The Japanese manga series
"Attack On Titan"
has captivated our imaginations
and greatest fears.
For those of you who are new to the show,
well, it involves terrifying humanoid giants
with an insatiable appetite for humans.
Beware of potential spoilers
and nightmares to come.
So, if Titans were real
and suddenly appeared around the world,
could we survive?
Or would we all be breakfast?
The acclaimed series "Attack On Titan"
is set 2,000 years in the future.
It focuses on the last civilization of humans
who live in a city barricaded
by three 50 m (164 ft) walls.
The citizens of this protected city
lived in peace for a whole century.
Then one fateful day,
a colossal Titan breached the wall.
That opened a pathway
for all sorts of creepy, smaller Titans.
These man-eating giants
range in size and shape,
from 4 to 17 m (13 to 56 ft).
But the colossal Titan is much taller
at a towering 60 m (197 ft).
And they all seem to be nudists,
for whatever reason.
Would somebody get these guys
a nice suit or something?
Unfortunately, these aren't friendly giants
by any means.
It seems that their sole purpose
is to gorge on a buffet of humans.
In the show, the nation's military uses
Omni-Directional Mobility Gear,
grappling hooks used to swing around quickly
and scale great heights
to deal deadly blows to the Titans.
Looks like fun to me!
While automated grappling hooks
might work well in the show,
we would likely have to attack
and maneuver around the Titans
by other means.
Helicopters,
drones,
or even wingsuits come to mind.
But why is it essential to attack from the air?
Titans are strong,
fast
and some of them can even regenerate
when wounded.
But they do have one weakness,
the nape of their necks.
The trick is getting up there.
But couldn't we just nuke them all
and be done with?
Woah, now!
Don't press that red button just yet.
Nuking them might do
more damage than good.
We'd have to deal with
the toxic radioactive fallout
and would have to spend years
rebuilding communities.
We might have a better shot
taking them down
by aiming at their necks
from afar with a sniper rifle.
But with some Titans
moving at incredible speeds,
this could prove pretty difficult.
Having the foresight to evacuate
before a disaster
is usually your best bet at survival.
For most school children in the U.S.,
following the protocols for an active shooter
could save lives.
This involves hiding,
locking, or barricading any doors,
silencing phones,
and staying low and quiet.
While this might work in the short-term,
Titans are known to smash through
buildings with ease.
So you might want to increase
your home insurance premiums
ahead of time.
If you live in the city,
you should try to head deep underground.
You could take refuge in a subway station
like Washington Heights,
which lies 55 m (180 ft) below New York.
Or if you've got $15 million lying around,
maybe you could buy a subterranean bunker,
like this one in Kansas.
It is 15 stories deep
and can hold 75 people
for a maximum of five years.
If all else fails,
we could call for an aerial attack
from the military
using drones or fighter jets.
But just when you think you've got them,
suddenly a colossal Titan appears.
These Titans are much larger
and release explosive energy and heat
when they form,
destroying and killing anything
within the blast radius.
And to top it off,
they emit steam
as hot as lava
at around 602 °C (1,116 °F).
So you'll need a protective suit
if you're getting close to these behemoths.
These colossal Titans
are also known as Titan shifters.
They are humans that have transformed
into ugly, steamy, muscly giants.
The only way to kill this breed of Titan
is to pull the human host out of their necks,
which is easier said than done.
If we can't take them all down from the air
or with snipers,
we could try to block the sun temporarily.
Titans get all their energy from sunlight.
This could kill two birds with one stone
and slow down global warming too.
If this tires them out enough,
then maybe we could strap them down
with ropes
and attack them more effectively.
While we might stand a chance
with this strategy,
what if other giant creatures showed up
out of the blue?
Think we would stand a chance
against Godzilla?
Well, that's a story for another WHAT IF.