I’m late to the party. But that’s the way Loki would like it. He strikes me as someone who arrives fashionably late, if at all. The internet is celebrating Alligator Loki, the darling of Loki on Disney+.
If you’re reading this, you already knew that. You love Gator Loki. I love Gator Loki. Let’s talk about it.
In the fifth episode of Loki, “Journey into Mystery,” Gator Loki was one of the weirdest things in a show that clearly prided itself on being Marvel’s version of the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour. It’s totally different and psychedelic — and better for it. Gator Loki is the physical personification of Loki‘s eccentricities. In a show where we’ve seen Frog Thor (Throg), Lokis in love and a sentimental speech about a jet ski, Gator Loki might be the strangest thing the show has gotten away with. The show-runners tried it. And my goodness, did it work.
The gator is an enigma who inspires so many questions. Does it come from an alternate timeline where ALL the Avengers are animals? Can it enchant? Can it wield a dagger? Can he lie? Will we ever see it again? And, the biggest mystery: Is he even a Loki?
“I know, but I want people to wonder,” Loki head writer Michael Waldron told Marvel.com. “I want that to be the next great Marvel debate. Is Alligator Loki really a Loki or not?”
Oh, you cunning member of the Crocodilia. You demi-god and demi-dinosaur. You ridiculous, RoxxiWine-drinking reptile.
#Loki
no you don't understand but gator loki drinking wine is something that can be so personal to me 😔 pic.twitter.com/mfnheuB1E8— renegadean 🧣 (@hoaxstiel) July 7, 2021
We see you. Respect.
And we get that if we don’t show respect, we’ll lose a hand. So … seriously: respect.
I’d respect Gator Loki even more if he wasn’t actually a Loki. His biggest common threads are survivalism and the color green. Otherwise, he has shown no powers. He can’t even speak unless Classic Loki is translating Alligator Loki’s unamused looks. But that’s helped him deliver high comedy in his supporting role. The muted cutaways to his (non) reactions are perfect. And then there are the cutups of Gator Loki’s appearances set to music, which are #art.
Stan alligator l Loki pic.twitter.com/jAeklUyeVa
— Crocodile Loki (@KunzIsADumbMf) July 7, 2021
Want to get even more weird? Check out what the actors had to look at when they were in his company on stage. The actors were working with a googly-eyed stuffed animal.
Happy Episode Five “Journey into Mystery” @LokiOfficial day! Here is one the biggest divas and the most demanding actor I’ve ever had to work with, taking a break from his reign of terror to relax in his chair #alligatorloki #loki pic.twitter.com/3WH57yt0Bz
— Kate Herron (@iamkateherron) July 7, 2021
It sounds like director Kate Herron genuinely grappled with how Gator Loki should look: Cute, cartoonish and cuddly or cold and calculated? It’s Loki. Gotta be the latter.
“We had some early versions when we were doing visual effects that probably were a bit too cute, in the sense of it was a bit more like a cartoony kind of alligator,” Herron told Marvel.com. “But it just became funnier and funnier the more it looked like a real alligator that just happened to be wearing the horns. That was the sweet spot. Once we landed in that spot where it felt like a real alligator, but with a kind of slightly jaunty horns on, that’s where we were like, ‘Oh, there he is.’”
Brilliant.
Now I know you want me to say Gator Loki is better than Baby Yoda from Star Wars universe and “Mandalorian” on Disney+. The conversation is raging on Twitter, Reddit and Facebook. Let’s not turn this into an episode of ESPN’s First Take. I’m not here to be Stephen A. Smith with an anger-invoking opinion. That’s not what Gator Loki is about. That’s not what Baby Yoda is about. My nuanced take is they’re both wonderful — and different.
Apples and oranges. Lokis and Yodas.
Am I right? (I am.)
It’s likely we’ve seen the last of Gator Loki. He will live forever in The Void — and in our hearts. Farewell, sweet prince(ss).
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