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leagueofprotagonists · 3 months ago

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I reblogged to the wrong account lol

We all know why Spinner likes Shigaraki, but why does Shigaraki like Spinner in your opinion?

This incredibly messy rambling is entirely my take and speculation, but when Spinner first entered the bar, in that ridiculous Stain cosplay, prob giving big chuunibyou-vibed declarations about how great Stain is and how he's gonna make Stain's dreams reality - (and remember, Shigaraki disliked Stain a lot at the time, even after accepting that he will be using Stain's influence to expand the League) - I bet Shigaraki was def plenty annoyed—but I think he also could saw through to who Spinner really was - a weak-quirked heteromorph nerd from the (notoriously-anti-heteromorph) countryside, with no previous criminal history but so wanting something more he would ditch everything to join up with villains.

In other words, Shigaraki saw someone who needed help. Someone that's been mistreated and excluded and flailing about with no purpose and coming to him because they had nothing else. And because that was Shigaraki's core - to be a Hero to the outcasts - he accepted Spinner. Now that's true for all the League, but Spinner was particularly pathetic, with the cosplay and weak quirk and no prior criminal experience. Spinner was such a loser, that Shigaraki had to take him in.

But I don't mean it's all because Shigaraki felt sorry for Spinner. That could be/provably was part of it, but remember that Spinner, despite all that, also somehow managed to show up, to ditch everything he knew to come find a group of villains; to be able to find and contact Giran to be introduced to the League, and then to demand being recruited despite his lack of power and skills.

That takes resourcefulness and wild guts! Which I'm sure Shigaraki took notice of, because Shigaraki does have a habit of admiring that kind of determination even in his enemies (Eraserhead protecting his students on his own, conceding to Deku's desire to save).

So it's my perception that Shigaraki had taken interest in Spinner the moment he showed up, because Spinner was such a weak, nobody guy with such a ridiculous, intense heart. Felt the need to acknowledge and help such a person.

I think that feeling only increased when he realized how alike the both of them are. They're both sullen nerds with awful hikikomori habits and they like video games, sure; but their despair and hatred of the world are really similar, too.

There's a reason Spinner becomes the closest to Shigaraki, and it's because he's the one who's also closest to hating what Shigaraki hates. Like, IMO, the other League members don't have as broad the amount of hatred for the world that Shigaraki does? Twice doesn't hate the world as much as wanting a place to belong; Toga never hated the world until the final battle; Dabi's hatred is more focused on Endeavor and radiates outward from that; and Compress talks of reform, signifying a level of hope for things to be different.

Shigaraki hates heroes but also people in general, the society they're all in, 'everything that created that house'. He's wants to destroy everything because of that. Spinner didn't have that depth or breadth at first, but his hatred was, at the base, the most similar. He hated his life and his community - his world; Stain is the one who allowed him to realized that hatred and rage and turn it on Heroes, but as he yells to Shigaraki, it wasn't just that. "That was the day I realized how suffocating society really is." And so once he heard Shigaraki's dream, he found himself supporting it.

But remember - Shigaraki declaring he would create that destroyed horizon was itself basically in response to the rant that Spinner yelled at him. His answer to the question Spinner asked of him about purpose.

Spinner and Shigaraki are kindred spirits; they are this quote from CS Lewis:

Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, "What? You too? I thought I was the only one." ... It is when two such persons discover one another, when, whether with immense difficulties and semi-articulate fumblings or with what would seem to us amazing and elliptical speed, they share their vision - it is then that Friendship is born. And instantly they stand together in an immense solitude.

And so I think got to Shigaraki. Enough that he would want to destroy Fuji for Spinner, then give only Spinner his last words.

Summing it all up: I think Shigaraki likes Spinner because Spinner is 1) a weak, pathetic guy 2) with admirable spirit 3) who likes and hates the same things in the same way he does.

(and 4) is a worthy gaming opponent.)

That's my take, anyway. Everyone is encouraged to tell me their takes too. go to my ask box now.

