falls through the locker room in whale form, she lands in front of Todd and her eye glances at his groin area.Nimona: Cold in here?
- Todd is clearly rattled by this, because throughout the rest of the movie, he keeps thinking whales are responsible for what's going on.
- When he sees a hole in the roof of the train that Nimona and Ballister escaped from, he mutters "tiny whales".
- When Ballister and Nimona are surrounded, Todd says they need to finish things before the whales get there.
- Todd is clearly rattled by this, because throughout the rest of the movie, he keeps thinking whales are responsible for what's going on.
- Ballister deciding he needs to find the squire who gave him the rigged sword. Nimona is eager to help in her usual way.Nimona: You need the squire? Let's go kill (Ballister looks at her)—Get him. Let's go get him.
- Nimona agrees to help Ballister clear his name but only on the condition that once she does, she's his official sidekick forever and ever, no take-backsies. Just as they're about to shake hands to seal the deal, Nimona transforms into a shark.Ballister: Can you just be you, please?
Nimona: I don't follow.
Ballister: Girl you.
Nimona: But I'm not a girl. I'm a shark. (chomps teeth twice)
(Ballister sighs and shakes her fin.)
Nimona: Hey. You ever put your head in the mouth of one of these? (opens her jaws)
Ballister: Should've just stayed in jail.
Nimona: Come on! (chases after him keeping her mouth open) You know you wanna! - After the jailbreak, Todd laments that 1000 years of history has been destroyed. Until he sees that the statue head of his friend's uncle fell on the statue of Todd's grandma's butt.Knight: (laughs) That's hilarious. So sad, though.
- During the jailbreak, Nimona bites one guard in otter form, said guard getting into a discussion with another guard over what species of otter it was. When Nimona runs into them again, the second guard says that they can see why the first one was confused, given that Nimona's form combines aspects of two different otter species, before Nimona attacks them, even chewing on the first's cast to mess with them.
- In the subway station, a public service announcement is heard reminding passengers "if you see something, slay something"
- Nimona’s impression of Ballister: a hammy villain who hates smiles, thinks babies are ugly, litters, and loves freestyle jazz.
- Ballister is so distracted by Nimona's impression of him that he rides right into the knight at the bottom...who is so distracted by the fake Ballister that she misses the real one literally right next to her.
- The knights arguing when they're chasing "Ballister" up the stairs:Knight #1: Will you hurry it up?!
Knight #2: Stop pushing me, I'm trying!
Knight #3: I'm not pushing you! I'm encouraging you forward! - Ambrosius is able to see through Nimona’s disguise...because he knows Ballister hates freestyle jazz. Implying he has plausible reason to believe his boyfriend would tear the head off a teddy bear, throw litter everywhere, scream that he hates cupcakes and smiles and thinks babies are ugly, and cause complete chaos in a subway station, but Gloreth forbid he would ever enjoy freestyle jazz!
- Ballister's look of offense when Nimona's impression includes: "I'm evil, and I hate EVERYBODY! Not as much as I hate myself. Can somebody give me a hug?" with giant Puppy-Dog Eyes. Even one of the knights seems visibly confused by that line.
- To cap it off, Ballister complains about her impression when she returns. She agrees....he's never that fun.
- Nimona sees Ballister staring at her eating pizza as a gorilla... and asks if he wants some.
- While it's harsher on rewatch, Nimona's recounting of her backstory after Ballister keeps insisting on finding out about her shapeshifting. There's an Art Shift as Nimona recounts being young and innocent child who felt alone because she didn't have anyone to be with unlike the birds and fish and deer she watched, until she came across a wishing well.
Ballister: A wishing well? How did you know it wasn't just a regular well?
Nimona: (Nimona's flashback-self looks annoyed) Do you wanna tell my story for me?
Ballister: Right. Sorry. Go on.
Nimona: As I slowly approached the well, a coin appeared in the palm of my hand as if by magic, and I knew what I had to do. I summoned my courage, held the coin tight, threw it into the well, and made a wish. A wish... to one day be trapped on a subway (cuts back to the present and an unamused Ballister) with an uptight knight asking me small-minded questions.- After Nimona calls him uptight, Ballister asks if she still has pizza, takes a piece, and then affectionately throws it at her face.
- As they pull into the station to a battalion of knights pointing crossbows at the window, they both duck down after a Beat. When Ballister asks if they were spotted, Nimona pops her head back up, gets multiple laser-sights pointed at her face... only to ease back into a crouch without a shot fired.Nimona: Yes.
- The entire "Demon Baby
" scene. Nimona disguises herself as a Deliberately Cute Child in order to lure out the Squire quietly...but the instant he hesitates, she snaps into full Creepy Child mode and starts attacking him, causing a massive scene. Ballister has to steal a car, ram the Squire, shove him in the trunk, and then fly away while the soldiers shoot at them.Baby Nimona: Excuse me, Mr. Squire, sir? I can't find my mommy. She went to that scary alley over there. Can you help me find her? (extreme closeup on him/her making Puppy-Dog Eyes) Pleeeeeeeeeeease?
