Thor has only a glimpse of him, he is on the other side of the street, half-obscured by the car he is leaning against. He is pale. The flash that Thor sees of his face is sharp and angular. A strand of long, dark hair has fallen forward, it lies against one cheekbone, and Thor knows him, knows him immediately and without doubt, half-glimpsed and impossible though he be. Thor does not think to question how. He does not think to question at all. His breathes, “Loki,” meaning it to be a yell.
I think it’s two things – first of all, I do think Loki just genuinely likes dressing up and looking nice. I mean, in Thor we see him change clothes a few times where others (if I recall) don’t, and in this movie he had at least two thematic costume changes (not including the black suit). it’s part of his Aesthetic, and Loki is very much about the Aesthetic.
(more seriously: he’s very appearance-conscious in basically every way and that includes, of course, clothing.)
so then on Earth – Thor can dress down, I think because Thor is more comfortable on Earth generally (where for Loki it’s not a place he particularly wants to be) and also because Thor doesn’t feel the same need Loki does to project a specific image – an image, like you say, of authority, control, and status. three things Loki is never going to want to relinquish.
and it does fit in with what we’ve seen Loki wear when he comes toEarth before, which. it definitely is a lot of style choice. (and it’s such a good style.)
Costume meta!!!! YESSSS.
Loki is always as *covered* and buttoned up as possible, with which I’m obsessed. (It shows up in a lot of fanfiction and meta, so it’s not just me.) It reflects his closed off wariness and it’s always a sort of emotional armor, I think.
He’s so, so insecure, our Loki, that he hides behind this armor and yes, it absolutely projects an air of authority and confidence that he needs desperately to perform. I could talk for HOURS about his costuming.
I felt actually punched in the face when the first trailers were released and we saw him *not* wearing his signature green and black and gold.
That outfit, though, is in the Grandmaster’s colors. It reinforces the “ownership” of people the Grandmaster assumes on Sakaar. It’s a very Sakaar ensemble and in context I love it. Loki’s ingratiated himself to the most powerful being and his schemes have schemes.
Thor, of course, is often seen half-naked, sleeveless, and in casual clothing on Midgard. He’s more open, egregious, and straightforward. The contrast is beautiful between the brothers’ attire.
(Luna I keep forgetting to ask you what you thought of the costuming after seeing the movie!)
Amazing points about Loki’s attire.
Ah, well they are definitely not just my observations. I’m sure part of this comes from @philosopherking1887 (OMG her story The Abyss Gazes Also has an incredible cool explanation for Loki’s Avengers outfit) and there are SO many others who’ve written great observations about Loki’s clothing.
Regarding the costumes themselves as outfits, I’m a bit divided. None of Loki’s outfits were as beautiful and elegant as his TDW armour in my opinion (except maybe the black suit in terms of elegance but… it’s a suit not really a costume). But I do like the fact that they are bound to be easier to recopy: The metal armour bits aren’t as ornate, there are less metallic parts altogether, the leather looks like cheaper pleather, the patterns in general are less complex… So they are more cosplay-friendly.
I absolutely love that this helmet allows for both the horns AND the hair to show. This makes it BEST HELMET ❤
I think my fave Loki costume out of Ragnarok is the one when they fight on the bridge (cape and helmet mmmm)
I agree, regarding the costumes looking cheap and pleather-y. I was concerned about that when the first photos showed up, but I thought maybe they’d look better onscreen… and I guess they looked somewhat better, but still not great. And FFS, give the poor man a modesty flap.
On one level I agree with you about the helmet… but it also just looks completely useless as a piece of armor. It’s completely decorative, but also looks kind of cheap and plasticky. I think the helmet from The Avengers wins, because it’s an effective helmet but you can also still see his hair. Even though the way it makes the back of his head pointy does look a little silly.
This is not something we’ve seen him do before. Not that he would have had any occasion to in previous movies, but this is kind of in a different category from other things he does with magic: mostly illusions, shapeshifting, and moving things around.
This is some wild-ass, blatantly self-interested speculation, but… what if the power to draw out other people’s memories is a relatively new ability that he gained from his interaction with the Mind Stone? Scarlet Witch got her powers from experimentation with the Mind Stone, and one of the things we’ve seen her do is get into people’s heads and make them experience things based on their worst fears and most painful memories.
This at least suggests that forcing people to re-experience memories is one of the things that the Mind Stone can do, in addition to co-opting their will to make them serve the aims of the wielder. I think everyone I know has dismissed the idea that Thanos was controlling Loki the way Loki controlled Barton and Selvig; that’s probably not something you can do to a magically powerful being like Loki. BUT Scarlet Witch was able to do the fear-exploiting thing with Thor, and Loki simultaneously experienced and forced the Valkyrie to re-experience her worst memory – that is something you can do to more powerful beings.
So… this provides some circumstantial evidence in favor of the theory I explore in my fic The Abyss Gazes Also about what happened between Thanos and Loki: that Thanos exploited Loki’s own fears, resentments, and insecurities and forced him to re-experience his most traumatic memories involving his family (especially Thor and Odin) to manipulate him into invading Earth on Thanos’s behalf and fighting against his adoptive family.
I was thinking exactly along these lines and am SO EXCITED that for wherever reason we have new Loki powers to play with!
I think he always had the abilities to tap into someone’s memories, there just wasn’t any place to showcase those abilities yet or maybe he just never bothered to practice them. And I think it isn’t clear if HE could see Valkyrie’s memories, or if he simply triggered her to see them.
If he did that to distract her, why not take her down before she recovers from the flashback?
Instead, he seemed only a little less dazed than she was at the end which (added to her rage at having to remember) allows her to take him out with one punch.
His stricken facial expression, as well as his general air of disorientation, did seem to suggest that he had seen it, too.
I love how none of the Asgardians were surprised that Loki fought alongside Thor to protect Asgard; they know he’s the trickster but they also know they can trust him when shit hits the fan.
He’s still their prince.
They also acknowledge that even under the guise of Odin, he kept them safe for four years.
He was a prince for 1000 years, and a respected warrior for a large chunk of that time.
He’s been going off the rails for 6 years, tops.
1000 vs 6.
Why wouldn’t most of them trust him? Even the bad things he’s done have been aimed at the Asgardian people.
I bring this up all the time, the average Joe Asgardian most likely viewed it all as “some odinson shit” when Loki went off to misbehave on Earth That One Time. Then went back to playing magic soccer or some such. I don’t flatter myself thinking immortal golden space people give a shit about New Yorkers.
Then Loki got some private slap on the wrist punishment (Only the guards in TDW saw his *actual* sentencing before the dark elves showed up) before he re-emerged to DIE protecting Asgard and by extension really all the realms from Malekith. So yeah, Loki is definitely looked upon favorably.
Loki is the Philosopher King 