#spinner #Shigaraki Tomura #the league of villains deserve better #the league deserved better #league of villains #league of protaonists au

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leagueofprotagonists · 3 months ago

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Touya's past analysis: Part 3: Chapter 350

Touya is running in the forest, encased by flames. Touya's jaw is coming off. This can be a call back to how Endeavor described the remains: that a piece of his jaw bone remained.

Touya commenting on how hot they are Touya is feeling the temperature of the flames and references how intense his flames are. This reminded me of the line that was spoken in the last chapter.

I wonder if that's what is always felt, that all the time he is always on fire and that everything was hot.

This is ironic. Touya never wanted to die, but Dabi did; not wanting to die proved you have hope for something to live for, and Touya, in this case, was hoping that his father would care about him.

Touya is heading towards a river jumping into the river after accidentally setting himself on fire Touya manage to protect his body by jumping in the water, Touya all burnt up and near death with AFO standing at the end of it

in case you didn't notice AFO appeared in the trees last chapter it wasn’t obvious.

AFO's standing over Touya's burnt body has sinister implications.

A few years later, Touya woke up in bed alone in a new place. Touya woke up confused about his surroundings; he was in the forest now, at the bed.

The children's cheerful smiles were not welcoming, just unsettling. When Touya asked, Touya touched his throat and was surprised that his voice had changed.

Touya learned he was in a coma for a few years, but hearing the children's answer didn’t ease his anxiety; it worsened it. There was a look of confusion and anxiety on Touya's face when he heard their answer.

This place alone conveyed just how unsettling it is. In fact, it's even more unsettling that Touya was brought from the forest there to be fixed. How did he get there? Who brought him? There was no one in the forest but him. That's what makes the situation so disturbing; we know who it was that brought him, but not Touya. It just adds to how unsettling this situation is.

Here he looked scared, alone, and confused. He is desperate to get home, even the Sun-Sun guy didn’t help with matters. The sun sun guy's smile was just disturbing because you can tell there are hidden intentions behind it.

Touya is told that this can be his new family, but Touya has no idea what a family is since Endeavor has no interest in being a father. He knew the circumstances of his birth and his siblings; to him, all his family gave him was pain.

It felt like those values were forced on him without his consent. That is exactly what Sun Sun was doing to him. Having a new family is not what Touya asked for. They didn’t consider his feelings in this like Endeavor; neither asked what Touya wanted or thought. They just imposed their views on him.

Having a family that would smile under the sun. Touya would not view it that way, and if he did, it wouldn’t be that different from what he felt in the household; in fact, the children's happy faces would feel even more isolated due to the pain he suffered. He would be aware of what the facility was doing to further the isolation, much like he is aware of his circumstances in the household. This is not a family but a cage or an experiment.

Touya is alone in a new place. He is anxious and scared. He wanted to go back home, being told that he can’t leave made Touya even more desperate.

As I stated, Touya still held on to the belief that Endeavor might care even after being in a coma. He still holds on to that hope; he is still stuck in that same mindset as back then to get his father to see him again here.

As I stated before in the last chapter, Touya was capable of feeling remorse. He felt guilty for attacking Shoto before, so he would have remorse for lashing out at Rei. Touya was somewhat aware that Rei was suffering, too, but was too angry to notice that he was angry when Rei gave a hypocritical speech to him, so he lashed out

Touya feels guilty for all the awful things he said and did, and he has to apologize to his family. His Mom and siblings were his top priority. While talking to Sun Sun, Touya is holding on to that thread but is crushed moments later.

Touya is surprised by the monitor speaking; the speaker on that monitor told him the condition of his body is that his senses are dulled so he cannot feel pain.

Touya placed a hand on his skin when he listened; his appearance changed as a result of the extensive surgery to his body.

When he heard he cannot produce strong firepower like before Touya’s eyes widened with shock within hand on his mouth pure horror on his face when he learned that he could not prove himself to Endeavor this is the same horror he displayed when he had when he was training with Endeavor when his quirk first burned him it conveyed the same feeling Touya is feeling at the moment.

The next panel was when he was training with Endeavor, I pointed out that Touya was happy when he was training with Endeavor but here that is the part when Endeavor noticed the white in his hair that was that his body was incompatible with his quirk l that was the beginning of what caused his father to discard him and AFO calling him a failure reminded him of how Endeavor viewed Touya as when he discarded and abandoned him.

