#eye on his friends as well as just check up on them frequently (esp Tigger) bc he's worried about smth like this going unnoticed by him and

[skwtches]

“Absolutely not. I mean, well, after all, he… It was not my… He wanted to leave. Didn't he?”

Reading through this line, something about Rabbit in The Tigger Movie occurred to me: the plan that the gang comes up with in order to spare Tigger’s feelings is one of the few instances where Rabbit isn’t present to take on the leader’s role. Throughout the movie, Rabbit is preoccupied with winter preparations, so much so to the point that he, unlike the others, fails to identify the weight of Tigger’s familial dilemma. When he walks in on the gang dressing up as Tiggers in the “How To Be a Tigger” sequence, he questions what they are doing, but does not stick around for an answer, or even try to take up the leadership mantle like he normally would. In an act that is both unorthodox and so completely in-character, he storms off and away from his companions' harebrained scheme to complete his preparations, but not before ironically proclaiming, “at least I haven't lost sight of what’s important.”

To no one’s surprise, the plan falls through. But to everyone’s shock, Tigger runs away that same night. 

“It was not my fault,” is what Rabbit wants and starts to say after hearing of his friend’s disappearance. The members of the group who congregate at Rabbit’s to request his help don’t blame him for Tigger leaving, and Rabbit knows them well enough to understand they wouldn't suggest such a thing by arriving at his house all at once. But Rabbit still has the reflex to defend himself; to confirm that Tigger leaving was indeed not his doing. The one time Rabbit isn't there to lead his friends–believing they all had “lost sight of what’s important,”–the friend whose crisis the lagomorph missed completely had run off into the cold, dreary night. But it wasn’t his fault. It couldn’t have been his fault. 

“He wanted to leave,” Rabbit says, trying to reason with himself. He tries to justify Tigger leaving, searching for a reason–any reason at all–that doesn’t loop right back around to it being his fault. Because it wasn’t. If Tigger had wanted to leave, what good would it have done for Rabbit to have been present? If the bunny had been there alongside his friends to aid their striped pal in his time of need? Whether or not he could have come up with a different, possibly better plan that didn’t result in the heartbreak of the usually bouncy Tigger did not matter here. Of course Tigger would have left anyway in search of his supposed family. He was simply unpredictable that way, and nobody could predict and stop something unpredictable–not even Rabbit. Tigger had most certainly wanted to leave from the start. “Didn’t he?”

As the members of the gang try to convince a hesitant Rabbit to leave with them in search of Tigger, the guilt racks up. He finds himself struggling more and more to excuse himself from the situation as his friends go on about Tigger whilst he fixes up his winter-proofed home, the sadness visibly present amongst them making it even harder for him to dismiss them. As a look of unease–a flicker of guilt–graces his face, he asks, “what do you need me for? Why don't you go find him yourselves?” 

Pooh simply and earnestly responds with, “but we're just not clever enough, Rabbit.” 

A huge facet of Rabbit’s self-appointed leadership role is that it comes from a place where the persnickety critter truly believes himself to be smarter than the majority of his peers in the Wood. He sees himself as the most capable and responsible, and so takes it upon himself to lead whenever he gets the chance. Here however, he tries to deny the opportunity to take charge of the search party. Perhaps it is mostly due to fear of his already fragile shelter coming apart at the seams while he isn’t around. But perhaps it’s also thanks to the aforementioned guilt that he can’t bring himself to diligently lead his friends in searching for the one who he’d inadvertently let slip away. 

Before he can respond to Pooh, a small voice makes itself heard. Rabbit catches sight of Roo, who just tells him that he misses Tigger. The final nail in the coffin. Here is where Rabbit truly can’t bring himself to deny them his help anymore. Here is where the guilt is finally too profound to excuse. 

Here is where Rabbit decides to lead his friends again. 

#Remy try not to analyze every single line uttered in The Tigger Movie challenge (failed miserably) #anyways imagine if after this entire fiasco Rabbit's overprotective nature kicks back in with soft punches as he's tempted to always keep a #eye on his friends as well as just check up on them frequently (esp Tigger) bc he's worried about smth like this going unnoticed by him and #it leading to yet another disaster that he feels responsible for- (gets dragged off the stage kicking n screaming) #wtp #rabbit (wtp) #tigger #pooh #piglet #eeyore #roo #vid #rema.txt #rema.mov #ttm #winnie the pooh #the tigger movie