Squire: Oh, no...let me go ahead and pass this problem onto someone else.
Baby Nimona: (making a scary face and speaking in a deep guttural voice) THERE'S NO TIME!
Squire: (screams and runs)- Watch Ballister's lips closely when the woman catches him in the car. You can clearly see him silently mouthing "oh, fuck".
- In particular, the Squire's pathetically low-key cries for help that "A little demon baby is after me" while everyone watches on in confusion. When Nimona catches up to him, he tries punching her, only for her to bite her sharp teeth down onto his fist, much to his understandable agony.
- The entire time, Ballister is stuck in a car with an overly cheery saleswoman giving her sales pitch to him who manages to somehow completely miss that she's sitting right next to the most wanted man in the kingdom. The cherry on top has to be when the saleswoman realizes that she has Ballister in the car with her. We get this gem from the seething Ballister.Ballister: (snarling) I'm...INNOCENT! (locks the car and immediately drives it away with the woman still inside screaming for help)
- Ballister is desperately trying to hide from Ambrosius the whole time, while the Saleswoman obliviously opens the windscreen (leaving him completely exposed and visible to the knights). And then demonstrates the sound system, which promptly starts blaring Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law".
- When Nimona drags the Squire away, the latter attempts throwing many objects at her, ranging from frying pans to a live chicken, completely failing to get any reaction out of her. Then, he grabs a nearby lunch from a bystander about to eat it and THIS gets a reaction out from Nimona.Baby Nimona: Pineapple on pizza?! BLAAARGH!
- After getting hit with the slice of pineapple pizza, Nimona is so disgusted that she momentarily lets go of the Squire. He makes a run for it, but Ballister hits him with the stolen car to stop him from getting away.Baby Nimona: (kicks the Squire) Aww, why do you get to kill him?
Ballister: (as they're stuffing the Squire into the car trunk) He's not dead! I hope!
Random Bystander #1: Is that Ballister?
Random Bystander #2: It's the queen killer!
Random Bystander #3: He's working with a demon baby!
Random Bystander #4: I thought he ate babies! - Even better? The Squire's pose after being hit by the car resembles the stock Family Guy death pose.
- As the car takes off and flies out of sight, the knights fire numerous arrows at it, which completely fail to stop it from getting away. It ends up having so many arrows stuck in it that it looks like a porcupine.
- When they're in the air, after a short silence, Nimona then says "I hate to say it, but you make a pretty good bad guy!" (still in her squeaky child voice). Ballister, barely keeping it together, sloooowly turns his head to Death Glare at her.
- The squire protesting during his interrogation when it's suggested he's working for Todd to set up Ballister.Squire: Who would protect TODD?!
- The reason why Diego the squire has footage of the Director swapping Ballister's sword with the one with the laser? He was secretly trying on Ballister's armor and recording himself goofing off in it.Nimona: Awkward...
- The Director asks Ambrosius what's on his mind, and Ambrosius admits how he's feeling (at least in his imagination).Ambrosius: My mind? I've lost my mind. I've lost everything. The man I love, my best friend... although now apparently, he's got a new best friend, what's that about? What else is he hiding? Who's the real him? Who am I? A direct descendant of Gloreth? I never asked for that! Now everyone expects me to arrest Ballister, and if I don't, I'm a traitor to you, and if I do, I'm a traitor to him! OHHH, and on top of that, I chopped off his arm! HIS ARM! WHO CHOPS OFF AN ARM?! BECAUSE I WAS TRAINED TO?! ARM-CHOPPING IS NOT A LOVE LANGUA—
(Snap back to Ambrosius sitting in the car, completely still.)
Ambrosius: ...I'm fine, Director.- Just a scene earlier, Nimona told Ballister that arm chopping wasn’t a love language.
- When fighting the guards, Nimona transforms into a dragon from a cereal commercial (which delights then confuses Todd) and spews huge balls similar to the cereal at them, set to "Banana Splits":Nimona: Hope you brought milk!
- Before that, Ballister defends her from Ambrosius calling her a monster by saying that she's "smart, kind, and quite sophisticated!" Cue Nimona running by as an otter, gleefully shouting "That guy just peed his armor. He peed his armor!"
- Ballister throwing Nimona, in armadillo form, at a guard and nailing him directly in the gonads.
- The shock of the Director stabbing Ambrosius being almost immediately undercut by how incredibly over the top and drawn out his dying spasms are. And then "he" pops back up, speaking with Nimona's voice, and asks Ballister if she went too far before casually pulling the sword out of her stomach. Nimona and Ballister casually banter over her acting skills while the Director just gapes in shock.
- Afterwards, the real Ambrosius bursts through the Director's door announcing "We need to talk", exactly like Nimona just did. The Director just storms off with a frustrated growl in a rare display of emotion.
- The ending, after Nimona is revealed to be alive, Ballister shouts, "HOLY SH-" before abruptly cutting to the credits.