Touya’s value was judged by the strength of his quirk, and his losing that strength led to Endeavor discarding him and deeming him a failure. Touya has his face in his hands; he is in complete despair; he lost his purpose of surpassing All Might.

Touya rejects AFO manipulations, any attempt that AFO used to manipulate and use Touya was unsuccessful AFO is the same as his father AFO uses others as tools and then discards them similar to how his dad treated his children viewing his children as tools for his ambitions and discard them once he considers them failures Touya had a good eye he can figure out someone's thoughts he didn’t know what was going to happen did he not escape but knew enough that these people held sinister intentions and also he wasn’t going to allow others to dictate him.

Here Touya has tears in his eyes it showed it wasn’t the last time he cried he he can still shed tears Touya telling AFO to shut up mean that Touya had enough of people giving him false advice Touya isn’t going to desperately beg for help because it didn’t work for his family he tried begging for his family to look but it didn’t work they didn’t see his tears Touya knows his purpose and doesn’t need anyone to tell him.

Touya got into an argument with Haruaki Sun Sun, and he unleashed fire before fleeing the facility. This proves just how scared and desperate Touya is to go home. Despite everything he felt in the household, he loved his family, and he only thought about going back home to his actual family and apologizing to them. Surrounded by strangers telling him they would be his new family, but he rejected that because he loved his family. He rejected a new one in favor of his own; he wouldn’t fight so desperately to escape from Haruaki Sun Sun if he didn’t.

They sounded like they let him go but in reality they didn’t care they didn’t care about Touya or stop him from escaping. They considered him a failure, so they didn’t even try to stop him.

The fire in the building contrasts with the fire in the forest to emphasize that his flames are how weak they are now. Touya’s fire power is strong and can burn an entire forest down, but here his flames are not strong enough to burn down the facility, so Touya never killed anyone in the facility.

Touya runs home and you can see the burnt sleeves he was trying to escape.

He still had hope but lowers it since his body was weak he unable to surpass All Might hence losing his purpose but ended up but creating a new one he wanted to know if his death changed his family situation even after everything he still thought of everyone else in the family he wanted his family to be happy and healthy a place free from abuse he wanted his family to be happy and with him returned home with hope of finding a change improved home environment only to find the same sight.

The first two things he saw was he saw was his picture on an alter and his father abusing his brother on the floor the same way he had before Touya witness Endeavor abusing Shoto was enough to know the Endeavor hasn’t change he is still obsessed with surpassing All Might losing a family member did not affect Endeavor.

Despite having a death experience, being in a coma for three years after being gone and presumed dead by his family, his death did not change anything in the family. His death changed nothing.

Touya wanted to believe that his pain and suffering mean something if it didn’t it would be like saying that all the pain and suffering he experienced was for nothing Touya wanted to find meaning for his suffering believed that suffering lead to healing as a way to assign to his trauma but it was nothing but a wish and reality showed him that. Returning he was reminded that he had no purpose the scene showed him again that his life was meaningless Touya meaning he tried to make it go away with the scene remaining unchanged was taken away. If his death didn’t change his family as a whole it was all for nothing and that is devastating to Touya to learn of how his family find him dead and didn’t change make it feel like he never existed in the first place not having anyone see you or even look at you it feels like you don’t exist.

He had hope, but it was in vain.

There was one thing that was important when Touya was coming home he desperately craved validation but not just from from his father but his family as well he was desperate of having his family to look at him too that's why he remained at home to get his family to see him that's why in the present he was angry because they couldn’t provide it.

Next panel Touya is praying to the altar, he is praying to the self who died that day then by finding a new purpose is to get revenge on Endeavor for all the abuse he put him through Touya planned on dying ever since he became Dabi what could get through to Endeavor is his death wasn’t enough? Then he decided to get through to him by ruining Endeavor by turning himself into a villain planning for a decade for his revenge on Endeavor he was willing to put everything on the line for his revenge his goal he had no intention to live or be careful he only lived for vengeance he wasn’t going to live a happy life as this didn’t seem to ever possible since the accident and Endeavor abuse crushed any hope to live a happy life since one he had for his family to be happy was gone so avenge himself as the final thing he could do to live to get revenge is his new purpose.

It was once stated his body wouldn’t last for a month, but Touya isn’t a fool. He knows that his body won’t last; that's why he decided to die after he got his revenge on Endeavor. So his body is held together by his resentment this emphasizes that he wouldn’t let his body die that easily Touya has a lot of tenacity and powerful emotions to keep him alive however he is not only held together by his resentment but also his quirk some unknown element that keeps him alive heavily notes that it was Touya’s ice part of his quirk keeping his body alive.

What did Touya do on the streets as Dabi? That is something we might never know since it's not important; what's important is how he got there.

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leagueofprotagonists · 3 months ago

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Touya's past analysis: Part 1: Chapter 301

It’s been a long time since I did a Dabi meta, mainly because there are so many details in his character that take a while to talk about. Dabi is the most complex and nuanced character in the series. People did many metas about him, and this post will be one of many. I will try to take a crack at discussing Dabi’s character.

When we finally got to the Todoroki past, it mainly focused on Todoroki’s point of view. Not once did we even think of what was inside Touya's mind, and when the Todoroki past came out, Touya was put under hot water due to people's hasty surface-level interpretations of him as we read it. We never bothered to look at the more nuanced approach and fully grasp the complexities of Dabi's situation, and that's what caused us to make a lot of hasty assumptions. A lot of people in the fandom undermine Dabi as a character because he didn’t fit the fandom's idealized interpretations and because they do not try to look at Dabi as he wanted to be.

Dabi is the most complex and nuanced, if not the most misunderstood, character in the fandom, which is largely due to how much of the Japanese was lost in translation when the English version came out. What was not discussed enough is Todoroki's past from Touya's point of view.

People in the fandom don’t look under the surface but when I look I find there is so much more to it than what people realize it's not as simple as that and that's how people keep misreading it. Dabi is much more nuanced than what we give him credit for even though the Japanese version captures this.

I think it's important that if we want to understand Dabi, we have to understand Touya first since most of Dabi’s actions are driven by his past. If you want to understand Dabi, you have to first look at and understand his past as Touya. The fandom misread his past and never saw the nuance. This post is my attempt to tackle it.

This post is based on metas I read before and what I talked about with people but here this is my attempt to elaborate the Todoroki past in Touya’s perspective in a way that was neither looked at by both the Todoroki and the fandom. This post is to dispel any misunderstanding about his character and expand on Touya’s pov and expand on it. I hope this post can give you a better understanding of Dabi.

Let's start with the beginning of Enji's flashback, but this is primarily focused on Touya, and seeing this in his perspective, in the first few panels, Touya’s hair starts to change color. That is the first sign that his quirk was showing incompatibility with his body.

In the next panel, Touya looks ready to learn the technique with a cheerful and vibrant expression. Touya sees training as a way to spend time with his father, a way to bond with his dad, so here Touya is happy and excited to train with his father.

Then suddenly, a loud ouch.

That is the first indication that Touya’s quirk hurts him. Touya looked confused as if this was the first time this had happened. The look on Touya’s face, when his quirk burned him, was not just shock from the pain but horror at the fact that his fire could hurt him. It horrifies him since he knows what he is created for.

Up until then, he was confident about his ability to surpass All Might, with that and being the person his father needed him to be, the only person his father could be proud of. His relationship with his father is solely dependent on his quirk; if he shows weakness, his father will abandon him.

I stated that training is a way to spend time with his father. Touya is upset that his father is spending less time with him and cancels training without a chance to explain here he is clearly upset.

Most kids see their parents as larger than life, and Touya was no different. He genuinely looks up to and admires Endeavor and even looks forward to training with his father. Horikoshi also illustrates this part perfectly by showing Touya’s flame shirt, which notes Endeavor's flames.

In this panel Touya is scrutinizing his father's face. Kids aren’t stupid so the look that Touya gave Enji means that he knows that his father was not being honest with him.

Touya is complaining about the situation to Fuyumi, Touya is very smart and very self aware he has demonstrated this in numerous occasions, He always aware of his limits as he spoke in the panel also knows the reason why his father doesn’t want to spend time with him but also the condition of his body. Touya is in denial of his weakness and hopes that Fuyumi will agree with him.

What Fuyumi said was not what he wanted to hear. He hoped for agreement and encouragement from her but felt rejected by Fuyumi’s words and their obviousness.

These words are the same words used by Endeavor when he told him to stop training. It sounded like Fuyumi was agreeing with Endeavor.

There is something I want to mention first about this scene, it's hard to talk about Touya without talking about all the other Todorokis involved, this scene is the beginning and constant of Fuyumi’s personality and intentions it shows her care about Touya but if you look at Fuyumi in the present there is another reading to this scene.

Yes, her words come off as concern for her older brother, but if you look at Fuyumi words in the present tense, there is another reading of this scene.

For starters she didn’t talk about why he was getting hurt in the place Fuyumi was more concerned and starting to value the “peace” over everything else at that age Fuyumi trying to make their family a happy one while pushing away every negative thing that happened she kept appearances by willing turned a blind eye she is sweeping everything under the rug and ignoring the pain in the house this in turn isolate those who are hurt.

Touya, facing away from Fuyumi, looks at the panel. Touya is in tears; tears start rolling in his eyes. He is about to cry, leaving the room with tears in his eyes without anyone able to see.

Touya got defensive about his situation when Fuyumi voiced her concerns for him. Touya stormed off in anger because he didn’t want to be reminded of his weakness. He wasn’t ready to hear since it would require him to acknowledge his weakness. That is what those tears meant.

Touya stated Enji was the one who lit the fire in him telling him that his firepower is stronger than his own. It's meant as a way of building up Touya’s confidence. This instilled in him the confidence that he can surpass All Might.

He wants to make his father proud. He wants to be what his father wants him to be, knowing he can’t live up to his father's expectations by not performing means that his father loved him less, and giving up something would result in not being loved.

being burned by his flames created a distance between that person it reminded him of his weakness but refused to admit it because he had hoped he would be a incredible hero to prove everyone wrong he wasn’t willing to just give up back then he wants to impress and prove his dad wrong so he continue to train on his own. He felt compelled to keep training and demonstrate his worthiness despite the fact his quirk was hurting him.

This is what Rei stated to Endeavor Touya knows what he's born for Touya knows what his purpose is, his purpose was to surpass All Might that's what he was created for if he can’t be the person his father needed him to be meant that Touya has no purpose anymore Touya knew he was created to fulfil Endeavor’s expectations without it he would have no purpose.

In this panel Touya did not share Fuyumi’s and Rei’s joy of a new child, as Rei stated Touya already knew what Endeavor expects from him so here Touya already knows why he and his siblings exist he already knew. When Natuso is born that look means Touya has an inkling that his father is replacing him; these siblings are his replacement.

Natsuo’s existence was living proof that Touya was not enough, but he refused to give up and desperately tried to prove himself to his father. This caused him to train more; however, that all proved to be futile.

Touya is looking on at Shoto in despair, he has lost his purpose.

Touya is outside training to prove to be a worthy successor. He is still vying for his father's attention with desperation and tears streaming down his face. Crying is a mechanism to regulate his emotions. You see just how desperate Touya is to have Endeavor’s love and attention; if he can't, he loses his purpose.

This is the pinnacle of hypocrisy for Endeavor to tell Touya: Endeavor never looked at the world outside of being a hero and never quit in surpassing All Might. How would he expect Touya to follow his advice when he is incapable of doing so?

Touya is old enough to understand, but he cannot understand the concept Endeavor told him because that was his whole purpose. Touya is accusing his father of expecting him to just give up on his attempt to reach his goal. When Endeavor doesn’t, Endeavor never did any of this, so why should he?

How can he understand if his father when Touya felt the pressure of needing to be a hero from the aspects of his life from classmates who want to be heroes and his father who is a hero even if they were telling him to stop trying to be a hero Touya would feel that he is left behind by others.

He isn’t asking for his father to look at him but is also threatening him.

His jealousy towards Shoto is for replacing his purpose; that's why he attacked Shoto.

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